London Review Bookshop Podcasts

A.S. Byatt and Adam Thirlwell both talked about their work, and discussed European literature and the art of the novel.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sarah Dunant and Hilary Mantel read from Sacred Hearts and Wolf Hall, their respective latest novels, and discussed the particular challenges of writing historical novels and the importance of research with Joanna Bourke, Professor of History at Birkbeck College.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A few days after the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Ma Jian discussed his Tiananmen novel Beijing Coma with the Independent's literary editor Boyd Tonkin, interspersed with extracts from the novel read by his translator Flora Drew.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Four past winners of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize gathered in the Paul Hamlyn Library to discuss the difficulties of selling translated literature, the cultural resources available to translators, working on dead authors, translating dialect, and a host of other tricky areas involved in literary translation. The panel was chaired by the Arts Council's Kate Griffin.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Faïza Guène discussed immigration in France, her success as a writer and what the French papers made of it all, the pleasures of writing in the first person and much more with her translator Sarah Ardizzone at the Bookshop's inaugural World Literature Weekend. Interpreter: Carine Kennedy.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Launching the Bookshop's inaugural World Literature Weekend, Hanan al-Shaykh gave a lively reading from her memoir of her mother, The Locust and the Bird, as well as discussing the book with novelist Esther Freud.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As part of Faber & Faber's 80th anniversary celebrations, the London Review Bookshop welcomed two Faber authors to read from and discuss their first works: Sarah Hall's debut novel Haweswater and Clare Wigfall's collection The Loudest Sound and Nothing.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Iain Sinclair's appearance at the Bookshop always heralds a frantic scramble for seats. This event was no different, an opportunity to hear a reading from his new work, Hackney, That Rose Red Empire: A Confidential Report.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A veteran of peace initiatives across the Middle East and beyond, Alistair Crooke provides an account of the wellspring of Islamist movements, a defence of their underpinning intellectual traditions, and a cogent argument for engagement and dialogue.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In conversation with John Sutherland, Hanif Kureishi expanded on and discussed his cogitation on psychoanalysis, Something to Tell You.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jenny Diski was at the London Review Bookshop to be cheered up, apologise, and read from her latest book, Apology for the Woman Writing, a story drawn from the marginal notes that exist about Marie de Gournay, Montaigne's editor and onetime 'stalker'.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In his first public appearance as Benjamin Black, John Banville read from Black's new novel The Lemur, and discussed the experience of writing as two different people.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Having confessed to the audience her apprehension about speaking in public, Janice Galloway displayed no trace of it in her accomplished reading from and lively discussion with Jenny Diski of her memoir, This Is Not About Me.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tariq Ali's sold-out event at the Bookshop presented an insightful picture of Pakistan's long and complex reationship with the West, and in particular with the United States of America.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For the first time since being labelled a 'snakeoil salesman, an ingrate and a hypocrite' for his opinions on the international presence in Afghanistan, Rory Stewart spoke at the Bookshop about international intervention and 'Afghanistan rhetoric and reality'.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sebastian Barry and Richard Mason shared their own versions of what it is to be a lonely and possibly mad old woman, reading from their newly-published novels The Secret Scripture and The Lighted Rooms respectively, on the publication date of the former.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On the day of publication of Taking Pictures, Anne Enright confessed to a full house at the Bookshop that 'I can't tell you how relieved I am not to be reading about suicide', before reading from the new collection.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Flat Earth News (Chatto & Windus), Nick Davies exposes the reality of daily life in the Fleet Street news factory and makes a passionate appeal for a return to the first principles of truth-telling journalism. He was at the Bookshop to discuss his work and its reception.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In typical full-throttle style, eieek takes the opportunity to hit back at criticisms of Violence published in the LRB and elsewhere, and to expand on both his work and that of other philosophers.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In London: City of Disappearances, Iain Sinclair turns away from official versions and approved histories, and with the help of a host of contributors, brings to light the fugitive scraps, faded newspaper cuttings and patterns in the dust. Novelist and psychogeographer Will Self and the outspoken architectural commentator Jonathan Meades discussed and read from the book.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.