Galley Beggar Press podcasts

Adam Biles in conversation with Ian Dunt in Waterstones Trafalgar Square, 20 September 2023 to launch Beasts Of England. Many thanks from us to Ian and to Waterstones Trafalgar for providing such a fantastic venue and hospitality.

Toby Litt reads Oh Whistle And... by Uschi Gatward. Oh Whistle And... comes from Uschi's superb new collection of stories English Magic, which is available now in our online store (www.galleybeggar.co.uk/paperback-sho…english-magic) and from all good booksellers. You might also enjoy reading this fantastic Q&A with Uschi: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/qa-uschi-gatw…english-magic

Alex Pheby reads The Clinic by Uschi Gatward. The clinic comes from Uschi's superb new collection of stories English Magic, which is available now in our online store (https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/paperback-shop/english-magic) and from all good booksellers. You might also enjoy reading this fantastic Q&A with Uschi: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/qa-uschi-gatward-english-magic

Edward Hogan, reads Single Sit, the winner of the 2021 Galley Beggar Press short story prize. There's also a conversation between Edward and GBP co-director Sam Jordison about the story, about writing and about selling conservatories. Among other things... It's a long one! You can find out more about Edward's novel The Electric here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/edward-hogan/the-electric/9781473669567/?v2=true Here’s Edward's OU page: http://www.open.ac.uk/research/people/ewh47 And here's the lowdown on the GBP prize: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/prize

A piece I wrote for the book A Love Letter To Europe, published by Coronet in 2020. It's about how great twin towns can be - even if (especially if!) you're a cynical teenager in the North of England in the 1990s. (Photo is from a school play. I was Lane the butler in The Importance Of Being Earnest. That's why I'm dressed all posh.)

Vijay Khurana reads his superb 2019-2020 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize shortlisted story, About Suffering. For more about Vijay, visit: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/2020-ssp-khurana-3qs You can read About Suffering for yourself here: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/2020-ssp-khurana-about-suffering And here's his story Zenith:https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/2019-ssp-stories-khurana-zenith For more details on the prize in general, and to read our archive of longlisted stories, visit this page: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/prize Enjoy!

Adam Biles reads his short story Scylla And Charybdis. Adam's novel Feeding Time is available here: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/shop-1/wzoo6sfs1kywu2cn9zzxgud574rsxw (There's a preview chapter to read. It's a blast.) The National Centre For Writing and Norwich helped us finance this podcast - and we're very grateful. You can find out about their fine work here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/

Gerry Feehily describes Paris during the first days of lockdown. It's incredible. Just listen already. You can subscribe to our newsletter by visiting www.galleybeggar.co.uk - you'll also find Gerry's story Gunk there, if you can't wait for it to arrive by email... The National Centre For Writing, who I mention at the end (under their old name of The Writers Centre! Oops!) have a lot of really good activities and resources available during lockdown: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk

"I last saw Jeet at the last public event I attended before the UK’s pandemic lockdown – it was in London, for a memorial. After the service, we drank, and talked; and mingled briefly in the crowd; we parted without saying goodbye. So this book as an object holds layers of meaning: memories of travel and of both happy and sad times spent with friends." Preti Taneja thinks about the writer Jeet Thayil and reads from Fulcrum NO. 4, an edition in which Thayil edited a selection of 56 Indian poets under the (beautiful!) title Give the Sea Change and It Shall Change. Writers Preti references include: Henry Derozio, Nissim Ezekiel, Srikanth Reddy, Mukta Sambrani. She also discusses Threads, by Sandeep Parmar, Bhanu Kapil and Nisha Ramayya and Debt Night, a piece she herself wrote in Detours. Links: FULCRUM No. 4, 2005 http://fulcrumpoetry.com/issues/4/index.html THREADS: https://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/products/threads-sandeep-parmar-bhanu-kapil-and-nisha-ramayya HOTEL CORDEL/ DETOURS (for Debt Night) https://partisanhotel.co.uk/Hotel-Cordel-Detours To find out more about Jeet Thayil, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Thayil And here's a conversation with Preti and Jeet: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/09/jeet-thayil-interview-man-booker-narcopolis-book-chocolate-saints Preti's novel We that are young is available here: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/new-page-1

Alex Pheby reads chapter one of his forthcoming novel, Mordew. You can pre-order Mordew here: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/paperback-shop/mordew If you do, we'll also give you a secret password to enable you to listen to the entire book as Alex reads it in weekly instalments. Alternatively, you can subscribe to those instalments on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=7263656

Alex Pheby reads a very tasty little morsel from Mordew and Sam Jordison reads Pliny's account of the eruption of Vesuvius.

A real treat as Adam Biles reads his story The Deep. Adam is a "megawatt talent" according to The Guardian - and me too - and it's a joy to have him calling in from Paris. His novel Feeding Time is wonderful and available in our store: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/shop-1/wzoo6sfs1kywu2cn9zzxgud574rsxw And as an ebook: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/kindle/feeding-time-adam-biles-mobi You can read an extract here: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/extract-feeding-time-biles You can find his Shakespeare & Co podcasts here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/podcast?playlist=416

Sam Jordison reads a Chekhov story called Hush! and goes on a bit about Pliny. Recorded in isolation in Norwich.

A conversation with five writers who were on the longlist of the 2018-2019 short story prize… (So if you’re listening in February 2020, as this podcast comes out, the prize from last year, not the longlist we have recently announced.) The writers are: Alice Ash, Holly Fitzgerald, Thomas Chadwick, Nicholas Petty, Laura Kaye. We spoke in early January 2020 in a surprisingly posh sweet in the Goodenough Club on Mecklenberg Square in London.

Nicholas Petty reads It Is Summer At Camp Pomodoro, a story from the longlist of the 2018-2019 Galley Beggar Press short story prize

Thomas Chadwick reads Above The Fat, a story from the longlist of the 2018-2019 Galley Beggar Press short story prize.

Holly Fitzgerald reads Little Boxes, a story from the longlist of the 2018-2019 Galley Beggar Press short story prize

Alice Ash reads Girls, a story from the longlist of the 2018-2019 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize.

Laura Kaye reads Girls, a story from the longlist of the 2018-2019 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize.

Toby Litt came round to Galley Beggar Press HQ to sign copies of his new novel Patience. And he also delivered this wonderful talk - but to say more is to spoil a surprise. Listen out for the thunder. And in my pre-intro introduction that funny knocking sound is a dog's tail wagging against a door. Buy Patience here: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/shop-1/patience

"I’m sorry to have to mention this, but men don’t like women much." Two days before publication of Ducks, Newburyport and shortly after signing the limited edition copies we send out to subscribers, Lucy Ellmann, talks about men, "this big cow pat of growth and progress that men have dumped upon the environment" and some of the pressing themes that inspired her new 1000-page masterpiece. She explains why "this novel required the blanketing of the reader in stuff," and also, as always, cracks out some awesome one-liners: "One good thing about duelling was that it could potentially rob the world of two idiots." Hope you enjoy listening! FYI: We've sold out of limited editions now, but at the time of broadcast (which is to say, early July, 2019) we still have plenty of first editions of the beautiful mass-market paperback in our online shop: https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/paperback-shop

"I don’t think we as human beings are ethically clean… My entire existence as a human being is unethical... If you’re vegan and get your vegan food from Sainsbury’s you’re just subsidising their bacon... We’re all bad people. We need to work on that." Actual genius Alex Pheby in conversation with Sam Jordison at the Greenwich Literary Festival 2019. Includes readings from Playthings and Lucia - and keep listening to the end for a world exclusive first reading from the forthcoming novel Mordew. For more information and to buy Alex's wonderful books, please visit galleybeggar.co.uk Here's a longer sample, courtesy of twitter user @danieldaviswood who typed it out heroically: "I don’t think we as human beings are ethically clean. I don’t think that is a position you get to occupy. I don’t think you, as a human being—sitting here, you—get to sit there and think that by virtue of you wanting to be a good person, you are a good person. Your entire existence, my entire existence… is already unethical. The very existence of you—no matter how nice a person you are, no matter how good you are, no matter how good you try to be—you’re already, always already, wrong. Your existence has ruined the planet. Your existence as a human being is predicated on hundreds and hundreds of years of brutal repression of other people, appalling crimes that your culture has committed and continues to commit.