What's wrong with reading to look smart? with...

Can you read a cookbook cover-to-cover like a thriller? Does your reading level predict a longer life? Why is a punk chef’s memoir the ultimate weapon for reluctant readers? And how do we inspire children to read if we don’t have the time to read to them? In this special episode ...  Show more

Why do baby puffins prefer to be alone? Why don’t Cuckoo birds raise their own children? Has the decline of birds taken away the music of our landscapes? And what is the simplest way back if we feel disconnected from nature? In this episode of Ask Penguin, Rhianna is joined by vi ...  Show more

This week, we drop in on a conversation between Mary Beard and two former TLS editors; and Anne Enright joins us to talk about turning poet in her new novel.'Emperor of Rome: Ruling the ancient Roman world', by Mary Beard'Big Caesars and little Caesars: How they rise and how they ...  Show more

This week, Jonathan Barnes joins us to explore the visionary work of Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale; and a wonderful conversation about literature and horticulture between Dame Penelope Lively and her daughter, musician Josephine Lively.'The Quatermass Experiment 70th Anniversar ...  Show more

Fiction + Feminism. Take your seat in the audience next to Zing Tsjeng at this week's Baileys Book Bar. Hear bestselling author and Women’s Prize for Fiction Founder Director Kate Mosse speak to journalist and author of the bestselling Everything I Know About Love, Dolly Alderton ...  Show more

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the writer and critic Mary Norris to discuss the phenomenon that is Margaret Atwood – surely her kind of success requires a method? A new collection of essays and talks sheds some light; Sujit Sivasundaram, the author of ‘W ...  Show more