Royal Academy of Arts

Catch up on this conversation between Peter Blake and the Director of London Original Print Fair, Helen Rosslyn. They discuss Blake’s new project 'Ways of Making', which investigates the diversity and range of processes at the disposal of an artist. Recognised as one of the founders of British Pop Art, painter and printmaker Sir Peter Blake is renowned for his connection with the music industry, having created iconic album covers for the Beatles, Paul Weller, The Who, and Oasis.

Catch up on this conversation with the artist behind this year’s Summer Exhibition courtyard installation, Thomas Houseago, and the show's curator Edith Devaney. Ranging from monumental to smaller-scale works, Houseago’s sculptures simultaneously convey states of power and vulnerability. He uses mediums traditionally associated with classical and modernist sculpture – including carved wood, clay, plaster and bronze – as well as less traditional materials like rebar (reinforcing steel bars) and hemp.

Award-winning director Ken Loach discusses the politics and processes behind his films, as well as the effects of Brexit on the british film industry with writer and critic, Francine Stock.

Actor, writer, comedian and presenter, Michael Palin explores the life and work of under-appreciated artists with journalist and broadcaster, Martha Kearney.

Author and illustrator Lauren Child sat down with her collaborator, designer David Mackintosh, to discuss the process of making best-selling children’s books – from font snobbery to wrestling over front covers and the merits of staring into space.

World-famous dancer, choreographer and composer, Hofesh Shechter, discusses his life and career – and why indifference is the worst possible response to his work.

Poetic and unflinching, Clio Barnard’s films explore the beauty and terror in rural English landscapes. Honing in on the lives and hardships of working-class Englanders, her films offer an unblinking account of life on the margins. In this interview with Matthew Sweet, she discusses her recent film, Dark River (2017), alongside The Selfish Giant (2013), which developed from her experimental documentary, The Arbor (2010), based on Bradford playwright, Andrea Dunbar.

Between them, Cressida Cowell and Chris Riddell have created some of the most iconic characters in children’s literature. In this conversation from our 2019 Festival of Ideas, the talented storytellers discuss how images and words can work together, and how to stoke the fires of creativity – from making space for accidents, to the importance of a “naughty drawer”.

Celebrated author, poet and broadcaster, Michael Rosen joins writer and broadcaster Sarah Crompton at the RA’s Festival of Ideas, to discuss the limitations of testing and the suppression of an individual’s interpretation in schools today.

The writer of 17 books in 50 languages, the British-Turkish writer and activist Elif Shafak was put on trial for her work in Turkey and accused of being a "pawn for western powers". Speaking to journalist and broadcaster Razia Iqbal in this podcast from the 2019 Festival of Ideas, Shafak talks about the feeling of being an outsider in your motherland, the urgent need for reform in the Turkish political landscape, and the role of novels in a country without free speech. Elif Shafak is the author of novels including The Bastard of Istanbul, The Forty Rules of Love, and Three Daughters of Eve.