The Essay

BBC Radio 3

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

  1. 31/03/2025

    Digging for Words

    In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American to publish a collection of poems. Jade Cuttle looks at the way her poems were described and asks what do we categorise as nature writing? Her essay considers the idea of "coining" and the work of a new generation of poets including Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, Khairani Barokka, Kei Miller and a collection called Nature Matters edited by Mona Arshi and Karen McCarthy Woolf. Jade Cuttle is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is studying for her PhD at the University of Cambridge, writing journalism and her first book called Silthood, which explores ancient connections between soil and self. She has also released an album of poem-songs called Algal Bloom. You can find examples of Essays written for Radio 3 by Kei Miller and Elizabeth Jane Burnett on the programme website. Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

    14 min

  2. 31/03/2025

    Workplace performance

    What connects actors with baristas? In 1983, the American sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild published a book called The Managed Heart which studied the working world of airline stewards. Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal’s essay considers what it means when a waiter smiles as they serve you and looks at some recent court cases over performing at work. Dr Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is based at Queen Mary, University of London. Her research focuses on performance and work, including how drama based methods are implemented in across other sectors and industries. She is a member of the research collective Performance and Political Economy. Producer: Lisa Jenkinson

    11 min

  3. 31/03/2025

    The crime of creation

    The Japanese philosopher Yujin Nagasawa says the majority of people are what he calls ‘existential optimists’. What does this mean for ideas about evil and the creation of life? Jack Symes’ essay takes us through the views of thinkers including Schopenhauer, Stephen Law and Camus. Jack Symes is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. He is based at Durham University. His books include Philosophers on Consciousness: Talking about the Mind and Talking about Existence and Defeating the Evil-God Challenge and he is working on a book about morality. Producer: Luke Mulhall

    13 min

  4. 31/03/2025

    Mothers on trial

    Having worked as a criminal and family barrister, Shona Minson has seen the effect on women and their children when a mother is sentenced to prison for committing a crime. Her essay considers the 1989 Children Act and what she sees as contradictory approaches to motherhood in British law. Dr Shona Minson is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is based at the University of Oxford, has researched the sentencing of women and has written a book Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child. She has also been appointed to the newly created government advisory body the Women’s Justice Board. Producer: Lisa Jenkinson

    14 min

  5. 31/03/2025

    Land Cinema

    If cinema is often associated with Hollywood or the European New Wave, since the 1970s activist-filmmakers around the world have been involving local people in telling their own stories. Co-creating films about land rights, food security, and pollution, these filmmakers pioneered what Becca Voelcker calls Land Cinema. In her essay, she shares examples made by Zhang Mengqi, Tsuchimoto Noriaki, Ogawa Productions and Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien Dr Becca Voelcker is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. At Goldsmiths, University of London she lectures on art, film and visual culture, particularly in relation to politics and ecology; and has written for publications including Screen, Frieze and Sight & Sound. Producer: Erin Downes

    14 min

  6. 31/03/2025

    The intimacy of radio

    The would-be composer and philosopher Theodor Adorno played classical piano and came up with influential studies of authoritarianism, antisemitism and propaganda. He also wrote about the experience of listening to a radio voice. Jacob Downs's Essay for Radio 3 reflects on his insights and how far they remain relevant in a time of headphone listening, smart speakers and AI voices. Dr Jacob Kingsbury Downs lectures in Music at the University of Oxford and is an honorary research fellow at the University of Sheffield. He also works as a musician and arranger working with composers including Erland Cooper and Anna Phoebe. He is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to share academic research on radio. Producer: Kirsty McQuire

    14 min

  7. 31/03/2025

    Birth Stories

    How have the first hours and days after childbirth changed in the NHS? Before the NHS, a 1932 publication describing mothers resting after labour, referred to lying-in as ranging from two weeks to two months, but attitudes have altered. In 1950 the book National Baby was published by Sarah Campion. Emily Baughan has been reading it and looks at the differences between childbirth then, memories of her mother and her own experiences. Dr Emily Baughan is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is a senior lecturer in 19th and 20th century British History at the University of Sheffield, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and is working on a book, Love’s Labour, which is a history of childcare. Producer in Salford: Ekene Akalawu

    14 min

  8. 31/03/2025

    Losing Yourself in Books

    What do we get from a good book? With a greater diversity of stories on offer from publishers and as exam set texts, Janine Bradbury looks at the arguments which are made in favour of reading as a way of encouraging empathy and understanding or as a place to find ourselves. She asks whether this is the right way to think about the value of reading and her essay considers examples including Toni Morrison’s story Recitatif, Percival Everett's novel Erasure (which became the film American Fiction) and Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel Passing, which Rebecca Hall has directed as a film. Janine Bradbury is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC to put academic research on radio. She is a senior lecturer in Contemporary Writing and Culture at the University of York, and her first poetry pamphlet Sometimes Real Love Comes Quick & Easy (Ignition Press) was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. Producer in Salford: Ekene Akalawu

    14 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 3
  • Years Active
    2011 - 2025
  • Episodes
    1.1K
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2025
  • Show Website
    The Essay

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