Podcast appearances and mentions of Fiona Benson

Summer means cicadas. Those crackly, buzzy bugs that drone and drone in the heat like a live electrical wire spewing sparks. Mair Bosworth and Fiona Benson took that sound and crafted "Magicicada," a stunning "sound poem," as they called it, marrying Mair's stellar recordings and sound design and Fiona's nuanced poetry. 

On The Verb this week join Ian McMillan for a celebration of remarkable poets and poetry as he presents readings from all the collections shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. The prize is awarded annually by the T.S. Eliot Foundation for the best collection of the year and the winner receives £25,000. Anthony Joseph was declared this year's winner by the judges for his 'luminous' collection Sonnets for Albert. Alongside readings from the poets themselves, Ian reflects how their work reverberates with the here and now, refreshing the language and giving us maps and signposts for these turbulent times. The shortlisted poets featured along with Anthony Joseph are Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Philip Gross, Denise Saul, Yomi Sode, Mark Pajak, Jemma Borg, James Conor Patterson, Zaffar Kunial and Fiona Benson. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

On The Verb this week join Ian McMillan for a celebration of remarkable poets and poetry as he presents readings from all the collections shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. The prize is awarded annually by the T.S. Eliot Foundation for the best collection of the year and the winner receives £25,000. Anthony Joseph was declared this year's winner by the judges for his 'luminous' collection Sonnets for Albert. Alongside readings from the poets themselves, Ian reflects how their work reverberates with the here and now, refreshing the language and giving us maps and signposts for these turbulent times. The shortlisted poets featured along with Anthony Joseph are Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Philip Gross, Denise Saul, Yomi Sode, Mark Pajak, Jemma Borg, James Conor Patterson, Zaffar Kunial and Fiona Benson. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Cecile Wright

Film director Marie Kreutzer on her new period drama film, Corsage, about the rebellious Elisabeth, 19th-century empress of Austria and queen of Hungary. Matthew Sweet joins Front Row to mark the work of Mike Hodges, the celebrated director of the classic films Get Carter and Flash Gordon, whose death has just been announced. When does an 'art-speak' buzzword, such as 'immersive' or 'liminal,' add to our aesthetic landscape and when does it get in the way? Times critic James Marriott and the artist Bob and Roberta Smith discuss how words shape our experience of art. And, ahead of the announcement of the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry in January, we hear a poem from nominee Fiona Benson's shortlisted collection Ephemeron. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Jerome Weatherald Image: Vicky Krieps as Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the film Corsage Photographer credit: Felix Vratny

Do you experience disgust at the sight of certain insects? Which ones? Fiona Benson teaches us how to see. Fiona Benson is the author of several poetry collections including Bright Travellers (Jonathan Cape 2014), Vertigo & Ghost (Jonathan Cape 2019), and Ephemeron (Jonathan Cape 2022). She is the winner of the 2015 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for Bright Travellers and the Forward Prize for Vertigo & Ghost. In 2019, Fiona collaborated with sound artists Mair Bosworth and Eliza Lomas for an 18-month, singing exploration of the wonders of the insect world as part of the University of Exeter's Urgency Arts Commissions. The series of workshops culminated in a public anthology of poetry sound pieces called “In the Company of Insects.”Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.We're pleased to offer Fiona Benson's poem, and invite you to connect with Poetry Unbound throughout this season.Pre-order the forthcoming book Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World and join us in our new conversational space on Substack.

Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama is back on Monday, September 26. Featured poets in this season include Rumi, Fiona Benson, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, and many more. New episodes released every Monday and Friday through December 16.Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, or wherever you listen.

Forty years ago the writer Paul Theroux hoisted his knapsack on his back and set off on a journey on foot around the coast of the United Kingdom; the effects of Thatcherism were being felt in earnest and the Falklands War was in progress. The Kingdom by the Sea, Theroux's grumpy, funny account of this journey, was published the following year (1983) and caused outrage in many of the seaside towns the author had passed through and seemingly written off. In this episode the Backlisted team - Andy, John, Nicky and Tess - revisit the book, and a few books like it, to discuss whatever happened to travel writing; how Britain has changed since 1982; and what Theroux got right - and wrong - about his adopted country. In addition, John enjoys a more recent travelogue, Felicity Cloake's new book Red Sauce Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey (Mudlark); while Andy reads two poems from Fiona Benson's stunning new collection Ephemeron (Cape Poetry). For more information visit https://www.backlisted.fm Please support us and unlock bonus material at https://www.patreon.com/backlisted

The award-winning poet Fiona Benson retells the Greek myth of the Minotaur, upending the legend of the dashing male hero slaying the monster in the labyrinth. In a series of poems in her new collection Ephemeron we hear from the bull-child's mother – the betrayed and violated Pasiphae. Benson tells Helen Lewis she wanted to explore male and female desire, and the extraordinary cycles of violence and abuse of power in the Greek myths. The cultural historian Ivan Jablonka has taken his native France by storm with his history of Masculinity – From Patriarchy to Gender Justice, translated by Nathan Bracher. In it he asks what it means to be a good man? Using examples from the past he explores the origins and structure of male dominance. He argues that it's time that men took more responsibility and fought harder for genuine equality. The political philosopher Nina Power is more circumspect about the demonisation of men, which she believes is now rampant in today's society. In What Do Men Want, Power looks at what happens when men feel beleaguered and retreat to the ‘manosphere', and she explores ways in which men and women can live together more harmoniously. The number of people living alone has increased over the last decade, but it's still a path that goes against what society expects, according to the entrepreneur and Founder of the lifestyle magazine, About Time, Angelica Malin. She became single at the beginning of lockdown and has now brought together 30 women to explore what single womanhood means in the modern age, in Unattached. Producer: Katy Hickman

Ben Rogers of The Poetry Society speaks to this year's National Poetry Competition judges Fiona Benson, David Constantine and Rachel Long in a wide-ranging conversation that contemplates the perpetual dynamism of reading, where to find inspiration, poems as little creatures, the nature of poetic truth, and how and when to end a poem. The National Poetry Competition is open until 31 October, open to all poets worldwide aged 18+ at www.npc.poetrysociety.org.uk

The Bedtime Stories for the End of the World podcast is back for another series, asking leading poets to reimagine traditional stores for our apocalyptic age.  Joining Eleanor Penny this week are poets Fiona Benson and Remi Graves. They each retell the story of a mythical figure: the old woman Babushka from Eastern Europe, and Mami Wata, a gender fluid spirit from African mythology.  Over the coming 9 episodes, we have 18 writers sharing brand new work, and discussing the stories they want to preserve for future generations.    Find out more, listen to all our poems and catch up with all of our previous episodes at: endoftheworldpodcast.com Follow us for updates on Twitter or Instagram: @goodbyeworldpod

It was the first days of spring when Laura Barton spoke to our third podcast guest, the Forward Prize winning poet Fiona Benson. Speaking about the itinerant rhythms of growing up in an RAF family, of boarding school and academia, the pleasing rhythms of a settled life in rural Devon and how each has shaped her poetry. Fittingly for this spring season Fiona shares her poem Almond Blossom to ease us out of winter into a hopeful and trusting green havoc. TOAST Podcast Series 5 is presented by Laura Barton and produced by Geoff Bird. Music for this season was written and performed by Laura James. All views expressed in the podcast are the interviewees own and not necessarily those of TOAST.

On this Democracy Sausage, we discuss how policymakers get their messages right (and so badly wrong) with government media and communications experts Fiona Benson and Jannette Cotterell, plus pod regular Marija Taflaga.How can governments build public trust at a time when following public health directions is literally a matter of life and death? With COVID-19 vaccinations showing promising signs, how can governments convince citizens that it’s safe and beneficial in the midst of a vocal anti-vaccine movement? And how has the changing media and social media landscape impacted the way governments communicate with their constituents? On this special episode of Democracy Sausage presented as part of the GovComms Festival, we discuss the dark art of government communications with former ministerial press secretary Fiona Benson, government relations consultant Jannette Cotterell, and regular podleague Dr Marija Taflaga.Jannette Cotterell is a Managing Director of Executive Counsel Australia, a government relations and media consultancy. Prior to entering strategic communications and lobbying, she was a television producer with the Nine network, BBC Television in London, and Seven Network in Australia.Fiona Benson is founder of FJ Partners Strategic Advisory. She is a former press secretary to two federal cabinet ministers, and specialises in devising innovative stakeholder engagement, media, and communications strategies.Marija Taflaga is Director of ANU Centre for the Study of Australian Politics and a lecturer in the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Her major research is on political parties and particularly the Liberal Party of Australia.Martyn Pearce is a presenter for Policy Forum Pod and the Editor of Policy Forum.Policy Forum Pod is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Subscribe on Android or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From Ovid to the "Black Spartacus". Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the TLS's classics editor Mary Beard to pick apart the story of "seduction", ancient and modern, the poet Fiona Benson reads her latest work, and the TLS's history editor David Horspool explores two accounts of America's domestic slave trade and a new biography of Toussaint Louverture.Strange Antics: A history of seduction by Clement KnoxWilliams’ Gang: A notorious slave trader and his cargo of Black convicts by Jeff Forret Sweet Taste of Liberty: A true story of slavery and restitution in America by W. Caleb McDanielBlack Spartacus: The epic life of Toussaint Louverture by Sudhir Hazareesingh See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rob's secret hope with every HowSound is that you'll hear creative storytelling and production and think "Oh wait! I wanna do that!" He has no doubt that Fiona Benson's and Mair Bosworth's sound poem about 17-year cicadas will do just that.

Die 4. Folge dreht sich um das 21. poesiefestival berlin. Es gibt ein Interview mit dem Leiter des Festivals und passend dazu lyrische Empfehlungen!

W.G. Sebald's book The Rings of Saturn, first published in Germany in 1995, is the subject of this episode. Joining John and Andy to walk around this enigmatic masterpiece are the writer and swimmer Philip Hoare and the novelist Jessie Greengrass. Other books under discussion are The Years by Annie Ernaux and Fiona Benson's award-winning poetry collection Vertigo & Ghost.

David Attenborough's new documentary series Seven Worlds, One Planet has been four years in the making, we speak to Bertie Gregory, a wildlife cameraman who was at the heart of the show. The new retrospective of the work of the pioneering artist Bridget Riley at the Hayward Gallery in London features over 200 works spanning her 70-year career. Louisa Buck reviews the exhibition that features Riley’s famous black-and-white works of the 1960s to her more recent works as she continues to play with abstraction and perception. The Forward Prize for Best Poetry Collection 2019 has been awarded to Fiona Benson for her collection Vertigo & Ghost. She explains why Zeus and his relations with mortals and nymphs is at the heart of the poems. Drill artist Rico Racks has been banned from using drug slang in his music after being convicted for supplying class A drugs. The list of words include “trapping” meaning “dealing” and “connect” - a drugs contact. Journalist and youth worker Ciaran Thapar reports. Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn

Who holds the power? The US activist and author Rebecca Solnit talks to Shahidha Bari about pros and cons of anger, US border patrols, rape cases in courts and shifts in the point of view of Hollywood films. Plus a look at the theme of National Poetry Day 2019 - Truth with the poet David Cain author of Truth Street - A Hillsborough Poem and Fiona Benson - whose collection is called Vertigo & Ghost. Rebecca Solnit's fourth Essay collection is called Whose Story Is This ? Old Conflicts, New Chapters. Producer: Torquil MacLeod

After years of being controlled and humiliated by him in 2011 Sally Challen was jailed for 22 years for the murder of her husband, Richard. The sentence was reduced to 18 years but in June of this year she walked out of the Old Bailey a free woman. The introduction of coercive control as a crime meant her sentence was reduced to manslaughter. In her first radio interview Sally joins Jane Garvey to reflect on her marriage, her sentence and how it feels to be a ‘free woman’ and a new grandma. As part of Radio 4, Four Seasons Poetry Day the award-winning poet Fiona Benson reads from her collection to mark the autumn equinox . BBC Music Day is on Thursday – an annual celebration across the BBC of the power of music to change lives. On Woman’s Hour we’ll be hearing from women about the importance of music in their dementia care. Today - Teresa Davies. She’s from Mold in North Wales and is creating a digital book about her life so future carers can find out what particular pieces of music mean to her. Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Kirsty Starkey Interviewed Guest: Sally Challen Interviewed Guest: Fiona Benson Reporter: Henrietta Harrison

In this week’s episode, award-winning poets Fiona Benson and Julia Copus join Rachael and Jack in the studio and there are audio postcards from Morgan Parker, Bobby Parker and Wendy Cope.  See here ( https://www.faber.co.uk/blog/the-faber-poetry-podcast-fiona-benson-julia-copus)  for the full show notes, author bios and links.  Trigger warning: Please note that this episode’s second audio postcard features details relating to sexual trauma. Listen to this episode and subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss forthcoming episodes from the new season and (should you be so inclined) please rate and review us so that other poetry-lovers can discover the show. Thank you for listening! 

From accidentally liking your own social media posts to celebrating in the wake of announcing a budget emergency, policy and political communication are challenging and when done badly can be catastrophic. On this week’s Policy Forum Pod we dig into the alchemy of policy communication – where it’s been done well, when it’s been done badly, and how it can be done better – with our expert panel Frank Bongiorno, Fiona Benson, Andrew Hughes, and Pamela Kinnear. It’s essential listening for anyone involved in the policymaking process. This week’s policy panel are: Fiona Benson is founder of FJ Partners Strategic Advisory. She is a former press secretary to two federal cabinet ministers, and specialises in devising innovative stakeholder engagement, media, and communications strategies. Professor Frank Bongiorno is the Head of the School of History at ANU and is an Australian labour, political, and cultural historian. His books include The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia; The People’s Party: Victorian Labor and the Radical Tradition 1875-1914; and The Sex Lives of Australians: A History. He was co-editor of Elections Matter: Ten Federal Elections that Shaped Australia. Dr Andrew Hughes is a lecturer in marketing in the ANU Research School of Management, where he teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Pamela Kinnear is the principal of Kinnford Consulting. Her consultancy work is grounded in a successful 20-year career at senior leadership levels across government, non-government and research sectors, backed up by a strong academic background. Our presenters for this episode – Bob Cotton and Martyn Pearce – also discuss the recent UN report on biodiversity loss, tackle some of your comments and suggestions for future pods, and tell you how you can win a very limited edition Policy Forum Pod mug! Bob Cotton is a Visiting Fellow at Crawford School. He has a strong interest in public policy issues, including Australia’s engagement in the Asia Pacific Region. He is a mentor at the National Security College. Martyn Pearce is a presenter for Policy Forum Pod and the Editor of Policy Forum. Show Notes | The following were mentioned in this episode: UN report warns about one million species going extinct Crawford School of Public Policy Make a suggestion on the Policy Forum Pod Facebook group Gough Whitlam’s ‘It’s Time’ campaign Timeline of William McMahon’s prime ministership John Howard: “But we will decide who comes to this country…” Labor election promise on childcare and pensioner dental Julia Gillard’s first interview as PM with Kerry O’Brien (transcript) Bill Shorten defends his mother Franklin Dam and the Greens Kevin Rudd: How we staved off recession and the GFC (Financial Review)

This week The Verb is looking at modern retelling and remixing of ancient stories. Jenny Lewis discusses her book 'Gilgamesh Retold' (Carcanet), Fiona Benson explains why Zeus is at the heart of her new collection 'Vertigo & Ghost' (Cape), there's new poetry from Richard Scott and Jack Bernhardt is off to Sherwood Forest, Hollywood style. Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Faith Lawrence

Fiona Benson’s Vertigo & Ghost (Jonathan Cape), the follow-up to her award-winning 2014 debut Bright Travellers, is one of the most hotly-anticipated poetry collections of 2019. Its harrowing central sequence is a retelling of Greek myth, depicting Zeus as a serial rapist; other poems, including the Forward-shortlisted ‘Ruins’, engage with depression, female sexuality and early motherhood. Fiona was in conversation with Daisy Johnson, author of Everything Under (Jonathan Cape), shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Andrew Marr on beauty and politics in art. Our idea of beauty was shaped by the great Victorian art critic John Ruskin. He thought all people deserved to see beauty every day, and compared, and founded a gallery in Sheffield for local industrial workers. To mark Ruskin's bicentenary, curator Louise Pullen has put together a new exhibition showing how his ideas about art, science, truth and beauty shaped the politics of the day. "All art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists," declared WEB Du Bois. The civil rights campaigner, philosopher and social thinker argued that it was an artist's duty to shape a better world. Academic Liam Bright explains why Du Bois thought both artists and scientists had a duty to tell the truth. In poet Fiona Benson's new volume Vertigo and Ghost, beauty, violence and power are never far apart. Benson's poems depict Zeus as a serial rapist, and capture the claustrophobia of modern domestic life. And design guru Stephen Bayley considers what creativity is - and what it is for - in his new book How To Steal Fire. As a leading cultural critic, he asks what place beauty and imagination have in modern life. Producer: Hannah Sander

Wigmore Hall Composer in Residence Helen Grime and writer Fiona Benson are joined by flautist Daniel Parkin to discuss the topic of parenthood, how it has inspired the world première of Bright Travellers, and how that in turn sparked an innovative new Wigmore Hall Learning project for 0-5 year-olds and their parents and carers.

“I think shame is very unhelpful, that taboos can be very unhelpful – maybe we should try and be as brave as our poems.” Fiona Benson, author of the prize-winning collection Bright Travellers, talks to Review Editor Emily Berry, about her new collection Vertigo & Ghost, forthcoming from Cape in 2019. They consider questions of shame, permission and catharsis, the challenges of working with difficult material and ‘breaking through' – the ways in which writing works to bring the inside outside, and the influence of writers such as Sylvia Plath, Sharon Olds and Lucille Clifton. Benson also reflects on the sublime and its possibilities in contemporary poetry, with reference to Whitman, Rilke and Ginsberg. She reads her astonishing poems ‘Fly' and ‘[Zeus] Anatomical Dolls', both first published in The Poetry Review. To connect with more poetry, visit poetrysociety.org.uk

In a new Policy Forum Pod two leading experts shed some light on the disturbing human rights violations being committed on Phnom Penh’s homeless people in contemporary Cambodia. Cambodia is a country whose recent past was plagued by extreme violence: large-scale bombing, civil war, invasion and genocide, acts that in total killed more than two million people over two decades. But it’s also a country whose present appears to be plunging back into the human misery of its haunted past, with not only state-sanctioned, but state-perpetrated violence being carried out against some of its most vulnerable citizens. It’s violence that is being largely overlooked by the international community. It is a situation in which Phnom Penh’s homeless people are systematically being rounded up by police, their possessions arbitrarily destroyed, and they themselves are being deported to what are effectively concentration camps outside the capital where they are subjected to appalling conditions. This is part of a broader pattern of human rights violations, from curbs on free speech and the media, to restrictions on elected political opponents, that seriously threaten the country’s prospects for free and fair democratic elections in 2018 and, longer term, for a peaceful, democratic future. Discussing the country’s traumatic past and troubling present are: Professor the Honourable Gareth Evans AC QC. Professor Evans is Chancellor of the Australian National University, and has been recognised at both the national and international level for his extraordinary service and contribution to international relations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, to global policy, conflict prevention and resolution, and to arms control and disarmament. As one of Australia's longest serving Foreign Ministers, Professor Evans was the architect of the United Nations’ intervention in Cambodia and the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement to put an end to the mass murders and other human rights atrocities of the 1970s and 80s. He has continued to monitor developments over the years and remains an influential and respected voice on Cambodia today. Dr Simon Springer is an Associate Professor at Canada’s Victoria University, has spent the last 15 years doing research in Cambodia looking at patterns of political and structural violence that have arisen as the country has transitioned towards a free market economy and struggled with consolidating its democracy. His research has included looking at the plight of Phnom Penh’s homeless and interviewing hundreds of people on the ground. He has published a number of books in that time and has worked to draw international attention to the grievous situation unfolding. Dr Springer and Professor Evans are in conversation with Policy Forum’s Fiona Benson. You can read Simon Springer's Policy Forum piece on Cambodia's homeless at http://www.policyforum.net/apocalypse-apocalypse-now/ The pod also takes a look at listener feedback on our last two podcasts on the South China Sea ruling, and the idea of a universal basic income. The podcast is presented by Martyn Pearce, Editor at http://www.policyforum.net/ . Find him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/theshepherdsdog Photo by Transformer18 on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/71267357@N06/15513131230/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Paris climate agreement was a landmark agreement bringing together 175 countries. But can governments around the world turn a diplomatic victory into an economic and environmental win? And what's the future of the agreement under a new US President? In conversation with Fiona Benson are two leading experts on the Paris agreement, Professor Ottmar Edenhofer and Associate Professor Frank Jotzo. Ottmar Edenhofer is Deputy Director and Chief Economist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Professor of the Economics of Climate Change of the Technical University Berlin. He is also Director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) as well as adviser to the World Bank regarding issues of economic growth and climate protection. From 2008 to 2015 he served as Co-Chair of WGIII of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Frank Jotzo is Associate Professor at and Deputy Director of ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, Director of the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, and an ANU Public Policy Fellow. Frank Jotzo is a Lead Author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 5th Assessment Report, and is Associate Editor of the journals Climate Policy and Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. He has been involved in a number of policy research and advisory exercises, including as senior advisor to Australia’s Garnaut Climate Change Review, advisor to Indonesia‘s Minister of Finance and the World Bank. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

2016 is set up to be a real doozie of a year, with the World Indoor Championships this winter, the Olympics in the summer and about 100 meaningful races between, that will tell 1000 more stories that will shape the year in Canadian running. On this week's show we talk with a runner who had an astronomical 2015 and who is sure to soar even higher in 2016... Fiona Benson joins us from Calgary to chat training, keeping track relevant, and the importance of great coaching. We also check in with our recurring run pundit, Jeff Costen, as he gazes into his crystal ball to see what the winter holds in store and just what the results from this past fall mean.