Podcasts about Granta

Mike talks with Rana Dasgupta, recipient of a 2025 Windham-Campbell Prize in Nonfiction, about the pleasures of the 1958 novel The Leopard as well as its Visconti-directed film adaptation and how both projects reflect on our present tenuous moment. Born in Canterbury, United Kingdom, Rana Dasgupta has lived in the United States, India, and France. His work includes Tokyo Cancelled (2005), a collection of contemporary folktales, and a novel, Solo (2009), which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (2010). In 2014, he published his first nonfiction work, Capital: The Eruption of Delhi. His clear-eyed observation of 21st-century crises lies at the heart of his highly anticipated forthcoming book, After Nations (2026), which explores the dissipation of the powers of the nation-state and seeks ways for us to navigate the resulting confusion. As an essayist, Dasgupta has contributed to distinguished outlets such as Harper's, Granta, and The New Statesman. For several years, he taught a course on 21st-century culture and ideas at Brown University. His lectures on the nation-state, and the possibilities beyond it, have been hosted by the Berggruen Institute, the Serpentine Gallery, the House of World Cultures, and elsewhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's our second week of “cucumber season” programming, and fair warning: we're really leaning into the late-summer goofiness. This week, we go hard on German gastronomy, with a deep dive into Europe's declining alcohol consumption and a recap of the utterly absurd row over the origins of Bratwurst. Because we don't want you to think we've totally lost the plot, we also had a perfectly civilised conversation with Robert Winder, the prolific author and sometime editor of The Independent and Granta whose new book, Three Rivers, comes out next week. Robert spoke with our producer Katz about the waterways that shape Europe as we know it—and about their future in a warming climate. You can purchase the book here on 28 August.  This week's Inspiration Station recommendations are the Danish film The Guilty and the audio recordings of Colm Tóibín's novels Brooklyn and Long Island. Our Happy Ending comes from Helsinki, which managed to go an entire year with no traffic fatalities! You can read more about the milestone achievement here and how they did it here. This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it's contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number. 00:00:47 Welcome back to cucumber season! 00:03:09 Good Week: European livers 00:16:29 Bad Week: Bratwurst ensnared in national feud 00:31:16 Interview: Robert Winder reconnects us with the poetry of rivers 00:44:00 The Inspiration Station: the film The Guilty and Colm Tóibín's novels Brooklyn and Long Island  00:49:11 Happy Ending: Helsinki successfully stamps out road deaths Producers: Morgan Childs, Katz Laszlo, and Wojciech Oleksiak Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina YouTube | Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | hello@europeanspodcast.com

In this episode Adam speaks with translator Frank Wynne and Argentinian writer Samanta Schweblin about the first-ever English edition of Mafalda, the beloved Argentine comic strip by Quino (Archipelago Books). Together, they explore how this precocious, principled six-year-old girl—who challenged everything from soup to capitalism—shaped generations of readers in Argentina and beyond. Frank discusses the joys and puzzles of translating Mafalda's quick wit and political edge, while Samanta recalls how the strip introduced her to feminism, philosophy, and satire as a child. The conversation touches on cartooning as subversion, and why Mafalda's questions still matter today. Whether you're meeting Mafalda for the first time or grew up with her, this episode is a moving celebration of one of the 20th century's most enduring comic heroines.Buy Mafalda: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/mafalda-3*Samanta Schweblin won the 2022 National Book Award for Translated Literature for her story collection, Seven Empty Houses. Her debut novel, Fever Dream, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, and her novel Little Eyes and story collection Mouthful of Birds have been longlisted for the same prize. Her books have been translated into more than forty languages, and her stories have appeared in English in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, Harper's Magazine and elsewhere. Originally from Buenos Aires, Schweblin lives in Berlin. Good and Evil and Other Stories is her third collection.Frank Wynne is a writer and award-winning literary translator. Born in Ireland he has lived and worked in Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Buenos Aires and currently lives in San José, Costa Rica. He has translated more than a dozen major novels, among them the works of Michel Houellebecq, Frédéric Beigbeder, Pierre Mérot and the Ivorian novelist Ahmadou Kourouma. A journalist and broadcaster, he has written for the Sunday Times, the Independent, the Irish Times, Melody Maker, and Time Out.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.

Notes and Links to Camille Adams' Work          CAMILLE U. ADAMS, Ph.D. was born and raised in beautiful Trinidad and Tobago. She is the author of the explosive memoir How To Be Unmothered: a Trinidadian memoir, finalist in the Restless Books Prize in New Immigrant Writing 2023.    Camille is a memoirist, a poet, and a nature writer. She has been awarded Best of The Net—nonfiction 2024. She has received five Pushcart Prize nominations and three Best of the Net nominations for her memoir writing. Camille's work has also received recognition as a notable essay in Best American Essays 2022. Her writing has been long-listed in the Graywolf Creative nonfiction Prize 2022 and selected as a finalist for The 2021 Orison Anthology Award in Nonfiction.    Her other honours include an awarded fellowship as an inaugural Tin House Reading Fellow, an inaugural Granta nature writing workshop fellowship, an inaugural Anaphora Arts Italy Writing Retreat Fellowship, a McKnight Doctoral Fellowship, a Community of Writers Fellowship, A VONA scholarship, and a Roots Wounds Words Fellowship.    A Tin House Summer Workshop alum, Camille has served as a juried reader for Tin House for two consecutive years and as a moderator for two author panels. She has also received support from Kenyon Writers Workshop, Grubstreet, and others.   In addition, Camille has been an associate CNF editor at Variant Lit and an assistant memoir editor at Split Lip Magazine and at The Account. She has long taught English and creative writing, emphasising the importance of strong craft, beautiful prose, and ugly truths.   Having earned her MFA in Poetry from City College CUNY and her Ph.D. in Creative Nonfiction from FSU, Camille currently teaches creative writing and literature in New York City. She is at work on her second memoir. Buy How to Be Unmothered: A Trinidadian Memoir   Camille U. Adams' Website    Excerpt from How to Be Unmothered     At about 2:55, Camille talks about her ideal writing environments and she and Pete bond over Pete's  At about 5:00, Camille responds to Pete's question about what books and stories resonate with her students-she references Javier Zamora and Derek Walcott and Jamaica Kincaid At about 8:00, the two discuss purchasing details for How to Be Unmothered At about 9:15, Camille shares great early feedback for the memoir  At about 11:35, Camille responds to Pete's question about her early reading loves At about 14:30, Pete cites Jamaica Kincaid's masterful work and Camille shouts out George Lanning, Samuel Selvon, Paul Keyes Douglas, and other masterful Caribbean writers At about 16:50, Camille responds to Pete's questions about the “push-and-pull” of colonialist language and history in Trinidad At about 21:00, Camille highlights Daniel José Older's brilliant work as the two discuss evocative language  At about 22:25, Camille cites calypso and its performances as a keen example of the dynamic nature of language   At about 24:05, Camille and Pete discuss the book's dedication and epigraph (eek-Pete first calls it an “epitath”), with Camille sharing an insightful story on an idea's generative appearance in her head At about 28:40, Camille responds to Pete's question about the significance of her memoir's chapter titles as different trees At about 31:05, Pete and Camille set out the exposition for the memoir, especially the pivotal opening scene; Camille expounds on the long drive recounted and how it serves as a sort of cultural and historical tour of Trinidad At about 35:00, Camille talks about her  At about 36:25, Camille talks about the Trinidian term “hotfoot,” as the two discuss double standards for men and women At about 38:20, No spoilers! as Pete highlights an evocative and creative section about rum At about 40:55, Camille reflects on an “initiation” and on ideas of dominion over nature At about 44:00, Camille examines ideas of being a child and expectations and tropes around parent-child alienations At about 46:50, The two discuss an evocative series of scenes and ideas of intimacy and forced burdens At about 49:40, Camille responds to Pete's musings about the somatic sensations depicted in the book, including introducing the wise, apt saying: “there is no past tense in the body” At about 54:00, Camille describes traumatic experiences heaped on children in general and on herself, as she reflects on ideas of “property” and a lack of agency At about 58:00, Camille talks about why she can't and won't live with “unlove” At about 1:00:00, Camille discusses ideas of joy and resilience and vulnerability and “strip[ping] words of meaning and connections to political and psychological consciousness  At about 1:04:50, Camille highlights a meaningful song, The Journey” by Chris “Tambu” Herbert  At about 1:07:40, Camille teases her second book      You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode.       Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review.     Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl      Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This month's Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of flawed characters, protagonists who are too real in their actions, and horror and noir as being where so much good and realistic writing takes place.    Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.     This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he's convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.    The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 289 with Jahmal Mayfield, who writes gritty crime novels that touch on large social issues. His stellar SMOKE KINGS was inspired by Kimberly Jones' passionate viral video, “How can we win?”    This episode airs on August 26.    Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.

Nell Stevens is an award-winning author of memoir and fiction. Her work has been awarded the Somerset Maugham Award, longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted by the BBC National Short Story Award. She is the author of two novels, The Original and Briefly, a Delicious Life, and two memoirs: Bleaker House and Mrs Gaskell & Me. Her writing is published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue, The Paris Review, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Granta and elsewhere. Nell is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick. Nell lives in Oxfordshire with her wife and two children. Recommended Books: Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead Ali Smith, Gliff Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nell Stevens is an award-winning author of memoir and fiction. Her work has been awarded the Somerset Maugham Award, longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted by the BBC National Short Story Award. She is the author of two novels, The Original and Briefly, a Delicious Life, and two memoirs: Bleaker House and Mrs Gaskell & Me. Her writing is published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue, The Paris Review, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Granta and elsewhere. Nell is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick. Nell lives in Oxfordshire with her wife and two children. Recommended Books: Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead Ali Smith, Gliff Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Nell Stevens is an award-winning author of memoir and fiction. Her work has been awarded the Somerset Maugham Award, longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted by the BBC National Short Story Award. She is the author of two novels, The Original and Briefly, a Delicious Life, and two memoirs: Bleaker House and Mrs Gaskell & Me. Her writing is published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue, The Paris Review, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Granta and elsewhere. Nell is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick. Nell lives in Oxfordshire with her wife and two children. Recommended Books: Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead Ali Smith, Gliff Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Michael Clune is the author of the debut novel Pan, available from Penguin Press. It is the official August 2025 pick of the Otherppl Book Club. Clune is the critically acclaimed author of the memoirs Gamelife and White Out: The Secret Life of Heroin. His academic books include A Defense of Judgment, Writing Against Time, and American Literature and the Free Market. Clune's work has appeared in venues ranging from Harper's Magazine, Salon, and Granta to Behavioral and Brain Sciences, PMLA, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. His work has been recognized by fellowships and awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, and others. He is currently a professor at the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at the Ohio State University and lives in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. *** ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Otherppl with Brad Listi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, etc. Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brad Listi's email newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support the show on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

A scholar remains behind as pestilence silences the college. The gates are locked, the chapel dim, and a single window glows with the light of something unfinished. In the stillness of old stone, a man pursues his solitary work—methodical, precise, and unknowable. What follows is not a tale of horror in the usual sense, but something quieter, older, and threaded with the weight of ritual. Memory lingers in the cloisters. The dead are not always absent. *The True History of Anthony Ffryar* was first published in *Tedious Brief Tales of Granta and Gramarye* (W. Heffer & Sons, 1919), under the pen name “Ingulphus.” The story was reissued in the Ghost Story Press edition of 1993 with an additional tale. Arthur Gray (1852–1940) was Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, and a scholar of Shakespeare and local history. He wrote ghost stories rooted in the architecture, liturgy, and institutional memory of the university he called home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Madeleine Thien, author of the novel THE BOOK OF RECORDS. The novel tells a time-bending, seven-year philosophical journey of a young girl named Lina, who is taught by her father and neighbors about the lives of three historical figures. They live in a surreal enclave, where Lina and her father have sought refuge after escaping a disaster in China. In the interview, we talked about how she weaves together the stories of three historical figures: Du Fu, an 8th-century Chinese poet; Baruch Spinoza, a 17th-century Dutch Jewish philosopher; and Hannah Arendt, a mid-20th-century German-American Jewish philosopher and political theorist. Lina learns about their theories and ideas and the grief, love, and tragedy they have experienced. Madeleine Thien is the author of four books, including Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The New York Review of Books, and elsewhere.  Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review X - @diversebookshay Email: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com 

In this episode of the Granta Podcast we speak to Diane Williams, author of eleven books of fiction, including the short story collection I Hear You're Rich.We discuss the four short stories Diane Williams contributed to the summer issue, Granta 172: Badlands, as well as her various collections, her love of surprise in fiction and the porosity between her identity as a writer and an editor.Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the New Left Review, among other publications. He is the author of The Boys (2025).Josie Mitchell is senior editor at Granta. 

Amy Silverberg is a comedian and writer based in Los Angeles. Her stand-up comedy has been featured on Comedy Central, Hulu, NPR, and Amazon Prime. Her short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, The Paris Review, Granta, and The New Yorker. She holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from USC, where she now teaches. Prior to publication, Amy's debut novel First Time, Long Time was hailed by Oprah Daily as “a funny, high-spirited novel…the book humorously describes a lesser-seen side of Los Angeles: the unglamorous neighborhood of Van Nuys, the humiliations of fame, the agony of trying—and failing—to be someone else, and the thrill of discovering yourself along the way.” “Somebody is always going through something,” she writes in the novel, just published by Grand Central Publishing. “Somebody is always reading a book and finding himself there.” Join us for a funny, thoughtful look at the ways Amy's comedy informs her writing, the ways her writing fuels her comedy, and the many ways she finds herself in her work. Learn more about Amy Silverberg: Website Instagram Threads  TikTok Twitter Please support the sponsors who support our show: Gotham Ghostwriters' Gathering of the Ghosts Ritani Jewelers Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog Daniel Paisner's SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot Heaven Help Us by John Kasich Unforgiving: Lessons from the Fall by Lindsey Jacobellis Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership Film Freaks Forever! podcast, hosted by Mark Jordan Legan and Phoef Sutton Everyday Shakespeare podcast A Mighty Blaze podcast The Writer's Bone Podcast Network Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order  Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount

In this episode of the Granta Podcast we speak to Tao Lin, the author of ten books, including Leave Society and Taipei.We discuss two of Tao Lin's recent essays, ‘My Spiritual Evolution', and ‘Gian', which appeared in Granta 171: Dead Friends, as well as the effects of psychedelics and the possibilities of reincarnation.Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the New Left Review, among other publications. He is the author of The Boys (2025).Josie Mitchell is senior editor at Granta. 

“How do you sound like you know what you're doing when you don't have the words” Kimberly Campanello is here to talk about her novel, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE (Somesuch Editions). It's a sweltering summer in Bretagne, France. K, an American exchange student, is navigating more than just unfamiliar streets. She's finding a new language. Kimberly's work moves between forms, genres, and histories. She's the author of MOTHERBABYHOME (zimZALLA), a harrowing and formally innovative response to Ireland's Mother and Baby Homes, is held in the national poetry special collections across the U.K and Ireland. Her poetry has appeared in publications like Granta, The White Review, and The Poetry Review, and essays in Tolka. And, this year, her poetry collection, AN INTERESTING DETAIL was released by Bloomsbury.  Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Rippling Points 01:30 - Motherbabyhome 02:07 - From motherbabyhome to Use the words you have 05:38 - What is the novel about 08:02 - Sounding like you know what you're doing when you don't 09:51 - Differences poetry and the novel 11:46 - Who is K 14:16 - Belief and reading 15:58 - Making sense through Rimbaud 16:28 - Life in the Midwest 20:03 - Rippling Pages Bookshop 21:05 - K in Paris 22:16 - K's notebook 25:37 - Wonky translations 29:19 - Kimberly's notebooks. Reference Points Hart Crane Dante Marguerite Duras Annie Ernaux Tony Harrison Marcel Proust Arthur Rimbaud  Nathalie Sarraute Bruce Omar Yates review https://thelondonmagazine.org/review-use-the-words-you-have-by-kimberly-campanello/

This week we're going way back in The Shift archives, to one of the earliest episodes I recorded with novelist Esther Freud. This summer Esther will be a guest of The Shift bookclub, to talk about her new novel, My Sister and Other Lovers - her long-awaited sort-of-sequel to her smash hit autofiction, Hideous Kinky, about her childhood with her sister Bella Freud (who was on The Shift podcast last autumn - listen here). Here's the chat Esther and I had back in 2021... ---- How does it feel to come from a family with a legend? If you're today's guest, novelist and playwright Esther Freud (daughter of painter Lucian Freud and great granddaughter of Sigmund Freud) you work with that legacy to produce some of the finest novels of the last thirty years. Her first Hideous Kinky, based on her unusual childhood, was made into a film starring Kate Winslet and after the follow-up, Peerless Flats, she was named one of Granta's Best Young Novelists. Scroll forward a couple of decades and her ninth novel, I Couldn't Love You More, comes full circle, this time exploring aspects of her family's history through the lens of three generations of mothers. (Bring tissues!) Over the next 40 minutes Esther talks candidly about motherhood, guilt, shame, the way women are constantly judged, her own entangled family history, how the onset of menopause made her question everything and why now 57 she's happier than ever.  CONTENT WARNING: There's some conversation about forced adoption and Ireland's mother and baby homes that some people may find upsetting. * You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠The Shift Bookshop on bookshop.org⁠ including I Couldn't Love You More and My Sister and Other Lovers and the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠ • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠https://theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠. • The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker. This episode was edited by Emily Sandford. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate/review/follow as it really does help other people find us. And let me know what you think on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this rich conversation, Francesca Wade joins Adam Biles to discuss her biography Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife. Wade explores the complexities of Stein's life, legacy, and literary innovations, foregrounding Stein's long-overlooked partner, Alice B. Toklas, as a powerful and persistent force behind the myth. They dive into questions of biography, erasure, performance, and gender, as well as Stein's fraught political affiliations during WWII. Wade's approach is both formally inventive and deeply human, highlighting unpublished interviews and fresh archival finds that illuminate the tension between public persona and private life. Whether you're a Stein devotee or merely curious about modernism's most elusive icon, this episode offers a fascinating entry point into the world of radical art, language, and love.Buy Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/gertrude-steinFrancesca Wade's first book, Square Haunting, was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. She has held fellowships at the New York Public Library's Cullman Center and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Her work has appeared in The New York Review of Books, London Review of Books and Granta, among other places.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.

In this episode of The Writing Life, prize-winning writer Julia Armfield shares insights on world building in horror fiction, and writing catastrophic and intense circumstances.   Julia Armfield's work has been published in Granta, The White Review and Best British Short Stories 2019 and 2021. In 2019, she was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award. She is the author of salt slow, a collection of short stories, which was longlisted for the Polari Prize 2020 and the Edge Hill Prize 2020. Her debut novel, Our Wives Under The Sea, won the Polari Prize 2023 and was shortlisted for the Foyles Fiction Book of the Year Award 2022. She lives and works in London.   She sits down with NCW's Steph McKenna to discuss her second novel Private Rites, a stunning, unsettling novel following three sisters navigating queer love and faith at the end of the world. Together, they discuss her use of imagery in her fiction, the influence of horror cinema on her writing, and how she maintains a blanketing sense of dread throughout her novels.

Hello, my name is Eric LeMay, a host on New Books in Literature, a channel on the New Books Network. Today I interview Jennifer Kabat. Kabat is writer I've followed and admired for decades. T.S. Eliot once said of Henry James, "He had a mind so fine that no idea could violate it." Kabat has a mind so sweeping, so generous that no detail escapes it. She writes of history, ecology, art, science, time, place, and epochs with a painter's attention and a poet's heart. Her latest book is called Nightshining: A Memoir in Four Floods (Milkweed, 2025). She is also the author of The Eighth Moon: A Memoir of Belonging and Rebellion. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney's, BOMB, The New York Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Believer, Virginia Quarterly Review, Granta and The White Review, among many others. Today, she takes us from the first trees to appear on our plant to the aspirations of scientists amid the Cold War to the floods that ravaged her hometown, where she also serves on her local fire department. Enjoy my conversation with Jennifer Kabat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Hello, my name is Eric LeMay, a host on New Books in Literature, a channel on the New Books Network. Today I interview Jennifer Kabat. Kabat is writer I've followed and admired for decades. T.S. Eliot once said of Henry James, "He had a mind so fine that no idea could violate it." Kabat has a mind so sweeping, so generous that no detail escapes it. She writes of history, ecology, art, science, time, place, and epochs with a painter's attention and a poet's heart. Her latest book is called Nightshining: A Memoir in Four Floods (Milkweed, 2025). She is also the author of The Eighth Moon: A Memoir of Belonging and Rebellion. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney's, BOMB, The New York Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Believer, Virginia Quarterly Review, Granta and The White Review, among many others. Today, she takes us from the first trees to appear on our plant to the aspirations of scientists amid the Cold War to the floods that ravaged her hometown, where she also serves on her local fire department. Enjoy my conversation with Jennifer Kabat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Hello, my name is Eric LeMay, a host on New Books in Literature, a channel on the New Books Network. Today I interview Jennifer Kabat. Kabat is writer I've followed and admired for decades. T.S. Eliot once said of Henry James, "He had a mind so fine that no idea could violate it." Kabat has a mind so sweeping, so generous that no detail escapes it. She writes of history, ecology, art, science, time, place, and epochs with a painter's attention and a poet's heart. Her latest book is called Nightshining: A Memoir in Four Floods (Milkweed, 2025). She is also the author of The Eighth Moon: A Memoir of Belonging and Rebellion. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney's, BOMB, The New York Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Believer, Virginia Quarterly Review, Granta and The White Review, among many others. Today, she takes us from the first trees to appear on our plant to the aspirations of scientists amid the Cold War to the floods that ravaged her hometown, where she also serves on her local fire department. Enjoy my conversation with Jennifer Kabat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Kate Folk, Sky Daddy (Random House, 2025) Kate Folk is the author of the novel Sky Daddy and the short story collection Out There. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, n+1, the New York Times, Granta, and The Baffler, among other venues. A former Stegner Fellow, she's also received fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, the Headlands Center for the Arts, and Willapa Bay AiR. She lives in San Francisco. Recommended Books:Katie Kitamura, AuditionDon Carpenter, Hard Rain FallingLydi Conklin, Songs of No ProvenanceChris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kate Folk, Sky Daddy (Random House, 2025) Kate Folk is the author of the novel Sky Daddy and the short story collection Out There. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, n+1, the New York Times, Granta, and The Baffler, among other venues. A former Stegner Fellow, she's also received fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, the Headlands Center for the Arts, and Willapa Bay AiR. She lives in San Francisco. Recommended Books:Katie Kitamura, AuditionDon Carpenter, Hard Rain FallingLydi Conklin, Songs of No ProvenanceChris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

This week Grant and Brooke consider images as enhancements to memoir. Historically publishers have tended to regard images in memoir with reservation, but that's been changing in recent years. Guest Jennifer Croft's recent memoir, Homesick, is accompanied by her own Polaroids. When should photos be included, or central? And what are some other memoirs that have been improved by the addition of images? Whether to include images involves many considerations—from your reader, to style, to the interplay between words and image, and Jennifer Croft offers thoughtful insights around this and more. Jennifer Croft is the author of the illustrated memoir, Homesick, and the translator of Polish of Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's Flights, for which she won the 2018 International Booker Prize. She won a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship for her novel The Extinction of Irena Rey, the 2020 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for Homesick. She is a founding editor of The Buenos Aires Review and has published her own work and numerous translations in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Granta, VICE, n+1, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, BOMB, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nell Stevens writes memoir and fiction. Her debut novel, Briefly, a Delicious Life was longlisted for the 2023 Dylan Thomas Award. She is also the author of Bleaker House and Mrs Gaskell & Me, which won the 2019 Somerset Maugham Award. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2018. Her writing is published in The New Yorker, the New York Times, Vogue, The Paris Review, New York Review of Books, Guardian, Granta and elsewhere. Nell is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her latest novel The Original. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Weymouth is a writer and journalist whose work has been widely published, appearing in Granta, The Atlantic, The Observer, and the BBC. Adam's features have covered subjects as diverse as illegal cedar logging in Malawi, the politics of oil in Alaska, migration in Greece, flooding in Wales, and depopulation on the Outer Hebrides. His […] Read full article: Episode 151: Tracing The Epic Journey Of Europe's Most Famous Wolf With Adam Weymouth

In this episode of the Shakespeare and Company Podcast, Adam Biles speaks with acclaimed author Catherine Lacey about her daring new work The Möbius Book. Structured as a "Tête-bêche"—two intertwined texts printed back-to-back—the book pairs a memoir chronicling the fallout of a painful breakup with a novella that spirals into the psychological suspense of a possible murder next door. As the narratives bend and mirror each other, Lacey explores the porous boundary between fiction and nonfiction, faith and doubt, intimacy and estrangement.The conversation dives deep into Lacey's creative process, her early entanglement with religion, the disorienting legacy of male anger, and how the pandemic shaped her understanding of confinement and rupture. Candid and philosophical, Lacey reflects on memory's distortions, the ethics of writing memoir, and the liberating act of leaving questions unanswered. Buy The Möbius Book: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-mobius-bookCatherine Lacey is the author of the novels Nobody Is Ever Missing, The Answers, Pew, and Biography of X, and the short story collection Certain American States. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award and twice been shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, and was named one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists.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.

Francesca Wade is the author of Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars, which was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. She has received fellowships from the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, the Leon Levy Center for Biography and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and her work has appeared in The New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, Granta and other places. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her latest book Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Madeleine Thien is the author of four books, including Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The New York Review of Books, and elsewhere. She lives in Montreal.  Her new novel is The Book of Records. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the Granta Podcast we speak to Susie Boyt, the author of seven novels, most recently Loved and Missed, and the memoir My Judy Garland Life.We discuss Susie Boyt's short story, ‘All Being Well', from Granta 171: Dead Friends, and consider the function of ghosts, Henry James, and how to be mourned.Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the New Left Review, among other publications. He is the author of The Boys (2025).Josie Mitchell is senior editor at Granta. 

Kate Folk is the author of the debut novel Sky Daddy, available from Random House. Folk is also the author of the debut short story collection Out There. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Granta, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, and Zyzzyva. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, she's also received support from the Headlands Center for the Arts, MacDowell, and Willapa Bay AiR. She lives in San Francisco. *** Otherppl with Brad Listi⁠⁠ is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠, etc. Subscribe to ⁠⁠Brad Listi's email newsletter⁠⁠. ⁠⁠Support the show on Patreon⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Merch⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠  ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠ 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

J. Robert Lennon is the author of the novel Buzz Kill, available from Mulholland Books. It is the official May pick of the Otherppl Book Club. Lennon is the author of two story collections, Pieces For The Left Hand and See You in Paradise, and eight novels, including Mailman, Castle, Familiar, Broken River, and most recently, Hard Girls. He holds an MFA from the University of Montana, and has published short fiction in The New Yorker, Harper's, Playboy, Granta, The Paris Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. He has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. His book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and The London Review of Books, and he lives in Ithaca, New York, where he teaches writing at Cornell University.  *** Otherppl with Brad Listi⁠⁠ is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠, etc. Subscribe to ⁠⁠Brad Listi's email newsletter⁠⁠. ⁠⁠Support the show on Patreon⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Merch⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠  ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠ 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

Kate Folk is the author of the novel Sky Daddy and the short story collection Out There. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, n+1, the New York Times, Granta, and The Baffler, among other venues. A former Stegner Fellow, she's also received fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, the Headlands Center for the Arts, and Willapa Bay AiR. She lives in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer and author Callan Wink has been awarded fellowships by the National Endowment for the Arts and Stanford University, where he was a Wallace Stegner Fellow. His stories and essays have been published in the New Yorker, Granta, Playboy, Men's Journal, and The Best American Short Stories. He is the author of a novel, August, and a collection of short stories, Dog Run Moon. He lives in Livingston, Montana, where he is a fly-fishing guide on the Yellowstone River. His new book is Beartooth, just out from Spiegel and Grau. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars and instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir, as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

Simon and Rachel speak to the novelist and non-fiction writer Andrew O'Hagan. Born in Glasgow, Andrew is the author of seven novels – including "Be Near Me", "Mayflies" and  "Caledonian Road" – and three books of non-fiction: "The Missing", "The Atlantic Ocean" and "The Secret Life". He is editor at large at the London Review of Books and has written over 150 pieces for the publication, starting with a Diary in 1993 about James Bulger's murder and the cruelty of children to other children. Other LRB pieces have covered the sinking of his grandfather's ship, the Grenfell Tower disaster and Prince Harry. Andrew has has been nominated for the Booker Prize, was voted one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2003, and won the E. M. Forster Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. We spoke to him about coming to London from Scotland and making his way, combining journalism and fiction, and his latest novel, "Caledonian Road". We've also made another update for those ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We've added 40 new pages of 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. This means the whole compendium now runs to a whopping 160 pages. And we're excited to announce that for people who contribute $10/month we're now releasing bonus mini-episodes. If you'd like to know what these will sound like, there's a sample episode with Lee Child that you can listen to for free on our Patreon now. Thanks to the help of our sponsors, Scrivener, the first ten new signs-ups at $10/month will additionally receive a lifelong license to Scrivener worth £55/$59.99. This specialist word-processing software helps you organise long writing projects such as novels, academic papers and even scripts. But we only have ten to give out so, if you're interested, please check it out as soon as you can. Other Patreon rewards include signed copies of our podcast book (see below) and the opportunity to take part in a monthly call with the two of us to workshop your own pitches and writing projects. 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.

Jennifer Haigh's first novel, Mrs. Kimble, won the PEN Hemingway Award for debut fiction. Mercy Street, was named a Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker and won the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. Her short stories have been published widely, in the Atlantic, Granta, The Best American Short Stories, and many other places. Published in eighteen languages, her work has been recognized by the Guggenheim Foundation, the Michener Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Boston. Her new novel, Rabbit Moon, is the focus of our talk today. Jennifer joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett. They talk about her time in Shanghai and how being there inspired the novel, why she wrote a novel about sisters, writing multiple points of view, writing minor characters, what she reads when she's writing fiction, how much she knows going in, why she doesn't plot, and more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It's stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you'll find an album's worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It's perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on April 4, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

In this bonus Footnote episode, Saba Sams joins us to talk about her debut novel, GUNK, which she's launching at the Brighton Festival in conversation with Fee Mac. Get tickets here. Jules has been divorced from her ex-husband Leon for five years, but she still works alongside him at the nightclub. With the arrival of Nim, a new employee at the bar, Jules is jolted awake for the first time in years and with an unexpected pregnancy in the mix, this novel poses questions around who we choose to build our families with.  Selected for Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2023 and author of the dazzling collection of short stories, Send Nudes, Saba Sams is a voice not to be missed. 

Simon and Rachel speak with ⁠Joshi Herrmann⁠, the founder of local journalism startup ⁠Mill Media⁠. Joshi founded The Mill, a newsletter covering Greater Manchester, as a one-man band in June 2020. The company now has staff writers and editors across six British cities: Manchester⁠, ⁠Glasgow,⁠ Birmingham, ⁠Liverpool⁠, Sheffield and ⁠London⁠. Mill Media is known for deeply reported long reads and its paid newsletter model; it is read by more than 150,000 email subscribers. The company has received investment from figures including Sir Mark Thompson, chief executive of CNN and a former BBC director-general. Joshi was formerly editor-in-chief of ⁠Tab Media⁠, and he has reported for the Times, the Telegraph, the Guardian and the London Evening Standard. We spoke to Joshi about ⁠working at the Standard⁠, his stints at the Tab, and his current venture, which is looking to reinvent local journalism.We have recently also overhauled our offer for those ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Our central reward is a - now greatly expanded - sheaf of successful journalistic pitches, which we've solicited from friends of Always Take Notes. In the package we now have successful pitches to, among others, the New York Times, the Guardian, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, the Economist, the London Review of Books, Vanity Fair, Outside magazine, the Spectator, the Sunday Times, Esquire, Granta, the Literary Review, Prospect, Bloomberg Businessweek and GQ. Anyone who supports the show with $5 per month or more will receive the full compendium. Other rewards include signed copies of our podcast book (see below) and the opportunity to take part in a monthly call with the two of us to workshop your own pitches and writing projects. 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 and Simon speak with the novelist Nnedi Okorafor. Nnedi is a prolific writer of science fiction and fantasy for adults, young adults and children; her best-known titles include the "Binti" trilogy, "Lagoon", the "Nsibidi Script" series and "Who Fears Death". Nnedi has won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature as well as the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus and Lodestar awards. Several of her books are currently being adapted for TV. We spoke to Nnedi about the hospital stay that led her to start writing, breaking into the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, and her latest novel, "Death of the Author". We have recently also overhauled our offer for those ⁠⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠. Our central reward is a - now greatly expanded - sheaf of successful journalistic pitches, which we've solicited from friends of Always Take Notes. In the package we now have successful pitches to, among others, the New York Times, the Guardian, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, the Economist, the London Review of Books, Vanity Fair, Outside magazine, the Spectator, the Sunday Times, Esquire, Granta, the Literary Review, Prospect, Bloomberg Businessweek and GQ. Anyone who supports the show with $5 per month or more will receive the full compendium. Other rewards include signed copies of our podcast book (see below) and the opportunity to take part in a monthly call with the two of us to workshop your own pitches and writing projects. 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.

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to Nico Walker, author of the novel Cherry. We discuss Nico Walker's essay ‘Mucker Play', published in Granta 170: Winners, which considers American football as a reflection of the country's violence, the intimate relationship between the military and sport, and how athletes cultivate their public image, from Deion Sanders to Jim Thorpe.Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New Yorker, and the New Left Review, among other publications. His first novel will be published in 2025. Josie Mitchell is senior editor at Granta. Thomas Meaney is the editor of Granta. 

PODCAST NOTESPage One, produced and hosted by author Holly Lynn Payne, celebrates the craft that goes into writing the first sentence, first paragraph and first page of your favorite books. The first page is often the most rewritten page of any book because it has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. We interview master storytellers on the struggles and stories behind the first page of their books.About the guest author:Callan Wink's latest and third book, Beartooth, is another propulsive story about two brothers in dire straits, living on the edge of Yellowstone, who agree to a desperate act of survival. Wink has been awarded fellowships by the National Endowment for the Arts and Stanford University, where he was a Wallace Stegner Fellow. He received his MFA from University of Wyoming and his stories and essays have been published in the New Yorker, Granta, Playboy, Men's Journal, and The Best American Short Stories. He debut novel, August, was longlisted for the center for Fiction First Novel Prize and a collection of short stories, Dog Run Moon. He lives in Livingston, Montana, where he is a fly-fishing guide on the Yellowstone River.  About the host:Holly Lynn Payne is an award-winning novelist and writing coach, and the former CEO and founder of Booxby, a startup built to help authors succeed. She is an internationally published author of four historical fiction novels. Her debut, The Virgin's Knot, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers book. As an author and writing coach, she knows that the first page of any book has to work so hard to do so much—hook the reader. So she thought to ask your favorite master storytellers how they do their magic to hook you. Holly lives in Marin County with her family and two Labrador retrievers, and enjoys mountain biking, hiking, swimming and pretending to surf. To learn more about her books and writing coaching services, please follow her on IG + X @hollylynnpayne or visit hollylynnpayne.com.Tune in and reach out:If you're an aspiring writer or a book lover, this episode of Page One offers a treasure trove of inspiration and practical advice. I offer these conversations as a testament to the magic that happens when master storytellers share their secrets and experiences. We hope you are inspired to tune into the full episode for more insights. Keep writing, keep reading, and remember—the world needs your stories. If I can help you tell your own story, or help improve your first page, please reach out @hollylynnpayne or visit hollylynnpayne.com.You can listen to Page One on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher and all your favorite podcast players. Hear past episodes.JOIN THE POP1 COMMUNITY ON SUBSTACK If you're interested in getting writing tips and the latest podcast episode updates with the world's beloved master storytellers, please consider subscribing to my free weekly newsletter on Substack: Power of Page One  POP1 is a community of writers and book lovers passionate about the craft of storytelling—which begins with a compelling page one.

Simon and Rachel speak to the novelist Ben Okri. Born in Minna, Nigeria, Ben came to England as a child. He attended school in London before returning to Africa with his parents on the eve of the Nigerian Civil War. He came once more to the UK in 1978 and studied at Essex University. Two years later he published his first novel "Flowers and Shadows". A second, "The Landscapes Within", appeared two years afterwards, before two collections of short stories in 1986 and 1988. In 1991 his novel "The Famished Road" won the Booker Prize, the first time a black writer received that award. Ben's subsequent work includes the novel "Astonishing the Gods" (chosen by the BBC in 2019 as "one of the 100 novels that has shaped our world"), the epic poem "Mental Fight" and the play "The Outsider". We spoke to Ben about his early life in Nigeria and Britain, winning the Booker Prize, and his latest novel, "Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted". We have recently also overhauled our offer for those ⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠. Our central reward is a - now greatly expanded - sheaf of successful journalistic pitches, which we've solicited from friends of Always Take Notes. In the package we now have successful pitches to, among others, the New York Times, the Guardian, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, the Economist, the London Review of Books, Vanity Fair, Outside magazine, the Spectator, the Sunday Times, Esquire, Granta, the Literary Review, Prospect, Bloomberg Businessweek and GQ. Anyone who supports the show with $5 per month or more will receive the full compendium. Other rewards include signed copies of our podcast book (see below) and the opportunity to take part in a monthly call with the two of us to workshop your own pitches and writing projects. 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.

Best-selling Author Tessa Hadley on getting published in her 40s and beyond, the craft of literary fiction, developing character and conflict, and the importance of conflict.*ABOUT TESSA HADLEY:Tessa Hadley is the author of eight highly acclaimed novels, including Clever Girl and Free Love, as well as four short story collections, most recently Bad Dreams and Other Stories, which won the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Her latest book is the novella The Party. Her work regularly appears in The New Yorker and Granta, and she has won the Windham Campbell Prize and the Hawthornden Prize. After two decades of struggling to publish, she landed her first book deal at 46 and has since become one of the most respected literary fiction writers of our time.*RESOURCES & LINKS

In the first episode of season 2, we speak with Jack Smyth – a freelance designer and illustrator from Ireland. His clients include Penguin Random House, Faber & Faber, Harpercollins, Granta, Daunt Books, Simon & Schuster, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Politico and The Atlantic. He has previously worked inhouse at 4th Estate, Simon & Schuster, Little, Brown and Tower Records and holds an MA in Graphic Design from Kingston University. In 2024, he was named the designer of the year at the British Book Awards. He has received 9 ABCD awards, a BBDPA award and has been featured in Creative Review, It's Nice That, Communication Arts and the 100 Archive. He lives in Dublin with his wife and cat. Cover Meeting was hosted by Steve Leard and produced by James Ede of beheard.org.uk.

How does Shakespeare's King Lear resonate in a world facing climate catastrophe? Novelist Julia Armfield explores this question in Private Rites, a novel set in a near-future London reshaped by rising sea levels. Following three sisters grappling with their father's death, Private Rites weaves together themes of inheritance, power, and familial wounds—echoing Shakespeare's tragic monarch while carving out a distinctly modern, queer perspective. Armfield, author of Our Wives Under the Sea, discusses her fascination with disaster narratives, the inescapable dynamics of sibling relationships, and how Shakespeare's work inspires her storytelling. From the storm in King Lear to the watery depths of her fiction, she reflects on how queerness, horror, and the climate crisis intersect in literature. Julia Armfield is a fiction writer living in London with her wife and cat. Her work has been published in Granta, The White Review, and Best British Short Stories in 2019 and 2021. In 2019, she was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. She was longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Award in 2018 and won the White Review Short Story Prize in 2018 and a Pushcart Prize in 2020. She is the author of salt slow, a collection of short stories, which was longlisted for the Polari Prize in 2020 and the Edge Hill Prize in 2020. Her debut novel, Our Wives Under The Sea, was shortlisted for the Foyles Fiction Book of the Year Award in 2022 and won the Polari Prize in 2023. Her second novel, Private Rites, was longlisted for the inaugural Climate Fiction Prize in 2024. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published March 11, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

“We do a lot of writing alone, in our own space. But writing is not a solitary practice. The business of writing requires a community.” –Angelique Stevens In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Angelique talk about what her writing life is like in the decade since she first took Rolf’s Paris class, with the ambition of becoming a travel writer, and how her travel book transformed into something different (2:00); how Angelique gave herself permission to write about herself in an honest way, and what craft lessons have helped her writing (8:00); and Angelique’s reading habits as a writer, her writing process, and how she came to think of herself as a writer (23:00). Angelique Stevens‘ is creative writing professor whose nonfiction has been published in Best American Essays two years in a row (2022, edited by Alexander Chee and 2023 edited by Vivian Gornick), Granta, LitHub, The New England Review, and a number of anthologies. Notable Links: Paris Writing Workshops (Rolf’s annual writing classes) Zapatistas (political group in in Chiapas, Mexico) Bootstrapping myth (narrative about self-starting process) Haudenosaunee (Iroquois indigenous people from the Northeast U.S) Zora Neale Hurston (American writer) Toni Morrison (American novelist) Melissa Febos (American writer) Honor, by Thrity Umrigar (book) The Situation and the Story, by Vivian Gornick (book) A Little Devil in America, by Hanif Abdurraqib (book) The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don't host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

Rachel and Simon speak to the author and academic Clair Wills. She is the Regius Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge and the author of several non-fiction books. ⁠"That Neutral Island: A History of Ireland During the Second World War"⁠, published in 2007, won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman History Prize; ⁠"Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain" ⁠(2017) won the Irish Times International Non-Fiction Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. Her latest book, ⁠"⁠⁠Missing Persons, Or My Grandmother's Secrets"⁠ (2024), won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. We spoke to Clair about combining an academic career with writing for a broad audience, her insider/outsider perspective on Irish culture, and writing about her family and Ireland's Mother and Baby Homes in "Missing Persons". We have recently also overhauled our offer for those ⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠. Our central reward is a - now greatly expanded - sheaf of successful journalistic pitches, which we've solicited from friends of Always Take Notes. In the package we now have successful pitches to, among others, the New York Times, the Guardian, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, the Economist, the London Review of Books, Vanity Fair, Outside magazine, the Spectator, the Sunday Times, Esquire, Granta, the Literary Review, Prospect, Bloomberg Businessweek and GQ. Anyone who supports the show with $5 per month or more will receive the full compendium. Other rewards include signed copies of our podcast book (see below) and the opportunity to take part in a monthly call with the two of us to workshop your own pitches and writing projects. 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.

In this special Valentine's Day episode, host Jason Blitman talks to February's Read with Jenna author, Jessica Soffer (This is a Love Story). From New York City's Central Park to the evocative smell of street food, Jason and Jessica explore the romantic and the realist perspectives on love. They share some personal loves, book and story recommendations, and even a few favorite food-related love stories. This episode is for both the hopeless romantics and steadfast realists. Jessica Soffer is the author of This Is a Love Story and Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots. She grew up in New York City, attended Connecticut College, and earned her MFA at Hunter College. Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, Real Simple, Saveur, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and on NPR's Selected Shorts. She teaches creative writing to small groups and in the corporate space and lives in Sag Harbor, New York, with her family.BOOK CLUB!Use code GAYSREADING at checkout to get first book for only $4 + free shipping! Restrictions apply.http://aardvarkbookclub.comWATCH!https://youtube.com/@gaysreading FOLLOW!Instagram: @gaysreading | @jasonblitmanBluesky: @gaysreading | @jasonblitmanCONTACT!hello@gaysreading.com

Kanya D'Almeida joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about how her life changed when a manuscript by Russell "Maroon" Shoatz, a former member of the Black Panther Party and soldier in the Black Liberation Army showed up in an envelope on her doorstep in 2011, the decades he spent in the Pennsylvania prison system, how their experiences with political violence and civil war intersected, becoming his biographer and building comradeship across the bars, Sri Lanka's history of conflict, channeling complicated feelings into dedication for writing a book, violence as the only language America knows how to speak, and her new book I Am Maroon: The True Story of an American Political Prisoner.    Ronit's upcoming memoir course: https://www.pce.uw.edu/courses/memoir-writing-finding-your-story    Also in this episode: -being a diasporic writer  -being a multi-genre author -the role of self-criticism   Books mentioned in this episode: On a Move by Mike Africa Jr. Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur    Russell "Maroon" Shoatz was a dedicated community activist, founding member of the Black Unity Council, former member of the Black Panther Party, and soldier in the Black Liberation Army. Kanya D'Almeida won the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, becoming the first Sri Lankan and only the second Asian writer to hold the honor. She was awarded the Society of Authors' annual short story award in 2022. Her journalism has appeared in Al Jazeera, TruthOut, and The Margins, and her fiction has appeared in Granta. She holds an MFA from Columbia University, where she studied under Victor LaValle.   Connect with Kanya: https://twitter.com/kanyadalmeida https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/russell-shoatz/i-am-maroon/9781645030492/?lens=bold-type-books   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book.   More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank   Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

In this special live recording we dive into The Seers, the mesmerising new novel by Sulaiman Addonia. In conversation with Adam Biles, Addonia shares the story behind his bold, unfiltered novel—written as a single, unbroken paragraph—through the voice of Hannah, an Eritrean refugee navigating love, loss, sexuality, and identity on the streets of London. Three powerful readings by Liya Kebede, bringing Hannah's world vividly to lifeThe Seers is a novel that defies definition—sensual, poetic, and politically charged. Addonia's reflections on storytelling, migration, and the search for home will stay with you long after you listen.Buy The Seers: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-seers*Sulaiman Addonia is an Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist. He spent his early life in a refugee camp in Sudan, and his early teens in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He arrived in London as an underage unaccompanied refugee without a word of English and went on to earn an MA in Development Studies from SOAS and a BSc in Economics from UCL.His first novel, The Consequences of Love (Chatto & Windus, 2008), was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and translated into more than 20 languages. His second novel, Silence Is My Mother Tongue (Indigo Press, 2019; Graywolf Press, 2020), was a finalist for the 2021 Lambda Literary Awards. His essays appear in LitHub, Granta, Freeman's, The New York Times, De Standaard and Sulaiman Addonia is an Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist .Addonia currently lives in Brussels where he founded the Creative Writing Academy for Refugees & Asylum Seekers and the Asmara-Addis Literary Festival In Exile.Liya Kebede is a pioneering model, actress, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She has worked with top fashion brands like Chanel, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Estée Lauder, promoting inclusivity in the industry. In 2007, she launched lemlem, a sustainable fashion brand supporting Ethiopian Artisans. Kebede is also a WHO Goodwill Ambassador and founded the lemlem Foundation to improve healthcare and economic opportunities for African women. She promotes literature through her latest endeavour "Liyabraire" and introduced the BB Bookbags collection.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.

Many people say their experience of time changes after they have children, a phenomenon that Diego Báez captures in “Inheritance.” In this poem, a past, present, and future starring the same child shift ceaselessly in a parent's mind, like photos flipped through in an album, dots placed on a timeline, moments that one wishes they could build monuments for.Diego Báez, is a writer and educator in Chicago, where he teaches at the City Colleges of Chicago. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University - Newark. A writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, Báez's work has been published in Freeman's, The Rumpus, The Georgia Review, The Thing Itself Journal, Number Eleven Magazine, and Hobart. His poetry has appeared in Luna Luna, la fovea, Granta, and elsewhere. He serves as a Director of the Board for the National Book Critics Circle and the International David Foster Wallace Society. Báez was an inaugural fellow at CantoMundo in 2010. Yaguareté White, published in 2024 by The University of Arizona Press, is his debut poetry collection.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.We're pleased to offer Diego Báez's poem and invite you to subscribe to Pádraig's weekly Poetry Unbound Substack newsletter, read the Poetry Unbound book, or listen to past episodes of the podcast. We also have two books coming out in early 2025 — Kitchen Hymns (new poems from Pádraig) and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other (new essays by Pádraig). You can pre-order them wherever you buy books.