8 April 2017
Episode 70
26 minutes
Photo: Louise Haywood Schiefer
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’.
8 April 2017
Share episode
DownloadWant more radio episodes like these in your inbox?
Sign up to Monocle's email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.
Meet the Writers - latest episodes
Mitch Albom
Georgina Godwin talks to best-selling writer Mitch Albom about his new book, ‘Finding Chika’, focusing on a young Haitain orphan, born in Port Au Prince just days after the 2010 earthquake, who becomes a popular character…
Monocle Reads: David Lagercrantz
Swedish journalist turned novelist David Lagercrantz tells us how he kept Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millennium series alive and why his latest book featuring Lizbeth Salander, ‘The Girl Who Lived Twice’, will be the last…
Sharjah World Book Capital
Monocle’s Georgina Godwin travels to the Sharjah Book Fair in the United Arab Emirates to discover how the host city is putting together a programme to celebrate its status as Unesco’s 19th World Book Capital.
Monocle Reads: Kendel Hippolyte
Georgina Godwin speaks to a wordsmith who has captured minds across the world with his stunning accounts of life in the Caribbean. Kendel Hippolyte’s latest book, ‘Wordplanting’, compiles a series of intimate yet hard…
Hallie Rubenhold
We meet Hallie Rubenhold, the winner of the Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction. The author and social historian scooped the award for her book, ‘The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper’.
Monocle Reads: Brian Rosenwald
Brian Rosenwald is editor in chief of ‘Made by History’, a new section in ‘The Washington Post’. He is also a researcher for the ‘Slate’ podcast, ‘Whistlestop’. Georgina Godwin sits down with him to discuss his new book,…
Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo is a multi-award-winning, bestselling author, known for his children’s books, notably ‘War Horse’. A former Children’s Laureate, he’s written more than 100 titles, as well as screenplays and libretti for…
Monocle Reads: Eva Vonk
In the ecological wonderland of the Congo Basin, the remote Odzala-Kokoua National Park remains at odds with a rapidly changing world. Georgina Godwin speaks to Eva Vonk about her book “Congo Tales”, which began as a call…
Daniel Rachel
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…
Monocle Reads: Alwyn Turner
Some of Alwyn Turner’s finest books are a series of in-depth looks into modern British history, where he explores the social, political and cultural issues of each decade. ‘A Classless Society: Britain in the 1990s’ is his…
Fatima Bhutto
Georgina Godwin speaks to Fatima Bhutto about her book ‘New Kings of the World: Dispatches from Bollywood, Dizi and K-pop’, a look at how US cultural dominance is being challenged.
Monocle Reads: Stig Abell
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction announces its shortlist of six – five of whom are women. Stig Abell, chair of the judges and editor of The Times Literary Supplement, talks to Georgina Godwin about the importance…
Howard Jacobson
has been nominated for the Booker prize three times, winning it once in addition to many other awards. He’s also a broadcaster, columnist and academic. He is known for his humour, which often revolves around his UK Jewish…
Monocle Reads: Tom Phillips
Discussing the so-called ‘post-truth’ culture, Tom Phillips, editor of independent fact-checking organisation Full Fact, tells Monocle Reads how humans have treated truth throughout history and identifies habits that enc…
Booker prize special: Bernardine Evaristo
We talk to the chair of the Booker prize judges about the controversial decision to split this year’s award between two writers: Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo. Evaristo herself tells us all about her career and…
