Arts & Ideas

Matthew Sweet meets Eric the UK's first robot, built in 1928 now at the Science Museum as part of a big display exploring robotics. He's joined by Kathleen Richardson who is Senior Research Fellow in the Ethics of Robotics at De Monfort University, Murray Shanahan - Professor of Cognitive Robotics from Imperial College - and Ryan Abbott from the University of Surrey School of Law to discuss the legal and ethical implications of our increasing reliance on robotics and automation. And Kevin Jackson looks at the first English translation of Makt Myrkranna or Powers of Darkness - Valdimar Asmundsson's 1901 Icelandic reworking of Bram Stoker's vampire classic Dracula. Producer: Torquil MacLeod

As the Royal Academy unveils its huge new show of work produced in Russia between 1917 and 1932, Anne McElvoy and her guests - the film maker and actor, Dolya Gavanski, novelist Charlotte Hobson and the historians Stephen Smith and Victor Sebestyen - assess the role played by artists in the revolution and the relevance of their paintings, sculptures, films, books and music today.Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932 runs from February 11th to April 17th at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Charlotte Hobson's novel is called The Vanishing Futurist. Dolya Gavanski is currently working on her second feature film, Soviet Woman: Work, Build and Don't Whine. Professor Stephen Smith from All Souls College, Oxford is the author of books including The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism and Russia in Revolution. Victor Sebestyen's Lenin the Dictator is published later this month.Producer: Zahid Warley

Garrett Carr travelled by foot and canoe along Ireland's border. Kapka Kassabova journeyed to what she calls "the edge of Europe". Frank Ledwidge's army career took him to the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, Nikolas Ventourakis is fascinated by how to capture the abstract notion of borders in photographs. They talk to Anne McElvoy about the essence of edges, notions of the other and the challenges of invisible borders which come and go like the smile of the Cheshire Cat. The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland's Border by Garrett Carr looks at a landscape which has hosted smugglers, kings, runaways, soldiers, peacemakers, protesters and terrorists Border: A journey to the Edge of Europe, Kapka Kassabova explores the rich human history in the wild borderlands of Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. Nikolas Ventourakis Project: Defining Lines Frank Ledwidge barrister, writer, Losing Small Wars and Investment in Blood Producer: Jacqueline Smith

The Indian writer and essayist, Pankaj Mishra believes we are living in an age of unprecedented anger - one that liberal rationalists struggle to comprehend. He joins Philip Dodd to consider the long term impact of these fervent times. Elif Shafak talks about her latest novel, Three Daughters of Eve, which looks at love, friendship and religion set in Oxford and Istanbul. They are joined in the Free Thinking studio by Douglas Murray, founder of the centre for social cohesion and on a line from USA, Julius Krein, editor of American Affairs, a new magazine backing Trumpism. Producer: Craig Templeton Smith Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak is published on the 2nd of February. Age of Anger: A History of the Present by Pankaj Mishra is published on the 7th of February.

Join Matthew Sweet in the Caribbean -- well, not literally but certainly intellectually. He'll be discussing the region's history with the cultural commentator, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, whose new book, Island People, is already being compared to V S Naipaul. Does it make sense to think of the Caribbean as a cohesive region rather than a collection of very individual islands? To help settle this question Matthew and Joshua are joined by Colin Grant, author of I & I - the Natural Mystics and the Jamaican poet and novelist Kei Miller who'll be reading from his acclaimed new novel, Augustown, and his Forward Prize Winning poetry collection, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion. To round things off the actor and writer, Lavern Archer and the director, Anton Phillips will be in the studio to let you in on one of the stage's best kept secrets -- the wildly popular vernacular theatre from Jamaica that's been packing out the likes of the Manchester Opera House since the late Eighties. Kei Miller's novel is called Augustown. Joshua Jelly-Schapiro's non fiction exploration is called Island People The Caribbean and The World. Colin Grant's book about Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer is called , I &I - The Natural MysticsProducer: Zahid Warley

Peter Bazalgette, former Arts Council England chair and TV executive, discusses why we need to become more empathetic. Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin has given the Proms Lecture exploring the mind and music. He talks about lies and statistics and how we can make better decisions. James Bartholomew believes the Welfare State may be holding us back. Together they explore with Philip Dodd, how to build a better stronger Civil State. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is a novel ranging across 250 years and two branches and seven generations of a Ghanaian family shadowed by the experiences of slavery and slaving. Gyasi follows two different branches of one Fante family obsessed by notions of home whilst swept along by different but equally challenging histories on either side of the Atlantic. She talks to Philip Dodd about the importance of home for Africans and African-Americans and the still low representation of writers from modern Africa and the need for more. Peter Bazalgette has written The Empathy Instinct: A Blueprint for a Civil Society Daniel Levitin has written The Organized Mind and his new book is called a Field Guide to Lies and Statistics - a Neuroscientist on How to Make Sense of a Complex World. James Bartholomew, follows up his The Welfare State We're In, with The Welfare of Nations Yaa Gyasi's novel is called Homegoing. Producer: Jacqueline Smith.

Anne McElvoy explores topics discussed at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos - she's joined by former Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander, economist Liam Halligan and MIT scientist Andrew McAfee. Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27th, New Generation Thinker Seán Williams discusses his research into barbers in the camps. Choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh discusses the way the history of indentured labour has influenced her latest dance piece.Shobana Jeyasingh's Material Men Redux, informed by the personal stories of dancers Sooraj Subramaniam and Shailesh Bahoran, tours to Nottingham, Ipswich, Eastleigh, Birmingham, Glasgow and London from February.Producer:Torquil MacLeod.

On the day of the Oscar nominations, Matthew Sweet is joined by critics Dana Stevens and Ryan Gilbey and writer Christopher Frayling to survey the last year in film. Also, does T2 make any sense if you haven't see the original Trainspotting? Young journalist Stevie Mackenzie-Smith reports back. And Deborah Lipstadt, the American historian who took on the Holocaust denier David Irving in a landmark court case, discusses its retelling in Denial, a new film starring Rachel Weisz. Producer: Craig Templeton Smith.

Rana Mitter talks Victorian bodies with Kathryn Hughes from Darwin's beard to whether George Eliot had milkmaid's hands. Stanley Price explains how James Joyce and Italo Svevo forged a firm friendship when they met in Trieste. Poet and New Generation Thinker Sandeep Parmar and writer Lauren Elkin discuss the Citizens of Everywhere art project which will see commissioned writing, art, workshops in schools and debates exploring the idea of citizenship in a globalised world. James Rivington from the British Academy unveils the 20 Academic Books that Shaped Modern Britain ahead of Academic Book Week.Kathryn Hughes latest book is called Victorians Undone.Stanley Price has written James Joyce and Italo Svevo: The Story of a FriendshipProducer: Torquil MacLeod.

Artists Sonia Boyce, Isaac Julien, Eddie Chambers and Harold Offeh talk to Anne McElvoy about their art and the influence of the British Black Art movement - which began around the time of the First National Black Art Convention in 1982 organised by the Blk Art Group and held at Wolverhampton Polytechnic.Eddie Chambers has written Roots and Culture: Cultural Politics in the Making of Black Britain and Black Artists in British Art: A History Since the 1950s. He teaches at the University of Texas, Austin. Sonia Boyce is Professor at Middlesex University, a Royal Academician and will also have a solo show at the ICA later this year. She is one of the recipients of a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award. She is also the Principal-Investigator of the Black Artists & Modernism project. Isaac Julien is showing Other Destinies at the Royal Ontario Museum from January and shows at Victoria Miro Gallery. Harold Offeh is an artist, curator and senior lecturer in Fine Art at Leeds Beckett University. His work Covers will feature in Untitled: art on the conditions of our time.Nottingham Contemporary's The Place Is Here brings together around 100 works by over 30 artists and collectives spanning painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video and archival displays from the 1980s. It runs from 04 Feb - 30 Apr 2017New Art Exchange’s exhibition, Untitled: art on the conditions of our time, runs from 14 Jan - 19 Mar 2017 and features 12 British artists each with ties to Africa.Producer: Karl Bos Editor: Robyn Read

Matthew Sweet talks to Stephen Baxter about his sequel to HG Wells's novel War Of The Worlds, which was first serialised in 1897 and imagined an England invaded by Martians. Stephen Baxter's novel, which has been authorised by the HG Wells estate, is called The Massacre of Mankind and it sets the action 14 years after a Martian invasion. Eimear McBride's novels are noted for their 'experimental' approach. She joins Matthew with the academic and writer Mark Blacklock to discuss what 'experimental' can mean when applied to the novel. And, recently posters have appeared all over the UK with the following words: 'Legal Name Fraud, The Truth, It's Illegal To Use A Legal Name'. Matthew is joined by the barrister and legal blogger Carl Gardner to discuss the legal ideas behind the campaign. Producer: Luke Mulhall

Anne McElvoy talks to Nadeem Aslam and Chibundu Onuzo about their novels set in Pakistan and Nigeria which follow characters who have to find safe places to live following violent uprisings; Alex Evans joins them to explore myth-making plus we hear from Julius Bryant, the curator of an exhibition at the V&A about Lockwood Kipling art teacher and father of Rudyard. Nadeem Aslam is the author of books including Maps For Lost Lovers and The Blind Man's Garden which have won a series of awards. His new novel is called The Golden Legend. Chibundu Onuzo's first novel The Spider King's Daughter won a Betty Trask Award and her new novel is called Welcome to Lagos. Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab and London is a free display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London opening Saturday January 14th. The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough by Alex Evans is out now. Producer: Harry Parker

We've been runnning for two million years give or take. Shahidha Bari and Laurence Scott explore contemporary running as solitary inspiration and communal activity with the Geographer and 1999 Scottish Hill Running Champion, Hayden Lorimer, the artists Kai Syng Tan and Angus Farquhar, and the literary scholar and bare-foot artiste, Vybarr Cregan-Reid. Conversation ranges from feeling empowered on city streets to teaming up with the wind to the horrid history of the treadmill and explore whether Running deserves better representation in the arts. Presenters: Shahidha Bari Laurence ScottGuests: Vybarr Cregan-Reid – author of Footnotes How Running Makes Us Human Angus Farquhar, Creative Director of NVA Public Art, author of a blog 'The Grim Runner' Hayden Lorimer Running Geographer Kai Syng Tan, Artist and curator of a biennial festival Run Run Run Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Agent to stars including Humphrey Bogart, Clancy Sigal looks back at the absurdities of the 1950s movie business. Catherine Wheatley and Larushka Ivan Zadeh discuss the new musical La La Land starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling which is picking up many of the prizes in the film awards season and look at Hollywood's preoccupation with its own back yard. Authors Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph lift the lid on the bizarre world of obsessive film collectors. Clancy Sigal's autobiography, Black Sunset is out now. A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies by Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph is out now. La La Land is out in cinemas across Britain from January 13th certificate 12A Producer: Craig Templeton Smith.

American author Jonathan Franzen's interest in the Austrian satirist and journalist resulted in him publishing The Kraus Project. He joins Philip Dodd, novelist Lawrence Norfolk and literary historian, Heide Kunzelmann for a programme exploring the writing and politics of Karl Kraus (1874–1936) - whose artistic achievements include 700 one man performances of works by Brecht, Goethe, Shakespeare and others - plus performances of Offenbach's operettas, accompanied by piano and singing all the roles himself; whose magazine Die Fackel published Oskar Kokoschka, Adolf Loos, Heinrich Mann, Arnold Schönberg, August Strindberg and Oscar Wilde and whose support for other artists included assisting Frank Wedekind in staging his controversial play Pandora's Box. In 1915 Kraus began writing a satirical play about World War One called The Last Days of Mankind which mixes dialogue drawn from contemporary documents with fantasical expressionist scenes of apocalypse. A dramatisation featuring actors Giles Havergal and Paul Schofield was broadcast by BBC Radio 3. Part of Radio 3's Breaking Free series of programmes exploring music and culture in Vienna. Producer: Zahid Warley

Anne McElvoy explores the history and possible future of the Union Jack or Union flag in a year which has seen the Brexit Vote. With: Graham Bartram - chief vexillologist at the Flag Institute, who grew up in Scotland, Northern Ireland and West Africa John Bew – professor of history and foreign policy at Kings Afua Hirsch – Sky News correspondent, writing a book called Brit(ish) which will be published next year Ash Sarkar - a senior editor for Novara Media and who hosts an online video series #OMFGSarkar Andrew Rosindell - Conservative MP for Romford and chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Flags and Heraldry Committee With contributions on the design from Jonathan Meades and Amber Butchart.At the Conservative Party Conference Theresa May's speech argued that the establishment must stop sneering at the patriotism of ordinary Britons. With renewed discussions about Scottish independence in the wake of the Brexit vote, what might this mean for the idea of patriotism in Britain - and for the flag which was created in 1606 as ‘the flag of Britain’, and which gained the name ‘Union’ in 1625.Part of a week-long focus on Free Thinking on the idea of patriotism and why politicians of all stripes are claiming that their parties are the most patriotic.Producer: Eliane Glaser.

Rana Mitter debates the meaning of patriotism in Russia, China, Japan and Latin America with guests including historian and policy analyst Michael Auslin, David Priestland who is Professor of Modern History at Oxford University, Chinese-British novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo (whose autobiography is published in January) and Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, lawyer and author of What If Latin America Ruled the World?Part of a week of programmes on Free Thinking exploring the way patriotism has become a subject of intense debate amongst politicians and thinkers in countries across the world.Definition of patriotic. : having or showing great love and support for your country/ being proud of itThis summer saw Russia opening a “patriotic” summer camp for hundreds of veterans' children and President Putin talked about patriotism being the only possible unifying national idea. In China a directive, issued earlier this year by the Communist Party organization of the Ministry of Education, called for “patriotic education” to thread through the curriculum in schools and tensions in the South China Sea have seen a rise in political rhetoric talking about patriotism.Producer: Torquil MacLeod

At the end of a year which has seen Britain vote for Brexit, the rise of political parties claiming patriotism in other European countries and a sense of national pride being invoked by politicians in Russia and China - Free Thinking hears from some of the key thinkers exploring these current debates. Our week long focus begins in France where Philip Dodd talks to the public intellectual, Alain Finkielkraut and the novelist and film-maker Karim Miské. Alain Finkielkraut is a member of the Académie française, a council of 40 greats elected for life. In France his books are best-sellers but his views about integration and French identity have led to clashes. Finkielkraut's father survived deportation to Auschwitz. In his own career he has taught at universities in USA and France and his books have explored topics including French colonialism, Jewish identity, the internet and the decline of French culture. Karim Miské is the author of the award winning novel, Arab Jazz, and of an essay, N'Appartenir which charts his search for a sense of belonging in contemporary France. Producer: Zahid Warley.

Are public enquiries good government? At the end of a year where we have seen the Hillsborough and Chilcot reports are these the best way of calling to account? Margaret Hodge and Bronwen Maddox join Anne McElvoy to discuss. Plus, Matthew Parris considers the concept of scorn and those who are best at pouring it. Matthew Parris has written an updated version of Scorn: The Wittiest and Wickedest Insults in Human History Margaret Hodge has written Called To Account: How Corporate Bad Behaviour and Government Waste Combine to Cost Us Millions. Bronwen Maddox is Director of the Institute for Government Producer: Craig Smith.

John Simpson joins Philip Dodd to discuss fifty years of reporting from around the world for the BBC and what the future holds for foreign correspondents. Once our news came from three primary sources: newspapers, radio and TV. But in a digital world which offers a proliferation of 'news' how do we separate fact from opinion or even fakery? Former director general of the BBC and current CEO of The New York Times Company, Mark Thompson, journalist Susie Boniface (aka Fleet Street Fox), author and TV producer, Peter Pomerantsev, and academic, Martin Moore, consider what we mean by news in 2016. We Chose to Speak of War and Strife: The World of the Foreign Correspondent is by John Simpson.Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia is by Peter PomerantsevEnough Said: What's gone wrong with the language of politics? is by Mark Thompson. Producer: Craig Templeton Smith

Classicist Professor Edith Hall, New Generation Thinker Chris Kissane, novelist Elif Shafak, and Dr Alan Mendoza from the Henry Jackson Society join Matthew Sweet to consider what might be on a reading list to prepare for a post Brexit world.Reading List: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Moniza Alvi, Europa Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart Voltaire, Candide Sun Tzu, The Art Of War Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, Barbarians At The Gate Ali Smith, Autumn Hannah Arendt, Men In Dark TimesProducer: Luke Mulhall

Shahidha Bari and guests look at our relationship with animals. Chris Packham discusses his 'animal symphony' composed with musician Nitin Sawhney for a new documentary exploring animal reactions to music. Darwin expert and New Generation Thinker Will Abberley reviews an exhibition considering our relationship with the rest of the living world. Science writer Helen Pilcher explains the new science behind 'De-extinction'. Alan Hook describes his research into playfulness and computer games for cats. Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-extinction by Helen Pilcher is out now. Making Nature at the Wellcome Collection in London runs until the 21st of May. The Animal Symphony is on Sky Arts on the 9th December at 6pm, then on demand. Producer: Craig Templeton Smith

Anne McElvoy meets David Rooney curator of the Winton Mathematics gallery at the Science Museum which has been redesigned by Zaha Hadid architects and explores the way maths skills are increasingly needed for jobs. She discusses the changing attitudes to mathematics in history and the present day with Alex Bellos, writer on maths puzzles, maths historian Serafina Cuomo and maths lecturer Vicky Neale. They are joined by astro-physicist Neil de Grasse Tyson who is director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. Alex Bellos is the author of Alex Through The Looking Glass and his latest book called Can You Solve My Problems. Neil de Grasse Tyson is the author of many books including Welcome to the Universe co-written with J Richard Gott and Michael A Strauss. Vicky Neale is Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute and Balliol College at Oxford University. Serafina Cuomo is Reader in Roman History at Birkbeck College, University of London. Producer: Harry Parker.

Colin Grant, author of a book exploring his brother's epilepsy, joins presenter Matthew Sweet, New Generation Thinker Clare Walker Gore who writes about Wilkie Collins and Charles Fernyhough - who studies hearing voices. Plus director Josie Rourke on Joan of Arc on stage at the Donmar Warehouse and theatre critic David Benedict.St Joan by George Bernard Shaw starring Gemma Arterton is at the Donmar Warehouse in London from December 9th - January 18th. It will be broadcast live in cinemas in partnership with National Theatre Live on Thursday 16 February 2017 Charles Fernyhough is a Professor of Psychology at Durham University who has published The Voices Within: The history and science of how we talk to ourselves. Colin Grant's book exploring epilepsy is called A Smell of Burning. Clare Walker Gore is a New Generation Thinker researching Victorian literature at the University of Cambridge. New Generation Thinker is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find people who can turn research into radio programmes.Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

What price the self in the 21st century? We may be living in the age of the "selfie" and of social media narcissism but is there anything fixed about the self? Philip Dodd and his guests, the novelist, Tom McCarthy, the sociologist, Susie Scott, the neuroscientist, Daniel Glaser and the painter, Dexter Dalwood explore the notion of identity today taking in the major Rauschenberg retrospective at Tate Modern, Erving Goffman's seminal work of sociology, The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life and the way we all use words to constantly make and remake our selves. Robert Rauschenberg runs at Tate Modern from December 1st until April 2nd 2017. Dexter Dalwood's art is on show at the Saatchi Gallery in an exhibition called Painters' Painters which runs from 30 Nov 2016 - 28 Feb 2017. Tom McCarthy's novels include C and Satin Island Producer: Zahid Warley.

Matthew Sweet discusses elites and their role in contemporary politics, with Douglas Carswell, MP for Clacton;Professor David Runciman, Head of the Department of Politics & International Studies at the University of Cambridge; Eliane Glaser, writer and Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University; and Lynsey Hanley, visiting Fellow in Cultural Studies at Liverpool John Moores University. Eliane Glaser's most recent book is called Get Real: How to See Through the Hype, Spin and Lies of Modern Life Lynsey Hanley's most recent book is Estates: An Intimate HistoryProducer: Luke Mulhall.

Wierd fiction presents the universe as an irrational place, totally indifferent to human concerns. Is 'the wierd' a more general approach that can bextended beyond fiction to encompass the other arts, or even politics and science? Rana Mitter discusses the idea of the wierd with literary scholar Nick Freeman of the University of Loughborough, cultural theorist Caroline Edwards of Birkbeck, University of London, and astronomer Marek Kukula of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Continuing to explore the faultline between art and science, Rana meets artist Helen Pynor and gallery director Mike Stubs to discuss science and art on show at Liverpool's FACT. And, we discuss the new Japanese animated film Your Name with Japanologist Irena Hayer of the Univeristy of Leeds, and Justin Johnson, curator of animation and films for younger people at the British Film Institute. No Such Thing As Gravity is on show at FACT, Liverpool until February 5th 2017. Your Name is on release at selected cinemas throughout the country now. Producer: Luke Mulhall

Juliet Stephenson and Lia Williams decide which role to play on the toss of a coin in Robert Icke's version of Schiller's Mary Stuart at the Almeida. The director explains why. Just before he died in 2015 the Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass completed his last book. Karen Leeder has been reading the English translation of it. And New Generation Thinker Preti Taneja has been reading a selection of other newly translated fiction. Plus MP Rachel Reeves has written a history of a campaigning MP who played a crucial role in the de-criminalisation of homosexuality, the legalisation of abortion and the abolition of the death penalty and who was also a driving force in the roll-out of comprehensive education. She talks to presenter Anne McElvoy about why the work of Alice Bacon interests her.Of All That Ends by Günter Grass is out now. Alice in Westminster: The Political Life of Alice Bacon by Rachel Reeves is out now. Mary Stuart runs at London's Almeida Theatre from December 2nd to January 21st.Preti Taneja's pick of literature in translation includes:Istanbul, Istanbul - Burhan Sonmez (Saqi Books) Eve Out of her Ruins - Ananda Devi (CB Editions) Trysting - Emanuelle Pagano (And Other Stories) Panty - Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay (Tilted Axis Press)Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Zadie Smith talks dance, depicting teenage friendships and US/UK differences with Philip Dodd as her new novel Swing Time is published in Britain and BBC TV dramatises her book NW starring Nikki Amuka-Bird and Phoebe Fox.Producer: Robyn Read

Matthew Sweet tries to separate out the clichés from the reality when it comes to male masculinity in 2016 with the director of the forthcoming Being A Man festival at London’s Southbank and Josh Appignanesi and Devorah Baum, the husband and wife team behind a new documentary that charts the emotional turmoil of childbirth on a man reluctant to grow up.Plus, Matthew travels to the Florence Nightingale Museum in London to meet New Generation Thinker and historian of beards, Alun Withey, who reveals why the current craze for male facial hair is not a patch on the Victorian age.And do you think you’re a good listener? Do you think you’re being listened to? In a year of political upheaval that’s rapidly reshaping a new world order, the head of the Government’s 'nudge unit’ David Halpern, and communications professor Jim Macnamara, consider the importance of listening when it comes to a functioning democracy.The New Man by Josh Appignanesi and Devorah Baum is in selected cinemas. Being a Man runs at London's Southbank centre from November 25th - 27th Florence Nightingale Museum: The Age of the Beard: Putting on a Brave Face in Victorian Britain, runs from 18th November 2016 to 30th. Jim Macnamara is the author of Organizational Listening: The Missing Essential in Public Communication. He is conducting a public lecture, The Lost Art of Listening: the missing key to democratic and civil society participation, on Wednesday 23rd November at the London School of Economics.Producer: Craig Templeton Smith

Matthew Sweet visits little known locations in London to meet researchers drawing on archives of the past to cast new light on the present. The Cross Bones Graveyard in Southwark was used in the Middle Ages to bury sex workers and others living on the fringes of respectable society. We visit the site with Sondra Hausner, an anthropologist of religion who's studied modern practices for memorializing the women buried at the site. Vicky Iglikowski and Rowena Hillel are researchers at the National Archives at Kew investigating records that shed light on LGBT history in the Capital. We'll leaf through the records to see what they've uncovered. New Generation Thinker Naomi Paxton and her colleague Ailsa Grant Ferguson have identified a moment when Shakespeare, radical politics, and the roots of the National Theatre all converged, in a building in Bloomsbury used to house Anzac soldiers during the First World War. And we join Peter Guillery, editor of the Survey of London, to investigate the work of this ongoing project to document the streets of London in all their complexity. Part of a week of programmes on BBC Radio 3 focusing on new research. The Being Human Festival which takes place at universities across the UK from November 17th - 25th will feature events linked to these research projects. Both this and the New Generation Thinkers scheme are supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

New Generation Thinkers Shahidha Bari and Laurence Scott present a programme looking at new research into supernatural fiction writer Vernon Lee with Francesco Ventrella. Lee used the phrase "iron curtain" and declared herself a "cosmopolitan from her birth, without any single national tie or sympathy". They also debate what it means to lie, examine the life of communist informer Harvey Matusow with Doug Haynes, and look at new scientific research into the way consistent lying can change behaviour. Plus, Jenny Kitzinger on the gulf between popular ideas of ‘coma’ and the realities of such states. Part of a week of programmes on BBC Radio 3 exploring new academic research. Being Human festival of the humanities runs from 17–25 Nov 2016 at universities across the UK. It is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) which works with Radio 3 on the New Generation Thinkers scheme to find academics who can turn their research into radio.Producer: Craig Smith

French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss famously said that ‘animals are good to think with’. Rana Mitter with Sarah Peverley, Charles Forsdick, Alasdair Cochrane, Eveline de Wolf, Michael Szollosy and an audience at FACT, Liverpool debate robots, humans and animals.The broadcast will preview upcoming events organised by the University of Liverpool as part of their Being Human festival programme and is part of a week of programmes on Radio 3 focusing on new research and the UK wide festival supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. From a best friend to a tasty snack or something we must carefully husband to a threat we must eradicate, we humans think about animals in lots of ways. But how has our thinking about animals changed over time, and what does that tell us about our shifting attitudes toward the natural world and our place in it? Hear the views of a medievalist who studies bestiaries and mermaids, a French scholar who explores the history of the ‘human zoo’, and a political theorist who argues that we should extend human rights to animals, a zookeeper, and an expert on human-robot relations.Producer: Luke Mulhall

Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer prize-winning Maus - a father-son memoir about the Holocaust drawn with cats and mice - is one of the classics of graphic novels. He's now collaborating with the Jazz composer Phillip Johnston on a show that puts music alongside the images. Naomi Alderman talks to them and to the performance artist Marina Abramovic who's written a memoir. Plus Sarah Churchwell watches a film version of Philip Roth's American Pastoral which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Ewan McGregor directs and stars as a man whose life starts to fall apart as his daughter commits an act of political terrorism.Wordless! Art Spiegelman + Phillip Johnston is at the Barbican in London on 11 November 2016 / 19:30 It's part of the London Jazz Festival. You can find more events on BBC Radio 3 and on the BBC Music Jazz pop-up station which will run from 10am on Thursday 10th November until 10am on Monday 14th November on digital radio, online and the iPlayer Radio appMarina Abramovic's memoir is called Walk Through Walls. American Pastoral is out in cinemas across the UKProducer: Zahid Warley.

Bernardine Evaristo, Keith Piper, Miranda Kaufmann and Kehinde Andrews consider the question what it means to be Black British and how should a wider history be taught and reflected in literature. New Generation Thinker Nandini Das presents.Kehinde Andrews is at Birmingham City University where his research includes looking at black activism. He is series editor of Blackness in Britain with Rowman and Littlefield InternationalMiranda Kaufmann is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Her book Black Tudors will be published by Oneworld in autumn 2017. Bernardine Evaristo is the author of prose and poetic novels including The Emperor's Babe and Mr Loverman. She teaches creative writing at Brunel University.Keith Piper's exhibition Unearthing the Banker’s Bones, in partnership with Iniva, is at Bluecoat in Liverpool and runs until 22 January 2017.Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Matthew Sweet talks to 21st-century novelists Sarah Perry and Carol Birch about why the 19th century illuminates their writing. And can the Victorians still make us laugh? Cultural historians Fern Riddell and Bob Nicholson, consider the question raised by a new exhibition. Plus neo-Victorians - historian Mark Llewellyn on the curiously enduring presence of the 19th century in contemporary culture.Victorian Entertainments: There Will Be Fun at the British Library in London runs from Fri 14 October 2016 - Sun 12 March 2017. There is a special Friday Night Late on November 25th.Presenter: Matthew SweetGuests: Sarah Perry, The Essex Serpent Carol Birch, Orphans of the Carnival Mark Llewellyn (with Ann Heilmann), Neo-Victorianism: The Victorians in the Twenty-First Century Fern Riddell, The Victorian Guide to Sex Bob Nicholson from Edge Hill University is the author of many articles about Victorian literature and periodicals and he has been working with Dr Mark Hall (Computing) and the British Library on a digital humanities project that aims to create an online archive of one million Victorian jokes. Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Today perhaps, Brand Britain is showing its age, but once upon a time it was nothing less than one of the most dynamic political projects in the world. In a Free Thinking Landmark on Walter Scott's Waverley, Rana Mitter reflects on the writer and the books which helped the British like the idea of Britain. Joining Rana in discussion: the writer, Jenni Calder who has recently adapted 'Waverley' for a modern audience; the poet and literary historian, Robert Crawford, who is interested in the originality and reception of Scott's writing and its affect on the imagination; and Andrew Lincoln, an English literature scholar, who has explored Scott as a forward-looking thinker, one who evoked patriotism in the Unionist cause. You can find more programmes in the BBC #LoveToRead campaign http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b5zz8/members And hear more over the #LovetoRead weekend 5-6 November. As an acclaimed romantic poet, beloved of Byron, then a best-selling novelist, envied by Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott wrote into existence many of the myths and legends we still re-tell and he used this past to examine and explore the political problems of his own day. Waverley' appeared in 1814 when the Napoleonic Wars had not yet drawn to a close -- and the events the novel describes, the 1745, (when Charles Edward Stuart and his army rocked the stability of a still youthful Anglo-Scottish political Union) were as close in time as the Second World War now is to us. In 'Waverley', 'Rob Roy', 'Red Gauntlet' and 'Ivanhoe', Scott conjured up heroic pasts - not just for Scotland, but for England too - romantic highlanders like Rob Roy on the one hand, the anglo-saxon Robin of the Greenwood on the other. The Waverley novels instilled in their readers a great sense of national pride along with the belief that the two countries, now politically mature, their internal struggles behind them, really could and would be stronger together. In the by-going he conjured up a portrait of the British as an effortlessly multicultural people with deep roots who were now uniquely qualified to take on the world. Presenter: Rana Mitter Guests: Robert Crawford: University of St Andrews, 'Bannockburns: Scottish Independence and the Literary Imagination 1314-2014' Jenni Calder: 'Sir Walter Scott's Waverley': Newly Adapted for the Modern Reader' Andrew Lincoln: Queen Mary, University of London, 'Walter Scott and Modernity' Producer: Jacqueline Smith

A TB clinic in the countryside is the location of Linda Grant's new novel which follows a Jewish brother and sister from the East End who are sent to recover in an institution where the class divide persists even as the new National Health Service challenges this. Stephen Poliakoff's new BBC drama series follows an intelligence officer whose final Army role is to ensure that cutting edge technology is made available to the British armed forces. Philip Dodd discusses the period of immediate post-World War II with the two writers. He also talks to historian Yuval Noah Harari who has studied the history of humanity on the planet earth and who argues that the future holds a wider divide between the techno super rich who are looking to cheat death and the useless class who have been superseded by machines. Close To The Enemy - a 7 part series written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff airs on BBC Two this November. The Dark Circle by Linda Grant is out now. Yuval Noah Harari's books are Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Producer: Fiona McLean

Anne McElvoy explores some historic tussles over who read what, when, how and why. Bodleian scholar Dennis Duncan reveals how disputatious monks took the book out of the monastery; the novelist and New Generation Thinker Sophie Coulombeau uncovers public frothing over political pamphlet reading in pubs in the 18th century; 19th century literature expert Katie McGettigan celebrates a loophole in copyright law which resulted in American literature dominating British bookshelves; Katherine Cooper from Newcastle and another New Generation Thinker reveals the role of women in expanding the horizons of literature in the 20th century and Matthew Rubery, author of The Untold Story of the Talking Book, reflects on the way technology spread reading across society and he gives us a demonstration of the Optophone - an early machine to bring books to the blind.Pres: Anne McElvoy Guests: Katherine Cooper, University of Newcastle Sophie Coulombeau, University of York; author of 'Rites' Dennis Duncan, The Bodleian Centre for the Study of the Book Katie McGettigan, Royal Holloway University, London Matthew Rubery, Queen Mary University, London; author of 'The Untold Story of the Talking Book' forthcomingThe Optophone appears courtesy of Blind Veterans UK. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio programmes. You can find more programmes in the BBC #LoveToRead campaign http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b5zz8/members And hear more over the #LovetoRead weekend 5-6 November.Producer: Jacqueline Smith

New Generation Thinker Chris Harding presents a discussion with writer Chris Hannan and director Roxana Silbert about a new Birmingham Rep play about Enoch Powell. Also James Zirin describes what he calls the partisan nature of the Supreme Court in America and artists Jananne Al-Ani and John Keane and curator Vivienne Jabri talk about providing an alternative to the visual language of war employed by the media.What Shadows runs at Birmingham Rep Theatre from October 27th to November 12th and stars Ian McDiarmid playing Enoch Powell.James Zirin's book is called Supremely Partisan: How Raw Politics Tips the Scales in the United States Supreme CourtTraces of War, curated by Vivienne Jabri, is at King's College, London until 18th DecemberJohn Keane's exhibition - If You Knew Me, If You Knew Yourself, You Would Not Kill Me - opens at Flowers Gallery, London on 4th NovemberProducer: Torquil MacLeod.

Does art have to reflect politics and history in South Africa? Is it harder to make art now than it was in the past? As major exhibitions of South African art open in London and Edinburgh Philip Dodd discusses the challenges of creating a visual language for a country with the artists William Kentridge, Vivienne Koorland and Gavin Jantjes. Joining them is Professor Stephen Chan from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, an expert on the country's recent history. South Africa: the art of a nation runs at the British Museum from October 27th - 26th Feb 2017 William Kentridge and Vivienne Koorland: Conversations in letters and lines runs at Edinburgh's Fruitmarket Gallery 19 November 2016 – 19 February 2017 Vivienne Koorland's Soft Heart is at the Leyden gallery November 2nd -November 26 William Kentridge: Thick Time is at the Whitechapel Gallery in London 21 September 2016 – 15 January 2017 William Kentridge's production of Lulu is on at English National Opera from November 9th - 19th and is being broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in the New Year. Producer: Zahid Warley.

Richard Hakluyt who died on 23 November 1616 was an English writer whose writings promoted the British colonisation of North America by the English. Nandini Das talks to Matthew Sweet about Hakluyt's travels and his legacy. Alex Clark reports live from the prize ceremony for this year's Man Booker Prize. We discuss new research into the signficance of chickens in the Anthropocene and ahead of Halloween we look at the haunting writing of Shirley Jackson as a new biography of her life is published. Hakluyt@400 events include two exhibitions: Hakluyt and Geography in Oxford 1550–1650 at Christ Church, Oxford, and The World in a Book: Hakluyt and Renaissance Discovery, at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. A two-day international conference Richard Hakluyt and the Renaissance Discovery of the World, taking place in Oxford on 24-25 November. In addition, on Sunday 27 November there will be a commemorative service in his parish at All Saints Church, Wetheringsett, Suffolk. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Frank is out now. You can find more haunting fiction over on BBC Radio 4 and 4Extra as part of Fright Night. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03328l0 Producer: Luke Mulhall

Artes Mundi was established in 2003 as a biennial contemporary visual arts initiative - the poet, author and playwright Owen Sheers and Catherine Fletcher, historian and New Generation Thinker, report back on the exhibition opening in Cardiff this week with work by the chosen artists including Britain's John Akomfrah, Nástio Mosquito and Bedwyr Williams.Amitav Ghosh argues that fiction writers need to be bolder in tackling the big themes of today's world and why thinking about Climate Change is proving a challenge.Harriet Walter has played Brutus and the King in Phyllida Lloyd's all-female Shakespeare productions of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Henry IV; now she takes on Prospero in The Tempest. She talks to Anne McElvoy about giving herself permission to take on roles still normally given to men and the never-ending wonder of Shakespearian verse as the entire trilogy opens in London.Plus - ahead of the American Presidential election, New Generation Thinker and historian, Ed Richardson pops up with the mesmerising story of how Hillary Clinton is very far from being the first ever female Presidential candidate.Artes Mundi 7 runs at the National MuseumWales: Cardiff 21.10.16 – 26.02.17The Shakespeare Trilogy: The Tempest, Henry IV and Julius Caesar are at the Donmar's King's Cross Theatre in London Sept 23rd - 17th December 2016Harriet Walter’s book: 'Brutus and Other Heroines: Playing Shakespeare's Roles for Women'Amitav Ghosh 'The Great Derangement: Climate Change and Thinking the Unthinkable'.Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Artist Dave McKean on the way Paul Nash's dreams have inspired a graphic novel.Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, Philip speaks to poet George Szirtes, who left the country as a boy in 1956, and writer Tibor Fischer, whose parents came to Britain that same year. They are joined by historians Nora Berend and Simon Hall to discuss the revolt, the history of Islam in Hungary and the political debates going on today. Paul Nash runs at Tate Britain from 26 October 2016 – 5 March 2017Dave McKean has created a graphic novel, Black Dog, based on the dreams of Paul Nash which forms part of the 14-18 Now arts programme.George Szirtes is the co-editor of the Hungarian Anthology The Colonnade of Teeth published by Bloodaxe Books and the title of his own new poetry collection is Mapping the Delta. Tibor Fischer is the author of numerous works, including the Booker Prize-nominated Under The Frog.Dr Nora Berend is Reader in European History, University of Cambridge, and author of books including At the Gate of Christendom: Jews, Muslims and "Pagans" in Medieval Hungary c. 1000-c. 1300Professor Simon Hall, University of Leeds, is the author of 1956: The World in Revolt. He is giving a public lecture on The Hungarian Revolution and the Refugee Experience, 1956-2016, in Leeds on Thursday 24 November.

How do you restore a silent film? Kevin Brownlow is in conversation with Matthew Sweet about his life's work documenting the early history of cinema and preserving many lost classics - including the culmination of a 50 year project which sees Abel Gance's 1927 epic Napoleon re-released in cinemas around the UK and on DVD. Described by Martin Scorsese as 'a giant among film historians', Brownlow received an Academy Honorary Award in 2010.As part of Southbank Centre's Film Scores Live, Carl Davis conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in his score for Napoleon - the longest film score ever composed - alongside a screening of the new digital version of the BFI-Photoplay restoration which Kevin Brownlow has worked on. This event happens on Sunday November 6th.BBC Radio 3's Sound of Cinema broadcasts an interview with Carl Davis on Saturday October 29th.Producer: Craig Templeton Smith

The award of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature to Bob Dylan is discussed by writer Toby Litt and by Anthony Wall, the Editor of BBC TV's Arena series who co-produced the Martin Scorsese documentary about Dylan: No Direction Home and who has made several other films with and about Dylan. As the death of Italian playwright and activist Dario Fo is announced, David Greig Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh is joined by playwright Anders Lustgarten to reflect on Dario Fo's plays. Caravaggio's art explored by curator Letizia Treves, New Generation Thinker Joe Moshenska and playwright Anders Lustgarten. Plus, historian and Russologist Catherine Merridale on her latest book about Lenin's journey from exile in Zurich back to Russia on the eve of the 1917 Revolution. Anne McElvoy presents. Beyond Caravaggio runs at The National Gallery 12 Oct 2016 To 15 Jan 2017. Anders Lustgarten's play The Seven Acts of Mercy is at the Royal Shakespeare Company from November 24th to February 10th Joe Moshenska is the author of A Stain In The Blood and teaches at Cambridge University. He is on the New Generation Thinkers scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio. Mexican writer Álvaro Enrigue's novel is called Sudden Death. It's translated by Natasha Wimmer. You can find more about fiction in translation in a collection on our website http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p047v6vh Catherine's Merridale's account of Lenin's journey from Zurich to Petrograd is Lenin On The Train. Producer: Luke Mulhall

The US-based author Teju Cole talks to Philip Dodd about a range of subjects from James Baldwin and the pressing political realities of Black Lives Matter to the creative potential of social media.Teju Cole is a photographer, art historian and writer. He was raised in Nigeria and lives in Brooklyn. His books are Open City, Every Day is For The Thief and his new collection of essays Known and Strange Things.The conversation was part of the London Literature Festival at South Bank Centre.Producer: Zahid Warley

What is an outsider? Gary Lachman and Suzi Feay discuss the writings of Colin Wilson with presenter Matthew Sweet 60 years on from the publication of Wilson's best-seller which analysed literary characters in works by Camus, Hemingway, Dostoyevsky and figures including Van Gogh, T.E. Lawrence and Nijinsky. The Vulgar is the title of an exhibition of fashion on display at the Barbican - Linda Grant and Sarah Kent discuss the messages our clothing choices send out. And New Generation Thinker Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough on Norse gods. Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson by Gary Lachman is out now. He has also written the introduction to a new edition of The Outsider published by Penguin. Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough has published Beyond The Northlands: Viking Voyages and the Old Norse Sagas. She was selected as one of the New Generation Thinkers in 2013 in a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council which works with academics who want to turn their research into radio. The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined runs at the Barbican Art Gallery from October 13th to 5th February 2017. Linda Grant's new novel The Dark Circle is out in November.Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Margaret Atwood and Naomi Alderman share an interest in science fiction, the role of women and the power of fiction. They are in conversation with Philip Dodd as part of a week of Free Thinking broadcasts tying into this year's London Literature Festival at Southbank Centre, London and its theme of Living in Future Times.Margaret Atwood's new novel Hag-Seed is a re-imagining of Shakespeare's The Tempest. She is also being awarded this year's Pen Pinter Prize.Naomi Alderman's new novel The Power will be published at the end of October. It imagines a world where women are endowed with an automatic power to hurt.Producer: Fiona McLean

H G Wells -- the man, his women and his writing. Matthew Sweet chairs a discussion about the father of science fiction to open the London Liteature Festival at South Bank Centre. Joining him for the event are Louisa Treger, Mark Blacklock, Joanna Kavenna and Christopher Priest.Louisa Treger's novel The Lodger was inspired by Dorothy Richardson, one of the key women in Wells’ life. Christopher Priest's books include The Space Machine and his latest, The Gradual which explores ideas about time. He 's Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society. Joanna Kavenna's latest novel is called A Field Guide to Reality. Mark Blacklock teaches science fiction at Birkbeck College and is the author of The Emergence of the Fourth Dimension: Higher Spatial Thinking in the Fin de Siecle.More information about anniversary events to mark 150 years since the birth of HG Wells are found at http://hgwellssociety.com/ .Sound Frontiers: BBC Radio 3 live at Southbank Centre. Celebrating 7 decades of pioneering music and culture.Producer: Zahid Warley.