Free Thinking Folgen

A celebration of Evelyn Waugh to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Matthew Sweet is joined by two writers who are long term admirers - Adam Mars-Jones and Bryony Lavery and by Waugh's latest biographer, Philip Eade and his grandson and editor, Alexander Waugh. Brideshead Revisited - adapted by Bryony Lavery - runs at York Theatre Royal from Fri 22 Apr - Sat 30 Apr and then goes on tour to Bath, Southampton, Cambridge, Malvern, Brighton, Oxford, Richmond.Evelyn Waugh - A Life Revisited by Philip Eade will be published in JulyProducer: Zahid Warley.

In a programme exploring light, Anne McElvoy is joined by Ann Wroe - who has walked the South Downs for her latest book considering painters including Ravilious and Samuel Palmer. Prof. Lucie Green has written a journey to the centre of the sun. The fluorescent creations of Dan Flavin the post war American artist go on show at Birmingham's Ikon Gallery curated by director Jonathan Watkins. And in Blackpool - home of the Illuminations - the Grundy Art Gallery is adding to its collection of light works – curator Richard Parry explains. Dan Flavin: It is What It Is and It Ain't Nothing Else runs at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham from 13th April to 26th June.Six Facets Of Light by Ann Wroe is out now. She is also the author of Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man.15 Million Degrees - A Journey to the Centre of the Sun is written by Dr Lucie Green, solar physicist at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL.Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Jerry Brotton talks to Rana Mitter about the links between Elizabethan England and the Islamic World. They're joined in studio for a conversation about the history and growth of nationalism around the world by the Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, by Professor John Breuilly from the London School of Economics and by the novelist Gillian Slovo - who has written a thriller inspired by the Tottenham riots and a verbatim drama based on interviews asking why young Muslim men and women from across Western Europe are leaving their homes to answer the call of Jihad. This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World by Jerry Brotton - Professor of Renaissance Studies in the Department of English, Queen Mary, University of London is out now and is being read on Radio 4 as this week's Book of the Week. The Radio 3 Sunday Feature he presented on The Venice Ghetto is available on the iPlayer or as a download from Radio 3's website. Another World: Losing Our Children to Islamic State written by Gillian Slovo and directed by Nicolas Kent is at the temporary space at the National Theatre from 9th April to 7th May. Gillian Slovo's novel is called Ten Days. Professor John Breuilly is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of the History of Nationalism which is out in paperback in April. Elif Shafak's most recent novel is The Architect's Apprentice. Producer: Ruth Watts