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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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Peter Hain:

Despite growing up in apartheid South Africa, Peter Hain is best known for his career spanning three decades as a UK Labour Party MP. He served in the cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and chaired the UN Security Council. His latest book, ‘The Rhino Conspiracy’, is a gripping thriller set in South Africa.

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26129 Nov 2020
30 min

Peter Hain: 

Despite growing up in apartheid South Africa, Peter Hain is best known for his career spanning three decades as a UK Labour Party MP. He served in the cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and chaired the UN Security Council. His latest book, ‘The Rhino Conspiracy’, is a gripping thriller set in South Africa.

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★26 Nov 2020
21 min

Monocle Reads: Craig Brown : 

Craig Brown’s Beatles biography, ‘One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time’, won the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. The journalist and author of 18 books been writing his parodic diary in ‘Private Eye’ since 1989 and is the only person to have won three different Press Awards – best humourist, columnist and critic – in the same year. He speaks to Georgina Godwin.

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26022 Nov 2020
30 min

Booker prize winner Douglas Stuart: 

The 2020 Booker prize went to ‘Shuggie Bain’ by Douglas Stuart. Only the second Scot to win the prize, he tells Georgina Godwin about growing up with an alcoholic mother in Glasgow, his career in fashion, his move to New York – and now his coronation at the very pinnacle of literature with his debut novel.

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★19 Nov 2020
19 min

Monocle Reads: Helen Jacey: 

Helen Jacey is a professional screenwriter, lecturer, author and founder of Shedunnit Productions, which provides opportunities across media for intersectional feminist work. An expert in female characterisation, her first book ‘The Woman in the Story’ was published in 2010 and has since become the international handbook for screenwriters writing female characters. Jacey is now working on ‘Elvira Slate Investigations’, a 1940s crime noir feminist detective series.

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25915 Nov 2020
30 min

Erika Fatland: 

One of Norway’s most exciting new travel writers, Erika Fatland has gained a reputation for telling unique, often overlooked stories. A social anthropologist by training, she has documented terrorism in Beslan and the 2011 terror attacks in her native Norway. In her latest book, ‘The Border: A Journey Around Russia,’ she turns her attention to frontiers, recounting a fascinating trip through each of the 14 countries bordering the world’s largest country.

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★12 Nov 2020
12 min

Monocle Reads: Stuart Clark : 

Georgina Godwin speaks to Stuart Clark, author and one of the leading astronomy journalists in the UK. Clark holds a PhD in astrophysics and his work has been published widely. He tells Georgina about his new book ‘Beneath the Night: How the Stars Have Shaped the History of Humankind’.

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2588 Nov 2020
30 min

Robert Harris: 

Robert Harris is probably the UK’s best-known thriller writer. A former political editor on broadsheets, his work has explored themes as wide-ranging as contemporary politics, ancient Rome and the Second World War. Many have become bestsellers and been adapted for television and film.

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★5 Nov 2020
15 min

Monocle Reads: Jennifer Dasal : 

Jennifer Dasal, curator of modern and contemporary art at the North Carolina Museum of Art, is also host of the successful podcast ‘ArtCurious’. She speaks to Georgina Godwin about her latest book, ‘ArtCurious: Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd and Strangely Wonderful in Art History’.

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2571 Nov 2020
30 min

Michael Portillo: 

Georgina Godwin speaks to former UK defence secretary and shadow chancellor Michael Portillo. Following his career in politics he moved to the BBC, where he presented the popular documentary series ‘Great British Railway Journeys’, which is the inspiration for his latest book.

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★29 Oct 2020
16 min

Monocle Reads: Peter Ross: 

Author and award-winning journalist Peter Ross takes us through the fascinating world of burial grounds in his new book, ‘A Tomb With a View’, which explores graveyards across the UK and the stories of those who lie beneath them.

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25625 Oct 2020
30 min

Bill Granger: 

Bill Granger is credited with inventing avocado toast. He is an Australian restaurateur and food writer, loved by family cooks and sophisticated foodies alike. His sunny, relaxed approach is an essential to his enduring popularity. His books have sold more than a million copies and his latest publication, ‘Australian Food’ is also set to be a bestseller.

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★22 Oct 2020
19 min

Monocle Reads: Lola Shoneyin: 

Now in its eighth year, Ake Festival brings together artists, writers and other creatives to celebrate culture in Africa. Its founder and director, Lola Shoneyin, tells Georgina Godwin about this year’s event and her own writing career, including her successful debut novel ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’.

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25518 Oct 2020
30 min

Andrew Harding: 

Georgina Godwin speaks to the award-winning UK journalist and author Andrew Harding. Africa correspondent for BBC News, Harding began his career in Moscow in 1991 and has lived in Tbilisi, Nairobi, Singapore, Bangkok and now Johannesburg. His new book, ‘These Are Not Gentle People’, is a true-crime thriller based in South Africa.

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★15 Oct 2020
15 min

Monocle Reads: Amir Khan: 

Georgina Godwin speaks to NHS doctor and TV personality Amir Khan about his bestselling book, ‘The Doctor Will See You Now’. The memoir draws on Khan’s past 10 years as a GP, including his experience of the current pandemic.

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25411 Oct 2020
30 min

Lauren Child: 

Georgina Godwin meets children’s author and illustrator Lauren Child, best known for the ‘Charlie and Lola’ books that have been adapted for a BBC animated series. A previous children’s laureate and Unesco artist for peace, Child’s latest book, ‘The Goody’, explores the importance of kindness and freedom.

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