Creative Conversations

Creating a Beautiful Legacy out of Grief - Hilke Flebbe

Hilke Flebbe was just starting her law degree at Cambridge when she received the sudden and terrible news that her mother had died. At age 22, Hilke was left alone in the world - and with an unfinished old hotel that her mother had been rest…

Words and Worth - Joanne Lau

Playwright Joanne Lau started out as a neuroscientist and came to writing for the theatre via stand up comedy and TV screenwriting. Now her first play Worth is being produced by New Earth Theatre and premieres at the Arcola Theatre in London…

Adventures in Love and Food - Yeshi Jampa and Julie Kleeman, Taste Tibet

A young livestock herder walks across the mountains without a map travelling from Tibet to a new life in India. A young British woman takes a photo of wildlife in Dharamsala. So begins an amazing love story that crosses cultures an…

When Family History meets World Affairs - Marcus Ferrar

How do you reconcile the dark and painful contradictory histories within your own family? On one side of Marcus Ferrar’s family, his Jewish mother escaped Hitler’s Germany. On the other side of his family, Marcus’s warm, jovial uncle worked …

The Story of an Album - Louise Golbey

For most of us, when we have experienced a break up, we often don’t know what to do to heal our sadness. For a singer-songwriter like Louise Golbey, part of her healing process is to write a song and then to build an album around i…

Sparking Cross-Cultural Chemistry - Patti McCarthy

How do you fit in to a new country with a different culture from your own? How can we develop a sense of belonging while celebrating our differences especially when we are migrants or expats trying to make a home in a new place? &l…

The Future of Tourism in Oxford - Mary Clarkson

How has the pandemic and restrictions on travel affected place-based tourism? What is a destination city like Oxford doing to face the post-pandemic challenge of bringing people back to the city centre - both tourists and local residents ali…

Telling Family Stories - Janet Behan and Damian Le Bas

Actor Janet Behan and writer Damian Le Bas join Creative Conversation host, Yang-May Ooi, in today’s show to talk about Telling Family Stories in the context of their respective Irish, Gypsy and Chinese backgrounds. Along the way they explor…

What Travel Writing can tell us about Life - Callum Ruddock

In a world dominated by Youtube videos and Instagram images that can take you anywhere in the world, is there still a place for travel writing? How can the different types of writing about travel tell us about where we come from and who we a…

Theatre is Not Limited - The Michael Knight Theatre Company

Theatre is not limited, says Hillary May, founder of The Michael Knight Theatre Company. It is open to everyone to take part, it is part of the community, theatre gives a voice to those who would not normally have a chance to tell their stor…