Essays
Rachel Kushner: reflections on running with The Hard Crowd
Los Angeles-based author Rachel Kushner covers diverse ground in her new collection of essays, from illegal motorbike racing on Baha Peninsula to recounting time spent in a Palestinian refugee camp. Audio
Mary Gaitskill: the writer unafraid of unpopular opinions
American writer Mary Gaitskill traverses a lot of ground in her new collection of provocative essays, Oppositions. Compelling and oddly cohesive, the essays see Gaitskill put her sharp writing style… Audio
Rich Person Shop/ Poor Person Shop
Time to take the grandparents grocery shopping. But which shop? A consideration of relative wealth and personal progress Audio
Hustle
I grew up understanding the necessity of work and a certain degree of meniality. There was no notion of following your passion Audio
The Emperor's Yellow
In two millennia of dynastic history there is only one woman, Wu Zetian, who wore the Emperor's yellow. Like many women in history she was criticised harshly by scholars Audio
Five - Five
What was that rating thing they used to do on Outward Bound? Hold up your fingers - left hand for physical health, right hand for mental? Audio
Cleaver
The cleaver is essential in Chinese cooking - in experienced hands it is almost the only knife required in the kitchen Audio
What Keeps Me Up At Night
What's my real job? Fitting a creative life around the need to survive means compromise, juggling and hustling - and about living with that reality Audio
The Tiger Cub
Mum had a trick she used to get you to go to bed when you were a toddler - she told you a family of tigers shared our house Audio
Red Packet and Cooking Scene
Red Packet warns us that there are things lurking in the neutral zone of cross-cultural chaos that can deliver awkward surprises.
Cooking Scene is a cross-cultural conversation on culinary reality… Audio
Life On Volcanoes - editor Janet McAllister and writer Courtney Sina Meredith
Its Mother's Day, and a mother is the inspiration behind a new book of essays just out this week. In an era of endless blogs, tweets and posts, what room is there for the personal published essay… Audio, Gallery
False River
In False River, writer Paula Morris takes us from the dark days of Hurricane Katrina to a witch burning in Denmark to very personal reflections on her remarkable mother. Paula told Lynn Freeman why… Audio
David Sessions: the rise of the mega-rich thought leader
A recent essay in the New Republic magazine "The Rise of the Thought Leader: How the super rich have funded a new class of intellectual" claims people tend to favour the 'thought leader" over the… Audio
Ashleigh Young: essays and exercise
Ashleigh Young is a poet, essayist and editor, and teaches creative science writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her first collection of personal essays is Can You Tolerate This… Audio