Podcast appearances and mentions of lucy scholes

Send us a Text Message.Pack your steamer trunks! We're traveling to 19th-century Bavaria this week by way of Ann Schlee's 1980 historical novel Rhine Journey, newly republished by McNally Editions. This Booker-Prize nominated travel tale features vivid period details, sultry psychological thrills and a protagonist on the brink of a personal revolution, all sewn up in a vibe that reads like a German twist on “A Room With a View.” Author Sam Johnson-Schlee joins us to discuss the life and work of his grandmother, who passed away in November at the age of 89. Also joining the conversation is McNally Editions' Lucy Scholes. Mentioned in this episode:McNally Editions 2024 edition of Rhine Journey by Ann SchleeDaunt Books 2024 edition of Rhine Journey by Ann Schlee Living Rooms by Sam Johnson-SchleeA Room With a View by E.M. Forster“Celebrating Ann Schlee and Rhine Journey: ‘a tale of female rage and agency'” by Lucy ScholesLost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 87 on Kay DickLost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 51 on Rosamond LehmannLost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 184 on Elizabeth Taylor Vs. Elizabeth TaylorLandscape artist Nick SchleeThe Vandal by Ann SchleeAsk Me No Questions by Ann SchleeSupport the Show.For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.comDiscuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

In our first-ever "Game Show Edition" of the podcast, McNally Editions editor Lucy Scholes joins us for a lightning-round quiz pitting quotations from Elizabeth Taylor the actress vs. Elizabeth Taylor the author! Test your knowledge and join in the fun! For the full forty-minute episode in which we discuss the author Taylor's writing and also confab on Roger Lewis's Erotic Vagrancy, the dishy 2023 biography of film stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, visit our Patreon: Support the showFor episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.comDiscuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Text Message.FULL LENGTH EDITION!!! In our first-ever "Game Show Edition" of the podcast, McNally Editions editor Lucy Scholes joins us to talk about the TWO Elizabeth Taylors! Lucy collaborated with Pushkin Press Classics on the short story collection A Different Sound, in which midcentury British novelist and short story writer Elizabeth Taylor features. In addition to discussing Taylor's writing, we'll also confab on Roger Lewis's Erotic Vagrancy, the dishy 2023 biography of film stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Lucy and Kim then square off in a lightning-round quiz pitting quotations from Elizabeth Taylor the actress vs. Elizabeth Taylor the author! Test your knowledge and join in the fun!For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.comDiscuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

In this week's mini, Amy shares some of the lesser-known spots she visited on her August trip to England (which included meetups with a few past guests from the show!). From Cotswolds beauty to bizarre curiosities—as well as a few lost ladies—you'll be wishing she had packed you along in her suitcase!Discussed: 2 Willow RdErno GoldfingerLeonora CarringtonHampstead HeathKenwood HouseJohn Keats' HomeJohn Soane's MuseumWilliam Hogarth's A Rake's ProgressToklas restaurantLost Ladies of Lit Episodes with Lucy Scholes on Rosamond Lehmann Lost Ladies of Lit Episodes with Lucy Scholes on Kay DickNovelty AutomationViktor Wynd MuseumStephen TennantPunchdrunkBlenheim PalaceConsuelo VanderbiltLost Ladies of Lit episode on The Gilded AgeJennie ChurchillLost Ladies of Lit episode with Simon David Thomas on Dorothy Evelyn SmithSnowshill ManorCharles WadeRoyal Shakespeare Company Stratford on AvonLost Ladies of Lit episode on Nancy MitfordAsthall ManorMitford homesFor episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.comDiscuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Victoria Belim is a writer, journalist, and translator of Persian literature and poetry. She speaks eighteen languages, including Japanese, Turkish, and Indonesian. Her memoir, The Rooster House, was published earlier this year by Virago and explores her search for the truth behind an unmentioned family secret - and the Ukrainian people's complex relationship with their Soviet history. In this episode, Victoria and Lucy Scholes unpick Victoria's fascination with learning languages; the rich tradition of Ukrainian poetry and the frustrations and excitement of translating it; our obsession with the little details of how other people live; and the continued relevance of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emma Donoghue is an acclaimed writer whose novels include the international bestsellers Room and The Wonder. She wrote the short story ‘Turmagant' in Virago's recent collection of short stories, Furies, and her upcoming novel, Learned By Heart, publishes on 24th August 2023. On this episode, Emma and Lucy Scholes dive into the varied cultural reach of novels, short stories and films, the genius of Angela Carter, the long overdue recognition of Ann Lister and how the ‘Barbie' film masters trickle-down feminism for young children. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natasha Walter is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, a journalist and human rights activist. Her books include The New Feminism and Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, which was reissued as one of Virago's 50thAnniversary Five Gold reads this year. On this episode of Ourshelves, Natasha and Lucy Scholes discuss the continued relevance of Living Dolls in terms of the unfinished revolution of feminism and the ongoing effort to liberate ourselves, as women, from stereotypes.They also dive into Natasha's upcoming book, Before the Light Fades, a moving memoir about losing her mother to suicide as well as honouring the legacy of a family whose members struggled bravely against some of the worst crises of the twentieth century. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are families a refuge or a prison? Join Veronica Raimo as she talks with Lucy Scholes about the line between fiction and auto-fiction, drawing the curtain back on the creative process, and the many idiosyncrasies of language that arise during the translation of fiction. Veronica Raimo is the author of four novels, the most recent of which, Lost On Me (Niente di Vero) was a huge bestseller in Italy, that was shortlisted for the Premio Strega Prize and won the Strega Giovani Prize and the Viareggio Rèpaci Prize. The English translation of Lost On Me is being published by Virago on 3rd August 2023. Veronica contributes cultural articles to various Italian publications, and her translations into Italian include works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Octavia E. Butler, Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin. She lives in Rome. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kirsty Logan is a novelist and short story writer. She's the author of Now She is Witch, Things We Say In The Dark, The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter, and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales. To mark the publication of her new book, The Unfamiliar: A Queer Motherhood Memoir, she talks with Lucy Scholes about writing like no one is reading, pregnancy journeys, disobedient bodies, the gift of sperm donation, and breaking the rules of memoir writing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The novels inspired by the pandemic have, so far, been very inward-looking. But the form is already mutating. Critic and editor Lucy Scholes and author Daisy Hildyard join Prospect's arts and books editor Peter Hoskin to discuss the first wave of Covid literature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the premiere episode of this special series of Ourshelves, commemorating Virago's 50th anniversary, join Caroline O'Donoghue, New York Times best-selling author and the host of the award-winning podcast Sentimental Garbage, as she talks about her new novel, The Rachel Incident. Listen as Caroline and Lucy Scholes discuss the intersection of Irish women's fiction with the history of reproductive rights in Ireland, actively reading people you don't agree with, the emptiness of the phrase ‘girl power' and misogyny in cultural spaces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's mini episode we uncover the hidden talents of famous writers who ventured into children's literature, including Ian Fleming's surprising connection to Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang, Upton Sinclair's whimsical Gnome adventure, and James Joyce's peculiar cat tales.  Discussed in this episode: Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang by Ian FlemingThe Gnomobile: A Gnice Gnew Gnarrative with Gnonsense but Gnothing Gnaughty by Upton SinclairThe Cat and the Devil by James JoyceThe Cats of Copenhagen by James JoyceThe Crows of Pearblossom by Aldous HuxleyThe Good Lion by Ernest HemingwayThe Faithful Bull by Ernest HemingwayLost Ladies of Lit episode with Lucy Scholes on Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Ursula Parrott, Winifred Boggs, unnamed characters – welcome to episode 117! We are so delighted to welcome Lucy Scholes as a guest for this episode. She’s is a reprint/old books superstar – you might know her Re-Covered column for the Paris

Lucy Scholes and Susannah Butter discuss Emma Jane Unsworth's new novel about Jenny McLaine, a thirtysomething London journalist whose addiction to social media begins to take over her life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert Bound, Kate Hutchinson and Lucy Scholes discuss the writing of the LA legend, whose vivid stories and laser-focused observations capture the very essence of Hollywood in the 1960s and 1970s. But as she releases a new anthology, how does her work sit in the #MeToo era and will there ever be another like her? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special bonus summer episode Sharma Taylor, author of What a Mother's Love Don't Teach You, takes us to the heated demi-monde of Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1980s, a turbulent time in politics and gangland crime. She tells Lucy Scholes about writing in patois; the Caribbean authors right now who are representing the strength of women in society; and what her mother sacrificed to buy her books as a child.On the nightstand: The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-AgostiniOn my mind: The podcasts Unstoppable Yes You and Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival Cocoa Pod On the shelf: This One Sky Day by Leone RossOn the pedestal: My mother. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clare Chambers is the author of nine novels including Small Pleasures, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize. She joins Lucy Scholes to rave about the inimitable Barbara Pym, a Virago Modern Classic author whose love affairs shocked sixties society and who wrote about vicars' tea parties with waspish humour and moving brilliance. (Tea: ‘a drink she did not much like because of the comfort it was said to bring to those whom she normally despised.') Together they compare notes on adapting book to screen with Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends, how to evoke the inner voice and the recent, genre-defying book that made Clare think about feminism in a new way.On the nightstand: The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson and Iron Curtain by Vesna Goldsworthy.On my mind: The TV adaptation of Conversations with Friends.On the shelf: In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado.On the pedestal: Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, director of the DSM Foundation, which educates young people to make safer choices around drugs. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How does writing about your life change the way you see it? Cathy Thomas talks to Lucy Scholes about her first book, Islanders, interlocking short stories set on her childhood home, Guernsey – the pleasure of joining the dots and how playwriting informed her structure. Discovering a shared love of Annie Ernaux's essays, they dive deeply into whether difficult experiences – from publisher rejections to trauma – may be reframed through the power of writing.On the nightstand: We Were Young by Niamh CampbellOn my mind: Olivia Fitzsimons' recent essay, Notes on Resilience, for The Stinging FlyOn the shelf: Annie Ernaux's A Girl's Story. On the pedestal: playwright Caryl Churchill See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lucy Scholes rejoins us this week to discuss Kay Dick and her lost dystopian masterpiece from 1977, They, which has been newly republished by McNally Editions. Lucy, who is the Senior Editor of McNally Editions, rediscovered Dick after coming across her obituary and subsequently wrote about the novel in her column for The Paris Review, “Re-Covered.” 

How can men approach their role as feminist allies? Lucy Scholes meets Stuart Evers, award-winning author of four books including Your Father Sends His Love and The Blind Light as they discuss his introduction to the new Virago Modern Classic edition of Anna Seghers' brilliant novel Transit, and how its depiction of people caught in the Second World War reminded him of Ukrainians caught in the complex British visa system. He argues about whether Transit is a love story or not, challenges himself to read books he thinks he'll hate (and falls for them completely) and remembers as a young man how reading feminist novels taught him to listen.Stuart's recommendations:On the nightstand: Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh and Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth HardwickOn my mind: Post War Modern art exhibition at the BarbicanOn the shelf: Gorilla My Love, Toni Cade BabaraOn the pedestal: Marguerite Duras See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What does it take for a woman to migrate thousands of miles across prairies and mountains? Join Katie Hickman, author of Brave Hearted and She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen as she talks with Lucy Scholes about the unique voices of the women who made the Wild West, the strength of oral storytelling and the damage that was done to abortion rights in the USA by religious organisations. From the Americas to Indonesia, the discovery of precious materials has meant a death sentence for indigenous tribes and they discuss the impact of mining on people's lives and the women who fought to make them better. Katie's recommendations:On the nightstand: Dear Life by Alice Munro and One Thousand and One Nights retold by Hanan Al-Shaykh. On your mind: Things Fell Apart: strange tales from the culture wars by Jon Ronson (BBC) On the shelf: Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver On the pedestal: Mama Yosepha Alonmang. Now in her eighties, this remarkable woman is an Amungme (West Papua) Tribal Leader who has been fighting all her life against environmental destruction of her Tribal lands from mining. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A latter-day Austen, an academic, a romantic, a comic, a caustic chronicler of the commonplace . . . The novelist Barbara Pym became beloved and Booker Prize-nominated in the late twentieth century, yet many rejections, years in the literary wilderness and manuscripts stored in linen cupboards preceded her revival. Paula Byrne, author of The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, and Lucy Scholes, critic, Paris Review columnist and editor at McNally Editions, join the Slightly Foxed team to plumb the depths and scale the peaks of Barbara Pym's writing, life and loves. From Nazi Germany to the African Institute; from London's bedsit land to parish halls; from unrequited love affairs with unsuitable men to an epistolary friendship with Philip Larkin; and from rejection by Jonathan Cape to overnight success via the TLS, we trace Pym's life through her novels, visiting the Bodleian and Boots lending libraries along the way. There's joy in Some Tame Gazelle, loneliness in Quartet in Autumn, and humour and all human experience in between, with excellent women consistently her theme. We then turn from Pym to other writers under or above the radar, finding darkness in Elizabeth Taylor, tragicomedy in Margaret Kennedy and real and surreal rackety lives in Barbara Comyns. To round out a cast of excellent women, we discover Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca was foretold in Elizabeth von Arnim's Vera, and we recommend an eccentric trip with Jane Bowles and her Two Serious Ladies, as well as theatrical tales from a raconteur in Eileen Atkins's memoir.  (Episode duration: 57 minutes; 16 seconds) Books Mentioned We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Jess in the Slightly Foxed office for more information. Flora Thompson, Lark Rise and Over to Candleford & Candleford Green, Slightly Foxed Edition Nos. 58 and 59 (1:39) Paula Byrne, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym (2:11) Aldous Huxley, Chrome Yellow is out of print (4:28) Barbara Pym, Quartet in Autumn (6:33) Barbara Pym, The Sweet Dove Died is out of print (8:16) Barbara Pym, Some Tame Gazelle (14:07) Barbara Pym, Excellent Women (19:06) Barbara Pym, A Glass of Blessings (22:14) Barbara Pym, A Few Green Leaves is out of print (32:28) Nicola Beauman, The Other Elizabeth Taylor (36:33) Elizabeth Taylor, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (37:00) Elizabeth Taylor, Angel (38:27) Barbara Comyns, The Vet's Daughter (41:16) Barbara Comyns, The House of Dolls (42:16) Barbara Comyns, Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead (42:45) Barbara Comyns, Our Spoons Came from Woolworths (43:03) Barbara Comyns, A Touch of Mistletoe (43:46) Elizabeth von Arnim, Vera (47:47) Margaret Kennedy, Troy Chimneys, McNally Editions (48:59) Jane Bowles, Two Serious Ladies (50:37) Eileen Atkins, Will She Do? (52:39) Related Slightly Foxed Articles Not So Bad, Really, Frances Donnelly on Barbara Pym, Issue 11 Hands across the Tea-shop Table, Sue Gee on Elizabeth Taylor, A Game of Hide and Seek and Nicola Beauman, The Other Elizabeth Taylor, Issue 58 There for the Duration, Juliet Gardiner on Elizabeth Taylor, At Mrs Lippincote's, Issue 13 Sophia Fairclough and Me, Sophie Breese on the novels of Barbara Comyns, Issue 42 Other Links McNally Editions is an American imprint devoted to hidden gems (2:47) In the Paris Review Re-Covered column, Lucy Scholes exhumes the out-of-print and forgotten books that shouldn't be Lucy Scholes is the host of the Virago OurShelves podcast The Barbara Pym Society Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

What happens if you don't fall in love with your baby at first sight? Join Kate Maxwell and Lucy Scholes as they challenge silent taboos about motherhood, from Elena Ferrante's The Lost Daughter to Kate's first novel Hush, about a woman who struggles with her decision to have a child on her own.Kate's recommendations:On the nightstand: What I Loved, Siri Hustvedt and The Bread the Devil Knead, Lisa Allen-AgostiniOn your mind: WeCrashed, Apple TV seriesOn the shelf: Matrix, Lauren GroffOn the pedestal: Josie Naughton, Choose Love co-founder and CEO See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you spend 288 pages deep in the life of a disabled person, can that experience shift your concept of disability? Join Chloé Cooper Jones, journalist, Pulitzer nominee and author of the new memoir Easy Beauty, as she talks with Lucy Scholes about how beauty can create a powerful mental shift. They discuss the social and political act of making the disabled body visible, the meaning of staring and ask Lewis Hamilton to teach Chloé Formula 1 Racing.Chloé's recommendations: On the nightstand – The Coward by Jarred McGinnis and Staring by Rosemarie Garland-ThomsonOn your mind – Drive to Survive, the Formula One racing documentary. On the shelf – Gretel Ehrlich's The Solace of Open SpacesOn the pedestal – Harriet McBryde Johnson, a writer and disability activist. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How does food connect us to our cultural identity? Get hungry listening to Claire Kohda talk to Lucy Scholes about her debut novel Woman, Eating, which follows a mixed-race vampire in contemporary London. Claire admits she avoided reading Dracula, explores the yōkai of traditional Japanese mythology and explains how listening to Asian recipes reminds her of her mother.Claire's recommendations:On the nightstand: Where The Wild Ladies Are, by Matsuda Aoko, translated by Polly Barton, published by Tilted Axis Press and The Korean VeganOn my mind: Turn Away by Laura Moody (song)On the shelf: Barbara Hepworth: Writings and ConversationsOn the pedestal: Susanne Valadon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Doreen Cunningham, author of Soundings, followed the grey whales to the Arctic and she brings what she learnt on her journey into conversation with Lucy Scholes. Listen to Doreen explain how the very grammar of the Inupiat language gives the speaker a more respectful relationship with animals, how the trauma of poverty lingers and how her heroine is a grey whale named Earheart. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Discovery with CN LesterHow do we keep fighting when there seems to be no hope? CN Lester is a musician, academic, activist and author of Trans Like Me and they tell Lucy Scholes the best advice they've been given for continuing to work in the face of backlash. Join their fascinating conversation on their discovery of women composers of the Italian Baroque (who should never have been forgotten!), their newfound love for Ursula K Le Guin (who should have won a Nobel Prize!), and their deeply personal joy in the poetry of Joelle Taylor (who has won the TS Eliot Prize!). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

OurShelves celebrates the end of Season 4 with the beloved Monica Ali, a fellow of Royal Society of Literature, Patron of the Hopscotch Women's Centre, and bestselling author of Brick Lane and the upcoming Love Marriage, her wonderful, complex and optimistic book about the entangled lives of two very different families – which kept Lucy Scholes up late at night turning the pages. She asks Monica how she gestated this book for ten years, how she made her less likeable characters empathic and how listening to Esther Perel's sex and relationship therapy inspired her to change their narratives. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kaitlyn Greenidge, acclaimed author of Libertie and We Love You, Charlie Freeman, has written the new introduction to Ann Petry's landmark Virago Modern Classics novel The Narrows. She takes a deep dive into Black American history, where Petry's writing depicts an interior life under the unrelenting gaze of whiteness. Join her conversation with Lucy Scholes to find out why a single mother and Beat poet put speed in her coffee, more realistic alternatives to Emily in Paris and the concept of gender in Yoruba culture in Nigeria. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Megan Abbott, Edgar-award winning author of eight novels including the HBO series-adapted Dare Me and her latest ballet school-set The Turnout is celebrated for her dark, precise depictions of young women in hothouse environments. She tells Lucy Scholes how thrillers honour women's instincts of fear, why she's too shy to write true crime and her admiration for a female film director flipping the script on nudity. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Do we see being a carer as a feminist failure? Claire Oshetsky's new novel Chouette is about raising a non-conforming child, represented by a wild but lovable owl-baby. In this episode of Ourshelves she talks with Lucy Scholes about how wrapping what started out as a memoir in a fantastical world made it possible to be honest, especially about the violence of motherhood. They compare their favourite books about feral children, discuss the role of white feminism in the Afghanistan war, and celebrate the trans women she admires. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Backstage with Eileen AtkinsHow does the writing we love create the roles we perform?Join Dame Eileen Atkins, stage and TV star, three-time Olivier Award winner and screenwriter of ‘Upstairs, Downstairs' and ‘Mrs Dalloway' talk about her autobiography, Will She Do? She tells Lucy Scholes how she created the first entertainment about servants inspired by her parents' lives, how a casting director got her addicted to the books of Virginia Woolf and how women in repertory theatre felt in charge. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you say ‘Me Too' in Chinese – when it's banned on social media?吕频 Lü Pin, Chinese feminist activist featured in Awakening by Rachel Vogelstein and Meighan Stone, talks to Lucy Scholes about her work challenging gender-based violence in a state without freedom of speech or protest. Through ingenuity, humour and sheer determination, she says, because ‘nobody' – not even the Chinese government – ‘can control everything'. She remembers the first time she read something which taught her to be proud of being a woman; champions the pop star singing about domestic violence in China; and argues for the importance of anger in fighting her cause. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this week's episode, our guest is Lucy Scholes, author of the monthly column Re-Covered for The Paris Review and host of the Ourshelves podcast from Virago Press. We discuss Rosamond Lehmann's wonderful 1927 debut novel, Dusty Answer. Incredibly popular in its day, this book also caused quite the scandal—which we tell you all about, of course! 

How do we get through the difficult days?Susie Boyt, author and theatre director, got through the pandemic by walking for miles listening to poetry podcasts to replace the conversations she'd have with friends about books. Here, she tells Lucy Scholes how she had a feminist awakening watching a play where women honoured the horror their friend went through; the sheer joy between grandmother and granddaughter in her latest novel Loved and Missed; and why Judy Garland is her ultimate heroine. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Throughout August, we are revisiting the very best of the podcast during the last year.In this episode; the comedian David Baddiel joins Toby Lichtig to talk about his book 'Jews Don't Count' which explores the insidious, pervasive, exclusionary nature of ‘progressive' antisemitism, Éadaoín Lynch remembers fully and truthfully the relationship between the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, and Lucy Scholes reviews a clutch of novels in the British Library's Women Writers series, dedicated to once-popular writers.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How can we find light in the dark?Oceanographer, marine biologist and author of Below the Edge of Darkness, Edie Widder's life has been as fascinating as the animals she studies, and she speaks with irresistible wonderment about watching them communicate with bioluminescence in the depths of the sea. Join her conversation with Lucy Scholes on squirting squids, being the only woman on the ship and overcoming sexism in science with the example of her extraordinary mother. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Is writing a muscle? Kamila Shamsie, prize winning novelist, fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Granta Best of Young British author, talks to Lucy Scholes about her great-aunt, Attia Hosain, whose books are newly reissued with her introductions on the Virago Modern Classics list, and how she once took her aside to say, ‘Never stop writing'. In their conversation, they traverse the psychological journey of refugees, remember how reading Woolf for the first time felt like coming up for air and ask how much courage it takes to write. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Can solitude be a source of inspiration?In this bonus episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson talks to Lucy Scholes about her latest novel, Jack and its place in the Gilead quartet. Exploring the idea of solitude, Marilynne speaks with characteristic insight about living with her characters as she writes and the absence they leave behind. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What can we learn from African women’s movements?If you knew about the women who fought a freedom war in 1914 Nigeria, would it alter your view of feminist history? Chibundu Onuzo, award-winning author and performer, talks to Lucy Scholes about her new novel Sankofa. Join a conversation of riotous laughs and deep thinking as Chibundu tells Lucy about the economics of cheating, Ugandan Mwenkanokano and why the Nigerian Elena Ferrante is her favourite book. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Would you become a surrogate mother?Publishing her first novel over the age of fifty, Susan Spindler writes brilliantly about post-menopausal life in her thriller Surrogate. Join her and Lucy Scholes as they discuss why older women are forced to emulate fertility or risk being called a ‘hag’ and to hear them talk about mothers in recent literature – from joyful physical intimacy to inherited trauma and the curious cases of women addicted to pregnancy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Robert Bound is joined by literary critic Lucy Scholes, film critic Simran Hans and music journalist Kate Hutchinson to find out which films will be getting us back into cinemas, the albums to spin in the run-up to summer and the books to enjoy on a sunny day in the park.

How can you create your own world when this one doesn’t serve you?Join as we radically restructure myths, stories and genres – from the American West to fairy tales and nineties pop icons. C. Pam Zhang is author of How Much of These Hills is Gold, longlisted for the Man Booker and Rathbones Folio Prizes and one of Barack Obama’s books of the year. She talks to Lucy Scholes about defiantly imagining herself into erased histories of Asian Americans, sexy feminists and how eavesdropping inspires her writing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Penelope Mortimer's fourth novel Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1958) is the subject of this episode of Backlisted. Joining John and Andy to discuss Mortimer's fearless and pioneering autobiographical fiction, including this book, Saturday Lunch With The Brownings (1960) and The Pumpkin Eater (1962), plus the latter's subsequent film adaptation, are critic and broadcaster Lucy Scholes and New York Times daily books editor John Williams. Also in this episode John enjoys Brown Baby, the new memoir by Nikesh Shukla; and Andy takes a break with Always A Welcome: The Glove Compartment History Of The Motorway Service Area by David Lawrence.

How can reading rewire your brain?After a childhood spent calling Henry James her ‘dude’ and Evelyn Waugh her ‘friend’ R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries, talks to Lucy Scholes about how determinedly reading more people of colour and queer voices helps reconfigure her internal world to match her external world – where straight is not the default. Join her conversation with Lucy Scholes as they break down the myth of the selfish male artist and figure out how to talk about her latest book Kink, a collection of erotic short stories, with religious Asian parents. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How can you be a strong woman in a world that’s not built for you?Justine Cowan is an attorney used to fighting environmental cases against huge corporations but writing about her mother’s childhood in her first book, The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames led her to uncover a very different injustice. She joins Lucy Scholes to talk about finding mother figures in chosen families, rewriting history from new perspectives and how, as a female lawyer in the American South, she overcame barriers by taking courage from her heroes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How can we write a life unexpected?Author of seventeen novels, fourteen plays, theatre-maker, co-director of Fun Palaces and Stonewall writer of the year Stella Duffy OBE is an inspiration of hard-won wisdom and appetite for learning new things. She joins Lucy Scholes for a conversation about living without children in a pro-natalist society, how existentialism and yoga inform her writing and the time she met Patricia Highsmith - as well as why Bridgerton is brilliant. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We review ‘Little Scratch’, the debut novel by Rebecca Watson, an experimental exploration of a day in the life of a young woman in London. Robert Bound is joined by critics Susannah Butter and Lucy Scholes.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the Karachi-based journalist Sanam Maher to discuss cliché and originality in foreign correspondents' writing on Pakistan; a whistle-stop tour through (some) of the books of 2021; Lucy Scholes reviews a clutch of novels in the British Library's Women Writers series, dedicated to once-popular writersThe Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a divided nation, by Declan WalshO, the Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn SmithThe Tree of Heaven by May Sinclair Chatterton Square by E. H. YoungFather by Elizabeth Von Arnim See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this special bonus episode of OurShelves Virago Publisher Sarah Savitt, turns the tables on our host, Lucy Scholes, for a chat about her personal highlights from season one and her most anticipated up-coming Virago publications. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anna Smith and Lucy Scholes join Robert Bound to review ‘Shirley’, Josephine Decker’s new film starring Elisabeth Moss, based on the life of the US horror writer Shirley Jackson.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Lucy Scholes to revisit the work of the master of terror Shirley Jackson and review the new film Shirley (“about as far from a traditional biopic as you can get”); and Jane Darcy grapples with the neither quite Romantic nor quite Victorian Thomas De Quincey, whose life-writing paved the way for the autobiografiction to come Shirley, directed by Josephine Decker (various cinemas / Hulu)Thomas De Quincey: Selected writings, edited by Robert Morrison See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we meet Christie’s global content director Jane Burton; chat to writer Lucy Scholes about her book recommendations; and meet the author Maaza Mengiste.

Will Hodgkinson and Lucy Scholes tell us about the best new music and books to enjoy this month, and the golden oldies they have been revisiting during lockdown.

William Shakespeare, the writer who – above all others, perhaps – keeps giving and giving. Michael Caines takes us through the latest research, theories and discoveries (or not, as the case may be); Why do women read more fiction than men? Lucy Scholes returns to the age-old conundrumDeath by Shakespeare: Snakebites, stabbings and broken hearts by Kathryn HarkupUntimely Death in Renaissance Drama by Andrew GriffinShakespeare in a Divided America by James ShapiroShakespeare and Trump by Jeffrey R. Wilson‘Infecting the teller – The failure of a mathematical approach to Shakespeare’s authorship’ by Brian Vickers, in this week’s TLSWhy Women Read Fiction: The stories of our lives by Helen Taylor See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lucy Scholes and Susannah Butter discuss Emma Jane Unsworth’s new novel about Jenny McLaine, a thirtysomething London journalist whose addiction to social media begins to take over her life.

Robert Bound, Kate Hutchinson and Lucy Scholes discuss the writing of the LA legend, whose vivid stories and laser-focused observations capture the very essence of Hollywood in the 1960s and 1970s. But as she releases a new anthology, how does her work sit in the #MeToo era and will there ever be another like her?

Come with us to our sell-out event at the Second Shelf with Bidisha, Charlotte Mendelson and Daisy Johnson in conversation with Lucy Scholes.The new editions: https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2019/jul/where-to-start-reading-iris-murdoch-books.htmlFollow us on twitter: twitter.com/vintagebooksSign up to our bookish newsletter to hear all about our new releases, see exclusive extracts and win prizes: po.st/vintagenewsletterMusic is Orbiting A Distant Planet by Quantum Jazz http://po.st/OrbitingADistant See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Robert Bound is joined in the studio by culture writer Lucy Scholes, music columnist Leonie Cooper and film critic Anna Smith to discuss the books, songs and films worthy of your time over the next few months.

Penelope Fitzgerald's fourth novel Human Voices (1980) is set at the BBC during the early months of the Second World War. Joining John and Andy to discuss the book, and Penelope Fitzgerald's life and work, are publisher and editor George Morley and writer and critic Lucy Scholes. Other books under discussion include Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss and The Good Immigrant USA edited by Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman.

In a long awaited episode John Mitchinson and Andy Miller are joined by Una McCormack and Lucy Scholes to discuss Anita Brookner's third novel 'Look At Me', a tale of intergalactic piracy in a far off star syste... No, not really. 'The Cake And The Rain', Jimmy Webb's memoir of life in the 60's music industry, and 'We That Are Young' a reworking of King Lear set in India by Preti Taneja, are the books John & Andy have been reading. If you want to come and see us record an edition of the show, we're going to be at Blackwell's Oxford on the 2nd of October, and at the Durham Book Festival on October 15th. Come and join us. Oxford details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/backlisted-podcast-live-mark-haddon-on-virginia-woolfs-jacobs-room-tickets-37422244942 Durham Book Festival details here; http://durhambookfestival.com/programme/event/backlisted-podcast-special-alma-cogan-by-gordon-burn/