At the Contains Strong Language Festival in Bradford, Tom Sutcliffe and guests explore the history and culture of the city, and nation, through its poetry and stories. From battlefields and royal courts, coalmines to curry houses Start the Week looks at the language and rhythms that have captured the country. The historian Catherine Clarke is retelling the story of the past in a new way in ‘A History of England in 25 Poems’. From the 8th century to today these verses illuminate the experiences, emotions and imaginations of those who lived through it. As the 2025 City of Culture, Bradford gets an imaginative re-making in ‘The Book of Bradford: A City in Short Fiction’, a collection filled with rich diversity and youthful energy. Its editor Saima Mir, who grew up in the city, says the stories don’t avoid the scars of past challenges, but there’s pride in a city that has overcome differences and is looking ahead.Moving on from the past is also reflected in Andrew McMillan’s debut novel, ‘Pity’, which follows three generations of a Yorkshire mining family, exploring themes of masculinity and post-industrial decline. As a prize-winning poet, McMillan will also be performing at the Contains Strong Language Festival in Bradford.Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez
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Afghanistan and the DRC
Lyse Doucet tells the history of Afghanistan in recent decades through the story of the Inter-Continental hotel, which opened in the capital in 1969. The BBC’s international correspondent stayed there frequently from the late 1980s, and she details how the Soviet occupation, civil war, US invasion and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban have all left their mark on 'The Finest Hotel in Kabul', and the people who worked there.There’s plenty of pink champagne and fine dining in Michela Wrong’s study of the rise and fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, the charismatic dictator of Congo/ Zaire at the end of the 20th century. It’s 25 years since her biography, 'In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz', was published, and as the Democratic Republic of Congo appears to be on the brink of another civil war, she reflects on this latest cycle of violence.There have been calls for international help in the DRC, but just how effective is military intervention in the long run? Ashleigh Percival-Borley served in Afghanistan in 2010 but had to watch from the sidelines as the US and UK abruptly pulled out a decade later, leaving a vacuum filled by the Taliban. Now, as a military historian and one of BBC Radio 4's researchers-in-residence, she’s interested in giving voice to women in war – not just as the victims, but as active participants.
The New Generation Thinkers scheme, which puts research on radio, is a partnership between BBC Radio 4 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez
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Arundhati Roy and maternal inheritance
The Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy looks back at her foremost influences in her memoir, Mother Mary Comes To Me. While her writing and activism are shaped by early circumstances – both financial and political – at the centre is her relationship with her mother, who she describes as ‘my shelter and my storm’.The poet Sarah Howe won the TS Eliot prize for poetry for her debut collection, Loop of Jade. In her new work, Foretokens, she returns to the complex inheritance of family and language, as she tries to piece together the fragmentary, often mythical, early life of her Chinese mother, given away at birth. The academic Lea Ypi travels through the history of Ottoman aristocracy to the making of modern Albania and the early days of communism as she attempts to retrace the life of her beloved grandmother. In her new book, Indignity: A Life Reimagined, she reveals the fragility of truth, as her own memories collide with secret police reports and newly discovered photographs.Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez
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Sanctuary, refuge and exile
Sanctuary is an ancient idea of a place of refuge or freedom from harm. It has deep roots in the history, literature and myths of many cultures. Marina Warner’s new book Sanctuary explores travelling tales and concepts of hospitality and home - suggesting that myths, stories and works of art can be places of sanctuary too. The story of leprosy is a story of isolation and exclusion over thousands of years. In his book, Outcast, Oliver Basciano has written about his journey across the hinterlands of the world to demystify the lives of those who have been ostracised. He argues that the image we still hold onto of medieval leprosy is a nineteenth-century myth invented to justify the gross mistreatment of patients in the name of colonial, religious and economic exploitation. Churches are a spiritual home for some 200 million Christians worldwide, but they often hold a fascination and interest for the most committed atheist. A church is a place of sanctuary, but also a place where the drama of life is played out. Fergus Butler-Gallie is an Anglican priest and his new book Twelve Churches explores the history of Christianity through the places worshippers have built. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Ruth Watts
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The Idea of Genius
We think we know what a genius is: a tortured poet; rebellious scientist; monstrous artist; or a tech disruptor. You can tell what a society values by who it labels as a genius says Helen Lewis in her new book, The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers. From Leonardo da Vinci to Elon Musk, she asks if the modern idea of genius, as a class of special people, is distorting our view of the world.With ten platinum albums Tupac Shakur was one of the stars of hip hop music when he was murdered at the age of 25. His music was very influential and his name is also associated with the legacy of Black Panther politics. In Words for My Comrades: A Political Biography of Tupac Shakur, Dean Van Nguyen argues that while much of the energy of the Black political movement was absorbed by the commercial music culture of the 1990s – Tupac’s contribution lives on today. Gertrude Stein was considered a genius by some, a charlatan by others. She posed for Picasso’s portrait; hosted Matisse and Hemingway in Bohemian Paris; and she dazzled American crowds on her sell-out tour for her sensational Autobiography of Alice B Toklas, a version of the relationship with her partner. Francesca Wade’s new book Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife, explores the creation of the Stein myth. Presenter: Adam Rutherford
Producer: Ruth Watts
South Africa