Gone To Timbuktu

On a far-reaching journey from Savannah to the Arctic Circle, we experience the joys (and fears) of night travel as told by one of the great contemporary travel writers on railways. This time, the focus is on sleeper trains, which are the stars of Monisha's latest book, Moonlight Express.

Lyse Doucet, the BBC's Chief International Correspondent, discusses her first major book, The Finest Hotel in Kabul. An instant Sunday Times bestseller, it tells the story of the last 50 years of Afghan history through the everyday lives of people working in the same hotel Lyse has callled home during four decades of frontline conflict reporting.

On journeys through Central Asia, Turkey, Ukraine, the South Caucasus, Russia, the Baltics and Poland, Caroline Eden reveals the kitchen's unique ability to tell intimate human stories. This episode — discussing her memoir, Cold Kitchen, as well as her trilogy of award-winning recipe books, Black Sea, Red Sands and Green Mountains — make for a mouthwatering exploration of place and people.

A father's death, a Romany taboo, and a childhood obsession with Plato's myth about the lost city of Atlantis drives award-winning author Damian Le Bas on a quest to find meaning in sunken ruins around the world. The result is a spellbinding journey among selkies and sea creatures in an underwater world beloved of divers and dreamers.

Discussing Anima, the final book in her decade-long quartet, awardwinning author and poet Kapka Kassabova takes us on a journey into a wild corner of the Balkans to meet the the last true pastoralists of Europe. This is a powerful conversation about love, freedom and nomadism.

Under a Metal Sky: A Journey Through Rocks is another travel writing classic from Philip Marsden. Journeying across Europe, from Cornwall to Georgia, he tells a fascinating story about the interconnectedness of rocks, metals, Goethe and Bronze Age imaginings.

Robert Macfarlane speaks about his new book, Is a River Alive? In a powerful imaginative and physical journey, he takes us from well-worship in Cambridgeshire to an Ecuadorian cloud forest, to an Indian mega-city, finishing in the rapids of Quebec.

British writer Rob Cowen speaks about his new book, The North Road, collapsing over 7,000 years of history with the present moment on a 400-mile journey through Britain. Along the way, he encounters bones, bigotries, highwaymen and literary influences from Patrick Leigh Fermor to T.S. Eliot, while raising voices from the dead and excavating his family's fascinating biography.

Filmmaker Bruce Parry talks about his return to the BBC with a new three-part series named after his original breakthrough TV documentary 'Tribe'. He explores how much there is still to learn from Indigenous peoples — and how modern living divorces us from the animism and ancestors that hold other cultures strong.

Norwegian polar explorer, author and publisher, Erling Kagge, speaks about his new book, The North Pole: The History of an Obsession. In a lively conversation, he and Sophy discuss the difference between Norwegian and British approaches to exploration and Erling reveals an unexpected parallel between legendary Norwegian explorer Fridjtof Nansen and dating app, Tinder.