Literary Friction

This month we're interviewing Max Porter about his first book, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, which features Crow – antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter – who visits a family after losing their mother. Inspired by Crow, we're discussing talking animals: not just our favourite childhood bears and bunnies, but the complex creatures in books for grown ups.

This month’s theme is Corpses, and our guest is Caitlin Doughty, whose book Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and Other Lessons from the Crematory is a fascinating, honest, and often hilarious memoir about her life as a mortician. We also talk literary corpses in all their various states of decomposition.

This month we interview Guardian First Book Award winner Petina Gappah, whose new novel THE BOOK OF MEMORY is narrated by an albino woman convicted of murder in Harare, Zimbabwe. We also discuss confessions in literature, from St Augustine to James Frey.

This month’s guest is Sarah Perry, who joins us to talk about her gothic, dreamy debut novel AFTER ME COMES THE FLOOD. The theme is imposters, encompassing everything from Mr. Ripley to why we all identify with the Wizard of Oz.

This month we talk to Ramita Navai about her fascinating book CITY OF LIES: Love, Sex, Death & the Search for Truth in Tehran, and discuss the hidden cities of literature, both real and imaginary.

Joining us this month is Patrick Barkham, whose book COASTLINES: The Story of our Shore is a history of the swathes of English coast protected by the National Trust. We also talk about the British coast in literature, from Brighton Rock to Chesil Beach.

This month we talk to Terry Stiastny, whose debut novel ACTS OF OMISSION won the Political Novel of the Year. We also discuss politics in literature. What makes a good political book? Is a novel a good form of protest?