Radio and podcasts

I love making radio and podcasts, and I’m always happy to hear from producers who would like to discuss or develop a pitch, programme or guest appearance. I’m an expert in eighteenth-century and Romantic literature and culture, and in the history of personal naming – but my interests go much further than that. You can get an idea of my experience from the selection of radio and podcast appearances below.

 

A Trip to my Grave. In October 2021 I wrote and presented a Sunday feature for BBC Radio 3, explaining why I have already booked my own grave. It’s a mediation on mortality, place, and the writer who inspired me to take control of my own death – Hester Thrale Piozzi.

Samuel Johnson’s Circle. In May 2021 I appeared as a guest on BBC Freethinking, discussing the writer Hester Thrale Piozzi, whose bicentenary takes place in 2021, and her relationship with Samuel Johnson.

The Fake Poet. In November 2020 I wrote and presented a Sunday feature for BBC Radio 3 to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the eighteenth-century poet Thomas Chatterton.

Charlotte Turner Smith. In March 2020 I wrote and presented a programme about Romantic poet-novelist Charlotte Turner Smith. It was commissioned for BBC Radio 3’s Essay slot, as part of the series ‘Five Women Writers to Put Back on the Bookshelves.’

Walking Matilda. In February 2020, I wrote and read a creative-critical piece about motherhood, psychogeography, labour, and love. It was commissioned for BBC Radio 3’s Essay slot, as part of the series ‘Strange Strolls’.

 Moral Machinery: The Invention of Mental Healthcare. In October 2019 I wrote and presented a Sunday Feature aired on BBC Radio 3 about the history of the Retreat, a radical psychiatric hospital in York.

Proms Plus: The Lives of Letters. In September 2019, I presented  a discussion of epistolary culture featuring novelist Ruth Ware and historian Shaun Usher.

Proms Plus: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Culture and Heritage. In August 2018, I chaired an introduction to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller culture and heritage with writers Louise Doughty and Damian Le Bas.

Rehabilitating the Rev. John Trusler. In June 2018, I wrote and presented this short radio programme about the Rev. John Trusler – eighteenth-century writer, publisher, entrepreneur, life coach, shady ghostwriter, inventor, visionary and probable scoundrel.

Whose Book Is It Anyway? In November 2016, I was a panelist on a forty-five minute programme aired on Freethinking, BBC Radio 3, addressing the political pamphlets of Thomas Paine and Hannah More.

What’s In A Name? In August 2016, I wrote and presented this twenty-minute essay aired on Freethinking, BBC Radio 3, addressing the history of baby naming.

Not Suitable For Children. In July 2016, I co-wrote and presented this forty-five minute Sunday Feature aired on BBC Radio 3, addressing the history of anxieties about ‘suitability’ in children’s literature. 

The Great Forgetting: Women Writers Before Austen. In April 2016, I co-created, and appeared in all six episodes of, this podcast series addressing the lives and writings of eighteenth-century women, in conversation with Helen Lewis (deputy editor, New Statesman). Published by the New Statesman. Special guests: Jennie Batchelor (Kent) and Elizabeth Edwards (University of Wales). 

Is Marriage an Identity Crisis? In November 2014, I wrote and presented an essay about marital name change aired on BBC Radio 3, as part of my participation in the New Generation Thinkers 2014 scheme.

Jeremy Bentham’s Universal Tattoo. In June 2014 I created a five-minute broadcast for BBC Radio 3’s Freethinking Programme, about eighteenth-century ID cards.