London Review Bookshop Podcast

Claire-Louise Bennett and Joanna Walsh met at the London Review Bookshop to read from and discuss their new books, Pond (Fitzcarraldo Editions) and Hotel (Bloomsbury). The discussion was chaired by Katherine Angel, author of Unmastered: A Book on Desire, Most Difficult to Tell (Penguin). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elena Ferrante's translator, Ann Goldstein, was joined by Joanna Biggs, Lisa Appignanesi and Alex Clark to discuss the appeal and mystery of the enigmatic Italian author. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dino Joannides, consummate food fanatic, bon viveur and author chaired a panel of writers and chefs to discuss the question: 'Is there such a thing as Italian cuisine?'. On the panel was food educator and journalist Katie Parla, historian Professor John Dickie and celebrated chef Francesco Mazzei. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In July 2012, aged thirty, Juliet Jacques underwent sex reassignment surgery—a process she chronicled with unflinching honesty in a Guardian column. Interweaving the personal with the political, Trans: A Memoir is a powerful exploration of debates that comprise trans politics in a world where, even in the liberal and feminist media, transgender identities go unacknowledged, misunderstood or worse. It is also a moving and involving portrait of an artist, tracing Jacques’s path to becoming a writer, via her explorations of film, music and art. With award-winning novelist and writer Chloe Aridjis, Jacques discussed the cruxes of writing and identity and the problems of performance and confessional writing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seventy-five years ago, on 26 September 1940, perhaps the 20th century's greatest cultural critic died in a small town on the Spanish border as he attempted to leave France, escaping the Nazis. This summer, writer and commentator Brian Dillon imagined a retracing of Benjamin's steps, tracking his life's work to that terminus in the Pyrenees. Scholar and Benjamin biographer Esther Leslie has recently edited and translated Benjamin's *On Photography* (Reaktion Books) and translated his *Archive* (Verso Books). Together they considered the extraordinary range, achievement and reach of this remarkable and hugely influential writer. The evening was hosted by Gareth Evans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at Oxford University and, according to Simon Jenkins 'geographer royal by appointment to the left' was at the shop to present a new edition of his *Inequality and the 1%* (Verso), in conversation with Dawn Foster. 'Dorling asks questions about inequality that fast become unswervable,' wrote Zoë Williams in the *Guardian*. 'Can we afford the superrich? Can society prosper? Can we realize our potential?' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alexandra Harris, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Liverpool University, was at the shop to talk about her latest book Weatherland (Thames and Hudson), a study of the complex relationship between English artists and writers and the infamous British weather, from Chaucer in the 14th century to John Piper in the 20th. Harris was in conversation with art historian and biographer Frances Spalding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three of the best new poets in years were reading in the Bookshop. Helen Mort’s *[Division Street][1]* (Chatto) was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize (almost unheard of for a debut collection) and the Costa Prize; Liz Berry’s *[Black Country][2]* (Chatto) won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection; and Sarah Howe’s just-released *[Loop of Jade][3]* (Chatto) is shortlisted for the same award. United by a strong sense of place, any one of them on their own would be worth turning out for – on a rare triple-bill, presenting an evening of poetry and conversation, they’re unmissable. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steven Nightingale's Granada: The Light of Andalucía (Nicholas Brealey) is a rhapsodic celebration of one of Spain's most beautiful and fascinating cities, and his adoptive home. From the extraordinary flourishing of Granada under the Moors, when it became the effective cultural and philosophical capital of the known world, through the horrific ethnic cleansing of the 15th and 16th centuries, to the tragedy of Civil War and one of the city's most famous sons Federico GarcÍa Lorca in the 20th century, Nightingale's account is as captivating and digressive as the tangled streets of El Albayzín itself. Steven Nightingale was in conversation with the historian of Arabic literature Robert Irwin, whose study of Granada's most famous landmark, The Alhambra, is published by Profile. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Israeli author Etgar Keret has been described by Clive James as 'one of the most important writers alive', by Salman Rushdie as 'A brilliant writer ...The voice of the next generation' and by the New York Times as 'A genius.' Keret is mainly celebrated for his short – often very short – stories, but he has also written graphic novels, and screenplays for film and television. Etgar Keret joined us at the shop to read from and talk about his latest book The Seven Good Years (Granta), a darkly absurd memoir of the author's recent past that ruminates on everything from his three-year-old son's impending military service to the terrorist mindset behind 'Angry Birds', and whose anti-hero is a dogged telemarketer who seems likely to pursue Keret to, and possibly beyond, the grave. He was in conversation with the novelist Naomi Alderman, whose most recent novel The Liars' Gospel is published by Penguin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.