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Dear William Trevor

Ian Sansom writes to Irish novelist and playwright, William Trevor

• 14 mins

Dear Oscar Wilde

Ian Sansom is in the gutter looking at the stars as he writes to Oscar Wilde

• 13 mins

More Letters to Writers

Dear Dante...

Ian Sansom drops a quick line to Dante.

• 14 mins

More Letters to Writers

Dear Mary...

Ian Sansom writes to Frankenstein author, Mary Shelley, to ask her how on earth she coped?

• 14 mins

More Letters to Writers

Dear Oscar...

Ian Sansom is in the gutter looking at the stars again as he writes to Oscar Wilde.

• 14 mins

More Letters to Writers

Dear Marianne ...

Ian Sansom writes to poet Marianne Moore to finally ask her about that tricorn hat

• 14 mins

More Letters to Writers

Dear William...

Ian Sansom writes to William Trevor to ask if every silver lining must have a cloud.

• 14 mins

Between the Essays

1 of 5: Ghent

Duncan Speakman and Tineke De Meyer circumnavigate Ghent in Belgium.

• 15 mins

Between the Essays

2 of 5: The West

Laura Barton criss-crosses the States to gaze at the moon.

• 15 mins

Between the Essays

3 of 5: Russia

Radio producers from around the world hijack The Essay with innovative miniature features.

• 15 mins

Between the Essays

4 of 5: Das Kapital

Brit Pliestik Jensen and Martin Ozvold trace the borders crossed by a toy bought in Prague

• 15 mins

Between the Essays

5 of 5: Half Life

Tadhg O'Sullivan captures the re-population by nature of the area around Chernobyl.

• 15 mins

Nothing Is Real - Pop's Struggle with Authenticity

Living the life

Author David Hepworth reflects on pop music's struggles with authenticity.

• 14 mins

Nothing Is Real - Pop's Struggle with Authenticity

The Terminology

David Hepworth discusses pop terminology - a trap for frauds and a charter for pseuds.

• 14 mins

Nothing Is Real - Pop's Struggle with Authenticity

The importance of noise

David Hepworth on the importance of volume and the difference between signal and noise.

• 14 mins

Nothing Is Real - Pop's Struggle with Authenticity

Are DJs doomed?

Writer David Hepworth asks, 'Are DJs doomed?'

• 14 mins

Nothing Is Real - Pop's Struggle with Authenticity

The rock'n'roll funeral

David Hepworth asks if pop music has any place in the great ceremonies of life and death.

• 14 mins

Cornerstones

Flint

Alan Garner sparks with flint, the stone that has enabled human civilisation.

• 14 mins

Cornerstones

Lewisian Gneiss

Writer Sara Maitland conjures with Lewisian gneiss, two-thirds the age of the earth.

• 1 min

Cornerstones

North Sea Oil and Gas

Esther Woolfson contrasts Aberdeen, the 'Granite City', with its oil and gas industry.

• 1 min

Cornerstones

Gypsum and Alabaster

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby gets to grips with gypsum, the key mineral in plaster.

• 1 min

Cornerstones

Clay Bricks

Poet Fiona Hamilton contrasts clay's different states, before and after it's baked hard.

• 1 min

Transformations: 5 stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses

Ceyx and Alcyone

The first of five stories about love dramatized from tales told in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

• 15 mins

Transformations: 5 stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses

Pygmalion

The second of five dramas about love drawn from tales told in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

• 15 mins

Transformations: 5 stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses

Orpheus and Eurydice

The third of five dramas about love drawn from tales told in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

• 15 mins

Transformations: 5 stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses

Byblis and Cannus

The fourth of five dramas about love drawn from tales told in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

• 15 mins

Transformations: 5 stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses

Philemon and Baucis

The fifth of five dramas about love drawn from tales told in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

• 15 mins

Forgetting

Modern Amnesia

Francis O'Gorman examines how the modern world makes forgetfulness a daily routine.

• 15 mins

Forgetting

The Pleasure of Forgetting

Rose Ruane asks can someone with the ability to remember everything ever learn to forget?

• 15 mins

Forgetting

The Missing Teenager

Writer Mark Illis explores why he has forgotten much of his teenage years.

• 15 mins