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Culture / Podcast

Meet the Writers

Want to know more about the authors behind your favourite books? Tune in to discover the methods of – and inspiration behind – some of the world’s most exciting writers. Every Saturday, Georgina Godwin hosts an in-depth discussion with the person behind the prose.

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Simon Callow:

We meet one of the most respected British actors of our time. He’s also a master biographer, having taken us inside the minds of Charles Dickens and Orson Welles; his latest book takes us beyond the curtains of London’s greatest theatres.

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20113 Oct 2019
30 min

Simon Callow: 

We meet one of the most respected British actors of our time. He’s also a master biographer, having taken us inside the minds of Charles Dickens and Orson Welles; his latest book takes us beyond the curtains of London’s greatest theatres.

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★10 Oct 2019
9 min

Monocle Reads: Alexandros Yannis: 

Alexandros Yannis is a European diplomat and author. His new novel, ‘Chimera’, is a political thriller, a travel adventure and a twisted love story set in a dystopian future; he shares his thoughts with Georgina Godwin.

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2006 Oct 2019
30 min

Simon Doonan: 

On Meet The Writers this week, Georgina Godwin talks to Simon Doonan, the author, media personality and window dresser. His work has featured in many major publications and he decorated the White House on behalf of the Obamas. Doonan has also designed film sets, is the creative ambassador of New York department store Barneys, and has appeared in the NBC show ‘Making It’ as well as several pop videos. His new book is all about drag.

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★3 Oct 2019
6 min

Monocle Reads: Cheltenham Literature Festival: 

The oldest literature festival in the world celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. It kicks off in the spa town of Cheltenham on 4 October and over the course of 10 days of literary revelry, 900 of the world’s best writers, brightest thinkers and inspiring performers will descend. We hear more from programme director Nicola Tuxworth.

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19929 Sep 2019
30 min

Marc Randolph: 

On Meet The Writers this week, Georgina Godwin talks to Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph. Formerly a marketing manager in a software company, the idea for the business was conjured up during his carpool to work. He served as the first CEO, leading Netflix from its inception until he left the company in 2003. He now focuses his efforts on mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs, and hopes that his book ‘That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea’ will help to inspire people to pursue their business dreams.

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★26 Sep 2019
11 min

Monocle Reads: Hannah Ewens: 

Hannah Ewans is a journalist and writer who specialises in music, culture and lifestyle. In her new book, ‘Fangirls: Scenes from Modern Music Culture’, she traces the path of fangirls through history: the ups, the downs and the lengths they’ll go to. Ewans talks to Georgina Godwin about the trends in fan culture all over the world and where she found inspiration for her book.

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19822 Sep 2019
30 min

Lemn Sissay: 

Lemn Sissay is a poet, playwright and broadcaster. He has read poetry all over the world and was awarded an MBE for services to literature. He is chancellor of The University of Manchester and was the first poet commissioned to write for the London Olympics. Sissay is a regular contributor to radio and television, is the recipient of this year’s Pen Pinter prize and inspires audiences around the globe. Having grown up in care in the UK, he now works to highlight problems within the system and help those in the same situation. He talks to Georgina Godwin about his life and new book, ‘My Name is Why’.

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★20 Sep 2019
19 min

Monocle Reads: Alison Finch: 

Alison Finch is a prolific reader, which is handy seeing as she’s the main filtering point for all books coming into BBC Radio 4. She decides which writers will be featured and the programmes that will interview them. Finch gives us a fascinating insight into what’s behind the books output for this major British radio station.

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19715 Sep 2019
30 min

Adam Nicolson: 

Towards the end of the 1790s, Coleridge and Wordsworth – then young, aspiring poets – lived in Somerset, dreaming of a world changed by poetry. Adam Nicolson spent a year living there so that he could fully explore the genesis of the poems that came from that place and which were to become some of the most famous in the English language. He talks to Georgina Godwin about his experience.

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★12 Sep 2019
5 min

Monocle Reads: Nicholas Blincoe: 

This week Georgina sits down with Nicholas Blincoe. He’s written several novels and is also a critic, journalist and screenwriter. His latest book, ‘More Noble Than War: The Story of Football in Israel and Palestine’, takes a look at the history of the beautiful game in the divided region.

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★9 Sep 2019
15 min

Monocle Reads: DJ Taylor: 

DJ Taylor is a British critic, writer and novelist. He has written award-winning biographies of George Orwell and William Thackeray, as well as being longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker prize for his novel ‘Derby Day’. His latest book, ‘Lost Girls: Love, War and Literature 1939–1951’, explores the remarkable lives of four bohemian women in Blitz-era London’s literary scene.

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1968 Sep 2019
30 min

Lalage Snow : 

Georgina Godwin talks to Lalage Snow, a freelance war correspondent, photographer and film-maker. Her first book, ‘War Gardens: A Journey Through Conflict in Search of Calm’, is a surprising, tragic and beautiful journey through the darkest places of the modern world that reveals the ways people make time and space for themselves and for nature even in the middle of destruction.

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1951 Sep 2019
30 min

Henry Porter: 

Henry Porter is the former UK editor of ‘Vanity Fair’ and a long-standing campaigner for civil liberties. He has written five internationally bestselling thrillers. In this episode he talks to Georgina Godwin about journalism, press freedom, activism and his most recent book ‘White Hot Silence’, a prescient story of financial skulduggery involving Russians, populists and a feisty heroine.

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★29 Aug 2019
10 min

Monocle Reads: Andy Cope Zest: 

This week Georgina sits down with Andy Cope. Andy is a British author, keynote speaker and former academic, and is the author of ‘Zest: How to Squeeze the Max Out of Life’. The author’s message is simple: “Life is a short and precious gift. Don’t send it back unwrapped.”

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19425 Aug 2019
30 min

Louise Doughty : 

We meet novelist, critic and broadcaster Louise Doughty. Her last book, ‘Black Water’, was one of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year and her bestseller ‘Apple Tree Yard’ has been translated into 30 languages and adapted into a television series. ‘Platform Seven’, which has a ghost as the protagonist, is her most recent book and definitely one of this summer’s must-reads.

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