Today’s world is in much need of change. But what can we do as individuals and as a society? And how can we bring a humanities perspectives to the change that the world needs? Who better to talk to than Lyndsey Stonebridge, author of the book “We are free to change the world”. Lyndsey refers to her book a "critical creative biography of Hannah Arendt". It is very topical in the way it helps us to think about our troubled political times.

Have you given Victorian gothic fiction a try? The Fascination by Essie Fox will certainly be a good one to get you started. It is a novel that takes you to the Victorian country fairgrounds, the glamour of the Drury Lane pantomimes, and a museum in London’s Oxford Street filled with anatomical wonders. It is a story about belonging and finding your family. In this episode, I talk to Essie about her novel, but also about the craft of writing historical fiction, the very practical challenges of navigating the expectations of sales and marketing, and the research that is part of the creative process.  

Essie Fox is a member of the Historical Writers Association,

Charles Dickens has captured the public imagination like no other. What always fascinates me about him and his work is how fiction and reality intersect. In this episode, I talk to Pete Orford to get his take on the relationship between lived experience and literary examples in the world of Charles Dickens. Pete has recently published the book The Life of the Author: Charles Dickens, which gives us plenty of fascinating examples to talk about.

Pete Orford is the Course Director of the MA in Charles Dickens Studies run by the University of Buckingham and the Charles Dickens Museum in London. He is the author of The Mystery of Edwin Drood: Charles Dickens’ Unfinished Novel & Our Endless Attempts to End It, and the editor of Pictures from Italy for the Oxford Dickens.

What makes the First Folio so important and unique? 2023 marks the 400th anniversary of the first published collection of Shakespeare’s

Chris Laoutaris is associate professor at The Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham. He is a biographer, historian & a poet. Shakespeare's

How do you become a successful children’s author? I invited the brilliant Hannah Gold so I could learn

And guess what song Hannah likes to start events with?  Well, I do like Katy Perry, too!

Hannah Gold’s first book, The Last Bear – won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2022 and the same year also the Blue Peter Book Award. Her second book The Lost Whale was the Winner of the Edward Stanford Children's Book of the Year 2023.

Can the law be the same if the language is different? I invited Karen McAuliffe, an expert in multilingual law, to shed some light on this question. Different languages represent reality in different ways. This has an impact on the legal system,

Karen McAuliffe is Professor of Law and Language at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on the relationship between law, language and translation in multilingual legal orders, particularly the European Union. She has run a number of large, funded, research projects in the field of law and language, including the Law and Language at the European Court of Justice project and The EU Case Law Corpus project. You can find out more about Karen’s research on her website: www.karenmcauliffe.com

Here are some links to the things mentioned in this episode:

Jessica Whyte (2014) The Fortunes of Natural Man:

Karen McAuliffe (2013), The Limitations of a

Legal Recognition of Sign Languages Project

Are you be able to spot fake news? Can you even define what fake news is? According to Jack Grieve, ‘fake news’ is deceptive, it is intentionally trying to misinform its audience. Fake news is not the same as news that is untrue or false. But what exactly makes news fake? Are there any linguistic clues? Anything that gives away the intention to deceive? Can linguistic methods help us to find out? Surely there is lots of fake news out there that can serve as a data set for

Jack Grieve is a Professor of Corpus Linguistics at the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on the quantitative analysis of language variation and change.

In the show, Paul reads a passage from the book. He tells us what it is like to record an audiobook, and he shares brilliant tips for writers!

If you want to recognise the camp in yourself, this is the episode for you!

Also check out Paul’s Instagram account @campthebook.

Paul Baker is a Professor of English Language at Lancaster University. He has written numerous books for academic and popular

Water is fundamental to life. Water affects us all. But do we talk about water enough to raise awareness of its value? What do we do to accelerate change to solve the water crisis? Are we aware of the various connections that make the water crisis a wicked problem? I am speaking to David Hannah, Professor of Hydrology and UNESCO Chair in Water Sciences at the University of Birmingham. David explains the kind of work

David Hannah is the Director of the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action. He is included in the Reuters list of top 1000 climate scientists.  

What can historical fiction do for today’s society? Paterson Joseph’s first novel tells the story of Charles Ignatius Sancho, the first known Black person to have voted in a British election. In this episode, we talk about Black presence in history, the challenges of writing historical fiction, and seeing the world through narratives (on the page, on the stage or in films). Paterson tells us about his personal experience of becoming an actor and a writer, and shares his thoughts on the writing of history as performance. As a special treat Paterson will read passages from his new book.

Paterson Joseph is an acclaimed British actor and writer. He has starred in Peep Show, Green Wing, Safe House as well as in Royal Shakespeare productions. His debut novel, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho will be out on 6 October 2022.