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15 episodes with young british novelists
3 episodes with young british novelists
2 episodes with young british novelists
2 episodes with young british novelists
2 episodes with young british novelists
4 episodes with young british novelists
2 episodes with young british novelists
2 episodes with young british novelists
2 episodes with young british novelists
Benjamin Markovits grew up mostly in Texas. He left an unpromising career as a professional basketball player to study the Romantics – an experience he wrote about in Playing Days, a novel. Since then he has taught high school English, worked at a left-wing cultural magazine, and written essays, stories and reviews for, among other publications, The New York Times, Granta, The Guardian, The London Review of Books and The Paris Review.He has published seven novels, including Either Side of Winter, about a New York private school, and a trilogy on the life of Lord Byron: Imposture, A Quiet Adjustment and Childish Loves. In 2009 he won a Pushcart Prize for his short story Another Sad, Bizarre Chapter in Human History. Granta selected him as one of the Best of Young British Novelists in 2013. Markovits lives in London and is married, with a daughter and a son. He teaches Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.His latest novel, The Rest of Our Lives, has been praised by Sarah Hall, Clare Chambers, Lucy Caldwell, The Guardian, the Observer, TLS and many more. Get the book here or at your local bookshop. What's left when your kids grow up and leave home? When Tom Layward's wife had an affair he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest daughter turned eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to Pittsburgh to start university, he remembers his pact.He is also on the run from his own health issues, and the fact that he's been put on leave at work after students complained about the politics of his law class – something he hasn't yet told his wife.So, after dropping Miriam off, he keeps driving, with the vague plan of visiting various people from his past – an old college friend, his ex-girlfriend, his brother, his son – on route, maybe, to his father's grave in California.
Simon and Rachel speak to the novelist and non-fiction writer Andrew O'Hagan. Born in Glasgow, Andrew is the author of seven novels – including "Be Near Me", "Mayflies" and "Caledonian Road" – and three books of non-fiction: "The Missing", "The Atlantic Ocean" and "The Secret Life". He is editor at large at the London Review of Books and has written over 150 pieces for the publication, starting with a Diary in 1993 about James Bulger's murder and the cruelty of children to other children. Other LRB pieces have covered the sinking of his grandfather's ship, the Grenfell Tower disaster and Prince Harry. Andrew has has been nominated for the Booker Prize, was voted one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2003, and won the E. M. Forster Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. We spoke to him about coming to London from Scotland and making his way, combining journalism and fiction, and his latest novel, "Caledonian Road". We've also made another update for those who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon. We've added 40 new pages of material to the package of successful article pitches that goes to anyone who supports the show with $5 per month or more, including new pitches to the New York Times, the Washington Post and the BBC. This means the whole compendium now runs to a whopping 160 pages. And we're excited to announce that for people who contribute $10/month we're now releasing bonus mini-episodes. If you'd like to know what these will sound like, there's a sample episode with Lee Child that you can listen to for free on our Patreon now. Thanks to the help of our sponsors, Scrivener, the first ten new signs-ups at $10/month will additionally receive a lifelong license to Scrivener worth £55/$59.99. This specialist word-processing software helps you organise long writing projects such as novels, academic papers and even scripts. But we only have ten to give out so, if you're interested, please check it out as soon as you can. Other Patreon rewards include signed copies of our podcast book (see below) and the opportunity to take part in a monthly call with the two of us to workshop your own pitches and writing projects. A new edition of “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World's Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is available now. The updated version now includes insights from over 100 past guests on the podcast, with new contributions from Harlan Coben, Victoria Hislop, Lee Child, Megan Nolan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Philippa Gregory, Jo Nesbø, Paul Theroux, Hisham Matar and Bettany Hughes. You can order it via Amazon or Waterstones.You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.
In this bonus Footnote episode, Saba Sams joins us to talk about her debut novel, GUNK, which she's launching at the Brighton Festival in conversation with Fee Mac. Get tickets here. Jules has been divorced from her ex-husband Leon for five years, but she still works alongside him at the nightclub. With the arrival of Nim, a new employee at the bar, Jules is jolted awake for the first time in years and with an unexpected pregnancy in the mix, this novel poses questions around who we choose to build our families with. Selected for Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2023 and author of the dazzling collection of short stories, Send Nudes, Saba Sams is a voice not to be missed.
On the Saturday April 5, 2025 edition of The Riuchard Crouse Show we’ll meet writer, radio host, television personality, and public speaker Bee Quammie. She was the co-host of the Kultur’D podcast on Global News Radio and is a regular guest on The Social. Her writing has been featured in publications including The Globe and Mail, Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Ebony, Flare, and Hazlitt among others, and covers topics spanning race and culture to parenthood to health and wellness. Her latest project is “The Book of Possibilities,” which shows us how small acts of bravery and paying careful attention to our inner voice can open up a world of opportunity and lead to a fulfilling life. Then, we get to know British novelist Natasha Brown. Her debut novel “Assembly” was shortlisted for many awards and she was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2023 and one of the Observer’s Best Debut Novelists in 2021. Her new novel “Universality” tells the story of a young journalist who sets out to uncover a murder mystery and winds up drawing connections between an unsympathetic banker landlord, a larger-than-life columnist, and a radical anarchist movement. She solves the mystery, but what she uncovers unearths a deeper web of questions. Elle calls “Universality” an “instant classic,” and “The Bookseller” calls it “a pin-sharp, savagely funny tale of class, wealth and manipulation.”
“It's my mum's favourite book that I wrote!” Benjamin Markovits is here to talk about his new and twelfth novel, THE REST OF OUR LIVES, published by Faber and Faber. Tom Layward has made a pact with himself. After his daughter moves out of college, he's moving out too. His wife had an affair, and he feels like he owes himself a road trip across America. He takes in the sights, sounds and basketball games of the American heartland and beyond. But he's deferring some health issues and it seems like it's only a matter of time before his body asks him to stop and slow down, some of which was inspired by Ben's own experiences. Ben's novel, You Don't Have to Live Like This, won the James Tait Black Prize for fiction. He was a Granta Best of Young British Novelists. His writing has featured prolifically in mainstream publications. We discuss: Are families about power dynamics? Hear about Ben and I reflecting on our family life Is Steph Curry Benjamin's new obsession instead of Michael Jordan? Why is Syme, Ben's first novel, his mum's favourite novel? ***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation! https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** You can buy THE REST OF OUR LIVES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages
‘The people I like to write about are what I would describe as moderately successful failures.' Benjamin Markovits is here to talk about his new and twelfth novel, THE REST OF OUR LIVES, published by Faber and Faber. Tom Layward has made a pact with himself. After his daughter moves out of college, he's moving out too. His wife had an affair, and he feels like he owes himself a road trip across America. He takes in the sights, sounds and basketball games of the American heartland and beyond. But he's deferring some health issues and it seems like it's only a matter of time before his body asks him to stop and slow down, some of which was inspired by Ben's own experiences. Ben's novel, You Don't Have to Live Like This, won the James Tait Black Prize for fiction. He was a Granta Best of Young British Novelists. His writing has featured prolifically in mainstream publications. ***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation! https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** You can buy THE REST OF OUR LIVES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages Rippling Points 2.42 - Why Tom goes on a roadtrip 4.12 - Feelings of failure and sport 7.10 - Constructing the narrator 9.00 - Tom's difference to other narrators of Ben's 11.30 - Pick-up basketball 15.15 - East Coast privilege 16.00 - The NBA - basketball and race 21.20 - Katharina Volckmer in conversation 22.45 - Tom's relationship with his children 23.57 - Tom and Ben's illness 26.58 - Matters of life and death 28.10 - Doctors and writers 29.45 - Ben's next steps Reference Points Philip Roth John Updike Ben's novels The Syme Papers Playing Days You Don't Have to Live Like This The Sidekick
On the Saturday April 5, 2025 edition of The Riuchard Crouse Show we'll meet writer, radio host, television personality, and public speaker Bee Quammie. She was the co-host of the Kultur'D podcast on Global News Radio and is a regular guest on The Social. Her writing has been featured in publications including The Globe and Mail, Maclean's, Chatelaine, Ebony, Flare, and Hazlitt among others, and covers topics spanning race and culture to parenthood to health and wellness. Her latest project is “The Book of Possibilities,” which shows us how small acts of bravery and paying careful attention to our inner voice can open up a world of opportunity and lead to a fulfilling life. Then, we get to know British novelist Natasha Brown. Her debut novel “Assembly” was shortlisted for many awards and she was named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2023 and one of the Observer's Best Debut Novelists in 2021. Her new novel “Universality” tells the story of a young journalist who sets out to uncover a murder mystery and winds up drawing connections between an unsympathetic banker landlord, a larger-than-life columnist, and a radical anarchist movement. She solves the mystery, but what she uncovers unearths a deeper web of questions. Elle calls “Universality” an “instant classic,” and “The Bookseller” calls it “a pin-sharp, savagely funny tale of class, wealth and manipulation.”
Charles and Graham are joined by novelist and short story writer, York based Ross Raisin to talk about his recent triumph in the BBC National Short Story Award with Ghost Kitchen and life as a writer.Ross Raisin was born and brought up on Silsden Moor in West Yorkshire. He is the author of four novels: A Hunger (2022), A Natural (2017), Waterline (2011) and God's Own Country (2008). His work has won and been shortlisted for over ten literary awards. Ross won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award in 2009, and in 2013 was named on Granta's once a decade Best of Young British Novelists list. In 2018 he was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Society of Literature. Ross has written short stories for Granta, Prospect, the Sunday Times, Esquire, BBC Radio 3 and 4, among others, and in 2018 published a book for the Read This series, on the practice of fiction writing: Read This if you Want to be a Great Writer.Keep in touch with Two Big Egos in a Small Car:X@2big_egosFacebook@twobigegos
Sunjeev Sahota is the author of the novels: China Room, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the American Library Association's Carnegie Medal; The Year of the Runaways, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize and was awarded a European Union Prize for Literature; and Ours are the Streets. In 2013, he was named one of Granta's twenty Best of Young British Novelists of the decade. He lives in Sheffield, England, with his family. His new novel is The Spoiled Heart. We talked about writing socially and politically motivated themes but still making them stories worth reading, unions, the impact of the news and our culture on writing, the strategic reveal of information, creative writing and algebra, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Adam Thirwell is an award-winning novelist and screenwriter. Among his best-known books are Lurid & Cute, Politics, Multiples and Kapow!.His latest novel is The Future Future, which Salman Rushdie described as "A dazzling performance, unlike anything else you'll read this (or any other) year". He has twice been selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists, received a Somerset Maugham Award in 2008, and was a recipient of the EM Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2015. He wrote and directed Utopia, a short film starring Lily Cole and Lily McMenamy, for Channel 4; and wrote another short film, Everyday Performance Artists – featuring Shia LaBeouf, Gemma Chan and James Norton, and directed by Polly Stenham – which was broadcast on Channel 4 in 2016. His essays appear regularly in the New York Review of Books. He is Advisory Editor at the Paris Review, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. http://www.adamthirlwell.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theclusterftheory.substack.com
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Andrew O'Hagan is one of the most exciting and serious chroniclers of our times. Born in Glasgow, he has been nominated for the Booker Prize three times, was voted one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2003 and won the E. M. Forster Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is Editor-at-Large of the London Review of Books and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His previous novel, Mayflies, won huge acclaim, was a Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month and was adapted for television in an award-winning two-part BBC drama starring Martin Compston and Tony Curran. His highly anticipated new book Caledonian Road is, in the words of Joshua Cohen, 'a brilliant state-of-the-nation novel that pulls down the facades of high society and knocks over the “good liberal” house of cards'. With thanks for your support for 5x15 online! Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories
Simon and Rachel and Simon speak with the novelist Adam Thirlwell. The author of four novels - the first of which, "Politics", was published in 2003 when he was 24, and the latest of which is "The Future Future" - Adam's work has been translated into 30 languages. His essays appear in the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, and he is an advisory editor of the Paris Review. His awards include a Somerset Maugham Award and the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has twice been selected - in 2003 and 2013 - by Granta as one of their Best of Young British Novelists. We spoke to Adam about his stellar university career and publishing his first novel in his early twenties, balancing fiction with working for literary magazines, and his latest work, "The Future Future". “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World's Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via Amazon, Bookshop.org, Hatchards or Waterstones. You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.
Life is too short for s*** books and Graeme Armstrong is a highly celebrated Scottish writer. His teenage years were spent within North Lanarkshire's gang culture. His bestselling debut novel, ‘THE YOUNG TEAM', is inspired by his experiences. We chat about his book and how it came to be. The books we discuss are: The Young TeamTrainspottingAlongside overcoming struggles with drug addiction, alcohol abuse and violence, he read English as an undergraduate at the University of Stirling; where he returned to study a Masters' in Creative Writing. He is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Strathclyde.It won the Betty Trask Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and was Scots Book of the Year 2021. It's being adapted for screen by Synchronicity Films. In 2021, Graeme presented ‘SCOTLAND THE RAVE', a BBC documentary exploring Scotland's rave and PCDJ culture, which was subsequently nominated for a BAFTA Scotland and RTS Scotland Award 2022. Most recently, he wrote and presented ‘STREET GANGS', a BBC factual series exploring modern Scottish gang culture, drill music and his own past. In 2023, Graeme was named as one of Granta's ‘Best of Young British Novelists', a once-in-a-decade literary honour.
In this episode, we speak to novelist and short story writer Eliza Clark about her novel, Penance. We discuss violence and transgression within fiction, and what this can reveal about wider society. We chat about the satirisation of the true crime genre, and the socio-political context which surrounds violent acts. We examine the role of the internet in writing, publishing and how it effects our experiences of our bodies and desires. We discuss the influence of both mainstream and social media in shaping narratives about people and places, as well as aspects of social class and regional inequality between the north-east and London. We chat about what it means to write difficult female characters and the difference between writing first and second novels. Eliza Clark is from Newcastle. In 2018, she received a grant from New Writing North's 'Young Writers Talent Fund'. Her debut novel, Boy Parts, was published by Influx Press in July 2020 and was Blackwell's Fiction Book of the Year. In 2022, Eliza was chosen as a finalist for the Women's Prize Futures Award for writers under thirty-five, and she was selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2023. Penance was published by Faber in 2023. References Boy Parts by Eliza Clark Penance by Eliza Clark You can now subscribe to our Patreon for £5 a month, which will enable us to keep bringing you more in-depth conversations with writers. As a subscriber, you will have access to: 10% listener discount on all books at Storysmith, either online or in person Opportunities to submit questions to upcoming guests Free book giveaways each month related to our featured guests Early access to episodes each month Exclusive free tickets each month to live Storysmith events A free Storysmith tote bag after 3 months subscription Please like, rate and subscribe to help promote the podcast and support our work.
A young woman moves from the place of her birth to the remote northern country of her forebears to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has recently left him. Soon after her arrival, a series of inexplicable events occurs - collective bovine hysteria; the demise of a ewe and her nearly born lamb; a local dog's phantom pregnancy; a potato blight. She notices that the local suspicion about incomers in general seems to be directed with some intensity at her and she senses a mounting threat that lies 'just beyond the garden gate.' And as she feels the hostility growing, pressing at the edges of her brother's property, she fears that, should the rumblings in the town gather themselves into a more defined shape, who knows what might happen, what one might be capable of doing.With a sharp, lyrical voice, Sarah Bernstein powerfully explores questions of complicity and power, displacement and inheritance. Study for Obedience is a finely tuned, unsettling novel that confirms Bernstein as one of the most exciting voices of her generation.SARAH BERNSTEIN is from Montreal, Canada, and lives in Scotland. Her writing has appeared in Granta among other publications. Her first novel, The Coming Bad Days, was published in 2021. In 2023 she was named as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists.Buy the book from Wellington Square Bookshop - https://wellingtonsquarebooks.indiecommerce.com/book/9781039009066
K Patrick's Mrs. S is one of the most eagerly awaited debuts of the year, having already secured for its author a spot on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. A queer romance set in the staffroom of an elite English boarding school, Lillian Fishman has described it as ‘a voluptuous performance in the art of withholding'. Patrick was in conversation with editor and writer Amelia Abraham, whose most recent book, Queer Intentions (Macmillan) was nominated for a Polari First Book award in 2020. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
I was in Ireland recently to interview two of the best novelists on the face of the planet. John Banville, in Dublin, and David Mitchell, in Cork. As a cost-cutting measure I decided to ask them both the same questions: What do you do? How do you do it? Why do you do it? And: Why does it matter? I got diametrically opposed answers. So much for my cherished ambition of capturing definitive, unified explanations of what the best novelists (in this case) do, and how they do it at the dawn of the 21st century. David Mitchell is compelled to make narrative. Better and better narrative. He are his novels, in order: Ghostwritten (1999) Number9Dream (2001) Cloud Atlas (2004) Black Swan Green (2006) The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (2010) The Bone Clocks (2014) Slade House (2015) Utopia Avenue (2020) Ghostwritten takes place all over the world - ‘from Okinawa to Mongolia to New York City' and is told in interconnecting stories by nine different narrators. It won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (best work of British literature written by an author under 35) and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. number9dream and Cloud Atlas were both shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In 2003 David was selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists.' In 2007 Time magazine included him among their 100 Most Influential People in The World. In 2018 he won the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence, given in recognition of a writer's entire body of work. In other words, David is a best practitioner. He lives about an hour's drive from Cork. We met downtown for a taste of the city and a bite to eat. The better part of our afternoon was spent chatting about love and literature, and searching for a quiet place where we could clock our Biblio File best-practitioner conversation. Lovely, colourful city Cork. Tad noisy. We don't talk much about specific books but we do attempt an "understanding" of the novel writing process in light of how David has gone about creating his wonderful Balzacian oeuvre. Stay tuned for the Biblio File Back-story.
Set, ostensibly, in revolutionary France, The Future Future follows Celine from young womanhood as she navigates the shifting landscape—which is being transformed as much by new media, new ways of doing business, and the discovery of new territories, as by the various political insurrections. It is a novel about how women survive in a world wrought by male violence, about language—how it shapes us and how we're shaped by it—about friendship, about power, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, given the title: about time.Buy The Future Future: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-future-futureAdam Thirlwell was born in London in 1978. The author of three previous novels, his work has been translated into thirty languages. His essays appear in the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, and he is an advisory editor of the Paris Review. His awards include a Somerset Maugham Award and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has twice been selected by Granta as one of their Best of Young British Novelists. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A Palestinian production of Hamlet in the West Bank is the backdrop for Isabella Hammad's new novel, Enter Ghost. Hammad's first novel, the beautiful and sprawling The Parisian, won international acclaim in 2019. Granta included Hammad in its decennial “Best of Young British Novelists” list earlier this year. The narrator of Hammad's new novel is Sonia, a British Palestinian actress who visits her sister in Israel to recover from the end of an affair. Despite wanting to take a break from the stage, Sonia gets roped into playing Gertrude in a production of Hamlet being mounted in the West Bank. Sonia's fellow actors read Hamlet as an allegory for the Palestinian struggle. While Sonia resists their interpretation, she uncovers ghosts of her own—repressed memories, a family history of resistance, and a newly discovered commitment to the Palestinian cause. Despite the novel's contemporary setting and political themes, Hammad never lets her characters' trenchant views overwhelm the complex beauty of her storytelling. Isabella Hammad is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Enter Ghost is available now from Grove Atlantic Press. From our Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published August 1, 2023. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. We had technical help from Andrew Feliciano at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.
In this interview, British novelist, journalist and screenwriter Ned Beauman discusses his latest novel Venomous Lumpsucker-a brilliant, darkly satirical and terrifying novel about endlings (the last of a species), the manipulation of extinction credit markets... the elusive Hermit Kingdom: described by The Times Literary Supplement as “a tale of capitalism, penance and species extinction.” Fascinating, broad ranging discussion on extinction, literary fiction and the climate crisis, environmental satire, and the commodification of nature. First aired in September 2022. Ned Beauman is a British novelist, journalist and screenwriter, the author of five novels; he was selected as one of the Best of Young British Novelists by Granta magazine in 2013. His latest is Venomous Lumpsucker, “a darkly funny and incisive zoological thriller about environmental devastation and one very ugly little fish.”
On this month's episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by writer Sophie Mackintosh to read and discuss David Hayden's short story, ‘Leckerdam of the Golden Hand', originally published in our Summer 2016 issue. Sophie Mackintosh is the author of three novels: The Water Cure, Blue Ticket and Cursed Bread. Her debut novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018 and won a Betty Trask Award 2019, and Cursed Bread was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023. She has been published in Granta, The White Review and TANK magazine among others, and was named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists 2023. Sophie's short story ‘Revivalists' was published in our Summer 2018 issue. David Hayden was born in Ireland and lives in England. His writing has appeared in numerous magazines including The Stinging Fly, Granta online, Zoetrope All-Story, The Dublin Review, AGNI, The Georgia Review and A Public Space. His first book of stories, Darker With the Lights On, was published by Transit Books and Carcanet Press. Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was recently published by Bloomsbury. The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers to choose a story from the Stinging Fly archive to read and discuss. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast's theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes', by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.
Octavia Bright discusses Granta's once in a decade list of new writing talent
In this interview British novelist, journalist and screenwriter Ned Beauman discusses his latest novel Venomous Lumpsucker-a brilliant, darkly satirical and terrifying novel about endlings (the last of a species), the manipulation of extinction credit markets... the elusive Hermit Kingdom: described by The Times Literary Supplement as “a tale of capitalism, penance and species extinction.” Fascinating, broad ranging discussion on extinction, literary fiction and the climate crisis, environmental satire, and the commodification of nature. Ned Beauman is a British novelist, journalist and screenwriter, the author of five novels; he was selected as one of the Best of Young British Novelists by Granta magazine in 2013. His latest is Venomous Lumpsucker, “a darkly funny and incisive zoological thriller about environmental devastation and one very ugly little fish.”
Nadifa Mohamed in conversation with Tommy Orange, celebrating the release of her new novel "The Fortune Men," published by Alfred Knopf. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "The Fortune Men" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/fortune-men/ Nadifa Mohamed was born in 1981 in Hargeisa, Somaliland. At the age of four she moved with her family to London. She is the author of "Black Mamba Boy" and "The Orchard of Lost Souls." She has received both The Betty Trask Award and the Somerset Maugham Award, and in 2013, she was named as one of Granta‘s Best of Young British Novelists. Her work appears regularly in The Guardian and the BBC. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she lives in London. Tommy Orange is a novelist and writer from Oakland, California. His first book "There There" was one of the finalists for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and received the 2019 American Book Award. Orange is a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He attended Institute of American Indian Arts and earned the Masters in Fine Arts. He was born and raised in Oakland, California, and makes his home in Angels Camp, California. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation
Evie Wyld's debut novel, After the Fire, a Still Small Voice, was short-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Her second novel, All the Birds, Singing, won the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Encore Award and the European Union Prize for Literature, and it was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award for Best Novel. In 2013 she was named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. Her latest novel, The Bass Rock, won the Stella Prize. She lives in London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For the Valentine's week episode of our podcast, we were joined by Xiaolu Guo to discuss her intense, fragmentary meditation on the nature of love, A Lover's Discourse.Buy A Lover's Discourse here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/I/9781529112481/a-lovers-discourseBrowse our online store here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/15/online-store/16/bookstore*SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR BONUS FEATURESIf you want to spend even more time at Shakespeare and Company, you can now subscribe for regular bonus episodes including: An initiation into the world of rare book collecting; The chance to expand your reading horizons as our passionate booksellers recommend their favourite titles; Handpicked classic interviews from our archive; And an insight into what makes your favourite writers tick as they answer searching questions from our Café's Proust questionnaire.Subscribe on Spotify here: https://anchor.fm/sandcoSubscribe on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/sandcoSubscribe on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/shakespeare-and-company-writers-books-and-paris/id1040121937?l=enAll money raised goes to supporting “Friends of Shakespeare and Company” the bookshop's non-profit, created to fund our noncommercial activities—from the upstairs reading library, to the writers-in-residence program, to our charitable collaborations, and our free events.*A Chinese woman comes to post-Brexit London to start over - just as the Brexit campaign reaches a fever pitch.Isolated and lonely in a Britain increasingly hostile to foreigners, she meets a landscape architect and the two begin to build their future together.Playing with language and the cultural differences that our narrator encounters as she settles into her new life, the lovers must navigate their differences and their romance, whether on their unmoored houseboat or in a cramped apartment in east London. Suffused with a wonderful sense of humour, this intimate novel asks what it means to make a home and a family in a new land.*Xiaolu Guo was born in south China. She studied at the Beijing Film Academy and published six books in China before moving to London in 2002. Her books include Village of Stone which was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth which was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, and I Am China which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. Her recent memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award, the Jhalak Prize and the Rathbones Folio Award 2018, and was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. In 2013 Xiaolu was named as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. She has directed several award-winning films including She, A Chinese, and documentaries about China and Britain. She was a judge for the Booker Prize in 2019, and is currently a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. Buy a signed copy of his novel FEEDING TIME here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/S/9781910296684/feeding-timeListen to Alex Freiman's Play It Gentle here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
This week's guest is Booker-shortlisted Nadifa Mohamed discussing The Fortune Men a gripping fictional portrayal of a real miscarriage of justice in 1950s Cardiff.Buy The Fortune Men here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/I/9780241466940/the-fortune-men-shortlisted-for-the-costa-novel-of-the-year-awardBrowse our online store here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/15/online-store/16/bookstore*SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR BONUS FEATURESIf you want to spend even more time at Shakespeare and Company, you can now subscribe for regular bonus episodes including: An initiation into the world of rare book collecting; The chance to expand your reading horizons as our passionate booksellers recommend their favourite titles; Handpicked classic interviews from our archive; And an insight into what makes your favourite writers tick as they answer searching questions from our Café's Proust questionnaire.Subscribe on Spotify here: https://anchor.fm/sandcoSubscribe on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/sandcoSubscribe on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/shakespeare-and-company-writers-books-and-paris/id1040121937?l=enAll money raised goes to supporting “Friends of Shakespeare and Company” the bookshop's non-profit, created to fund our noncommercial activities—from the upstairs reading library, to the writers-in-residence program, to our charitable collaborations, and our free events.*Mahmood Mattan is a fixture in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, 1952, which bustles with Somali and West Indian sailors, Maltese businessmen and Jewish families. He is a father, chancer, some-time petty thief. He is many things, in fact, but he is not a murderer. So when a shopkeeper is brutally killed and all eyes fall on him, Mahmood isn't too worried. It is true that he has been getting into trouble more often since his Welsh wife Laura left him. But Mahmood is secure in his innocence in a country where, he thinks, justice is served. It is only in the run-up to the trial, as the prospect of freedom dwindles, that it will dawn on Mahmood that he is in a terrifying fight for his life - against conspiracy, prejudice and the inhumanity of the state. And, under the shadow of the hangman's noose, he begins to realise that the truth may not be enough to save him.*Nadifa Mohamed was born in Hargeisa, Somaliland, in 1981 and moved to Britain at the age of four. Her first novel, Black Mamba Boy, won the Betty Trask Prize; it was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize and the PEN Open Book Award. Her second novel, Orchard of Lost Souls, won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Prix Albert Bernard. Nadifa Mohamed was selected for the Granta Best of Young British Novelists in 2013, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. The Fortune Men was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize. Nadifa Mohamed lives in London.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. Buy a signed copy of his novel FEEDING TIME here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/S/9781910296684/feeding-timeListen to Alex Freiman's Play It Gentle here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
NADIFA MOHAMED was born in 1981 in Hargeisa, Somaliland. At the age of four she moved with her family to London. She is the author of Black Mamba Boy and The Orchard of Lost Souls. She has received both The Betty Trask Award and the Somerset Maugham Award, and in 2013, she was named as one of Granta‘s Best of Young British Novelists. Her work appears regularly in The Guardian and the BBC. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she lives in London. Her latest novel is called The Fortune Men. Mahmood Mattan is a fixture in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, 1952, which bustles with Somali and West Indian sailors, Maltese businessmen and Jewish families. He is a father, chancer, petty criminal. He is a smooth-talker with rakish charm and an eye for a good game. He is many things, but he is not a murderer.
“It's a piece of family lore or legend that I've been hearing since I was a quite young boy.” In this week's episode of Book Dreams, acclaimed author Sunjeev Sahota shares with Eve and Julie the family and personal experiences that helped shape his latest, transfixing novel, China Room. Set in both 1920s rural India and 1990s small-town England, the book originates with the story of Sunjeev's great-grandmother, who as a young bride didn't know which of four brothers was her new husband. Woven into both the novel and our conversation are themes of connection, belonging, heritage, class, and reputation. The two intergenerational storylines reveal a “mutual haunting” of future and past, with the past shaping the future and the future “reverb[ing] back” to transform the past. Sunjeev Sahota was named one of Granta's 20 Best of Young British Novelists of the Decade in 2013. In addition to China Room, he's the author of Ours Are the Streets and The Year of the Runaways, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize, and was awarded a European Union Prize for Literature. China Room was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize and a finalist for the American Library Association's Carnegie Medal. Find us on Twitter (@bookdreamspod) and Instagram (@bookdreamspodcast), or email us at contact@bookdreamspodcast.com. We encourage you to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter for information about our episodes, guests, and more. Book Dreams is a part of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Book Dreams, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows about literature, writing, and storytelling like Storybound and The History of Literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The devil's daughter features in a new novel from Jenni Fagan; Salena Godden's debut novel imagines Mrs Death. To discuss conjuring fear, they join Shahidha Bari alongside a pair of historians - Tabitha Stanmore, who researches magic from early modern royal courts to village life, and Daniel Ogden, who has looked at werewolf tales in ancient Greece and Rome. Jenni Fagan's latest novel is called Luckenbooth, and her first book, The Panopticon, has been filmed. Fagan was listed by Granta as one of the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists. There is more information about her drama and poetry collection, There’s A Witch In The Word Machine, on her website - https://jennifagan.com/ Salena Godden's novel is Mrs Death Misses Death, published on 28 January 2021, and she's been made a new Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. You can find more about her poetry and her radio show, Roaring 20s, on her website - http://www.salenagodden.co.uk/ Tabitha Stanmore is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, working on witchcraft. Daniel Ogden is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Exeter. His book is called The Werewolf In The Ancient World. You might be interested in other episodes looking at witchcraft: Author Marie Dariessecq - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000qkl The relevance of magic in the contemporary world - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kvss Historians Marina Warner and Susannah Lipscomb look at Witchfinding - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06kckxk Novelists Zoe Gilbert, Madeline Miller and Kirsty Logan compare notes on Charms - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b1q0xc Producer: Emma Wallace
Xiaolu Guo was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 2013. She talks about her latest book A Lover’s Discourse, which is a story of love and language – and the meaning of home set at the time of the European referendum. With a nod to Roland Barthes’ book of the same name, Guo’s novel is told through conversations between a Chinese woman newly arrived in the UK and her Anglo-German boyfriend. It is 100 years since Bernard Leach, with his Japanese colleague Hamada Shojie, established his pottery in St Ives. Since then his influence as a studio potter, making vessels that are both beautiful and functional, by hand, has spread around the globe. Roelof Uys, the lead potter at the studio today, discusses Leach's ideas and work, and the projects marking the centenary. Last night three members of the Belarus Free Theatre - Nadia Brodskaya, Sveta Sugako and Dasha Andreyanova - were arrested in Minsk, during protests against the results - widely believed to be fabricated - of the election there. Their colleagues in the company do not know where they are being held. We hear from Natalia Kaliada, one of the founding directors of the Belarus Free Theatre, the only theatre company in Europe banned by its government on political grounds. London's Donmar Warehouse is re-opening temporarily from 3 to 22 August with a socially-distanced sound installation, Blindness, which is based on the dystopian novel by Nobel prize-winning José Saramago, adapted by Simon Stephens and starring the voice of Juliet Stevenson. Susannah Clapp reviews. Main image above: Xiaolu Guo Image credit: Stephen Barker Presenter Tom Sutcliffe Producer Jerome Weatherald
Maggie Gee is the author of fifteen books, thirteen of which are novels, including her latest, Blood, which is published by Fentum Press. She talks about being born to working-class parents and climbing into an uneasy place between classes; winning a major open scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford where she did an MA in English literature and an MLitt on Surrealism in England; breaking into the publishing game; being selected as of the original Granta 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 1983; why there is still such reticence on the part of the dominant ‘white' literary establishment to address, through literature, the tensions of race and class in contemporary British society; co-founding the “Empathy and Writing” cross-disciplinary research group at Bath Spa University; and more. Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | A BookBlast® Production
The writing life of two authors who should have been sharing a stage at the Bare Lit Festival. Irenosen Okojie and Nadifa Mohammed talk to Shahidha Bari in a conversation organised with the Royal Society of Literature. And 2020 New Generation Thinker Seren Griffiths describes a project to use music by composer at an archaeological site to mark the summer solstice and the findings of her dig. The Somali-British novelist Nadifa Mohamed featured on Granta magazine's list "Best of Young British Novelists" in 2013, and in 2014 on the Africa39 list of writers under 40. Her first novel Black Mamba Boy won a Betty Trask Award. Her second novel The Orchard of Lost Souls won the Somerset Maugham Award and contributed poems to the collection edited by Margaret Busby in 2019 New Daughters of Africa. Irenosen Okojie's debut novel, Butterfly Fish, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Edinburgh First Book Award. Her short story collection, Speak Gigantular was shortlisted for the Edgehill Short Story Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Saboteur Awards and nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. Her most recent book is called Nudibranch. You can find more information about the Bare Lit Festival http://barelitfestival.com/ and about the Royal Society of Literature https://rsliterature.org/ Irenosen is one of the voices talking about Buchi Emecheta in this programme https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09r89gt Caine Prize 2019 winner Lesley Nneka Arimah is interviewed https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006mtb Caine Prize 2018 winner Makena Onjerika https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b89ssp Billy Kahora a Caine nominee https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02tw6fg The music used by Seren Griffiths is by https://jonhughesmusic.com/ and you can find out about the dig https://bryncellidduarchaeology.wordpress.com/the-bryn-celli-ddu-rock-art-project/ and the minecraft https://mcphh.org/bryn-celli-ddu-minecraft-experience/ New Generation Thinkers is the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select ten academics each year to turn their research into radio. Producer: Robyn Read
Lundströms Bokradios påskspecial tar idag med oss till San Francisco där vi får följa spåren av en biblioteksbok som lämnades tillbaka försent, 47 år! Och så möter vi en internationell författarstjärna, brittiska Rachel Cusk. Programledare: Marie Lundström. När San Francisco Public Library i stadsdelen Castro, hade en kampanj kallad "The fine forgiveness campaign", en period då det gick att återlämna gamla utgångna låneböcker, utan att behöva betala böter, ja då fick de träffa på en bok som varit på vift i 47 år. De fick då tillbaka boken "Soul on ice". Marie Lundström tog med sig bandspelaren till USA och fick se den slitna boken med egna ögon. Sändes första gången den 29 september 2018. Den brittiska författaren Rachel Cusk debuterade redan 1993 men det är med trilogin "Konturer", "Transit" och "Kudos" som hon nått den stora publiken. Trilogin innebar också hennes pånyttfödelse som författare. Hon är född 1967 i Kanada av brittiska föräldrar, tillbringade sin tidiga barndom i Kalifornien och bor sedan 1974 i England. Hon debuterade med boken "Saving Agnes" 1993 och var med i den brittiska tidskriften Grantas exklusiva urval av unga författare i "Best of Young British Novelists" 2003. Rachel Cusk har också skrivit tre öppet självbiografiska böcker. Den första om sitt ambivalenta moderskap: "A Life's Work. On becoming a Mother" 2001, nummer två om en relation i upplösning: "The Last Supper: A Summer in Italy", 2009 och den tredje om sin såriga skilsmässa: "Aftermath. On Marriage and Separation" 2012. Dessa böcker mötte stark kritik i England och Rachel Cusk var nära att tystna som författare. Marie Lundströms möte med Rachel Cusk sändes första gången den 22 juni 2019. Skriv till oss! bokradio@sverigesradio.se Redaktion: Fredrik Wadström och Anna-Karin Ivarsson
The Nest is the new Sunday night drama on BBC1 that raises questions around the ethics of surrogacy as a wealthy couple invite a young woman whose past is not known to them into their lives. The Truth is a French/Japanese production directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda who won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2018 for his film Shoplifters. It stars Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche in the story of an ageing actress who publishes her memoirs and is confronted by her daughter. Evie Wyld was named as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2013. Her new novel, The Bass Rock, tells the story of three generations of women whose fates are linked. Two exhibitions at Compton Verney that have sadly had to close because of coronavirus are kept alive by our critics: Cranach: Artist and Innovator and Fabric: Touch and Identity. And we suggest some culture that might already be on your shelves or on a screen near you to enjoy if you're stuck indoors. Tom Sutcliffe's guests this week are Charlotte Mullins, Bob and Roberta Smith and Laurence Scott. Podcast Extra recommendations Bob: Paul Klee, On Modern Art Certain Blacks, album by The Art Ensemble of Chicago The Letters of Van Gogh Charlotte: The Gallery of Lost Art - as she explains, what's left of it can be found at galleryoflostart.com and via Tate website The West Wing Laurence: Star Trek: the Next Generation, all 7 seasons Tom: Contagion and, as always, Call My Agent Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson Image: Emily (SOPHIE RUNDLE) in The Nest Credit: Mark Mainz / Studio Lambert / BBC
Den brittiska författaren Rachel Cusk debuterade redan 1993 men det är med sin senaste trilogi hon nått den stora publiken. "Konturer", "Transit" och "Kudos" innebar också hennes pånyttfödelse som författare. I säsongens allra sista Lundströms möter vi den brittiska författaren Rachel Cusk. Hennes tre senaste böcker har översatts i snabb följd till svenska och har hyllats av många kritiker, både i Sverige och utomlands. Hon är född 1967 i Kanada av brittiska föräldrar, tillbringade sin tidiga barndom i Kalifornien och bor sedan 1974 i England. Hon debuterade med boken "Saving Agnes" 1993 och var med i den brittiska tidskriften Grantas exklusiva urval av unga författare i "Best of Young British Novelists" 2003. Rachel Cusk har också skrivit tre öppet självbiografiska böcker. Den första om sitt ambivalenta moderskap: "A Life's Work. On becoming a Mother" 2001, nummer två om en relation i upplösning: "The Last Supper: A Summer in Italy", 2009 och den tredje om sin såriga skilsmässa: "Aftermath. On Marriage and Separation" 2012. Dessa böcker mötte stark kritik i England och Rachel Cusk var nära att tystna som författare. Den nya trilogin blev hennes återkomst till litteraturen och livet. Dessutom har vi frågat tre kloka författare om vad de har tänkt läsa i sommar! Mats Strandberg, Denise Rudberg och Peter Englund delar med sig av sina bästa lästips. Mats Strandbergs sommartips: "Allt jag fått lära mig" av Tara Westover "Främlingar på tåg" av Patricia Highsmith "Konsten att skära i kroppar: Joseph Lister & den moderna kirurgins födelse" av Lindsey Fitzharris Denise Rudbergs sommartips: "Ensam i Berlin" av Hans Fallada "Jane Eyre" av Charlotte Brontë "En gentleman i Moskva" av Amor Towles Peter Englunds sommartips: "Termiternas liv" av Maurice Maeterlinck (1926)* Georges Simenons Kommissarie Maigret-böcker, t.ex. "Den hängde i Liège" "Tusen och en natt" (10 volymer, Bonnier, 1918-1923) * Maurice Maeterlincks bok "Termiternas liv" anses vara ett plagiat av den sydafrikanske författaren Eugène Marais tidigare utgivna verk "Termitens själ". Källa: Wikipedia Programledare: Marie Lundström Producenter: Nina Asarnoj och Fredrik Wadström
The Seattle Public Library - Author Readings and Library Events
In this episode of the Granta podcast, Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers reads ‘False Blood’ by Will Self. Diagnosed with a rare blood condition, Self attends weekly ‘venesections’ (the modern-day equivalent of bloodletting) which inspire morbid thoughts on addiction and disease. The story can be found in full on our website: https://granta.com/false-blood/ Will Self is the author of numerous novels, most recently Phone. In 1993 he was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. Max Porter is the author of Grief is the Thing With Feathers, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Guardian First Book Award and the 2015 Goldsmiths Prize, and won the 2016 International Dylan Thomas Prize.
Louis de Bernières, who lives in Norfolk, published his first novel in 1990 and was selected by Granta magazine as one of the twenty Best of Young British Novelists in 1993. Since then he has become well known internationally as a writer, with Captain Corelli's Mandolin winning the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Novel in 1994. His sixth novel, the acclaimed Birds Without Wings, came out in 2004. A Partisan's Daughter (2008) was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and Notwithstanding: Stories from an English Village was published in Autumn 2009, followed by de Bernieres’ first collection of poetry, Imagining Alexandria: Poems in Memory of Constantinos Cavafis, in 2013. His major new novel, The Dust That Falls From Dreams, was published in July 2015, and his new collection of poems, Of Love and Desire, appeared in February 2016. As well as writing, de Bernieres plays the flute, mandolin and guitar. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories
Sly, funny, intelligent, and artfully structured, THE FORTUNES by Peter Ho Davies recasts American history through the lives of four Chinese Americans and reimagines the multigenerational novel through the fractures of immigrant family experience. Spinning fiction around fact, Davies uses stories—three inspired by real historical characters—to examine the process of becoming not only Chinese American, but American. Released just this fall, THE FORTUNES has garnered swift and widespread critical acclaim. Davies, who is also faculty in the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program, will read from his novel and discuss the challenges of writing fiction inspired by real people and how his own experience of becoming American since immigrating 25 years ago informed the book. PETER HO DAVIES is the author of two novels, THE FORTUNES and THE WELSH GIRL (long-listed for the Man Booker Prize), and two short story collections, THE UGLIEST HOUSE IN THE WORLD (winner of the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize) and EQUAL LOVE (A New York Times Notable Book). His work has appeared in HARPERS, THE ATLANTIC, THE PARIS REVIEW, THE GUARDIAN, AND THE WASHINGTON POST among others, and has been widely anthologized, including selections for PRIZE STORIES: THE O. HENRY AWARDS and BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES. In 2003 GRANTA magazine named him among its Best of Young British Novelists. Davies is also a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and is a winner of the PEN/Malamud Award. Born in Britain to Welsh and Chinese parents, he now makes his home in the US. He has taught at the University of Oregon and Emory University, and is currently on the faculty of the Helen Zell MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. This series is presented in partnership with: African & African Diaspora Studies at Calvin College Ambrose @ WMCAT The Asian Studies Program at Calvin College Brazos Press The Calvin Center for Community Engagement & Global Learning The Calvin College Campus Store The Calvin College Associate Dean for Diversity & Inclusion The Calvin College History Department The Calvin College Office of the Provost The Calvin College Department of Sociology & Social Work Heyns Fund The Calvin College Student Life Division The Calvin Theater Company The Christian Reformed Church’s Office of Social Justice Event and Tech Services at Calvin College The Paul B. Henry Institute at Calvin College Schuler Books and Music
Helen Oyeyemi wrote her first novel The Icarus Girl, about a mixed race child and her imaginary friend, in secret, while she was still at school studying for her A levels. Four more novels have followed and, most recently, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, a collection of short stories. She appeared on Granta's Best of Young British Novelists list in 2013. Helen's twisted fairy tales possess a heightened reality, blurring the everyday and the fantastic, making her readers question what is real and what is unreal. In her world it's not just narrators that can be unreliable - even geography and time are unstable. She talks to Michael Berkeley about the pleasures of storytelling, the power of fairy tales and her passion for her adopted city of Prague, reflected in music by the Czech composer Martinu. And she chooses music that sparks her imagination from Rimsky-Korsakov, Offenbach, Elgar, and a South Korean rock band. Produced by Jane Greenwood A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3.
@Writerer @BBCBooks #doctorwho #tindogpodcast @BBCWBC Isn't life terrible? Isn't it all going to end in tears? Won't it be good to just give up and let something else run my mind, my life?Something distinctly odd is going on in Arbroath. It could be to do with golfers being dragged down into the bunkers at the Fetch Brothers' Golf Spa Hotel, never to be seen again. It might be related to the strange twin grandchildren of the equally strange Mrs Fetch – owner of the hotel and fascinated with octopuses. It could be the fact that people in the surrounding area suddenly know what others are thinking, without anyone saying a word.Whatever it is, the Doctor is most at home when faced with the distinctly odd. With the help of Fetch Brothers' Junior Receptionist Bryony, he'll get to the bottom of things. Just so long as he does so in time to save Bryony from quite literally losing her mind, and the entire world from destruction. Because something huge, ancient and alien lies hidden beneath the ground – and it's starting to wake up… About the Author A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novelDay. She lives in London and is a part-time lecturer in creative writing at Warwick University. A. L. Kennedy
Louis de Bernières talks about the life and poetry of Cavafy. Louis de Bernières, who lives in Norfolk, published his first novel in 1990 and was selected by Granta magazine as one of the twenty Best of Young British Novelists in 1993. Since then he has become well known internationally as a writer, with Captain Corelli's Mandolin winning the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Novel in 1994. His sixth novel, the acclaimed Birds Without Wings, came out in 2004., A Partisan's Daughter (2008) was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and Notwithstanding: Stories from an English Village was published in Autumn 2009, followed by de Bernieres’ first collection of poetry, Imagining Alexandria: Poems in Memory of Constantinos Cavafis, in 2013; it is also available in audio, read by the author. Publication of his major new novel, The Dust That Falls From Dreams, was in July 2015, and his new collection of poems, OF LOVE AND DESIRE, is out in February 2016. As well as writing, de Bernieres plays the flute, mandolin and guitar. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories
Will Self began writing fiction after graduating from Oxford University, and worked as a cartoonist for the New Statesman and the London listings magazine City Limits. In 1993 he was chosen as one of Granta’s ‘Best of Young British Novelists’, and his fiction includes the short-story collection The Quantity Theory of Insanity (which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize), and novels such as How the Dead Live, Cock and Bull and Umbrella. His non-fiction includes Perfidious Man, featuring photographs by David Gamble, and collections of his journalism such as Junk Mail and Feeding Frenzy. In 2002 he took part in a “reality art” project in a one-bedroom flat on the twentieth floor of a Liverpool tower block, writing a short piece of fiction whilst being watched by the public. He is a regular broadcaster on television and radio, and contributed to numerous newspapers and magazines, writing on various topics including architecture and psychogeography. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest this June, Alex Clark talks to Xiaulo Guo, one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, about her new book I Am China. The New Yorker China correspondent Evan Osnos sends us his dispatch taken from Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China, and Wild Swans author Jung Chang talks about the most important woman in Chinese history, Empress Dowager Cixi.Follow 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/vintagenewsletter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In this week's podcast, Tom and Chad talk about the works of British writer David Peace. Peace was part of the 2003 version of Granta's "Best of Young British Novelists" (along with Toby Litt, Nicola Baker, David Mitchell, Adam Thirlwell--really solid list), and is the author of nine novels, including the "Red Riding Quartet" (Nineteen Seventy-Four, Nineteen Seventy-Seven, Nineteen Eighty, Nineteen Eighty-Three), the first two volumes of the uncompleted "Tokyo Trilogy" (Tokyo Year Zero and The Occupied City), two books on famous soccer figures (The Damned Utd and Red or Dead), and GB84 about the UK miners' strike. Since Peace's books encompass the main interests of both Tom and Chad--soccer and crime!--they each read a few different Peace books to prep for this podcast.
In 1983, Salman Rushdie was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel Shame and named among Granta’s inaugural Best of Young British Novelists. Only a few years later, he was forced into hiding by an Iranian fatwa after the publication of The Satanic Verses. Rushdie survived, became a passionate champion of free speech and emerged as the single most influential British writer of our times. In this event, recorded live at the 2013 Edinburgh International Book Festival, Rushdie reflects on a remarkable career with John Freeman, former editor of Granta.
In 1983, Salman Rushdie was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel Shame and named among Granta’s inuagural Best of Young British Novelists. Only a few years later, he was forced into hiding by an Iranian fatwa after the publication of The Satanic Verses. Rushdie survived, became a passionate champion of free speech and emerged as the single most influential British writer of our times. In this event, recorded live at the 2013 Edinburgh International Book Festival, Rushdie reflects on a remarkable career with John Freeman, former editor of Granta.
Her debut The Still Point was inspired by the Arctic, and Amy Sackville heads north again with her second novel, Orkney, which confirms that this startlingly original writer is heading for the literary big league. The same is true for Evie Wyld, who has been named one of 2013’s Granta Best of Young British Novelists – her new book, All the Birds Singing, is about an outsider living on a British island. In this event, recorded live at the 2013 Edinburgh International Book Festival, the two novelists get together to discuss their work with Jenny Brown.
Her debut The Still Point was inspired by the Arctic, and Amy Sackville heads north again with her second novel, Orkney, which confirms that this startlingly original writer is heading for the literary big league. The same is true for Evie Wyld, who has been named one of 2013’s Granta Best of Young British Novelists – her new book, All the Birds Singing, is about an outsider living on a British island. In this event, recorded live at the 2013 Edinburgh International Book Festival, the two novelists get together to discuss their work with Jenny Brown.
The final in our series of podcasts featuring the Best of Young British Novelists 4, we hear from Tahmima Anam. Anam is the author of the Bengal Trilogy, which chronicles three generations of the Haque family from the Bangladesh war of independence to the present day. Her debut novel, A Golden Age, was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. It was followed in 2011 by The Good Muslim. ‘Anwar Gets Everything’, in the issue, is an excerpt from the final instalment of the trilogy, Shipbreaker, published in 2014 by Canongate in the UK and HarperCollins in the US. Here she spoke to Saskia Vogel about making a home in London and migration.
Continuing our series of podcasts on the Best of Young British Novelists 4, we hear from Steven Hall. Born in Derbyshire, Hall’s first novel, The Raw Shark Texts, won the Borders Original Voices Award and the Somerset Maugham Award, and has been translated into twenty-nine languages. ‘Spring’ and ‘Autumn’, in the issue, are excerpts from his upcoming second novel, The End of Endings. Here he spoke to online editor Ted Hodgkinson about how the internet is, to his mind, disturbing the possibility of a novel with a single continuous narrative thread, writing from memory and the significance of Ian the cat in his first novel.
Continuing our series of podcasts on the Best of Young British Novelists 4, we hear from Jenni Fagan. Fagan’s critically acclaimed debut novel, The Panopticon, was published in 2012 and named one of the Waterstones Eleven, a selection of the best fiction debuts of the year. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and her collection The Dead Queen of Bohemia was named 3:AM magazine’s Poetry Book of the Year. She holds an MA in creative writing from Royal Holloway, University of London, and currently lives in a coastal village in Scotland. ‘Zephyrs’, in the issue, is an excerpt from her novel in progress. Here she speaks with Granta’s Ellah Allfrey about the care system, how a library van nurtured her love of reading from a young age and her days in a band.
Continuing our Best of Young British Novelists we hear from Kamila Shamsie. Shamsie is the author of five novels. The first, In the City by the Sea, was published by Granta Books in 1998 and shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Her most recent novel, Burnt Shadows, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and translated into more than twenty languages. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a trustee of English PEN and a member of the Authors Cricket Club. ‘Vipers’, in the issue, is an excerpt from a forthcoming novel. Here she talks to John Freeman about the themes of love and war in her work, moving between her native Karachi and London where she lives now, her choice to become a UK citizen and how her uncle directed the first episode of Doctor Who.
Continuing a series of podcasts featuring our Best of Young British Novelists, today we bring you an interview with Nadifa Mohamed. Mohamed was born in Somalia and moved to Britain in 1986. Here she spoke to online editor Ted Hodgkinson about how her first novel, Black Mamba Boy (which won the Betty Trask Award), was inspired by her father’s journey to the UK from Somalia, and how that process brought them closer together. They also spoke about her arrival from Somalia, growing up in Tooting and how she believed from a young age that cats were spies for the government. ‘Filsan’, in the issue, is an excerpt from her new novel, The Orchard of Lost Souls, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in the UK and Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the US. You can also watch a specially commissioned short film in which Mohamed visits Shepherd’s Bush Market and explains why she wants to be the griot of London.
Continuing a series of podcasts featuring our Best of Young British Novelists, today we bring you an interview with Sunjeev Sahota. Sahota was born in Derby and currently lives in Leeds with his wife and daughter. His first novel, Ours are the Streets, was published in 2011. ‘Arrivals’, in the issue, is an excerpt from The Year of the Runaways, his unfinished second novel, forthcoming from Picador. Here Sahota spoke to Ellah Allfrey about his work, finding Midnight’s Children in an airport bookshop and having a day job.
In our latest instalment of podcasts featuring our Best of Young British Novelists, we speak to Helen Oyeyemi. Oyeyemi is the author of The Icarus Girl and The Opposite House. Her third novel, White is for Witching, was awarded a 2010 Somerset Maugham Award, and her fourth, Mr Fox, won the 2012 Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Award. ‘Boy, Snow, Bird’, in the issue, is an excerpt from a new novel of the same title, published in 2014 by Picador in the UK and Riverhead in the US. Here Oyeyemi spoke to online editor Ted Hodgkinson about the joys of writing from a male perspective, the role of magic in her work, some of her influences from Alfred Hitchcock to Jeanette Winterson and how as a young girl she would write alternate endings in the margins of the classics.
Our latest instalment of podcasts for our Best of Young British Novelist features Adam Thirlwell. Thirlwell is the author of the novels Politics and The Escape, the novella Kapow!, and a project with international novels that includes an essay-book, Miss Herbert and a compendium of translations edited for McSweeney’s. He was selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists back in 2003. Here she spoke to Granta’s Yuka Igarashi about sex, history, translation, using tempo in novels and how his writing has evolved over the past decade.
In our latest installment of podcasts featuring our Best of Young British Novelists, we speak to Sarah Hall. Hall was born in Cumbria and lives in Norwich. She is the multiple-prize-winning author of four novels: Haweswater, The Electric Michelangelo, The Carhullan Army (published in the US as Daughters of the North) and How to Paint a Dead Man; a collection of short stories, The Beautiful Indifference, original radio dramas and poetry. Here she spoke to Granta’s Saskia Vogel about wolves, tattoos and the wilds of Cumbria.
Continuing a series of podcasts featuring our Best of Young British Novelists, today we bring you an interview with Xiaolu Guo. Guo studied at the Beijing Film Academy and received her MA from the National Film School in London. She has published seven novels in both English and Chinese. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her other novels include UFO in Her Eyes and 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth. She directed the award-winning films, She, a Chinese and Once Upon a Time Proletrian. 'Interim Zone', in the issue, is an excerpt from I Am China, her new novel forthcoming from Chatto & Windus in the UK. Here she spoke to deputy editor Ellah Allfrey about her experience of growing up in rural China, her move to writing in English and becoming an East Ender.
Continuing a series of podcasts featuring our Best of Young British Novelists, today we bring you an interview with David Szalay. Szalay was born in Canada; his family moved to the UK soon after, and he has lived here ever since. He has published three novels: London and the South-East, The Innocent and Spring. He is currently working on a number of new projects –‘Europa’, which appears in the issue, is an excerpt from one of these. He spoke to online editor Ted Hodgkinson about how spending time in Hungary paradoxically makes it easier to write about London, his years trying to live off betting on horses and how memory informs his work.
Continuing a series of podcasts featuring our Best of Young British Novelists, today we bring you an interview with Joanna Kavenna. Kavenna grew up in various parts of Britain and has also lived in the US, France, Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic States. She is the author of three novels: Inglorious, The Birth of Love and Come to the Edge, and one work of non-fiction, The Ice Museum. In 2008 she was awarded the Orange Prize for New Writing. ‘Tomorrow’, which appears in the issue, is an excerpt from a forthcoming novel. Here she spoke to deputy editor Ellah Allfrey about her incurable wander-lust, genre-hopping and why Nietzsche was wrong about the ordinary man.
Continuing a series of podcasts featuring our Best of Young British Novelists, today we bring you an interview with Taiye Selasi. Selasi was born in London to Nigerian and Ghanaian parents. She made her fiction debut in Granta in 2011 with ‘The Sex Lives of African Girls’, which was selected for Best American Short Stories in 2012. Her first novel, Ghana Must Go, was published in March 2013. Here she spoke to deputy editor Ellah Allfrey about her mother’s garden, Rachmaninov and learning to speak Italian.
In 1983, Granta devoted an entire issue to new fiction by 20 of the ‘Best of Young British Novelists,’ and did so again 10 years later. From Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro, to Zadie Smith, these lists have offered a revealing snapshot of a generation of writers about to come into their own. Join us for a reading and discussion with some of Britain’s best, including a judge of the 2013 series and this year’s newly announced novelists.*Click here to see photos from the program!
Continuing a series of podcasts on our Best of Young British Novelists 4, today we bring you an interview with Evie Wyld. Wyld’s first novel, After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, which follows the lives of two men, Frank and Leon, who live decades apart but on the same wild coastline in Queensland, Australia, and was shortlisted for numerous awards and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and a Betty Trask Award. Her second novel All the Birds, Singing, is excerpted in the issue. Here Wyld talks to online editor Ted Hodgkinson about why living in Peckham makes it easier to write about rural Australia, how memory informs her stories and why she can’t write a novel without at least one shark in it.
With Mark Lawson. Front Row reveals the Best of Young British Novelists, as selected by Granta magazine, and featuring 20 writers under 40. The prestigious list, which was first published in 1983, is released once a decade: the class of 1983 included Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and Rose Tremain. The editor of Granta John Freeman and writer A L Kennedy, who was selected in both 1993 and 2003, unveil the new list and reflect on their judging process. The White House is the setting for the action film Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman. After the US president is taken hostage by terrorists, a disgraced former guard (Butler) finds himself playing a vital role. Elaine Showalter reviews. Mark reports from Derry-Londonderry, as it celebrates its 100th Day as City of Culture 2013. Throughout the year hundreds of events will take place, involving both international artists and local people. Mark speaks to the organisers of a photography project which aims to show the personal history of the city, not the news headlines from the Troubles. A record shop owner and local band Strength discuss their participation, and author Brian McGilloway talks about the City of Culture legacy. The conductor Sir Colin Davis died yesterday at the age of 85. Nicholas Kenyon, director of the Barbican Centre, London, reflects on the career of a musician who won international acclaim, most notably for his performances of works by Berlioz and Sibelius. Producer Nicki Paxman.
Writer/comedian A. L. Kennedy lives and works in Glasgow and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2003 she was nominated by Granta magazine as one of 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'. Her novel Day (2007), won the Costa Book of the Year Award. She reviews and contributes to most of the major British newspapers, and has been a judge for both the Booker Prize for Fiction (1996) and The Guardian First Book Award (2001). Her first book, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains (1990), a bleak collection of short stories, won several awards including the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, a Scottish Arts Council Book Award and the Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award. Other short story collections include Now That You're Back (1994) and Original Bliss (1997), and her novels include: Looking for the Possible Dance (1993); So I Am Glad (1995), winner of the Encore Award, which focuses on child sexual abuse and its consequences in adulthood; and Everything You Need (1999), the story of a middle-aged writer living on a remote island and his attempt to build a relationship with his estranged daughter. We met at the International Festival of Authors in Toronto to talk about humour, the buzz of post-suicide attempts, living as if you are going to die, self esteem, making other worlds, changing reality, fictional rehearsals, Buster Keaton hats, the physicality of great comic actors, storytelling and investing in lies, Lolita, Nicola Six, Shakespeare, Hamlet, Yann Kott, Benny Hill, Blazing Saddles, freedom and child molestation.
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