London Review Bookshop Podcast

Diane Di Prima began writing her revolutionary ‘Letters’ in 1968, conjuring a potent blend of utopian visions, ecological urgency and spiritual insight. By turns a manifesto for breaking free, a manual for street protest and a feminist broadside, these poems are as relevant to the convulsions and crises of today as they were fifty years ago. To launch an expanded 50th anniversary edition of Revolutionary Letters from Silver Press our event featured readings by Helen Charman, CA Conrad and Mira Mattar and a conversation about Di Prima with Sophie Lewis, Francesca Wade and Sarah Shin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oppositions collects Mary Gaitskill’s essays of 30 years; taking in subjects as diverse as Nabokov, horse-riding and the Book of Revelation, they’re as sharp and incisive as her fiction. Gaitskill is in conversation about the book with Octavia Bright, author and host of the ‘Literary Friction’ podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In ​The Woman Who Buried Herself (Hazel Press) Alys Fowler takes us deeper and deeper into, and under the soil, until there is no longer a separation. This story emerged like a fairy tale told to her during long hours daydreaming whilst weeding, in a sense it is her garden’s own tale which ventures into mythic realms, exploring the seen and unseen, mysteries of science, the animal and the organic in consciousness of life and love.Fowler was reading from the book and in discussion with Bee Wilson, LRB contributor and the author of the recent The Way We Eat Now (Harpercollins). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Towards the end of the 19th century Iain Sinclair’s great-grandfather Arthur made an accident-prone and largely disastrous colonial expedition to Peru. In his latest book, accompanied by his daughter, Iain Sinclair abandons his familiar London territory to follow in his ancestor’s footsteps, perhaps also hoping to eclipse his shadow. What he finds makes harrowing but essential reading in a story of exploitation, colonialism and environmental devastation. Sinclair was in conversation about his journey with Gareth Evans, curator of film at the Whitechapel Gallery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dante’s Purgatorio is as much an allegory of spiritual transformation as it is one of psychological rebirth, personal healing, and self-transcendence. Combining a graceful lyricism with decades of study, D.M. Black’s translation and commentary reveal new dimensions in Dante’s many portraits of people trying to find their way through life and what comes after. This fresh, bilingual edition of Purgatoriowas published on September 14th 2021, the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death. Black is in conversation with writer and translator Robert Chandler and psychoanalyst Giovanna di Ceglie. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Clegg and Jess McKinney launch their new Hazel Press poetry collections with reading and conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tariq Ali has been observing and commenting on Afghanistan for more than four decades. He vehemently opposed the Soviet occupation in 1979, and the NATO invasion and subsequent invasion in 2001. The Forty Year War in Afghanistan (Verso) collects together for the first time his most important writings on this troubled country, and contains a new introduction written in the wake of NATO’s ignominious retreat.Ali is in conversation with LRB contributing editor James Meek, who as foreign correspondent for the Guardian witnessed the war in Afghanistan at first hand. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephanie Sy-Quia’s Amnion (Granta) is a one-of-a-kind ‘lyric epic’, weaving memoir, essay and poetics into one of 2021’s most eagerly awaited debut poetry collections. Sy-Quia read from the book and was in discussion with Will Harris, whose own Granta debut RENDANG won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. The event was chaired by Rachael Allen, Granta’s poetry editor, whose most recent collection is Kingdomland (Faber). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hazel Press’s four 2020 titles were all LRB Bookshop bestsellers; we’re proud to be launching the first tranche of their four 2021 titles, one an electrifying collaborative poem, one a unique anthology.Katrina Naomi and Helen Mort were reading from Same But Different, a lockdown collaboration which began as simply an exchange of poems; but like Wang Wei and Pei Di’s Wang River Collaboration, their poems soon started to speak to one another. Belinda Zhawi, Ella Duffy, Maggi Hambling and Georgie Henley read their own and one other poem from O, an anthology about sensuality, masturbation, orgasms, and pleasure, with ourselves and with others; offering a safe space to celebrate our bodies, lust, passion, fun, joy, defiance, tenderness and intimacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Towards the end of the 19th century Iain Sinclair’s great-grandfather Arthur made an accident-prone and largely disastrous colonial expedition to Peru. In his latest book, accompanied by his daughter, Iain Sinclair abandons his familiar London territory to follow in his ancestor’s footsteps, perhaps also hoping to eclipse his shadow. What he finds makes harrowing but essential reading in a story of exploitation, colonialism and environmental devastation. Sinclair was in conversation about his journey with Gareth Evans, curator of film at the Whitechapel Gallery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.