After Bloomsbury

About After Bloomsbury

After Bloomsbury: is the official podcast of Charleston, the Sussex home of the Bloomsbury Group. The first season, presented by Claire Ratinon, explores the depths and nuances of love, resistance and creativity. It delves into Charleston’s past, with stories about Bloomsbury artists and writers including Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Virginia Woolf and John Maynard Keynes, who imagined new ways of living, working and loving between Charleston’s walls. Every year in May, some of the world’s most exciting writers, artists, performers and changemakers grace the stage of Charleston Festival. New for 2026, this podcast unearths voices from the incredible Charleston Festival archives, with conversations previously only heard on the Charleston stage - featuring David Attenborough, Patti Smith, Paula Rego, Richard E Grant, Bob Geldof, Susan Sontag, Zadie Smith, Roxane Gay and many, many more. Tune in to hear from these brilliant artists, writers and performers as they continue the Bloomsbury Group’s spirit of radical thinking and creative freedom. Credits A Peanut & Crumb production for Charleston Presented by Claire Ratinon Produced by Nada Smiljanic Executive producers: Jack Howson, Jane Gerber and Melissa Perkins, Head of Programme and Events at Charleston Thanks to Darren Clarke, Head of Collections and Research at Charleston and all the featured guests. Design by Kellenberger–White Photography by Lewis Ronald Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Charleston

Category

arts · arts · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Jan 2026

Latest episode

28 Jan 2026

Latest episodes

4 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   28 Jan 2026

   Episode 3: Creation

   Featuring Doris Lessing, Paula Rego, Sir David Attenborough, Patti Smith, Susan Sontag, Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, Peter Blake and more. In this episode, we celebrate creativity in all its forms. From visual art and poetry to diaries and performance, we journey through the rich archive of Charleston’s annual Festival, exploring how artists, writers and makers have pushed boundaries, experimented boldly and found joy in the act of creation. Featuring: Writer Doris Lessing recorded in 1999 talking about the domestic interruptions that shape many women’s working lives. Legendary visual artist Paula Rego talks with Vanessa Bell’s grandson, Julian Bell, about drawing as a conversation through time. Musician and poet Patti Smith reads ‘The Writer’s Song’, a poem that really evokes the intensity and devotion that drives a creative life. Writer Margot Jefferson reads Virginia Woolf’s diaries, which capture the immersive intensity of her creative process. Richard E. Grant reflects on how writing his own diary helped him make sense of his life from a young age. Writer Zadie Smith and critic Merve Emre explore the remarkable fluidity and freedom that Virginia Woolf’s diaries reveal. Artist Sarah Lucas speaks with artist Maggi Hambling and art critic Louisa Buck about the intimate dynamics of creative collaboration. Journalist Shon Faye reflects on how lived experience has shaped her work. The late great American writer Susan Sontag speaks on the role of deep knowledge in creativity back in 2001. One of the greatest war photographers Don McCullin in conversation with Sean O’Hagan, reflecting on the personal toll that can come with making art. Trailblazing writer Margaret Atwood in conversation with writer Naomi Alderman. The godfather of pop art, Peter Blake, shakes up received ideas of what subjects are worthy of being depicted in art. Writer and theatre-maker Travis Alabanza reflects on the pressures placed on marginalised artists, and the freedom - and provocation - of making work on their own terms. Filmmaker Topher Campbell, novelist Tony Peake and director Dexter Fletcher on another creative outsider, the late artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman. Food writer Nigel Slater speaks to visual artist and potter Edmund de Waal about utility and aesthetic beauty. Naturalist Sir David Attenborough reminds us that art is nothing without the viewer. Credits A Peanut & Crumb production for Charleston Presented by Claire Ratinon Produced by Nada Smiljanic Executive producers: Jack Howson, Jane Gerber and Melissa Perkins, Head of Programme and Events at Charleston Thanks to Darren Clarke, Head of Collections and Research at Charleston and all the featured guests. If this episode whets your appetite, why not join us at Charleston Festival (https://www.charleston.org.uk/festivals) this year! Subscribe to the Charleston newsletter (https://www.charleston.org.uk/). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   28 Jan 2026

   Episode 2: Resistance

   Featuring Chris Packham, Elif Shafak, Jeanette Winterson, Jonathan Pryce, Gina Miller and more. In this episode, we explore the theme of Resistance, and what it means in an increasingly turbulent landscape. From small, intimate moments within our own lives to urgent global movements, acts of resistance can help us imagine ways to radically reshape our world. With recordings from the Charleston Festival archives, featuring: Letters by Lytton Strachey - writer, critic and a central figure in the Bloomsbury group - performed by actors Alex Jennings and Jonathan Pryce. Activist and campaigner Gina Miller, who successfully challenged the UK government’s authority to implement Brexit without parliamentary approval, in conversation with former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas. William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’ from 1804, read by actor Jack Farthing. Writer and filmmaker Philip Hoare explores William Blake’s vision of a just and fair England. A recreation of writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin’s televised debate on American race relations with conservative intellectual William F. Buckley, read by Omari Douglas and David McAlmont. Cultural critic and feminist icon Roxane Gay talks with Emma Dabiri about progressive thinking, abundance, and working together to make change. Musician and activist Bob Geldof speaks about how the music of his youth shaped his political consciousness. Naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham talks about the evolution of his activism. Comedian Angela Barnes and writer and performer Mark Steel explore how laughter can be an act of resistance. Writer Jeanette Winterson on Virginia Woolf’s creative vision and lasting influence. Turkish-British novelist and activist Elif Shafak shows that fiction can illuminate truth and open space for dialogue. Two writers, Catherine Taylor and Madeleine Thien, reflect on how language carries the weight of our responsibility to speak, witness and imagine a better world. Credits A Peanut & Crumb production for Charleston Presented by Claire Ratinon Produced by Nada Smiljanic Executive producers: Jack Howson, Jane Gerber and Melissa Perkins, Head of Programme and Events at Charleston Thanks to Darren Clarke, Head of Collections and Research at Charleston and all the featured guests. If this episode whets your appetite, why not join us at Charleston Festival (https://www.charleston.org.uk/festivals) this year! Subscribe to the Charleston newsletter (https://www.charleston.org.uk/). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   28 Jan 2026

   Episode 1: Love

   Featuring Dame Judi Dench, Bob Geldof, Richard E Grant, Natasha Khan, Harold Pinter, Roxane Gay and more. In this episode, we explore Love - the messy, liberating and transformative force at the heart of the Bloomsbury world. For the group - which included Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and John Maynard Keynes - love was never about rules or restraint, but about honesty, courage and connection. We explore how their ways of loving and living still challenge how we think about intimacy and freedom today. With recordings from the Charleston Festival archives, featuring: Letters by Lytton Strachey - writer, critic and a central figure in the Bloomsbury group - performed by actors Alex Jennings and Jonathan Pryce. Actress Eve Best reads from the artist Dora Carrington’s letters, in which she playfully makes the case against monogamy. Musician and activist Bob Geldof, reflects on the pain of being left by his former wife, Paula Yates. Two contemporary writers, David Nicholls and Kaliane Bradley, explore the pleasures and awkwardness of the body. American writer Roxane Gay in conversation with Irish author Emma Dabiri. British-Ghanian writer Caleb Azumah Nelson and Richard E Grant, consider the thin line between love and grief. Harold Pinter, performs a scene from his play ‘Celebration’. Shon Faye considers love beyond the romantic: friendship, kinship and chosen family. Music artist Natasha Khan, better known by her stage name Bat for Lashes, reflects on different ways of raising children. The voice of Angelica Garnett reflecting on her unconventional upbringing, and the hidden costs of a household built on love without boundaries. Dame Judi Dench reads Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29 - all about the redemptive power of love. Credits A Peanut & Crumb production for Charleston Presented by Claire Ratinon Produced by Nada Smiljanic Executive producers: Jack Howson, Jane Gerber and Melissa Perkins, Head of Programme and Events at Charleston Thanks to Darren Clarke, Head of Collections and Research at Charleston and all the featured guests. If this episode whets your appetite, why not join us at Charleston Festival (https://www.charleston.org.uk/festivals) this year! Subscribe to the Charleston newsletter (https://www.charleston.org.uk/). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

4. 

   28 Jan 2026

   After Bloomsbury: The Charleston Podcast (Trailer)

   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.