Thames & Hudson

In 'The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers', Jen Campbell’s collection of terrifying stories, fourteen of the most gruesome fairy tales from around the world are re-told for contemporary readers and restored to their original, grisly versions. Here, Jen reads 'The Kingdoms at the Centre of the Earth', just one of the delightfully grim tales from the book.

In this unmissable episode, writer Eliza Apperly speaks to Harlots, Whores & Hackabouts author Dr. Kate Lister, exploring the complex and compelling history of sex work from medieval London to the Moulin Rouge, ancient Greece to Edo Japan, and right up to the present day. In this wide-ranging and insightful conversation, Kate sheds light on the ‘pleasure quarters’ of Renaissance Italy, the wealthy courtesans of ancient Rome, and how royal mistress Nell Gwynne became one of England’s most powerful women. Giving long-overdue recognition to the truths of sex work, Kate explores historical and contemporary attempts to regulate the sale of sex, and spotlights landmark moments of revolt by sex workers, including the occupation of a Lyon church in 1975 – widely considered the birth of the sex workers’ rights movement.

In this unmissable episode, ‘The Art Museum in Modern Times’ author Charles Saumarez Smith takes us inside the world’s leading galleries, exploring the ‘Disneyfication’ of the art museum, how architecture influences art, the uniquely contemporary role of the museum café, and why COVID might have lasting impacts on curatorial creativity. As Former Director of the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery, Charles Saumarez Smith is well-versed in the making of a museum. Here, he traces a profound evolution over the last several decades in how we experience art and what we think an art museum should be. Once acting as ‘public schoolrooms’ that prioritised education and linear display, art museums have undergone radical shifts in recent decades, making ‘a switch from coherence to exploration’. From more commercialised Western galleries like the Tate Modern, MoMa and the Guggenheim, to the Japanese museums centering reflection and serenity, Saumarez Smith explores key questions about these extraordinary spaces. How does the architecture of a museum shape its visitors’ experience of art? Can a building ever distract from the collection that it houses? And how will museums emerge from their current existential crisis? This episode was produced and presented by Eliza Apperly and edited by Benjamin Nash.

In this unforgettable episode, writer Eliza Apperly joins in conversation with Pepe Karmel, art history professor and author of ‘Abstract Art: A Global History’, and Kyla McDonald, curator and art historian. Together they embark on a myth-exploding mission through the history of abstraction. Abstract art, Pepe argues, did not unfold as a neat sequence of ‘isms’, as art history textbooks might have us suppose. The truth, he explains, is bolder, messier, and has much more to do with the real-life experiences of artists. This truer history also includes the work of artists who, because of gender and racial bias, have been traditionally overlooked, undervalued and othered. 'Abstract Art: A Global History' shines a light on some of the extraordinary women artists and artists of colour who are finally getting their due. This episode was produced and presented by Eliza Apperly and edited by Benjamin Nash.

In this unmissable episode, writer Eliza Apperly joins in conversation with Andy Friend, author of ‘John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace’, and Sara Cooper, Head of Collections and Exhibitions at Towner Eastbourne, to explore the extraordinary life and work of 20th-century painter John Nash. Younger brother of Paul Nash, John’s remarkable life was marked both by great tragedy and by deep, enduring love. This episode offers insight into the traumatic deaths of his mother and young son, his experience of frontline horror in the First World War, his nearly 60-year marriage to Christine Kühlenthal – which allowed for ‘outside loves’ – plus the rich network of artists who were John’s friends and contemporaries, and how John found refuge in his art and in the bucolic British landscape. ‘John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace’ by Andy Friend and David Dimbleby is available at: https://thamesandhudson.com/john-nash-the-landscape-of-love-and-solace-9780500022900 The Towner Eastbourne’s retrospective exhibition of the same name will run from 1 May to 26 September 2021. More info can be found at: https://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/exhibition/john-nash-the-landscape-of-love-and-solace/ This episode was produced and presented by Eliza Apperly and edited by Benjamin Nash.

Listen to our new podcast in which writer and broadcaster Louisa Buck interviews Eleanor Nairne, curator of the Barbican’s acclaimed exhibition ‘Lee Krasner: Living Colour’, and Gail Levin, Krasner’s longstanding friend and author of Lee Krasner: A biography.

Jasper Rees speaks to Martin Gayford, art critic for The Spectator, about Bacon, Freud, 'the school of London Painters', and his new book, 'Modernists and Mavericks'. Buy the book: https://bit.ly/2HiYlUO

Authors Fiona Rogers and Max Houghton discuss their new book: a vivid showcase of work by more than thirty of the world’s leading contemporary female documentary photographers. Buy the book: https://bit.ly/2htGeyR

Charles Saumarez Smith, author of 'East London', talks about how this area of the city has changed since he moved there in 1982. Describing his book not as a guide, but as a historical journey from Wapping in the south through Spitalfields and Bethnal Green to Hoxton, Haggerston and Hackney in the north. Buy the book: https://bit.ly/2F7Msei

Building upon his much-praised BBC Radio 4 series '21st Century Mythologies', Peter Conrad examines the enduring place of myth in contemporary culture and society. Buy the book: https://bit.ly/2Hm26F4