Arts & Ideas

Rana Mitter and guests will be broadcasting live from the Radio 3's pop up studio at Southbank Centre, London. Norman Ohler, author of Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany, will be revealing the role played by drugs such as methamphetamine in Hitler's downfall. Nikesh Shukla, a former writer in residence at the Royal Festival Hall, has edited a collection of essays called The Good Immigrant. He'll be joined by novelist Kamila Shamsie, who has been involved in a project re-imagining the Canterbury Tales by talking to refugees, to reflect on the impact of migration on individuals, families and beyond. Plus, Catherine Howell, curator of toys and games at the V&A Museum of Childhood and Marie Foulston, curator of video games at the V&A, consider the metamorphosis of gaming from tabletops to laptops. The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla is a collection of essays by 21 British BAME poets, writers, journalists and artists. http://www.nikesh-shukla.com/ He is appearing at the Rochdale Literature and Ideas Festival on 22nd October Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany is by Norman Ohler translated by Shaun Whiteside. Kamila Shamsie is discussing Refugee Tales with Josh Cohen and Catherine Bergvall as part of the London Literature Festival at Southbank on Saturday October 8th at 5pm. She is also giving the 7th Castlefield Manchester Sermon at 7pm on October 14th as part of Manchester Literature Festival which runs from October 7th - 23rd. http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/ Game Plan: Board Games Rediscovered is at the V&A Museum of Childhood, London E2, from 8 October to 23 April. Producer: Craig Templeton Smith

The novelist Benjamin Markovits, the literary historian Lara Feigel and the broadcaster and essayist Kevin Jackson join Matthew Sweet and an audience at Southbank Centre, London to explore some of the key books published in 1946 – a year in which Penguin Classics launched in the UK with a version of the Odyssey, Herman Hesse won the Nobel Prize for Literature, popular fiction included crime stories by Agatha Christie, Edmund Crispin and John Dickson Carr and children were reading Tove Jansson’s Moomin series, the first of Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and the second Thomas the Tank Engine book.Their particular choices include Back, a novel by Henry Green, All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, Jill by Philip Larkin and The Moving Toyshop by Edmund CrispinRecorded in front of an audience at Southbank as part of Sound Frontiers: Celebrating seven decades of pioneering music and culture from Radio 3 and the Third Programme. Producer: Zahid Warley.

Historian Peter Frankopan and Classicist, Edith Hall, join the author and drama practitioner Kwame Kwei-Armah in a Free Thinking session, chaired by Anne McElvoy, on the concept of success. Success was scrutinised in a documentary on the Third Programme in 1967. Personal or public - how do we imagine success in the contemporary world? Have our hopes for a successful society grown or diminished, is a sense of personal integrity as strong as it was? Archives from the Third Programme include a transcript from 5 June 1967 of a programme produced by Douglas Cleverdon in which Philip Toynbee, Sir Michael Redgrave, Malcolm Muggeridge and John Berger talk to host Philip O'Connor about the nature of success. Have our definitions changed at all?Peter Frankopan from Worcester College, Oxford is the author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World Edith Hall's latest book is called Introducing The Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind Kwame Kwei-Armah, author, actor and Artistic Director of CENTERSTAGE Baltimore directs One Night in Miami by Kemp Power at London's Donmar Warehouse October 6th - December 3rd 2016Producer: Jacqueline Smith.

John Bew, Kwasi Kwarteng, Helen Lewis and Alison Light join Philip Dodd live in Radio 3's pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre. In the week of the Labour party conference, when Radio 3 marks the founding of the Third Programme, which sought to disseminate the arts, by broadcasting from a building constructed as part of a people's festival, this edition of Free Thinking looks at people power, changing politics and cultural tastes and Bertold Brecht's satirical idea that we might need to elect a new people. John Bew from King's College, London, is author of a new biography of Clement Attlee: 'Citizen Clem'.Alison Light is the author of Common People: The History of an English FamilyKwasi Kwarteng, Conservative MP for Spelthorne, is the author of books including Ghosts of Empire and Thatcher's Trial. Helen Lewis is deputy editor of the New Statesman.

Medieval illuminated manuscripts are our key to European art for hundreds of years but also to political and social movements. Christopher de Hamel, keeper of possibly the oldest gospel in the Latin world, talks to Matthew about the stories these books can tell beyond their glowing illustrations. We also visit Colour: The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts, currently glowing at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum; Kylie Murray, expert on Scottish medieval literature and a New Generation Thinker, reviews the exhibition. Emma Donoghue author of 'Room' is back with a new novel and another child in claustrophobic setting. This room is an earth-floored room in mid-19th century Ireland, where a Florence Nightingale-trained nurse and 'The Wonder', a devout Irish girl, are locked in a potentially fatal battle over whether the girl is, as she claims, being fed by manna from heaven. Inspired by a historical phenomenon, 'the fasting girls', Donoghue's novel takes place on the battlefield between the forces of Victorian scientific rationalism and traditional religious belief Plus Dennis Duncan on the story of Boris Vian and a post-war best-seller in France - I Spit On Your Graves . Emma Donoghue's novel is called The Wonder. Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts is by Christopher de Hamel - who has worked for Sothebys and is Fellow and librarian at Corpus Christi College Cambridge. The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is marking its first 200 year 1816 to 2016 with an exhibition called COLOUR: The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts. It runs until 30th December 2016 and includes on display the Macclesfield Psalter, an alchemical scroll, a duchess’ wedding gift, and the ABC of a five-year old princess.

Pulitzer prize winning American dramatist Suzan-Lori Parks talks to Philip Dodd about putting on stage the story of a slave fighting against those seeking to abolish slavery. Journalist Gary Younge discusses American violence, gun culture and the Black Lives Matter movement. Plus Abstract Expressionism at the Royal Academy - how does this art which was used by the CIA to promote American power look today ?Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) by Suzan-Lori Parks is at the Royal Court Theatre in London 15 Sep - 22 OctAbstract Expressionism is on show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from September 24th to January 2nd.Gary Younge's book is called Another Day In The Death of AmericaFrances Stonor Saunders is the author of Who Paid the Piper?: CIA and the Cultural Cold WarWilliam Boyd is the author of many novels including one which presents a fictional biography Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928–1960

Shelina Janmohamed on the modern Muslims whom she calls "Generation M". New novels by Amos Oz, Jonathan Safran Foer and Ayelet Gundar-Goshen explore aspects of Jewish identity and the history of Israel. Jonathan Freedland discusses these with Ayelet Gundar-Goshen. Plus Alan Powers and Christianna Ardizzone, the daughter of the artist who created the "Little Tim" series of books, talk to Anne McElvoy about his war art, ceramic figures and murals for ocean liners and his illustrations for both adult and children’s' books. The new novel from Amos Oz is called Judas. A film A Tale of Love and Darkness directed by and starring Natalie Portman from his memoir is also being released in cinemas in the USA. Jonathan Safran Foer's latest novel is called Who Am I. Ayelet Gundar-Goshen's Waking Lions has just been published in paperback. Jonathan Freedland is the author of Jacob’s Gift: A journey into the heart of belonging and of a series of thrillers published under his own name and the name Sam Bourne. Shelina Janmohamed's book is called Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World Ardizzone: A Retrospective runs at the House of Illustration in London from 23 September 2016 – 15 January 2017. Alan Powers has co-curated the exhibition and is the author of an illustrated monograph Edward Ardizzone - Artist and Illustrator. Producer: Eliane Glaser

Large-scale photographs showing the impact of humans on urban and natural environments are discussed by Canadian artist and 2005 TED prize winner Edward Burtynsky. Ella Hickson's new play Oil, directed by Carrie Cracknell, explores the politics of this natural resource from 1889 to present day. She's in conversation with Joe Douglas, director of a Dundee Rep production of John McGrath's drama The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black Black Oil which is on tour this autumn. Plus, presenter Philip Dodd is joined by analysts Peter Atherton and Jeremy Leggett to consider how we meet energy demands in the face of climate change and a rapidly rising global population. Producer: Craig Templeton SmithEssential Elements by Edward Burtynsky is published in hardback. His photographs Salt Pans | Essential Elements can be seen at the Flowers Gallery in Kingsland Road London from 16 September – 29 October 2016Ella Hickson's play Oil, directed by Carrie Cracknell, runs at London's Almeida Theatre from October 7th to November 26th.The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black Black Oil is the the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from 14th - 24th September; at Aberdeen Performing Arts from October 4th- 6th, Eden Court October 11th - 15th, at Glasgow Citizens Theatre from 18th - 22nd.

From Dickens, through wartime defences to Doctor Who - as a new festival looks at the landscape of the Thames Estuary, Matthew Sweet is joined by the author Rachel Lichtenstein and photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews. Jatinder Verma explains why a novel by Abdul Halim Sharar written in 1899 about the cult of the Assassins is relevant to put on stage now. And as the writings of Arne Næss are republished in English what was the influence of this Norwegian ecologist? Producer: Luke MulhallRachel Lichtenstein's book is called Estuary: Out from London to the Sea. She is curator of the Shorelines Literature Festival which is part of Estuary 2016. Points of Departure, curated by Gareth Evans and Sue Jones: an exhibition of new and existing work by 28 contemporary artistswhich includes photographs by Chloe Dewe Mathews. On display in the Grade II listed Tilbury Cruise Terminal Paradise of the Assassins is the opening production at the newly refurbished Tara Arts Theatre in Earlsfield, South London where Jatinder Verma is Artistic Director. It runs from September 15th to October 8th. The Ecology of Wisdom by Arne Næss is out now.

Judges Ian McMillan - poet and presenter of The Verb, Jackie Kay - Scottish Makar and Judith Palmer - director of The Poetry Society are joined on stage by the winning poets whose writing has been prompted by music from this year's Proms. The reader is Stella Gonet. Winner over 18 Category: Anna Kisby Runners-up: Graham Burchell and John Scrivens Winner 12-18: Lucy Thynne Runners-up: Katherine Spencer-Davis and Jason Khan Producer: Fiona McLean

Playwright, poet, spy. Anne McElvoy discusses Aphra Behn with Professor Elaine Hobby and director Loveday Ingram who has given Behn's play The Rover a South American carnival setting at the RSC. Plus Iain Sinclair and Professor David Bates on the events of 1066 which changed the course of English history. And an interview with Mark Thompson, former Director General of the BBC and current Chief Executive Officer of The New York Times Company.The Rover runs in rep at The Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon from September 8th until February 11th 2017. The Root 1066 festival runs until October 16th at a variety of venues. www.1066contemporary.com Mark Thompson is the author of Enough Said: What's Gone Wrong with the Language of PoliticsProducer: Torquil MacLeod

On the 300th anniversary of the birth of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, garden writer Anna Pavord talks about his work and his legacy. Author of many books , her most recent is called Landskipping. She is interviewed by Ian McMillan, presenter of Radio 3’s The Verb and judge of the Proms Poetry competition.

On this day 350 years ago the capital was in ruins after the Great Fire of London. Historian Adrian Tinniswood describes the massive clearing-up operation, and talks to New Generation Thinker Thomas Charlton of Dr Williams’s Library. Producer: Katy Hickman

Tonight’s Prom features a setting by Zemlinsky of ‘The Gardener’ by the great Bengali poet and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Novelist Tahmima Anam and New Generation Thinker Preti Taneja, from the University of Cambridge, discuss the poem and Tagore’s place in both Bengali and world culture. The discussion is chaired by Rana Mitter who is a regular presenter of Radio 3’s Arts and Ideas programme Free Thinking and of Sunday Features. Producer: Jacqueline Smith

The border separating East and West Germany was first breached in Leipzig. As the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra perform at the Proms, novelist Philip Kerr and historian Karen Leeder from the University of Oxford talk about East and West Germany, their differences and similarities and how massive peaceful demonstrations in Leipzig in 1989 triggered the fall of the Berlin Wall. The discussion is chaired by Rana Mitter who is a regular presenter of Radio 3’s Arts and Ideas programme Free Thinking and of Sunday Features. Producer: Luke Mulhall

The composer and performer Paganini is alleged to have sold his soul to the Devil in order to become a musical prodigy. The Reverend Richard Coles and poet Imtiaz Dharker discuss the Devil in Christian and Islamic cultures. The discussion is chaired by Dr Christopher Harding from the University of Edinburgh who was selected as one of ten New Generation Thinkers in 2013. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select academics who can turn their research into radio. Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Michael Pennington is a leading Shakespeare actor who co-founded the English Shakespeare Company with director Michael Bogdanov and has performed at theatres across the world. He is the author of several books about Shakespeare’s plays - the most recent of which is King Lear in Brooklyn. He also performs a solo Shakespeare show Sweet William. He is interviewed by Dr Sarah Dillon from the University of Cambridge and one of the BBC and AHRC’s New Generation Thinkers. Part of a series of discussions in which leading figures explore the way Shakespeare has depicted their profession in his plays.Producer: Torquil MacLeod

References to sheep, lambs, fleeces, wool and shepherds are to be found in many of Shakespeare’s plays. From Corin in ‘As You Like It’ who describes himself as a ‘natural philosopher’ to Perdita’s saviour in ‘The Winter’s Tale’, they are key characters in the plots and reflect the importance of the wool trade in Elizabethan England. James Rebanks, talks about his life as a shepherd in Cumbria and how much – if at all – the shepherd’s life has changed over the past 400 years. He will be joined on stage by Shakespeare expert Dr Emma Smith from the University of Oxford who presented Radio 3’s Sunday documentary looking at the buyers of Shakespeare’s First Folio. The discussion is hosted by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough from Durham University who was selected as a New Generation Thinker in 2013 in the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academic broadcasters of the future.Producer: Zahid Warley

No-one attributed more importance to naming the baby than Laurence Sterne's Walter Shandy but his attempts to ensure his son's future success came to naught and all because he couldn't get his trousers on. As the 2016 list of top baby names is revealed to a waiting world, Sophie Coulombeau explores literary archives to uncover the true story of What's In a Name? Just the fears, hopes and frustrations, ambitions and proclivities of British society over the centuries.

HG Wells was born 150 years ago this year. Although a prolific writer in many genres, he is best known today for his science fiction books, ‘The War of the Words’ and ‘The Time Machine’. As the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain prepare to perform Holst’s suite The Planets, novelist Stephen Baxter, who has been commissioned to write a sequel to ‘The War of the Worlds’ examines Wells’s novels and philosophy. He’s joined by science fiction expert and New Generation Thinker Dr Sarah Dillon from the University of Cambridge. The discussion is hosted by Dr Will Abberley from the University of Sussex, another New Generation Thinker. 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.Producer: Luke Mulhall

In the third discussion about the way Shakespeare depicted different professions in his plays, veteran sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to circumnavigate the world single-handed, looks at playwright's view of the sea, shipwrecks and sea captains. He's joined on stage at Imperial College Union by New Generation Thinkers Dr John Gallagher from the University of Cambridge, and Nandini Das from the University of Liverpool who chairs the discussions. 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. Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Novelist Patricia Duncker, discusses George Eliot, her travels in Germany in the 19th century and the German music she refers to in her novels and diaries. Duncker's novel Sophie and the Sybil is a fictional version of George Eliot’s time in Germany just before the publication of the final part of Middlemarch. Alongside her on stage is Clare Walker-Gore of Trinity College, Cambridge, one of the academics selected last year by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Council to be a New Generation Thinker. The host is Anne McElvoy. Producer: Zahid Warley

Continuing our exploration of the ways in which Shakespeare portrayed aspects of professional life, Geoffrey Robertson QC talks about the law and lawyers, contending that Shakespeare must either have studied at the Inns of Court or was close friends with those who did, illustrated with readings performed by Bill Paterson. Highlights of a discussion hosted by Anne McElvoy and recorded at Imperial College Union earlier this evening.Producer: Luke Mulhall

Shakespeare's depiction of religion and clerics is discussed by the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, Ewan Fernie from the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham and presenter Rana Mitter. Highlights of a discussion recorded at Imperial College as part of a series exploring different professions and vocations in Shakespeare's work.Producer: Zahid Warley

The first of a series of six events looking at Shakespeare's depiction of different professions in his plays. Colonel Tim Collins OBE, whose rousing eve of battle speech to his troops as they prepared to go into Iraq in March 2003 has become famous, and Shakespearean expert Professor Emma Smith will discuss soldiers and war in plays including Henry V with presenter Rana Mitter. Recorded in front of an audience at the Imperial College Union earlier this evening.Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

From the wily Figaro to the murderous Sweeny Todd, barbers and the politics of shaving cast an interesting light on the history of 18th and 19th century Britain. Historian and expert on the Victorian Body, Kathryn Hughes and Alun Withey from the University of Exeter, who is studying hair and health over the centuries consider why clean-shaven Georgians gave way to the hairy wonders of bearded Victorians and why soldiers returning from Empire were the fore-runners of increasingly hirsute fashions and tell Shahidah Bari about muscular Christianity, bearded ladies and a range of products no man would be without.

Rana Mitter talks to the novelist Philip Hensher and Professor Philip Horne about the impact of Italy on the writing of Henry James, James, the centenary of whose death falls this year, first visited Italy when he was 26. It was love at first sight. Over the next forty years he made many more trips to the country and published an acclaimed collection of essays called Italian Hours. Henry James: A Life in Letters edited by Philip Horne is out now. Philip Hensher's most recent book is a collection of short stories called Tales of Persuasion.Producer: Zahid Warley

Marking the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, Claire Harman, her biographer and Yorkshire-born novelist and author of ‘Chocolat’ Joanne Harris discuss her life and work. The discussion is presented by Dr Gregory Tate from the University of St Andrews who teaches Brontë's work and was recorded earlier as a free audience event held at the Imperial College Union. For more details go to the Proms website. Gregory Tate is one of the New Generation Thinkers selected by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council in a scheme to find academics interested in turning their research into radio. Charlotte Brontë: A Life by Claire Harman is out now. The most recent novel published by Joanne Harris is called Different Class. The Brontë Society Anniversary Conference takes place in Manchester from August 19th to the 21st. For information about a series of exhibitions at the Haworth Parsonage in Yorkshire, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Media Museum in Bradford go to the website of The Brontë Society. https://www.bronte.org.uk/whats-on/news/149/bronte200 Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Rana Mitter introduces author Frank Cottrell-Boyce to deliver this year’s Proms Lecture. Four years ago he was involved in writing the Olympic Opening Ceremony for the London Olympic Games. His lecture looks at the cultural legacy, the importance of arts in education and the wider influence of arts on society. Producer: Fiona McLean

Anne McElvoy looks ahead to the Rio Olympics discussing Brazilian culture with author, politics lecturer and former National Secretary for Public Security Luis Eduardo Suárez and with Dr Edward King from the University of Bristol. The RSC is exploring saying the unsayable this summer with a season of plays, Anne talks with the writer and the director of 'Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier' - Somalia Seaton and Nadia Latif. Neuroscientist Marc Lewis explains why he is convinced that addiction is a behavioural problem and not a disease. And Raqib Shaw talks about his new exhibition of self-portraits. Rio de Janeiro: Extreme City by Luis Eduardo Suárez published by Allen Lane is out now. Digital Technologies in Argentine and Brazilian Culture by Edward King explores the use of science fiction in literature and graphic fiction from Argentina and Brazil. The Biology of Desire: why addiction is not a disease by Marc Lewis published by Scribe is out now 'Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier' runs from 27th July at the RSC in Stratford Raqib Shaw's self portraits are at the White Cube in Bermondsey until 11th September 2016. Producer: Ruth Watts

Philip Dodd explores war and modern memory with former Colonel Lincoln Jopp MC, the historians, Lloyd Clark, Anna Feigenbaum and Ana Carden-Coyne and the New Generation Thinker, Anindya Raychaudhuri.Lloyd Clark teaches War Studies at the University of Buckingham and is writing a book on generalship.Dr Ana Carden-Coyne is co-director of the Centre for the Cultural History of War at Manchester University.Dr Anna Feigenbaum teaches at Bournemouth University and is currently writing Tear Gas: 100 Years in the Making. Former Colonel Lincoln Jopp MC studied philosophy and theology at university before taking up a commission with the Scots Guards. He was decorated for gallantry in Sierra Leone and served in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan before finishing his military career as assistant head of the MOD's strategy unit.Dr Anindya Raychaudhuri is a lecturer in the School of English at the University of St Andrews and is conducting oral history research into the impact of Partition.The New Generation Thinkers prize is an initiative launched by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to find the brightest minds from across the UK who have the potential to transform their research into engaging broadcast programmes. You can hear more about the research topics of all 10 2016 New Generation Thinkers on our website on a programme broadcast on May 31st and available as an arts and ideas podcast and find clips where you can hear their newly commissioned written pieces on a range of subjects.Producer: Zahid Warley

Matthew Sweet and the critic, Natalie Haynes report from Liverpool where art has taken over the city. They talk to the artists, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Betty Woodman and Krzysztof Wodiczko as well as the Biennial director, Sally Tallant and the poet and 2015 New Generation Thinker Sandeep Parmar, who is curating a literary programme for the festival.The Liverpool Biennial runs until October 16th . Sandeep Parmar is the author of two poetry books: The Marble Orchard and Eidolon (a rewriting of Helen of Troy in modern America). Producer: Zahid Warley

New Generation Thinker Victoria Donovan explores the links between Wales and Ukraine. Later this month the Wales Book of the Year Awards take place. We hear from Dr Emma Schofield about the way Welsh fiction has reflected debates since devolution. And talk to Lidudumalingani - winner of this year's Caine Prize for African Writing. And Alex Massie and Professor Richard Wyn Jones discuss the view from Scotland and Wales after the Brexit referendum. Dr Victoria Donovan researches Russian history and culture at the University of St Andrews. The New Generation Thinkers prize is an initiative launched by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to find the brightest minds from across the UK who have the potential to transform their research into engaging broadcast programmes. You can hear more about the research topics of all 10 2016 New Generation Thinkers on our website. You can read the Caine Prize story here http://caineprize.com/2016-shortlist/ The Wales Book of the Year Awards are announced on Thursday 21 July. The shortlists are: The Roland Mathias Poetry Award: Love Songs of Carbon, Philip Gross /Boy Running, Paul Henry /Pattern beyond Chance, Stephen Payne The Rhys Davies Fiction Award: The Girl in the Red Coat, Kate Hamer/ We Don't Know What We're Doing, Thomas Morris / I Saw a Man, Owen Sheers The Open University in Wales Creative Non-Fiction Award: Losing Israel, Jasmine Donahaye / Woman Who Brings the Rain, Eluned Gramich / Wales Unchained, Daniel G. Williams Aberystwyth University Welsh-language Poetry Award: Nes Draw, Mererid Hopwood / Hel llus yn y glaw, Gruffudd Owen / Eiliadau Tragwyddol, Cen Williams Welsh-language Fiction Award: Norte, Jon Gower / Y Bwthyn, Caryl Lewis / Rifiera Reu, Dewi Prysor The Open University in Wales Welsh-language Creative Non-Fiction Award: Pam Na Fu Cymru, Simon Brooks / Dyddiau Olaf Owain Glyndwr, Gruffydd Aled Williams / Is-deitla'n Unig, Emyr Glyn WilliamsProducer: Ruth Watts

As Georgia O'Keeffe images of New Mexico go on display at Tate Matthew Sweet discusses the idea of the desert with writers Geoff Dyer and Laurence Scott and Tanya Barson, the exhibition curator. Georgia O'Keeffe runs at Tate Modern from 6 July – 30 October 2016 Geoff Dyer is the author of White Sands: Experiences from the Outside World. It was read as Radio 4's Book of the Week last week which you can find on the Radio 4 website Laurence Scott is the author of The Four-Dimensional Human

Hisham Matar last saw his father when he was 19. He talks to Rana Mitter about his attempts to find out what happened to his parent who was last seen in a Libyan jail and he discusses the way his family was caught up in the recent wave of fighting in Libya. 2016 New Generation Thinker Katherine Cooper looks at the writing of Storm Jameson. The design of street furniture in post war Britain is explored by Eleanor Herring. Gideon Rachman and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira discuss the phenomenon of 'easternisation' in an era of Asian dominance.Hisham Matar's book is called The Return. Eleanor Herring has published Street Furniture Design: Contesting Modernism in Post-War Britain Gideon Rachman's forthcoming book is called Easternisation: War and Peace in the Asian Century Ricardo Soares de Oliveira is the author of Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil WarKatherine Cooper researches Margaret Storm Jameson's novels of World War Two at Newcastle University.The New Generation Thinkers prize is an initiative launched by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to find the brightest minds from across the UK who have the potential to transform their research into engaging broadcast programmes. You can hear more about the research topics of all 10 2016 New Generation Thinkers on our website on a programme broadcast on May 31st and available as an arts and ideas podcast and find clips where you can hear their newly commissioned written pieces on a range of subjects.Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Post referendum, Anne McElvoy is joined by Kwasi Kwarteng MP for Spelthorne who made the case for Brexit; Dr Uta Staiger, Deputy Director of the European Institute at University College London; Sunder Katwala, the Director of the Think Tank, Britain Thinks; and, Abigail Green, Professor of European History at the University of Oxford discuss the competing histories behind Britain's decision to leave the European Union. And we're joined by one of our 2016 New Generation Thinkers, Chris Kissane, who discusses our ideas of citizenship. Plus Dr Matthew Wall from Swansea University shares his research into betting patterns and what they tell us about the referendum. Chris Kissane researches early modern history, food and history, economic and social history at the London School of Economics.The New Generation Thinkers prize is an initiative launched by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to find the brightest minds from across the UK who have the potential to transform their research into engaging broadcast programmes. You can hear more about the research topics of all 10 2016 New Generation Thinkers on our website on a programme broadcast on May 31st and available as an arts and ideas podcast and find clips where you can hear their newly commissioned written pieces on a range of subjects.

British TV and film producer Tony Garnett is in conversation with Matthew Sweet about a career which straddles the Wednesday Play and the many films he worked on with Ken Loach for the BBC in the 1960s, including Up The Junction and Cathy Come Home through the late 1990s series This Life to Between the Lines and a forthcoming drama about police infiltration of British activist groups. Tony Garnett's memoir is called The Day The Music Died. Producer: Fiona McLean

Anne McElvoy evaluates the first major English edition of short fiction by the great German critic and essayist, Walter Benjamin with the translator and scholar Esther Leslie and the critic, Kevin Jackson. Also in the programme a guide to the Soviet Superwoman courtesy of curator Elena Sudokova and Dolya Gavanski -- the moving forces behind the GRAD gallery show devoted to women in the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991.And as Peter Watkins' critically acclaimed film based on the life of Edvard Munch is re-released New Generation Thinker Leah Broad considers the Norwegian painter's achievement and the art of biography.Fay Bound Alberti's cultural history of the body completes the programme - why do we talk of the heart as the seat of our emotions and where would you expect to find someone's "mind" ? This Mortal Coil by Fay Bound Alberti is published by Oxford University Press.The Storyteller by Walter Benjamin is published by Verso on 23rd June.Superwoman: Work, Build and Don't Whine is on at GRAD in Little Portland Street in London from 18 June -17 SeptemberEdvard Munch - a 1974 biographical film about the Norwegian Expressionist painter Edvard Munch, written and directed by Peter Watkins, has been re-released on DVD by Eureka.Leah Broad's research at the University of Oxford is focused on Nordic modernism. She is editor of The Oxford Culture Review and winner of the Observer/Anthony Burgess prize for the best arts journalism essay in 2015 for her reappraisal of the Finnish composer Sibelius.Producer: Zahid Warley

Philip Dodd debates "Universities - therapy or learning?". New Generation Thinker Dr Seán Williams looks at the history of the university as a space for thought, considering the arguments put forward by Frederick Nietzsche. Dr Seán Williams is at the University of Sheffield's School of Languages and Cultures. He is an expert on German and Comparative Literature and is currently researching a cultural history of hairdressing.Dr Matt Lodder, Lecturer in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture at the University of Essex and Dr Joanna Williams, education editor of Spiked Online and former Director of the Study for Higher Education at the University of Kent discuss what is happening in academia and what it means. Dr Shahidha Bari reviews Omer Fast's film of Tom McCarthy's novel Remainder. And Adam Mars Jones joins her to discuss the place for experimentation in the arts today.

Psychoanalyst Darian Leader's new book looks at the culture and psychology of the human hand. He joins Matthew Sweet along with art historian Lisa Le Feuvre, currently curating an exhibition on sculpture and prosthesis at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, and robotics scientist Thrishantha Nanayakkara from King's College London, who works on the problem of engineering a functioning hand from scratch.'The Anatomical Venus' looks at another point where physiology and art meet, in waxwork anatomical models. The book's author Joanna Ebenstein joins Matthew along with the curator of the Barts Pathology Museum Carla Valentine.And, one of this year's New Generation Thinkers, Seb Falk, unveils his work on the history of science. Seb Falk is at the University of Cambridge and blogs at http://astrolabesandstuff.blogspot.co.uk/ New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio programmes. Find out more from our website and hear them introducing their research in the programme which broadcast on May 31st - available as an arts and ideas podcast.The Body Extended: Sculpture and Prosthetics runs at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds from 21st July 2016 - 23rd October 2016Robotics Open Day 2016 runs 11am to 4pm King's College London on Sat 25th June. You can hear more about The Robots Are Coming at Southbank's Power of Power Festival debates on Saturday 25 June Producer: Luke Mulhall

Anne McElvoy is joined by curators and artists and an audience at Nottingham Contemporary to discuss the life of an artist today as Tate Modern opens its new wing. Her panel is Elizabeth Price - winner of the Turner Prize in 2012 and curator of a new touring exhibition Alice Channer - a sculptor who graduated from the Royal College in 2008 Sam Thorne Director of Nottingham Contemporary and former Artistic Director of Tate St Ives Ann Gallagher who holds responsibility for building Tate's collection and archive of British art In a Dream You Saw a Way to Survive and You Were Full of Joy curated by Turner Prize-winning artist Elizabeth Price is at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. Presenting a vast repertoire of seminal artworks and historical objects, it explores the psychological and affective power of the horizontal. It runs from June 10th to October 30th and then moves to the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, and the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea. Nottingham Contemporary is hosting exhibitions this summer displaying the work of Michael Beutler and Yelena Popova 16 Jul 2016 - 25 Sep 2016. The largest ever exhibition in the UK of the works of Simon Starling – the Turner Prize winner in 2005 runs until June 26th. Tate Modern's new ten-storey Switch House opens 17 June 2016. It gives Tate Modern 60% more space for displays and opens with a focus on the work of Louise Bourgeois in the Artist Rooms. Works by Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin and Henri Matisse join new acquisitions from Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. This year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition runs from June 13th to August 21st. Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Philip Dodd talks to Emma Cline whose first novel about teenage girls and the Charles Manson cult and our third 2016 New Generation Thinker Louisa Uchum Egbunike marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Efuru by Flora Nwapa - the first novel written by a Nigerian woman to be published. She's joined by editor and critic Ellah Allfrey to look at African writing today. Plus Dark Money - New Yorker writer, Jane Mayer examines how money has changed American politics. And she's joined by Professor Gary Gerstle and Dr James Boys to discuss the tensions between free speech and big donors, populists and libertarians. Emma Cline's first novel The Girls is out now.Jane Mayer's book is called Dark Money: How a Secretive Group of Billionaires is trying to buy political control in the USLouisa Uchum Egbunike is at Manchester Metropolitan University. Louisa co-convenes an annual Igbo conference at SOASNew Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio programmes. Find out more from our website and hear them introducing their research in the programme which broadcast on May 31st - available as an arts and ideas podcast.Producer: Ruth Watts

Artist Dorothy Cross, author Joanna Kavenna, the cosmologist Jo Dunkley and our second 2016 New Generation Thinker historian Edmund Richardson from Durham University join Matthew Sweet for a programme recorded in Oxford exploring mysticism and its role in a timeless search for reality.Joanna Kavenna's novel A Field Guide to Reality is published at the end of June.Dorothy Cross is displaying art as part of Mystics and Rationalists - it runs from June 11th to August 7th as part of the Kaleidoscope series celebrating 50 years of Modern Art Oxford.Edmund Richardson has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels & Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity.New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio programmes. Find out more from our website and hear them introducing their research in the programme which broadcast on May 31st - available as an arts and ideas podcast.Producer: Jacqueline Smith

As two major archaeological exhibitions open in the UK featuring discoveries from underwater excavations off Egypt and Sicily, Rana Mitter hears from historian and archaeologist, Alexandra Sofroniew, exhibition curator of Storms, War and Shipwrecks at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum about a British pioneer of underwater excavations, Honor Frost, and discusses why underwater sites make the difficulties and challenges worthwhile with Damian Robinson, Director of Centre for Maritime Archaeology at Oxford University and contributing archaeologist to the British Museum's Sunken Cities: Egypt's Lost Worlds.Joining them to discuss the changing story of archaeology itself in this country and abroad, Raimund Karl, Professor of Archaeology and Heritage at Bangor University who has done two continent-wide surveys on the state of the profession in Europe while continuing to dig, study and develop the ever changing story of the Celts, and Susan Greaney, who works for English Heritage presenting interpretations of sites from Stonehenge to Tintagel to the public when she's not digging in Orkney and pursuing her PhD on Neolithic ceremonial complexes. Storms, War and Shipwrecks: Treasures from the Sicilian Seas is at the Ashmolean Museum 21 June 2016 – 25 September 2016 Sunken Cities: Egypt's Lost Worlds is at the British Museum from May 19th - November 27th 2016.Producer: Jacqueline SmithGuests: Alexandra Sofroniew, exhibition curator Storms, War and Shipwrecks, Ashmolean Museum Damian Robinson, Director, Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology Raimund Karl, Professor Archaeology and Heritage, Bangor University Susan Greaney, English Heritage

Moral philosopher Peter Singer is in conversation with Philip Dodd. His essay Famine, Affluence and Morality was first printed in 1972 in the journal Philosophy and Public Affairs. It has now been republished with a foreword by Bill and Melinda Gates. Peter Singer's book is called Famine, Affluence and Morality Producer: Ruth Watts

Icelandic writer Sjón talks to Matthew Sweet about fiction, poetry and making music with Björk. Curator Sacha Llewellyn explores the art of Winifred Knights, Katie Roiphe looks at writers dying and in the first of our commissioned columns from 2016 New Generation Thinkers - Sarah Jackson from Nottingham Trent University explores touch and frostbite. Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón was named Best Icelandic Novel of 2015. The English translation which is out now is from Victoria Cribb. Winifred Knights (1899-1947) is the first major retrospective of the award-winning Slade School artist which will display all her completed paintings for the first time since their creation, including the apocalyptic masterpiece The Deluge, 1920. It runs at the Dulwich Picture Gallery from June 8th to September 18th 2016. Katie Roiphe's new book The Violet Hour considers the deaths of six literary figures Susan Sontag, Sigmund Freud, John Updike, Dylan Thomas, Maurice Sendak and James Salter. Sarah Jackson from Nottingham Trent University is one of the 2016 New Generation Thinkers and a poet whose collection Pelt was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio programmes. Find out more from our website and hear them introducing their research in the programme which broadcast on May 31st - available as an arts and ideas podcast. Producer: Fiona McLean.

Philip Dodd is joined by art historian Devika Singh to consider the art of Bhupen Khakhar and the subjects he explored including class difference; desire and homosexuality; and his personal battle with cancer.Also, Saskia Sassen, Jane Morris, David Anderson and Pat Kane discuss the emergence of London as a global city and what the economic and cultural ramifications might be for the rest of the UK.Bhupen Khakhar is on show at Tate Modern from June 1st to September 6th.Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Lionel Shriver, Marlon James and Steve Jones join Rana Mitter for a Free Thinking discussion about inheritance recorded at this week's Hay Festival. The discussion ranges from family relationships to the planet we are leaving for future generations, from money to morality, genius to ideas about goodness and evil. Lionel Shriver's latest novel called The Mandibles depicts a family living in a near future America where the dollar has crashed and food is scarce. She is also the author of We Need To Talk About Kevin, Big Brother and A Perfectly Good Family. The biologist and geneticist Steve Jones' latest book No Need For Geniuses looks at Paris at the time of the French Revolution, when it was the world capital of science. Marlon James won the Booker Prize for his most recent novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. His other books include Crow's Devil and The Book of Night Women.

Find out who have been named as the 10 New Generation Thinkers for 2016 as they join Rana Mitter to share interesting facts from their research with the audience at this week's Hay Festival. Topics include the history of the hairdresser to the search for Alexander the Great's missing tomb; why Sigmund Freud detested the telephone to the complex relationship between the USSR and its historic churches.New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio programmes. You can hear more from the New Generation Thinkers who will be appearing on Free Thinking throughout June and find out more from our website. The New Generation Thinkers 2016:Leah Broad, University of Oxford Leah Broad’s research is on Nordic modernism, exploring the music written for the theatre at the turn of the 20th century, taking her to Finland and Scandinavia to search out scores which have not been heard since the early 1900s. As a journalist Leah won the Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism in 2015. She is the founder of The Oxford Culture ReviewKatherine Cooper, University of Newcastle Katherine Cooper is working on a project exploring the ways in which British writers including H.G.Wells, Graham Greene and Margaret Storm Jameson helped in the escape of fellow writers facing prosecution and imprisonment under fascist governments in the period between WW1 and WW2..Victoria Donovan, University of St Andrews Victoria Donovan’s is a historian of Russia whose research explores the complex and contradictory relationship between the Soviets and their religious heritage. Her new project is looking at the significance of patriotism in contemporary Putin’s Russia. She has worked on topics including Soviet and contemporary Russian cinema, socialist architecture and the connections between South Wales and the Eastern Ukraine.Louisa Uchum Egbunike, Manchester Metropolitan University Louisa Uchum Egbunike’s research centres on African literature in which she specialises in Igbo (Nigerian) fiction and culture. Her latest work explores the child’s voice in contemporary fiction on Biafra. She co-convenes an annual Igbo conference at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) and is curating a ‘Remembering Biafra’ exhibition to open in 2018.Seb Falk, University of Cambridge Seb Falk is a medieval historian and historian of science whose research centres on the scientific instruments made and used by monks, scholars and nobles in the later Middle Ages. His research has led him to made wood and brass models of the instruments he studies. His new project will be an investigation of the sciences practised by medieval monks and nuns.Sarah Jackson, Nottingham Trent University Sarah Jackson’s current research explores the relationship between the telephone and literature from the work of Arthur Conan Doyle to that of Haruki Murakami. The project involves research at the BT Archives which hold the public records of the world’s oldest communications company. She is also a poet whose collection Pelt won the prestigious Seamus Heaney Prize in 2012. Christopher Kissane, London School of Economics Christopher Kissane is a historian working on the role of food in history exploring what we can learn about societies and cultures through studying their diets. His book, which will be published later this year, examines food’s relationship with major issues of early modern society including the Spanish Inquisition and witchcraft. Anindya Raychaudhuri, University of St Andrews Anindya Raychaudhuri is working on the way nostalgia is used by diasporic communities to create imaginary and real homes. He has written about the Spanish Civil War and the India/Pakistan partition and the cultural legacies of these wars. He co-hosts a podcast show, State of the Theory, and explores the issues raised by his research in stand up comedy.Edmund Richardson, University of Durham Edmund Richardson is working on a book about the lost cities of Alexander the Great and the history of their discovery by adventurers and tricksters rather than scholars. His first book was on Victorian Britain and the ‘lowlife’ lived by magicians, con-men and deserters. His latest project is on Victorian ghost-hunters and their obsession with the ancient world which led Houdini to fight against the con-artists making a fortune from fake ‘spirits’.Sean Williams, University of Sheffield Sean Williams is currently writing a cultural history of the hairdresser from the 18th century to the present day exploring their role as ‘outsiders’ in society. As a lecturer at the University of Berne in Switzerland he taught German and Comparative Literature and wrote articles on flatulence in the 18th century and contemporary satires of Hitler.Producer: Fiona McLean

Rana Mitter rereads The Tale of Genji. Sometimes called the world's first novel it was written in the early years of the 11th century and has been credited to the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu. This year's Bradford Literature Festival is focusing on the modern translation from Dennis Washburn, Professor at Dartmouth College (USA). Dennis Washburn joins Rana along with Jennifer Guest and Christopher Harding. Also in this programme, Brian Christian, co-author of new book 'Algorithms to Live By' on how maths helps us make decisions, and clinical psychologist Rasjid Skinner on Islamic approaches to psychology. Richard Bowring, Dennis Washburn, Juliet Winters Carpenter discuss The Tale of Genji at the Bradford Literature Festival on Saturday, 28th May 2016 | 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm Hadj Abdur Rasjid Skinner presents Islamic Approaches to Psychology at the Bradford Literature Festival on Saturday, 28th May 2016 | 10:30 am - 1:00 pm Brian Christian is the author of Algorithms to Live By and of The Most Human Human. Producer: Luke Mulhall