Podcast appearances and mentions of toby lichtig

This week, Toby Lichtig travels to Oslo to interview Nobel laureate Jon Fosse; meanwhile, Natasha Lehrer heads to Zurich for a compelling new play by Deborah Levy.Jon Fosse is published in English by Fitzcarraldo Editions'50 Minutes', by Deborah Levy, Neumarkt Theatre, Zurich, until May 7Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Toby Lichtig chats to Sam Leith about formative literature at Jewish Book Week; and David Horspool meets Sue Prideaux, winner of this year's Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize.'The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading', by Sam Leith'Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin', by Sue PrideauxProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Toby Lichtig assesses the latest recreation of Bob Dylan, man and myth; and David Gallagher on an academic and spy who inspired the work of Javier Marias.'A Complete Unknown', a film by James Mangold'Scholar-Spy: The Worlds of Professor Sir Peter Russell', by Bruce TaylorProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Sutcliffe hears from the Love Actually writer and director Richard Curtis about how much he's obsessed by Christmas - and how he's now moved into animation for his latest film That Christmas, based on his trilogy of children's books. There's advice on the best books to buy this Christmas from the literary critic Alex Clarke and Toby Lichtig, Fiction and Politics editor at the Times Literary Supplement. Tom also talks to the Oscar-nominated screenwriter Iris Yamashita about her new audio drama Purple Heart Warriors, which tells the extraordinary story of a Japanese-American unit in World War Two.And art critic Zarina Muhammad is in the studio to assess this year's Turner Prize artists, just as the winner is announced this evening. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Paula McGrath

This week, Toby Lichtig talks to the new Booker Prize-winner Samantha Harvey about her voyage to the stars; and TLS contributors choose their books of the year.‘Orbital', by Samantha HarveyProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Toby Lichtig previews the season's fictional highlights; and Ann Manov on Sally Rooney's latest gambit.‘Creation Lake', by Rachel Kushner‘Intermezzo', by Sally RooneyProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Anna Katharina Schaffner on a top-to-tail exploration of deportment; and Toby Lichtig in conversation with novelist Hari Kunzru at the Hay Festival.'Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America', by Beth Linker'Blue Ruin', by Hari KunzruProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lily Herd on a child's-eye view of rockstar royalty; and Toby Lichtig talks to novelist Chigozie Obioma at the Hay Festival.'My Family and Other Rock Stars', by Tiffany Murray'The Road to the Country', by Chigozie ObiomaProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we accompany Stephen Sawyer on a speeded-up saunter through the arrondissements; and Toby Lichtig in conversation with Rory Stewart at the Hay Festival.'Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century', by Simon Kuper'The Zone: An Alternative History of Paris', by Justinien Tribillon'Politics on the Edge', by Rory StewartProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, George Berridge is at the theatre to see Brian Cox in a classic role; and Toby Lichtig on a literary scandal with tragic consequences.'Long Day's Journey into Night', by Eugene O'Neill, Wyndham's Theatre,London, until June 8'Bound to Violence', by Yambo Ouologuem, translated by Ralph Manheim'The Most Secret Memory of Men', by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, translatedby Lara Vergnaud'The Extinction of Irena Rey, by Jennifer CroftProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Toby Lichtig goes to see the latest Roald Dahl adaptations, junior critic in tow; and Dinah Birch celebrates the enduring power of Ebenezer Scrooge.'The Witches', at the National Theatre, London, until 27 January 2024'Wonka', on general release'A Christmas Carol', by Charles DickensProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, poet Camille Ralphs explains why she submitted to WH Auden's exacting syllabus; and Toby Lichtig joins us to preview the autumn's notable fiction.'Daydream College for Bards', by Camille Ralphs'The Fraud', by Zadie Smith'North Woods', by Daniel Mason'The Variations', by Patrick Langley'The Wren, The Wren,' by Anne EnrightProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's bumper podcast, George Berridge assesses the legacy of Cormac McCarthy; Toby Lichtig on this summer's ideal reads; and an interview with American novelist Brandon Taylor.'The Late Americans', by Brandon TaylorProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Toby Lichtig interviews the new Booker laureate, Shehan Karunatilaka, and discovers why he killed off his protagonist; and we explore the latest developments in a Chaucerian controversy.‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida' by Shehan KarunatilakaMary C Flannery on ChaucerProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Miranda France explores a suite of books about motherhood; and we survey the pick of this autumn's fiction with Toby Lichtig. ‘Don't Forget to Scream: Unspoken Truths About Motherhood' by Marianne Levy‘Motherhood: Feminism's Unfinished Business' by Eliane Glaser‘Motherload: Modern Motherhood and How to Survive It' by Ingrid WassenaarThe Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem' by Julie Phillips'Still Born' by Guadelupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey‘Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation' by Sophie Lewis'The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida' by Shehan Karunatilaka'The Trees' by Percival Everett‘Haven' by Emma Donoghue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig are joined by Devoney Looser, who scrutinises the naval career of Charles Austen, Jane's youngest brother, in the dying days of the slave trade; and Jeremy Allen talks us through the art of waiting tables in Paris.Produced by Charlotte Pardy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Lucy and Alex are joined by fiction and politics editor Toby Lichtig to reveal what's hot in summer reading, with recommendations from TLS contributors; and Henry Hitchings takes a stroll through the complex world of cryptocurrency and one of its most charismatic characters.‘The Missing Cryptoqueen' by Jamie Bartlett. Produced by Charlotte Pardy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Alex Clark and Lucy Dallas are joined by Paul Muldoon to celebrate Bloomsday with a close reading of the very first few words of Ulysses; there's news from the world of Ukrainian literature; and Toby Lichtig catches up with Tessa Hadley at the Hay Festival.‘Ulysses' by James Joyce ‘The Orphanage' by Sergiy Zhadan‘Free Love' by Tessa HadleyProduced by Charlotte Pardy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Join Alex Clark, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig as they chat to the BBC correspondents Lyse Doucet and Sana Safi, and to the legendary documentarian Norma Percy, in a special conversation recorded live at the Hay Festival.‘My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women', compiled by Lucy Hannah, with an introduction by Lyse Doucet‘Afghanistan and Me: A Female Perspective', an audio documentary by Sana SafiProduced by Sophia Franklin See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the critic Nelly Kaprièlian and the TLS's French editor Russell Williams to discuss ‘Anéantir', the latest novel by France's best-known and maybe most controversial writer, Michel Houellebecq; the TLS's Toby Lichtig talks us through a new memoir by the ‘pre-eminent author of British Jewish novels', Howard Jacobson, and we consider a masterclass in sympathy from Anne Tyler, a tale of revenge by Japan's ‘Queen of mysteries', and a wartime reckoning in Finland.‘Anéantir' by Michel Houellebecq‘Mother's Boy: A writer's beginnings' by Howard Jacobson‘French Braid' by Anne Tyler‘Lady Joker: Volume one' by Kaoru Takamura, translated by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell ‘Land of Snow & Ashes' by Petra Rautiainen, translated by David HackstonProduced by Sophia Franklin See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A conversation between the novelists Sarah Hall and Sarah Moss, both of whose most recent novels confront life in the middle of a pandemic, chaired by the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig.(This event was recorded in November at Hay Festival's Winter Weekend)'Burntcoat' by Sarah Hall'The Fell' by Sarah MossProduced by Sophia Franklin See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig are guided by Mark Ford through Concord, Massachusetts, the home of Emerson, Thoreau and the Transcendentalists; we talk to Susan Owens about the mystery and melancholy of lighted windows seen from outside; plus, new work from Dave Eggers and Zadie Smith'The Transcendentalists and their world' by Robert A. Gross'The Every' by Dave Eggers'The Wife of Willesden' by Zadie Smith'The Lighted Window: Evening walks remembered' by Peter DavidsonProduced by Sophia Franklin See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig speaks to 2021's Booker Prize-winner Damon Galgut, whose recent novel ‘The Promise' follows one family through three decades of life and death in South Africa; Douglas Smith, whose books include a biography of Rasputin, turns to Russia in the 1830s to try to understand the Russia we face today; plus, the lyrics of Paul McCartney, explained by the man himself'The Promise' by Damon Galgut'1837: Russia's quiet revolution' by Paul W. Werth'The Lyrics: 1956 to the present' by Paul McCartney, edited by Paul Muldoon – discussed at an event at the Royal Festival Hall, London on November 5; available to stream until November 12 Stream link: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/literature-poetry/lyrics-paul-mccartney-conversation-live-streamProduced by Sophia Franklin See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig are joined by the critic and gym-sceptic Irina Dumitrescu to consider a clutch of books about fitness – how it came to be the industry it is, what it means to us, even what the smell of sweat does; Alex Clark, a regular contributor to the TLS's fiction pages, runs through this year's Booker Prize shortlist, just announced, before turning to a real-life story that reads like a mystery novel: the “Stonehouse affair”, the tale of the MP and former Cabinet minister John Stonehouse, who disappeared while swimming from a private beach in Miami The Age of Fitness: How the body came to symbolize success and achievement by Jürgen MartschukatExercised: The science of physical activity, rest and health by Daniel LiebermanThe Joy of Sweat: The strange science of perspiration by Sarah EvertsThe Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison BechdelJohn Stonehouse, My Father: The true story of the runaway MP, by Julia StonehouseStonehouse: Cabinet minister, fraudster, spy by Julian Hayes 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.

Throughout August, we are revisiting the very best of the podcast during the last year.In this episode; the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to Douglas Stuart about his 2020 Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain, the writer Laura Thompson joins Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas to discuss the work of Agatha Christie and how she has managed to move with the times, and Edmund Gordon to reviews 'Klara and the Sun' - Kazuo Ishiguro's new Booker Prize longlisted novel about an Artificial Friend.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.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig are joined by Paul Griffiths to discuss the beauty and grace of Mozart, the untortured genius; David Edgerton talks us through the decline and fall of British coal mining and its relationship with the Labour Party; plus, new discoveries about Locke and Leviathan, obituary codes and the Buddha's wife'La Clemenza di Tito' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart'Mozart in Prague' by Daniel E. Freeman'Mozart: The reign of love' by Jan Swafford'The Shadow of the Mine: Coal and the end of industrial Britain' by Huw Beynon and Ray Hudson'Yasodhara and the Buddha' by Vanessa R. SassonA 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.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Patricia Craig, a writer and critic from Northern Ireland, who relates a sad and murky case of accidental killings, which took place during the Irish Civil War of the early 1920s; the TLS’s politics editor Toby Lichtig reviews a handful of recent films – works of documentary and fiction – with political stories, mostly atrocities, at their hearts; plus, a lost Proust manuscript finally sees the light of day. Can’t Get You Out of My Head, BBC iPlayerThe Mauritanian, Amazon PrimeThe Dissident, Amazon PrimeQuo Vadis, Aida?, Curzon Home CinemaLes Soixante-quinze feuillets et autres manuscrits inédits, by Marcel Proust, edited by Nathalie Mauriac Dyer, with a preface by Jean-Yves Tadié (Gallimard) A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Riz Ahmed stars in Sound of Metal as a rock drummer who loses his hearing. The actor and rapper discusses learning American sign language, working with culturally Deaf actors as well as learning about addiction for his Oscar nominated performance. So far, 2021 has seen a large number of novels with a climate change theme being published. Toby Lichtig, Fiction Editor at the Times Literary Supplement, reports on some of the new releases and shifting attitudes in publishing towards avowedly-politicised fiction. Concerts and plays with a live audience have been taking place in Israel for over a month now, with audience members required to show a vaccination certificate known as a “green pass”. Allison Kaplan Sommer from the Haaretz Newspaper in Tel Aviv reports. Paul Ritter has died aged 54. Perhaps best known for playing the dad Martin in Friday Night Dinner, we speak to the show's writer Robert Popper about Paul's life and career. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones Sound Engineer: Matilda Macari

This week, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig are joined by Mary Norris, a New Yorker and editor at - what else? - the New Yorker magazine, to discuss the changing life of the city and its inhabitants; Yoojin Grace Wuertz talks us through a film garlanded with Oscar nominations, Minari, which casts a new light on the immigrant story and the American Dream; plus, the week's fiction reviewsNew Yorkers: A city and its people in our time by Craig Taylor Pretend It's A City: NetflixThe Barbizon: The New York hotel that set women free by Paulina BrenMinari: Amazon Prime, Apple TV, etcA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod19 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The writer and comedian David Baddiel has written a book called 'Jews Don't Count', which explores the insidious, pervasive, exclusionary nature of ‘progressive’ antisemitism. Here, he talks to Toby Lichtig about how and why one of the most persecuted minorities in history continues to be overlooked'Jews Don't Count' by David Baddiel See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Toby Lichtig are joined by Stephen Lovell, Professor of Modern History at King’s College London, to discuss two important biographies of Joseph Stalin, covering the opposite ends of the dictator’s life; the debate around the official Home Office history of Britain, a document full of omissions and riddled with errors, rolls on; and can a book make you a better person? Can even the high modernists be mined for lessons in life? Joanna Scutts considers the relationship between 'serious' literature and self-help.Stalin: Passage to revolution by Ronald Grigor SunyLate Stalinism: The aesthetics of politics by Evgeny Dobrenko, translated by Jesse M. SavageThe Self-Help Compulsion: Searching for advice in modern literature, by Beth BlumReading for Life by Philip DavisSubscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this special bonus episode, the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to Douglas Stuart about his 2020 Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Colin Grant, the author of Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush generation, to discuss Small Axe, a series of films by Steve McQueen that centres on Black British life between the 1960s and 80s; and the author and musician Wesley Stace tells the story of the “real” James Bond, a celebrated ornithologist whose "dull" name was poached by Ian Fleming. Plus, the TLS's Fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to Douglas Stuart, the winner of this year’s Booker Prize for fictionSmall Axe, BBC One, BBC iPlayerShuggie Bain, by Douglas StuartThe Real James Bond: A true story of identity theft, avian intrigue and Ian Fleming, by Jim WrightSubscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by two TLS editors, David Horspool and Toby Lichtig, to discuss books that have sustained and stimulated over the past twelve months, as selected by sixty-five writers from around the world; and we discuss the controversy surrounding a long-awaited statue of – or "for" – Mary Wollstonecraft.Read the TLS's Books of the Year feature here [https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/books-of-the-year-2020/] See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The critic and novelist Elizabeth Lowry joins Thea Lenarduzzi and Toby Lichtig to discuss the Italian Baroque master Artemisia Gentileschi, the subject of a major exhibition at the National Gallery in London, a painter whose Life is as dramatic and moving as her art; and Toby reviews new fiction steeped in dread, paranoia and failure, including a short work by Don DeLillo and the debut novel from the Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman Artemisia – National Gallery, London, until January 24, 2021 The Silence by Don DeLilloAntkind by Charlie KaufmanReality: And other stories by John LanchesterWhy Visit America by Matthew Baker See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Toby Lichtig talks us through this year's Booker shortlisted novels, plus a couple of others, and Lucy Dallas reports on the French scene (where real life and fiction blur...); finally, we explore the situation in Israel and Palestine from three rather different perspectives.An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defence Forces made a nation by Haim Bresheeth-Zabner The Conflict over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine campus debate by Kenneth S. SternThe new peace? – Israel’s unexpected ray of light by Ari Shavit – www.the-TLS.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Earlier today the shortlist for the 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction was announced. Two time winner Hilary Mantel has not made the list for the final part of her Cromwell series and four out of six of the books chosen are by debut authors. John speaks to Chair of Judges Margaret Busby and critics Sara Collins and Toby Lichtig give their verdict on the chosen few. Today Arts Council England published two new pieces of research into the value of the cultural institutions it funds to our high streets and how they are reanimating local economies. For instance, more than 300 cultural venues are in unemployment hotspots. There are 500 cafes in cultural centres across the country – almost as many outlets as Pret a Manger. Sir Nichola Serota, the Chair of ACE, unpicks this work with John Wilson, who will ask him, too, what is happening with the £1.57 billion pledged by the government to save the arts and livelihoods of artists. Last week on Front Row Lucy Noble, who runs the Royal Albert Hall, said that no one had yet received any money. Sarah Hall has been nominated for the National Short Story Award for the fourth time for her story The Grotesques. Ahead of the story being broadcast on Radio 4 tomorrow, we speak to the writer about exploring covert control, scapegoating and dysfunctional mother-daughter relationships in her story. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Dymphna Flynn Studio Manager: John Boland

Shawanda Corbett, a ceramic artist and performer whose performances combine dance with music, prose and poetry, is the latest in our series of interviews with artists awarded a £10,000 Tate bursary in place of this year's Turner Prize. She was born with one arm and without legs and has developed a unique throwing technique in order to make pottery. Shawanda bases her vessels on people, referenced journeys out of slavery on the Underground Railroad as well as her own personal history of rehabilitation. Literary critics Sarah Shaffi and Toby Lichtig dissect the longlist of the 2020 Booker Prize. For the full list see below. Writer-director Claire Oakley discusses her acclaimed debut feature film Make Up, a coming-of-age psycho-sexual thriller set in a Cornish caravan park. And we salute Peter Green, guitarist and founder member of Fleetwood Mac, who died on Saturday. He wrote some of the most memorable melodies and riffs of the late '60s and '70s, including the evocative instrumental, Albatross. Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Julian May

When, last year the writer and activist Bernardine Evaristo, won the Booker Prize for fiction – becoming in fact, the first black British person to do so – we at the TLS were not surprised. Evaristo has written for us for some years now, and ‘Girl, Woman, Other’, the novel for which the prize was awarded, was only the latest in a run of novels full of life and questions and challenges. And the recognition keeps coming. This week brought two more prizes at the British Book Awards; 'Girl, Woman, Other' won in the Fiction category and Evaristo was named Author of the Year. In this reissued episode of the TLS podcast, recorded just after winning the Booker Prize, the author speaks to our fiction editor Toby Lichtig See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Shapiro, the author of Shakespeare in a Divided America, discusses the history of West Side Story, the most popular and successful Shakespeare musical of all time, and Ivo van Hove's flawed Broadway adaptation; Toby Lichtig reviews Tom Stoppard's new play Leopoldstadt and talks us through a selection of Jewish-focused pieces in this week's issue of the TLS; David Horspool, the TLS's history editor and a keen consumer of audiobooks, tells us what he has been listening to this monthWest Side Story, directed by Ivo van HoveLeopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard, Wyndham's Theatre, London, until June 13 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Is it the best of times or the worst of times to be a satirist? Madeleine Brettingham, a writer on the BBC's News Quiz, joins us to discuss; Toby Lichtig on a new production of Endgame and the constraints imposed on Samuel Beckett adaptations; founded in the 1960s, the Oulipo was – and remains – a group of writers and scientists striving for "potential literature". Anna Aslanyan considers the movement's legacyMarch of the Lemmings: Brexit in print and performance 2016–2019, by Stewart LeeThe Joke is On Us: Political comedy in (late) neoliberal times, edited by Julie A. WebberEndgame / Rough For Theatre II, at the Old Vic theatre, LondonThe Oulipo and Modern Thought, by Dennis DuncanAll that is Evident is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo 1963–2018, edited and translated by Daniel Levin Becker and Ian Monk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bernardine Evaristo speaks to the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig about her novel 'Girl, Woman, Other' See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Was the 1960s a good decade for Norman Mailer? Thomas Meaney reconsiders the work; Henry Hitchings on Auberon Waugh, anarcho-snob and master of the "vituperative arts"; Toby Lichtig on the vitality of documentary filmmaking‘Collected Essays of the 1960s’ and ‘Four Books of the 1960s’ by Norman Mailer A Scribbler in Soho: A celebration of Auberon Waugh, edited by Naim AttallahWaugh on Wine, by Auberon WaughSay What Happened: A story of documentaries, by Nick FraserOpen City Documentary Festival – opencitylondon.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Caryl Churchill celebrated her 80th birthday last year. She's written four new short plays for the Royal Court, the theatre with which she's most closely associated: Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. Horror and abuse flash through often very funny scenes played by a cast including Toby Jones and Deborah Findley. Shola Amoo's praised second feature The Last Tree is an account of a boy of Nigerian heritage who grows up in foster care in rural Lincolnshire and then goes to live with his mother in South London. It draws on some of his personal experience. Ann Patchett's new novel The Dutch House is a study of what money can do to a family, what motherhood means and the nature of loss - and it includes a character she claims is her first real villain. Mark Leckey's exhibition O'Magic Power of Bleakness at Tate Britain re-creates a space under a motorway bridge on the M53 where he used to hang out as a child for an audio-visual journey into memory and the world of spirits. And World on Fire is a new BBC1 drama for Sunday nights telling the story of the Second World War from both international and personal perspectives, by award-winning writer Peter Bowker. This week's reviewers are cultural commentator Gaylene Gould, author Catherine O'Flynn and Toby Lichtig, fiction editor of the TLS. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson This week's podcast extra choices are: Gaylene: Cleveland Watkiss at the EFG London Jazz Festival https://efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/cleveland-watkiss-60th Catherine: Pushing Paper at the British Museum https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/pushing_paper.aspx and Hikaru Davis' videos finding out about his dad, David Bowie drummer Dennis Davis: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY2aDqSy2_g6hysuYU7uOPw/featured Toby: Brett Anderson of Suede's new memoir Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn Tom: Daniel Rachel's book Don't Look Back in Anger Main Image: Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. L-R Toby Jones, Deborah Findlay, Sule Rimi Photo credit: Johan Persson

The future of the planet is in question this week, or at least, humanity's place on it, as Gabrielle Walker discusses possible solutions to climate change and why we don't need to panic - yet - but we do need to act, together. The TLS's fiction editor, Toby Lichtig, talks us through the hype and hoopla around Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale - and what the book itself is like. And are you Team Scott or Team Zelda? Joanna Scutts looks at 'the messy intertextuality of a marriage', and the question of influence within the Fitzgerald ménage. Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? by Bill McKibbenLosing Earth: The Decade We Could Have Stopped Climate Change by Nathaniel RichDown to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime by Bruno LatourThe Testaments by Margaret AtwoodThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldSave Me The Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We turn to children's and YA literature in this week's episode, with Rozalind Dineen and Toby Lichtig presenting new releases (as reviewed by a selection of young readers), as well as discussing some of the pros and cons of age-specific reading; Robert Douglas-Fairhurst reintroduces J. M. Barrie's classic work Peter Pan, where a wild imagination masks tragic, sometimes disturbing, realitiesAlfie On Holiday by Shirley HughesThe Fate of Fausto: A painted fable by OliverThe Good Thieves by Katherine RundellThe Burning by Laura Bates See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

William Feaver discusses the first part of his comprehensive biography of the great British figurative painter Lucian Freud, who died in 2011. Feaver first got to know the mercurial artist in 1973 and had regular conversations and meetings with him over the decades. The former Observer art critic's two detailed biographies – Youth and Fame - are the result of 20 years’ work. Earlier today the shortlist for the 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction was announced. Critics Arifa Akbar and Toby Lichtig give their verdict on the chosen few. Arts Council England recently published a report about if and how the arts and cultural offer within a place can attract and retain individuals and businesses and help to shape its identity. We speak to Laura Dyer, Deputy Chief Executive, Places & Engagement at Arts Council England about what the arts actually contribute to a place. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Oliver Jones

Literary critics Arifa Akbar and Toby Lichtig dissect the longlist of the 2019 Booker Prize longlist. For the full list see below. Tea is the most widely-consumed drink after water. Julie Finch, director the Compton Verney gallery, guides Julian May through their new exhibition A Tea Journey: From the Mountains to the Table. The show navigates the cultural history of the cuppa from the delicate bowls of Tang dynasty China to the British builder’s mug as well as new work made by artists in response to this history. Why have Fleabag’s black jumpsuit, the yellow coat from Keeping Faith and Villanelle’s pink dress all become firm favourites on the high street? Fashion historian Amber Butchart examines the long links between fashion houses, TV and Hollywood. Margaret Atwood (Canada) - The Testaments Kevin Barry (Ireland) - Night Boat to Tangier Oyinkan Braithwaite (UK/Nigeria) - My Sister, The Serial Killer Lucy Ellmann (USA/UK) - Ducks, Newburyport Bernardine Evaristo (UK) - Girl, Woman, Other John Lanchester (UK) - The Wall Deborah Levy (UK) - The Man Who Saw Everything Valeria Luiselli (Mexico/Italy) - Lost Children Archive Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria) - An Orchestra of Minorities Max Porter (UK) - Lanny Salman Rushdie (UK/India) - Quichotte Elif Shafak (UK/Turkey) - 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World Jeanette Winterson (UK) - Frankissstein Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Edwina Pitman

Do the kids – in these times of identity politics – still read Updike? The answer is “probably not”. But should they? Claire Lowdon makes the case; Toby Lichtig discusses Chelsea Manning, the US Army data analyst turned whistle-blower, and a new documentary on her life; Eric Rauchway considers the prevalence of pro-Nazi feeling and policy in 1940s America and beyond Novels 1959–1965: The Poorhouse Fair, Rabbit, Run, The Centaur, Of the Farm, by John Updike (Library of America)XY Chelsea, directed by Tim Travers HawkinsHitler’s American Friends: The Third Reich’s supporters in the United States, by Bradley HartThe Unwanted: America, Auschwitz, and a village caught in between, by Michael Dobbs See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Front Row pays tribute to Les Murray, Australia’s foremost contemporary poet, who died today aged 80. Unlike famous compatriots such as Germaine Greer and Clive James, Murray stayed in Australia and spent his last years on the farm in Bunyah, New South Wales, that had been his family’s home. Murray reacted against modernism, believing poetry should be accessible. He wrote poems about Australian people, animals and landscape in plain, lively and demotic language and so became known as the country’s Australia’s bush-bard. His books were always dedicated ‘to the glory of God’. Louis de Berniere’s best-selling novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin has been adapted for the stage and will be touring the UK. Sam Marlowe joins Samira to review the play and discuss how it compares with the book (and the film). The shortlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019 has been announced.Critics Sarah Shaffi and Toby Lichtig comment on the six novels that made it through from the longlist of 16. A major new exhibition celebrating the life and work of one of the most significant figures in the history of British film - director Stanley Kubrick - has just opened at the Design Museum in London. Samira is joined by the show’s co-curator and director of the Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic, as well as Kubrick’s daughter Katharina who worked on several of the director’s projects Presenter: Samira Ahmed, Producer: Oliver Jones

The novelist discusses his new book Machines Like Me with the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Simon Amstell directs his first cinema release - Benjamin. The title character is a thinly-disguised version of himself with nervous lack of self esteem who is directing a film about himself. It's all very meta but is it marvellous? Milton Keynes has just reopened its art gallery. Much enlarged and architecturally improved, the first exhibition there is The Lie Of The Land, charting how the British landscape was transformed by changes in free time and leisure The bicentenary of Queen Victoria's birth has seen lots of artistic projects to mark the moment. Norther Ballet has commissioned a work by choreographer Cathy Marston which looks at the Queen's life through her relationship with her youngest daughter. Sadie Jones won the Costa First Novel award for her book The Outcast and her latest The Snakes is set in contemporary London and Burgundy. BBC4 marks the 30th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web with programmes including Me My Selfie and I presented by Ryan Gander and How To Go Viral: The Art of the Meme With Richard Clay Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Ellen E Jones, Jen Harvie and Toby Lichtig . The producer is Oliver Jones PodcastExtra recommendations Jen: Carolee Schneemann and Katherine Araniello Ellen: The Dropout podcast Toby: Max Cooper and Country by Michael Hughes Tom: James Mays' BBC documentary on Hornby Trains

We reveal this year's Costa Book Awards shortlists. Critics Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig discuss the books chosen in the five categories: novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children's fiction. Category winners will appear on the programme in January and Front Row will announce the overall prize-winner on 29 January 2019.Documentary maker Sean McAllister reveals what has happened in the week after his film, Northern Soul, was shown on BBC Two. He explains what has happened with Steve Arnott's Beats Bus after his crowdfunding page surpasses its target.Shoplifters, a warm-hearted Japanese film about a family of small-time crooks, won the top prize, the Palme d'Or, at this year's Cannes Festival Film. As it is released into UK cinemas, cultural historian of Japan Dr Chris Harding gives his verdict on the film, its depiction of contemporary Tokyo and the controversy around its success.The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum has seen eleven members of its international advisory panel, including Sir Nicholas Serota – Chair of the Arts Council - resign in protest over the sales of artworks from their collection. David Glasser, the Executive Chair of Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, discusses why he thinks selling works is the only way ensure the establishment's future.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Ben Mitchell

Mary Beard joins us to answer the question: Is it accurate to call Donald Trump a fascist?, while the TLS's fiction and politics editor Toby Lichtig discusses how the President is presented, in books and on film; and Julia Bell looks back on her Oxford entrance interview - with no fondness - and wonders: "Was it a trap or a test?"BooksFear: Trump in the White House by Bob WoodwardThe Fifth Risk by Michael LewisNobody hates Trump more than Trump by David Shields See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Keith Miller joins us to discuss everybody's favourite Renaissance man; the TLS's Fiction editor Toby Lichtig meets Anna Burns, the winner of the 2018 Man Booker Prize for her novel Milkman; this year's Nobel Prize for Literature, meanwhile, remains suspended following charges of serious sexual misconduct and cronyism – Richard Orange reports on the mess that has engulfed the Swedish AcademyBooksLiving with Leonardo: Fifty years of sanity and insanity in the art world and beyond by Martin Kemp See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

New documentary Matangi/Maya/MIA about the political rapper MIA, uses self-filmed archive footage of the outspoken and ‘controversial' Sri Lankan immigrant artist who took up the Tamil cause. So how does the film by director and friend Stephen Loveridge help us understand her life and music? Journalist Kieran Yates reviews.The Man Booker Prize 2018 shortlist of six books has just been announced and features two debuts, the youngest ever writer to make the list, a novel in verse and four women authors. Toby Lichtig of the Times Literary Supplement and critic Arifa Akbar give their thoughts on a list which includes some notable omissions - Sally Rooney and Michael Ondaatje for example.Nell Stevens is the final shortlisted writer for this year's National Short Story Award. She joins Kirsty to talk about The Minutes, her darkly funny and mysterious tale which follows a group of students captivated by an enigmatic stranger as they protest against the demolition and gentrification taking place in their neighbourhood.Roy Williams pays tribute to fellow playwright Stephen Jeffreys, who has died aged 68. He is best-known for writing The Libertine, about the hedonistic Restoration poet and courtier - the Earl of Rochester. Jeffreys also long championed the work of young, new dramatists, including Roy, offering them support and advice.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Harry Parker

Touching The Void. Memoir, documentary, now theatre performance - at the Bristol Old Vic. Written by David Greig , it's an adaptation of Joe Simpson's bestselling 1988 mountaineering memoir and the subsequent 2003 docu-drama detailing Simpson's disastrous 1985 attempt to make a first ascent of a mountain in the Andes. Theatre director Tom Morris talks to Kirsty about the challenges of transferring the story to the stage. And as the Bristol Old Vic prepares to re-open after a major refurbishment, he describes how the new design aims to mark the theatre's history and slave trade past and welcome in new audiences.Crazy Rich Asians is a box office hit in the US about a young Chinese-American woman who goes to a wedding in Singapore and encounters the fabulously wealthy Chinese family of her boyfriend. Its star Constance Wu talks to Kirsty about the issues it raises on the difference between Asian and American culture and the tricky question of stereotyping.Crazy Rich Asians is based on a best-selling book Kevin Kwan of the same name satirizing Singapore's super-rich. Depictions of the wealthy in novels is nothing new as literary critic Toby Lichtig explains as he gives is a potted history of rich-lit.As this year's Leeds International Piano Competition reaches the finals without a British finalist, concert pianist Murray McLachlan, Chair of the European Piano Teachers Association (UK) and Artistic Director of Chetham's International Summer School and Festival for Pianists, discusses whether British piano teaching is making the grade.

Are we entering a new age for LSD, full of medical potential? Can it shed its heavily tie-dyed cultural baggage? And who has written the finest prose about psychedelics? Toby Lichtig joins us to discuss; Eri Hotta (re)introduces us to Natsume Sōseki, "the greatest novelist of modern Japan"; Kate Chisholm considers the chequered history of Virago, founded in 1973 as a "feminist press", plus 40 years of Modern Classics, a series conceived to challenge the established male dominated literary canon and rescue and rehabilitate forgotten works by women See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playwright Patrick Marber and actress Indira Varma on Exit the King, Marber's adaptation for the National Theatre of the Romanian absurdist drama by Eugène Ionesco, in which Varma stars as Queen Marguerite alongside Rhys Ifans' King, about to make his final exit. John talks to Nick Drnaso, the first graphic novelist to be longlisted for the Man Booker prize, and critics Arifa Akbar and Toby Lichtig comment on the longlist as a whole. For the full list see below. Poet Tony Walsh, whose poem This is the Place poignantly captured the feelings of the public following last year's Manchester Arena bomb, has written a new poem for the Imperial War Museum North in Salford, part of a season marking the centenary of the final year of the First World War.The 2018 Man Booker LonglistBelinda Bauer (UK) Snap (Bantam Press) Anna Burns (UK) Milkman (Faber & Faber) Nick Drnaso (USA) Sabrina (Granta Books) Esi Edugyan (Canada) Washington Black (Serpent's Tail) Guy Gunaratne (UK) In Our Mad And Furious City (Tinder Press) Daisy Johnson (UK) Everything Under (Jonathan Cape) Rachel Kushner (USA) The Mars Room (Jonathan Cape) Sophie Mackintosh (UK) The Water Cure (Hamish Hamilton) Michael Ondaatje (Canada) Warlight (Jonathan Cape) Richard Powers (USA) The Overstory (Willian Heinemann) Robin Robertson (UK) The Long Take (Picador) Sally Rooney (Ireland) Normal People (Faber & Faber) Donal Ryan (Ireland) From A Low And Quiet Sea (Doubleday Ireland)Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Timothy Prosser.

We’re joined in the studio by TLS editors for arts, features and fiction, respectively, Lucy Dallas, Roz Dineen and Toby Lichtig, to pick through a selection of TLS writers’ summer reading choices – from reworked Classical myths to Deadpool comics – before offering a taste of our own, including books by Sally Rooney, Bruno Latour and an account of witchcraft and agrarian cults in early modern Italy. Go to the-TLS.co.uk to read our summer books feature in full. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This year marks half a century since the establishment of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The TLS’s Fiction editor Toby Lichtig joins us to debate the point of literary prizes and discuss the most under- (or over-) rated winners; Joan C. Williams, the author of last year’s White Working Class: Overcoming class cluelessness in America, considers the political consequences of class divides in the US and BritainBooksThe White Working Class: What everyone needs to know by Justin GestMaking Sense of the Alt-Right by George Hawley See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tim Winton discusses his new novel, The Shepherd's Hut, with the TLS's Fiction editor Toby Lichtig. Go to the-tls.co.uk to read an exclusive extract from the novel. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The shortlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018 has been announced today, critics Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig comment on the six novels that made it through from the longlist of 16. Country band The Shires perform live and discuss their new album, Accidentally on Purpose, working with Ed Sheeran and why country music is having a resurgence in popularity in the UK.Sean O'Brien is a man of letters, writing essays, plays and novels; as well as his celebrated poetry. He talks about and reads from Europa, his latest collection - and his ninth. The tenet is that Europe is not a place we can choose to leave and the poems explore how our culture, language, history and identity are inextricably entwined with mainland Europe. Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Dymphna Flynn.

Who are the most exciting novelists from the British Isles currently working? In a spirit of mischief, the TLS asked 200 notable names in the publishing industry (editors, agents, publishers and writers) to nominate those at the top of their literary game. The critic Alex Clark and TLS fiction editor Toby Lichtig join us in the studio to pick through the results See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Literary prizes come in more shapes and sizes than ever before: we have prizes that echo the Man Booker, and prizes that set out not to be the Man Booker; we have prizes for first novels, second novels, crime novels that don’t feature violence against women, and, more satirically, a prize for “bad sex in fiction”. Why do we need so many? Do we need them at all? And how do prizes work not only for writers but for those people who do all the reading (and sometimes arguing): the judges? The TLS's Michael Caines chairs a lively discussion between Toby Lichtig, the fiction editor of the TLS, and Alex Clark, a critic and regular prize judge/chair. This live event was a collaboration with BookMachine. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Miranda Seymour reveals the peculiar circumstances surrounding the marriage of Lord Byron's daughter and his super-fan, William King; just how seriously should we be taking the Virtual Reality revolution? Tom Rachman cautiously probes the frontier of what is possible; Death Row attorney Clive Stafford Smith shares the story of Billy Neal Moore, a tale of murder, hope and Mother Theresa; and finally, before the winner of the Republic of Consciousness Prize for small presses is revealed, the TLS's Fiction editor Toby Lichtig meets Neil Griffiths, the prize's founder, to find out more See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi are joined in the studio by TLS Arts editor Lucy Dallas and Fiction editor Toby Lichtig to discuss the best (and worst) arts events of 2017. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Who reads Anthony Powell now? A. N. Wilson celebrates the muted comedy of a British novelist best-known (only known?) for his twelve-novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time; TLS Fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to the novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer at the 2017 Hay Festival in Arequipa, Peru; Imogen Russell Williams rounds up the brightest and most inspiring new children's books See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

TLS Fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to the novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer at the 2017 Hay Festival in Arequipa, Peru. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new Modigliani exhibition at Tate Modern shows the most extensive display of the Italian Jewish painter and sculptor's work yet seen in the UK, including 12 of his famous nudes. Sarah Crompton reviews.Front Row reveals this year's Costa Book Awards shortlists. Critics Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig comment on the writers chosen in the five categories: novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children's fiction. The overall prize-winner will be announced on Front Row on 30 January 2018. Actor John Lithgow discusses his latest film Daddy's Home 2, and talks more broadly about his wide-ranging career and why he's as happy playing an alien as he is a serial killer or Winston Churchill.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Jerome Weatherald.

This week we're joined by TLS editors Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig to pick through the "books of the year", as nominated by a roster of TLS contributors, including Lydia Davis, Hilary Mantel, William Boyd and Tom Stoppard; plus, we bite the literary bullet and share our own nominations, from Reni Eddo-Lodge's account of entrenched racism to Laurent Binet's riotous fictional homage to Roland Barthes See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The comedian and writer Sara Pascoe explains to Kirsty Lang why Pride and Prejudice, great as the book is, was in need of a comic stage adaptation. Her play based on Jane Austen's novel is about to open at the Nottingham Playhouse. It includes scenes with modern commentary, original music from Emmy the Great, and jokes. The Man Booker Prize shortlist, announced today, includes some surprises - omissions as well as inclusions. Critics Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig deliver their verdicts and nominate their favourite to win. Actor Robert Lindsay talks to Kirsty about playing Jack Cardiff in Prism, a play about the cinematographer's life. Prism looks back at Cardiff's career which includes working on the film sets of The Red Shoes, The African Queen and Sons and Lovers.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Kate Bullivant.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – The meaning of the 15th-century Voynich manuscript – a strange compendium of undecipherable signs, astrological symbols and pictures of nude bathing women – has long eluded scholars. We're joined by bibliographical sleuth Nicholas Gibbs, who appears to have discovered the manuscript's secret; to mark the double anniversary of one of America's greatest poets, Robert Lowell (1917-1977), Paul Muldoon – himself a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, and Poetry editor at the New Yorker – reads his new poem 'Robert Lowell at Castletown House'; finally, TLS Fiction editor Toby Lichtig discusses the latest releases from established writers (including John le Carré and Salman Rushdie) and debut novelists (Gabriel Tallent and Fiona Mozley) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig. The TLS critic David Collard explores the idiosyncratic worlds of Ian Nairn – architectural critic, psychogeographer, “a cross between Anthony Burgess and Tony Hancock” – and describes Nairn’s influence on a generation of authors, including Simon Okotie, whose new novel he’s also reviewed in this week’s TLS. The paper's biography editor Catharine Morris tells the story of Tuco, the African grey parrot, and his influence on the life and work of the novelist Brian Brett. Lisa Hilton explains why the Marquis de Sade is a progressive moral satirist and a “rotten pornographer”. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A family secret inspired novelist Patrick Gale's first TV screenplay Man in an Orange Shirt. Part of the BBC's Gay Britannia season, the drama focuses on gay relationships in two interlinking episodes set during the '40s and in the present day.The Man Booker Prize 2017 longlist has just been announced and includes big names including previous winner Arundhati Roy, as well as Zadie Smith and Sebastian Barry, and Colson Whitehead and his Pulitzer-prizewinning The Underground Railroad. There are a few surprises there too including debut novelist Fiona Mozley's Elmet. Literary critic Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig of the Times Literary Supplement join John to talk about the significance of this year's choices.The 12 Albums of the Year nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize were announced earlier today. From pop to jazz to grime, the diverse shortlist includes some of the UK's biggest acts, and then some you may never have heard of - we'll be discussing it with BBC Radio 6 music presenter Tom Ravenscroft.For our Queer Icons series, Olly Alexander - lead singer of the band Years & Years - talks about Anne Carson's verse novel Autobiography of Red, and his identification with its central character, a red winged monster. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Harry ParkerMain Image: Michael (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), and Thomas (James Mcardle) in Man in an Orange Shirt. Image Credit: BBC / Kudos / Nick Briggs.

Every year we ask a selection of TLS contributors what they'll be reading with those extra hours of daylight. In this episode, we're joined by Fiction editor Toby Lichtig and Arts editor Lucy Dallas to pick through the results and discuss our own selections. Plus, an exclusive interview with 2017 Man Booker International-winner, the Israeli novelist David Grossman, and translator Jessica Cohen See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – TLS Politics editor Toby Lichtig speaks to Assaf Gavron, author of a fascinating essay on the role of football in the politics of the Middle East, and runs us through a number of pieces from this week’s issue on the legacy of the Six-Day War, 60 years on; "No wild animal plays a more significant or ambivalent role in the imaginings of the British than the fox", so says Tom Holland, who joins us to consider this curiously divisive beast; fresh from a marathon production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, opera critic Guy Dammann explains the importance of this towering work of music and drama See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas. Sudhir Hazareesingh gives his analysis of the French election and the rise of Macron; Toby Lichtig (sic) helps us tackle genre fiction, including our tips for the greatest ever historical novel; and Hal Jensen celebrates an 8-hour play about American identity. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this bonus programme, TLS fiction editor Toby Lichtig interviews George Saunders about his first novel, 'Lincoln in the Bardo'. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Rupert Shortt on why Christianity has been more help than hindrance to social and intellectual progress; Fiction editor Toby Lichtig meets Emily Witt to discuss sex, drugs and a new novel by Dana Spiotta; Terri Apter on new essays by Siri Hustvedt, the (narrowing?) gap between art and science, and the persistent gender biases that underpin experience. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi are joined by Fiction editor Toby Lichtig and Arts editor Lucy Dallas to discuss their favourite books of 2016, plus the titles they guiltily haven't read (yet), old favourites, and a few disappointments; to end the show, Alan Jenkins, TLS Poetry editor, reads "The Song of the Swimmer" by J. A. Symonds, a feverish poem which could never have been shared in the writer's lifetime and which is published for the first time in this week's issue of the TLS. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Adam Driver played Lena Dunham's love interest in Girls, and Han Solo and Princess Leia's evil son in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The actor discusses his latest role as a poetry-writing bus driver in Jim Jarmusch's new film Paterson. Front Row reveals this year's Costa Book Awards shortlists. Critics Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig comment on the writers chosen in the five categories: novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children's fiction.Nearly a decade after the finale of the popular family TV series Gilmore Girls, Netflix has revived the drama in four extended 90-minute episodes. Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life reunites the cast with the show's creator and original writer Amy Sherman-Palladino, who had been absent for its final season. Rachel Cooke of The Guardian gives her verdict.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Toby Lichtig talks to Ali Smith about her new novel, Autumn; plus, an exclusive extract read by the author. Find out more: the-tls.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Mark Ford on Thomas Hardy's unlikely London romance; Hirsh Sawhney on Aravind Adiga's captivating new novel and his messy portrait of India; to tie in with a special run of features on the Middle East, TLS editors Robert Irwin and Toby Lichtig discuss the challenges, historical and present, facing the region; and finally, Mark Ford reads Thomas Hardy's poem "Coming Up Oxford Street: Evening", from 1872. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Toby Lichtig from The TLS chats to author Eimear McBride about her latest novel, The Lesser Bohemians. Find out more: the-tls.co.uk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Patrick Wilcken brings us the real Brazil, a country at breaking point; Francesca Wade considers the radical interior designs, and desires, of the Bloomsbury Group; Toby Lichtig on the failures and successes of Geoff Dyer; and Rachel Hadas reads her poem, "Raw Jute". See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bourne is back. But 14 years since Matt Damon starred in The Bourne Identity, does the franchise still thrill in a world of super-hackers and government surveillance? Antonia Quirke joins John Wilson to review Jason Bourne.The Man Booker prize long list was announced today. Critics Alex Clarke and Toby Lichtig consider this year's runners and riders.The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is celebrating its bicentenary with an exhibition displaying 150 illuminated manuscripts from its collection, ranging from prayer books of European royalty to alchemical scrolls. John travels to Cambridge to find out more. Presidential hopefuls have long known of the power of a good pop tune when it comes to firing up a crowd. So what's scoring the Trump and Clinton rallies, and what does it say about their respective campaigns? American columnist, Katie Puckrik dons her headphones.

Toby Lichtig talks to Morris Dickstein about the ever-evolving relationship between Judaism and American literature. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Vertigo special: Toby Lichtig of The TLS introduces David Collard who compares Alfred Hitchcock's film interpretation to the original novel. The film was recently voted 'the best of all time' by 846 critics, programmers, academics and distributors. Find out more: www.the-tls.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.