Podcasts about costa first novel award

On the podcast this week, Francis Spufford discusses his latest novel, Cahokia Jazz, with the Dean of Southwark, the Very Revd Dr Mark Oakley. The conversation was recorded at the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature, which was held in Winchester in March (Features, 7 March). Set in an alternative America in the 1920s, Cahokia Jazz is “a detective novel with noir tendencies” which is “as inventive and unpredictable in its setting as it is in its thrilling plot”, Dr Oakley wrote in a review in the Church Times. Cahokia Jazz is available in paperback from the Church House Bookshop. https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780571336883/cahokia-jazz Francis Spufford's first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award 2016; his second novel, Light Perpetual was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize. He has also written five highly praised works of non-fiction, including Unapologetic: Why, despite everything Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Michael Ramsey Prize. Picture credit: Harvey Mills Find out about forthcoming Church Times events at https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/events Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

Francesca Segal is an award-winning writer and journalist. She is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Innocents (2012) and The Awkward Age (2017), and a memoir of NICU motherhood, Mother Ship (2019). Her writing has won the 2012 Costa First Novel Award, a Betty Trask Award, and been longlisted for the Women's Prize. On today's episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her latest novel Welcome To Glorious Tuga. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Xan Brooks is an award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster. He was one of the founding editorial team at the Big Issue magazine in London and spent 15-years as a writer and associate editor at the Guardian newspaper. His debut novel, The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times, was listed for the Costa First Novel Award, the Author's Club Award, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. On this episode of Little Atoms, he tells Neil Denny about his latest novel The Catchers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart Turton's debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, won the Costa First Novel Award and the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Novel, and was shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards and the British Book Awards Debut of the Year. A Sunday Times bestseller, it has been translated into over thirty languages, and has sold over one million copies in the UK and US combined. The Devil and the Dark Water, his follow up, won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction and was selected for the BBC Two Book Club, Between the Covers, and the Radio 2 Jo Whiley Book Club. On today's podcast he talks to Neil Denny about his latest novel The Last Murder At The End Of The World. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Special Edition: SARAH MOORHEAD chats to STUART TURTON about his new high concept thriller THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD, write what you know - rubbish, writing is unique to every person - don't box us in. THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD Outside the island there is nothing: the world destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island: it is idyllic. 122 villagers and 3 scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists.Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And they learn the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay.If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island - and everyone on it.But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer - and they don't even know it.Stuart Turton's debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, won the Costa First Novel Award and the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Novel, and was shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards and the British Book Awards Debut of the Year. A Sunday Times bestseller, it has been translated into over thirty languages, and has sold over one million copies in the UK and US combined. The Devil and the Dark Water, his follow up, won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction and was selected for the BBC Two Book Club, Between the Covers, and the Radio 2 Jo Whiley Book Club. Stuart lives near London with his wife and daughters. Sarah Moorhead is Liverpool through and through, she is the author of 2 novels WITNESS X and most recently THE TREATMENT. Sarah is a black belt in kickboxing, is a teacher, youth group leader and regularly interviews authors at waterstones in Liverpool.Music courtesy of  Guy Hale KILLING ME SOFTLY - MIKE ZITO featuring Kid Anderson. GUY HALE Produced by Junkyard DogCrime TimeCrime Time FM is the official podcast ofGwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023CrimeFest 2023CWA Daggers 2023& Newcastle Noir 20232024??

This week's episode is a conversation with the wonderful and much loved, Sairish Hussain, about her latest novel, Hidden Fires. Sairish was one of the first guests on the show back in 2022, and so it is so lovely to be in conversation again, this time about her new novel. When debut novels are such a success, it can feel daunting to pick up an author's second novel, wondering if it is just as amazing. But friends, I can confirm, Hidden Fires is incredible. It is the moving story of loss, grief and secrets buried deep within, and the beautiful, unlikely friendship between a grandfather and his teenage granddaughter. In her novel, Sairish writes about family, mental health, growing up, and the Partition of India. Sairish Hussain is a Bradford based author and Lecturer in Creative Writing. Her debut novel, The Family Tree, was published by HarperCollins and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Portico Prize and The Diverse Book Awards. It was also longlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award and winner of Calibre Audio's 'Hidden Gem' Prize. Sairish was selected by Kei Miller as one of ten ‘unmissable writers working in the UK' for the International Literature Showcase 2021. She was one of the finalists in the Women's Prize & Good Housekeeping Futures Award, an initiative which celebrates the most promising emerging female authors today. Hidden Fires is her second novel. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I loved speaking to Sairish.Please do like, subscribe and follow on your podcast platform of choice. It would mean so much if you would rate and leave a review.I'd love to hear from you. Connect with me on Instagram:www.instagram.com/readwithsamiawww.instagram.com/thediversebookshelfpod.You can also now find the show on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@thediversebookshelfpodSupport the show

The ILFD podcast is back! In case you missed it, this year's Booker Prize winner is Irish author Paul Lynch — we thought there would be no better time to listen back to his 2013 visit to the festival. ___ Dublin Writers Festival brings together two emerging Irish novelists whose distinctive prose style and strong sense of place has marked them out as writers to watch. 'John the Revelator', Peter Murphy's “remarkable debut” (The Observer) about the frustrations of a provincial adolescence, was met with instant acclaim and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the Kerry Group Fiction Award. A musician and long-time contributor to Hot Press, Murphy's prose is celebrated for its lyricism and rhythmic power, and it's fitting that the idea for his new novel came from an interview with the Manic Street Preachers. 'Shall We Gather at the River' introduces Enoch O'Reilly, an Elvis impersonator and ‘radiovangelist' in Murn, Co. Wexford, a small town threatened by a great flood. Mixing dark themes with surprising comic turns, 'Shall We Gather at the River' is a compelling follow-up from an extraordinary talent. Film critic Paul Lynch's debut novel 'Red Sky in Morning' has created quite a stir in the publishing world. Inspired by a horrific incident in Philadelphia in 1832 in which 57 Irish railroad workers were killed, the novel tells the story of Coll Coyle, who flees his home in Inishowen, Donegal after killing a man, and is pursued all the way to America, where a greater tragedy awaits. Written in a taut, lyrical prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy and set against the epic backdrops of Donegal and Pennsylvania, 'Red Sky in Morning' marks the emergence of an exciting new talent. ___ International Literature Festival Dublin is a Dublin City Council Initiative kindly supported by the Arts Council. Find out more at ilfdublin.com

Hello again. This time out we're having a nice sit down with author Emma Healey. Her debut novel, Elizabeth is Missing, (which has been described as "bloody brilliant, honestly, you should read it Tom, it's funny and sad and intriguing. Proper mint it is.") has sold over a million copies and won the Costa First Novel Award. Plus it ended up being made into a film by the BBC, starring the late Glenda Jackson, who it turns out performed her own stunts. (That will make sense when you listen) Find out more about Emma here... https://www.emmahealey.co.uk/ Here's where you can support Alzheimer's Society... https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/navigation/make-donation and don't even think about forgetting to remember the Failing Writers Podcast £500, 500 word Flash Fiction Competition in association with Scrivener*. (*An amazing writing app that facilitates the makey-upping of books a whole tonne-load. Which suggests you should really go to https://www.literatureandlatte.com, Hit '+Add Discount' on the pay page - use the code FAILING and get 20% off the indispensable Scrivener app!)

Written and performed by Caleb Azumah Nelson. Caleb tells the story of a young man who is forced to spend the night wandering the streets of Rome, where he encounters strangers and dangers, and must confront his own fears in a search for connection. Caleb Azumah Nelson is a British-Ghanaian writer and photographer living in South East London. His first novel, OPEN WATER, won the Costa First Novel Award and Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards, and was a No.1 Times bestseller.His short story PRAY was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Awards in 2020, and has recently been made into a short film that Caleb wrote and directed. His second novel, SMALL WORLDS, was published in May 2023 to great acclaim and will be adapted for television by Brock Media, with Caleb writing the scripts.This is the final episode of our brand new anthology podcast. You can now listen to all eight stories, wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. SHOW NOTESFollow Caleb on Instagram.Follow Caleb on Twitter. Follow Brock Media on Instagram or Twitter.Buy Caleb's novels ‘Open Water' and ‘Small Worlds.'Listen to Caleb's short story ‘Pray' on BBC Sounds. Watch the trailer for the short film ‘Pray'. Read an interview with Caleb in The Guardian. Producer: Nicole Davis (she/her)Executive Producer: Sarah Brocklehurst (she/her)Production Assistant & Assistant Story Editor: Amy Yeo (she/her)Sound Design and Mixing: Tom Whalley (he/him)Artwork: Bett Norris (she/her). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"You can't have a rainbow without the rain" recounts the childhood memories of Michelle Gallen growing up in Tyrone. Her debut novel, "Big Girl, Small Town" was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Her critically acclaimed second novel, "Factory Girls", was published in 2022.

Tom and Miriam discuss what might have happened if, at the age of 17, he'd come out to his parents when an opportunity unexpectedly presented itself at a school picnic, instead of waiting until the age of 23 to tell them his truth. Along the way they talk about full moon parties in Thailand, the impact of hiding your identity at a formative age and how often others can see you more clearly than you see yourself.Tom Rob Smith's bestselling novels in the Child 44 trilogy were international publishing sensations. Among its many honours, Child 44 won the International Thriller Writer Award for Best First Novel, the Galaxy Book Award for Best New Writer, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the inaugural Desmond Elliot Prize, and is now a major motion picture. Tom's new novel, Cold People, about a colony of global apocalypse survivors trying to reinvent civilisation under the most extreme conditions imaginable, is to my mind an intimate and hopeful look at how people can and do come together against all odds. Crucially, it's out now and available in your local bookshop.Make sure to subscribe to hear the rest of Season 4 – in each episode, Miriam Robinson interviews a guest about another path their life might have taken. Together, step by step, they write the stories of their unlived lives. Produced by Neil Mason Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Award-winning writer and the founder of The Good Agency, Nikesh Shukla  (@nikeshshukla), on the journey to becoming a writer, running a Literary Agency, crowdfunding The Good Immigrant  and the process for writing his memoir. ABOUT NIKESH SHUKLANikesh Shukla is a novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of Coconut Unlimited (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award), Meatspace, and the critically acclaimed The One Who Wrote Destiny. Nikesh is the editor of the bestselling essay collection, The Good Immigrant, which won the reader's choice at the Books Are My Bag Awards. He co-edited The Good Immigrant USA with Chimene Suleyman.He is also the author of two YA novels, Run, Riot (shortlisted for a National Book Award) and The Boxer (longlisted for the Carnegie Medal). Nikesh was one of Time Magazine's cultural leaders, Foreign Policy magazine's 100 Global Thinkers and The Bookseller's 100 most influential people in publishing in 2016 and in 2017. He is the co-founder of the literary journal, The Good Journal and The Good Literary Agency. Nikesh is a fellow of the Royal Society Of Literature and a member of the Folio Academy. Nikesh's new book, Brown Baby: A Memoir Of Race, Family And Home was released on Bluebird in February 2021. He is also the host of the Brown Baby Podcast.*RESOURCES:Twitter: Nikesh ShuklaInstagram: Nikesh Shukla WriterWebsite: Nikesh-Shukla.comNikesh's Books*For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.comFor free writing sessions, join free Writers' Hours: writershour.com*FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS' SALONTwitter: twitter.com/​​WritersSalonInstagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalonFacebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalonIf you're enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

This month as World Book Club continues its year-long season celebrating the Exuberance of Youth it also celebrates the 20th anniversary of the programme. To mark this happy occasion World Book Club are guests of the London Literature Festival at the South Bank Centre on the River Thames and Harriett Gilbert talks to Bangladeshi-born British novelist Tahmima Anam about her enthralling novel, A Golden Age. Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, A Golden Age is a story of passion and revolution, of hope, faith and unexpected heroism in the middle of chaos. Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence we follow Rehana, a mother struggling to protect her children as the civil war intensifies. Wanting only to keep them safe she finds herself facing a heartbreaking dilemma in a war that will eventually see the birth of Bangladesh. (Picture: Tahmima Anam. Photo credit: Abeer Y Hoque.)

Kit de Waal, born to an Irish mother and Caribbean father, was brought up among the Irish community of Birmingham in the 60s and 70s. Her debut novel My Name Is Leon was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for 2017. In 2022 it was adapted for television by the BBC. Her second novel, The Trick to Time, was long-listed for the Women's Prize and her young adult novel Becoming Dinah was shortlisted for the Carnegie CLIP Award 2020. Kit is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor and Writer in Residence at Leicester University. Her memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes  was published in August 2022. Kit's Choices:Great Expectations by Charles DickensBeloved by Toni MorrisonRemains of the Day by Kazuo IshiguroOpen by Andre AgassiMe Talk Pretty One Day by David SedarisOther books mentioned: How We Mortals Blame the Gods by Mairin McSweeneyYou can buy books mentioned in this episode on our Bookshop.org Affiliate page. (UK Only). By purchasing here, you support both small bookshops AND our podcast.Keep  in touchWe love our listeners, and we want to hear from you. Please leave a review on one of our podcast platforms and chat with us on social media:Twitter: @twolitchicksInstagram: @two_lit_chicksTikTok: @two_lit_chicksEmail: hello@twolitchicks.orgIf you do one thing today, sign up to our newsletter so we can keep you updated with all our news.Thank you so much for listening.  Listeners, we love you.Two Lit Chicks Podcast is recorded and produced by Your Voice HereSupport the show

Sairish Hussain was born and brought up in Bradford, West Yorkshire. She studied English Language and Literature at the University of Huddersfield and progressed onto an MA in Creative Writing. Sairish completed her PhD in 2019 after being awarded the university's Vice-Chancellors Scholarship. Her debut novel, The Family Tree, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Diverse Book Awards and the Authors Club Best First Novel Award. She is now writing her second book.I absolutely loved speaking with Sairish in this episode. We talk about the importance of good representation, positive role-models, writing and all about the wonderful characters in The Family Tree.Buy The Family Tree here: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/5890/9780008297480Support the show

Michelle Gallen is an Irish author raised in a border town in the north and now based in Dublin. Her first novel Big Girl, Small Town was short listed for the Costa First Novel Award, The Comedy Women in Print Award and An Irish Book Award. Her second novel Factory Girls, set in the summer of 1994 in a small town in Northern Ireland, as a group of friends await their A level results, wondering if they'll ever escape the deprived community they were born into. It's dark and incredibly funny. We talk about how growing up in a divided community where violence was normal and was dealt with by turning to dark humour and the differences between writing her first and second novel. We also talk about her recovery from a brain injury, the bursaries that allowed her to quit her day job in order to write and the importance of having people to champion and encourage your work. Links https://uk.bookshop.org/a/6990/9781529386264 (Factory Girls - Michell Gallen) https://uk.bookshop.org/a/6990/9781529304220 (Big Girl, Small Town - Michelle Gallen) https://www.artscouncil.ie/Funds/Literature-Project-Award/ (Irish Arts Council Literature Project Award) https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/DYCP (Arts Council England - Develop Your Practice Fund) https://www2.societyofauthors.org/grants/ (Society of Authors Grants )

Christie Watson's first novel, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, won the Costa First Novel Award; her second, Where Women Are Kings, achieved international critical acclaim; and her nursing memoir, The Language of Kindness, was a number one bestseller. In 2020, during the first peak of the pandemic, she published The Courage to Care and briefly returned to clinical work. During this time Christie was shocked not only by the changing world, but her changing body, as her Perimenopause took hold. My book choice for this episode is her fifth book Quilt on Fire, the funny, honest and liberating account of her midlife journey.Christie writes about the joy of letting go and the pain of the morning after, of the unstoppable power of female friendship and the struggle to raise teenagers as a single parent. It lays bare the exhilaration, agony , wonder and fears of being a middle-aged woman with a wild heart, a changing body and a new set of challenges, and as her world takes on a different shape, there's something else she starts to feel.. the hot flush of possibility….If you have had, or are having a messy time with your Perimenopause this episode is for you. Not only a brilliant writer, Christie is also very, very funny and very, very honest! Join us for some deep truths and lots of LOL's as we discuss:-Christie's search for meaning. Who am I? What do I want from life?Why the book is called Quilt On Fire, its not what you think!The love story that is female friendships.How Christie coped with her “catastrophic breakdown” which resulted in her climbing into a supermarket freezer. How HRT sent Christie's libido through the roof.Midlife sexual awakening and midlife dating.How we are all connected by our vulnerabilities.Comparison - the perceived perception that every women has her s**t together and appears to be sailing through Perimenopause.Vulnerability- what happens when we share our mess. We are all struggling with something.Perfection isn't something we should be striving for.The messy turbulent side of Menopause. Falling apart so we can put ourselves back together. The Culture wars of HRT and how women are pitted against each other by the media. The cultural and anthropological side of Menopause.The funny side of internet dating.The chance to Re-evaluate our identity. Who am I? Am I happy with myself? Who do I want to become?The Pandemic and Perimenopause, two times of forced reckoning and how they spoke to each other. The benefits of collecting older women friends.Having a Hollywood! Christie finding a much needed sense of gratitude around Perimenopause.Christie's Book Choices Douglas Stuart - Young Mungo Nora Ephron - I Feel Bad About My NeckYou can find out more about Christie Watson here

In this episode I chat with Irish author Sara Baume about her visual artwork, writing, the financial difficulties of living as a creative, and her new book, Seven Steeples. SARA BAUME studied fine art before earning a master's in creative writing. Her first novel, Spill Simmer Falter Wither, won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and was short-listed for the Costa First Novel Award. She is also the recipient of the Davy Byrnes Short Story Award and the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award. Sara's latest novel Seven Steeples is about a couple, Bell and Sigh, who move with their dogs to the Irish countryside, immersing themselves in nature and attempting to disappear from society. Sara lives in Cork, Ireland.Sara BaumeSeven Steeples, Sara BaumeSeven Steeples: A Minister and Her People, Margaret K. HenrichsenThe Raptures, Jan CarsonThin Places, Kerri ni DochartaighSupport the show

Join Jewish Comedians Rachel Creeger & Philip Simon for their comedy podcast, a chat show about all things Jewish, produced by Russell Balkind. This week's guests are writer Francesca Segal and poet and Joshua Seigal.Follow them on social media, follow US on social media and don't forget to let us know what you think about the show.Facebook: @JewTalkinTwitter: @JewTalkinInstagram: @JewTalkinLots more fantastic episodes waiting to be released every Friday morning, so don't forget to subscribe and leave us a 5* review - it really helps other people find the show. Go on… it's what your mother would want!Plus you can now support the show and subscribe to our Patreon, where you can receive exclusive bonus footage and rewards. Check it out for as little as £3 per month here - Patreon.com/JewTalkin--------------------------------------------------------------------- Twitter: @JoshuaSeigalInstagram: @JoshuaSeigalWebsite: www.joshuaseigal.co.uk Joshua is a highly acclaimed, award-winning professional poet, performer and educator who uses poetry to develop literacy skills and inspire confidence and ​creativity in communication. He has worked in hundreds of schools, libraries, theatres and festivals around the world, had books published by Bloomsbury and other major publishers, and has written and performed for BBC television. "Very imaginative and wonderful"The Sunday Times"Your session was brilliant. Thank you so much" Mary Myatt - Ofsted Lead Inspector"Magic" Michael Rosen"A witty genius" ScholasticTwitter: @FrancescaSegalInstagram: @FrancescaSegalWebsite: www.francescasegal.comFrancesca Segal is an award-winning writer and journalist. Her first novel, The Innocents, won the Costa First Novel Award, the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, the Sami Rohr Prize, and a Betty Trask Award, and was long-listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize). Get bonus content on the Jew Talkin' To Me? Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On the podcast this week, we revisit an episode from a year ago, in which the Anglican novelist Francis Spufford talks about and reads from his second novel, Light Perpetual (Faber and Faber), which is now available in paperback from the Church House Bookshop: https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk It was recorded last year at a one-day online event organised by the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature. Since it was published last year, the book made the long list for the Booker Prize (News, 30 July 2021). Francis Spufford's first novel, Golden Hill (Reading Groups, 3 March 2017), won the Costa First Novel Award 2016. He has also written five highly praised works of non-fiction, including Unapologetic: Why, despite everything Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense (Books, 4 October 2013; Features, 7 September 2012), which was shortlisted for the 2016 Michael Ramsey Prize. The next Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature takes place online on Saturday (19 February). Find out more and book tickets at https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk/february-2022 Photo credit: Eamonn McCabe/Popperfoto Music for the podcast is by Twisterium

Novelist and short-story writer Kit de Waal talks to Ruth McKee about The Bible, Donal Ryan, Penguin classics, the sea and much more as she reveals what books she would save if her house was burning, and which text she studied at school she'd leave in there to burn… Kit de Waal's debut novel My Name is Leon was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and her second, The Trick To Time was longlisted for the Women's Prize For Fiction. She's the author of the young adult book Becoming Dinah and is the editor of Common People, an anthology of working-class writers. 

Author Francis Spufford discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known. Francis Spufford's novel Light Perpetual has been longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize. His first novel Golden Hill was published in 2016 and won the Costa First Novel Award.He is the author of five celebrated books of non-fiction. The most recent, Unapologetic, has been translated into three languages; the one before, Red Plenty, into nine. In 2007 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He teaches creative writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. The leafy hills of South London https://www.southlondonclub.co.uk/blog/2016/10/14/8-secret-leafy-getaways-to-visit-this-autumn-in-south-london The Pilot G-Tec C4 fine-line pen https://www.penandpaper.co.uk/product/pilot-microtip-rollerball-g-tec-c4/ Crisp Green Williams pears sliced thin, and eaten with Italian blue cheese https://www.bertolli.co.uk/recipes/warm-pearblue-cheese-crostini-180506 The works of Elizabeth Knox https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/25/the-absolute-book-by-elizabeth-knox-review-an-instant-classic The Church of England https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-defence-of-the-church-of-england The entire genre of science fiction https://www.salon.com/1999/05/25/sfdefense/ This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

Christie Watson is a nurse turned bestselling author who went back to frontline nursing during the Covid-19 pandemic. But if you were to call her a 'hero' she would refuse the label - and during the course of this interview, she tells me why. Watson left school at 16 and volunteered at a charity before training to become a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She spent the next 20 years in hospitals in various disciplines and mainly in paediatric intensive care. Alongside that, she built up a successful writing career. Her debut, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, won the Costa First Novel Award and in 2018, she published a memoir - The Language of Kindness: A Nurse's Story, which has been translated into 23 languages. Her most recent book, The Courage To Care, is just out in paperback.  She joins me to talk about failures in nursing, motherhood and, in an especially enlightening conversation, she tells me what happened when she thought she was having a breakdown only to be diagnosed as peri-menopausal. Every woman (and man) should listen. [WARNING: contains mention of clambering into fishfinger freezers]. * The Courage To Care is out now and available to buy here. * My new novel, Magpie, is out on 2nd September. I'd love it if you felt like pre-ordering as it really helps authors! You can do that here. * How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Naomi Mantin and Chris Sharp. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com * Social Media: Elizabeth Day @elizabday How To Fail @howtofailpod  Christie Watson @christiewatsonwriter      

Peggy Seeger has just released her latest album, The First Farewell, at the age of 85. She tells us about the pleasures of working on it with her family, her worries about the post-Covid music scene, getting older - and getting younger. Liverpool is about to take part in a pilot scheme testing live events. There will be an open-air film screening, a comedy gig and a club night. We talk to Liverpool's director of culture, Claire McColgan, about how it will work and the scientific questions behind it. Francis Spufford is the author of Golden Hill which won the Costa First Novel Award. Hafsa Zayyan's novel We Are All Birds of Uganda is on Radio 4 this week and won the Merky Books New Writing Prize. The two authors discuss what it means to be a writer of faith in 21st century Britain. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Jerome Weatherald Studio Manager: Emma Harth

This week, Rachel Mann is in conversation with Francis Spufford about his eagerly-anticipated second novel, Light Perpetual (Faber and Faber). It's available from the Church Times Bookshop for the discounted price of £15.29. The conversation was recorded last Saturday at a one-day online event organised by the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature. Francis also answered questions from viewers on subjects including doubt, heaven, and whether, as a writer, he sees God as a great explosion of words. If you missed the live event, you can buy access to a recording at https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk In a review published in last week's Church Times, Angela Tilby wrote: “It is a novel, a story of London, and a set of human stories. It is also a profound and teasing meditation on time and chance and the presence in our lives of an elusive reality greater than ourselves. It works as both a novel, and as a hymn at life that begins in disaster and ends in doxology. “The interwoven stories are of five south-London children, Jo, Valerie, Alec, Vernon, and Ben. They were among those who were pulverised in a V2 rocket attack in November 1944. But supposing time had played a trick and the bomb had not gone off, or had exploded harmlessly elsewhere?” Francis Spufford's first novel, Golden Hill, won the Costa First Novel Award 2016. He has also written five highly praised works of non-fiction, including Unapologetic: Why, despite everything Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Michael Ramsey Prize. Picture credit: Eamonn McCabe/Popperfoto Find out about other forthcoming Church Times online events at www.churchtimes.co.uk/events. Sign up to receive our email newsletter at churchtimes.co.uk/newsletter-signup Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

The Laureate for Irish Fiction, Sebastian Barry, hosts a series of brief conversations with fellow writers asking what is writing. What is its purpose and mystery beyond the pragmatic notions of academia and journalism? This series will form part of a visual archive highlighting the golden age of writing in Ireland. Sara Baume was born in Yorkshire. She won the 2014 Davy Byrne's Short Story Award, and in 2015, the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award, the Rooney Prize for Literature and an Irish Book Award for Best Newcomer. Her debut novel, Spill Simmer Falter Wither was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the Warwick Prize for Writing, the Desmond Elliott Prize for New Fiction and the International Dublin Literary Award. It was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Kate O'Brien Award. Her short fiction and criticism have been published in anthologies, newspapers and journals such as the Irish Times, the Guardian, Stinging Fly and Granta magazine. In autumn 2015, she was a participant in the International Writing Program run by the University of Iowa and received a Literary Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She lives in West Cork. The Laureate for Irish Fiction is an initiative of the Arts Council in partnership with University College Dublin and New York University.

Georgina Godwin speaks to Francis Spufford, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and professor at Goldsmiths University. At the beginning of his career, he specialised in non-fiction, writing five highly acclaimed books that saw him long- and shortlisted for prizes in scientific, historical, political and theological writing. He then made the shift towards fiction in 2010, with the highly acclaimed ‘Golden Hill’. Over the course of his writing career, he has won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize. His latest novel is ‘Light Perpetual’.

Stuart Turton's debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, won the Costa First Novel Award and the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Novel, and was shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards and the British Book Awards Debut of the Year. A Sunday Times bestseller for three weeks, it has been translated into over thirty languages and has also been a bestseller in Italy, Russia and Poland. His latest novel is The Devil And The Dark Water. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Big Girl, Small Town shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, Michelle Gallen talks about small-town Ireland. Doireann Ní Ghríofa answers questions from the Wicklow Women’s Book Club about ‘A Ghost in the Throat’, the Irish non-fiction book of the year at the An Post Irish Book Awards.

Gillian Anderson on her technique for perfecting Margaret Thatcher’s distinctive voice in the fourth season of The Crown, and the recent debate the TV series has ignited over what is fact and fiction. South Georgia is a remote, windswept and icy Antarctic island, with no permanent population. But much of the industrial whaling industry was based here until the 1960s, when there were scarcely any whales left to slaughter. Now, though, whales are returning. Rats and mice that came with the whaling ships and ate chicks in their nests and burrows have been eradicated, and the seabirds are flourishing. To mark this history and celebrate the change there's been a competition to create an artwork on the site of the Grytviken whaling station. We speak to the Scottish sculptor Michael Visocchi about his inspiration and plans. We’ll soon know who has been awarded the 2020 Booker Prize. Novelist Sara Collins, whose debut The Confessions of Frannie Langton won the 2019 Costa First Novel Award, Ellah Wakatama, Editor at Large at Canongate, and literary critic John Self discuss the role of literary prizes with the BBC’s Elle Osili-Wood on the eve of one of the biggest highlights of the literary calendar. Producer: Julian May Presenter: Kirsty Lang Main image: Gillian Anderson as Margaret thatcher in The Crown Image credit: Des Willie/Netflix

This week we are honoured to be talking to the astounding author Nikita Lalwani! Nikita's first book, Gifted, was long-listed for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and won the Desmond Elliott Prize. Her next novel The Village won the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered award. Her latest novel is the breathtaking, You People, which has been widely critically acclaimed. We talked to her about fictional secrets, the power of the single line, literary families and pretending to be Stig of the Dump.BOOKSDaisy Buchanan - InsatiableNikita Lalwani - GiftedNikita Lalwani - You PeopleMary Norton - BorrowersClive King - Stig of the DumpSalman Rushdie - Midnight’s ChildrenBharati Mukherjee - WifeJames Salter - Light YearsJames Salter - Sport and a PasttimeJames Salter - Life is MealsJames Salter - HuntersJames Salter - Last NightDoris Lessing - StoriesMaeve Brennan - Rose GardenMavis Gallant - StoriesGrace Paley - StoriesDoris Lessing - Winter in JulyDoris Lessing - Martha QuestTessa Hadley - Bad DreamsTessa Hadley - Late in the DaySue Miller - MonogamyCarol Shields - Larry’s PartySonia Faleiro - Good GirlsJanet Malcolm - Journalist & the MurdererToni Cade Bambara - Gorilla My LoveZadie Smith - IntimationsSinead Gleeson - ConstellationsPatrick Freyne -

Sara Collins is the author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton, winner of the Costa First Novel Award in 2019. I mix up a special cocktail for this incredible debut, looking for something that complements the novel's setting, Jamaica and London in the 1820s. Then we take a deep dive into this "beautiful and haunting tale about one woman’s fight to tell her story. The Confessions of Frannie Langton leads you through laudanum-laced dressing rooms and dark-as-night back alleys, into the enthralling heart of Georgian London.""Wide Sargasso Sea meets Beloved meets Alias Grace...deep diving, elegant." —Margaret Atwood"Dazzlingly original." —The Times

Race, the uncomfortable truth, and legacy "I have a platform, I can share that platform with other people, that's what my mum would have expected at this stage of my career. That's why things like The Good Immigrant' came about because a win for me is a win for the community" Nikesh Shukla. Amanda Blainey talks to Nikesh Shukla who is a novelist and screenwriter. His 7th novel Brown Baby will be published in February 2021. Brown Baby is a memoir of race, family, and home that is essentially a love letter written to his children and his mum after her death. It's about loss and rebirth. In this episode, we talk about White privilege Writers of colour How The Good Immigrant came about The predominant white voice in literature Racism and its prevalence in publishing and the arts Normalising our reality Anxiety about being outspoken and burning bridges The problem with diversity panels Interrogating representation and identity How his mum's death permitted him to speak his truth Cooking his way through grief Food as a way to connect to his mum How heritage lives on in us A win for him is a win for the community Roots for change Processing grief through his new book Brown Baby Grieving in a new way since coronavirus Nikesh is the author of Coconut Unlimited (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award), Meatspace, and the critically acclaimed The One Who Wrote Destiny. He is a contributing editor to the Observer Magazine and was previously their columnist. Nikesh is the editor of the bestselling essay collection, The Good Immigrant, which won the reader's choice at the Books Are My Bag Awards. He co-edited The Good Immigrant USA with Chimene Suleyman. He is the author of two YA novels, Run, Riot (shortlisted for a National Book Award) and The Boxer (longlisted for the Carnegia Medal). Nikesh was one of Time Magazine's cultural leaders, Foreign Policy magazine's 100 Global Thinkers, and The Bookseller's 100 most influential people in publishing in 2016 and 2017. He is the co-founder of the literary journal, The Good Journal, and The Good Literary Agency. Nikesh is a fellow of the Royal Society Of Literature and a member of the Folio Academy. Podcast references https://www.gofundme.com/f/ukblm-fund https://www.reachoutproject.co.uk/ http://www.nikesh-shukla.com/

Tracee Ellis Ross is the daughter of Diana Ross and in 2017 became the first African-American woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Comedy since 1983, for her sitcom Black-ish. She tells us about her new film The High Note, in which she plays a pop superstar looking to reinvigorate her career. Pushkin Press has partnered with Walter Iuzzolino from Channel 4’s ‘Walter Presents’ on a collaboration of timeless novels with strong international appeal. Walter discusses the first title in the partnership, The Mystery of Henri Pick by French writer David Foenkinos, about the importance of curatorship in a global world of mass content and his ambition to promote his series of foreign language novels into must-haves as compelling as box sets. London’s Southbank Centre says it’s at risk of closure until at least April 2021 due to the economic impact of the Coronavirus, and is calling on the Government to help the cultural sector survive. To discuss the extent of the crisis facing the organisation and the arts, Kirsty is joined by Southbank Centre CEO, Elaine Bedell. As part of Radio 4’s support for students in lockdown we’ve been asking writers to record new introductions to some of the books on the GCSE English literature syllabus. Today we’re going to hear from Sara Collins who won the 2019 Costa First Novel Award for The Confessions of Frannie Langton. She’s sharing her thoughts on Frankenstein by the English author Mary Shelley. Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald Studio Manager Duncan Hannant

Dua Lipa shares the inspiration behind her new album Future Nostalgia, what it's been like releasing an album under quarantine. As the Edinburgh Festivals are cancelled this year, Joyce McMillan of The Scotsman discusses what this means for theatre, comedy and the arts, and for the city itself. Set and costume designer Molly O’Cathain, on lockdown at home with her parents in Dublin, has combined her love of art and skill as a production designer to recreate famous painting of couples using her parents as models. She tells John how she's been doing it. Sara Collins won the 2019 Costa First Novel Award for The Confessions of Frannie Langton. In the latest in our J’Accuse series, she takes on what she sees as the segregation of publishing and the expectations on writers of colour to “tackle” the subject of race. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Hannah Robins

'The Confessions of Frannie Langton', winner of the 2019 Costa First Novel Award is a dark gothic mysery, set in Georgian London and the plantations of Jamaica. It has a voice that leaps off the page and this is what Sophia wanted to talk to Sara about. They discuss how she undertook her research, the importance of reading Regency novels in your teens, and The Confessions’s tremendous success from the moment it was published. View the show notes here: https://www.prepublished.net/episodes/writing-the-book-teaches-you-how-to-write-it-talking-about-voice-with-sara-collins

Ade Adepitan discusses wheelchair basketball, The London Paralympics and his new book - ‘CyborgCat and the Night Spider’.    Emma Heatherington blends cosy romance with harsh reality in her most latest novel ‘Rewrite The Stars’.   And, it started with a Tweet: the poet laureate of Twitter, Brian Bilston, gives his reaction to being shortlisted for The Costa First Novel Award.

We discuss the controversy over this years BAFTA nominations. The most prominent categories - Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress – remain predominantly white. There’s not a woman on the Best Director shortlist and all the Best Film nominees are stories about men. John Wilson asks the critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh why this is and what it means for such awards. Do they have any meaning anymore? Adam Sandler on his new film Uncut Gems in which he plays a charismatic New York jeweller who makes a high-stakes bet that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie and filmed in a relentless handheld style with a soundtrack to match, Uncut Gems charts Ratner's failing attempts to balance business, family and adversaries on all sides in pursuit of the ultimate win. The Confessions of Frannie Langton has won the Costa First Novel Award. We speak to its author Sara Collins about her gothic novel that puts a mixed race woman centre stage in this page-turner about a double murder in Victorian London. American composer David Lang’s new opera is Prisoner of the State, a contemporary take on Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio, with its strong message about political oppression and freedom. David talks to John ahead of the shows premiere. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Oliver Jones

Things that Go Bump in the Night: CJ Tudor & Stuart Turton in conversation with Sinéad Crowley If you loved The Chalk Man and The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this is the episode for you. Taking crime fiction in new directions, two incredible authors discuss inspiration, outstanding debuts and spine-tingling goings on with bestselling crime author, RTE’s Sinéad Crowley. CJ Tudor’s debut novel, The Chalk Man, was published by Penguin in January 2018 and was a Sunday Times Bestseller. Her second novel, The Taking of Annie Thorne, was published in February 2019. Stuart Turton’s The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Novel and the Costa First Novel Award 2018. Murder One is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network (https://www.headstuff.org/headstuff-podcast-network/) For more on the Murder One Festival, head to the Murder One website  (http://www.murderone.ie/) Music in this episode from X3nus at Freesound.org (https://freesound.org/people/X3nus/sounds/449940/) .

Laurence Scott, Sarah Churchwell, Francesca Segal and Alice Kelly re-read Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence. First published in 1920, it depicts new money in 1870s New York and limited choices for women. Francesca Segal's novel The Innocents, inspired by Edith Wharton's book, won the Costa First Novel Award in 2012. Her latest novel is Mother Ship. Behold America by Sarah Churchwell was published last year. Readings by Florence Roberts. Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Meet two British writers of cleverly conceived and suspenseful stories, Louise Doughty and Stuart Turton, who come together to talk about their new novels at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019. The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle, Turton’s 2018 Costa First Novel Award-winning debut, sees its central character killed afresh daily until her would-be saviour tries to solve the riddle. Doughty, author of the hugely successful Apple Tree Yard, talks about Platform Seven, which has her protagonist trying to prevent people taking their own lives at a railway station. Their conversation is chaired by Lee Randall.

Gail Honeyman talks about her novel Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine which won the 2017 Costa First Novel Award and has been a runaway success since. Gail was inspired to write her debut novel after reading an article in which a young woman described her lonely life. On the outside, her life was a success, with her own flat and a good job but the reality was she often went home on Friday evening and returned to work on Monday morning without speaking to a soul all weekend. Gail created her own version of this story with the character Eleanor Oliphant, who leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. She speaks to her mother every Wednesday evening on the phone. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. One simple act of kindness shatters the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Gail describes how Eleanor becomes the agent of her own destiny and the change, learning how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted - while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she's avoided all her life. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is a heartwarming story about loneliness, loss and the possibility of change. Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn August's Bookclub choice : I Saw A Man by Owen Sheers (2015)

Nikesh Shukla is a writer. His debut novel, Coconut Unlimited, was published by Quartet Books and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2010 and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2011. In 2011 he co-wrote an essay about the London riots for Random House with Kieran Yates, Generation Vexed: What the Riots Don't Tell Us About Our Nation's Youth. In 2013 he released a novella about food with Galley Beggars Press, The Time Machine, donating his royalties to Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. The book won Best Novella at the Sabotage Awards. His second novel, Meatspace, was published by The Friday Project. Nikesh is the editor of the essay collection, The Good Immigrant, where 21 British writers of colour discuss race and immigration in the UK. The Good Immigrant won the reader's choice at the Books Are My Bag Awards and is shortlisted for Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. In 2014 he co-wrote Two Dosas, an award-winning short film starring Himesh Patel. His Channel 4 Comedy Lab Kabadasses aired on E4 and Channel 4 in 2011 and starred Shazad Latif, Jack Doolan and Josie Long. He currently hosts The Subaltern podcast, an anti-panel discussion featuring conversations with writers about writing. From the 5x15 special curated by Angela Saini in London on 29th May 2019. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: www.5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

We talk about “human emotion” as if all people, everywhere, feel the same. But three thinkers with an international perspective discuss how the expression and interpretation of emotions differs around the world. China specialist and Radio 3 presenter Rana Mitter hosts this Free Thinking Festival discussion. Aatish Taseer is a writer and journalist who was born in London, grew up in New Delhi and now lives in Manhattan. His first novel, The Temple-Goers was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. His latest book is The Twice Born: Life and death on the Ganges. Among other publications he has written for Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. Thomas Dixon was the first director of Queen Mary University of London's Centre for the History of the Emotions, the first of its kind in the UK. He is currently researching anger and has explored the histories of friendship, tears, and the British stiff upper lip in books Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears and The Invention of Altruism: Making Moral Meanings in Victorian Britain. You can hear his Free Thinking Festival Lecture here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0756nqp Veronica Strang is an environmental anthropologist at Durham University who has researched with indigenous communities in Australia for many years. Her book Uncommon Ground: Landscape, Values and the Environment is about understanding people’s emotional and imaginative attachments to places. She recently assisted the United Nations with research exploring cultural and spiritual values in relation to water. Producer: Zahid Warley

The immortal comedy duo of Laurel and Hardy have been given a second life on screen by John C. Riley and Steve Coogan in the new film Stan & Ollie. The actors have been nominated for their roles at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs respectively, and they discuss the film that tells the story of Laurel and Hardy's final UK tour in the twilight of their careers.A man wakes up in a forest with no memory. He is told that today a murder will be committed. He will relive the same day eight times, but each morning he'll wake up in a different body. This lies at the heart of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle which has just won the Costa First Novel Award. Its author Stuart Turton discusses his time-travelling, body-hopping novel.Tomorrow, the partial shutdown of the US government becomes the longest in the country's history, leaving some 800,000 federal employees unpaid. From New York, David D'Arcy of the Art Newspaper explains how the shutdown is impacting on the US's arts and cultural institutions.Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Jerome Weatherald

Christie Watson was a nurse for twenty years. She worked in a variety of healthcare settings, but spent most of her career in paediatric intensive care in large NHS hospitals before becoming a resuscitation nurse. Christie now teaches and writes and advocates for nursing. Her first novel, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, won the Costa First Novel Award and her second novel, Where Women Are Kings, was also published to international critical acclaim. Her works have been translated into eighteen languages. Taking us from birth to death and from A&E to the mortuary, The Language of Kindness is an astonishing account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness. Recorded on 19th November 2018 at The Tabernacle at the 5x15 health special. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

Andrew Michael Hurley discusses his book The Loney which won the Costa First Novel Award in 2015. Recorded with an audience at the Liverpool Literary Festival and presented by James Naughtie. First published in a print run of just 300 copies by a small press, The Loney went on to win The Costa First Novel Award and Book of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards 2015. This gothic novel is set on a bleak stretch of the Lancashire coast near Morecambe Bay called The Loney, which is infamous for its dangerous waters. In 1976, The congregation of St Jude’s Catholic church in London head north, on pilgrimage to a holy shrine, near The Loney, hoping to cure Hanny, a boy who’s been mute since birth. His brother, who is unnamed throughout the novel, narrates the story in the present day. The retreat is led by the newly installed parish priest, Father Bernard McGill, who struggles to shake off the ghost of his predecessor, the hardline Father Wilfred. Meanwhile, the rain sweeps in off the sea and the tides come and go, shifting the sands, burying and obscuring. There's a mysterious death at the heart of the novel; complicated and destructive family relationships, and running through it all a story of faith and superstition, imagination and fear. To the author's delight it was described as 'an amazing piece of fiction' by the master of modern gothic himself, Stephen King. Presenter : James Naughtie Interviewed guest : Andrew Michael Hurley Producer : Dymphna Flynn December's Bookclub choice : The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer (2013)

We were thrilled to chat with Gail Honeyman, author of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Gail shares a little about the origin of the memorable title character and what it's been like publishing her debut novel. Check out our Patreon page to learn more about our book club and other Patreon-exclusive goodies. A special thanks to our patrons Amy B., Carley T., Deborah W., and Stephanie W. Follow along over on Instagram, join the discussion in our Goodreads group, and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more new books and extra book reviews! Books Mentioned Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman Author Bio Gail Honeyman is a graduate of the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine won the Costa First Novel Award and was short-listed for the Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize. This is Honeyman’s debut novel and she lives in Glasgow, Scotland. U.S. Tour Cities Wellesley, MAMilwaukee, WIWinnetka, ILWichita, KSAustin, TXHouston, TXManhattan Beach, CASan Diego, CAOrinda, CAHealdsburg, CAPleasanton, CA Twitter | Buy the Book   CONTACT Questions? Comments? Email us hello@readingwomenpodcast.com. SOCIAL MEDIA Reading Women Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Website   Music “Reading Women” Composed and Recorded by Isaac and Sarah Greene    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this podcast, I interview Francis Spufford. Francis is a former Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year (1997) and has authored five highly praised books of non-fiction. His first book, 'I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination' was awarded the Writers Guild Award for Best Non-Fiction Book of 1996 and a Somerset Maugham Award. His second book 'The Child That Books Built' gave Neil Gaiman “the peculiar feeling that there was now a book I didn't need to write”. In 2007, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and his first novel, 'Golden Hill', was published in 2016 and won the Costa First Novel Award. He’s also a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths University, and for this podcast, I visited his office to speak about his deeply funny and profound 2012 book 'Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense.'

Listen to award-winning Irish author Sara Baume as she reads from her second novel a line made by walking, and discusses how she came to write this, and her debut novel, spill, simmer, falter, wither. Recorded at the Central Library on 9 March 2017, as part of the Contemporary Irish Literature Series. (See also: Hearts and Minds with Donal Ryan and Martin Dyar) 'A line made by walking' charts a young artist's search for meaning and healing in rural Ireland. Struggling to cope with urban life and life in general, Frankie retreats to her family's rural house on "turbine hill," vacant since her grandmother's death three years earlier. Sara Baume studied fine art before earning a Master's in Creative Writing. Her short fiction has appeared in the The Moth, The Stinging Fly, the Irish Independent, and others. She won the 2014 Davy Byrnes Short Story Award and the 2015 Hennessy New Irish Writing Award. Sara's debut novel, spill simmer falter wither received national and international critical acclaim and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and was short-listed for the Costa First Novel Award and is one of seven novels by Irish authors on the longlist for 2017 International DUBLIN Literary Award. Her second novel, a line made by walking was published in February 2017. Books Sara mentions, that like 'a line made by walking', are somewhere between novel, essay and ode to nature: The Outrun by Amy Liptrot, H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, The Lonely City by Olivia Laing.

Samira Ahmed talks to the artist behind The Blade, a huge artwork installed this weekend in the heart of Hull as part of UK City of Culture 2017. Briony Hanson reviews the film Manchester By the Sea, for which Casey Affleck won a Best Actor Golden Globe last night for his role as a janitor forced to look after his nephew. Costa First Novel Award winner Francis Spufford on Golden Hill, set in mid 18th Century Manhattan.And a V&A exhibition about the life and work of Rudyard Kipling's father, John Lockwood Kipling, an influential figure in the Arts and Crafts movement who was steeped in the art of Punjab.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser.

In part 2 of TEOAT's two part Christmas special, Rob talks to Costa First Novel Award nominee, Kit de Waal about working class stories (a favourite of this podcast), adoption, a fascination with the minutiae of life, the 80s, and of course, her rather incredible novel, My Name is Leon. The conversation took place before her keynote speech for the Graduate Writers day put on by Comma Press.

Beth Pattinson, development executive at BBC Films talks to Sadie Jones, screenwriter and novelist, ahead of the debut of her two-part drama, The Outcast, on BBC One. Sadie details her journey as an unproduced screenwriter to novelist and back. The Outcast began as a feature film script but when producers were unable to make it the way they wanted to Sadie turned the story into a novel. Within a year, the book was published to wide critical acclaim and won the Costa First Novel Award. It was also a finalist for the prestigious Orange Prize, as well as a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction. When Christine Langan, Head of BBC Films, read the novel, she knew it had to be brought to the screen. Blueprint Pictures came on board to develop the novel with BBC Films as a feature film, but it proved too difficult to adapt the story into a 120 minute feature. BBC Drama then came on board and the story was split into a two-part drama for television. Beth and Sadie recount the development process, structuring the story across mediums, defying the odds and never giving up. The Outcast stars George Mackay, Greg Wise, Jessica Barden, Hattie Morahan, and Jessica Brown Findlay in what has been decribed as a deeply romantic, uncomfortably honest coming-of-age story set in booming post-war Britain.

***This book has also been published as Where the Moon Isn't.*** Winner of the 2013 Costa First Novel Award "A stunning novel. Ambitious and exquisitely realized . . . clearly the work of a major new talent." —S. J. Watson, New York Times bestselling author of Before I Go to Sleep While on vacation with their parents, Matthew Homes and his older brother sneak out in the middle of the night. Only Matthew comes home safely. Ten years later, Matthew tells us, he has found a way to bring his brother back... The Avid Reader show is sponsored by Wellington Square Bookshop in Chester county, PA. Please visit our website at www.wellingtonsquarebooks.com

With Kirsty Lang. The Heat is the latest gross-out comedy from Paul Feig, the director of Bridesmaids. It stars one of its alumni, Melissa McCarthy, as an unorthodox cop who has to team up with an officious, highly strung FBI agent, played by Sandra Bullock. Critic Jane Graham delivers her verdict on this odd couple comedy. Catherine O'Flynn won the Costa First Novel Award in 2008 with her book What Was Lost, set in and around her native Birmingham. Her new novel, Mr Lynch's Holiday, focuses on a decaying new development in Spain. Among the British ex-pats scratching a living there is Eamonn, who is taken by surprise when his father - a retired Birmingham bus driver - turns up out of the blue. Catherine O'Flynn reflects on her choice of locations and her research trips to a Birmingham bus garage. Milton Jones is a stand up comedian best known for his dead pan one liners, zany shirts and sticky-up hairdo. As he prepares to take his current touring show to the Edinburgh Festival, he talks to Kirsty about life on the road, his grandfather and how Mock the Week really works. For Cultural Exchange, His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman chooses a song by the French singer-songwriter and poet Georges Brassens (1921-1981). Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète translates as Plea to be buried on the beach at Sète, Brassens' home town. It is inspired by Paul Valéry's poem Le Cimetière Marin. Producer Karla Sweet.

With Mark Lawson. Columnist Bel Mooney reviews The Sessions, a film based on the true story of poet and journalist Mark O'Brien. O'Brien was paralysed by polio as a boy and at the age of 38 set out to finally lose his virginity with the help of a sex-worker. The Sessions is directed by Ben Lewin who himself is a survivor of childhood polio. The Kennedy dynasty is the focus of a new documentary Ethel, in which Ethel Skakel gives a candid interview about life with her late husband Robert Kennedy. The couple married in 1950, and the film charts their married life together and beyond, including the McCarthy hearings, Vietnam, John F Kennedy's election as president and his assassination, and Bobby own's assassination in 1963. Mark Damazer reviews the HBO documentary. Francesca Segal, who won the Costa First Novel Award for The Innocents, inspired by Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, discusses her novel which tells the story of the relationship between Adam and Rachel who live in the Jewish community of north-west London. No Quarter is the latest offering from 26-year-old playwright Polly Stenham. The play is the conclusion to a trilogy which began with That Face, her multi-award-winning debut written when she was just 19. The playwright reflects on how, like the other two plays in the trilogy, No Quarter examines the damaging impact of dysfunctional parent-child relationships. Producer Stephen Hughes.

Tom Rob Smith is the author of Child 44, which won huge acclaim when it was released in 2008. It was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, won the 2008 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger prize for best thriller and was nominated for the Costa First Novel Award (formerly the Whitbread Awards). His latest novel is The Secret Speech. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Catherine O’Flynn: What Was Lost “As he reached for his crisps something caught the corner of his eye and he looked back at the wall of monitors. He saw the figure standing in front of the banks and building societies on level 2. “It was a child, a girl, though her face was hard to see. She stood perfectly still, a notebook in her hand and a toy monkey sticking out of her bag.” When I was in Birmingham earlier this year, I met Catherine O’Flynn, who won the Costa First Novel Award in 2007 for What Was Lost. The girl with the monkey is Kate Meaney, a bright, solitary child with a taste for mysteries and detection. She disappeared two decades ago but her image seems to appear on the monitor screens that security guard Kurt spends his nights watching in the Green Oaks shopping centre. Green Oaks itself is fictional, but draws both on Catherine’s own previous experience working in a record store (which she deploys to wonderful comic effect in the book) and …

Listen in on the conversation between Mark Veldhuizen, Advertising Director, and Catherine O'Flynn as they discuss the background of her new novel What Was Lost, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the Costa First Novel Award in the UK.