Jelena Sofronijevic tells a story of Serbia, Yugoslavia - and Telford. In this talk Jelena explores questions of diasporic identity through her family's connection with Yugoslavia, a country which no longer exists. On a visit to Serbia, she discovers that her upbringing in Telford had been more traditionally ‘Serbian’ than that of her Belgrade and Novi Sad relatives. And she finds herself, despite being born after Yugoslavia ceased to exist, drawn to its blended nationalism; her lived experience...
Sep 02, 2020•21 min
Claire Lynch describes how she navigated motherhood. When Claire arrived at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit shortly after the birth of her daughters, the nurse on duty looked alarmed, then flustered, and finally realised, in Claire's words, 'that I have not risen, Lazarus-like, from an epidural, but might just be another kind of mother all together.' This is how Claire begins her beautiful meditation on what it means to be a mother - reflecting on her experiences trying to get pregnant, of what...
Aug 26, 2020•25 min
Sam Gallivan examines the similarities between surgery and sculpture. Sam is an orthopaedic surgeon, and in this talk takes us into the operating theatre to experience how it sounds, and how it feels. And it's the sense of feeling - of drilling into a bone or cutting through a ligament - where she finds unexpected similarities between surgery and sculpture. What, she asks, can each learn from the other? And how might this sense of surgery as a craft challenge the dominant way of seeing the medic...
Aug 19, 2020•21 min
Lois Pryce argues that bicycles need to be reclaimed as simply a mundane means of transport - and cycling needs to be uncool again. As a passionate advocate of two-wheeled transport, whether it's powered by an engine or her own legs, Lois is tired of disapproving looks. And she thinks that in the case of bicycles, it's partly because cycling has turned into an identity. She wants to revert to the time it was just a way of getting around. Producer: Peter Snowdon.
Aug 12, 2020•21 min
Reggie Nelson believes in the importance for young people of finding a mentor and tells the extraordinary story of how he found his own. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook
Aug 05, 2020•27 min
Caoilinn Hughes discovers the power of embracing uncertainty instead of always fearing it. In her work as a writer and in life, she commends a little more leaping into the unknown. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook
Jul 29, 2020•26 min
Carl Honoré believes we're all missing out by stereotyping older people as "over the hill". He argues for recognition of the positive sides of ageing, and thinks everyone would benefit from more inter-generational mixing. "Spending time with people of different ages makes us happier – and less ageist. After all, nothing shoots down stereotypes more than getting to know the people being stereotyped." Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook www.carlhonore.info
Jul 22, 2020•26 min
Mahamed Hashi draws on his experience as a teacher, youth worker, councillor and victim of a stabbing and shooting to speak out against racist stereotyping. He explains why he thinks community outreach is a two way process: meeting people's needs but also listening to what they have to say, especially young people. Positive engagement with the police and representative bodies is the way, he believes, to change racist culture and a discriminatory status quo. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila ...
Jul 15, 2020•26 min
Nwando Ebizie describes the world she senses: one of glowing lines and shapes; whizzing, fizzing dots; and auras around people, trees and stars. Nwando's experiences with a condition called 'Visual Snow' have been an important impetus to her work as an artist. Other people's reactions, when Nwando describes them, have been another. In her art, and in this beautiful talk, Nwando tries to bring others into her world, a world which she describes as a denial of absolutes, and one in which everyone u...
Jul 09, 2020•23 min
Sammy Wright asks why we put such weight on exam results. Sammy is a deputy headteacher of a large secondary school. He spends his days teaching students knowledge which will uplift and enrich them; he demands rigour and high standards; and he wants to help his students succeed in their exams. But why, he asks in this talk, do we elide success in exams with some moral quality? And why do we put such weight on the exam results? In this powerful talk, Sammy suggests that much of it has to do with ...
Jul 01, 2020•22 min
Ali Goldsworthy explains why campaigns which succeed by polarising people can cause long-term harm, and suggests ways we might tackle the resulting damage. Ali was a top digital campaigner, working with charities, campaigns and political parties to mobilise hundreds of thousands of people to take action on behalf of causes. But in this honest and introspective talk she reveals how her doubts about some of the techniques she was using eventually suggested a dramatic change of direction. Ali now h...
Jun 24, 2020•23 min
Emma Hayes explains why the fit of our clothes matters, particularly for women. Inviting us to join her journey from fitting rooms to advising on the latest innovations in technology, Emma describes the many failures of size to capture a woman's body. And with many more of us now buying clothes online, and unable to find out before buying it whether a garment which appears to be the right size actually fits, the problem is getting worse. The costs, as she explains, can be serious for the individ...
Jun 17, 2020•24 min
Alice Moloney discusses how best to express negative emotions in the digital realm. When Alice's father was diagnosed with cancer, she found herself at a loss as to how to communicate with him digitally. One solution was sending more personal objects. But Alice works in digital communication, and in this talk at the Shambala Festival she describes her journey to improve the tools available to communicate grief and sadness. Producer: Giles Edwards
Jan 29, 2020•21 min
Andrew Hankinson tells the story of a boy who died, and his parents, who wanted him alive. Recorded at the Shambala Festival in 2019, this is also an extraordinary story about Andrew's quest to understand the family's story, his feelings of discomfort, and his reasons for wanting to tell it in the first place. Producer: Giles Edwards
Jan 22, 2020•18 min
Anna Della Subin takes a journey with a man once worshipped as a living god. Anna Della has been writing a book about people inadvertently turned into gods, and in this bewitching talk she describes a journey across Morocco with one of them. She discusses what prompts people to regard others as gods, and what it might tell us about our society. Producer: Giles Edwards
Jan 15, 2020•17 min
Sarah Gristwood is worried that the vogue for tidying will make history harder to uncover. Sarah is an historian herself, and in writing her books has relied heavily on documents which might easily have been discarded. But that's not all: she wonders, too, how her successors will access our digital clutter in 500 years' time. Producer: Giles Edwards
Jan 08, 2020•20 min
Ashley Hickson-Lovence says his powerful mother and his love of reading kept him out of gangs while growing up on an estate in East London. As a former English teacher and now a debut novelist, he believes black boys, in particular, need books to read that engage them by reflecting their own lives. "Not everyone can have a mother like mine, but everyone deserves the key to the world of books which could change their lives." Recorded at Primadonna literary and arts festival. Presenter: Farrah Jar...
Jan 01, 2020•18 min
Monisha Rajesh says the romance of train travel is not dead. After exploring the railways of India, she travelled across continents to research her book "Around the World in 80 Trains", discovering that the romance, " Wasn't dead, just reincarnated, living on in the passengers who would always tell their story to strangers, offer advice, share their food, and give up their seats." Recorded at Primadonna literature and arts festival. Presenter: Farrah Jarral Producer: Sheila Cook
Dec 25, 2019•20 min
Winnie M Li talks about her traumatic experience as a survivor of sexual violence, describing its lasting impact. She also charts her recovery through writing and activism.
Dec 18, 2019•21 min
Louise Doughty, whose novels include Apple Tree Yard, explains why Peterborough railway station, the setting of her latest novel, has particular significance in her life as a place of transit. As she journeys back into her past, she discovers her own personal history sheds light on the experience of others. Recorded at Primadonna literature and arts festival in Suffolk. Presenter: Farrah Jarral Producer: Sheila Cook
Dec 11, 2019•21 min
Lora Stimson uses sky and starscape to navigate her grief. In this beautiful and emotional talk, recorded at the Green Man Festival in mid-Wales, appropriately enough an internationally-certified Dark Sky Reserve, Lora draws connections between the sky and her grief after her father's death. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Oct 23, 2019•20 min
Rabab Ghazoul makes the case for Wales as a place of post-colonial possibility. Rabab has been living in Wales for more than thirty years, and in this talk reflects on Wales's position as a nation which, as she puts it, "was colonised by the English, yes - but has also been complicit in the British imperial enterprise, and been a recipient of the wider European colonial project." As she does, she talks about the benefits of settling down, digging deep, and finding ourselves in the places that we...
Oct 16, 2019•18 min
Rachael Gibbons discusses class, social mobility and Imposter Syndrome. In a talk recorded at the Green Man Festival in mid-Wales, Rachael discusses her experiences as a working-class woman. She asks what social mobility means when you find it difficult to fit in at grammar school or university, while at home your friends do different things and you're no longer part of their circle. She tells stories about her imposter syndrome, and how she overcame it. But at the heart of her talk is another s...
Oct 09, 2019•20 min
Penny Andrews argues that thinking of political supporters as fans helps explain the current state of politics. Penny is an academic and a serial fan - covering everything from David Bowie to Ed Balls. And in this energetic and witty talk Penny argues that many of the characteristics of fandom elsewhere - a rich interest, a wish to protect the sanctity of the fandom, and a refusal to tolerate criticism - also mark politics and political fans, whatever side they're on. And that understanding poli...
Oct 02, 2019•20 min
Emmanuel Ordóñez-Angulo asks whether Virtual Reality (VR) could be an 'empathy machine', and whether that would be a good thing. Emmanuel is a former film-maker, and current philosopher, and in this rich talk, recorded at the Larmer Tree Festival, he uses both traditions to probe the reaches of human empathy. Can VR fulfil the promise, long-held by some filmmakers, to allow us to walk in the shoes of others, increasing empathy and demanding wide-ranging social change? Or is the very notion of wa...
Sep 25, 2019•19 min
Richard Lynch-Smith argues that social workers need to be more open in acknowledging the role that poverty plays in the lives of the families with which they work. Introducing us to several of his families, social worker Richard details the many ways, large and small, in which poverty affects their life experience. But he also reveals how these experiences are understood, and interpreted, by the state. Richard also describes the movement amongst social workers to acknowledge the role that povert...
Sep 18, 2019•22 min
Helen Cullen makes the case for the art of letter writing. In this talk, recorded at the Larmer Tree Festival, Helen reveals how writing letters has been a constant throughout her life and discusses its importance in deepening her relationships with her friends, family and partner. Helen, a novelist whose first book revolved around letters, argues that those of us who have fallen out of the habit of writing letters, or never acquired it in the first place, should take up our pens. And she makes ...
Sep 11, 2019•20 min
Historian Kasia Tomasiewicz discusses how to commemorate war. Reporting for her first day shadowing the curatorial team at the Imperial War Museum, Kasia found herself conflicted. Feeling awe at the size of the tanks, planes and other machines of war, and remembering the pleasurable associations from Airfix kits and games with her siblings from her own childhood, she tried to balance these feelings with the awareness that the objects also embody death and destruction. How do these different resp...
Sep 04, 2019•23 min
Liv Boeree explains why the thinking skills required for good poker playing translate so well to the real world. "As any of us who have studied a science, or ran a business or raised a family know, the mark of a great decision-maker is not raw intellect… but a willingness to truly question your knowledge, and maybe even change your mind if enough evidence presents itself to counter it." "Like poker, life is messy and complex and full of randomness and luck... Our willingness to admit our uncerta...
Aug 28, 2019•20 min
Dr Mark Williams believes we need to preserve the traditional GP home visit. Alongside new acute visiting services and an emerging role for artificial intelligence, he thinks the traditional home visit still plays a vital part in the delivery of good healthcare and can even be a lifeline back into society. "The truth is that home visits give us the best insights into our patients' real life". Recorded in front of a live audience at the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival in Wiltshire. Presen...
Aug 21, 2019•20 min
