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Hay Festival

In a special recording at the Hay Festival, Tom Sutcliffe looks at the success of the human species with Yuval Noah Harari, Beth Shapiro, Colm Toibin and Owen Sheers.

Start the Week is at the Hay Festival for a discussion about what has made homo sapiens so successful. The historian Yuval Noah Harari looks back a hundred thousand years ago when at least six human species inhabited the earth and explores why only one came to dominate. Science was a key breakthrough and Beth Shapiro pushes at the limits of knowledge with her book on how to clone a mammoth. The writer Colm T贸ib铆n reveals how much he owes past writers in his introduction to the enigmatic American poet, Elizabeth Bishop, while Owen Sheers explores the themes of loss and redemption in his latest novel.
Producer: Katy Hickman.

Available now

43 minutes

Beth Shapiro

is Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

How To Clone A Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction is published by Princeton University Press.

Yuval Noah Harari

is a Professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind is published by Vintage.

Colm Toibin

is a novelist, essayist, critic and poet.

On Elizabeth Bishop is published by Princeton University Press.

Owen Sheers

is a poet, author and playwright.

I Saw A Man is published by Faber & Faber.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Tom Sutcliffe
Interviewed Guest Yuval Noah Harari
Interviewed Guest Beth Shapiro
Interviewed Guest Colm Toibin
Interviewed Guest Owen Sheers
Producer Katy Hickman

Broadcasts

  • Mon 25 May 2015 09:00
  • Mon 25 May 2015 21:30

Podcast