This week, Mary Beard squares up to the gorefest of Gladiator II; and Alan Hollinghurst in conversation at the Cambridge Literary Festival.

'Gladiator II', various cinemas

'Our Evenings', by Alan Hollinghurst

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Lauren Elkin on a Nobel Prize-winner's obsession with images; and Judith Flanders assesses bold claims about the origins of contemporary English.

'The Use of Photography', by Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie, translated by Alison L. Strayer

'La Langue Anglaise N'existe Pas: C’est du français mal prononcé', by Bernard Cerquiglini

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Toby Lichtig talks to the new Booker Prize-winner Samantha Harvey about her voyage to the stars; and TLS contributors choose their books of the year.

‘Orbital’, by Samantha Harvey

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Norma Clarke explores the world of 18th-century chameleon Mary Robinson; and Devoney Looser on a soccer player's passion for Virginia Woolf.

'Mary Robinson: Actress, mistress, writer, radical',  Chawton House, Chawton, Hampshire, until April 21, 2025 

'The Striker and the Clock: On Being in the Game', by Georgia Cloepfil

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Mary Beard reports on the American election from her billet on Pennysylvania Avenue; plus Regina Rini opens a can of temporal worms in a quest to cure worry.

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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In a special interview, Lucy Dallas meets artist William Kentridge to explore his new set of films.

'Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot', by William Kentridge, available on Mubi

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This week, Oonagh Devitt Tremblay is intrigued by the multiple voices in Sarah Moss's new memoir; and Lucy Dallas speaks to artist William Kentridge.

'My Good Bright Wolf', by Sarah Moss

'Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot', by William Kentridge, streaming on Mubi 

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Yoojin Grace Wuertz celebrates this year’s Nobel Laureate in literature, South Korea’s Han Kang; and David Morley reads his new poem, and discusses the link between birds, music and poetry.

‘The Vegetarian’, ‘Human Acts’ and ‘Greek Lessons’, by Han Kang

‘Beethoven’s Yellowhammer’, by David Morley

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Lisa Hilton on the truth behind life as a 'grand horizontale'; and Juliette Bretan explores why Virginia Woolf served up boeuf en daube in To the Lighthouse.

'Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman’s astonishing life of seduction, intrigue and power', by Sonia Purnell

'Europe in British Literature and Culture', edited by Petra Rau and William T Rossiter

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Larry Wolff admires an opera propelled by drone warfare; and Edward Carey describes how a love of theatre inspired his new novel.

'Grounded', by Jeanine Tesori, libretto by George Brant, Metropolitan Opera, New York, until October 19

'Edith Holler', by Edward Carey

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, we start with Donna Summer and finish with a Scotch Woodcock, as Milo Nesbitt goes in search of the future of music, and Roger Domeneghetti sings the praises of a little fish with a big flavour.

'Futuromania: Electronic dreams, desiring machines and tomorrow's music today', by Simon Reynolds

'A Twist in the Tail: How the humble anchovy flavoured western cuisine', by Christopher Beckman

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Toby Lichtig previews the season’s fictional highlights; and Ann Manov on Sally Rooney’s latest gambit.

‘Creation Lake’, by Rachel Kushner

‘Intermezzo’, by Sally Rooney

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, typographer Tom Cook on the fonts of all knowledge; and Graham Daseler explores Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler's firecracker relationship.

'Albertus: The Biography of a Typeface', by Simon Garfield

'Baskerville: The Biography of a Typeface', by Simon Garfield

'Comic Sans: The Biography of a Typeface', by Simon Garfield

'From the Moment They Met it was Murder: Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir', by Alain Silver and James Ursini

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Mary Beard joins us to explain why two recently discovered fragments of Euripides are big news; and an interview with director James Macdonald and actor Lucian Msamati on their new production of Waiting for Godot.

'Ino' and 'Polyidus', by Euripides

'Waiting for Godot', by Samuel Beckett, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, until December 14 2024

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, medieval spells and modern cures, as we look back at some podcast highlights with Mary C Flannery and Charles Foster.

'Textual Magic: Charms and Written Amulets in Medieval England', by Katherine Storm Hindley

'Ten Trips: The new reality of psychedelics', by Andy Mitchell

'Psychedelics: The revolutionary drugs that could change your life – a guide from the expert', by David Nutt

'I feel love: MDMA and the quest for connection in a fractured world', by Rachel Nuwer

'Psychonauts: Drugs and the making of the modern mind', by Mike Jay

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Lucy and Alex are joined by Amber Massie-Blomfield, who discusses her new book about the connections between art and protest.

'Acts of Resistance: The Power of Art to Create a Better World', by

Amber Massie-Blomfield

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Lucy and Alex are joined by the novelist David Peace, who explains what drew him to writing about the 1958 Munich Air Disaster.

'Munichs', by David Peace

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, we take a look back at Fintan O'Toole's pre-election assessment of Keir Starmer; and revisit a conversation with William Boyd.

'Keir Starmer: The Biography', by Tom Baldwin

'November 1942: An Intimate History of the Turning Point of World War

II’, by Peter Englund', translated by Peter Graves

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Philip Ball assesses the anxiety about AI - and provides some reassurance; and Jane Robinson on Emily Davies, the woman who founded Girton College, Cambridge.

'Moral AI: And how we get there', by Jana Schaich Borg, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Vincent Conitzer

'The AI Mirror: How to reclaim our humanity in an age of machine thinking', by Shannon Vallor

'Robots and the People Who Love Them: Holding on to our humanity in an age of social robots', by Eve Herold

'The Atomic Human: Understanding ourselves in the Age of AI', by Neil D. Lawrence

'Emily Davies and the Mid-Victorian Women's Movement', by John Hendry

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Isaac Nowell takes us out in all weathers, Sean O'Brien reads a new poem, and Norma Clarke on a fascinating story of exile and doomed love.

'In All Weathers: A Journey Through Rain, Fog, Wind, Ice and

Everything in Between', by Matt Gaw

'Fingerpost', by Sean O'Brien

'In Pursuit of Love: The Search for Victor Hugo's Daughter', by Mark Bostridge

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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