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Claudia Roden on Food and Cultural Identity

The dishes of childhood remain part of every exile's identity, explains Claudia Roden

• 24 mins

Memory Palace of Alexandria

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a major new library and cultural centre in Egypt

• 24 mins

Alexandria, the city as Literary Muse

How the Egyptian port of Alexandria has been a muse for great writers from many countries

• 24 mins

Cuba's private Libraries open to All

Cuba's book shortage has led to individuals opening up their own collections as libraries

• 23 mins

Backstage with director Peter Hall

Influential British theatre director Peter Hall interviewed on the opening of The Bacchae

• 22 mins

Dangerous memories at Heaven's Edge

To remember or forget? – that's the question at the heart of Romesh Gunesekera's new novel

• 23 mins

Carmina Burana – from medieval Poetry to modern Classic

The medieval manuscript, Carmina Burana, that inspired Carl Orff's 20th-century cantata

• 23 mins

Rohinton Mistry, chronicler of Bombay

Rohinton Mistry talks about his third novel and his own Bombay and Parsi background

• 23 mins

To Turkey, with love from Nâzim Hikmet

A new selected works by Turkish poet Nâzim Hikmet, who was born100 years ago

• 23 mins

'Making it real' – A History of Film Music

Music helps audiences to forget it's not real… A history of music in film with Carl Davis

• 22 mins

Nawal El Saadawi – Egypt's 'unputdownable' Campaigner

Interview with Nawal el-Saadawi, Egyptian novelist and campaigner for women's rights

• 23 mins

New Oriana collection for the Golden Jubilee

New choral works will celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee

• 28 mins

Writing for the US President

Speechwriters who craft the big set-pieces delived by presidents and captains of industry

• 23 mins

The Wild World of Peter Matthiessen

Peter Matthiessen talks about his work as novelist, naturalist and campaigner

• 23 mins

Edna O'Brien – Murder in a Dark Landscape

Irish novelist Edna O'Brien talks about her new book, based on a triple murder

• 23 mins

Vladimir Spivakov – A Life Devoted to Music

Vladimir Spivakov, Russian violinist and conducto talks about his career and vision

• 28 mins

What's in the Method for actors?

Finding out about The Method, the most famous approach to acting in the world

• 23 mins

John Steinbeck – Voice of the Dust Bowl Refugees

The life and works of American author John Steinbeck, born 100 years ago

• 22 mins

Music Review – Tone Poems by Sibelius

The month's top CDs include Sibelius's Tone Poems recorded by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra

• 28 mins

Maya Angelou on the Power of Words

Interview with American poet, academic and campaigner, Maya Angelou

• 23 mins

Masterpiece – the Mona Lisa

Why has Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa mystified and intrigued for 500 years?

• 23 mins

Ibn Sina, Philosopher of the Persian Golden Age

The life and achievements of Ibn Sina, the great 11th-century Persian scientist and writer

• 22 mins

Meridian Short Story Competition announced

Meridian launches its own Short Story Competition

• 22 mins

Masterpiece – The Great Wave

Why The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai still has the power to thrill

• 23 mins

David Hare on turning Politics into a Drama

British playwright and director David Hare talks about screenwriting

• 22 mins

Out Of Many, One Voice

How Jamaican culture threw off the shackles of colonial rule after independence

• 23 mins

Nick McDonnell’s Twelve

The novelist from New York talks about the book he started writing when he was 17

• 23 mins

Writing about war

War reporter and novelist Jeffrey Lee and an atom bomb survivor turned poet

• 23 mins

Three Wise Men: Moses Maimonides

The Jewish philosopher who was also one of the finest scholars of the Arabic world

• 23 mins

Three Wise Men: Averroes

A profile of the medieval Andalusian scholar

• 23 mins