Afterwords

Afterwords

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

Chinua Achebe

20220619

The life and ideas of Nigerian novelist, poet and critic CHINUA ACHEBE, in his own words, and in the words of those who knew, loved, and were inspired by him.

Celebrated as “the Father of Modern African literature, ? Achebe blazed a trail for African people centring themselves and their culture in their own stories. This began with the release of his debut novel, Things Fall Apart, in 1958. He believed fiercely in the power of stories to obscure or reveal identities, depending on who does the telling, and with that, came a duty to speak out about the failings and corruption of postcolonial Nigeria, and its suppression of stories around Biafra.

With contributions from Achebe's close friend, the Somali novelist and poet Nuruddin Farah, the author Caryl Phillips, who began a friendship with Achebe after interviewing him in 2003, the young Nigerian writer Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo who has taken inspiration from Achebe's essays, and the Igbo historian (and Achebe's youngest child) Dr Nwando Achebe.

Produced by Redzi Bernard.

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three

The work of CHINUA ACHEBE, in his own words, and in the words of those who knew him.

Mary Oliver

20211121

In 'Our World', MARY OLIVER's elegy for the photographer Molly Malone Cook - her partner of over four decades - Oliver wrote Attention without feeling... is only a report. An openness an empathy was necessary if the attention was to matter. Using the image of Cook tenderly observing the world around her through her photographs, in the slow bloom of the darkroom and in her interactions with friends and strangers, Oliver reflects on how this notion of attention wove into her writing, M. instilled in me this deeper level of looking and working, of seeing through the heavenly visibles to the heavenly invisibles.

This attention - close, precise, full of curiosity - is written through her poetry. A devotion equally applied to the movements of a grasshopper, eating sugar out of her hand, as to the body of a lover. Her words sing the natural world - alive with awe, ecstasy, wildness - but also with a deep awareness of its capacity for heartbreak, pain and brutality.

I would say that there exist a thousand unbreakable links between each of us and everything else, and that our dignity and our chances are one. The farthest star and the mud at our feet are a family... we are at risk together, or we are on our way to a sustainable world together. We are each other's destiny. - MARY OLIVER in her essay 'Winter Hours

Lead by rare recordings of the poet herself and In the company of Helene Atwan, her publisher at Beacon Press, poet and friend Lisa Starr and the writers Mary Jean Chan and Nadine Aisha Jassat, we explore Oliver's poetic invitations to finding redemption, devotion and love within a harsh and beautiful world.

Produced by Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

A dive into the poetic worlds of MARY OLIVER, led by rare recordings of the poet herself.

A dive into the poetic worlds of the American writer MARY OLIVER, through rare recordings of the poet herself, interviews with those who knew her and writers for whom her work has been a guiding light.

In this edition of Afterwords, we explore Oliver's poetic invitations to finding redemption, devotion and love within a harsh and beautiful world. Her words sing the natural landscape - alive with awe, ecstasy, wildness - but also with a deep awareness of its capacity for heartbreak, pain and brutality.

In 'Our World', MARY OLIVER's elegy for the photographer Molly Malone Cook - her partner of over four decades - Oliver wrote 'Attention without feeling... is only a report. An openness — an empathy — was necessary if the attention was to matter'. Using the image of Cook tenderly observing the world in the slow bloom of her photographer's darkroom, Oliver reflects on how this notion of attention wove into her writing, 'M. instilled in me this deeper level of looking...

We hear from Helene Atwan, her publisher at Beacon Press, poet and friend Lisa Starr and the writers Mary Jean Chan and Nadine Aisha Jassat

Archive recordings include excerpts from the On Being podcast ('MARY OLIVER - Listening to the World' interview by KRISTA TIPPETT, 5.02.15 - hear the conversation in full at www.onbeing.org), the Lannan Foundation ('MARY OLIVER in Conversation with Coleman Barks', 4.08.01), Literary Hub ('A Phonecall from Paul: A Conversation with JOHN WATERS', 18.07.19) and Beacon Press ('At Blackwater Pond', 15.04.06).

Poems feat. (Reprinted by the permission of The Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency as agent for the author.)

“In Blackwater Woods ?

“Sleeping in the Forest ?

“Wild Geese ?

“The Whistler ?

“When Death Comes ?

A dive into the world of American writer MARY OLIVER, with recordings of the poet herself.

Muriel Spark

20220612

'One's prime is elusive ...'

MURIEL SPARK is probably still best known for the novel based on her own schooling in Edinburgh in the 1930s, 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'. But she published over twenty other novels, as well as essays and poems - she always thought of herself as a poet first - and, though 'Scottish by formation', she left Scotland for 'adventures' in what used to be Rhodesia, London, New York and Rome, before finally settling into a kind of 'spiritual exile' for the last thirty years of her life in Arezzo, Tuscany.

But her work and her ideas about what a writer is still resonate, as can be heard in recordings with her from the early 1970s onwards and through the observations of the writers IAN RANKIN and ZOE STRACHAN, Colin McIlroy of the National Library of Scotland and MURIEL SPARK's friend and author of 'Appointment in Arezzo', ALAN TAYLOR.

With extracts from Spark's writing read by Kate Arneil.

Everything happens to an artist; time is always redeemed, nothing is lost and wonders never cease.' (Loitering With Intent)

Produced by ALAN HALL

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three

Reflections on the work of MURIEL SPARK, through archive of the author and new interviews.

Simone De Beauvoir

20211114

Of the reception of The Second Sex, the seminal book of feminist philosophy that launched 'second-wave' feminism, Simone de Beauvoir said, Well, it is not my fault if, particularly in France, whenever we talk about women, we instantly think about sex. This is precisely because women have been reduced, by men, to being what they mainly are for men, which is almost exclusively something sexual.

De Beauvoir's position was simply stated, in line with a philosophical position that existence precedes essence: one is not born but becomes a woman. De Beauvoir herself became a formidable figure in the world of philosophy, literature and politics. It is this iconic image - 'brand Beauvoir' - that has dominated in the thirty-five years since her death and which this episode of Afterwords seeks to deconstruct.

Through archive from 1949 onwards and through the words of those who knew her (such as the writer and former diplomat Claudine Monteil who lives within sight of de Beauvoir's grave) and those who've studied her work (the philosopher and de Beauvoir biographer Kate Kirkpatrick, Professor Ursula Tidd of Manchester University and American philosopher Kathryn Sophia Belle), an intimate, nuanced portrait of Simone de Beauvoir emerges - a woman who embraced the 'matter of being a human being' and modelled new ways of engaging ethically with the world.

With the voice of Simone de Beauvoir, courtesy of the Studs Terkel Radio Archive, and readings by Caroline Crier.

Produced by ALAN HALL

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three

A portrait of Simone de Beauvoir through her own words and those of critics and admirers.

Stuart Hall

20211128

Reflections on the life and work of Jamaican-British academic, writer and cultural studies pioneer STUART HALL through archive and contributions from those who knew him and his work.

In his memoir, published three years after his death in 2014, STUART HALL wrote, `You could say I have lived, metaphorically speaking, on the hinge between the colonial and post-colonial worlds; because of radically changing locations, I have belonged, in different ways, to both at different times of my life without ever being fully of either.` It was this position of belonging and not-belonging, of being perpetually in-between' his homeland, Jamaica, and the place he made his home - Britain - that inspired many of Hall's progressive theories on identity, art, politics and culture, making him one of the most influential and respected British thinkers of our time.

Through his own words, and with contributions from loved ones, academics, artists, and a new generation inspired by his work, Afterwords explores Hall's ideas, influence and identities, from Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, to founding editor of the New Left Review, co-creator of the first Cultural Studies department at Birmingham University, Professor of Sociology at the Open University, champion of black British art, TV presenter, political activist, lover of music and family man.

With, among others, Catherine Hall, Aicha Merez, Julian Henriques and Imani Robinson.

Produced by Zakia Sewell

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three.

Writer and academic STUART HALL in his own words and those of admirers of his work.

Reflections on the life and work of the Jamaican-British academic, writer and cultural studies pioneer, STUART HALL, through archive and contributions from those who knew him and his work.

In his memoir, published three years after his death in 2014, STUART HALL wrote, “You could say I have lived, metaphorically speaking, on the hinge between the colonial and post-colonial worlds; because of radically changing locations, I have belonged, in different ways, to both at different times of my life without ever being fully of either. ? It was this position of belonging and not-belonging, of being perpetually ‘in-between' his homeland, Jamaica, and the place he made his home - Britain - that inspired many of Hall's progressive theories on identity, art, politics and culture, making him one of the most influential and respected British thinkers of our time.

With Catherine Hall, Aicha Merez, Julian Henriques and Imani Robinson.

Research by Redzi Bernard.

The writer and academic STUART HALL in his own words and those of admirers of his work.

Thich Nhat Hanh

20220626

Activist, author, scholar, poet, spiritual teacher and community-builder, Thich Nhat Hanh (1926 - 2022) joked that his younger self, the novice monk growing up in Vietnam, would never have expected that one day he'd be touring the world to share his insights and his practice with packed auditoriums, assembled parliamentarians, business leaders and school children. “I did not have any intention to propagate Buddhism in the West, ? he says in a BBC Radio interview from 2003, at that time still officially barred from returning to his home country; but his work as a leading voice in the opposition to war in Vietnam and his organisation of a grassroots humanitarian movement, had led to his exile. Nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967, MARTIN LUTHER King described Thich Nhat Hanh as “an apostle of peace and non-violence, cruelly separated from his own people ?.

Dubbed the “Father of Mindfulness ? by Time Magazine, Thich Nhat Hanh's scholarship of Zen traditions, his desire to renew Buddhism for his age, and his ability to translate the teachings across cultures has led to a quiet revolution in the history of consciousness in the West. This radio portrait looks to find Thich Nhat Hanh amongst lines from his poems and at key moments from the many hours of talks and teachings he gave, as well as in the words of some of the monastic followers who continue his practice, and in those of writers and artists inspired by his life and work. And it finds, in his concept of Interbeing and his calls for collective spiritual awakening, provocative and compelling ideas for how we might meet the crises of our times.

Produced by Phil Smith

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three

A radio portrait of Vietnamese Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh.

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Comments
Chinua Achebe	20220619	The life and ideas of Nigerian novelist, poet and critic CHINUA ACHEBE, in his own words, and in the words of those who knew, loved, and were inspired by him. Celebrated as “the Father of Modern African literature, ? Achebe blazed a trail for African people centring themselves and their culture in their own stories. This began with the release of his debut novel, Things Fall Apart, in 1958. He believed fiercely in the power of stories to obscure or reveal identities, depending on who does the telling, and with that, came a duty to speak out about the failings and corruption of postcolonial Nigeria, and its suppression of stories around Biafra. With contributions from Achebe's close friend, the Somali novelist and poet Nuruddin Farah, the author Caryl Phillips, who began a friendship with Achebe after interviewing him in 2003, the young Nigerian writer Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo who has taken inspiration from Achebe's essays, and the Igbo historian (and Achebe's youngest child) Dr Nwando Achebe. Produced by Redzi Bernard. A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three The work of CHINUA ACHEBE, in his own words, and in the words of those who knew him.
Mary Oliver	20211121	In 'Our World', MARY OLIVER's elegy for the photographer Molly Malone Cook - her partner of over four decades - Oliver wrote Attention without feeling... is only a report. An openness an empathy was necessary if the attention was to matter. Using the image of Cook tenderly observing the world around her through her photographs, in the slow bloom of the darkroom and in her interactions with friends and strangers, Oliver reflects on how this notion of attention wove into her writing, M. instilled in me this deeper level of looking and working, of seeing through the heavenly visibles to the heavenly invisibles. This attention - close, precise, full of curiosity - is written through her poetry. A devotion equally applied to the movements of a grasshopper, eating sugar out of her hand, as to the body of a lover. Her words sing the natural world - alive with awe, ecstasy, wildness - but also with a deep awareness of its capacity for heartbreak, pain and brutality. I would say that there exist a thousand unbreakable links between each of us and everything else, and that our dignity and our chances are one. The farthest star and the mud at our feet are a family... we are at risk together, or we are on our way to a sustainable world together. We are each other's destiny. - MARY OLIVER in her essay 'Winter Hours Lead by rare recordings of the poet herself and In the company of Helene Atwan, her publisher at Beacon Press, poet and friend Lisa Starr and the writers Mary Jean Chan and Nadine Aisha Jassat, we explore Oliver's poetic invitations to finding redemption, devotion and love within a harsh and beautiful world. Produced by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3 A dive into the poetic worlds of MARY OLIVER, led by rare recordings of the poet herself. A dive into the poetic worlds of the American writer MARY OLIVER, through rare recordings of the poet herself, interviews with those who knew her and writers for whom her work has been a guiding light. In this edition of Afterwords, we explore Oliver's poetic invitations to finding redemption, devotion and love within a harsh and beautiful world. Her words sing the natural landscape - alive with awe, ecstasy, wildness - but also with a deep awareness of its capacity for heartbreak, pain and brutality. In 'Our World', MARY OLIVER's elegy for the photographer Molly Malone Cook - her partner of over four decades - Oliver wrote 'Attention without feeling... is only a report. An openness — an empathy — was necessary if the attention was to matter'. Using the image of Cook tenderly observing the world in the slow bloom of her photographer's darkroom, Oliver reflects on how this notion of attention wove into her writing, 'M. instilled in me this deeper level of looking... We hear from Helene Atwan, her publisher at Beacon Press, poet and friend Lisa Starr and the writers Mary Jean Chan and Nadine Aisha Jassat Archive recordings include excerpts from the On Being podcast ('MARY OLIVER - Listening to the World' interview by KRISTA TIPPETT, 5.02.15 - hear the conversation in full at www.onbeing.org), the Lannan Foundation ('MARY OLIVER in Conversation with Coleman Barks', 4.08.01), Literary Hub ('A Phonecall from Paul: A Conversation with JOHN WATERS', 18.07.19) and Beacon Press ('At Blackwater Pond', 15.04.06). Poems feat. (Reprinted by the permission of The Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency as agent for the author.) “In Blackwater Woods ? Copyright © MARY OLIVER 1983 “Sleeping in the Forest ? Copyright © MARY OLIVER 1978 “Wild Geese ? Copyright © MARY OLIVER 1986 “The Whistler ? Copyright © MARY OLIVER 1999 “When Death Comes ? Copyright © MARY OLIVER 1992 A dive into the world of American writer MARY OLIVER, with recordings of the poet herself.
Muriel Spark	20220612	'One's prime is elusive ...' MURIEL SPARK is probably still best known for the novel based on her own schooling in Edinburgh in the 1930s, 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'. But she published over twenty other novels, as well as essays and poems - she always thought of herself as a poet first - and, though 'Scottish by formation', she left Scotland for 'adventures' in what used to be Rhodesia, London, New York and Rome, before finally settling into a kind of 'spiritual exile' for the last thirty years of her life in Arezzo, Tuscany. But her work and her ideas about what a writer is still resonate, as can be heard in recordings with her from the early 1970s onwards and through the observations of the writers IAN RANKIN and ZOE STRACHAN, Colin McIlroy of the National Library of Scotland and MURIEL SPARK's friend and author of 'Appointment in Arezzo', ALAN TAYLOR. With extracts from Spark's writing read by Kate Arneil. Everything happens to an artist; time is always redeemed, nothing is lost and wonders never cease.' (Loitering With Intent) Produced by ALAN HALL A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three Reflections on the work of MURIEL SPARK, through archive of the author and new interviews.
Simone De Beauvoir	20211114	Of the reception of The Second Sex, the seminal book of feminist philosophy that launched 'second-wave' feminism, Simone de Beauvoir said, Well, it is not my fault if, particularly in France, whenever we talk about women, we instantly think about sex. This is precisely because women have been reduced, by men, to being what they mainly are for men, which is almost exclusively something sexual. De Beauvoir's position was simply stated, in line with a philosophical position that existence precedes essence: one is not born but becomes a woman. De Beauvoir herself became a formidable figure in the world of philosophy, literature and politics. It is this iconic image - 'brand Beauvoir' - that has dominated in the thirty-five years since her death and which this episode of Afterwords seeks to deconstruct. Through archive from 1949 onwards and through the words of those who knew her (such as the writer and former diplomat Claudine Monteil who lives within sight of de Beauvoir's grave) and those who've studied her work (the philosopher and de Beauvoir biographer Kate Kirkpatrick, Professor Ursula Tidd of Manchester University and American philosopher Kathryn Sophia Belle), an intimate, nuanced portrait of Simone de Beauvoir emerges - a woman who embraced the 'matter of being a human being' and modelled new ways of engaging ethically with the world. With the voice of Simone de Beauvoir, courtesy of the Studs Terkel Radio Archive, and readings by Caroline Crier. Produced by ALAN HALL A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three A portrait of Simone de Beauvoir through her own words and those of critics and admirers.
Stuart Hall	20211128	Reflections on the life and work of Jamaican-British academic, writer and cultural studies pioneer STUART HALL through archive and contributions from those who knew him and his work. In his memoir, published three years after his death in 2014, STUART HALL wrote, `You could say I have lived, metaphorically speaking, on the hinge between the colonial and post-colonial worlds; because of radically changing locations, I have belonged, in different ways, to both at different times of my life without ever being fully of either.` It was this position of belonging and not-belonging, of being perpetually in-between' his homeland, Jamaica, and the place he made his home - Britain - that inspired many of Hall's progressive theories on identity, art, politics and culture, making him one of the most influential and respected British thinkers of our time. Through his own words, and with contributions from loved ones, academics, artists, and a new generation inspired by his work, Afterwords explores Hall's ideas, influence and identities, from Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, to founding editor of the New Left Review, co-creator of the first Cultural Studies department at Birmingham University, Professor of Sociology at the Open University, champion of black British art, TV presenter, political activist, lover of music and family man. With, among others, Catherine Hall, Aicha Merez, Julian Henriques and Imani Robinson. Produced by Zakia Sewell A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three. Writer and academic STUART HALL in his own words and those of admirers of his work. Reflections on the life and work of the Jamaican-British academic, writer and cultural studies pioneer, STUART HALL, through archive and contributions from those who knew him and his work. In his memoir, published three years after his death in 2014, STUART HALL wrote, “You could say I have lived, metaphorically speaking, on the hinge between the colonial and post-colonial worlds; because of radically changing locations, I have belonged, in different ways, to both at different times of my life without ever being fully of either. ? It was this position of belonging and not-belonging, of being perpetually ‘in-between' his homeland, Jamaica, and the place he made his home - Britain - that inspired many of Hall's progressive theories on identity, art, politics and culture, making him one of the most influential and respected British thinkers of our time. With Catherine Hall, Aicha Merez, Julian Henriques and Imani Robinson. Research by Redzi Bernard. The writer and academic STUART HALL in his own words and those of admirers of his work.
Thich Nhat Hanh	20220626	Activist, author, scholar, poet, spiritual teacher and community-builder, Thich Nhat Hanh (1926 - 2022) joked that his younger self, the novice monk growing up in Vietnam, would never have expected that one day he'd be touring the world to share his insights and his practice with packed auditoriums, assembled parliamentarians, business leaders and school children. “I did not have any intention to propagate Buddhism in the West, ? he says in a BBC Radio interview from 2003, at that time still officially barred from returning to his home country; but his work as a leading voice in the opposition to war in Vietnam and his organisation of a grassroots humanitarian movement, had led to his exile. Nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967, MARTIN LUTHER King described Thich Nhat Hanh as “an apostle of peace and non-violence, cruelly separated from his own people ?. Dubbed the “Father of Mindfulness ? by Time Magazine, Thich Nhat Hanh's scholarship of Zen traditions, his desire to renew Buddhism for his age, and his ability to translate the teachings across cultures has led to a quiet revolution in the history of consciousness in the West. This radio portrait looks to find Thich Nhat Hanh amongst lines from his poems and at key moments from the many hours of talks and teachings he gave, as well as in the words of some of the monastic followers who continue his practice, and in those of writers and artists inspired by his life and work. And it finds, in his concept of Interbeing and his calls for collective spiritual awakening, provocative and compelling ideas for how we might meet the crises of our times. Produced by Phil Smith A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three A radio portrait of Vietnamese Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh.