Free Thinking

As Sicily: culture and conquest opens at The British Museum, Anne McElvoy gathers three experts round the Free Thinking table - the historian of Sicily, John Julius Norwich, Helena Atlee who approaches the island from the point of view of its legendary citrus fruit and Anna Sergi, a criminologist at the University of Essex who explains how Cosa Nostra reflects much of the closed culture of the modern island.

Presenter: Anne McElvoy

Sicily: culture and conquest runs at the British Museum from 21 April – 14 August 2016

Guests: Helena Atlee: The Land Where Lemons Grow

Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Slavoj Zizek is in conversation with Philip Dodd. The title of the latest book from the Slovenian philosopher, cultural critic and Marxist scholar is 'Against the Double Blackmail: Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles with the Neighbours'.

Producer: Laura Thomas

In a special Landmark edition, Matthew Sweet discusses Tarkovsky's 1979 film Stalker with the director Sophie Fiennes, the journalist Konstantin Von Eggert, whose family knew Tarkovsky, film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, the writer Geoff Dyer, and the academic and former tour guide in the Chernobyl Zone Dr Nicholas Rush Cooper from Durham University.

Stalker tells the story of three men - Writer, Professor, and Stalker. We are never quite sure who Stalker is, or what he represents, but it's his job to lead Writer and Professor on a journey into a mysterious region called The Zone. At the heart of The Zone is a room in which all wishes come true.

Based on the novel Roadside Picnic, by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Stalker is a kind of Science Fiction film with all the Science Fiction stripped out. Geoff Dyer notes that "Stalker has always invited allegorical readings, and since the film has something of the quality of prophecy, these readings are not confined to events that had occurred by the time the film was made." Is Stalker about the end of Communism? Does it prefigure the Chernobyl disaster? There are many possibilities, but the film remains mysterious.

Producer: Laura Thomas

Anne McElvoy talks to Syrian architect Marwa Al-Sabouni about her country's built environment its impact on the behaviour of the people who live there. Also the politics of judging book prizes is debated by Professor Geoffrey Hosking, emeritus professor of Russian history, School of Slavonic & East European Studies, University College London and Fleur Montanaro, Administrator of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Writers Lasha Bugadze and Aka Morchiladze discuss Georgian literature past and present.

The Battle for Home: The Memoir of a Syrian Architect by Marwa Al-Sabouni is out now.

The winner of the 2016 Pushkin House Russian Book Prize is announced on April 25th. These are the shortlisted books

Maisky Diaries: Red Ambassador to the Court of St James's 1932-43. Gabriel Gorodetsky, editor (Yale University Press)

The winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2016 will be announced at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 26 April, the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. These are the shortlisted books

Mercury by Mohamed Rabie

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Philip Dodd is joined by artist Bruce McLean and critic Sarah Kent to consider the history and politics of British Conceptual Art on show at Tate Britain. Also Richard Nisbett gives his view on how "smart thinking" can help us improve our lives.

Richard Nisbett is Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology and Co-director of the Culture and Cognition program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He is cited by Malcolm Gladwell as an influence and is the author of a book called "Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking"

Producer: Laura Thomas

Jonathan Coe, author of books including The Rotter's Club, What a Carve Up and his most recent novel Number 11, joins playwright Richard Cameron and presenter Matthew Sweet in a programme recorded in front of an audience at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Jonathan Coe's 2001 novel, The Rotter's Club, depicts teenage life in Birmingham in the 1970s, against a backdrop of strikes at the local car factories. It's been adapted for the stage by Richard Cameron - whose other plays include The Glee Club and Can't Stand Up For Falling Down. They discuss the difference between page and stage, assess the sexual and racial politics of the time and consider the cultural influence of Britain's second city.

Producer: Craig Templeton Smith.

Anne McElvoy looks at current debates about economics, British manufacturing and entrepreneurialism talking to Juliet Michaelson from the New Economics Foundation, the politicians Liam Byrne and John Redwood and entrepreneur Luke Johnson.

They also consider the arguments in new books from Yanis Varoufakis and Thomas Piketty.

The panel is joined by theatre critic Matt Wolf who'll be reflecting on the way business and economics are represented on stage reporting on recent openings on Broadway and looking ahead to the UK premiere of The Invisible Hand by Pulitzer Prize–winner Ayad Akhtar at London's Tricyle Theatre.

Liam Byrne is the author of Turning to Face The East: How Britain Can Prosper In The Asian Century and Dragons: 10 Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain

Chronicles by Thomas Piketty is out now.

And the Weak Suffer What They Must? by Yanis Varoufakis is out now.

The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar runs at the Tricycle Theatre in London from May 12th to July 2nd.

Producer: Eliane Glaser.

Rana Mitter talks to playwright Anders Lustgarten whose latest work is set in a small village in China, Rotten Peach Village, over 60 years. Communism arrives and the villagers embrace it. Lustgarten has also written a new play partly inspired by the painter Caravaggio which opens at the RSC at the end of this year.

Also a consideration of the satirical short stories about Edwardian England published by Saki - the pen name of Scottish author Hector Hugh Munro (1870 - 1916). Rana is joined by the novelist Naomi Alderman and Saki expert Nick Freeman.

Cartoonist Riad Sattouf describes his graphic novel memoir, The Arab of the Future.

And Rana gets to grip with what we could possibly mean by a thing, with philosopher Guy Longworth

The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie by Anders Lustgarten runs at the Arcola Theatre in London 7 – 30 April before opening the 10th High Tide festival of new writing in Suffolk in September.

The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf is out now.

Producer: Luke Mullhall

A celebration of Evelyn Waugh to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Matthew Sweet is joined by two writers who are long term admirers - Adam Mars-Jones and Bryony Lavery and by Waugh's latest biographer, Philip Eade and his grandson and editor, Alexander Waugh.

Brideshead Revisited - adapted by Bryony Lavery - runs at York Theatre Royal from Fri 22 Apr - Sat 30 Apr and then goes on tour to Bath, Southampton, Cambridge, Malvern, Brighton, Oxford, Richmond.

Evelyn Waugh - A Life Revisited by Philip Eade will be published in July

Producer: Zahid Warley.

In a programme exploring light, Anne McElvoy is joined by Ann Wroe - who has walked the South Downs for her latest book considering painters including Ravilious and Samuel Palmer. Prof. Lucie Green has written a journey to the centre of the sun. The fluorescent creations of Dan Flavin the post war American artist go on show at Birmingham's Ikon Gallery curated by director Jonathan Watkins. And in Blackpool - home of the Illuminations - the Grundy Art Gallery is adding to its collection of light works – curator Richard Parry explains.

Dan Flavin: It is What It Is and It Ain't Nothing Else runs at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham from 13th April to 26th June.

Six Facets Of Light by Ann Wroe is out now. She is also the author of Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man.

15 Million Degrees - A Journey to the Centre of the Sun is written by Dr Lucie Green, solar physicist at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod