London Review Bookshop Podcast

Two very different books, Iain Sinclair’s Black Apples of Gower and Brian Catling’s The Vorrh share a measure of common ground: the Cave of Origin (in which all narratives fester and cook). The two writers discuss and read from their work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the past two decades Carcanet’s New Poetries anthologies have been discovering the best new poets in English, and have provided readers with their first taste of authors such as Sophie Hannah, Patrick McGuinness, David Morley and Sinéad Morrissey. To celebrate the publication of New Poetries VI we hosted an evening of readings by some of the featured poets; Jee Leong Koh, Rebecca Watts, Joey Connolly, Vahni Capildeo and (our very own) John Clegg. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alice in Wonderland is 150 years old this year. To celebrate her anniversary we have invited Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Professor of English Literature at Oxford University and Fellow of Magdalen College, to talk about his latest book The Story of Alice (Harvill Secker), a triple biography of Caroll's Alice books, of their subject Alice Liddell, and their creator Charles Dodgson. Douglas-Fairhurst will be in conversation with Vanessa Tait, author of The Looking Glass House (Atlantic), and the great grand-daughter of Alice Liddell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In On Elizabeth Bishop novelist and essayist Colm Tóibín provides a deeply personal meditation on one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, and one who has had a powerful influence on his own work. ‘Above all,’ writes Saskia Hamilton, ‘he honours Bishop’s exact ways with language, and his sifting of what is said from what is unsaid in her poetry illuminates his own watchful and patient art as a novelist.’ Tóibín joined us at the shop to talk about Elizabeth Bishop with the poet and critic Ruth Padel whose most recent collection, Learning to Make an Oud in Nazareth, was published by Chatto in 2014. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'The more conscious a work of art is of its audience, the more curated it becomes.'‘Curation’ has become a buzzword, applied to everything from music festivals to artisanal cheese. Inside the art world, the curator reigns supreme, acting as the face of high-profile group shows in a way that can eclipse the contributions of individual artists. At the same time, curatorial-studies programs continue to grow, and businesses are adopting curation as a means of adding value to content. David Balzer joined us at the Bookshop in conversation with Zoe Pilger, author of Eat My Heart Out (Serpent's Tail). The pair discussed Balzer's new book, Curationism (Pluto Press), and questioned: what is a curator, exactly? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alberto Manguel is a Canadian writer, translator, editor and critic, but most of all, he is a reader. In his latest book Curiosity (Yale) Manguel guides us through the history of questioning using the authors he has particularly valued in his own reading life – among them Aquinas, Montaigne, Lewis Carroll, Rachel Carson and, pre-eminently, Dante. Alberto Manguel joined us at the Bookshop to speak about his book, and about the pleasures, dangers and rewards of reading, with John Sutherland, Emeritus Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The May General Election looks likely to be the closest in a generation. But what happens after it? The gap between the two main parties is narrower than ever, and their share of the vote in the election is set to reach a new low. What hope is there that in these conditions, a progressive agenda will re-emerge in British political life? What forces – economic, social, environmental – are likely to shape the landscape of British politics over the next five years, or the next twenty? Can the centre hold, or will we see a fragmentation and radicalisation of politics? Aaron Bastani, founder of Novaramedia.com, Jeremy Gilbert, professor of cultural and political theory at University of East London and author of Common Ground: Democracy and Collectivity in the Age of Individualism and Zoe Williams, Guardian columnist and author of Get it Together: Why We Deserve Better Politics joinined Paul Myerscough of the London Review of Books to discuss the future of British politics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elena Poniatowska’s work, in both fiction and journalism, has always been devoted to giving a voice to the voiceless, the disenfranchised and the oppressed. Her most famous book La noche de Tlatelolco (1971) dealt with the massacre of up to 300 protesters in Mexico City in 1968. Others of her books have been recreations of the lives of ordinary Mexicans, such as the victims of the 1985 earthquake, and of well-known artists and radicals such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti. Her most recent novel Leonora, recently translated for Serpent’s Tail by Amanda Hopkinson, is based on the life of the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington who sought and found refuge in Mexico, the country where she created most of her finest work and where she died in 2011. Poniatowska will be appearing at the shop to talk about her career with the poet and publisher Michael Schmidt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer and film-maker Jonathan Meades joined us at the Bookshop to present and discuss *Pedigree Mongrel* (Test Centre), a new album composed of specially-recorded readings from his books *Pompey* (1993), *Museum Without Walls* (2012) and *An Encyclopaedia of Myself* (2014). Combined with the distinctive soundscapes of Mordant Music, *Pedigree Mongrel* is both a unique retrospective of Meades’s fictional and essayistic writings, and a new and significant standalone work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short stories don't have to be like short stories. They can be experiences, visitations, slices of events or part revelations of a truth or a lie. Kirsty Gunn and Deborah Levy joined us at the Bookshop to discuss how they go about making up their own short fiction and the influence of modernism in their recent collections, Infidelities and Black Vodka. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.