A Body Of Essays - Series 2

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

William Fiennes, The Bowel

20160404

20170313 (R3)

In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, Wellcome Collection's Reading Room is the setting for a series of 'The Essay' devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our mental and emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puzzling and intriguing.

William Fiennes is recipient of the Hawthornden Prize and Somerset Maugham Award for his book The Snow Geese, and more recently a tender account of growing up in the family estate with his epileptic brother Richard in The Music Room. A sufferer of Crohn's disease, William focuses on his bowel.

Author William Fiennes, a sufferer of Crohn's disease, discusss the bowel.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

A Body Of Essays: Chibundu Onuzo, The Fire Of Life: The Thyroid

20160405

20170314 (R3)

One of the youngest authors ever to be published, Chibundu Onuzo takes up her pen to investigate the goldilocks nature of the thyroid in this evening's essay.

Chibundu Onuzo is the author of the novel The Spider King's Daughter.

Author Chibundu Onuzo investigates the 'goldilocks' nature of the thyroid gland.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

A Body Of Essays: Philip Kerr, Breaking Brain

20160406

New York Times best selling author Philip Kerr is the creator of Bernie Gunther, an unflinching private eye. Philip immerses himself in the real world to inform what he puts on the page whether fiction or fact - in this essay we accompany him into a brain surgery operating room.

The complete list of essayists:

Monday

William Fiennes, author, writes about the bowel.

Tuesday

Chibundu Onuzo, young author, writes about the thyroid

Wednesday

Philip Kerr, crime author, writes about the brain

Thursday

Annie Freud, poet and visual artist, writes about the kidneys.

Friday

Thomas Lynch, poet-undertaker, writes about the uterus.

Crime writer Philip Kerr explains how brain surgery has advanced over the years.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Annie Freud, The Kidneys

20160407

20170315 (R3)

In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, the Wellcome Collection's Reading Room is the setting for a series of Radio 3's 'The Essay', in this case devoted to the bodily organs.

Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puzzling and intriguing.

Annie Freud won the the Dimplex Prize for New Writing for her first poetry collection The Best Man That Ever Was and her most recent collection, The Remains, showcases her skill as both a poet and a visual artist. Annie brings a powerful, pungent, perfumed physicality to everything she sets out to write about; this evening's serving of kidneys being no exception.

Poet and artist Annie Freud discusses the kidneys, the body's most hard-working organs.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Thomas Lynch, Whence And Whither: Some Thoughts On Uteri, On Wombs

20160408

20170316 (R3)

In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, the Wellcome Collection Reading Room is the setting for a series of 'The Essay' devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our mental and emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puzzling and intriguing.

Thomas Lynch is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently The Sin-Eater: A Breviary. His hyphenated life as both poet and undertaker has led him to being the subject of two award-winning documentaries - PBS's 'The Undertaking' and the BBC's 'Learning Gravity'.

Michigan-based undertaker and poet Thomas Lynch reflects on the uterus.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
01	William Fiennes, The Bowel	20160404	20170313 (R3)	In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, Wellcome Collection's Reading Room is the setting for a series of 'The Essay' devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our mental and emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puzzling and intriguing. William Fiennes is recipient of the Hawthornden Prize and Somerset Maugham Award for his book The Snow Geese, and more recently a tender account of growing up in the family estate with his epileptic brother Richard in The Music Room. A sufferer of Crohn's disease, William focuses on his bowel. Author William Fiennes, a sufferer of Crohn's disease, discusss the bowel. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
02	A Body Of Essays: Chibundu Onuzo, The Fire Of Life: The Thyroid	20160405	20170314 (R3)	One of the youngest authors ever to be published, Chibundu Onuzo takes up her pen to investigate the goldilocks nature of the thyroid in this evening's essay. In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, Wellcome Collection's Reading Room is the setting for a series of 'The Essay' devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our mental and emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puzzling and intriguing. Chibundu Onuzo is the author of the novel The Spider King's Daughter. Author Chibundu Onuzo investigates the 'goldilocks' nature of the thyroid gland. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
03	A Body Of Essays: Philip Kerr, Breaking Brain	20160406		In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, Wellcome Collection's Reading Room is the setting for a series of 'The Essay' devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our mental and emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puzzling and intriguing. New York Times best selling author Philip Kerr is the creator of Bernie Gunther, an unflinching private eye. Philip immerses himself in the real world to inform what he puts on the page whether fiction or fact - in this essay we accompany him into a brain surgery operating room. The complete list of essayists: Monday William Fiennes, author, writes about the bowel. Tuesday Chibundu Onuzo, young author, writes about the thyroid Wednesday Philip Kerr, crime author, writes about the brain Thursday Annie Freud, poet and visual artist, writes about the kidneys. Friday Thomas Lynch, poet-undertaker, writes about the uterus. Crime writer Philip Kerr explains how brain surgery has advanced over the years. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
04	Annie Freud, The Kidneys	20160407	20170315 (R3)	In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, the Wellcome Collection's Reading Room is the setting for a series of Radio 3's 'The Essay', in this case devoted to the bodily organs. Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puzzling and intriguing. Annie Freud won the the Dimplex Prize for New Writing for her first poetry collection The Best Man That Ever Was and her most recent collection, The Remains, showcases her skill as both a poet and a visual artist. Annie brings a powerful, pungent, perfumed physicality to everything she sets out to write about; this evening's serving of kidneys being no exception. Poet and artist Annie Freud discusses the kidneys, the body's most hard-working organs. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.
05	Thomas Lynch, Whence And Whither: Some Thoughts On Uteri, On Wombs	20160408	20170316 (R3)	In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, the Wellcome Collection Reading Room is the setting for a series of 'The Essay' devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our mental and emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puzzling and intriguing. Thomas Lynch is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently The Sin-Eater: A Breviary. His hyphenated life as both poet and undertaker has led him to being the subject of two award-winning documentaries - PBS's 'The Undertaking' and the BBC's 'Learning Gravity'. Michigan-based undertaker and poet Thomas Lynch reflects on the uterus. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.