Live Broadcast

Sahar Zand joined John Simpson to present a two-hour live BBC World Service broadcast from the Oxford Literary Festival at Worcester College, reaching an estimated 66 million listeners worldwide.

Broadcast as part of the BBC’s Life Stories season, the programme brought together leading international writers, thinkers, scientists and performers to explore human nature and the world around us.

Zand’s live interviews included mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose, later awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics; writer and environmentalist George Monbiot and Scottish folk musician Ewan McLennan, in a discussion exploring loneliness, sociability and children’s freedom to play in public spaces; and Syrian musician Maya Youssef, who performed live on the qanun and spoke about her work with Syrian child refugees.

March 2017   ·  BBC Sounds