Arts & Ideas

Matthew Sweet is joined by Colm Toibin to discuss the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop; Beth Shapiro on cloning mammoths and Fareed Zakharia, the American news presenter and journalist, makes the case for a liberal education.

A week on from the election, Anne McElvoy turns to three historians - Tim Bale, Krista Cowman and Jon Lawrence - to offer their views on the dramatic changes to the UK's political landscape; writer Xinran talks about the consequences of China's one-child policy, and Anne has a first night review of High Society at the Old Vic directed by Maria Freedman.

To mark Dante's birth 750 years ago, Philip Dodd chairs a Landmark discussion about his poem The Divine Comedy, with Prue Shaw, author of 'Reading Dante', scholar Nick Havely, the poet Sean O'Brien and writer Kevin Jackson.

Matthew Sweet is joined by former Labour strategist Alastair Campbell, epidemiologist and advocate for a healthy gut Tim Spector, journalist Michael Goldfarb, and Dr Luke Evans to consider the role our guts play in matters of politics, culture and beyond. Art historian and biographer Frances Spalding offers her verdict on a new ballet from Wayne McGregor, Woolf Works. And ahead of receiving an honorary Palme D'Or at Cannes this year, octogenarian Agnes Varda discusses her double life as celebrated filmmaker and artist.

Anne Enright, Ireland's first Laureate for Fiction, talks to Anne McElvoy about her new novel The Green Road. The economist Richard Layard and Professor of Psychology David M. Clark discuss the economics of psychological therapy. Plus, Christopher Hampton on translating the plays of Florian Zeller.

Philip Dodd in extended conversation with the actor Antony Sher whose recent roles include Willy Loman and Falstaff.

Matthew Sweet talks to Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Claire Preston and Gavin Francis about the mind-adventures of doctors in time and space. Sir Thomas Browne was a man fascinated by everything from nature to religion, to the shock of the new. How does his story resonate now?

Julian Barnes, a Booker Prize-winning author, shares his fascination with art, discussing how modernism and cubism influence literary techniques. He delves into the importance of artistic omissions and the evolving perception through repeated viewing. Bapsi Sidhwa, a Pakistani novelist and women's rights activist, reflects on her acclaimed novel The Crow Eaters, exploring Partition's impact and Parsi identity with humor. Both guests reveal how personal experiences shape their creative works and the societal influence of fiction.

Philip Dodd reports on the first night of Carol Ann Duffy's new adaptation of Everyman with Elaine Storkey, Michael Arditti & Tim Stanley and also talks to the the play’s choreographer Javier De Frutos. Clive James reads a new poem and the New York-based Iranian intellectual Hamid Dabashi talks about his book Can Non-Europeans Think.

Matthew Sweet interviews Alberto Manguel about his new book, Curiosity. As Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland turns 150 and a new exhibition opens at the Museum of Childhood in London, New Generation Thinker Naomi Paxton, and curator Kiera Vaclavik, consider the cultural impact of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. And as Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd is released in the cinema, we ponder the Victorian writers who fall in and out of fashion in the modern era with Will Abberley.