Oulipo - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

Josie Long presents a series of short documentaries and audio adventures inspired by the work of the Oulipo, a loose collective of writers and mathematicians who use playful constraints in their work to spark new ideas.

The Oulipo's name - Ouvroir de littérature potentielle - roughly translates as 'the workshop of potential literature'. They have produced works such as Georges Perec's La Disparition; A Void in the English translation, in which the letter e never appears; If on a Winter's Night a Traveller..., Italo Calvino's novel which features ten different first chapters of novels; and Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style, in which the same story is retold 99 times in a different style.Our workshop for potential radio features literary reviews, audio games and new stories from Joe Dunthorne, Jon Tjhia, John-Luke Roberts and Ross Sutherland.

As Far As The IProduced by Jon Tjhia

Peanut ButterFeaturing Joe Dunthorne

A VoidFeaturing John-Luke Roberts

The Other Ross SutherlandFeaturing Roddy Forsyth and Ross Sutherland
An alternate version of this story first appeared on the podcast Imaginary AdviceProduced by Ross Sutherland

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowallA Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2019.

Further episodes of Short Cuts

Further podcasts by BBC Radio 4

Website of BBC Radio 4