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I invited Matt on the show to ask him about his process: how he writes and how he tells great stories. Given his success, I also had to ask if it's acceptable to write for the mass market. Are you betraying the craft if you explicitly try to reach as many people as possible?

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In our series about how twentieth-century philosophy and biography intersect, David talks to philosopher Alex Carter about the life of Albert Camus, novelist, playwright, journalist, celebrity and public intellectual. What makes Camus a philosopher as well? How was he shaped by his Algerian background? Does it make sense to call him an absurdist? How did he try to reconcile the very different parts of his extraordinary life?

You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus upcoming events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com

Next time in The Lives of the Philosophers: J. L. Austin

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As Overthink comes to a close, why not take a look back? In Episode 182, Ellie and David tackle the concept of reflection and explain why it is so central to philosophy. What is the value of reflection, and what are its drawbacks? How does philosophy go astray when it treats the self as a product of reflection, and how can phenomenology and existentialism shed light on the proper role of reflection in our lives? Your hosts analyze the myth of Narcissus, discuss studies on reflection among animals such as rats and dolphins, and consider reflection as a visual metaphor for thinking. In the Substack bonus segment, Ellie and David reflect on Overthink and give some final thoughts before its end.

Works Discussed:

Ellie Anderson, Self-Relation: A Phenomenology of Ambiguity (forthcoming May 2027)

Hans-Johann Glock, “Do Animals Have Thoughts?”

Dieter Henrich, “Fichte’s Original Insight”

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Phenomenology of Perception

Gabriel Marcel, The Mystery of Being

Ovid, Metamorphosis

David Peña-Guzmán, When Animals Dream

JD Smith et al. “The uncertain response in the bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)”

Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to Quince.com/overthink for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

If you’re ready to stop talking yourself out of finding care and making progress, then head to rula.com and take the first step.

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RTÉ's podcast intern Arran returns with the second instalment of his favourite parts of What Were We Like. This time around, grumpy Patrick Kavanagh, "airhead" Ronald Reagan, and the insertion of the Eighth Amendment into the Constitution all feature. This is Arran's last selection - he's off to Electric Picnic on Thursday where he'll be boring his pals with his newfound knowledge of history. Diarmaid and Catriona are back next Monday, 31 August.

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Join us as we celebrate Rebecca Perry as the author of this year's Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize-winner, May We Feed The King. Over a glass of bubbly, we discuss the connections between her curator character and the art of writing, playing with the tropes of historical fiction, and her love of cats.

On Point news analyst Jack Beatty talks to author Ann Larson about her new book "Clean Up on Aisle Five”; the realities of grocery store workers, their place in our society and economy and what it says about the need for dignity in essential labor.

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Robert Harris tells Harry Mount about his new historical novel, Agrippa. Agrippa, Emperor Augustus's righthand man, built the Pantheon and won the Battle of Actium. But he was a plebeian - and the ultimate insider-outsider of the Roman Empire.

This week's podcast is kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford, Actual Investors, who take a long-term approach to investing in exceptional companies.

Ursula Hegi (1946-2026), who died at the age of eighty on July 27, 2026, best known for her novel “Stones from a River,” about life in a small town in Germany in the days leading up to World War II, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded November 6, 2001 while on tour for her short story collection, “Hotel of the Saints.”

Ursula Hegi was a German born novelist and short story writer whose work focused on life in Germany before, during and after World War II along with German and German-American identity, and the nature of moral complicity. She was best known for her novel, Stones from a River, published in 1994, which formed part of a series of novels and stories which came to be known as the Burgdorf cycle, taking place in the fictional small town of Burgdorf, Germany during the middle of the twentieth century.

This interview was recorded on November 6, 2001. less than two months after the events of 9/11 while she was on tour for her collection, Hotel of the Saints. 

I spoke with Ursula Hegi twice, first in November 6, 2001, less than two months after the events of 9/11. There would be a second interview, recorded January 8, 2004 while she was on tour for her novel Sacred Time. 

At the time of her death from complications from a stroke, there were nine novels, two short story collections, a children’s book, and one non-fiction work from 1998, Tearing the Silence: On Being German in America. Her last novel, The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls, was published in 2020.

This interview, one of the last Bookwaves interviews recorded on analog tape, was digitized, remastered and edited August 14-16, 2026. The interview was originally edited for a half hour broadcast and never heard in its entirety. It has not aired in over twenty years.

The post Ursula Hegi (1946-2026), Acclaimed Novelist and Short Story Author, 1991 appeared first on KPFA.

This is a catch-up version of James O'Brien's Mystery Hour. To join the game, call 0345 60 60 973, Thursdays at 12pm.

Diarmaid and Catriona are on holidays, so RTE's podcast intern, Arran has selected some of his favourite parts of What Were We Like so far. Bobby Sands, The Contraceptive Train, and John Charles McQuaid all feature in the first part of this "Best of" series. Part 2 of Arran's selections will be out next week, and Diarmaid and Catriona return on Monday 31 August.

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