Listen "How We Read"
Episode Synopsis
The word 'reading' may appear to describe something specific and universal, but in reality it's more of an umbrella term, covering a huge range of ways in which people interact with text. Dyslexia and hyperlexia may be two of the more obvious departures from normative ideas of reading, but whether we're neurodivergent or not we all read in different ways that can vary significantly depending on what we're reading and why we're reading it. Matthew Sweet is joined by Matt Rubery, Louise Creechan and poets Debris Stevenson and Anthony Anaxagorou.Matt Rubery, Professor of Modern Literature at Queen Mary, University of London has worked on books including The Untold Story of the Talking Book; Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies, Further Reading and Reader’s Block: A History of Reading Differences. You can hear more from him in an episode about the history of publishing called Whose Book is it Anyway? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b080xzm6
Dr Louise Creechan is studying is a Lecturer in Literary Medical Humanities at Durham University and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to showcase academic research. You can hear her discuss Dickens' Bleak House in an episode called Teaching and Inspiration https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00169jh
Debris Stevenson describes herself as 'Dyslexic educator, Grime-poet and Dancehall raving social activist'.
Anthony Anaxagorou's latest collection of poetry is Heritage Aesthetics, published on 3rd November 2022.
Free Thinking has a playlist featuring discussions about prose and poetry https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p047v6vhThe theme of this year's National Poetry Day is the Environment and you can hear Radio 3's weekly curation of readings and music inspired by that topic on Sunday at 5.30pm and then on BBC Sounds for 28 days https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006x35fProducer: Torquil MacLeod.
Dr Louise Creechan is studying is a Lecturer in Literary Medical Humanities at Durham University and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to showcase academic research. You can hear her discuss Dickens' Bleak House in an episode called Teaching and Inspiration https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00169jh
Debris Stevenson describes herself as 'Dyslexic educator, Grime-poet and Dancehall raving social activist'.
Anthony Anaxagorou's latest collection of poetry is Heritage Aesthetics, published on 3rd November 2022.
Free Thinking has a playlist featuring discussions about prose and poetry https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p047v6vhThe theme of this year's National Poetry Day is the Environment and you can hear Radio 3's weekly curation of readings and music inspired by that topic on Sunday at 5.30pm and then on BBC Sounds for 28 days https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006x35fProducer: Torquil MacLeod.
More episodes of the podcast Arts & Ideas
Innovation
09/01/2026
Travel
02/01/2026
Idleness
12/12/2025
Influencing History
05/12/2025
Marriage
28/11/2025
Rocks
21/11/2025
Revenge and reconciliation
14/11/2025
The end of civilisations and societies
07/11/2025
Rational and Irrational decision making
24/10/2025
Traditions, roots and local pride
17/10/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.