Featuring Chris Packham, Elif Shafak, Jeanette Winterson, Jonathan Pryce, Gina Miller and more.

In this episode, we explore the theme of Resistance, and what it means in an increasingly turbulent landscape. From small, intimate moments within our own lives to urgent global movements, acts of resistance can help us imagine ways to radically reshape our world.

With recordings from the Charleston Festival archives, featuring:

• Letters by Lytton Strachey - writer, critic and a central figure in the Bloomsbury group - performed by actors Alex Jennings and Jonathan Pryce.
• Activist and campaigner Gina Miller, who successfully challenged the UK government’s authority to implement Brexit without parliamentary approval, in conversation with former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas.
• William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’ from 1804, read by actor Jack Farthing.
• Writer and filmmaker Philip Hoare explores William Blake’s vision of a just and fair England.
• A recreation of writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin’s televised debate on American race relations with conservative intellectual William F. Buckley, read by Omari Douglas and David McAlmont.
• Cultural critic and feminist icon Roxane Gay talks with Emma Dabiri about progressive thinking, abundance, and working together to make change.
• Musician and activist Bob Geldof speaks about how the music of his youth shaped his political consciousness.
• Naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham talks about the evolution of his activism.
• Comedian Angela Barnes and writer and performer Mark Steel explore how laughter can be an act of resistance.
• Writer Jeanette Winterson on Virginia Woolf’s creative vision and lasting influence.
• Turkish-British novelist and activist Elif Shafak shows that fiction can illuminate truth and open space for dialogue.
• Two writers, Catherine Taylor and Madeleine Thien, reflect on how language carries the weight of our responsibility to speak, witness and imagine a better world.

Credits

A Peanut & Crumb production for Charleston

Presented by Claire Ratinon

Produced by Nada Smiljanic

Executive producers: Jack Howson, Jane Gerber and Melissa Perkins, Head of Programme and Events at Charleston

Thanks to Darren Clarke, Head of Collections and Research at Charleston and all the featured guests.

If this episode whets your appetite, why not join us at Charleston Festival this year!

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