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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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Danny Wallace:

As a film-maker, comedian, radio and TV presenter, actor and bestselling author, Danny Wallace is a man of many talents. He’s formed a cult, created a country and spent months just saying “yes” – a project that became a hugely successful film starring Jim Carrey. Wallace joins Georgina Godwin to chat about his new book, in which he asks why we are all so bloody rude.

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8124 Jun 2017
27 min

Danny Wallace: 

As a film-maker, comedian, radio and TV presenter, actor and bestselling author, Danny Wallace is a man of many talents. He’s formed a cult, created a country and spent months just saying “yes” – a project that became a hugely successful film starring Jim Carrey. Wallace joins Georgina Godwin to chat about his new book, in which he asks why we are all so bloody rude.

DownloadPlay
8017 Jun 2017
30 min

Julian Glover: 

Julian Glover, former government special advisor on transport and speechwriter for David Cameron, speaks about his recently released bestselling biography of Thomas Telford. Little known to most, Telford created the backbone of the UK’s national road network, tying England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales together, resulting in his being dubbed ‘The Colossus of Roads’.

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7910 Jun 2017
27 min

Prabda Yoon: 

Prabda Yoon studied art in New York before returning to his native Thailand at 26 to fulfill his obligatory conscription. Since then Yoon’s writing career has flourished as critics have hailed him the new modern voice of Thailand. He speaks about his interest in experimentation and dadaism, and how his work is playfully influenced by these elements.

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783 Jun 2017
26 min

Julia Hobsbawm: 

Julia Hobsbawm, the world’s first professor of networking as well as a highly respected author, speaks about her new book ‘Fully Connected’, which is all about surviving and thriving in an age of overload.

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7727 May 2017
27 min

Kathy Reichs: 

Forensic anthropologist and ‘New York Times’ best-selling author Kathy Reichs talks about her biggest cases to date, her hugely successful Temperance Brennan series, which was turned into the TV serial ‘Bones’, and her new book ‘Two Nights’.

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7620 May 2017
30 min

Nujeen Mustafa: 

‘The Girl From Aleppo’ is a book about a wheelchair-bound teenager who flees her home in Syria to live in Germany. Born with cerebral palsy, Nujeen Mustafa speaks openly about her experience and says refugees need compassion as much as they need shelter.

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7513 May 2017
27 min

Bill Hayes: 

Bill Hayes, the author, photographer and long-term partner of writer and professor of neurology Oliver Sacks, reveals the stories of their lives and talks about his moving new book ‘Insomniac City, New York, Oliver and Me’.

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746 May 2017
28 min

The Legend of Hay: 

One of the most important literary events on the planet celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Taking place in a tiny town in Wales, Hay Festival is a party of ideas and stories spread over 800 events in 10 days. We meet some of the big names who’ll be appearing, including Peter Florence, Howard Jacobson, Hannah Rothschild, Philippe Sands, Tahmima Anam, Elif Safak, Cressida Cowell and Sarfraz Manzoor.

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7329 Apr 2017
26 min

Rowan Pelling: 

Best known for editing the literary magazine ‘The Erotic Review’, Rowan Pelling discusses her new publication ‘The Amorist’, which invites readers to explore the notion that sexual love is the greatest and most compelling mystery of human existence. This is not cellophane-wrapped top-shelf material – Pelling says that “the erotic is what you do with a feather, pornography involves the whole bird”.

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7222 Apr 2017
30 min

Irvine Welsh: 

Georgina Godwin meets Irvine Welsh, the hugely acclaimed and often controversial author who defined a generation with his debut novel ‘Trainspotting’. In his new book ‘The Blade Artist’, Begbie is back. Find out how this bad boy of Glasgow has reinvented himself – and how the author has too.

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7115 Apr 2017
30 min

Donna Leon: 

Leon is a crime writer and one of Venice’s greatest chroniclers; her fans include Theresa May and Hillary Clinton. She’s written 26 books, been translated into 35 languages – though, crucially, not Italian – and sold millions of copies all over the world.

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708 Apr 2017
26 min

Samantha Shannon : 

Author of ‘The Bone Season’, Samantha Shannon wrote her first book at 15 and signed a six-figure book deal for a seven-book adventure series at just 21. Here she talks about growing up in London, “hanging out in Camden market pretending to be a goth”, the importance of experimentation and the third instalment in her series ‘The Song Rising’.

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691 Apr 2017
28 min

John Boyne: 

Irish novelist John Boyne’s ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ sold more than nine million copies and changed his life dramatically. He tells Georgina Godwin about his school days – “beatings and abuse were taken for granted” – and his work as a writer. Plus: how his new book ‘The Heart’s Invisible Furies’ examines issues close to his life.

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6825 Mar 2017
30 min

Polish literature at The London Book Fair: 

Born and based in rural Poland, Olga Tokarczuk trained as a psychologist – but after discovering she was more neurotic than her clients she quit to became an author. We visit the London Book Fair to speak to her about her unconventional books – and also meet Andrzej Sapkowski, author of The Witcher series.

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6718 Mar 2017
28 min

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature : 

It’s the Middle East’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word and brings people of all ages and backgrounds together to promote education and the love of reading and writing. We visit the Dubai festival to hear from crime writer Piyush Jha and editor of India’s ‘Screen’ magazine Priyanka Sinha Jha. We also hear from musicians, poets and some of the voices behind the festival.

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