This bonus episode consists in a recording of an authorial roundtable held at University College London on the 16th June 2025. Entitled ‘Literature in the Age of the Self’, it brought together three highly acclaimed contemporary writers whose work evinces a marked preoccupation with the experience and the representation of the self. In this conversation chaired by Scarlett and Alice, Rachel Cusk, Brian Dillon, and Vidyan Ravinthiran discuss the self in connection with notions of style, character, and time. They also reflect on the relations between creative and academic writing, between literature and other arts, and on the status of the self in the age of AI and social media.

Literature in the Age of the Self

In this episode, Joseph Ho discusses his book, Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China with Chloë Starr. The conversation ranges from camera technology in the interwar years to the documentation of disease in mission hospitals and circulation of missionary films documenting Japanese war crimes. If the creation of new types of images (such as baptism photographs) changes how we see the self and other, the cultural exchange of transnational images also played a role in Sino-US relations.

Joseph W. Ho, Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China

Listen to an excerpt from LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry, read by Will Patton with a foreword read by Taylor Sheridan

LONESOME DOVE Audiobook Excerpt

Hear any excerpt from FROM SCRATCH by Tembi Locke, read by the author.

FROM SCRATCH Audiobook Excerpt

Discover your core values and find your place in life, love, and work.

We all want to be our most authentic selves in every space that we are in―in our relationships, our work, and our communities. But often we feel a disconnect, a tension between who we are and what the people around us expect from us.

How do we find authenticity and fulfillment in every area of our lives?

This is the question at the heart of The Compass Within. In this enlightening workplace parable, Jamie Hynes is a high achieving, early-career manager trying to reconcile his career ambitions with the ethically murky situations his new boss keeps putting him in. Jamie and his new fiancée are also busy making plans for their wedding, facing new decisions everyday about where they'll live and how they'll make a life together in a community where Jamie feels increasingly out of place.

When a member of Jamie's Emerging Sales & Marketing Leaders forum shares how her life was transformed when she got clear on her values, Jamie takes notice―and soon finds himself meeting with Jack Reardon, the forward-thinking CEO of Compass Media. Jack mentors Jamie in a holistic process to discover his "core values" and align his life to them, prompting him to start making changes and ultimately find the job, partner, and community that will allow him to be his truest, most authentic self.

The process that Jamie learns is a model for all of us to be more deeply connected to the values and principles we care about, gently guiding us in making the tough calls that are sometimes necessary in order to find happiness in every area of our lives. If you've been feeling stuck, The Compass Within is the comprehensive roadmap you need to greater clarity and courage in life, love, and work.

The Compass Within - Audiobook Excerpt - Chapter 3

The Compass Within - Audiobook Excerpt - Chapter 5

In the first episode of our Inequalities mini-series, host Ethne James Souch is joined by Prof Jessica Ringrose, Dr Marc Tibber, and Sophie Wilson to delve into the complex intersection of social media, mental health, and regulation. The conversation spans topics from online safety and digital literacy to phone bans in schools and the lived experiences of neurodivergent communities. It explores how we can better support young people in navigating digital spaces without reinforcing inequalities. Drawing from research, policy, and lived experience, this episode offers a rich and nuanced discussion on what it means to build an inclusive and just digital future. With insights from two UCL Grand Challenges-funded projects, Ethne and guests consider the risks and possibilities of online life, the evolving landscape of regulation, and the power of co-production in developing ethical and effective interventions.

Date of episode recording: 2025-07-31
Duration: 00:33:15
Language of episode: English
Presenter: Ethne James Souch
Guests: Prof Jessica Ringrose; Dr Marc Tibber; Sophie Wilson
Producer: Annabelle Buckland

Shared Screens, Split Realities: Rethinking Online Safety Together

An Audio Described introduction to Tosca by The Royal Opera, directed by Oliver Mears described by Alice Gilmour.

Audio Described introduction for Tosca

Several of my early publications contained the translation (with commentary) of Aesop’s fable ‘The North Wind and the Sun’ in a variety of Caucasian languages. Five recordings of those texts, made in Tbilisi in 1976, are presented here. The texts are read by the translators (or, in the case of Georgian, the adaptor of a Georgian version originally published in the 1940s):
1.     Abkhaz by Zaira Khiba
2.     Temirgoi/Chemgwi Circassian by Alec Abregov (Almir Abredzh), with an additional version read by Tamara Udzhukhu, a native speaker of the Bzhedugh dialect
3.     Avar by Boris At’aev of the village of Khunzakh
4.     Georgian by Shukia Apridonidze

Caucasian Versions of "The North Wind and the Sun" - Bzhedugh by Tamara Udzhukhu

B George Hewitt