Historical literature podcast episodes

Philip Oltermann tells the strange story of the poetry group run by the East German Ministry for State Security

Fiona Sampson speaks about the extraordinary life of the Victorian poet, who battled chronic illness and family troubles to write ground-breaking poetry

John Higgs discusses the extraordinary life and art of William Blake – an eccentric outsider once dismissed as a madman, but now hailed as a genius

Annika Bautz discusses how the writing and poetry of Walter Scott transformed how the world saw Scotland

Marion Turner explores the life of the 14th-century poet, arguing that we need to look beyond his status as the ‘father of English literature’

Emily Brand explores the dramatic lives of the Georgian aristocratic family whose lives were blighted by scandal long before the arrival of the renowned poet

We speak to historian Camilla Townsend, who recently won the Cundill History Prize for her book Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

Robert Harris discusses V2, his new Second World War thriller inspired by the German missile campaign in 1944

The renowned historical novelist talks about his books that inspired the Anglo-Saxon drama series The Last Kingdom

Historian Tracy Borman describes the process of writing her first historical novel

Paul Edmondson answers listener questions on the life and work of England’s most famous playwright

From fatal snakebites to dying from a broken heart, Kathryn Harkup guides us through a grisly range of Shakespeare’s death scenes

Islam Issa reveals how terrorists have twisted Shakespeare’s life and work to suit their own ends over the centuries

Edward Brooke-Hitching discusses some of history’s strangest literary curiosities, from hoax manuscripts to tomes bound in human skin

From gallant knights to dragon-slaying damsels, Lydia Zeldenrust reveals why medieval readers couldn’t get enough of romance tales