Episode 11 – Multi-dimensional Victorian Sci-Fi: A. Square’s Flatland
The year is 1999 and its New Year’s Eve. Mr A. Square and his wife are in their sitting room in the two-dimensional realm of flatland. After pondering a particular geometrical challenge, Mr Square is accosted by a visitor who sparks a series of events which dramatically alter Mr Square’s worldview, and leads to his eventual imprisonment, and the creation of the memoir Flatland.
Episode 10 – In Yer Face Theatre: Sarah Kane’s Blasted
A relentless sequence of sexual violence and war. Sarah Kane’s Blasted sparked outrage amongst critics and theatre-goers when it was first performed in 1995. Join Dr Thomas Elliott, Dr Chloe Yale Pinto and creative writing graduate Rachel Orme as we figure out what exactly is being ‘blasted’.
Episode 9 – The Theatre of Cruelty: Antonin Artuad’s The Spurt of Blood
What connects cruelty, love, and the purpose of theatre? Join me as I speak with British theatre specialists Dr Tomas Eliot and Dr Chloe Yale Pinto and try to figure out Antonin Artuad’s The Spurt of Blood, a very short play written in 1925 but never performed in the playwright’s lifetime.
Episode 8 – The Book in a Box: B.S. Johnson’s The Unfortunates with Dr Naomi Wynter-Vincent and Odile Jordan
The Unfortunates is a ‘book in a box’, meaning that it’s a novel split into 27 short chapbooks designed to be read in any order, except for a designated First and Last section. The effect is that of a scattered and fragmented story which mirrors the author’s reflections, memories and mis-rememberings of his friend’s illness and his own bitter love life, and his attempt to put order to the tragic events.
How do you tell a story that cannot be told? Assistant Professor of law Balgiisa Ahmed and creative writing student Amouraë Bhola-Chin join me to talk about an iconic experimental text: M. NourbeSe Philip’s Zong!, a poetry collection about the 1781 Zong massacre and the subsequent legal case, Gregson v. Gilbert.
Episode 6 – Colour and Form: Maggie Nelson’s Bluets with Deborah Walker and Dewale Ola Dimeji
Have you ever fallen in love with a colour? Join me and writers Deborah Walker and Dewale Ola Dimeji as we talk obsession, heartbreak and form in Bluets, a genre-defining lyric essay by Maggie Nelson.
What do puppet shows have to do with the apocalypse? Join me, Canterbury Tales expert Dr Rebecca Newby, and Creative Writing graduate Jessica Periera as we decipher this classic text and what it can teach us about the tech-focused world of the 2020s.
Today we talk about playfulness, beauty and ribbons of text. Dr Chloe Yale Pinto gives us her insight into working with Tom Phillip’s archive, and Isabel Snowdon, a creative writing student and editor of The Waterfront talks collaboration between past and present, reader and writer.
How do you write a landscape? Associate Professor of Art History Kate Grandjouan and cultural geographer and data scientist Dr Amil Mohanan join me to discuss place, poetry, and inconclusive endings.
The page as art, or how to behead text and scatter history. Medieval literature scholar Dr Rebecca Newby joins me to discuss absent centers and visual poetry.
Episode 1 – A Medieval Gap Year: Phoebe Power’s Book of Days with Dr Rebecca Newby
Why go on a pilgrimage? What can we learn from medieval pilgrimage practices? And what does poetry have to do with this? Join me and Pilgrimage scholar…
Radical Writing Podcast 