Podcasts about Goldsmiths Prize

This week, TLS contributors select their favourites from 2025; plus an interview with CD Rose, winner of this year's Goldsmiths Prize.‘We Live Here Now', by CD RoseProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachel and Simon speak with the novelist Eimear McBride. Born in Liverpool to Irish parents, Eimear studied acting before pursuing writing. Her debut novel, "A Girl is a Half-formed Thing", was published in 2013 after almost a decade of rejections; it went on to win the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Eimear published her second novel, "The Lesser Bohemians", in 2016, followed by "Strange Hotel" in 2020 and "The City Changes Its Face" in 2025. She also brought out a work of non-fiction, ⁠"Something Out of Place: Women & Disgust"⁠, in 2021. We spoke to Eimear about her early interest in acting, experimenting with style and "The City Changes Its Face". We've made another update for those ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We've added 40 pages of new material to the package of successful article pitches that goes to anyone who supports the show with $5 per month or more, including new pitches to the New York Times, the Washington Post and the BBC. The whole compendium now runs to a whopping 160 pages. For Patreons who contribute $10/month we're now also releasing bonus mini-episodes. Thanks to our sponsor, Scrivener, the first ten new signs-ups at $10/month will receive a lifelong license to Scrivener worth £55/$59.99 (seven are left). This specialist word-processing software helps you organise long writing projects such as novels, academic papers and even scripts. Other Patreon rewards include signed copies of the podcast book and the opportunity to take part in a monthly call with Simon and Rachel.A new edition of “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World's Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is available now. The updated version now includes insights from over 100 past guests on the podcast, with new contributions from Harlan Coben, Victoria Hislop, Lee Child, Megan Nolan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Philippa Gregory, Jo Nesbø, Paul Theroux, Hisham Matar and Bettany Hughes. You can order it via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waterstones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.You can find us online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

Rachel Cusk reads her story “Project,” from the September 1 & 8, 2025, issue of the magazine. Cusk is the author of several works of nonfiction and twelve novels, including “Outline,” “Transit,” “Kudos,” and, most recently, “Parade,” which won the 2024 Goldsmiths Prize. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In this episode we are listening to writer and translator Kate Briggs and poet, writer and scholar Holly Pester discuss Hélène Bessette's Lili Is Crying, which has been translated by Kate and published in the UK by Fitzcarraldo Editions.Hélène Bessette (1918–2000) published thirteen novels with Gallimard between 1953 and 1973, won the Cazes prize in 1954 and was twice in the running for the Goncourt prize and the Médicis prize.Kate Briggs grew up in Somerset, UK, and lives and works in Rotterdam, NL, where she founded and co-runs the writing and publishing project ‘Short Pieces That Move'. She is the  translator of two volumes of Roland Barthes's lecture and seminar notes at the Collège de France: The Preparation of the Novel and How to Live Together, both published by Columbia University Press. This Little Art, her genre-bending essay on the art of translation, was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2017. In 2021, she was awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize. Her debut novel, The Long Form, was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2023 and shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize the same year.Libreria wishes to thank Fitzcarraldo Editions who helped create this event at Libreria.Books mentioned in the episode:Lily Is Crying by Hélène Bessette, published by Fitzcarraldo EditionsThis Little Art by Kate Briggs, published by Fitzcarraldo EditionsFair: The Life-Art of Translation by Jen Calleja, published by Prototype

In this textured conversation, author Eimear McBride joins Adam Biles at Shakespeare and Company to discuss her latest novel The City Changes Its Face. Set in Camden Town in the 1990s, the book revisits characters from The Lesser Bohemians as they navigate the complexities of love, art, aging, trauma, and parenthood. McBride explores the enduring impact of childhood abuse, the fraught territory of families, and the search for creative meaning as her protagonists transition from actors to writers and filmmakers. She also reflects on the changing face of London, her writing process, and how voice, rhythm, and instinct drive her work. With warmth, candour, and a touch of wry humour, McBride shares insights into the emotional and formal risks of fiction, the influence of modernism, and why survival—not just suffering—deserves narrative space.Buy The City Changes Its Face: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-city-changes-its-faceEimear McBride is the author of four novels: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, The Lesser Bohemians, Strange Hotel and The City Changes Its Face. She held the inaugural Creative Fellowship at the Beckett Research Centre, University of Reading and is the recipient of the Women's Prize for Fiction, Goldsmiths Prize, Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company.Listen to Alex Freiman's latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How Reform plans to winJust a year ago, Nigel Farage ended his self-imposed exile from politics and returned to lead Reform. Since then, Reform have won more MPs than the Green Party, two new mayoralties, a parliamentary by-election, and numerous councils. Now the party leads in every poll and, as our deputy political editor James Heale reveals in our cover article, is already planning for government.The party's chair, tech entrepreneur Zia Yusuf, describes the movement as a ‘start-up'; and like a start-up, Reform is scaling up at speed. Among the 676 councillors elected last month, a number are considered more than ready to stand as MPs. James also interviewed Reform's deputy leader, the MP Richard Tice, who said that the Reform movement cannot be thought of within the traditional left-right political spectrum.James joined the podcast to discuss further; you can also hear an extract from his interview with Richard. (1:01)Next: are young people turning to religion?A recent survey by the UK's Bible Society has found that over the past six years, Church attendance has risen by 50 per cent. There are signs that this is being driven by younger people – why are Gen Z turning to religion? A new book by Lamorna Ash, Don't Forget We're Here Forever: A New Generation's Search For Religion, seeks to answer this question and is reviewed in the magazine this week by Rupert Shortt.To unpack this potential Church revival, Rupert – the author of The Eclipse of Christianity and Why It Matters – joined the podcast, alongside Georgia Clarke, director of youth ministry at St Elizabeth of Portugal Roman Catholic Church in London. (21:25)And finally: is experimental fiction truly novel?Philip Hensher writes in the magazine this week about the modern trend of ‘experimental literature'. For Philip, not only do these novels have incredibly rigid rules, but they are far from ‘experimental' as he feels many of their components aren't truly new.To discuss further, Philip – who has been writing his own history of the novel – joined the podcast, alongside Simon Okotie. Simon, author of The Future of the Novel, is also a judge for the Goldsmiths Prize, which awards a novel which ‘breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form'. (33:11)Plus: extracts from Tanya Gold's article on selling bathwater (17:54) and Madeline Grant's on the decline of period dramas (19:35).Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How Reform plans to win Just a year ago, Nigel Farage ended his self-imposed exile from politics and returned to lead Reform. Since then, Reform have won more MPs than the Green Party, two new mayoralties, a parliamentary by-election, and numerous councils. Now the party leads in every poll and, as our deputy political editor James Heale reveals in our cover article, is already planning for government.The party's chair, tech entrepreneur Zia Yusuf, describes the movement as a ‘start-up'; and like a start-up, Reform is scaling up at speed. Among the 676 councillors elected last month, a number are considered more than ready to stand as MPs. James also interviewed Reform's deputy leader, the MP Richard Tice, who said that the Reform movement cannot be thought of within the traditional left-right political spectrum.James joined the podcast to discuss further; you can also hear an extract from his interview with Richard. (1:01) Next: are young people turning to religion? A recent survey by the UK's Bible Society has found that over the past six years, Church attendance has risen by 50 per cent. There are signs that this is being driven by younger people – why are Gen Z turning to religion? A new book by Lamorna Ash, Don't Forget We're Here Forever: A New Generation's Search For Religion, seeks to answer this question and is reviewed in the magazine this week by Rupert Shortt.To unpack this potential Church revival, Rupert – the author of The Eclipse of Christianity and Why It Matters – joined the podcast, alongside Georgia Clarke, director of youth ministry at St Elizabeth of Portugal Roman Catholic Church in London. (21:25) And finally: is experimental fiction truly novel?Philip Hensher writes in the magazine this week about the modern trend of ‘experimental literature'. For Philip, not only do these novels have incredibly rigid rules, but they are far from ‘experimental' as he feels many of their components aren't truly new.To discuss further, Philip – who has been writing his own history of the novel – joined the podcast, alongside Simon Okotie. Simon, author of The Future of the Novel, is also a judge for the Goldsmiths Prize, which awards a novel which ‘breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form'. (33:11)Plus: extracts from Tanya Gold's article on selling bathwater (17:54) and Madeline Grant's on the decline of period dramas (19:35).Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Writing Life, novelist and screenwriter Eimear McBride on the power of language, and the ways literary fiction can evoke emotion and connection.   Eimear McBride is the award-winning author of four novels: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, The Lesser Bohemians, Strange Hotel and The City Changes Its Face. Her debut novel A Girl is a Half-formed Thing won the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize, Irish Novel of the Year, the Bailey's Prize for Women's Fiction, The Desmond Elliott Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award. The City Changes Its Face is a continuation of this novel, and follows an intense story of passion, jealousy and family.   She sits down with NCW's former Chief Executive and lover of books Chris Gribble to discuss the recently published The City Changes its Face, a continuation of her debut novel A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing. Together, they discuss the process of returning to characters and storylines previously written, her experience adapting her novel into a screenplay, and the machine of writing and publishing; going from the solitary task of writing to the hustle and bustle of book tours and literary events.

Xiaolu Guo was born in China. She published six books before moving to Britain in 2002. Her books include: Village of Stone, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, shortlisted for the Orange Prize; and I Am China. Her recent memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018. It was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her most recent novel A Lover's Discourse was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. On this week's episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her latest novel Call Me Ishmaelle. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natasha Brown’s 2021 debut ‘Assembly’ was met with critical acclaim, shortlisted for several awards including the Folio Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Orwell Prize for Fiction, and translated into 17 languages. Her second novel ‘Universality’ is another extension of her talent, exploring the effect of language and applying to certain narratives affecting society today. She speaks to Georgina Godwin about the success of ‘Assembly’, exploring journalism as a genre and the idea of writing with objectivity.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we're joined by novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo to discuss her latest novel, Call Me Ishmaelle. A bold reimagining of Moby-Dick, Guo's novel audaciously swaps the gender of Melville's narrator and plunges into a world of hidden identities, maritime adventure, and cultural collision.With host Adam Biles, Guo reflects on her personal and literary journey—from her early, abandoned encounters with Moby-Dick in Chinese to her deep dive into American whaling history and the Civil War. She shares insights on writing in a second language, the challenge of adapting a literary classic, and the influence of Taoism and Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle on her storytelling.Buy Call Me Ishmaelle: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/call-me-ishmaelle-2*Xiaolu Guo was born in China. She published six books before moving to Britain in 2002. Her books include: Village of Stone, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, shortlisted for the Orange Prize; and I Am China. Her recent memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018. It was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her most recent novel A Lover's Discourse was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a visiting professor at the Free University in Berlin.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. His latest novel, Beasts of England, a to Animal Farm, is available now. Buy a signed copy here: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/beasts-of-englandListen to Alex Freiman's latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The novel is a living thing, argues author Deborah Levy in the New Statesman Goldsmith's Prize lecture.Tom Gatti hosts Deborah Levy, author of Swimming Home and The Man Who Saw Everything, to deliver a special lecture live from the Southbank Centre in London.Presented in partnership with the Goldsmiths Prize and the Southbank Centre, and recorded at the Southbank Centre.Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHFN7ZY9lzM Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author, Actor and Director Eimear McBride on the delayed gratification of her first novel, the  ‘classic combination' of sex and death and why we should celebrate  female writers tackling difficult topics and themes.  Eimear trained as an actor before writing her first novel, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, which took nine years to find a publisher but subsequently won the 2014 Women's Prize for Fiction, as well as the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, the Goldsmiths Prize, and the Desmond Elliott Prize. Eimear's second novel, The Lesser Bohemians, won the 2016 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award. Strange Hotel, her third novel, was published in 2020 and her latest release The City Changes Its Face is out in February 2025. In 2022, Eimear wrote and directed A Very Short Film About Longing (DMC/BBC Film) which was screened at the 2023 London Film Festival, and she also writes and reviews for the Guardian, New Statesman and the TLS.  Eimear's  book choices are: ** The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien ** Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice ** Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald ** The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin ** Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season eight of the Women's Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women's Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and continues to champion the very best books written by women. Don't want to miss the rest of season eight? Listen and subscribe now! You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org - every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops.  This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

What people are saying: "A Natural History of Empty Lots" is the best and most interesting book I've ever read about the spaces we often overlook. Christopher Brown comes to these places with a deep curiosity and understanding of both human and nonhuman history. An instant classic.” Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times bestselling author."Instantly hypnotic, A Natural History of Empty Lots invites you to see the ‘waste' spaces of the Anthropocene for what they are: a resource that contains more than itself. Christopher Brown is a complete and literate denizen of these zones. His calm, clever writing shows a real care for the natural world, and a real feel for the deep worth of the brownfield liminal.” M. John Harrison, Goldsmiths Prize-winning author of Wish I Was Here and Climbers. https://christopherbrown.com/http://www.yourlotandparcel.org

Writer MARK BOWLES gives us all his precious Infernal Playlist tracks...Mark is the author of the Goldsmiths Prize nominated novel All My Precious Madness, which was lauded by critics. It's an incredibly funny book - The Guardian compared it to American comedian Bill Hicks - and Mark did not disappoint with a full-on assault on the 1980s in this episode. He talked us through the process of writing the book, welcomed news that an 1980s double act now hate each other, and of course gave us the five tracks he will meet in Hell.Head to https://www.patreon.com/hellishpod to access episodes early and ad free, where you will find out which artists our guests will meet in Hell. You'll also get our two pilot episodes, and a bunch of other stuff depending which tier you pick - including the chance to come and work for Hell's H.R. department! If you just want to be nice/bribe your way out of Hell then you can also tip us over at https://www.ko-fi.com/hellishpodYou can order All My Precious Madness direct from Galley Beggar (rather than from somewhere else: you'd be helping a small independent press to thrive). https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/paperback-shop/all-my-precious-madnessFind us on Spotify to hear the songs on Mark's Infernal Playlist in full, as well as the Ultimate Infernal Playlist which combines the choices of every damned soul we've met so far. https://tinyurl.com/hellishpodYou can find us/beg for absolution on social media...Instagram: www.instagram.com/hellish_podThreads: https://www.threads.net/@hellish_podFacebook: www.facebook.com/hellishpodcastBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/hellishpod.comTwitter: www.twitter.com/hellishpodTikTok: www.tiktok.com/hellishpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna and Annie discuss the 2024 Goldsmiths Prize winner, Parade by Rachel Cusk, and ghostwriters in crime writing. Our book of the week is JAMES by Percival Everett.  This re-telling of Huckleberry Finn has been an instant New York Times best-seller, shortlisted for the Booker Prize and National Book award and described as 'genius' (The Atlantic).  Coming up: our comfort reading recommendations. Follow us! Email: Booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz  

Our recent guest, Mark Bowles, makes the Goldsmiths Prize shortlist; reading, or not, at elite US colleges; and Sam Mills is our guest to talk about her very meta literary adventure novel.Thank you for listening! If you like what you hear, give us a follow at: X: Across the Pond, Galley Beggar Press, Interabang Books, Lori Feathers, Sam JordisonInstagram: Across the Pond, Galley Beggar Press, Interabang Books, Lori Feathers, Sam JordisonFacebook: Across the Pond, Galley Beggar Press, Interabang BooksTheme music by Carlos Guajardo-Molina

Will Eaves is a British writer, poet and professor at the University of Warwick. He began writing for the Times Literary Supplement in 1992 and joined the paper as its Arts Editor in 1995. He left in 2011 to become an Associate Professor in the Writing Programme at the University of Warwick. In 2020, he judged the Goldsmiths Prize and was a Visiting Research Fellow at Merton College, Oxford. In 2016, he was a Sassoon Visiting Fellow at the Bodleian Library. He has written five novels, two books of poetry, and one volume of literary essays. For for book Murmur, Eaves was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and won the Wellcome Book Prize. He has given talks, seminars and readings around the world and has appeared several times on BBC Radio 3's The Verb, with Ian Macmillan, and on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week and Open Book. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His book The Point of Distraction is out now and you can preorder Invasion of the Polyhedrons any time. It's out at the end of October 2024 .Will Eaves is guest number 434 on My Time Capsule and chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things he'd like to put in a time capsule; four he'd like to preserve and one he'd like to bury and never have to think about again .Buy Will's book, The Point of Distraction, here - https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-point-of-distraction-will-eaves?variant=40755240730702Order his latest book, Invasion of the Polyhedrons, here - https://www.cbeditions.com/Eaves5.htmlFollow Will Eaves on Twitter: @WillEaves & Instagram: @tbit_niche .Follow My Time Capsule on Instagram: @mytimecapsulepodcast & Twitter & Facebook: @MyTCpod .Follow Michael Fenton Stevens on Twitter: @fentonstevens & Instagram @mikefentonstevens .Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .Music by Pass The Peas Music .Artwork by matthewboxall.com .This podcast is proud to be associated with the charity Viva! Providing theatrical opportunities for hundreds of young people . Get bonus episodes and ad-free listening by becoming a team member with Acast+! Your support will help us to keep making My Time Capsule. Join our team now! https://plus.acast.com/s/mytimecapsule. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discover the inspiration behind Mark Bowles' debut book and audiobook, 'All My Precious Madness', in this engaging conversation with Francesca Peacock. Recorded live at Hewson Books in Brentford. 'All My Precious Madness' is Shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2024.

Simon and Rachel speak to Kevin Barry, a novelist and short-story writer. Kevin is the author of four novels and three story collections. His awards include the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His stories and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, Granta and elsewhere. His novel, "Night Boat to Tangier", was a number-one bestseller in Ireland, was longlisted for the Booker Prize and named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times. Kevin also works as a playwright and screenwriter. We spoke to him about forcing himself to become a novelist, writing short stories and screenplays, and about his latest book, "The Heart in Winter."  “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World's Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hatchards⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waterstones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can find us online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

Rebecca Watson is an Assistant Arts Editor at the Financial Times and one of the Observer's ten best debut novelists of 2021. She has been published in the TLS, Granta and the Guardian. In 2018, she was shortlisted for The White Review Short Story Prize, and in 2021, she was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize. She is the author of the novel Little Scratch, and on this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her latest novel I Will Crash. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inside Books is a regular popular author interview podcast presented by Breda Brown. In this episode Breda is in conversation with writer Kevin Barry, winner of the 2013 International Dublin Literary Award. He won the 2015 Goldsmiths Prize and was longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize.

Kevin Barry is the author of four novels and three story collections. His awards include the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and the Lannan Foundation Literary Award. His stories and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, Granta and elsewhere. His novel, Night Boat to Tangier,was an Irish number one bestseller, was longlisted for the Booker Prize and named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times. He also works as a playwright and screenwriter. On today's show, the 900th episode of Little Atoms, Kevin talks to Neil Denny about his latest novel The Heart In Winter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we speak to novelist and short story writer Helen Oyeyemi about her most recent novel, Parasol Against the Axe. We discuss the use of non-linearity when attempting to write about a complex city like Prague. We chat about the city as a dissociative state, and the relationship to surrealism and conflicting histories. We speak about the intimate relationship between reading, writing and desire, and the way that books can reveal details about the reader, as well as the author. We explore the book as a living object which shifts across time and space, and the use of play and perplexity across Oyeyemi's work. We discuss what it means to resist master narratives and embrace slippery, shapeshifting narrators, subverting the reader's expectations. We examine a hunger for novels which require the reader to work, and what it means to be actively involved in the process of meaning-making. Helen Oyeyeymi is the author of The Icarus Girl, The Opposite House, White is for Witching (which won a Somerset Maugham Award), Mr Fox, Boy, Snow, Bird, Gingerbread, What Is Not Yours Is Yours, and Peaces, which was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize. In 2013, Helen was included in Granta's Best Young British Novelists. References Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyeymi Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyeymi Mr Fox by Helen Oyeyeymi White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyeymi The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi De Profundis by Oscar Wilde Prague Tales by Jan Neruda

The latest book from critically acclaimed writer Helen Oyeyemi, Parasol Against the Axe, is a novel set among the city of Prague's streets. It's often said that a city can feel like a character in a book but in a skilled feat of unconventional storytelling, Oyeyemi's tale uses the city as the literal narrator of its story. That  plot involves a lost weekend set around a hen party and some surreal storytelling to make outlandish ideas come alive, while also focusing in on themes such as love and addiction. Oyeyemi's previous novels and short stories have won awards including the Somerset Maugham Award for her book White is for Witching, and she's been shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize, too. Joining her in conversation for this episode is the journalist and podcaster Ruchira Sharma, host of the podcasts Everything is Content and Anatomy of a Stalker. If you'd like to get access to all of our longer form interviews and members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events - Our member-only newsletter The Monthly Read, sent straight to your inbox ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series ... Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content, early access and much more. ... Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and what's coming up. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The December Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Mike McCormack about his novel 'The Plague of Souls'. Mike McCormack comes from the west of Ireland and is the author of two collections of short stories Getting it in the Head and Forensic Songs, and three novels Crowe's Requiem, Notes from a Coma and Solar Bones. In 1996 he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Literature and Getting it in the Head was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In 2006 Notes from a Coma was shortlisted for the Irish Book of the Year Award. In 2016 Solar Bones was awarded the Goldsmiths Prize and the Bord Gais Energy Irish Novel of the Year and Book of the Year; it was also long-listed for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. In 2018 it was awarded the International Dublin Literary Award. He is a member of Aosdána.

Across the Pond guest Benjamin Myers wins the 2023 Goldsmiths Prize for Cuddy; literary agent Andrew Wylie has us talking; and we welcome writer and translator Kate Briggs to talk about her new novel, The Long Form, submitted for the 2023 Republic of Consciousness Prize, US & Canada by Dorothy, a publishing project.

Lars Iyer is a British novelist and philosopher of Indian/Danish parentage. He is best known for a trilogy of short novels: Spurious, Dogma, and Exodus, all published by Melville House. Iyer has been shortlisted for both the Believer Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. In this episode we discuss his most recent book My Weil. --- Become part of the Hermitix community: Hermitix Twitter - https://twitter.com/Hermitixpodcast Support Hermitix: Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/hermitix Donations: - https://www.paypal.me/hermitixpod Hermitix Merchandise - http://teespring.com/stores/hermitix-2 Bitcoin Donation Address: 3LAGEKBXEuE2pgc4oubExGTWtrKPuXDDLK Ethereum Donation Address: 0x31e2a4a31B8563B8d238eC086daE9B75a00D9E74

M. John Harrison has produced one of the greatest bodies of fiction of any living British author, encompassing space opera, speculative fiction, fantasy, magical and literary realism. Wish I Was Here is his first work of memoir – an ‘anti-memoir' – written in his mid-seventies with aphoristic daring and trademark originality and style, fresh after winning the Goldsmiths Prize in 2020 for The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again. Harrison was joined in conversation with writer and critic Jennifer Hodgson.Find more events at the Bookshop: lrb.me/eventspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we chat to Isabel Waidner about their new novel, Corey Fah Does Social Mobility. We discuss the notion of 'liberating the canon' and the role of formal innovation in representing marginalised perspectives across gender, sexuality, social class and race. We explore the queering of the Bambi figure in Corey Fah Does Social Mobility, the radical importance of acknowledging references and transdisciplinary approaches to art-making. We discuss the role of football and music as traditional ways for working-class people to access 'social mobility' and consider how literature might fit within this. We explore the queering of time and history within the novel and highlight the necessity of balancing a critique of society with the liberatory potential of queer imaginaries. We dicuss the gatekeeping of the literary establishment, the false promises of meritocracy in awards culture and the commodification of art, exploring the limitations of neoliberalism. Isabel Waidner is a writer based in London. They are the author of Corey Fah Does Social Mobility, Sterling Karat Gold, We Are Made of Diamond Stuff and Gaudy Bauble. They won the Goldsmiths Prize 2021 and were shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize in 2019, the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in 2022 and the Republic of Consciousness Prize in 2018, 2020 and 2022. They are a co-founder of the event series Queers Read This at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and they are an academic in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London. References Liberating the Canon: An Anthology of Innovative Literature by Isabel Waidner We Are Made of Diamond Stuff by Isabel Waidner Sterling Carat Gold by Isabel Waidner Corey Fah Does Social Mobility by Isabael Waidner An Alternative Art History of the 1990s by Isabel Waidner (Frieze) All Us Girls Have Been Dead for So Long by Linda Stupart and Carl Gent Nicole Eisenman, Bambi Gregor, India ink on paper, 1993 John Lahr, Prick Up Your Ears, 1978 Loot by Joe Orton As always, listen for the code and visit Storysmith for 10% discount on Isabel's work

Unique in its inventiveness, unique in its prose style, unique in its point of view and unique in its sense of humour, Isabel Waidner's Corey Fah Does Social Mobility is a reading experience like no other. is it a mind-bending science fiction romp through uncountable dimensions? Is it an examination of how cultural artefacts shape us and are reshaped by us? Is it a cutting satire of the British class system? Is it one person's singular quest to come to terms with themself? Is it a hilarious and painfully on target parody of the literary world? Or Is it, even, a love story? Listen on the find out…Buy Corey Fah Does Social Mobility: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/corey-fah-does-social-mobilityIsabel Waidner is a writer based in London. They are the author of Corey Fah Does Social Mobility, Sterling Karat Gold, We Are Made of Diamond Stuff and Gaudy Bauble. They are the winner of the Goldsmiths Prize 2021 and were shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize in 2019, the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in 2022 and the Republic of Consciousness Prize in 2018, 2020 and 2022. They are a co-founder of the event series Queers Read This at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and they are an academic in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London.Listen to Alex Freiman's Play It Gentle here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of The Writing Life, we are delighted to welcome Max Porter back to Norwich! Max was here in April for an event hosted by The Book Hive to celebrate the publication of his latest novel, Shy. NCW Executive Director Peggy Hughes settled in for a cosy chat with Max upstairs in The Book Hive. Their expansive conversation covers the special power of bookshops, questions of masculinity and vulnerability portrayed through Shy's protagonist, the musicality of Max's language, and much more. Max's first novel Grief Is the Thing with Feathers won the Sunday Times/Peter, Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year, the International Dylan Thomas Prize, the Europese Literatuurprijs and the BAMB Readers' Award and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. His second novel, Lanny, was a Sunday Times bestseller and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. The Death of Francis Bacon was praised as a ‘miniature masterpiece' and his new book, Shy, has been called a ‘miracle of language'.    Editing by Omni Mix

Like all of Xiaolu Guo's work RADICAL is difficult to describe because it's difficult to categorise. It might be called a memoir, but it's form makes it unlike any memoir readers may have encountered before. It's also a fascinating reflection on language, on literature, on memory, on vagrancy, on art, on nature and on what makes a home. But perhaps the central circle in this Venn diagram of concerns is “love”, it's different forms, how it arrives, what it does to us, and how it fares under imposed separation.Buy Radical here: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/product/7669745/guo-xiaolu-radicalXiaolu Guo was born in China. She published six books before moving to Britain in 2002. Her books include: Village of Stone, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, shortlisted for the Orange Prize; and I Am China. Her recent memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018. It was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her most recent novel A Lover's Discourse was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a visiting professor at the Free University in Berlin.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. Buy a signed copy of his novel Feeding Time here: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/product/7209940/biles-adam-feeding-timeListen to Alex Freiman's Play It Gentle here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"It was important to me to try and use the book to explore this shift and this gap between what I see in the media, what I see in fiction and on television and what I'd observed in life." - Natasha Brown Bold and provocative, Natasha Brown's debut novel Assembly cuts to the heart of race relations in modern Britain. A clear-eyed and harrowing exposé of privilege, ambition and the legacies of colonisation, Assembly was shortlisted for the Folio Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Orwell Prize and the Women's Prize for Fiction. Brown joined host Jamila Rizvi for the Wheeler Centre's Spring Fling series for a wide-ranging discussion about race, class and identity. Presented in partnership with RMIT Culture and supported by Future Women. With thanks to UNSW Centre for Ideas. This event was recorded on Thursday 10 November 2022 at The Capitol Featured music is Diffuser by ShirukySupport the Wheeler Centre: https://www.wheelercentre.com/support-us/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As part of the Rendez-vous littéraires rue Cambon [Literary Rendezvous at Rue Cambon], the podcast "les Rencontres" highlights the birth of a writer in a series imagined by CHANEL and House ambassador and spokesperson Charlotte Casiraghi. Listen to author and critic Erica Wagner in conversation with Claire-Louise Bennett, writer of “Checkout 19”, her first novel published by Jonathan Cape in 2021. Together, they talk about her writing process and the influence of drama on the construction of her characters. They also discuss her relationship with reading and the evolution of her work since "Pond", her first collection of short stories.Claire-Louise Bennett, Checkout 19, Vintage Publishing, 2022.© The New York Times Company. All rights reserved. Used under license.© Goldsmiths Prize.Claire-Louise Bennett, Pond, Fitzcarraldo Editions, London, 2015. Copyright © Claire-Louise Bennett. 2015. Originally published in Ireland by The Stinging Fly Press, 2015.© The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize.© University of Roehampton.© The White Review.© The Stinging Fly.© Vogue Italia.© Frieze, tous droits réservés.Penguin Random House.© The Dublin Review.Witold Gombrowicz, Diary, Translated by Lillian Vallee, © Yale University Press, 2012.Günter Grass, The Tin Drum, Penguin, 2005.E. M. Forster, A Room with a View, Penguin, 2012.Françoise Sagan, Bonjour tristesse [1954], Julliard, 2008.The Nobel Prize in LiteratureAnnie Ernaux, Getting Lost, Fitzcarraldo Editions, London, 2022. Copyright © Editions Gallimard, 2001. Translation copyright © Alison L. Strayer, 2022.Annie Ernaux, Getting Lost, Translated by Alison L. Strayer, © Seven Stories Press, 2022.Annie Ernaux, Simple Passion, Fitzcarraldo Editions, London, 2021. Copyright © Editions Gallimard, 1991. Translation copyright © Tanya Leslie, 1993.Annie Ernaux, A Girl's Story, Seven Stories Press, New York, and Fitzcarraldo Editions, London, 2020. Copyright © Editions Gallimard, 2016. Translation copyright © Alison L. Strayer, 2020.Annie Ernaux, A Girl's Story, Translated by Alison L. Strayer, © Seven Stories Press, 2020.Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, © Grove Press, 1997.Elizabeth Smart, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, Penguin, 1992.

"Creative daring" is the quality rewarded by the Goldsmiths Prize, now in its tenth year. What does it mean for an artist or writer to be daring and experimental? Shahidha Bari is joined by this year's winners Natasha Soobramanien and Luke Williams who have co-written their novel Diego Garcia, composer Matthew Herbert whose latest project is making music from the skeleton of a horse, and poet Stephen Sexton who has written a poetry collection structured round every level of the 90s video game Super Mario World. Producer in Salford: Ruth Thomson. The Goldsmiths Prize of £10,000 is awarded to "a book that is deemed genuinely novel and which embodies the spirit of invention that characterises the genre at its best" https://www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-prize/prize2022/ Matthew Herbert's new piece for the Estuary Sound Ark will have its interactive world premiere at the Gulbenkian Arts Centre in Canterbury on Sunday 27th November at 3pm before being archived and left untampered with in a carefully selected location for 100 years. https://thegulbenkian.co.uk/events/estuary-sound-ark/ He has also published a novel The Music: An Album in Words Stephen Sexton won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2019 for If All the World and Love Were Young. This year he is judging the prize You can find a collection of discussions exploring Prose and Poetry on the Free Thinking programme website including a discussion of mould-breaking writing featuring Max Porter and Chloe Aridjis, poet Will Harris and academic Xine Yao https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000pxn0 and a series of episodes exploring modernism hearing from Will Self and Alexandra Harris and looking at Mrs Dalloway, Finnegans Wake, Dada and Wittgenstein https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07p3nxh

The Crown: as series five is with us, we review the next ten part instalment of Netflix's royal drama as it slips into more recent territory - the turmoil of the nineties. Plus jailed Iranian film director Jafar Panahi's new metafiction No Bears, in which he plays himself, forced to direct online from a village near Iran's Turkish border. With Kate Maltby and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh. Jez Butterworth: the playwright and screenwriter on his new show Mammals starring James Corden, airing on Amazon Prime. The Goldsmiths Prize: live from the ceremony, we hear from the winner of this year's £10,000 reward for fiction that, “breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.” Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson

Hvordan skriver man med pulsen på samtiden, uten å vite hvor man ender? Det ville Ali Smith finne ut av da hun satte i gang med et halsbrekkende eksperiment – etter å ha overtalt redaktøren sin: Hun skulle skrive fire bøker, om de fire årstidene, på fire år.Resultatet ble de fire kritikerroste og prisbelønnede bøkene Høst, Vinter, Vår og Sommer (alle til norsk ved Merete Alfsen), der vår egen samtid siver inn i romanuniverset. Skjebnen ville ha det til at disse årene ble ganske begivenhetsrike: I Storbritannia deler brexit folket, flyktningekrisa deler Europa, Donald Trump velges til president i USA og verden rammes av en global pandemi.Kvartetten er likevel fjernt fra samtids-reportasje. De fire romanene er gjennomsyret av Smiths gjenkjennelige lekenhet i både språk og handling, og en nærmest trassig optimisme. Historiene og persongalleriene i de fire romanene krysser hverandre, Smith drar veksler på Shakespeare og Dickens, og løfter fram underkjente kunstnere som Pauline Boty, Barbara Hepworth og Lorenza Mazzetti.Skotske Ali Smith er forfatter av mer enn 25 romaner, novellesamlinger og skuespill. Hun er vinner av en rekke priser, deriblant Goldsmiths Prize, Costa Books Award og Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, og hun har vært kortlistet til den prestisjetunge Booker-prisen hele fire ganger.Maria Horvei er forlagsredaktør og litteratur- og kunstkritiker. Nå møter hun Smith til samtale om litteraturen, kunsten, håpet og tiden vi lever i. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

We were joined in store this week by the wonderful Ali Smith to discuss Companion Piece, the the fifth-volume in the increasingly inaccurately named Seasons Quartet.Taking the ongoing pandemic as its backdrop, Companion Piece is a mischievous, enigmatic puzzle of a novel, that examines how companionship and togetherness might be possible in a world in which everything—from a deadly virus to the vested interests of corrupt politicians—is fighting to divide us.*SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR BONUS EPISODESLooking for Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses? https://podfollow.com/sandcoulyssesIf you want to spend even more time at Shakespeare and Company, you can now subscribe for regular bonus episodes and early access to Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses.Subscribe on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/sandcoSubscribe on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/shakespeare-and-company-writers-books-and-paris/id1040121937?l=enAll money raised goes to supporting “Friends of Shakespeare and Company” the bookshop's non-profit, created to fund our noncommercial activities—from the upstairs reading library, to the writers-in-residence program, to our charitable collaborations, and our free events.*Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962. She is the author of Spring, Winter, Autumn, Public library and other stories, How to be both, Shire, Artful, There but for the, The first person and other stories, Girl Meets Boy, The Accidental, The whole story and other stories, Hotel World, Other stories and other stories, Like and Free Love. Hotel World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize. The Accidental was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize. How to be both won the Bailey's Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Costa Novel of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Autumn was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017 and Winter was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2018. Ali Smith lives in Cambridge.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. Buy a signed copy of his novel FEEDING TIME here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/S/9781910296684/feeding-timeListen to Alex Freiman's Play It Gentle here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Natasha Brown is the author behind one of my favourite novels of recent years. Assembly runs to 100-pages and has already been compared to Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway. It was shortlisted for both the Folio and the Goldsmiths Prize, as well as being named the Foyles Bookshop Book of the Year. It tells the story of an unnamed Black British woman working at a bank in the city, who is confronted with the numbing aggression of racist encounters and systems as she confronts a life-or-death decision.When I first met Natasha, I knew I had to get her on the podcast. She is so wise, clever and emotionally intelligent. She talks to me about failures in social media, learning French and a tele-sales job that taught her about the power of language itself. We also discuss how she feels about failure given her objective levels of success, the concept of separating your own identity from what it is you do, race as a construct and what 'privilege' really means (if anything). Also: what she learned from studying Maths at university (yes, she's one of a select bunch of novelists with a Maths degree, including David Foster Wallace...).--Assembly by Natasha Brown is now out in paperback and available here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/444/444275/assembly/9780241992661.html--How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Naomi Mantin and Chris Sharp. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com--Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayHow To Fail @howtofailpod Natasha Brown @wordsbynatasha

Claire-Louise Bennett reads her story “Invisible Bird,” from the May 30, 2022, issue of the magazine. Bennett is the author of the short-story collection “Pond” and the novel “Checkout 19,” which was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize. 

DBC Pierre's Big Snake Little Snake is a characteristically freewheeling, riotous account of a couple of years the author lived in the Caribbean, spending his time, among other endeavours, conducting an inquiry into risk. It's also an extraordinarily fun book, yet with a deep seriousness at its core. Seeking to understand, as it does, how the world can be presented to us as fundamentally indifferent, while also being so clearly, and so often, unfair.Buy Big Snake, Little Snake here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/I/9781788169776/big-snake-little-snake-an-inquiry-into-risk*SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR BONUS EPISODESLooking for Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses? https://podfollow.com/sandcoulyssesIf you want to spend even more time at Shakespeare and Company, you can now subscribe for regular bonus episodes and early access to Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses.Subscribe on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/sandcoSubscribe on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/shakespeare-and-company-writers-books-and-paris/id1040121937?l=enAll money raised goes to supporting “Friends of Shakespeare and Company” the bookshop's non-profit, created to fund our noncommercial activities—from the upstairs reading library, to the writers-in-residence program, to our charitable collaborations, and our free events.*One of the nation's most uncompromising literary voices, DBC Pierre is author of the novels VERNON GOD LITTLE, LUDMILA'S BROKEN ENGLISH and LIGHTS OUT IN WONDERLAND, plus the picture book for distracted adults PETIT MAL and the Hammer novella BREAKFAST WITH THE BORGIAS. The novel VERNON GOD LITTLE sold in 43 territories and won the Man Booker Prize, the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, the Bollinger Wodehouse Everyman Award and the James Joyce Award from University College Dublin. His ground-breaking new novel MEANWHILE IN DOPAMINE CITY was published by Faber & Faber in August2020 and is short-listed for The Goldsmiths Prize.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. Buy a signed copy of his novel FEEDING TIME here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/S/9781910296684/feeding-timeListen to Alex Freiman's Play It Gentle here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1Shak Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends April 29th 2022. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references:https://twitter.com/PeteAustin_https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london/new-galleries Yemen: Price of War - the 'unaffordable' vending machinehttps://www.iwm.org.uk/history/yemen-price-of-war Second World War and Holocaust Galleries - It Happened To People Like You On A Day Like TodayMetro: https://metro.co.uk/2021/10/18/haunting-picture-of-londoners-sheltering-during-the-blitz-is-recreated-15443152/ Pete Austin is Assistant Director for Marketing & Communications at Imperial War Museums (IWM). He is responsible for audience, marketing, brand, comms and PR strategy across all five branches of the museum; IWM London, IWM North, Churchill War Rooms, HMS Belfast and IWM Duxford. Before IWM, Pete worked in Higher Education; running External Relations for UAL (University of the Arts London) and Goldsmiths, University of London where he helped to launch the Goldsmiths Prize for literature. He trained as a news journalist and was a Deputy Editor of a regional newspaper before his move into comms and PR. Transcriptions: Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson.In today's episode, I speak with Pete Austin, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communication at Imperial War Museums.We discuss the emotive marketing campaign developed for the opening of the new Second World War and Holocaust Galleries, the ‘innovation marketing' strategy IWM has adopted, and what innovation actually means. If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the user channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Pete, it is a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. Thank you for joining me.Pete Austin: No worries. Happy to be here.Kelly Molson: Maybe you won't be after the icebreakers. Although I thought I have been quite kind. Right. I want to know, what was the last song that you played on your Spotify account or other music streaming account?Pete Austin: That would be a song by Tom Odell called Heal, which makes me sound quite indie alternative, but it's actually because I just finished watching Giri/Haji, I don't know if you pronounce it like that, but there was a show a couple of years ago, Japanese show in London and Tokyo, it's on the BBC, but there was this song that kept popping up in it, so I had to find out what it was, it was Tom Odell, Heal. So that's the last song I listened to.Kelly Molson: Is that not your normal kind of music taste then?Pete Austin: It's not far off. I quite like the indie music, but I also like a lot of different music. So it depends on your mood, and I know that's a bit of a cop out, but genuinely anything. You could have asked me a few days ago, it could have been Bon Jovi while I was cleaning the bathroom.Kelly Molson: Because that is what you listen to when you clean the bathroom.Pete Austin: Exactly. Yeah. So you asked me on a day where I could appear cool, although now I've undone all that by mentioning Bon Jovi and the bathroom.Kelly Molson: I think that's fine. I used to have a running playlist, back in the day when I used to run, that doesn't happen anymore. And I had Eye of the Tiger on there because it was my eight mile track and that was like I really need to get through this eight mile, I need some motivation. Maybe Bon Jovi would have done that for me as well.Pete Austin: Maybe. Depends on the song, depends on the song.Kelly Molson: All right. If you could have an extra hour of free time every single day, what would you use that free time for?Pete Austin: I'd like to say something like playing guitar or writing or doing something I feel like I should be doing, but probably would just end up just sitting and having a coffee. I love that time in the morning when you can just chill out and have a chat before the day starts. So I'd like a bit more of that time before I get into it probably. But yeah.Kelly Molson: Yeah. It's nice, isn't it? A coffee and a magazine, or a coffee and a book just an hour of complete indulgence in something that you don't have to be productive for, you just enjoy.Pete Austin: Yeah. 100%. And I think I'm one of those people quite hard on myself about how I use my time as well. So even that question kind of brings me out in kind of sweats as well. It's like what would I do with that time? How would I make sure it's as productive as possible.Kelly Molson: You don't always have to be hustling, Pete, every day.Pete Austin: I know. I know.Kelly Molson: All right, what is the worst advice you've ever been given?Pete Austin: The worst advice I've ever been given. I've been given probably some awful advice. I think a bit of a cop out but I kind of went through school and sit and didn't really have any advice on what to do next. I'm probably of an age when a kind of careers advisor was probably quite a new thing, and I definitely didn't have any of that. So I suppose it's not the worst advice, but I got a lot of people telling me don't worry about this, don't worry about that, don't worry about university, do worry about university, it was all very mixed. I know everyone kind of carves their own path, but when I look back now and especially with friends and children of friends, they're just kind of getting to that age, I'm like just help them through it, help them decide what they want to do. So it's not necessarily worst advice, but definitely kind of absence of advice-Kelly Molson: Yeah, absence of advice is probably worse than bad advice, right?Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Not having a clue what to do. Pete Austin: I've had some awful advice just generally in life about go to this pub, don't go to that pub. You go into that pub you're like why did I listen to this person? So it's often when you take that advice you realise through the lens of which it's given, so you're standing in the world's stodgiest pub going oh this is why that person told me to go here, because they would fit in here.Kelly Molson: We will put the name of this pub in the show notes after for everyone.Pete Austin: Probably not just one.Kelly Molson: All right, Pete, what is your unpopular opinion? What have you got lined up for us?Pete Austin: My unpopular opinion, it came to me quite quickly and then I thought I can't really say it. My unpopular opinion, and I'm not sure if I'm going to get disowned by the entire nation, but is that Sunday roasts are a bit of a scam.Kelly Molson: What on earth? Honestly, this is the second time this has happened.Pete Austin: Is it?Kelly Molson: I cannot believe this.Pete Austin: Well firstly I think, to defend my position, I am coming at it mainly from the point of view when you go through a pub and have a Sunday roast. So, especially in London where I live, it's nearly 18 quid for two slices of meat and some vegetables. So that's a joke in itself, although that could be extended to a lot of pub and restaurant food. I just don't understand it. Yeah, my wife she's Greek Australian, she came over from Australia, she's got Greek parents. She is baffled by the notion that the roast as a concept doesn't make any sense, and when you really start to think about some of the stuff we do as a country, you start to question it. So yeah, that's my unpopular opinion. I've even tried defiantly to ignore it, I've cooked roasts, I've made roasts, big beef joints, big lamb joints and stuff, but I don't understand it. It's a lot of effort and I'm not sure what you get out of it at the end of the day.Kelly Molson: Oh god. I'm not even going to try and start thinking about it because everyone's going to ruin it, it genuinely is one of my favourite things is to go for, I think it's because my partner is a wedding photographer, so he works a lot on Fridays and Saturdays and so sometimes we'll go out and do something and we love going to the pub, a few beers, and a Sunday roast.Pete Austin: The pub bit.Kelly Molson: Yeah. The pub bit is okay, but cut out the roast for you. I'm not going to think about this too deeply because it will ruin my favourite day of the week, Pete.Pete Austin: Okay. I'm sorry.Kelly Molson: You should speak to Neil Dolan from Madame Tussauds, because he had exactly the same unpopular opinion, and he'd rather have a pizza.Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: So there's plenty weird out there, that's all I'm saying.Pete Austin: But just for the record and for clarity, one of my favourite things is a British pub. One of my favourite things is the pub. Everything about it. The older, the better. The cozier, the dingier, the better. So it's just the roast bit.Kelly Molson: Okay. So we can go for a beer.Pete Austin: Yeah. You can have your roast.Kelly Molson: We go for the roast, it's fine. We're all friends here, Pete. Okay. So we want to talk about marketing today and innovation in marketing.Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: I want to set the scene about why we're talking today. So back in October 2021, to mark the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, Imperial War Museums opened new Second World War and Holocaust galleries. Now, the marketing campaign for this launch was incredibly emotive and I think it's fair to say that neither of us expected to be speaking about this topic whilst there is an unjust war raging in Ukraine. So it's very important and we acknowledge that. But last week I actually saw a connection share one of these images on LinkedIn, and it felt scarily relatable for what those people are actually going through right at this moment in time. Can you just kind of talk us through those images to set the scene of what we're talking about, Pete?Pete Austin: Yeah, of course. So for anyone who hasn't seen it, and we can obviously share it as well, but we kind of took the decision, as you say, we were opening the Second World War and Holocaust Galleries Imperial War Museum London, and massive investment, massive moment for the museum, and the idea was that we wanted to kind of break away from the traditional museum marketing, which as we all know is kind of spotlight object and put the poster up. It's challenging with our subject matter to do that anyway, because lots of our objects even themselves require so much context. So we're always in a bit of a tricky boat on that front anyway. But we also wanted to innovate and we'll come onto that in a minute I'm sure, but the images that we used to kind of juxtapose against each other was a 1941 image of Londoners sheltering in a tube station during the Blitz, and we recreated that photograph as closely as we possibly could and bring it up to date.Pete Austin: So for example, people were sat looking at their phones, had their laptop cases, sat there with puddies on, whatever they would have probably had to do if they had to go and shelter if there were an air raid siren. So we recreated that image, and we didn't recreate it with any kind of drama added, or any kind of artistic license, it was really just to try and bring up to date and make relevant what normal people went through during that time, and this idea of it happened to people like you on a day like today was the tag, and that's very much what we tried to do with the image. It was shot by an amazing conflict photographer called Hazel Thompson. So we actually even got that kind of level of authenticity about how it would have been approached, and it formed the hero image for the campaign.Pete Austin: We did some other assets as well, but that's the main image, and that was really what we were trying to do was try and put people into feeling how it would have felt then, and that's a really challenging thing to do with that subject, for obvious reasons.Kelly Molson: Yeah. I mean it's incredibly emotive, as I said, to look at this picture, because you can see yourself in it. You can see somebody that looks like you, you can see that they would have been on their way to work, or on their way home at that point in time. They've got the things that you would be carrying, they're wearing the clothes that you would be wearing, and it is quite frightening to be able to visualise yourself in that situation. Is that what you were trying to achieve with it? To kind of make people feel like this literally could happen to them like this?Pete Austin: Yeah. Well I think it's a hard one. With ours, we're never trying to make people feel how it feels to be in any situation across our entire remit, and our remit is First World War to contemporary conflict, right up to the present day, because one, that's impossible to do. And two, it would be incredibly distasteful to try and replicate that kind of stuff. So we've got a very fine line to tread editorially anyway. What we're always trying to do, however, is to make things relevant and create resonance with the audience that just makes them think about what it would have been like then, and the easiest way to do that is to try and put it into people's worlds.Pete Austin: So it is a very challenging, we went through an extensive editorial processes on this because there are some images that you simply couldn't recreate or bring up to date or put into the 21st century, put into 2022 or 2021 without it just being a leap too far. This idea of the mundane, the mundanity of war in a way, like how it effects your every day, we've all seen those striking images from the front line and they're incredibly harrowing, incredibly emotional, but what we're trying to do with this is try and say this effected everyone. It was a global war, it would have effected you, it would have effected you differently to someone in a different country or down the road even, but it would have effected you, and it's trying to get that relevance across because the Second World War is falling out of living memory now, the Holocaust and the Second World War, it's becoming the only way to tell those stories will soon be through museums and through kind of archives and through objects. So we just needed to make it resonate really.Kelly Molson: Which it certainly did. I mean the launch campaign was an incredible success in terms of the press coverage and obviously what it did for the launch of the galleries itself. Was this part of, and we touched on innovation earlier, was this the start of your kind of innovation marketing strategy? Because that's something that you've tried to do a lot more of in your organisation.Pete Austin: It wasn't actually the start. So the strategy was signed off in 2018, I think. The first major campaign we did which had innovation at the heart of the strategy, and by the way, innovation is quite literally written into the strategy, so that's a brilliant place to start and a great thing to have for that kind of endorsement and mandate. The first campaign we did was a campaign for an exhibition at IWM North, which is in Stretford, about Yemen. And that was a different one as well and it comes back to that idea of how we can really bring it into people's lives, how you can make it resonate, how you can talk in the language of people that are going to visit the exhibition. And for that we did a public marketing stunt where we put a vending machine in the middle of Manchester Piccadilly Station, and the vending machine had all of the objects you expect to find in a vending machine, but they were all priced at the kind of multiplication of the inflation of the price of food that was currently in supermarkets in Yemen.Pete Austin: So one of the big issues with the Yemen conflict, especially at that time, was that it was in economic famine. So there was food on the shelves, but no one could afford it. So we were trying to bring that idea to people who were just getting off of their train in the morning coming to Manchester, Piccadilly, rushing up to our vending machine trying to buy a bottle of water for like 15 pounds. And then talking to them and going, obviously there's an exhibition where you can find out lots more information about this, but not just that, this kind of public service remit explaining what was behind it.Pete Austin: So we did that, in fact our campaign for that, outdoor campaign, the assets and the creative was all around a kind of fake supermarket price reduction campaign. So we had a box of eggs that were reduced from 32 pounds to 28 pounds, or something like that, and people would look at it and go what the hell is that? So we started with that, and we've done a couple of others, but then yeah, it was a big move to go from a relatively small exhibition at IWM North to one of the opening of our new permanent galleries at IWM London, but we just believe in this approach and we've seen the results of this approach. So for the Second World War and Holocaust galleries, we were like, this was just over the first two weeks, we were like 19% up on what we were supposed to get. So we got out there and we got into people's psyches I think.Kelly Molson: Brilliant. So it had a really positive effect, you achieved the remit that you set for it.Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: How do you, this is probably a massive question, but you don't wake up one morning and go right, we're going to be more innovative, and everyone's going to give us the budget to do this as well. How do you embed that culture of innovation into your strategies and into the marketing teams?Pete Austin: Yeah. It's a process for sure. I think the first thing to say is that when I joined IWM, IWM was doing brilliantly. This wasn't innovation through need of just changing everything or overhauling everything. I came in 2017, towards the end of the First World War centenary. Obviously massive program of activity. But one of the things and one of the main drivers for the innovation strategy is we have a really strong core audience, but we want to develop new audiences. And to develop new audiences, you have to look at how you're doing things and potentially do things slightly differently.Pete Austin: So the first step was taking on board that which kind of, I'm the senior [inaudible 00:16:24] kind of audience growth strategy, so having a look at those audiences in which we want to grow, who they are and how to reach them, because obviously innovation is great, but innovation isn't just about having loads of fun and trying things. You have to have a strategy behind it as well. So step one was really looking at that audience growth strategy and saying these are the audiences we want to reach and we've got to innovate. And it's interesting you mention budgets there because part of the innovation is really to try and do it within the existing budget, because actually the opposite of innovation would just be investment. Because we could just say look, I'm a marketeer. You want to reach these audiences? Give me a massive pile of cash and I'm sure I can reach them. But that wasn't an option, obviously. So it was a case of how we innovate within what we currently do, and that was a massive, massive driver.Pete Austin: So to use the Second World War and Holocaust Galleries example, we got double our spend almost by creating something that was a moment that also got media coverage, that also became something within itself that people were talking about. So there's the marketing spend, the marketing application, so the marketing mix, out of home, digital, plus the press we got. So it's really bringing that markings together. But step one was going to the exec board and to the trustees and saying I want to put innovation at the heart of our marketing strategy and here's why, evidence with data that says that innovating in these ways would be reaching new audiences, and that's definitely something that started to happen.Kelly Molson: Where did the data come from? Was that just researching the target audience that you were trying to get more of?Pete Austin: Yeah. We do a lot of data research, market based data. So we had our market based data. We had some existing segments. We had to rationalise them, we had to really examine whether they were the right ones we were going after. One of the jobs I did when I came in was to really look at how well we penetrated those segments because to be honest, some of them we were over investing in and getting under return. So it was really about rationalising those, and getting the organisation on board with them as well.Pete Austin: So part of the issue I had with the first round of the audience strategy was there was a lot of different audiences, and now we've got a core audience and it's across all five branches of the Imperial War Museums, and we've also got these development audiences as well which we know a lot about, we know how they behave. We've also gone through enough cycles now to plug that back into how they behave when they come to the museum. They're no longer just a hypothetical audience on a pen potrait, they're out there in the world, they're coming through the museum now, and we can say more about what our version of those development audiences look like and what they want to see in marketing, what they want to resonate with, what they most engage with, when they come into the branch, what do they most want to go and see? So building up this picture is kind of alongside this innovation strategy, so we can then plug it into that and amplify the results.Kelly Molson: So how do you empower your team to be more innovative? Where do the ideas come from? How do you kind of create that? You mentioned the campaign that you had with the vending machine, I think that's incredibly innovative and I can see the power of that. I can see myself walking up to it and being really interested in it. So where did the ideas come from? Is it like a team collaborative effort?Pete Austin: 100%, yeah, it's definitely within the team. So marketing communications and the digital team as well, and actually an idea can come from anywhere in the organisation. It genuinely is democratic when it comes to where the ideas come from, and often it's a collaborative process, so the vending machine idea started life within the team, but it didn't start life as a vending machine. It started life with that was the idea, what if there was a whole shop that you went into where you couldn't afford anything. Which wasn't a massive kind of cerebral leap, because that is what we were seeing in Yemen. But then we were like we can't do that. The branch of test is quite expensive marketing campaign.Pete Austin: So then the vending machine idea came through. Then the really amazing people in the team, the marketing team, who had to deal with the very interesting ins and outs of, I don't know, there was even stuff around obviously there was really basic stuff like where do we buy the food from? What do we put in it? What should the actual calculations be? Because obviously the inflation is a figure, but it's not necessarily a universally defined figure, so we had to kind of make it roughly accurate. What do you do with the food afterwards? There was so much stuff we had to think about. But the ideas come from anywhere, and they come from largely within the marketing communications digital team, but they really just get brought to life collaboration across those teams, but I'm so lucky to have such amazing teams that do that.Kelly Molson: I mean you obviously, what you've been doing, the strategy has really resonated with the audience that you're trying, because you've seen the campaigns have been successful and you've had people come through the door that you're wanting to attract. But it feels like it might have really invigorated the team internally as well. There's much more opportunity to be creative within the budgets that you have. Much more opportunity to collaborate. It feels quite exciting.Pete Austin: Yeah, hopefully. You'd have to ask them. Yeah, no, it is exciting. I think there is a bit of a misnomer about what innovation really means as well, so we have to go through a process of kind of turn definition and myth busting. Now, the vending machine is almost, for the sake of trying to explain to the team what innovation is, it's almost a bad example, because it's totally new, it's totally something the museum hasn't done before, it's a stunt. And I think sometimes innovation is seen as a marketing stunt. Well that's not necessarily innovation, putting a wrap all around Oxford Circus Chew for Stranger Things, the next series. That's not innovation, that's called having millions of pounds.Pete Austin: So I wanted to get into the team that innovation doesn't have to mean big public stunts. And a really good example is, one member of the team innovated something that was so simple, but it was such a great example, I keep using it about obviously we've got vending machines, we put a spitfire in London Bridge station for D-Day 75. This is all innovative, but it's also big and it's stunty and I don't think that's necessarily what it's all about. One of the members of the team, we're seeing that we actually put a lot of marketing spend, or maybe not a lot, but more than we'd want to in kind of shoots and modeling shoots for our campaigns, and we weren't always getting, the classic point is you put people in your marketing that you want to come into your museum, so we're not always getting what we wanted and it was always a challenge. And she was like look, we've got loads of volunteers who are people that are massively engaged at the museum, they do look like our audience, and a lot of them look like who we want our audience to look like. There's a pull there, they're engaged, they want to be involved.Pete Austin: So she started this pool of models within our volunteer group to be in our marketing. And that's just a great example of how that is exactly what we're innovating to try and innovate to do which is to diversify our audience by making people see themselves in our marketing, not a model family, no matter what they look like, they don't look like necessarily like people like themselves, and it also cuts down on marketing spend, which means we can invest it into reaching wider audiences.Pete Austin: So that's such a tiny example, but I was really pleased when that came through because I was trying to get across to the group that innovation wasn't about just going wild, having fun, and seeing how it works, and if it doesn't, don't worry about it. I was like no, we still have to be incredibly strategic about this, and obviously responsible about it as well. I didn't get given any extra money to enact this innovation marketing, so that was almost well if you want to do it, you've got to innovate on that front as well.Kelly Molson: That is such a perfect example, because I think when the word innovation is thrown into the mix, you do automatically go oh it has to be something new. It has to be something that we've never done before, and it does have to be big, a real statement piece. And I think that's what scares potentially some museums, or scares organisations because that sounds expensive, and that sounds frightening, and nobody likes big change, right?Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: But something like that, that's an amazing way of being able to innovate, and it's saved you money, and it doesn't have to be big and shiny and flashy, but it's absolutely perfect.Pete Austin: Yeah. Well I love that example, because don't get me wrong, we've done some amazing big things as well, and the Second World War and Holocaust Galleries poster is really the biggest thing we've done because it was the biggest risk. Essentially our senior leadership and trustees were signing off a non traditional museum marketing campaign for the biggest thing the museum has done since the First World War Galleries at IWM London. So that was big and that was innovative, and its seen great results, and as we've mentioned earlier on through absolutely no foresight or nothing we saw coming, it's perhaps even more resonant and relevant right now, and that's great. But those smaller things about innovating, and that was the big process I was talking about going through with the team, you can innovate processes, you can innovate anything that makes the marketing more efficient, more spend available, we can put it into reaching those new audiences. It doesn't have to be on that front line of the creative for the campaign, it can be way further back. We've innovated some really small internal processes as well about how we do things, how we collaborate. So it hasn't all been this all singing, all dancing, nominated for awards stuff. It's been this kind of behind the scenes stuff too.Kelly Molson: This is what I was going to ask you, because it's difficult to know how you gauge the innovation strategy is successful, but I guess there's two strands to it, isn't it? And you talked a little bit about the campaigns that you've done, they've achieved what you've set out to in terms of getting the numbers through the doors. But I guess there's the other strand of internal processes like you say have been improved. So how do you know if what you've done has really hit the mark, how do you look at what the KPIs are and whether it's achieved that?Pete Austin: Yeah. Well we set KPIs and we set targets like we do for all of our campaigns, and because the innovation element of the marketing is so intertwined with the whole campaign, in essence, we wouldn't reach KPIs if it wasn't working. But that's kind of how we look back on the campaign and see how it worked. But I think if I just looked back at how long the organisations had these developed and audiences in place and how we hit target for different campaigns, we've definitely seen since we took this new approach, we've hit targets and over achieved. But also interestingly, it's hard to attribute that success directly to just the kind of marketing obviously, because part of that innovation, part of what happens in an organization when you get that senior level sign off for this approach is you then have to start having conversations with the exhibitions team, the design team, the curators.Pete Austin: It then genuinely kind of becomes cultural. So for example then, you're not sat there just receiving the next exhibition or season and being asked how to market it, because you've had these conversations, you're helping to lead that conversation, you're helping to embed that from the start, and it's nice to hear now when it's referenced as Pete's strategy, or this strategy that we've got to do, how would it fit to this if we were doing this thing? And then the great thing about that is if you're starting from that process, the KPIs are even easier to reach, because you're not pushing uphill anymore, you're kind of it's all happening together.Pete Austin: But the crucial thing for us as well, and it kind of comes back to that point you said about what other organisations do, or how it all started, is not to throw the baby out with the bath water. I think one of the big things about innovation is people are scared of it because they're like hang on a minute, I don't want to massively effect what's going really well already, and we definitely didn't do that. If you look at IWM's output, we've not stopped doing what we think is really appealing to our core audiences. We still do a lot of that. Its just also happening alongside it and to compliment it, and it's crucial that you can kind of do that sensitively as well.Kelly Molson: Yeah. So that's really important, isn't it? Because it's not all in one or all in the other. You've got to have this as part of kind of an intertwined strategy I guess with the core audience that you have who are maybe not going to be as kind of engaged with some of the more innovative things that you've done.Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: What would you do differently? Is there anything that you've learned while you've been through the process that you think that you would have done in a different way? You can say no if you feel like you've nailed it. No, nothing.Pete Austin: No. I think I would have, I think it was a really, really collaborative process, but there were definitely areas of the museum I would have engaged earlier in this process, I think. Ideal world, I would have sat down with everyone, one by one, and we would have talked about what this means and their hopes and dreams and fears for what innovation in marketing means, and I think it was sometimes hard for me to have conversations with perhaps curators and people that were working, because often this manifested itself in the marketing for an exhibition. So these people are in this day in, day out, and for something like Yemen as well, not necessarily this is an example, but for something like Yemen, these are curators who are actively trying to bring objects back from a life conflict. To say they're invested and to say they're kind of absolutely in this would be an understatement. Some of the stories they can tell you would be amazing about how we get these objects back from essentially a live conflict.Pete Austin: So then to say to someone, I'm going to put a vending machine in Manchester Piccadilly Station and the poster for your exhibition that you've probably almost risked your life on is going to be a box of eggs. It's like okay, that's not the time to have that conversation. The time to have that conversation was 12 months earlier and really talk it through. But 12 months earlier, the strategy hadn't been signed off. So I think I would just try to speak to teams who were actively involved in whatever product it would be that we were doing the innovation marketing for as early as possible, and the great thing now is everyone knows this and we're in a process. For example, the Second World War and Holocaust Galleries, we set out our ambitions through that kind of campaign from the very start, pre COVID that was our plan, and then we ended up delivering it in October last year. So that's a great example of how it does work, but the challenge is getting those people on board and helping to understand why you're doing things, and also crucially understand why you're not doing it, not just, like I said, for a laugh, or just because it's more fun. It's like this will genuinely resonate more with the audience we want to visit the exhibition.Kelly Molson: The crux of it comes down to communication, communication, communication with anything like this.Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: There will be other museums, there will be other attractions out there that I think there's something they definitely need to do, because everyone's in a situation now where they have a core audience, but yes, they do need to look at new audiences coming through and how they're going to attract those.Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: What advice would you give to other museums at this point who are thinking they would like to be more innovative about the campaigns that they're launching.Pete Austin: Yeah, I think my advice always would be to start with the audience you're trying to reach, and that's what we did, and that's really where it was all formed from, really looking at the audience growth strategy that we've put in place and go how do we want to reach them, and do we need to innovate to reach them? Or do we just need to keep doing what we're doing, but do it slightly differently. And I know that's technically innovating, but it's not really. Do we just need a slightly different marketing mix is not innovation. I'd root everything in that. We had some audiences that we ended up reaching way more effectively than we thought. We had some that we didn't. That was the kind of landscape I was coming into. So it's really a case of trying to work out and crucially agreeing with the organisation who you should be targeting, and then whether you really need to innovate to do it.Pete Austin: I think you definitely, definitely need buy in, you need senior buy in. It's not something, not that any strategy is, but something like this is definitely not something you can just do, because if you just do it, and you don't do it with a plan for how you're going to continue to keep doing it, then it's just a flash in the pan and it's the very definition of a stunt rather than a strategy. I was very fortunate in that the senior team and trustees were on board with this idea and this approach.Pete Austin: And then I suppose, just to come back to that point I made earlier, don't overhaul change things. Don't go too far. Innovation doesn't mean chucking everything out and starting again, it can mean tweaks. It can just mean how are we going to innovate in this one area. It's like a research and design department in a way, just focus on one area at a time if you want to see where the results might come with out effecting the entire organisation. There's no way we'd of started any of this with the Second World War and Holocaust Galleries and maybe even if Yemen didn't reach over visitor target and the campaign didn't get as much press and didn't get as much attention as it got, maybe we wouldn't have carried on with it. It's just we would have always reflected and worked out whether that was the right thing to be doing. We're not carrying on belligerently in the face of the whole world telling us it's not working. This is kind of the process we're going through.Kelly Molson: Communicate and then actually listen to what your audience is telling you.Pete Austin: Yeah. Just basics.Kelly Molson: Good advice, Pete.Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: What's coming up next for IWM? What interesting things are happening in the next few months?Pete Austin: We've got a lot going on. Like all visitor attractions and museums, we're just getting back up and running, really. We're really enjoying that. We've got a big exhibition coming up at IWM London later this year on war gaming, so that should be really interesting. And yeah, trying to get people back on the HMS Belfast, onto the ship on the Thames. Summer campaigns around that, more activities especially for families, getting people used to going out again, visiting London, going to those big attractions. Churchill War Rooms, we're slightly revising the offer at Churchill War Rooms with a view to getting more people back there, hopefully international tourists come back, that's a common theme, a common thread with all your guests and all of the discussions around the sector. And yeah, just really getting things up and running again and getting people back, I suppose.Pete Austin: I'm interested as well, not to make a big point about it, but for us as well, we're looking at how we do or don't react and reflect and contextualise the current world events. We have a role and a remit and our role and remit is to really kind of deepen understanding of these conflicts and how conflict starts and how it progresses and the impact on peoples lives, and I don't think we could necessarily ignore what's going on at the moment in Ukraine, but as an organisation it's how we react to that, what our role should be, because that's a really interesting life topic at the moment.Kelly Molson: Yeah, definitely. And yeah, there's a level of sensitivity that needs to run through everything that you're doing in terms of that as well.Pete Austin: Exactly. We're very well placed for that. I always joke that we're the experts on dealing with sensitive topics. We really, really do it every day. You're not the global authority on the Holocaust or one of the world's most respected Second World War and Holocaust galleries without knowing how to tackle a few tangled subjects. So I think it's something we can do, it's just something we've got to look at how we do it and how we execute it. But yeah, it's really interesting time.Kelly Molson: Yeah, absolutely. Well I have one more question for you, but I also have a request, Pete, while I have you here. So it's for Duxford, which is my local Imperial War Museum.Pete Austin: Okay.Kelly Molson: I'm like 15 minutes away from Duxford.Pete Austin: Right.Kelly Molson: I mean, Duxford is fantastic, it's an awesome place to go and have a look around. I'm not necessarily even a plane nut, but wow, it is seriously impressive. You do need to be, and we've seen the air shows multiple times. I had a brilliant evening out at Duxford a few years ago where they had an open air cinema, and they showed my favourite film, Pete. They put Top Gun on. We watched Top Gun underneath the planes, we had to walk into the hangers to go to the toilet, it was absolutely phenomenal. Can you make that happen again? Can you make that happen? Put in a word?Pete Austin: I'm sure we can, yeah, I'll put in a word. Those kinds of things are amazing, aren't they? I'm sure you and anyone that's ever worked in visitor attraction and organisation knows how hard those things are to put on as well, because they often sit so isolated from your kind of rolling program and all that stuff. You mention air shows, you get into a rhythm of running two, three air shows a year, and suddenly they're really well oiled machines, and those stand alone events are sometimes a challenge, but they're also a massive example of how we can get people in who, like you say, don't just want to come necessarily to see the planes. I'll put in a word.Kelly Molson: Appreciate that.Pete Austin: And if we can't do it, we'll just get you to drive in, we'll put a TV screen up, you can just park your car in front of a 40 inch screen, we'll put Top Gun on.Kelly Molson: Great. I'm down for that as well. All right Pete, what about a book that you love? We always end the podcast asking our guests if they've got a book that they love that they would like to share with us?Pete Austin: Yeah. Again, I had a long think about this. So I used to be a journalist, so I feel like it kind of reflects on you when you're asked about your favourite book. I don't ever really recommend or have any strong recommendations for kind of marketing books. I'm not one of those people. I've always been a learner through people teaching and listening and engaging, so I'm not a big book person up front. I think a book that is definitely, I've read at every stage of my life is Animal Farm, by George Orwell, and it's meant something at different stages. I always come back to it, there's a few books I always come back to, and maybe I'm not going to re read it, but I've genuinely re read that book so many times, and I just think maybe that's what maybe early days when I was reading it, Orwell's kind of approach and commentary was something that made me even want to become a journalist.Pete Austin: So that's the main book, but then I'm also, my wife made me say that's a great answer, but if anyone ever sees you now going to see you reading a trashy poolside thriller and they're going to ask why you're not reading something from George Orwell's cannon, and that is true. I don't know about you, but when I go away, I don't want to have to think-Kelly Molson: No. You want escapism.Pete Austin: Yeah. So go and buy and book, or usually go to the charity shop, grab the trashiest thriller book you can get. So yeah, if anyone ever sees me at the Holiday Expo, don't expect me to be reading 1984 or anything. It's going to be-Kelly Molson: Some James Patterson on his back, that's what he's got.Pete Austin: Yeah.Kelly Molson: I love it. Brilliant. All right. Well thank you, Pete. That's a great recommendation of a book. So as ever, if you want to win a copy of Pete's book, if you go to our Twitter account and you retweet this episode announcement with the words I want Pete's book, then you'll be in with a chance of winning it. Pete, it's been really lovely to have you on the podcast today. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing. Just for anyone listening, what we'll do is Pete will very kindly share me links to all of the things that we've talked about today, so you can go and have a look at the campaigns that we've discussed from the show notes. Please go and visit the Imperial War Museums if you haven't been. If you haven't been and you're listening, you're mad. Go. They are absolutely incredible places. Go and learn and understand about the things that have happened to people from the past. Thanks, Pete.Pete Austin: No worries. Thank you very much.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese,, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

Anakana Schofield is the author of Bina: A Novel in Warnings, a New York Review Book. Schofield is an award-winning Irish-Canadian writer of fiction, essays, and literary criticism. Her previous novels are Malarky (2012) and Martin John (2015). The UK edition of Bina was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Launched in 2011. Books. Literature. Writing. Publishing. Authors. Screenwriters. Etc. Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, etc. Subscribe to Brad Listi's email newsletter. Support the show on Patreon Merch @otherppl Instagram  YouTube Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pages 336 - 344│Sirens, part II│Read by Eimear McBrideEimear McBride is the author of three novels: Strange Hotel, The Lesser Bohemians and A Girl is a Half-formed Thing. The extended essay, Something Out of Place: Women and Disgust, is her most recent work. She is a recipient of the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmiths Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and held the inaugural creative fellowship at the Beckett Research Centre.Buy Something Out of Place here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/d/9781788162869/something-out-of-place-women-disgust*Looking for our author interview podcast? Listen here: https://podfollow.com/shakespeare-and-companySUBSCRIBE NOW FOR EARLY EPISODES AND BONUS FEATURESAll episodes of our Ulysses podcast are free and available to everyone. However, if you want to be the first to hear the recordings, by subscribing, you can now get early access to recordings of complete sections.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/channel/shakespeare-and-company/id6442697026Subscribe on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/sandcoIn addition a subscription gets you access to regular bonus episodes of our author interview podcast. All money raised goes to supporting “Friends of Shakespeare and Company” the bookshop's non-profit.*Discover more about Shakespeare and Company here: https://shakespeareandcompany.comBuy the Penguin Classics official partner edition of Ulysses here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/d/9780241552636/ulyssesFind out more about Hay Festival here: https://www.hayfestival.com/homeAdam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. Find out more about him here: https://www.adambiles.netBuy a signed copy of his novel FEEDING TIME here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/S/9781910296684/feeding-timeDr. Lex Paulson is Executive Director of the School of Collective Intelligence at Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique in Morocco.Original music & sound design by Alex Freiman.Hear more from Alex Freiman here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1Follow Alex Freiman on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/alex.guitarfreiman/Featuring Flora Hibberd on vocals.Hear more of Flora Hibberd here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5EFG7rqfVfdyaXiRZbRkpSVisit Flora Hibberd's website: This is my website:florahibberd.com and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/florahibberd/ Music production by Adrien Chicot.Hear more from Adrien Chicot here: https://bbact.lnk.to/utco90/Follow Adrien Chicot on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/adrienchicot/Photo of Eimear McBride by Sophie Bassouls See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Richard Beard describes his experiences at boarding school and considers how the emotionally bleak culture represses empathy. The reward is a pathway to a lucrative career. Richard Beard's six novels include Damascus, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and Acts of the Assassins which was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize. His memoir, The Day That Went Missing, won the 2018 PEN Ackerley Award for literary autobiography. His new book, Sad Little Men, is about his experiences of boarding school from an early age .

Anakana Schofield is an award-winning Irish-Canadian writer of fiction, essays, and literary criticism. Her previous novels are Malarky (2012) and Martin John (2015). The UK edition of Bina was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. Schofield lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. A provocative, feminist novel about a woman who persists in spite of the violence, injustice, and oppression that fills her world. Bina is a woman who's had enough and isn't afraid to say so. “I'm here to warn you, not reassure you,” she announces at the book's outset. In a series of taut, urgent missives she attempts to set the record of her life straight, and in doing so, to be useful to others. Yet being useful is what landed her in jail. Empathy is her Achilles' heel. Her troubles seem to stem from an injured stranger named Eddie, and they multiply when her charity extends from delivering meals to the elderly to working with the dying. No good deed of hers goes unpunished and the costs of her capacity for care are legion, as one by one she is denied her livelihood, her health, and her freedom, but her voice continues resolutely, an act of friendship in itself. Bina is an unsettling, thought-provoking novel of formal inventiveness and moral and emotional complexity by a bold and talented writer.

We're on to the hard stuff now: sub-saharan baboons and grooming as a tool for promoting longevity, rogue males, currencies in friendship, feral children, niche succession, the mythical hinterland of the Peak District in weird fiction, and 1980s Variety Club Sunshine Coaches.One of the main findings of “Social Bonds. social status and survival in wild baboons”, a fascinating (and recent) paper by Fernando A. Campos et al, is that male baboons who are “strongly bonded” to older females (ie groomed by them) live longer. But dominant males without these tactile platonic relationships with females have shorter lifespans. Why? And do we need to revisit some assumptions about dominance itself? If grooming by females is so crucial, then is the troop really “led” by the alpha male?In Climbers (1989), a novel by 2020 Goldsmiths Prize-winner M. John Harrison, scaling peaks is another kind of bonding, or grooming, for humans. The end of manufacturing in the 1980s turned UK's industrial heartlands into places of acute socio-economic deprivation, with a high incidence of (often male) suicide and substance dependency. What Harrison's book makes clear is that the road back to social cohesion is participatory, though the most interesting participants may not look much like alpha citizens. His central chapter, “Escapees”, is an allegorical fantasy about lost and directionless children who take over a landscape and a niche vacated by more responsible adults.

Philip Dodd is joined by Roger Scruton, Haroon Mirza, Kevin Davey and Kirsty Gunn to explore writing, modernism and experiment from T. S. Eliot onwards. Roger Scruton's books include 'How to be a Conservative' and 'England: An Elegy'. His most recent is 'Where We Are'. Kevin Davey's novel 'Playing Possum' was shortlisted for the 2017 Goldsmiths Prize - a prize for writing which embodies the spirit of invention Kirsty Gunn is the author of novels including 'The Big Music' and 'The Boy and the Sea'Haroon Miza has new work at the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne from 20th January-8th April Producer: Debbie Kilbride Main Image: L-R: Kevin Davey, Haroon Mirza, Kirsty Gunn, Roger Scruton and presenter Philip Dodd.

Robert Pattinson on his new film Good Time, set in the streets of Queens as the consequences of a bank robbery entangle his character Connie in a violent web of swift, provocative responses and lies. It's a million miles from Twilight and he talks about his choice of films since his role in the hugely successful franchise.Poet Ian McMillan has written libretto for the first opera to be performed in a South Yorkshire accent, including local dialect. We speak to Ian and the tenor Nicholas Sales, of Heritage Opera, about the challenges of singing in the cadences of a Barnsley voice. With Paddington back in cinemas, and the bear's voice once again being provided by Ben Whishaw - a far cry from that of Michael Hordern in the TV series in the '70s - Adam Smith considers the importance of the voice of an animated character, and what happens when the familiar tones are replaced by the voice of another actor. The Goldsmiths Prize is awarded annually and celebrates inventive writing. Previous winners include Eimear McBride and Ali Smith. As the 2017 prize is awarded this evening, we'll be announcing the result and talking to the winner from the ceremony.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Rebecca Armstrong.