Yumna reads three short vignettes that pack a huge emotional punch. In ‘Politica’ she highlights inequities in society and deplores the anonymity of victims of war.
Recorded at Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival 2024
A.I has integrated into every part of our lives – almost before we were aware of it. What does the future hold for this technology? How can it help us, or hinder us? Toby Walsh is a world expert on A.I – this book is about keeping it real.
Recorded at Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival 2024
The Secret to Happiness it appears is fulfilling relationships with people who love you, and not thinking about yourself all the time! The longest running case study in the world on what it takes to make a happy life.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
Jacinta Parsons reaches for mythological archetypes like ‘the witch’ ,’the mother’, and ‘the slut’ to demonstrate how women have been placed in boxes all their lives .Much more than a memoir about ageing.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
Anke Richter is a journalist who puts herself on the line in this book by joining a number of different cults and sects to try and understand from the inside what draws people into these organizations. Sometimes she finds things out about herself in the process.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2023
With so many issues in the world today it is easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless – but Natalie Isaacs believes you can be a force for radical change but first you have to believe it is possible – in short, you have to have positive optimism!
Recorded at Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival 2023
Megan Stack found herself working from home but being a full time professional journalist with two children, needed a little help around the house – which started her thinking about the value of that ‘help’ and how to calculate the contribution of ‘women’s work’.
She has written an indepth examination of just what is defined as’women’s work’, and attempted to calculate the value of this work to our society. Thought provoking, and probably just plain provoking to some who have tended to devalue the sorts of tasks that millions of women perform daily.
Here she reads from her book at the point where she begins to think about those other women who come to work for her, their origins, their expectations , in contrast to her own life.
Recorded at Byron Writers Festival 2019
I like the sense of mild exasperation suggested by the title of David Leser’s latest book where he applies his not inconsiderable skills of investigative journalism to the current latest global discussion on the relationship between the sexes.
Recorded at the Byron writers Festival 2019
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Naturally the first thing I asked Ali Alizadeh was what he felt he had to add to the enormous canon of books, films and plays, that have been written about this real but almost semi mythical historical woman. He believes he really has a special mission to write about her last days in a way no-one else has done before . His extensive research and obvious empathy for his subject has produced a new insight into the last days of this tragic figure.
Recorded at Byron writers Festival 2018
Keenan Malik is an Indian-born British writer, lecturer and broadcaster, trained in neurobiology and the history of science . he is also a writer, lecturer and broadcaster and a presenter of Analysis, BBC Radio 4’s flagship current affairs programme and a panelist on the Moral Maze.
It is 20 years since the late Ayatollah Khomeini declared that everyone involved in the publication and sale of Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses should be killed. Keenan Malik’s book FROM FATWAH TO JIHAD – The Rushdie Affair and Its Aftermath attempts to understand the legacy of its publication and questions the notions of political correctness it has led us into in our debates about cultural differences.
Keenan opened our interview by explaining the context for his book and the significance of its publication date. Because it is such an important and complex issue , Keenan’s read and interview will be our whole show this week.
Music Track : ‘ Bollyrock ‘by Fourplay from Cd ‘Now to the Future’
Keenan Malik was recorded at the Byron Writers Festival 2017