Free Thinking

Latest Episodes:

Free Thinking: Anger and friendships with Pankaj Mishra and Elif Shafak. Feb 01, 2017

Show notes

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.

Free Thinking - Caribbean Culture. Jan 31, 2017

Show notes

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 Mystics

Producer: Zahid Warley

Free Thinking: Yaa Gyasi. Daniel Levitin. Peter Bazalgette, James Bartholomew on Clarity, Civility and Strong States. Jan 26, 2017

Show notes

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.

Davos Discussions. Shobana Jeyasingh. New Generation Thinker Seán Williams Jan 26, 2017

Show notes

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.

Free Thinking: Oscar Nominations; T2 Trainspotting; Denial Jan 24, 2017

Show notes

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.

Free Thinking - Victorian Bodies, Citizens of Everywhere Jan 19, 2017

Show notes

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 Friendship

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Free Thinking - The influence of the British Black Art movement. Jan 18, 2017

Show notes

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 2017

New 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

Free Thinking: The War of the Worlds sequel, Eimear McBride Jan 17, 2017

Show notes

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

Free Thinking - Chibundu Onuzo; Nadeem Aslam. Lockwood Kipling's art. Jan 12, 2017

Show notes

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

Free Thinking: The Arts of Running Jan 11, 2017

Show notes

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 Scott

Guests: 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

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