Maria Popova, Aditya Narayan, Kimberly Campanello, DM Black

Writer and poet Maria Popova on taking inspiration from 19th century ornithological studies for her new publication, An Almanac of Birds – 100 Divinations for Uncertain Days.

Slam poet Aditya Narayan has had an impressive winning streak this year – winning the Roundhouse Poetry Slam in April and the Loud Poets Grand Slam final in August. He discusses writing poetry for performance and rhyming English, Hindi, and Urdu.

Kimberly Campanello and D.M. Black are members of a distinguished group - poets who have translated Dante's epic poem, The Divine Comedy. They reflect on their different approaches to the 14th century three part work which takes the reader to hell, purgatory, and heaven - Kimberly weaving in her personal history including her Parkinson's diagnosis and the history of Italy in her translation of Part 1: Inferno, and D.M. Black drawing upon his experience as a psychoanalyst in his award-winning translation of Part 2: Purgatorio, and his recently published Part 3: Paradiso.

Presenter: Ian McMillan Producer: Ekene Akalawu