Dr Hester’s programme focuses on Smith’s incendiary 1963 film ‘Flaming Creatures’, which was banned in the US and championed by the likes of Susan Sontag. It features interviews with film historian J Hoberman and performance artist Penny Arcade, and a visit to Smith’s archive at the Fales Library and Special Collections (facilitated by a Faculty of English Research Support Fund award). Dr Hester wrote about Jack Smith in his recent book on a queer sense of place, Nothing Ever Just Disappears.

Available now on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001wyvl