The Essay Episodes Available now
The Glee Instinct—Earth Music Bristol
1/5 Nature writer Richard Mabey reflects on how and why we like to sing together.
Byron, celebrity and fan mail—New Generation Thinkers at 10
2/5 Would Byron have embraced twitter? Corin Throsby considers the letters fans sent him.
Chocky—The Book that Changed Me
10/10 Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock on how Chocky by John Wyndham inspired her.
The Silent Spring—The Book that Changed Me
9/10 Journalist Julian Pettifer on how Rachel Carson's The Silent Spring inspired him.
In the Land of Israel—The Book that Changed Me
8/10 Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner on Amos Oz's book In the Land of Israel.
Othello—The Book that Changed Me
7/10 Poet Musa Okwonga on how Shakespeare's Othello mirrored his experience of isolation.
The Smoking Diaries—The Book that Changed Me
6/10 Ed Smith explains how Simon Gray's The Smoking Diaries liberated him as a wordsmith.
Episode 5—The Darkest Hour
5/5 Actor Juliet Stevenson on why a creative life often means a life in want of sleep.
Episode 4—The Darkest Hour
4/5 Poet Michael Symmons Roberts examines why he has been so fascinated by insomnia.
Episode 3—The Darkest Hour
3/5 Author AL Kennedy explores why she has always found the nights too thrilling to sleep.
