Meet the Writers
Georgina Godwin in conversation with top authors. Explore their inspirations, writing processes, and the stories behind their books.
Latest Episodes
Esther Freud
British writer Esther Freud’s first novel, ‘Hideous Kinky’, was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys prize and made into a film starring Kate Winslet. Following that, she went on to receive numerous awards and selected by ‘Granta’ as a best young British novelist selection. She has since gone on to…
Monocle Reads: Bennett Voyles
Bennett Voyles is an American business writer and an avid walker based in Berlin. He speaks to Georgina Godwin about his latest book ‘Onwards, Backward! -or- A Ramble to Santiago’. It follows Bennett along with his wife and three teenage daughters as they attempt the 1,500-kilometre journey of both the…
Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich
Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich opened their first restaurant, Honey & Co, in London in 2012. Since then they have become known for serving delicious Middle Eastern food using the best ingredients, all with an extremely warm welcome from one of the friendliest teams in town. Both originally from Israel,…
Monocle Reads: Hay on our post-coronavirus future
For our last Monocle Reads episode with Hay festival, we look at how its programme explores our post-coronavirus future. Georgina Godwin speaks with Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates – who will lead a series of discussions at Hay around motherhood and the ways in which the pandemic has impacted it…
Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim
Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim is a chemist and science journalist. During her doctoral studies at Harvard, she started the Youtube channel The Secret Life of Scientists, which marked the start of her mission to “infect” people with a love of science. She lives in Germany, where she hosts a national TV…
Monocle Reads: Hay on George Floyd, one year on
George Floyd: One Year On is a series of events curated by Lemn Sissay as part of this year’s Hay Festival. Georgina Godwin explores the series with Sissay and two of the speakers taking part, author Maaza Mengiste and political commentator and activist Ash Sarkar.
Suzanne Heywood
Suzanne Heywood made her name in the corporate world, with stints at McKinsey and now CNH Industrial. Her latest book, ‘What Does Jeremy Think? Jeremy Heywood and the Making of Modern Britain’, details the life of her late husband, a former head of the Home Civil Service. It combines the…
Monocle Reads: Hay on democracy
PM300 is a series of panels exploring issues of leadership and democracy at the 34th spring edition of the Hay festival. It marks the 300th anniversary of Britain appointing its first prime minister. To find out more about the series, Georgina Godwin speaks to author and PM300 panellist, Carole Walker,…
Matthew Kneale
British writer Matthew Kneale has been based in Rome for the best part of 20 years. Born in London to a family of writers, he studied at Oxford and taught english in Japan before embarking on his own writing career, during which he’s published seven novels, including the Booker-shortlisted ‘English…
Hay-on-Earth on Monocle Reads
This week we continue exploring the programme of the upcoming Hay Festival with a closer look at Hay-on-Earth, a series of 22 events exploring the latest environmental science, sustainable policies and creative responses to the climate crisis. Georgina Godwin talks with two of the writers speaking as part of Hay-on-Earth;…
