Service95 Book Club With Dua Lipa

In a heartfelt discussion, Patti Smith, the influential poet, musician, and author of the memoir Just Kids, shares her journey of writing about her profound connection with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. She opens up about the promise she made to him, the challenges of writing through grief, and how memory can be transformed into art. Patti delves into the energy of 1970s New York, the significance of mutual support in creativity, and her perspective on punk as a form of freedom. This conversation captures the essence of love, loss, and artistic legacy.

Join the iconic Margaret Atwood, celebrated for her novel The Handmaid’s Tale, as she dives into her writing process. She reveals how a vivid image can spark a narrative, recounts her unique method of blending rhythm and sound in prose, and discusses the balance of emotion and structure in storytelling. Atwood also explores the intriguing parallels between her character Serena Joy and the modern Tradwife movement, asserting that her novels project possible futures rather than declare predictions. This enlightening conversation is a must for fans!

Elisabeth Moss, the award-winning actor known for her role as Offred in The Handmaid's Tale, shares her fascinating journey of adapting the iconic novel. She recounts her initial reaction to reading the book and the pivotal moment of meeting Margaret Atwood, emphasizing the author's profound impact on her portrayal. Elisabeth also delves into the symbolism of the handmaid costume, showcasing how design choices transformed it into a powerful visual metaphor for resistance and solidarity. Her insights on the show's cultural relevance resonate deeply in today's society.

Dua Lipa chats with renowned Canadian novelist and poet Margaret Atwood, the mind behind The Handmaid's Tale and her new memoir, Book of Lives. Atwood shares fascinating insights into the origins of Offred, revealing the name's significance of ownership and its linguistic roots. She explores how Offred's journal fits within literary traditions, comparing it to plague accounts and samizdat literature. Their conversation dives deep into the intertwining of language, history, and power, offering a rich perspective on storytelling.

In this engaging discussion, acclaimed novelist Margaret Atwood delves into the captivating origins of her iconic work, The Handmaid's Tale. She reflects on her experiences in Cold War-era East Berlin and the political climate of the 1980s that shaped Gilead. Atwood analyzes the significance of Offred's name, the role of women's agency, and the eerie parallels to today's society. With insights into Puritan roots and the complexities of societal control, she masterfully connects her timeless themes to modern political realities.

In this insightful chat, award-winning journalist Patrick Radden Keefe dives deep into his book, *Say Nothing*, unraveling the dark mystery of Jean McConville's disappearance during the Northern Ireland Troubles. He discusses the haunting culture of silence that surrounded the event and reflects on the complexities of justice versus peace in post-conflict societies. Listeners will learn about the intertwining lives of radical figures like the Price sisters and the weight of investigative responsibility that came with uncovering the truth.

In this discussion, award-winning author David Szalay shares insights on his novel, Flesh. He reveals how his Hungarian roots influence the story and its setting. Szalay's writing style embraces deliberate restraint, capturing meaning in mundane moments. He emphasizes character creation through intuition, often inspired by fleeting encounters. Additionally, he discusses the effectiveness of fragmentary narratives and aims for complex emotional responses from readers, making this conversation an enlightening listen for fans of his work.

This month on the Service95 Book Club podcast, Dua is joined by award-winning author David Szalay to discuss his quietly powerful novel Flesh – selected as Dua’s Monthly Read for October. Told through a series of spare, intimate portraits, the novel captures moments of human vulnerability with a precision that feels deeply real.  In a Service95 exclusive, David reads from a chapter set in Iraq, where the protagonist István and his fellow soldiers find themselves beside a hotel pool, suspended in the strange stillness of their return from war. There is no drama, no action – just silence, heat, and waiting.  “The idea of the soldiers having this very boring journey back from Iraq at the end of their tour of duty there… the boring texture of returning… that seemed to me to unlock the strong flavour of reality,” David tells Dua in their conversation, recorded live at the New York Public Library, which is also available as a podcast here.  It’s a powerful moment in Flesh, and a testament to the realism that threads through the entire novel.   Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Barnes & Noble   Get in touch:  📩 Email us – books@service95.com  📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for updates  📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at www.service95.com  And don’t forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month’s Service95 Book Club episode comes to you live from the New York Public Library, in partnership with Spotify, recorded in September in front of an audience. Dua is joined by Booker-shortlisted writer David Szalay to discuss his astonishing new novel Flesh - a brilliantly spare and unsettling portrait of a man caught between desire, social classes, and fate.  The story follows István from a bleak Hungarian housing estate to the upper echelons of London society. But David resists the hero’s arc: István is passive, pliable, often silent – a man seemingly buffeted by events rather than steering them. His life unfolds through abrupt leaps in time, leaving the reader to piece together the shadows between.  In their conversation, Dua and David explore why he chose such pared-back prose, to what extent István exemplifies ‘a primative form of masculinity’, and how money, class, and power warp even our most intimate relationships. They touch on the book’s unresolved tensions, from István’s relationships with women and his stepson, to the existential loneliness that haunts every page.  Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Barnes & Noble   Get in touch:  📩 Email us – books@service95.com  📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for updates  📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at www.service95.com  And don’t forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Service95 Book Club with Dua Lipa, a podcast dedicated to the books that stay with us – and the brilliant minds behind them. As well as bringing you a brand-new episode every month, we’ll also be dipping into the archive of fascinating conversations Dua has had with authors over the past two years. This time from the archive, Dua sits down with Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk to discuss her darkly humorous and deeply philosophical novel Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead – Dua's Monthly Read for January 2025. The story follows an eccentric woman in a remote Polish village as she investigates a string of mysterious deaths, raising urgent questions about justice, nature, and the unseen forces that govern our lives. In this episode, Dua and Olga dive into the ethical dimensions of animal rights, astrology as a form of artistic expression, and the lasting influence of William Blake. Buy the book at Bookshop.org, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, Fitzcarraldo Editions and Penguin Random HouseGet in touch: 📩 Email us – books@service95.com 📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for updates 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – introduced each month by Dua – at www.service95.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices