Ideas

How do we connect with each other, even in challenging circumstances? Four writers, all winners of 2021 Governor General’s Literary Awards, reflect on the bonds that stay strong — despite inadequate technology, physical absence, or even death. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 21, 2021.

IDEAS presents a sample from a London Review of Books podcast miniseries called Encounters with Medieval Women. In their debut episode, co-hosts and medieval scholars Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley take on Mary of Egypt, a “fallen woman” turned saint, whose wild story courts comparisons to Pretty Woman, Fleabag, and Sex and the City. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 29, 2021.

Dante Alighieri died 700 years ago this year. His enemies had him exiled, hoping he'd disappear from history. But instead he wrote a masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, making himself the hero of his own epic poem — and in so doing, attained literary immortality. This is the final episode in a three-part series that originally aired in May of 2002.

The Cundill History Prize is the most prestigious of its kind. Marjoleine Kars won the award of $75,000 USD in 2021 for her book Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast. The author speaks with host Nahlah Ayed about uncovering a forgotten slave rebellion. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 2, 2021.

Ice Age communities were crawling with kids. Researchers estimate that anywhere from 40 to 65 per cent of prehistoric societies were made up of children. Archaeologist April Nowell has been researching the lives of Paleolithic children for decades. She argues that prehistoric children played a critical part in the cultural evolution of humans. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 10, 2022.

Award-winning historian Margaret MacMillan delivers a lecture entitled, War and the Modern World, examining the relationship between conflict and modern society. The virtual talk was part of the International Issues Discussion (IID) series, a student-led forum at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 26, 2021.

As part of our series on contemporary novels inspired by Shakespeare plays, and produced in collaboration with the Stratford Festival, IDEAS explores what The Tempest has to say to us today about colonialism, reparations and forgiveness. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 19, 2021.

Dante Alighieri died 700 years ago. His enemies had him exiled, hoping he'd disappear from history. But instead he wrote a masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, making himself the hero of his own epic poem — and in so doing, attained literary immortality. This is the second episode in a three-part series that originally aired in May of 2002.

CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nima Elbagir delivers the 2021 Peter Stursberg Foreign Correspondents Lecture. The award-winning journalist has reported from the frontlines of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and in Chibok, the Nigerian village from which over 250 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram. Her talk is entitled Humanity and the Foreign Correspondent. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 25, 2021.

Each year, the Canada Council’s Killam Prizes celebrate the best scholars in the country, in all the major disciplines of research. Host Nahlah Ayed talks to two of the five winners to find out about their major contributions in their respective fields. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 25, 2021.