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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: Wisdom from fictional females

The Essay: Wisdom from fictional females: Episode 3: Fiona Sampson on Mother Courage

Episode 3

Episode 3: Fiona Sampson on Mother Courage

Wisdom from fictional females

Fiona Sampson on Mother Courage

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Fiona Sampson on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.

Fiona Sampson chooses a favourite, female fictional character, Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage, and ponders the lessons we all could learn from her. Recorded at the Hay Festival.

Recorded at this week's Hay Festival 2018, Fiona Sampson introduces us to her favourite female character in literature - Bertolt Brecht's anti-heroine Mother Courage, from his play 'Mother Courage and Her Children' - and extracts the lessons we could all learn from her.

Fiona is an award-winning poet and writer, who has published nearly 30 books, including collections of poetry and works on writing process. She contributes articles to newspapers including The Guardian, Sunday Times and The Independent. Her most recent publication is 'In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein''. Fiona was awarded an MBE in 2017.

In this series of The Essay, five female writers offer a personal guide to favourite and well-known female fictional characters - extracting the lessons we could all learn from them.

The writers in this series include broadcaster Afua Hirsch, historian Bettany Hughes, award-winning novelist Francesca Rhydderch and poet Mab Jones.

With Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and The Listening Service all broadcasting from the festival, The Essay is part of Hay Week at BBC Radio 3.

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.

Series in which five women writers discuss a favourite female character from fiction.

Series in which five women writers each choose a favourite female character from fiction and discuss the lessons we can learn from them.

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