Collected: The Podcast

As institutional racism dominates the headlines once more, playwright Oladipo 'Dipo' Agboluaje talks frankly about the way he has tackled this and related political matters in his work. His play The Hounding of David Oluwale (based on the true story of the hounding to death of a homeless Nigerian man by police in Leeds in the 1960s) has uncanny echoes of some of the issues that have lately come to light once more - and has even led some people to ask Agboluaje if he might tackle Jason Arday's story on stage. He and fellow playwright Juliet Gilkes Romero also discuss the perspective that being a writer of the diaspora brings, the role of humour in his work and reimagining Shakespeare's Macbeth in Yorubaland.
© Royal Literary Fund
www.rlf.org.uk

Celebrating 100 years of Winnie-the-Pooh with Her Majesty The Queen
Recorded at a special event attended by the Royal Literary Fund's patron Her Majesty The Queen in Ashdown Forest, home of the Hundred Acre Wood, this bonus episode celebrates the legacy of Winnie-the-Pooh and the bequest author AA Milne left the RLF. Highlights include broadcaster and writer Gyles Brandreth on his friendship with Christopher Robin Milne, Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler explaining the enduring power of the stories, former CBeebies presenter and author Cerrie Burnell sharing what Winnie-the-Pooh means to her, as well as conversations with children's author Sita Brahmachari, writer and journalist Mark Lawson, and RLF Chief Executive Edward Kemp.
Since donating a portion of his Winnie-the-Pooh royalties to the RLF, AA Milne's bequest has generated £91 million for the Royal Literary Fund's grants, education, and outreach programmes, a legacy that means Winnie-the-Pooh is helping to support hundreds of writers today.
© Royal Literary Fund
www.rlf.org.uk

After a summer of heatwaves and with 2027 set to be another record-breaking year for temperatures, Jay Griffiths joins host Jonathan Tulloch for a very timely discussion about nature writing and its role in combatting the climate crisis. The conversation touches on the importance of libraries, how we can foster a love of the environment in children, the bravery that investigative journalism requires and Jay's work with Extinction Rebellion.
© Royal Literary Fund
www.rlf.org.uk

Tying in with International Translation Day, the Belarusian writer joins host Julia Copus to discuss the joys and sensitivities of bringing poetry into English, and the challenges of writing in the face of authoritarianism, sharing how her time in prison following the 2020 Belarusian uprising laid the foundations for her latest book.
© Royal Literary Fund
www.rlf.org.uk

Celebrated memoirist and novelist Cathy Rentzenbrink talks about how she exorcised the ghost of her brother from her novels by writing The Last Act of Love, why writing can be a struggle, the healing power of reading projects, and why she loves talking to strangers on trains.
© Royal Literary Fund
www.rlf.org.uk