Podcasts about hetta howes

Throughout history, roughly 50% of the human population has identified as female, while women only occupy around .05% of written history. In many cases from the past, even when women were referenced in history books it was written by men. In today's episode, I will be discussing the lives of four Medieval women who not only wrote but put their names to their work; insuring they would be remembered for generations to come. Joining me to discuss Marie de France, Julian of Norwich, Christine de Pizan and Margery Kemp, is Hetta Howes, author of Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let's talk about women's lives in the medieval era, did you know that they wrote books under their own names? They had a sense of humour? Let's talk of those women who lived lives on their own terms…We're sitting down with Hetta Howes, who has recently published her first book with Bloomsbury, called Poet Mystic Widow Wife. Welcome, Hetta!Get Poet Mystic Widow Wife:https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/poet-mystic-widow-wife-9781399408738/ (UK)https://www.waterstones.com/book/poet-mystic-widow-wife/hetta-howes/9781399408738 (UK)https://www.ucpress.edu/books/poet-mystic-widow-wife/hardcover (USA)Find Hetta: https://x.com/HettaHoweshttps://www.city.ac.uk/about/people/academics/hetta-howeshttps://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/articles/interviews/although-they-were-living-hundreds-of-years-ago-these-women-were-in-many-ways-just-like-us/If you would like to join Natalie on her Royal London Walking Tour, please see:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/london-the-royal-british-kings-and-queens-walking-tour-t426011/For more history fodder please visit https://www.ifitaintbaroquepodcast.art/ and https://www.reignoflondon.com/ Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Talking Tudors, host Natalie Grueninger welcomes Dr. Hetta Howes, a lecturer in medieval literature, to discuss her latest book, 'Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women'. Delve into the captivating stories of four remarkable women – Marie de France, Julian of Norwich, Christine de Pizan, and Margery Kempe, who challenged the societal norms of their time through their writing and actions. The episode explores the vibrant and often difficult lives of women in the medieval period, highlighting their courage, perseverance, and contributions to literature and history. Dr. Howes shares insights into the challenges of uncovering lost voices and the importance of understanding historical contexts while finding human connections across time. She also demystifies common assumptions about medieval women, revealing their diverse roles and often underestimated influence in a time of restrictive norms. Join Natalie and Dr. Howes as they bring to light the extraordinary journeys of these medieval women, demonstrating how their stories resonate with timeless themes of ambition, resilience, and the quest for self-expression. Discover more about Dr Howes https://www.city.ac.uk/about/people/academics/hetta-howes Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com Buy Talking Tudors merchandise at https://talkingtudors.threadless.com/ Support Talking Tudors on Patreon

Women in the Middle Ages rarely wielded political or economic power – yet, a little like the most persuasive doyennes of social media today, their words could shape minds and lives far beyond their own circles. In this Long Read, written by Hetta Howes, we introduce four female literary and spiritual trailblazers. HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today's feature originally appeared in the December 2024 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What was life really like for women in the medieval period? How did they think about sex, death and God? Could they live independent lives? And how can we hear their stories?Lucky for us, Hetta Howes has asked all these questions and come up with some pretty compelling answers, all neatly told in her new book Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife. In this special episode, Charlie Higson chats with Hetta about the lives of four incredible women from this period, Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a "no-good wife".It's a fabulous listen! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Day of the Dead, Halloween and All Souls Day being marked in different countries around the world - Shahidha Bari's guests discuss the belief in ghosts and the search for meaning in mysticism. They are:Dr Chris Harding is a cultural historian of Japan, India and East-West connections and is based at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of The Japanese and Japan Story.Dr Hetta Howes is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at City, University of London and Deputy Programme Director for the BA in English. She is a BBC Radio 3 and 4 New Generation Thinker and the author of a new book “Poet Mystic Widow Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women.”Simon Critchley is a philosopher and the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, USA. His latest book is On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy.Dr Iriving Finkel is Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum and has published The First Ghosts: A rich history of ancient ghosts and ghost storiesProducer: Lisa Jenkinson

**This episode contains some strong language**Few women had the luxury of writing down their thoughts and feelings during medieval times. But remarkably, there are at least four extraordinary women who did. Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic; Christine de Pizan, a widow; and Margery Kempe, a "no-good wife". What was life really like for them? Could they live independent lives? And how can we hear their stories?In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by Dr. Hetta Howes to talk about her new book Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women and what it reveals to u about how medieval women thought about things like sex, death and God.Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega. The producers are Joseph Knight and Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original TV documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign up HERE for 50% off your first 3 months using code ‘MEDIEVAL' https://historyhit.com/subscriptionYou can take part in our listener survey here: https://uk.surveymonkey.com/r/6FFT7MK

Marie de France, Julian of Norwich, Christine de Pizan and Margery Kempe: what can these four extraordinary female writers reveal about the everyday lives of ordinary women in the Middle Ages? Well, rather a lot, according to historian Hetta Howes. Looking closely at these authors' works, she captures glimpses into medieval lives that have otherwise been overshadowed – covering everything from the extent to which women had control over their bodies and freedoms, to female friendships and religious belief. Emily Briffett spoke to her to find out more. (Ad) Hetta Howes is the author of Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women (Bloomsbury Continuum, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poet-Mystic-Widow-Wife-Extraordinary/dp/1399408739/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. Listen to Eleanor Janega answer your top questions on the lives of medieval women here: https://link.chtbl.com/-lRVMFOT. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chaucer's widow and clothmaker is one of three characters given a longer confessional voice than other pilgrims in his Canterbury Tales and she uses her narrative to ask who has had the advantage in setting out the stories of women - "Who peyntede the leon, tel me who?" Shahidha Bari explores both the roots and the influence of Chaucer's creation and the different modern versions created by writers such as Zadie Smith and Ted Hughes and a film version by Pasolini. Shahidha's guests are Marion Turner, author of The Wife of Bath: A Biography, Patience Agbabi who reimagines this timeless character as a Nigerian businesswoman in her poem The Wife of Bafa, and New Generation Thinker Dr Hetta Howes who teaches at City University, London. You can hear Marion Turner discussing Chaucer's own life in a past episode of Free Thinking hearing from nominees for the 2020 Wolfson History Prize https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000j2qw You can find a discussion about Chaucer's court case in an Arts and Ideas podcast episode with Hetta Howes called A Feminist Take on Medieval History https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06n28wv And Free Thinking has a whole collection of programmes exploring Women in the World all available on BBC Sounds and as Arts & Ideas podcasts https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p084ttwp Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Chaucer's widow and clothmaker is one of three characters given a longer confessional voice than other pilgrims in his Canterbury Tales and she uses her narrative to ask who has had the advantage in setting out the stories of women - "Who peyntede the leon, tel me who?" Shahidha Bari explores both the roots and the influence of Chaucer's creation and the different modern versions created by writers such as Zadie Smith and Ted Hughes and a film version by Pasolini. Shahidha's guests are Marion Turner, author of The Wife of Bath: A Biography, Patience Agbabi who reimagines this timeless character as a Nigerian businesswoman in her poem The Wife of Bafa, and New Generation Thinker Dr Hetta Howes who teaches at City University, London. You can hear Marion Turner discussing Chaucer's own life in a past episode of Free Thinking hearing from nominees for the 2020 Wolfson History Prize https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000j2qw You can find a discussion about Chaucer's court case in an Arts and Ideas podcast episode with Hetta Howes called A Feminist Take on Medieval History https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06n28wv And Free Thinking has a whole collection of programmes exploring Women in the World all available on BBC Sounds and as Arts & Ideas podcasts https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p084ttwp Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Words to live by and finding hope in the face of terrible suffering, the life of the anchoress or hermit Julian of Norwich, the power of walking and nature to heal and art that replaces adverts with words of love – all part of this special Bank Holiday Woman's Hour. 650 years ago a woman we only know as Julian of Norwich produced a book written while she was voluntarily walled up in a hermit's cell which challenged the ideas of the time about sin and suffering. It presented a radical vision of love and hope that “All Shall Be Well and All Shall Be Well and All Manner of Things Shall be Well” . We hear about her life, how it has helped one woman through cancer treatment and inspired the lives of others and we hear from listeners about the words that they turn to for motivation and encouragement. Nuala McGovern speaks to Claire Gilbert author of a new novel I Julian; Dr. Hetta Howes senior lecturer in medieval and early modern literature at City, University of London; Sally-Anne Lomas Trustee of The Friends of Julian and creative director of The Cloth of Kindness project and to Faye Smith founder of Hope Walking. And, the British Kenyan artist Grace Ndiritu explains why she emblazoned the words 'Wherever you are I hope you have found peace' on 30 billboards around Birmingham.

The legend of Mélusine emerges in French literature of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries in the texts of Jean d'Arras and Coudrette. A beautiful young woman, the progeny of the union between a king and a fairy, is condemned to spend every Saturday with her body below the waist transformed into the tail of serpent. She agrees to marry only on the condition that her husband should never seek to see her on that day every week. Shahidha Bari explores the emergence of the hybrid mermaid-woman, her historical significance and the legacy of the medieval myth of Mélusine. Olivia Colquitt is an AHRC funded doctoral candidate at the University of Liverpool whose research focuses upon the socio-cultural significance of the late Middle English translations of the French prose romance Mélusine and its verse counterpart, Le Roman de Parthenay. Hetta Howes is Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Literature at City, University of London and is a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker. She is the author of Transformative Waters in Medieval Literature. Lydia Zeldenrust is an Associate Lecturer in Medieval Literature, where she currently holds a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. She is the author of The Melusine Romance in Medieval Europe. The Royal Opera House is staging a version of Rusalka opening February 21st 2023. This folk-tale is a Slavic version of the water sprite figure seen in the Melusine story. This production will be broadcast as an episode of Opera on 3 on Radio 3 later in spring. Producer: Ruth Watts

An artist murdered in his studio - the blackmailer thinks he knows who removed vital clues. This plot from Charles Bennett premiered in London's West End in 1928 and was subsequently turned into an early sound film by Alfred Hitchcock. Now playwright Mark Ravenhill has written a new version. He joins Matthew Sweet to discuss blackmail and our changing ideas about shame. New Generation Thinker and medieval historian Hetta Howes looks at ideas of shame in the middle ages, with critic and literary scholar Kaye Mitchell tracing those ideas today. Plus criminologist Paul Bleakley, who's researched the history of blackmail. Blackmail, a new version written by Mark Ravenhill and directed by Anthony Banks, runs at Mercury Theatre, Colchester in Essex from March 4th - 19th Producer: Luke Mulhall

The legend of Mélusine emerges in French literature of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries in the texts of Jean d'Arras and Coudrette. A beautiful young woman, the progeny of the union between a king and a fairy, is condemned to spend every Saturday with her body below the waist transformed into the tail of serpent. She agrees to marry only on the condition that her husband should never seek to see her on that day every week. Shahidha Bari explores the emergence of the hybrid mermaid-woman, her historical significance and the legacy of the medieval myth of Mélusine. Olivia Colquitt is an AHRC funded doctoral candidate at the University of Liverpool whose research focuses upon the socio-cultural significance of the late Middle English translations of the French prose romance Mélusine and its verse counterpart, Le Roman de Parthenay. Hetta Howes is Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Literature at City, University of London and is a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker. She is the author of Transformative Waters in Medieval Literature. Lydia Zeldenrust is an Associate Lecturer in Medieval Literature, where she currently holds a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. She is the author of The Melusine Romance in Medieval Europe. Producer: Ruth Watts

I much enjoyed the conversation with Hetta Howes, Matthew Sweet and Francesca Stavrakopoulou on God: An Anatomy. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00114py).We had a good conversation over profound differences, which I develop further here. I think they matter, not just as an academic spat, in this case about God, embodiment and Plato. But because understanding the Athenian right offers a path back to a participative, life-giving relationship with the cosmos.Put it like this. “The cosmic body is the most beautiful and perfect,” Plato wrote at the end of the Timaeus. So why is it that so many academics presume he despised physicality, in favour of a dry world of abstractions, and what did he actually say?01:05: Challenging the atheist agenda01:53 How projections reveal reality and deities04:33 Critiquing academic assumptions Plato05:40 Why there are no such things as "Platonic abstractions”09:34 Why Plato didn't think the spiritual was immaterial15:16 Why Plato didn't separate divine and mortal life17:13 Christianity's problem with erotic energy23:38 Who's to blame for distorting Plato

Modern theology often treats God as an abstract principle: a mover that doesn't move. But in the Bible, Abraham walks alongside him, Jacob (arguably) spends a night wrestling with him, Moses talks with him face to face, Ezekiel sees him sitting on a throne, and Amos sees him standing in his temple. Jesus is declared the son of God, and declares in turn that he has sat alongside God at his right hand. Biblical scholar Francesca Stavrakopoulou joins Matthew Sweet to discuss the embodied divine and what it means for our understanding of God, along with with Hetta Howes, who studies Medieval mystical Christianity, and psychotherapist and former priest Mark Vernon. On our website you can find a playlist called Free Thinking explores religious belief which includes conversations about Jewish history, Buddhism, interviews with Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins, a discussion of St John Henry Newman and about Islam and Mecca. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03mwxlp You might also be interested in hearing the music picked out by Francesca Stavrakopoulou on Radio 3's Private Passions https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnv3 Producer: Luke Mulhall

The Full English or Continental? What does our breakfast choice signify and how has it been represented in culture? 60 years on from the opening of the film Breakfast at Tiffany's - taken from Truman Capote's novella - Matthew Sweet and his guests consider a range of examples from monks and nuns breaking the fast, through films and TV series depicting the upper class English choices to the clubs promoted by the Black Panthers and poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford. Matthew is joined by medieval expert and New Generation Thinker Hetta Howes, by the French cultural critic Muriel Zagha and food historian Annie Gray. Hetta Howes has published a book called Transformative Waters in Late Medieval Literature. Annie Gray is a food historian who appears regularly on BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet and is the author of books including Victory in the Kitchen: The Life of Churchill's Cook http://www.anniegray.co.uk/ You can find the book Matthew recommends Round About a Pound a Week by Maud Pember Reeves here https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58691 You can find out more about the Black Panther breakfast clubs at http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/index_PhotoGallery.html Muriel talks about films including Groundhog Day and Phantom Thread. In the Free Thinking archives you can find programmes about food hearing from: philosopher Barry Smith, restaurant critic-cum-trainee chef Lisa Markwell, book critic Alex Clark and food historian Elsa Richardson https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wn51y Food, the Environment and Richard Flanagan : Cassandra Coburn, Anthony Warner and Alasdair Cochrane discuss food security, hunger and vegan politics https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rn6v The Working Lunch: James C Scott on the birth of cities and how the Victorians changed lunch, with New Generation Thinkers Elsa Richardson and Chris Kissane https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7my5n Funghi: An Alien Encounter https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dr46 Producer: Robyn Read

Throughout August, we are revisiting the very best of the podcast during the last year.In this episode; the TLS's Classics editor Mary Beard emphasizes the importance of teaching Classics in context, the medievalist Hetta Howes reviews a female take on 'Beowulf', and Ruth Scurr reveals the true history of the secretive Freemasons.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Edmund Gordon to review 'Klara and the Sun', Kazuo Ishiguro’s surprisingly hopeful new novel about an Artificial Friend; the world’s first poem about Superman (perhaps) was written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1942 but not published until now, in this week’s TLS – we discuss; and the medievalist Hetta Howes reviews two new translations of 'Beowulf', taking us back to the rich and troubling ambiguities of the original.Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro“The Man of To-morrow’s Lament”, a poem by Vladimir Nabokov, with commentary by Andrei BabikovBeowulf: A new translation by Maria Dahvana HeadleyBeowulf: In blank verse by Richard Hamer www.the-tls.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As part of the 'Spaces of Solitude' series, Hetta Howes presents a conversation between Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University, and the most Revd Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. Discussion ranges from personal experiences of solitude and silence, to ‘thin-places’ and speaking in tongues. Presented by Hetta Howes Produced by Natalie Steed

In this episode, Hetta Howes and Charlie Williams look at experiences of imprisonment and solitary confinement, asking how we can understand the effects of enforced isolation on the human psyche? They speak first to Lisa Guenther, who charts the rise and rise of solitary confinement in the United States and the links between this practice and the long history of slavery. Next, they hear from Andrea Brady about the ‘Jail Poems’ of Beat Poet Bob Kaufman and the perspective they provide on imprisonment as an existential condition. And finally, Hetta speaks to Shokoufeh Sakhi about her years as a political prisoner in Iran, the work of preserving connections with the world in the face of solitary confinement, and the power of creating beauty within the prison. Contributors: Charlie Williams, (Queen Mary University of London) Lisa Guenther (Queens University, Canada), Shokoufeh Sakhi (independent scholar), Andrea Brady (Queen Mary University of London) Presented by Hetta Howes Curated by Charlie Williams Produced by Natalie Steed Readings by Miles Richardson and Burt Caesar

As part of the 'Spaces of Solitude' series, Hetta Howes speaks to researchers Lisa Guenther and Shokoufeh Sakhi. Lisa is a Canadian philosopher and activist who works on critical prison studies; Shokoufeh is a former political prisoner from Iran who writes about imprisonment and the self. In this conversation, they discuss the histories and philosophies of solitary confinement, and the many ways that carceral solitariness is physically and emotionally experienced. Presented by Hetta Howes Produced by Natalie Steed

The German sociologist Georg Simmel famously claimed that ‘one nowhere feels as lonely and lost as in the metropolitan crowd’. Hetta Howes and Charlie Williams take a walk through London to explore this classic idea of loneliness and the many ways of being alone in a city. They hear from Matthew Beaumont about the long tradition of ‘nightwalkers’, a mantle applied to vagrants, sex workers, migrants and bohemians, all searching for different opportunities in the city after dark. Hetta speaks to Leo Coleman about the development of the industrial city and the experiences of isolation that come with it, before being guided by Susheila Nasta through Sam Selvon’s classic novel of city newcomers, The Lonely Londoners. Contributors: Charlie Williams (Queen Mary University of London), Matthew Beaumont (University College London), Leo Coleman (Hunter College, City University of New York), Susheila Nasta (Queen Mary University of London) Presented by Hetta Howes Curated by Charlie Williams Produced by Natalie Steed Readings by Miles Richardson and Burt Caesar

Hetta Howes and James Morland continue their exploration of solitude in this episode, pondering the perilous places we sometimes enter in the search for aloneness. James introduces listeners to the graveyard poets of the 18th century, who sought out places of darkness to explore their biggest fears and deepest anxieties. Hetta then speaks to Josh Cohen about Emily Dickinson’s reclusive tendencies, the imagined wildernesses she created locked away in her room, and the ways in which, historically, seclusion and solitude could make women simultaneously conspicuous and invisible. Finally, she talks to Barbara Taylor about John Donne’s terrifying struggle with solitude in his sickroom and what we can learn from those most troubling forms of aloneness when care has disappeared. Contributors: James Morland (Queen Mary University of London), Josh Cohen (Goldsmiths University), Barbara Taylor (Queen Mary University of London) Presented by Hetta Howes Curated by James Morland Produced by Natalie Steed Readings by James Morland and Sam West

How did gardens come to play such a key part in the history of solitude? Hetta Howes sets out to answer this question with James Morland, who moves from the idyllic but complex seclusion of Eden to the refuge of queer ecology in Derek Jarman’s garden at Prospect Cottage to offer a reading of gardens as spaces of escape. Laura Seymour discusses how 17th-century gardens provided a sense of liberty in the face of political furore, and Stephen Bending talks us through design versus wilderness and the opportunities that gardens have provided for women. Finally, Hetta speaks to Rosie Fyles, the Head Gardener at Ham House, about the history of collaboration in creating garden spaces. Contributors: James Morland (Queen Mary University of London), Laura Seymour (Birkbeck, University of London), Rosie Fyles (Ham House) and Stephen Bending (University of Southampton) Presented by Hetta Howes Curated by James Morland Produced by Natalie Steed Readings by Sam West Sound recording from An English Country Garden in July by Keith Selmes (CC Attribution License)

In the opening episode of our series, Hetta Howes and Barbara Taylor take us on a journey through the history of spiritual solitude. Why have people of faith chosen to be alone throughout the ages and what perils do they face in doing so? Hetta meets Hilary Powell to discuss the secluded lives of medieval anchorites and hermits, and Revd Erica Longfellow to learn about the sociable religious landscape of the 17th century. Later she speaks to James Morland about the natural world as a space for solitary contemplation, before a conversation with Brother James Koester about the fine line between solitude and loneliness in a modern-day monastic community. Contributors: Hilary Powell (Durham University) , Erica Longfellow (New College, Oxford), James Morland (Queen Mary University of London), James Koester (Society of Saint John the Evangelist) Presented by Hetta Howes Curated by Barbara Taylor Produced by Natalie Steed Readings by Miles Richardson

Mark Honigsbaum historian of epidemics, literary scholars Lisa Mullen & Sarah Dillon, UNESCO's Riel Miller & philosopher Rupert Read talk with Matthew Sweet. If uncertainty is a feature of our situation at the moment, it's the stock in trade of people who try to think about the future. Riel Miller is an economist at UNESCO, who works on future literacy. Rupert Read is an environmental campaigner with Extinction Rebellion and is speaking here in a personal capacity. Sarah Dillon is New Generation Thinker and editor of a new book AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative Thinking about Intelligent Machines Lisa Mullen is a New Generation Thinker and author of Mid Century Gothic Mark Honigsbaum is the author of The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris. Producer: Luke Mulhall In the Free Thinking archives: New Generation Thinker Sarah Dillon’s Essay on is science fiction is sexist https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03g2wkp A discussion about Zamyatin’s novel We https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03f8bqz A discussion with Naomi Alderman, Roger Luckhurst and Alessandro Vincentelli on science fiction & space travel https://www.bbc.com/programmes/b04ps158 Matthew Sweet explores psychohistory and Isaac Asimov and guiding the future https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d84g Naomi Alderman is in conversation with Margaret Atwood https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07xhzy8 Ursula Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b6yb37 and a New Thinking podcast made with the AHRC in which Hetta Howes talks sci fi with Caroline Edwards and Amy Butt https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p086zq4g

It's sometimes defined as 'the literature of cognitive estrangement'. In other words, it's a genre that helps us see things in a new light. Hetta Howes discusses current academic thinking on science fiction, as a way of thinking that extends beyond writing, film and TV to architecture and beyond. With Caroline Edwards, Senior Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck, University of London, and Amy Butt, Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Reading. This conversation was recorded in mid February before coronavirus hit the UK. It is one of a series of conversations - New Thinking - produced in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UK Research & Innovation. Further podcasts are available on the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking website under the playlist New Research https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zws90 Producer: Luke Mulhall

Hetta Howes learns how Sylvia Xueni Pan from Goldsmiths, University of London is using VR to do everything from training GPs not to overprescribe antibiotics to creating a groundbreaking Peaky Blinders game. While Sarah Ellis, Director of Digital Development at the RSC, is working with researchers and practitioners like Sylvia to create extraordinary virtual experiences for theatre audiences. They are among the many women playing key roles in the creative industries - the fastest growing sector in the UK - where university-based researchers are helping to turn new ideas into commercially viable products and ideas. This episode is one of a series of conversations - New Thinking - produced in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UK Research & Innovation. Further podcasts are available on the BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking website under the playlist New Research https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zws90 Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Before the magic of photography, the dazzle of cinema - there was the Diorama. Frenchman Louis Daguerre is known primarily as one of the inventors of photography - but before the magic of light fixed on paper there was the Diorama, which some call the precursor to the moving image, and cinema. The Diorama offered the well-heeled audience a glimpse into other worlds… where volcanos would erupt on the hour, Roman ruins explored, mountain peaks ascended… not unlike a modern Las Vegas but in the 1820s. Using light, moving apertures, smoke and mirrors, sound and music, to produce unusually realistic effects, he created a new form of entertainment - immersive, dramatic, sensational, and for a brief period, the wonder of the Western world. From New York to Moscow, Dioramas opened their doors to well-heeled customers who would be so delighted with the ‘realism’ of the created scene, they would frequently ask to be led onto the stage - be it a scene from the Alps, the Battle of Trafalgar, Cowes in the Isle of Wight, or a voyage in search of the North-West Passage. By 1850 nearly all had burnt to the ground, probably due to the large number of oil lamps involved, and the highly flammable nature of the stage props and theatres, but hidden by a Nash façade in Regents Park, London, there stands the last of the Diorama Theatres - a Grade 1 listed building, now sadly empty and awaiting ‘reimagining’. Architect Marek Wojiechowski, who is developing plans for the long empty building, takes him on a tour backstage. Award winning writer, drama producer and podcast expert Dr Lance Dann get a chance to visit the original Diorama before setting off on a kaleidoscopic journey through other influential dioramas. He returns to the Denis Severs House in Spitalfields, where he once helped install a sound scape, to bring this detailed recreation of a Huguenot silk weaver’s house, to life. Does the magic still work? Dr Hetta Howes takes him into the immersive atmosphere of Great St Bartholomew’s Church where the worshippers were once drench is sounds, sights and evocative suggestions, and describes the most suggestible of religious texts – the passion meditations. Intriguingly he hears about The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death - the murder dioramas created by the brilliant and formidable Chicago heiress Francis Glessner Lee - still used today to teach detectives. Susan Marks has spent a decade researching her - her first film was charmingly titled - The Dolls of Murder, and together they try and solve one of her most famous murder scenes - Barn! Dr Sarah Garfinkle helps us understand how our brains fool us, or decide to play along with immersion, whilst Dr Alistair Good, VR games designer, tempts Dann to jump off a tall building, virtually. Finally Dann visits possibly the last genuine Daguerre diorama in the world – in a small village just outside Paris, Bry-Sur-Marne, where the Mayor Jean Pierre-Spillbauer, and local archivist Vincent Roblin, have dedicated much of the last 20 years trying to restore the small but effective diorama at the back of a provincial church. After contacting Antoine Wilmering at the Getty Foundation, they received a grant of $200,000, matched by the French Government, which saved the last of Daguerre’s dioramas. Producer: Sara Jane Hall Music sourced with the help of Danny Webb.

Why do the legendary walls of a Bronze Age city in Asia still cast such a long shadow? Novelist and classics expert Natalie Haynes, Alev Scott author of Ottoman Odyssey, archaeologist Naoíse Mac Sweeney and medievalist Hetta Howes join Rana Mitter to share new perspectives on the conflict immortalised in Homer's Iliad as the British Museum opens an exhibition dedicated to Troy. Troy: Myth and Reality runs at the British Museum in London from November 21st to 8th March 2020. Natalie Haynes is the author of novels which retell Greek myths including The Amber Fury, the Children of Jocasta and A Thousand Ships: This is the Woman's War. Hetta Howes teaches medieval literature at City University and is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to put research on radio. Alev Scott is the author of Ottoman Odyssey and Turkish Awakening. Naoíse Mac Sweeney is Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Leicester. Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Hetta Howes is on the red carpet at this year's AHRC Research in Film Awards at the British Film Institute on London's South Bank, where she talks to the winners: Laura Hammond of SOAS, Benjamin Dix of PositiveNegatives, and director Osbert Parker, who won Best Social Media Short for their film Life On The Move Shreepali Patel of StoryLab, Anglia Ruskin University, who won in theMental Health & Wellbeing category for The Golden Window Ed Owles of the University of Leeds and his producer Kasia Mika for Intranquilities, which won in the Best Doctoral or Early Career Film category. And Paul Basu whose film FACES/VOICES won the awards for Best Research Film. There are more details and links to the films at the RIFA website https://ahrc.ukri.org/innovation/research-in-film-awards/previous-winners/ This episode is one of a series of conversations - New Thinking - produced in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UK Research & Innovation. Producer: Luke Mulhall

Caryl Churchill's C21st Bluebeard, the fragility of a glass girl and other myths reworked in 4 new short dramas. Jen Harvie discusses the storytelling on stage of one of Britain's leading dramatists. Hetta Howes looks back at American author Rachel Ingalls who died earlier this year aged 78. Her novel Mrs Caliban depicts a lonely housewife who befriends a sea monster.The German born US based artist Kiki Smith has produced sculptures, tapestries and artworks looking at pain and bodily decay and real and imaginary creatures in bronze, glass, gold and ink for her first solo UK exhibition in a public institution in 20 years. Gerald Scarfe has just published Long Drawn Out Trip: My Life moving from his early days at Punch and Private Eye to his designs for Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Disney’s Hercules. He's also putting together an illustrated coffee table book Scarfe: Sixty Years Of Being Rude which will be published in November. Glass, Kill, Bluebeard, Imp 4 short dramas by Caryl Churchill, directed by James MacDonald run at London's Royal Court Theatre from September 18th - October 12th. Kiki Smith: I Am A Wanderer runs at Modern Art Oxford from September 28th to January 19th 2020. Hetta Howes is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council which puts academic research onto the radio. She presents our podcast New Thinking which showcases new research. You can find past episodes on topics ranging from the philosophy of pregnancy to the links between dentistry and archaeology by signing up for the BBC Arts&Ideas podcast or looking on the Free Thinking website collection New Research. Producer Zahid Warley

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, scriptwriter and lead actor for the series ‘Fleabag’ has won three separate awards at this year’s Emmys. She won the best lead actress in a comedy series, and best writing. The show also won for best comedy. So what is it about this show that struck a chord with so many? Where might Phoebe Waller-Bridge be going next? TV critic Emma Bullimore will be speaking to Jenni, along with Hetta Howes, lecture in literature from the City University of London. Tomorrow is BBC Music Day, an annual celebration across the corporation about the power of music to change lives. On Woman’s Hour we’re hearing from people who live with dementia and about how music helps them cope. Shelagh is 79, from Madeley in Staffordshire where she lives with her husband Paul, who also has dementia. Woman’s Hour first met Shelagh at a Dementia Diaries event in Birmingham. The group record their experiences about living with dementia and post on dementia diaries.org. Henrietta Harrison went to meet Shelagh in her home and found out how Irish Republican protest songs transport her back to her childhood. Due to an error in this version the music used is not Boolavogue by The High Kings, instead we have used Ireland’s Call by The High Kings. It has been corrected here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07pc3t4 One hundred years ago, the Women’s Engineering Society was formed. In a new book ‘Magnificent Women and their Revolutionary Machines’, Henrietta Heald charts the history of the society and the pioneering women who excelled in engineering – often against the odds. Henrietta joins Jenni to discuss. How do you inspire your child to take up a musical instrument or learn to sing? What are the best instruments to learn and how do you help keep their interest should practising become a chore? Jenni speaks to Molly Newton, a music teacher based in York.

What is the metaphysical status of an unborn fetus in relation to its mother? Is it possible to know what pregnancy will mean for you before you become pregnant? How can the distinction between having a duty to do something and acting for a reason help us make sense of debates surrounding breast feeding? And why have philosophers of the past had so little to say on these matters? Hetta Howes gets to grips with the conceptual puzzles surrounding pregnancy and early motherhood with the philosophers at the University of Southampton investigating them: Professor Elselijn Kingma, Professor Fiona Woollard, and Dr Suki Finn. https://www.southampton.ac.uk/philosophy/research/projects/philosophy-of-pregnancy.page This podcast was made with the assistance of the AHRC - the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) which funds research at universities and museums, galleries and archives across the UK into the arts and humanities. The AHRC works in partnership with BBC Radio 3 on the New Generation Thinkers scheme to make academic research available to a wider audience.

Hetta Howes learns that the absence of dental floss in the Neolithic era has left archaeologists with invaluable information about how our ancestors lived and where they travelled to. While piles of pig bones near Stonehenge reveal a communal society that used feasting as a form of negotiation. Penny Bickle and Jim Leary, who both lecture in the University of York's Department of Archaeology, uncover their findings from research projects in the Vale of Pewsey, Alsace and Stonehenge. Penny's current project is 'Counter Culture: investigating Neolithic social diversity', while Jim has been working on 'Neolithic Pilgrimage? Rivers, mobility and monumentality in the land between Avebury and Stonehenge'. This episode is one of a series of conversations - New Thinking - produced in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UK Research & Innovation. Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Hetta Howes sets off to find the unicorn of myth in 21st century Britain.

Matthew Sweet and a panel of experts stand-up for their emotion of choice in a debate about the most pertinent emotion for understanding Britain today. Is it Joy? Anger? Anxiety? Schadenfruede or shame? The panel express their feelings and an audience vote at the 2019 Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead has the final say. Kehinde Andrews is Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University. His books include Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century and Resisting Racism: Race, Inequality and the Black Supplementary School Movement. Denise Mina’s crime novels include The Long Drop, The DI Alex Morrow series, the Paddy Meehan series which were filmed by BBC TV, The Garnetthill series, and graphic novels. She has been inducted into the Crime Writer’s Association Hall of Fame. Tiffany Watt Smith is the author of The Book of Human Emotions and Schadenfreude: The Joy of Another’s Misfortune and was one of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers in 2014. A bout of chicken pox prevented her from promoting her ideas about schadenfraude so her husband, the writer Michael Hughes took her place in this debate. Jen Harvie is Professor of Contemporary Theatre and Performance at Queen Mary University of London, the author with Paul Allain of The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance and with Professor Dan Rebellato (Royal Holloway, University of London), she co-edits Palgrave Macmillan’s large series of small books Theatre & Hetta Howes is a Lecturer in English at City University in Medieval and Early Modern Literature and is a BBC Radio 3/AHRC New Generation Thinker You can find short films by Tiffany and others at https://www.bbc.com/ideas/playlists/the-story-of-human-emotions Producer: Debbie Kilbride

Juliet Uzor tells us about winning this year's Great British Sewing Bee.What is the best way to care for a parent with dementia? We hear from Sarah Mitchell whose mother Wendy was diagnosed with early onset dementia at the age of 58. Sarah tells us how they've adapted their lives and relationship.A new Amnesty International report has found what it calls 'a shocking level' of unreported and acquitted rapes across the Nordic countries. Why? Jacqui Hunt the Director of Equality Now's European office and Helle Jacobsen a senior Advisor and Researcher at Amnesty Denmark, discuss.What makes the adolescent brain different and why is it that an easy child can become a challenging teenager? Sarah-Jayne Blackmore a Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London helps us understand.Why is ‘Shame' the emotion of now? Hetta Howes a lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Literature at City University London, and Tiffany Watt-Smith a cultural historian discuss.Laura Lattimore and Rashida Hardy tell us about having severe hair loss and why wearing a wig is important to them. The poet Helen Mort on her first novel Black Car Burning about rock climbing, trust and polyamory.Presented by Jane Garvey Produced by Rabeka Nurmahomed Edited by Jane ThurlowInterviewed guest: Juliet Uzor Interviewed guest: Sarah Mitchell Interviewed guest: Jacqui Hunt Interviewed guest: Helle Jacobsen Interviewed guest: Sarah-Jayne Blackmore Interviewed guest: Hetta Howes Interviewed guest: Tiffany Watt-Smith Interviewed guest: Laura Lattimore Interviewed guest: Rashida Hardy Interviewed guest: Helen Mort

Hair can be intensely personal and equally political. It can be a sign of confidence or beauty, rebellion or activism. But what about wigs? Why do some women choose to wear them and how significant can they be? Throughout this week we'll explore what wigs mean to a range of different women. First: Wearing a wig during cancer. Approximately 65% of individuals undergoing chemotherapy will experience hair loss as a result. Alex Petropoulos and Angelina Hall both lost their hair this way and turned to wigs. Azmina Verjee works for the Macmillan Cancer Information Centre. The subject of this year's BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead is Emotion. One of their debates aims to decide ‘What is the emotion of now?' The academic Hetta Howes argues that shame is the prevailing emotion of our time. We'll be examining the relationship women have with shame in more detail with Hetta, a lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Literature at City University, London, and with the cultural historian Tiffany Watt-Smith, author of ‘The Book of Human Emotions'.Anne Acheson was a sculptor who changed medical history by combining her knowledge of art and anatomy. During the Great War, many soldiers suffered limb injuries which were treated with splints. However, Portadown-born Anne created an alternative method - using plaster of Paris. As the Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown plans a historic exhibition of Acheson's work we discuss her importance as a sculptor and inventor with Rosamund Lily West, Research Curator at the Royal Society of Sculptors, Jackie Barker, director of Millennium Court Arts Centre, and Virginia Ironside, Anne's great-niece.Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Helen Fitzhenry

Emma Barnett discusses feminism and RuPaul's Drag Race with the Daily Record journalist Anna Burnside, Chidera Eggerue 'The Slumflower,' and author of What a Time to Be Alone and Hetta Howes, lecturer in medieval literature at City University, London.

Emma Barnett discusses being alone, funerals and tidying up with the Daily Record journalist Anna Burnside, Chidera Eggerue aka the blogger, The Slumflower and author of What a Time to Be Alone and Hetta Howes, lecturer in medieval literature at City University, London.

Emma Barnett discusses obsessive love with the Daily Record journalist Anna Burnside, Chidera Eggerue aka the blogger, The Slumflower and Hetta Howes, lecturer in medieval literature at City University, London.

Emma Barnett is joined by the Daily Record journalist, Anna Burnside, Chidera Eggerue aka The Slumflower, author of What a Time to Be Alone, and known for the online campaign #SaggyBoobsMatter and Hetta Howes, lecturer in medieval literature at City University, London. Their subjects include crying, grand romantic gestures, guilty pleasures and activism at home.

Sarah Dunant presents a monthly dive into stories from the past that might help us make sense of today. This month, as the gears of government grind to a standstill on both sides of the Atlantic, Sarah looks to historical deadlocks and the sometimes radical ways they were resolved. From the elder statesman called from his plough to become Rome’s first benign dictator, through the random selection of citizens resolving bitter conflicts in Imperial China, Medieval Florence and beyond, to the figure of St Hild the Anglo-Saxon woman whose grace in defeat sealed the future of Christianity in Britain - Sarah traces stories of paralysed systems and deep divisions, to shed a little light on how today’s entrenched leaders and struggling democracies might find a route out of impasse. Sarah’s guests are: Professor Natalia Sobrevilla Perea, University of Kent Professor Yves Sintomer, University of Paris 8 Dr Hetta Howes, City, University of London Dr Luke Pitcher, University of Oxford Presenter: Sarah Dunant Readers: Keith Wickham and Karina Fernandez Producers: Natalie Steed and Nathan Gower Executive Producer: David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Two Features by R3 New Generation Thinkers Hetta Howes and Eleanor Lybeck.

Medieval historian Hetta Howes reveals the extreme lengths to which women in the Middle Ages went to get closer to God and discusses how mystics were perceived by their contemporaries See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hetta Howes looks at male fears and why Margery Kempe was criticised for crying and bleedingMedieval mystic Margery Kempe's excessive, noisy crying made her travelling companions so irritated that they wanted to throw her overboard, while others accused her of being possessed by the devil. But Kempe believed she was using her tears as a way to connect with God, turning the medieval connection between women and water into a form of bodily empowerment and a holy sign. New Generation Thinker Hetta Howes, from City, University of London, explores the connections between medieval women and water. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select ten academics each year who can turn their research into radio.Recorded at the 2018 Free Thinking Festival.Producer: Luke Mulhall.

Hetta Howes looks at male fears and why Margery Kempe was criticised for crying and bleedingMedieval mystic Margery Kempe's excessive, noisy crying made her travelling companions so irritated that they wanted to throw her overboard, while others accused her of being possessed by the devil. But Kempe believed she was using her tears as a way to connect with God, turning the medieval connection between women and water into a form of bodily empowerment and a holy sign. New Generation Thinker Hetta Howes, from City, University of London, explores the connections between medieval women and water.New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select ten academics each year who can turn their research into radio.Recorded at the 2018 Free Thinking Festival and includes questions and answers from the audience at Sage GatesheadProducer: Luke Mulhall.

Why we need to seize the moment and lose control more often is discussed by philosophers Jules Evans and Roman Krznaric and Canon Angela Tilby. And presenter Rana Mitter is joined by 2017 New Generation Thinker Hetta Howes, whose research looks at medieval attitudes to ecstasy. 'Carpe Diem Regained: The Vanishing Art of Seizing the Day' by Roman Krznaric is out now www.carpediem.click Jules Evans is a 2013 New Generation Thinker who blogs at http://www.philosophyforlife.org/ His book The Art of Losing Control is out now. Canon Angela Tilby is a contributor to Radio 4's Thought for the Day. Her website is http://www.angelatilby.co.uk/Index/Welcome.html Dr Hetta Howes is at Queen Mary The University of London. You can hear Haemin Sunim at the Free Thinking Festival here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08jb1mp New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and BBC Arts with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio and television. You can find out more via the Free Thinking website. Producer: Luke Mulhall

Inspired by the story she heard at a friend’s funeral, Clare Whistler and the artist Charlotte Still have been visiting tributary streams and sources of the Cuckmere River, East Sussex and recording their experiences and encounters in photographs, poems and maps. In this podcast Clare and Charlotte take me to one of their streams and Hetta Howes explains the associations between women and water in the medieval world, especially in the context of texts written by and for religious women. With music by Katherine Gillham. Produced by Natalie Steed