Podcasts about Canongate Books

"She finds herself in London working in a theatre having to touch people!"   Elaine Garvey, to discuss her novel, THE WARDROBE DEPARTMENT, published by Canongate Books. It's 2002. Mairéad Sweeney has moved from rural Ireland to work in London's West End. While the prestige of working in theatre doesn't exactly wear off, the long hours and spoiled actors make Mairéad's transition from Ireland more difficult than it should be. Things get even more difficult when Mairéad has to return home for her grandmother's funeral. It's here she begins to reconcile with the life, people and values she left behind. This is Elaine's first book. She has been published in the Dublin Review and the Winter Papers, and has been awarded funding schemes by the Irish Department of Arts for her writing. ***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation! https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** You can buy THE WARDROBE DEPARTMENT from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages Rippling Points 1.31 - Why the year 2002? 4.32 - books about women walking. 5.39 - who is Mairéad and why is she in London 7.39 - what is the wardrobe department 9.40 - shadowing the costume department! 12.10 - differences between London and Mairéad's home in Ireland. 13.34 - Mairéad's family. 14:40 - Mairéad's boss. 18.15 - Similarities to the Milkman 21. 16 - when is Mairéad's moment of realisation 23.48 - Choosing your words and religion. 27.29 - Is how Mairéad feels about Ireland different to Elaine? 29.15 - how the novel emerged from a short story. Reference Points Anna Burns - Milkman Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre Seamus Heaney - Sweeney Astray Hilary Mantel - The Mirror and The Light Herta Müller - The Land of Green Plums Rozsika Parker - The Subversive Stich Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali caught up with writer Karen Campbell to talk about her latest novel This Bright Life, which will be published later this month with Canongate Books.Karen gives a synopsis of the novel before breaking down the three central characters of Gerard, Margaret and Claire and their role in events, why it had to be set in Glasgow, and, more widely, the importance of place.The two then talk about Karen's novels more generally (this is her ninth), the themes and ideas which interest her, writing about people who all too rarely appear on the page, and how she has changed as a writer over time. There is also a conversation about other Scottish novels, Lewis Grassic Gibbon and Hugh MacDiarmid, and the notable impact of, and response to, her previous novel Paper Cup. It's always a pleasure to talk to Karen, and with This Bright Life one of SWH!'s Ten Books for 2025 it was a privilege to be able to discuss it in such detail.Full details, including all the ways to listen, are over at scotswhayhae.com

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).To be alone in the world is a terrible thing, unless of course it is by choice. Especially for men, the heart may long for deep connection while all our social posturing creates the opposite--distance. When men discover deep friendship with other men it is a gift to be savoured and, in this instance, shared. Don McLeod, Barry Foster and I have met together for almost twenty-five years, dubbing ourselves, preposterously, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. We have no advice about how others might do this themselves, but by sharing our own story perhaps some wisdom will emerge for those who seek a similar experience. All we know is that the world, and our world in particular, is a lot better for having friends. Books referenced in this conversation:"Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom" by John O'Donohue; HarperCollins, 1997"To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings" by John O'Donohue; Convergent Books, 2008"Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words" by David Whyte; Canongate Books, 2019As well as any of the over twenty books by Jungian writer James HollisPersonal LinksMy web site (where you can sign up for my blog): https://www.brianepearson.caMy email address: mysticcaveman53@gmail.comSeries Music Credit"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison, performed by Colin James, from the album, Limelight, 2005; licensed under SOCAN 2022

Marjorie (M.M.) DeLuca was born in England, studied at the University of London, then moved to Canada, where she studied Advanced Creative Writing with Pulitzer Prizewinner Dr. Carol Shields. She's the author of five self-published novels and four traditionally published historical and contemporary suspense novels: Amazon bestseller, THE PERFECT FAMILY MAN (Canelo 2021), Bookscan Top 100 bestseller, and Apple Books Top 100 bestseller, THE SECRET SISTER (Canelo 2021), critically acclaimed literary historical suspense, THE SAVAGE INSTINCT (Inkshares 2021). This book received starred reviews from Publishers' Weekly and Booklist as well as being one of Kate Quinn's monthly picks on Instagram. Her newest novel, THE NIGHT SIDE (psychological thriller), was published on December 5th 2023 by Severn House, a division of Canongate Books.She's appeared on author panels at Thrillerfest 2024, and Bouchercon 2024. She's also been featured on the following podcasts: The Thriller Zone, The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, Crime Writers Canada and Killing the Tea. When she's not writing, she's either traveling to get away from the snow in winter or golfing in the summer.Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/marjoriedelucawriterInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mmdelucaauthor/Blue Sky Handle: https://bsky.app/profile/mmdeluca.bsky.socialThreads Handle: @mmdelucaauthorWebsite: https://www.marjoriedeluca.com *****************About SinCSisters in Crime (SinC) was founded in 1986 to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers. Through advocacy, programming and leadership, SinC empowers and supports all crime writers regardless of genre or place on their career trajectory.www.SistersinCrime.orgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sincnational/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sincnational.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.net/@sincnationalFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/sistersincrimeTikTok:: https://www.tiktok.com/@sincnationalThe SinC Writers' Podcast is produced by Julian Crocamo

Would you rip up your current life and reinvent yourself if you had the chance? Do you have desires you'd want to explore? Maybe there are hidden parts of yourself you've never had the chance to get to know? Which societal rules would you want to ignore? Author Miranda July asks all these questions in October's Happy Place Book Club novel: All Fours. She picks apart how we can fall into the monotony of every day routine instead of acknowledging the wild emotions and longings inside us. In this chat, Fearne and Miranda talk about fluctuating hormones, pressures of motherhood, sexual fantasies (some of which may or may not involve tampons), and menopause as an incredibly exciting and sacred transitional period. Fearne asks Miranda to help her be even more painfully unfiltered in her own writing, while Miranda exclusively reveals how she originally intended the novel to end. Plus, what about this book made Fearne say it was the ‘one of the hottest, sexiest things' she'd ever read...?Thank you to Canongate Books for the use of All Fours audiobook, read by Miranda July. Listen to Book Club Meets: Gillian Anderson Listen to Book Club Meets: Patric Gagne Listen to Book Club Meets: Holly Gramazio Listen to Book Club Meets: Sofie Hagen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali caught up with writer, and previous guest, Louise Welsh to talk about her latest novel To The Dogs, which is out now published by Canongate Books. The two talk about the complex issue of class, the hold of the past, the setting of Glasgow, the central character of Jim Brennan, the parallels between gangland life and academia, the changing politics of university life, building towards a dramatic conclusion, and much more. They also discuss The Second Cut, Louise's sequel to her critically-acclaimed and much-loved debut The Cutting Room, and the return of the protagonist Rilke, as well as her role as Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, and revisiting the Empire Cafe project 10 years on. Louise is not only one of SWH!'s favourite writers, but also one of our greatest supporters and it was great to have her back on the podcast. The result is an insightful and thoughtful conversation which will appeal to readers and writers alike. For full details, including all the ways to listen, go to https://www.scotswhayhae.com

Just a decade ago, before COVID upended everything, tens of thousands of migrants from African countries traveled to China in search of economic opportunity. One 2012 estimate put the African population in Guangzhou alone at 100,000. When the British-Nigerian travel writer Noo Saro-Wiwa heard about this community, she decided to travel to Guangzhou and China to learn more. She met traders, drug dealers, surgeons, visa overstayers, former professional athletes, and many more trying to live, work and stay in China. Her travels are the subject of her new book Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China (Canongate, 2023). In this interview, we talk about her experiences in Guangzhou, the prejudice Africans immigrants faced in China—and the prejudices they brought with them—and what this migration says about “south-south” relations Noo Saro-Wiwa is a travel author and journalist. Born in Nigeria and raised in England, she writes for Condé Nast Traveller magazine, and has contributed book reviews, travel, opinion and analysis articles for The Guardian newspaper, The Financial Times and The Times Literary Supplement, among others. Her first book, Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (Soft Skull: 2012), was published to critical acclaim in 2012 and was named The Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year in 2012. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Black Ghosts. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Just a decade ago, before COVID upended everything, tens of thousands of migrants from African countries traveled to China in search of economic opportunity. One 2012 estimate put the African population in Guangzhou alone at 100,000. When the British-Nigerian travel writer Noo Saro-Wiwa heard about this community, she decided to travel to Guangzhou and China to learn more. She met traders, drug dealers, surgeons, visa overstayers, former professional athletes, and many more trying to live, work and stay in China. Her travels are the subject of her new book Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China (Canongate, 2023). In this interview, we talk about her experiences in Guangzhou, the prejudice Africans immigrants faced in China—and the prejudices they brought with them—and what this migration says about “south-south” relations Noo Saro-Wiwa is a travel author and journalist. Born in Nigeria and raised in England, she writes for Condé Nast Traveller magazine, and has contributed book reviews, travel, opinion and analysis articles for The Guardian newspaper, The Financial Times and The Times Literary Supplement, among others. Her first book, Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (Soft Skull: 2012), was published to critical acclaim in 2012 and was named The Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year in 2012. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Black Ghosts. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

Just a decade ago, before COVID upended everything, tens of thousands of migrants from African countries traveled to China in search of economic opportunity. One 2012 estimate put the African population in Guangzhou alone at 100,000. When the British-Nigerian travel writer Noo Saro-Wiwa heard about this community, she decided to travel to Guangzhou and China to learn more. She met traders, drug dealers, surgeons, visa overstayers, former professional athletes, and many more trying to live, work and stay in China. Her travels are the subject of her new book Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China (Canongate, 2023). In this interview, we talk about her experiences in Guangzhou, the prejudice Africans immigrants faced in China—and the prejudices they brought with them—and what this migration says about “south-south” relations Noo Saro-Wiwa is a travel author and journalist. Born in Nigeria and raised in England, she writes for Condé Nast Traveller magazine, and has contributed book reviews, travel, opinion and analysis articles for The Guardian newspaper, The Financial Times and The Times Literary Supplement, among others. Her first book, Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (Soft Skull: 2012), was published to critical acclaim in 2012 and was named The Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year in 2012. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Black Ghosts. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

Just a decade ago, before COVID upended everything, tens of thousands of migrants from African countries traveled to China in search of economic opportunity. One 2012 estimate put the African population in Guangzhou alone at 100,000. When the British-Nigerian travel writer Noo Saro-Wiwa heard about this community, she decided to travel to Guangzhou and China to learn more. She met traders, drug dealers, surgeons, visa overstayers, former professional athletes, and many more trying to live, work and stay in China. Her travels are the subject of her new book Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China (Canongate, 2023). In this interview, we talk about her experiences in Guangzhou, the prejudice Africans immigrants faced in China—and the prejudices they brought with them—and what this migration says about “south-south” relations Noo Saro-Wiwa is a travel author and journalist. Born in Nigeria and raised in England, she writes for Condé Nast Traveller magazine, and has contributed book reviews, travel, opinion and analysis articles for The Guardian newspaper, The Financial Times and The Times Literary Supplement, among others. Her first book, Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (Soft Skull: 2012), was published to critical acclaim in 2012 and was named The Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year in 2012. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Black Ghosts. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

Myth vs History: Does Belief Need Facts? Do you need evidence to believe? Does spirituality need scientific validation? Uncover the relationship between myth and historical truth in esoteric and Pagan paths. How do myths shape spiritual beliefs, and what happens when they contrast with historical evidence? Does belief require evidence? Key Questions: - Can myths shape spiritual practices without historical evidence? - What's the role of the Triple Goddess in modern spirituality? - How do Jungian archetypes explain spiritual myths? - Can personal spiritual experiences be valid without historical backing? This video is a must-watch for those navigating the intricate web of belief, myth, and evidence in their spiritual journey and for anyone curious about the balancing act between historical fact and transformative personal belief. CONNECT & SUPPORT

Jamie Byng is the CEO and publisher of the independent publishing firm Canongate Books. When Canongate was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1994, Byng, then in his mid-20s, bought it with a business partner. His first move in overhauling the company's image was to establish the ultra-hip Payback and Rebel Inc. imprints, dedicated to championing cult authors. Over a series of years, the publisher became a radical underdog success story not only publishing wonderful books by Miranda July and The Mighty Boosh but also two books by an, at the time, little-known Senator in Barack Obama—Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope. Jamie continues to be a maverick and taste-maker in the industry, taking chances on bold titles and authors and navigating an industry with an ever-consolidating base of power. ------- Thank you to the sponsors that fuel our podcast and our team: Manna Vitality https://mannavitality.com/ ------- Squarespace  https://squarespace.com/tetra ------- LMNT Electrolytes  https://drinklmnt.com/tetra  ------- House of Macadamias https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/tetra

Guest artist ANNA CLEGG joins curator and critic VANESSA MURRELL to discuss her multi-disciplinary art practice via 'My Loose Thread' by Denis Cooper. Published in 2002 by Canongate Books, this claustrophobic novel circulates around teenage Larry who is wrestling with the point of his own existence and explores teen depression, moral vacuity and the confusion of love.   Please be warned that in following the content of Cooper's text, the programme contains references to violence and suicide.   Anna and Vanessa's discussion also encompasses psychedelics, obsession, faux Nazis, feeling violated, animal stickers, unwavering sensitivity, stupid imagery, internal rhyming, Santa Claus, swimming through mud, looping back on oneself, eyes being gummed shut, the value of confusion, dark and disturbing worlds, begrudging awareness of the reader, not being able to fathom the logic of decision making, writing through an idea rather than creating a story, and the steampunk weaponisation of ice skates.   Please! *rate and review *support production through patreon.com/ARTFICTIONSPODCAST *follow us on instagram @artfictionspodcast *contact us on artfictionspodcast@gmail.com   Recorded at Cubitt Community Radio by Andi Armishah Music GRIFFIN KNIPE Production consultant LORI E ALAN Logo JOANNA QUINN of BERYL PRODUCTIONS   ANNA CLEGG relevant-confluences.com 'Half Truths' curated by Vanessa Murrell til 30 November 2023 at Unit 2 Cassia Building 97-101 Hackney Road Shoreditch London E2 8ET   ARTISTS David Musgrave 'Lambda' 2022 James Turrell John Baldassari 'Wrong' 1967 Joseph Cornell   BOOKS + MAGAZINES + WRITERS Artforum magazine Barry Pierce 'Another Magazine' Beatrice Forster Brett Eastern Ellis Denis Cooper 'The George Miles Cycle' series 1989-2000 Denis Cooper 'I Wished' 2021 Elliot Jeffries Frieze magazine George Bataille 'Story of the Eye' 1928 Hervé Guibert 'Ghost Image' 2014 Interview magazine Kathy Acker Katja Kemnitz 'Too Much Love' on Tumblr Nour El Saleh Paul Auster Roland Barthes 'An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative', 1975 Spin magazine Tao Lin 'Leave Society' 2021 Tom of Finland Victory Burgin 'Remembered Film' 2004 Vivian Sobchack William Burroughs   MUSICIANS + FILM Brooke Shields Claire Denis, director and screenwriter Larry Clark 'Bully' 2001 NLE Chopper Terence Stamp Xaviersobased   GALLERIES + ORGS Chelsea School of Art Greengrassi Nicoletti Contemporary Split Gallery  

TW: sexual assault, domestic violence and grief.Have you ever read a book where you feel immense rage towards a character? So much so, you're beyond glad that this is a piece of fiction. Well, that was my experience of reading The Middle Child by Chika Unigwe.In The Middle Child, we meet Nani, who after some devastating loss, ends up trapped in an abusive marriage. On this episode, I spoke to Chika Unigwe about what stories she wanted to explore, rage at characters, systems of oppression, patriarchy, grief and so much more. Born in Enugu, Nigeria, she is the author of four novels, including On Black Sisters Street and Night Dancer. Her short stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Guernica, Aeon and many other journals.Her works have been translated into several languages. A recipient of several awards and fellowships, she lives and works in the USA. The Middle Child is her latest novel, published by Canongate Books in 2023. Support the show

In the third episode of Color of Publishing, we focus on publishing perspectives from the United Kingdom with two prolific editors and writers, Margaret Busby and Ellah P. Wakatama. Host Bhakti Shringarpure engages the two experts in a wide-ranging conversation about the history of publishing in the UK, questions of diversity and representation, book acquisitions, taste and culture-making, and structural racism. Busby and Wakatama have been witness to the long arc of how publishing has evolved and they speak about the transformations they have witnessed in the business over the years but they also recall the times when diversity was almost non-existent. They are keen to celebrate the successes and the changes taking place in UK publishing as there are more opportunities now for Black, Asian and international writers. However, even as prizes, festivals and book advances grow, they worry whether the shift can be sustained. Busby and Wakatama also acknowledge the importance of camaraderie and shared mission between each other as Black women in publishing over the years .Margaret Busby is a Ghanaian born writer, editor and broadcaster. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisher when she co-founded the publishing house Allison and Busby in the 1960s. She has edited the Daughters of Africa anthology and the second New Daughters of Africa anthology. She was awarded the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement award in 2021 and the CBE, and she is a member of The Royal Society of Literature. She was appointed the president of English PEN in 2023.Ellah P. Wakatama was born in Zimbabwe, educated in the US and has been a London-based writer and editor for the past many years. She is editor-at-large at Canongate Books and chair of the Caine Prize for African Writing. She has edited several anthologies and has contributed to several of them as well. She was given an OBE for services to the publishing industry in 2011, and New African Magazine also named her one of “100 Most Influential Africans” in 2016.

Alice Vincent - 'How Gardening Creeps in When We're Least Expecting It' This episode features a conversation gardener, writer and author, the sensational Alice Vincent. Alice began her career with music journalism, before making a gear shift towards gardening and in this conversation we discuss exactly why that happened…enjoy! Alice's latest book ‘Why Women Grow' is out now from Canongate Books and is available in all good bookshops or online. You can find Alice on Instagram @noughticulture or on twitter at @alice_emily This is technically the last episode of the current season, but join me again soon for a couple of bonus episode with people from some companies that I think you'll enjoy as much as I do…more on that soon! Until then, you can follow me on Instagram at @viewfromthepottingbench to see what I'm upto in my garden or visit viewfromthepottingbench.com to read my blog and much more

Guest artist SOPHIE RUIGROK joins VANESSA MURRELL of DATEAGLE to discuss her art practice via 'Nobody Belongs Here More Than You' 2007 by Miranda July, published by Canongate Books. Winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, it conveys 16 stories of lonely characters desperately trying to make connections. Their means vary from quirky to the absurd and mostly only result in the disillusion of coinciding in the same space.  Sophie and Vanessa talk about escape, clouds, tears, Buddhism, role playing, manifesting reality, body leaking, collapsing flesh, wearing wigs, cold showers, hypersensitive characters, contemporary spiritualism, movie-set extras, expressing the psyche, masks as mediators, disconnected lonely people, swimming on the carpet, beautifully weird realisations about humanity, the loss of fantasy, appropriating from art history, being allergic to the world, true signs of falsehood, and Sophie using her fingers to make images of fingers before dipping her toe into oil paint. SUPPORT this podcast via patreon.com/ARTFICTIONSPODCAST SOPHIE RUIGROK @sophie.ruigrok 'In Three Acts' Huxley Parlour 27 April - 27 May 2023 'Stilled Images' Tube Gallery, Mallorca opens 10 June 2023 ARTISTS Alfred Stieglitz Andrea Mantegna Francis Bacon Gian Lorenzo Bellini 'The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa' 1652 Hans Memling, hellscapes Jan and Hubert Van Eck 'The Ghent Alterpiece' Belgium 1432 Katarina Caserman René Magritte GALLERIES Marlborough 'Love is the Devil: Studies after Francis Bacon' 2022 Tabula Rasa 'It's Better to be Cats Than be Loved' 2022  The Sunday Painter 'Today I Feel Relevant and Alive' 2022 WRITERS Carl Jung Susan Stewart 'On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection' 1984 FILMS 'Interstellar' 2014 'The Truman Show' 1998 'Thelma and Louise' 1991  

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀'s Debut novel, Stay With Me was published in 2017, and is one of those books that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Her second novel, A Spell of Good Things  is releasing in February 2023, and I can say with full certainty that it was worth the wait.In this episode we talk about love amid political turmoil, class, power, womanhood, the complexity of relationships and the messy-ness of family relations, among other things. TW: We also discuss infertility and baby loss, which is a big theme in Stay With Me, so if this doesn't feel like something you want to think about right now, please come back another time that feels better for you :)Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ has written for the BBC, LitHub, The Guardian(UK) and others. She has received fellowships and residencies from MacDowell Colony, Ledig House, Sinthian Cultural Centre, Hedgebrook, Ox-bow School of Arts, and Ebedi Hills. She holds BA and MA degrees in Literature in English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife. Ayọ̀bámi also has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia where she was awarded an international bursary for creative writing. In 2017, she won The Future Awards Africa Prize for Arts and Culture. She has worked as an editor for Saraba magazine since 2009.Ayọ̀bámi is the author of STAY WITH ME, which was shortlisted for the Kwani? Manuscript Project as a work in progress in 2013. After it was published in 2017, it was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction, the Wellcome Book Prize and the 9mobile Prize for Literature. It was also longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. STAY WITH ME was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times and a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and many other publications. Ayọ̀bámi was born in Lagos, Nigeria.Her latest novel, A Spell of Good Things is published by Canongate Books and will be published in February 2023.If you enjoyed this episode, please follow The Diverse Bookshelf on your podcast platform of choice, and connect with me on social media.www.instagram.com/readwithsamiawww.instagram/thediversebookshelf Support the show

Louis Wain's cat-centric art was extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and some of his later work became an inspiration for the psychedelic movement of the 1960s. Research: Beetles, Chris. “Louis Wain's Cats.” Chris Beetles and Canongate Books. 2011, 2021. Benge-Abbott, Bryony. “Louis Wain's Cryptic Cats.” Wellcome Collection. 5/19/2020. https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/Xrqh1BAAACMAhHcl Bethlem Museum of the Mind. “Louis Wain (1860-1939).” https://museumofthemind.org.uk/collections/gallery/artists/louis-william-wain Brill, Marta Wiktoria. “Louis Wain and His Weird Cats.” Daily Art Magazine. 8/8/2022. https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/louis-wain-cats/ Dale, Rodney. “Louis Wain: The Man Who Drew Cats.” Michael O'Mara Books Limited. 1968, 1991. Damiani, Stefano. “The Cats of Louis Wain: A Thousand Ways to Draw One's Mind.” American Journal of Psychiatry 175:4, April 2018. Henry Boxer Gallery. “Louis Wain.” https://www.outsiderart.co.uk/artists/louis-wain Hibbard, Ruth. “‘Paw-some' cat drawings by Louis Wain.” Victoria and Albert Museum. 1/18/2022. https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-life/paw-some-cat-drawings-by-louis-wain Illustration Chronicles. “Cute Cats and Psychedelia: The Tragic Life of Louis Wain.” https://illustrationchronicles.com/cute-cats-and-psychedelia-the-tragic-life-of-louis-wain Jablensky, Assen. “The diagnostic concept of schizophrenia: its history, evolution, and future prospects.” Dialogues in clinical neuroscience vol. 12,3 (2010): 271-87. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2010.12.3/ajablensky McGennis, Aidan. “Louis Wain: his life, his art and his mental Illness.” Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine. Volume 16 Issue 1. Milton, Joseph. “How a mental disorder opened up an invisible world of colour and pattern.” Scientific American. 12/22/2011. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/creatology/how-a-mental-disorder-opened-up-an-invisible-world-of-colour-and-pattern/ Parkin, Michael. "Wain, Louis William (1860–1939), artist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Date of access 2 Nov. 2022, https://proxy.bostonathenaeum.org:2261/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-36677 Stokes, Tim. “Louis Wain: The Artist Who Changed How We Think About Cats.” BBC. 12/28/2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-59518847 Tambling, Kirsten. "The man who drew cats: Louis Wain's series of 'Kaleidoscope Cats' are often regarded as the acme of 'asylum art', but the tendency to pathologise his drawings may obscure what makes them so arresting and technically original." Apollo, vol. 194, no. 702, Nov. 2021, pp. 34+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A689978465/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=fe018abc. Accessed 1 Nov. 2022. Tambling, Kirsten. “Louis Wain, the man who drew cats.” Apollo Magazine. 12/15/2021. https://www.apollo-magazine.com/louis-wain-the-man-who-drew-cats/ Tassell, Nige. “Louis Wain: the cat-loving artist who forever changed the way that we see our feline friends.” History Extra. 3/2/2022. https://www.historyextra.com/period/modern/louis-wain-cat-artist-caricature-mental-health-benedict-cumberbatch/ The Expositor. “Cabbages and Kings By the Walrus.” 7/29/1939. https://www.newspapers.com/image/733377488/?terms=Louis%20Wain&match=1 Holcombe, A.N. “The Telephone in Great Britain.” : The Quarterly Journal of Economics , Nov., 1906, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Nov., 1906). https://www.jstor.org/stable/1883751 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the IPG Podcast we discuss working life in independent publishing with Caroline Gorham, production and systems director at Canongate Books. She chats about her journey through publishing and her varied roles and responsibilities at Canongate, and offers tips for people who want to work in production.

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by Jarred McGinnis, author of The Coward, which is published by our friends at Canongate Books.  Topics of discussion include Artificial Intelligence, wheelchairs, the distance between fiction and memoir, advice, dealing with problematic family members, dreams, Zola, Ibsen, Tolstoy and the Lived Novel, James Frey, World War III, and much more.  Copies of The Coward can be purchased here with FREE SHIPPING.

Our guests this week are Ellah Wakatama, chair of the Caine Prize for African writing and Editor-at-large for Canongate Books and the critic John Self, who writes about books on his own blog Asylum, as well a broad variety of newspapers and radio programmes. If you would like the read the extracts discussed in this episode go to linebyline.substack.com.Comments and feedback to @tds153 on Twitter. Line by Line is produced by Ben Tulloh with readings by Deli Segal. Music by Dee Yan-Key.

Mrs Death Misses Death is the acclaimed debut novel from poet and activist Salena Godden.  Telling the story of a female death figure and a young writer called Wolf who strikes up an unlikely rapport with her, this podcast has  excerpts from the novel and a full length interview with Salena.  Listeners should note that this podcast contains swearing and descriptions of death.  If these are likely to upset or offend you please skip this podcast.  In Mrs Death Misses Death you heard an interview with  Salena Godden and our readers were Hadiya Morris, Kelsey Griffin and Nina Nikolic.  You heard excerpts from the audiobook of Mrs Death.  Sound design, music, soundscapes and production were by Chris Gregory with sound effects from free sound.org.The presenter was  Tiffany Clare. If you would like to buy a copy of the book, e-book or audio book of Mrs Death Misses Death published by Canongate books they are widely available in bookshops and via online retailers.  You can purchase it online via amazon or here via Hive https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Salena-Godden/Mrs-Death-Misses-Death/25330558You can also buy Mrs Death as an e-book via Hive or via the Kindle store on AmazonThe audio book version of Mrs Death is available here via the Audible store https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Mrs-Death-Misses-Death-Audiobook/1838851216If you are outside the United Kingdom you should certainly be able to get hold of an e-book version of Mrs Death but you may also find that physical copies are stocked in your local bookseller.  Please check locally for availability To find out more about Salena Godden please visit her website here http://www.salenagodden.co.uk/And follow her on social media via twitter here https://twitter.com/salenagoddenAnd Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/salena.godden/ Mrs Death Misses Death is published by Canongate Books.  You can visit their website here https://canongate.co.uk/ We would like to pass on our heartfelt thanks to Canongate for allowing us to reproduce sections of the novel and the audio book of Mrs Death Misses Death.  We'd especially like to thank Salena Godden for her time, love, encouragement  and support in the making of this podcast.Special thanks go to our voice actors  Hadiya, Morris  Kelsey Griffin , Nina Nikolic and Tiffany Clare for their brilliant contributions to this podcast.

Hannah Luxton selects 'A Field Guide to Getting Lost' by Rebecca Solnit, published by Canongate Books in 2005. We join the author's drunken debut and travel with her to extremes at the western edges of America as she explores a myriad of geographical, ancestral and metaphysical ways of getting lost. Picking up on Rebecca's fascination with the elusiveness of blue - the colour of where you are not and where you can never go - Hannah's work is particularly spurred on by the sublime; that which is beyond knowledge. She describes her American road trip, her obsession with Iceland and we discuss in detail, her paintings and installations including those seen at Glass Cloud, Lily Brooke and Arthouse1. (Mixed Tapes is an introductory series recorded in lockdown with variations in audio quality.)   Notes and Links: HANNAH LUXTON - hannahluxton.com - instagram hannahluxton_   - BOOKS / TEXT / WRITERS - ‘Of Stars and Chasms' exhibition catalogue text by Sara Jaspan - ‘The Faraway Nearby' by Rebecca Solnit - ‘The Magic Mountain' by Thomas Mann - Albert Camus (Nobel Prize winning French philosopher, author, journalist who attended Yves Klein exhibition ‘The Void' 1958) - Slavoj Zizek (Slovenian philosopher who introduced the concept of unknown knowns) GALLERIES - Arthouse1 - Barbican Arts Group Trust - Glass Cloud Gallery - Lily Brooke Gallery  - The Hayward Gallery ARTISTS - Julie F Hill juliehill.co.uk, Grant Foster grantfoster.com, Yves Klein 1928-1962, Mark Rothko 1903-1970, Ansel Adams 1902-1984, John Martin 1789-1854, J M W Turner 1775-1851, Caspar David Friedrich 1774-1840, Raphael 1483-1520, Joachim Patinir 1480-1524, Hans Memling 1430-1494

On this episode we consider different aspects of the publishing world— from the perspective of an author, an agent and a publisher. Author Michèle Roberts discusses her new book Negative Capability, a candid and refreshing honest diary of a year in which she delves into the daily world of an artist and explores the relationships with her agent and publisher following their rejection of her novel. We also talk to two prominent figures in the Scottish literary scene, Jenny Brown of Jenny Brown Associates and Francis Bickmore, Publishing Director of Canongate Books, to get their insight into the publishing world during lockdown and their thoughts about what will happen after restrictions are lifted. Incidental music by Ragland.

Susan suggested a bunch of things to read about the philosophy and ethics of listening, for you to follow up: * Talk: The science of conversation by Elizabeth Stokoe * Yo! And Lo! The Pragmatic Topography of the Space of Reasons by Mark Lance and Rebecca Kukla * Dotson, Kristie. "Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing", Hypatia 26.2 (2011): 236-257. [link to .pdf (http://www.victorkumar.org/uploads/6/1/5/2/61526489/dotson-2011-hypatia.pdf)] * Medina, José. "Varieties of Hermeneutical Injustice 1." The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Injustice. Routledge, 2017. 41-52. And here are some other things for you to explore that came up in our conversation: * I mentioned the following book at one point: Solnit, Rebecca. Hope in the dark: The untold history of people power. Canongate Books, 2010. * Susan talked a bit about the ethical work done by Elizabeth Edenberg, (http://elizabethedenberg.com/) which emphasises how participants to discussions often have a wide range of commonly held values. * She also mentioned a Horizon-2020 research project at the University of Manchester that looks into youth radicalisation: it's called the Dialogue about Radicalisation and Equality, or DARE (http://www.dare-h2020.org/). * I mentioned the 'deep listening (http://deeplistening.org/site/)' programme of composer Pauline Oliveros. A great introduction to her work can be found on this episode (https://www.newsounds.org/story/performer-part-two-pauline) of WQXR Q2's awesome 'Meet The Composer' series with host Nadia Sirota here. A performance of Oliveros' 'Tuning Mediation' can be seen in 360º video recorded in binaural sound here (https://www.newsounds.org/story/make-radio-met-cloisters-pauline-oliveross-tuning-meditation). * In this regard, Susan also mentioned the following work: Cavarero, Adriana. For more than one voice: Toward a philosophy of vocal expression. Stanford University Press, 2005. You can find Susan online on twitter (@susannotess (https://www.twitter.com/susannotess)), and her academic webpage is here (https://susannotess.wordpress.com/), where you can find links to her work, including this excellent article: * Listening to People: Using Social Psychology to Spotlight an Overlooked Virtue. Philosophy, 94(4), 621-643. As ever, please get in touch to send any thoughts, responses, ideas, reactions, feedback or ideas about this episode or any of the others, it's always great to hear from you, particularly if you want to say encouraging things. To drop me a line you can just head over to the contact (https://www.generousquestions.co.uk/contact) page, or tweet at me on twitter (@drjoemorrison (https://twitter.com/DrJoeMorrison)) The theme music is from li_serios05 (https://store.broken20.com/album/li-series-05-jack-on-piano) by TVO on Broken20 records (https://store.broken20.com/) under Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

People have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous. Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring. In his book, The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience (Canongate Books, 2017) he sets out to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader - and himself - learn the art of losing control. Evans’ exploration of ecstasy is an intellectual and emotional odyssey drawing on personal experience, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers. From Aristotle and Plato, via the Bishop of London and Sister Bliss, radical jihadis and Silicon Valley transhumanists, The Art of Losing Control is a funny and thought-provoking journey through under-explored terrain, which Evans creatively maps out like a tour through a festival, with stops at the major pavilions along the way. [complete with a cutely drawn festival map at the front of the book] Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a Times Book of the Year. Evans has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world’s biggest philosophy club. Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous. Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring. In his book, The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience (Canongate Books, 2017) he sets out to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader - and himself - learn the art of losing control. Evans’ exploration of ecstasy is an intellectual and emotional odyssey drawing on personal experience, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers. From Aristotle and Plato, via the Bishop of London and Sister Bliss, radical jihadis and Silicon Valley transhumanists, The Art of Losing Control is a funny and thought-provoking journey through under-explored terrain, which Evans creatively maps out like a tour through a festival, with stops at the major pavilions along the way. [complete with a cutely drawn festival map at the front of the book] Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a Times Book of the Year. Evans has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world’s biggest philosophy club. Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous. Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring. In his book, The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience (Canongate Books, 2017) he sets out to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader - and himself - learn the art of losing control. Evans’ exploration of ecstasy is an intellectual and emotional odyssey drawing on personal experience, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers. From Aristotle and Plato, via the Bishop of London and Sister Bliss, radical jihadis and Silicon Valley transhumanists, The Art of Losing Control is a funny and thought-provoking journey through under-explored terrain, which Evans creatively maps out like a tour through a festival, with stops at the major pavilions along the way. [complete with a cutely drawn festival map at the front of the book] Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a Times Book of the Year. Evans has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world’s biggest philosophy club. Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous. Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring. In his book, The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience (Canongate Books, 2017) he sets out to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader - and himself - learn the art of losing control. Evans' exploration of ecstasy is an intellectual and emotional odyssey drawing on personal experience, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers. From Aristotle and Plato, via the Bishop of London and Sister Bliss, radical jihadis and Silicon Valley transhumanists, The Art of Losing Control is a funny and thought-provoking journey through under-explored terrain, which Evans creatively maps out like a tour through a festival, with stops at the major pavilions along the way. [complete with a cutely drawn festival map at the front of the book] Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a Times Book of the Year. Evans has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world's biggest philosophy club. Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology

People have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous. Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring. In his book, The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience (Canongate Books, 2017) he sets out to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader - and himself - learn the art of losing control. Evans' exploration of ecstasy is an intellectual and emotional odyssey drawing on personal experience, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers. From Aristotle and Plato, via the Bishop of London and Sister Bliss, radical jihadis and Silicon Valley transhumanists, The Art of Losing Control is a funny and thought-provoking journey through under-explored terrain, which Evans creatively maps out like a tour through a festival, with stops at the major pavilions along the way. [complete with a cutely drawn festival map at the front of the book] Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a Times Book of the Year. Evans has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world's biggest philosophy club. Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/drugs-addiction-and-recovery

People have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous. Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring. In his book, The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience (Canongate Books, 2017) he sets out to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader - and himself - learn the art of losing control. Evans’ exploration of ecstasy is an intellectual and emotional odyssey drawing on personal experience, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers. From Aristotle and Plato, via the Bishop of London and Sister Bliss, radical jihadis and Silicon Valley transhumanists, The Art of Losing Control is a funny and thought-provoking journey through under-explored terrain, which Evans creatively maps out like a tour through a festival, with stops at the major pavilions along the way. [complete with a cutely drawn festival map at the front of the book] Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a Times Book of the Year. Evans has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world’s biggest philosophy club. Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous. Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring. In his book, The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience (Canongate Books, 2017) he sets out to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader - and himself - learn the art of losing control. Evans’ exploration of ecstasy is an intellectual and emotional odyssey drawing on personal experience, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers. From Aristotle and Plato, via the Bishop of London and Sister Bliss, radical jihadis and Silicon Valley transhumanists, The Art of Losing Control is a funny and thought-provoking journey through under-explored terrain, which Evans creatively maps out like a tour through a festival, with stops at the major pavilions along the way. [complete with a cutely drawn festival map at the front of the book] Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a Times Book of the Year. Evans has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world’s biggest philosophy club. Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous. Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring. In his book, The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience (Canongate Books, 2017) he sets out to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader - and himself - learn the art of losing control. Evans’ exploration of ecstasy is an intellectual and emotional odyssey drawing on personal experience, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers. From Aristotle and Plato, via the Bishop of London and Sister Bliss, radical jihadis and Silicon Valley transhumanists, The Art of Losing Control is a funny and thought-provoking journey through under-explored terrain, which Evans creatively maps out like a tour through a festival, with stops at the major pavilions along the way. [complete with a cutely drawn festival map at the front of the book] Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a Times Book of the Year. Evans has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world’s biggest philosophy club. Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People have always sought ecstatic experiences - moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous. Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring. In his book, The Art of Losing Control: A Philosopher's Search for Ecstatic Experience (Canongate Books, 2017) he sets out to discover how people find ecstasy in a post-religious culture, how it can be good for us, and also harmful. Along the way, he explores the growing science of ecstasy, to help the reader - and himself - learn the art of losing control. Evans’ exploration of ecstasy is an intellectual and emotional odyssey drawing on personal experience, interviews, and readings from ancient and modern philosophers. From Aristotle and Plato, via the Bishop of London and Sister Bliss, radical jihadis and Silicon Valley transhumanists, The Art of Losing Control is a funny and thought-provoking journey through under-explored terrain, which Evans creatively maps out like a tour through a festival, with stops at the major pavilions along the way. [complete with a cutely drawn festival map at the front of the book] Jules Evans is policy director at the Centre for the History of Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, which was published in 19 countries and was a Times Book of the Year. Evans has written for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and WIRED and is a BBC New Generation Thinker. He also runs the London Philosophy Club, the world’s biggest philosophy club. Carrie Lynn Evans is a PhD student at Université Laval in Quebec City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah Knowles, Senior Commissioning Editor at Canongate Books in London, tells me what she does. I question her with the help of Geoffrey Faber. We talk, among others things, about track records, The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump, books with legs, back-lists, bestsellers, Robert Webb's How Not to be a Boy, selling rights internationally, inclusive lists, illustrated books, the right length of a book, redundant and obscure passages, the first 50 pages, popular culture, being on the writer's side, auctions, lizards and sex in Cold Skin, Rob Sears, libel, parody, the wallpaper in Canongate's London boardroom, editorial and acquisition meetings, florid style, the best literary agents, great works seeing the light of day, idealism, Tom Jones's Tired of London, Tired of Life, Gina Miller's Rise, people who live their lives for the good of others, advances (a slightly irritating and discursive diversion), I Go Quiet by David Ouimet, and the power of books to show us all that we have a place in the world. 

Eleanor speaks with Alexa von Hirschberg, a senior commissioning editor at Bloomsbury Publishing. Alexa began her career in 2007 at Canongate Books. In 2008 she joined Bloomsbury as an editorial assistant, working with authors including Colum McCann, Lawrence Norfolk, Margaret Atwood and William Boyd. Today her list includes Kate Tempest, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Aminatta Forna, Alexei Sayle and Laurie Penny. We spoke about how Alexa found her way through the British publishing landscape, the experience of editing Reni Eddo-Lodge and the demands of writing cover copy for Margaret Atwood. You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Eleanor Halls and Simon Akam, and produced by Nicola Kean. Zahra Hankir is our communities editor. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

Gil Scott-Heron In Conversation with the audience In 2001, our friends at Canongate Books presented a concert with Gil Scott-Heron in Scotland. Jamie Byng from Canongate was a longtime friend and supporter of Scott-Heron. In this recording, Scott-Heron exudes a sense of comfort from performing in the company of friends, including the percussionist Larry McDonald. Canongate passed this recording to dublab for an exclusive broadcast in 2001. We’re happy to be able to share exerts from the performance again for this episode of In Conversation. Gil Scott-Heron, a seminal American musician, writer, and performer, began his career in the early 1970's with the albums Small Talk at 125th and Lenox and Pieces of a Man. He blended jazz, blues, political expression and spoken word to create a unique genre he called “bluesology.” Inspiring the generations that came after, his work is considered by many to be one of the forebears of rap and neo-soul. One of his most well known poems, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, has entered into our collective imaginations becoming a touchstone in mainstream culture. In Conversation is produced by dublab. Sound editing, theme song and additional music for this episode by Matteah Baim. Due to rights reasons music from the original broadcast has been removed. To hear more, please visit dublab.com. A special thanks to Jamie Byng, Peter Collinridge and Canongate Books.

Death is a taboo subject which is very final. Margareta has come to terms with this and embraces it’s problems with a practical, life enhancing idea; Death Cleaning. She talks to Josephine about her life, her book, and her love of cats. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning is published by Canongate Books. #deathcleaning #wellbeing  #deathcleaning #wellbeing #radiogorgeous #sweden

The poet Lemn Sissay, lexicographer Susie Dent and conservationist Ian Redmond join the Reverend Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir. Lemn Sissay is a poet and broadcaster who has written extensively about his childhood in care. His new collection of poetry Gold from the Stone is published by Canongate Books. Susie Dent is a lexicographer who is the resident word expert in Dictionary Corner on Countdown and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Her book Dent's Modern Tribes - The Secret Languages of Britain is published by John Murray Publishers. Ian Redmond is a wildlife biologist and conservationist, renowned for his work with great apes and elephants, who worked closely with the late Dr Dian Fossey, JP Devlin meets singer Barry Manilow and singer and activist Mavis Staples shares her inheritance tracks - Will the Circle Be Unbroken by the Staple Singers and What's Going On by Marvin Gaye. Producer: Paula McGinley Editor: Eleanor Garland.

Joining Charles Adrian for the 109th Second-Hand Book Factory is unruffled writer, storyteller, poet and theatre-maker Anna Beecher. They talk about a deeply compassionate classic, the rebelliousness of fairy tales and the value of learning how to get lost. Episode image is a detail of the cover of A Field Guide To Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit, published in 2006 by Canongate Books; cover image: plainpicture / Rachel Rebibo; design: Peter Adlington / Canongate. More information, including book listings, is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/

As my literary guinea pig experiment for Canongate Books draws to a close, the days begin to merge into one thanks to the addition of alcohol. But I have an excuse, as alcohol is mentioned by Edward Slingerland as one possible path to 'wu-wei' and 'de' when considering the perspective of Zhuangzi, our final philosopher (and a Daoist). p.s. if you're in the US, you can tune into my interview with Gregory Berg at Radio Enso tonight (Monday, June 23rd) at 6 p.m. Pacific/9 Eastern: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/radioenso/2014/06/24/radio-enso-131-with-milo-mclaughlin-of-clear-minded-creative Support this podcast at Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/milomc

Yesterday was Day 2 of my literary guinea pig experiment for Canongate Books. This podcast was recorded in two sittings, hence a rather obvious edit in the middle. On Day 2 I tried to take on some of the lessons found in the Analects of Confucius, as explained by Edward Slingerland, which got me doing yoga and running again after a long break. Relevant article: some practices I've found helpful in lieu of the prescriptive religious rituals of Confucius' time: http://www.clearmindedcreative.com/8-daily-habits-that-will-help-you-refresh-your-mindset/ Please help support this podcast by pledging a small amount at Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/milomc (Note: all episodes this week will be available to everyone publicly - from July onwards most will be exclusive to patrons).

I begin my week of being a 'Literary Guinea Pig' for Canongate Books by getting to grips with the tricky concept of 'Trying Not to Try', a paradox that even Chinese philosophers throughout the centuries have not quite managed to solve. Tomorrow I begin my attempts to apply the Confucion approach of developing 'Wu Wei' and 'De'. More info at Canongate's blog: http://www.canongate.tv/discover/nudge-your-world-trying-not-to-try/ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's TED talk on the concept of 'Flow': http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow Support this podcast and my work by becoming a patron (and get extra episodes): http://www.patreon.com/miloc

Ben Brooks is the guest. His new novel, Lolito, is now available from Canongate Books. Nick Cave says "Lolito is the funniest, most horrible book I've read in years. I was blown away." And The Guardian says "Both warm and uncompromising, Lolito will be as entertaining for young adults as it is educational for older readers. And if some aspects of the world Brooks inhabits seem alarming, I can't think of a writer I would rather have as my guide." Monologue topics: coming through in the clutch, voicemail, prank calls, the word 'podcast' as a verb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Start the Week Andrew Marr explores what it means to be Scottish. The streets and history of Edinburgh come alive in Ian Rankin's crime novels, while the Glaswegian writer and artist Alasdair Gray marries elements of realism, fantasy and science fiction in his work. With a long history of Scottish emigration, T M Devine looks at the impact on the nation left behind. And the theatre critic of The Scotsman, Joyce McMillan, believes that despite the coming Referendum on Independence, it's the arts and not politics that define Scottish-ness.Producer: Katy Hickman.Image © Alasdair Gray, A Life in Pictures, Canongate Books.

A couple of days ago I had an unusual experience. I was staying in a hotel in Kampala, with a stunning view of the southern reaches of the Ugandan capital and the northern edge of Lake Victoria. It was the weekend, and in Africa that usually means football (soccer, to our friends over in the US). Two of the guys I was with – Alex and then Fred – filled me in with the details of why they supported their favourite teams: Arsenal and Liverpool. Fred helped my wife and I decipher the superb Lugandan radio commentary during a match between Bolton and Manchester City. Every bar and shack we passed seemed to have sound – and usually pictures – from the matches. So far so ordinary. What was unusual, however, was that the hotel where we were staying had no coverage of any of this. Somehow, and to my wife’s delight, we seemed to have ended up in one of the few hotels on the entire continent that seemed oblivious to football. After a week on the DRC border, examining vanilla farms for my wife’s work, this was a cruel and unexpected let down. Football is ubiquitous in Africa. As Fred told us as we chugged along in a Kampalan traffic jam, ‘I love football!’ Village kids kick balls of tied rags about; every streetwise hustler wears the shirt of their favourite (usually English) team; and almost any male on the street of almost any town or city can be diverted by asking them who they support, and whether Arsenal are terminally on the slide. The major leagues are riddled with an increasing number of influential and skillful African players, and the biggest hard luck story of last year’s World Cup was the elimination of a superb Ghanaian team thanks to the skulduggery of Uruguay’s Luis Suarez. This African love of football is what makes Steve Bloomfield’s entertaining book, Africa United: How Football Explains Africa (Canongate Books, 2010), such an excellent read. Like life in Africa, football has drama, skill, luck, triumph, disaster, pathos, pain, banality and moments of exquisite joy. While working as the Africa correspondent for The Independent, a British newspaper, Steve reported from all over the continent. Wherever he travelled – to Somalia, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire and beyond – he watched football matches and asked questions. Sometimes the football acted like a mirror to real life in these countries; sometimes it was an alternative reality; sometimes the football itself played a real and vital role in the stories that Steve was covering. The resulting book is fascinating, and not just for fans of football or those who are interested in Africa. I hope the same can be said for this interview with Steve. I hope you enjoy it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A couple of days ago I had an unusual experience. I was staying in a hotel in Kampala, with a stunning view of the southern reaches of the Ugandan capital and the northern edge of Lake Victoria. It was the weekend, and in Africa that usually means football (soccer, to our friends over in the US). Two of the guys I was with – Alex and then Fred – filled me in with the details of why they supported their favourite teams: Arsenal and Liverpool. Fred helped my wife and I decipher the superb Lugandan radio commentary during a match between Bolton and Manchester City. Every bar and shack we passed seemed to have sound – and usually pictures – from the matches. So far so ordinary. What was unusual, however, was that the hotel where we were staying had no coverage of any of this. Somehow, and to my wife’s delight, we seemed to have ended up in one of the few hotels on the entire continent that seemed oblivious to football. After a week on the DRC border, examining vanilla farms for my wife’s work, this was a cruel and unexpected let down. Football is ubiquitous in Africa. As Fred told us as we chugged along in a Kampalan traffic jam, ‘I love football!’ Village kids kick balls of tied rags about; every streetwise hustler wears the shirt of their favourite (usually English) team; and almost any male on the street of almost any town or city can be diverted by asking them who they support, and whether Arsenal are terminally on the slide. The major leagues are riddled with an increasing number of influential and skillful African players, and the biggest hard luck story of last year’s World Cup was the elimination of a superb Ghanaian team thanks to the skulduggery of Uruguay’s Luis Suarez. This African love of football is what makes Steve Bloomfield’s entertaining book, Africa United: How Football Explains Africa (Canongate Books, 2010), such an excellent read. Like life in Africa, football has drama, skill, luck, triumph, disaster, pathos, pain, banality and moments of exquisite joy. While working as the Africa correspondent for The Independent, a British newspaper, Steve reported from all over the continent. Wherever he travelled – to Somalia, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire and beyond – he watched football matches and asked questions. Sometimes the football acted like a mirror to real life in these countries; sometimes it was an alternative reality; sometimes the football itself played a real and vital role in the stories that Steve was covering. The resulting book is fascinating, and not just for fans of football or those who are interested in Africa. I hope the same can be said for this interview with Steve. I hope you enjoy it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A couple of days ago I had an unusual experience. I was staying in a hotel in Kampala, with a stunning view of the southern reaches of the Ugandan capital and the northern edge of Lake Victoria. It was the weekend, and in Africa that usually means football (soccer, to... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan chats with Francis Bickmore, senior editor at Canongate Books, and Toby Mottershead of Black Diamond Express about their favourite poem, Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". Their discussion covers Nick Cave, Iron Maiden, what we expect from literature and how poetry can fit neatly into a busy schedule, among other things. Also features the track "Jack" by Black Diamond Express. Presented by Ryan van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Incidental music by Ewen Maclean. For feedback, mail splpodcast@gmail.com

Time for a chapter from the WhiskyCast Book Club...back in 1930, a Scotsman going by the name of Aeneas MacDonald wrote the first book on whisky aimed at whisky drinkers. "Whisky" was a groundbreaking book for its time, and many of MacDonald's comments are still true today. Now, Ian Buxton has solved the mystery of Aeneas MacDonald, and Canongate Books has released a new edition of "Whisky" for a new generation of whisky lovers. Ian gives us the details, along with readings from the book on this episode of WhiskyCast!