Hello, this is Meet the Writers.
I'm Georgina Godwin.
My guest today is a British historian,
academic and award-winning writer who spent her career exploring how we experience and express human emotions.
She studied English and philosophy at Cambridge before spending a decade as a theatre director,
including time with the Arcola Theatre Collective in Dalston and as international associate at the Royal Court.
After returning to academia, she completed a Master's in Criticism and Culture,
followed by a PhD at Queen Mary University of London, where she was.
lecturer and the director of the Centre for the History of the Emotions.
She's now reader emeritus.
Her TED Talk on the history and complexity of emotions has reached over four million viewers.
And her books, including The Book of Human Emotions and Schadenfreude,
have been translated into multiple languages and hit bestseller lists worldwide.
Her latest work is Bad Friend, a century of revolutionary friendships.
It's a thoughtful, funny and revealing look at the cultural history of female friendships.
And it draws on everything from feminist theory and historic etiquette manuals to deeply personal stories of companionship,
rupture and reconnection.
Tiffany Watts-Smith, welcome to Meet the Writers.
Thank you.
It's really great to have you here.