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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 3: How to Write a Book - Sarah Harper

How to Write a Book - Sarah Harper

Episode 3

Episode 3: How to Write a Book - Sarah Harper

Hay Essays: How to Write a Book

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Gerontologist and ageing expert Sarah Harper talks about the accessibility of academia.

Gerontologist and ageing expert Sarah Harper talks about balancing academia, accessibility and family to bring complex concepts to the general public. From 2017's Hay Festival.

Sarah Harper is Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford and Co-Director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing and the newly appointed director of the Royal Institution, a post once held by Michael Faraday. 

Here she shares her belief in the way in which science and discovery are integral to the development of written works and wrestles with the challenge of making complicated ideas accessible to the general reader. 

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, translator Daniel Hahn and historian Martin Johnes. 

Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 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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