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Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead

Cultural discussion programme. Kirsty Wark with author Lionel Shriver, economist Linda Yueh, sociologist Bev Skeggs and poet Sean O'Brien.

At the Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead Lionel Shriver discusses her new collection of short stories Property with presenter Kirsty Wark.

While Lionel Shriver explores our relationship with objects and places, and asks what the increasing accumulation of things may be doing to the soul, the sociologist Bev Skeggs explores how we are being bought and sold in the digital sphere. She also counts the cost of the monetisation of human relations and highlights communities in the North of England who are bucking this trend.

The economist Linda Yueh looks back to the thinkers of the past from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman, to show the importance of understanding the ideas that underpin the world of finance.

And the poet Sean O'Brien armed with 'paper and a clock' explores the history of Europe in his latest collection and argues that Great Britain's future will be shaped by what we remember and what we forget of our shared past.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

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43 minutes

Last on

Mon 12 Mar 2018 21:30
±«Óãtv Radio 4

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Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver is an internationalÌýbest-selling author and journalist.

Property. A Collection is published by HarperCollins in April.

Linda Yueh

Dr. Linda Yueh is an economist at Oxford and London Business School.

The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today is published by Viking.

Bev Skeggs

Bev Skeggs is Academic Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, at LSE.

Sean O’Brien

Sean O’Brien is a prize-winning poet,Ìýplaywright and Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University.Ìý

Europa is published by Pan Macmillan in April.

Ìý

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Wark
Interviewed Guest Lionel Shriver
Interviewed Guest Linda Yueh
Interviewed Guest Bev Skeggs
Interviewed Guest Sean O'Brien
Producer Katy Hickman

Broadcasts

  • Mon 12 Mar 2018 09:00
    ±«Óãtv Radio 4
  • Mon 12 Mar 2018 21:30
    ±«Óãtv Radio 4

Podcast

  • Start the Week

    Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday