About this episode

The episode discusses the life and impact of Aphra Behn, the first professional woman writer in English literature.

Widely regarded as the first professional woman writer in English literature, Aphra Behn (1640-1689) is best known for her plays and her novel Oroonoko, she's been an inspiration to countless writers across the ages. This archive episode, first released in October 2017, was selected as part of a ten-episode series by Misha Glenny. In the episode, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and times of Behn, who made her name and her living as a playwright, poet and writer of fiction during the Restoration. Virginia Woolf wrote of her: 'All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds'. Behn may well have spent some of her early life in Surinam, the setting for her novel Oroonoko, and there are records of her working in the Netherlands as a spy for Charles II. She was loyal to the Stuart kings and refused to write a poem on the coronation of William of Orange. She was regarded as an important writer in her lifetime and inspired others to write but fell out of favour for two centuries after her death when her work was seen as too bawdy, the product of a disreputable age. With Janet Todd Former…

More episodes of In Our Time

• In Our Time Returns for a New Series · September 7, 2026 · 2 min
• Archive: Empress Dowager Cixi · September 3, 2026 · 51 min
• Archive: Plate Tectonics · August 27, 2026 · 44 min
• Archive: Hatshepsut · August 20, 2026 · 48 min
• Archive: Coffee · August 13, 2026 · 57 min
• Pockets (from Here For The History) · August 7, 2026 · 37 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the In Our Time podcast page.