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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: Hay Essays: How to Write a Book

The Essay: Hay Essays: How to Write a Book: Episode 1: How to Write a Book: Daniel Hahn

Hay Essays: How to Write a Book - Daniel Hahn

Episode 1

Episode 1: How to Write a Book: Daniel Hahn

Hay Essays: How to Write a Book

How to Write a Book: Daniel Hahn

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Daniel Hahn talks about translation and writing a book that has been written before.

In front of an audience at 2017's Hay Festival, editor and translator Daniel Hahn reflects on the trials and tribulations of writing a book that has been written before.

Editor and translator Daniel Hahn takes us on an entertaining journey round the art of translation. We discover that it's a rarefied experience to write a book that already exists, but also that writing other people's books makes you better at writing your own. 

Daniel is the author of The Tower Menagerie and translator of José Eduardo Agualusa's The Book of Chameleons. 

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the 2017 Hay Festival, five writers offer a personal guide to 'how to write a book'. Where do their ideas come from? Do they stick to a regular writing plan? Are there times when they just want to give up? Join them as they dispel some of the myths and share some of the secrets of getting to the final page. 

The writers in the series include the new director of the Royal Institution and expert on ageing Sarah Harper, the international lawyer Philippe Sands, novelist Scarlett Thomas and historian Martin Johnes. 

Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at Hay Festival, with Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and The Listening Service all broadcasting from the festival.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Five writers offer their thoughts on how to write a book

In front of an audience at the 2017 Hay Festival, five writers offer their thoughts on how to write a book

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