Gone To Timbuktu

A masterclass on photography, in this funny, intimate conversation about therapists, the role of luck, Marxist newspapers, and sleeping on the ledge of a bubbling lava lake in the DRC. With multi awardwinning photographer, Tom Parker. 

The acclaimed British artist George Butler draws in situ with pen, ink and watercolour, his travels taking him to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and more. His reportage illustration is the 'art of travel' at its most urgent — with this conversation zeroing in on the big question: can art make a difference?

An extraordinary desert traveller and social anthropologist bursts all the cliches as she takes us on a journey into the heart of the Sahara to reveal its complex human history. Instead of an imagined city of gold, Judith Scheele reveals something of the real Timbuktu, unpicking the myths and the romance in a discussion based on two decades of field research in Mali, Southern Algeria and Northern...

The German documentary photographer drills into the challenges and opportunities of making work that matters, for the New York Times , New Yorker , ZEIT and more. A fascinating insight into a photographer at the top of the game, working in Siberia, the Arctic, Ukraine, and the fringes of a rapidly changing Europe. 

The British author talks about his latest book,  Lone Wolf —  following in the footsteps of a wolf named Slavc, who crosses the Alps from Slovenia to the Italian Dolomites in search of a mate.

The journalist and biographer Lance Richardson takes on a titan of American literature, Peter Matthiessen — novelist, naturalist, Zen teacher, one-time CIA agent, and author of one of the classic travel books of the 20th century,  The Snow Leopard.

The South African author, explorer and conservationist takes us on a magnetic river journey through the great spine of Africa. His storytelling leads us into the dreamscape of 'Ghost Elephants' — Werner Herzog's new film following Steve in Angola. 

The Nigerian author talks about two books: one a journey across his homeland reaching for fragments of history from his nation's civil war, the other a powerful dreamscape evoking the cities of the Sahel, from N'Djamena to Khartoum. 

In Greyhound , the Canadian-Irish author Joanna Pocock takes us on a journey across America by bus, in a truly modern blend of memoir, reportage, and the literary imagination. 

The American master of biography talks about the subject of his most recent obsession: the Scottish traveller, South Seas adventurer and prose genius, Robert Louis Stevenson. To the likes of Henry James and Italo Calvino, Stevenson's   'kinetic' energy makes him one of the great storytellers of all time.

On a far-reaching journey from Savannah to the Arctic Circle, we experience the joys (and fears) of night travel as told by one of the great contemporary travel writers on railways. This time, the focus is on sleeper trains, which are the stars of Monisha's latest book, Moonlight Express.

Lyse Doucet, the BBC's Chief International Correspondent, discusses her first major book, The Finest Hotel in Kabul . An instant Sunday Times bestseller, it tells the story of the last 50 years of Afghan history through the everyday lives of people working in the same hotel Lyse has callled home during four decades of frontline conflict reporting.

On journeys through Central Asia, Turkey, Ukraine, the South Caucasus, Russia, the Baltics and Poland, Caroline Eden reveals the kitchen's unique ability to tell intimate human stories. This episode — discussing her memoir, Cold Kitchen , as well as her trilogy of award-winning recipe books, Black Sea, Red Sands and Green Mountains — make for a mouthwatering exploration of place and people.

A father's death, a Romany taboo, and a childhood obsession with Plato's myth about the lost city of Atlantis drives award-winning author Damian Le Bas on a quest to find meaning in sunken ruins around the world. The result is a spellbinding journey among selkies and sea creatures in an underwater world beloved of divers and dreamers.

Discussing Anima , the final book in her decade-long quartet, awardwinning author and poet Kapka Kassabova takes us on a journey into a wild corner of the Balkans to meet the the last true pastoralists of Europe. This is a powerful conversation about love, freedom and nomadism. 

Under a Metal Sky: A Journey Through Rocks is another travel writing classic from Philip Marsden. Journeying across Europe, from Cornwall to Georgia, he tells a fascinating story about the interconnectedness of rocks, metals, Goethe and Bronze Age imaginings.

Robert Macfarlane speaks about his new book,  Is a River Alive?  In a powerful imaginative and physical journey, he takes us from well-worship in Cambridgeshire to an Ecuadorian cloud forest, to an Indian mega-city, finishing in the rapids of Quebec.

British writer Rob Cowen speaks about his new book, The North Road, collapsing over 7,000 years of history with the present moment on a 400-mile journey through Britain. Along the way, he encounters bones, bigotries, highwaymen and literary influences from Patrick Leigh Fermor to T.S. Eliot, while raising voices from the dead and excavating his family's fascinating biography.   

Filmmaker Bruce Parry talks about his return to the BBC with a new three-part series named after his original breakthrough TV documentary 'Tribe'. He explores how much there is still to learn from Indigenous peoples — and how modern living divorces us from the animism and ancestors that hold other cultures strong.

Norwegian polar explorer, author and publisher, Erling Kagge, speaks about his new book, The North Pole: The History of an Obsession. In a lively conversation, he and Sophy discuss the difference between Norwegian and British approaches to exploration and Erling reveals an unexpected parallel between legendary Norwegian explorer Fridjtof Nansen and dating app, Tinder.

Short bio:  Writer Noreen Masud discusses her book, A Flat Place, delving into how level landscapes – from Pakistan to England's Suffolk coast — can echo the psychology of complex trauma.

James Rebanks, a farmer and Sunday Times-bestselling writer from the Lake District, discusses his new book, The Place of Tides, revealing a moving story of courage and determination on a remote Norwegian island.    

Jeff Young, a Liverpudlian writer for screen, stage and radio, discusses his recent book, Wild Twin, and paints a moving portrait of memories gained and lost. He highlights the vibrant influence of a host of artistic and musical giants, from Joseph Cornell to David Bowie and Werner Herzog.  

The American novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux discusses his latest book, Burma Sahib — and describes a life spent on the move from Myanmar, to Malawi, to Mexico. He unpicks the evolution of travel writing, his friendship with Bruce Chatwin, and how age has changed his work.  

Sophy Roberts in conversation with author and journalist Jon Lee Anderson about his life of reportage, from Central America to Liberia to singing to reindeer in Alaska.