Free Thinking - Hisham Matar. Street Furniture. Easternisation. New Generation Thinker Katherine Cooper on Storm Jameson.

Hisham Matar last saw his father when he was 19. He talks to Rana Mitter about his attempts to find out what happened to his parent who was last seen in a Libyan jail and he discusses the way his family was caught up in the recent wave of fighting in Libya. 2016 New Generation Thinker Katherine Cooper looks at the writing of Storm Jameson. The design of street furniture in post war Britain is explored by Eleanor Herring. Gideon Rachman and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira discuss the phenomenon of 'easternisation' in an era of Asian dominance.

Hisham Matar's book is called The Return. Eleanor Herring has published Street Furniture Design: Contesting Modernism in Post-War Britain Gideon Rachman's forthcoming book is called Easternisation: War and Peace in the Asian Century Ricardo Soares de Oliveira is the author of Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil War

Katherine Cooper researches Margaret Storm Jameson's novels of World War Two at Newcastle University.

The New Generation Thinkers prize is an initiative launched by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to find the brightest minds from across the UK who have the potential to transform their research into engaging broadcast programmes. You can hear more about the research topics of all 10 2016 New Generation Thinkers on our website on a programme broadcast on May 31st and available as an arts and ideas podcast and find clips where you can hear their newly commissioned written pieces on a range of subjects.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.