Podcast: Freedom, Books, Flowers & the Moon

This week, medieval spells and modern cures, as we look back at some podcast highlights with Mary C Flannery and Charles Foster.'Textual Magic: Charms and Written Amulets in Medieval England', by Katherine Storm Hindley'Ten Trips: The new reality of psychedelics', by Andy Mitchell'Psychedelics: The revolutionary drugs that could change your life – a guide from the expert', by David Nutt'I feel love: MDMA and the quest for connection in a fractured world', by Rachel Nuwer'Psychonauts: Drugs and the making of the modern mind', by Mike JayProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy and Alex are joined by Amber Massie-Blomfield, who discusses her new book about the connections between art and protest.'Acts of Resistance: The Power of Art to Create a Better World', byAmber Massie-BlomfieldProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy and Alex are joined by the novelist David Peace, who explains what drew him to writing about the 1958 Munich Air Disaster.'Munichs', by David PeaceProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we take a look back at Fintan O'Toole's pre-election assessment of Keir Starmer; and revisit a conversation with William Boyd.'Keir Starmer: The Biography', by Tom Baldwin'November 1942: An Intimate History of the Turning Point of World WarII’, by Peter Englund', translated by Peter GravesProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Philip Ball assesses the anxiety about AI - and provides some reassurance; and Jane Robinson on Emily Davies, the woman who founded Girton College, Cambridge.'Moral AI: And how we get there', by Jana Schaich Borg, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Vincent Conitzer'The AI Mirror: How to reclaim our humanity in an age of machine thinking', by Shannon Vallor'Robots and the People Who Love Them: Holding on to our humanity in an age of social robots', by Eve Herold'The Atomic Human: Understanding ourselves in the Age of AI', by Neil D. Lawrence'Emily Davies and the Mid-Victorian Women's Movement', by John HendryProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Isaac Nowell takes us out in all weathers, Sean O'Brien reads a new poem, and Norma Clarke on a fascinating story of exile and doomed love.'In All Weathers: A Journey Through Rain, Fog, Wind, Ice andEverything in Between', by Matt Gaw'Fingerpost', by Sean O'Brien'In Pursuit of Love: The Search for Victor Hugo's Daughter', by Mark BostridgeProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Anna Katharina Schaffner on a top-to-tail exploration of deportment; and Toby Lichtig in conversation with novelist Hari Kunzru at the Hay Festival.'Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America', by Beth Linker'Blue Ruin', by Hari KunzruProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lily Herd on a child's-eye view of rockstar royalty; and Toby Lichtig talks to novelist Chigozie Obioma at the Hay Festival.'My Family and Other Rock Stars', by Tiffany Murray'The Road to the Country', by Chigozie ObiomaProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Heather O'Donoghue puzzles over the locked rooms and red herrings of the crime genre; and Josh Raymond on an animated attempt to understand teenage turmoil.'The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators', by Martin Edwards'Inside Out 2'Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we accompany Stephen Sawyer on a speeded-up saunter through the arrondissements; and Toby Lichtig in conversation with Rory Stewart at the Hay Festival.'Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century', by Simon Kuper'The Zone: An Alternative History of Paris', by Justinien Tribillon'Politics on the Edge', by Rory StewartProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, TLS editors and writers guide you through a summer of reading; and Sarah Watling explores the extraordinary story of an artistic double act.'Dorothy Hepworth and Patricia Preece: An Untold Story', Charleston, Lewes, Sussex'The Secret Art of Dorothy Hepworth, aka Patricia Preece', by Denys J. WilcoxProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Ben Hutchinson on the making of Franz Kafka, a century after the writer's death; and an interview with Roz Dineen about her vision of climate catastrophe and societal collapse.'Kafka: Making of an icon', Weston Library, Bodleian, Oxford, until October 27Accompanying book edited by Ritchie Robertson'Briefly Very Beautiful', by Roz DineenProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us for at the Hay Festival for a conversation encompassing portals to other worlds, rock bands, improbable giraffes and the travails of the M4.'Impossible Creatures', by Katherine Rundell'One Ukrainian Summer: A Memoir About Falling in Love and Coming of Age in the Former USSR', by Viv GroskopProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we hear from two international prize-winning authors, Jenny Erpenbeck and Mircea Cărtărescu.'Kairos' by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann'Solenoid' by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated by Sean CotterProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, writers including Andrew O'Hagan, Rose Tremain, Ayobami Adebayo and Marian Keyes select their most memorable sporting moments; and we drop in on the European Writers' Festival at the British Library.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we look at the busy afterlives of two canonical characters: Nathalie Olah on Tom Ripley and Emelyne Godfrey on Sherlock Holmes.'Ripley', on Netflix'The Worlds of Sherlock Holmes: The inspiration behind the world’s greatest detective', by Andrew LycettProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Susan Owens explores the surreal and vivid life of the artist Eileen Agar; and Rosie Goldsmith, curator of the European Writers' Festival, joins us to explain what's on the bill.'A Look at My Life', by Eileen AgarThe European Writers' Festival, the British Library, London, 18-19 May 2024Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Oxford Professor of Poetry AE Stallings explores the elliptical brilliance of Anne Carson; and an interview with writer, filmmaker and artist Miranda July about her forthcoming novel.'Anne Carson: The Glass Essayist', by Elizabeth Sarah Coles'Wrong Norma', by Anne Carson'All Fours', by Miranda JulyProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Kathryn Hughes introduces her new book on the cat craze that swept Edwardian England; and she also tells us about an exhibition of the work of Julia Margaret Cameron and Francesca Woodman. Plus a review of Sunjeev Sahota's The Spoiled Heart.'Catland: Feline Enchantment and the Making of the Modern World', by Kathryn Hughes'Portraits to Dream In', at the National Portrait Gallery, London, until 16 June, 2024'The Spoiled Heart', by Sunjeev SahotaProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the TLS celebrates all things Shakespeare, Emma Smith goes to see Ian McKellen's larger-than-life Falstaff; plus Rana Mitter on the immense impact and lasting legacy of the Tokyo Trial.'Player Kings: Henry IV Parts 1 and 2', by William Shakespeare, adapted by Robert Icke, Noël Coward Theatre, London, until June 22, then touring 'Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia' by Gary J. Bass.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.