Meet the Writers
Georgina Godwin in conversation with top authors.Explore their inspirations, writing processes, and the stories behind their books.
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Latest Episodes
Steven Uhly
Born in Germany in the 1950s with Bengali ancestry, Steven Uhly is no stranger to racism. But his Spanish stepfather enriched him with the culture of Spain and life in Köln made him feel as German as the rest of the city’s residents. We ask Uhly what it means to…
Héctor Abad
We take you to Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias in Colombia to introduce one of the most talented post-Latin American Boom writers, Héctor Abad. He’s a journalist, a novelist and now he’s written a memoir about his relationship with his father, including his shocking murder by paramilitaries.
Literature inspired by the Greek crisis
This week Georgina Godwin speaks to Theo Chiotis, a poet, literary theorist and editor and translator of the anthology ‘Futures: Poetry of the Greek Crisis’. His work has appeared all over the world and he’s translated contemporary British and American poets into Greek and classical Greek dramas into English.
Kate Hamer
Hamer is the author of bestselling debut novel ‘The Girl in the Red Coat’; she’s now followed it up with ‘The Doll Funeral’. She shares her writing techniques – “When I write I see it like a film; it unfolds in the same way” – and talks about the influence…
Max Porter
One of the biggest literary successes of 2016, Max Porter’s ‘Grief is a Thing with Feathers’ is a book about Ted Hughes’s crow coming alive. He talks about his astonishing debut – “this was an unpublishable eight pages of A4 paper” – the influence of Ted Hughes and how poetry…
Books of Buenos Aires
Argentina’s capital has more bookshops per capita than any other city in the world. For this week’s show we step out of the studio to explore a few of its best: Eterna Cadencia, El Ateneo Grand Splendid and a secret shop in the neighbourhood of Villa Crespo. We discover why…
Lord Hindlip
The record price achieved at the sale of Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ made world headlines but what of the man who sold the painting? Lord Hindlip presided over that sale and many more of huge importance by one of the leading auction houses, Christie’s. He’s now written a highly personal and…
Joe Dunthorne
We meet Welsh novelist, poet and journalist Joe Dunthorne, who made his name with his debut novel ‘Submarine’, later adapted into a film of the same name by Richard Ayoade. He graduated from the University of East Anglia’s Creative Writing MA, where we was awarded the Curtis Brown prize. His…
Ruth Padel
The British poet, novelist, conservationist, critic and author joins Georgina Godwin for a festive chat about her latest book ‘Tidings: A Christmas Journey’.
Reverend Richard Coles
We hear from a man who has had three top-10 chart hits as a member of the Communards, plays the saxophone and keyboard – and is now an Anglican vicar. Reverend Richard Coles tells Georgina Godwin about his difficulties as a gay teenager, his pop success and his transition to…
