The TLS Podcast

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Colin Grant, the author of Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush generation, to discuss Small Axe, a series of films by Steve McQueen that centres on Black British life between the 1960s and 80s; and the author and musician Wesley Stace tells the story of the “real” James Bond, a celebrated ornithologist whose "dull" name was poached by Ian Fleming. Plus, the TLS's Fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to Douglas Stuart, the winner of this year’s Booker Prize for fictionSmall Axe, BBC One, BBC iPlayerShuggie Bain, by Douglas StuartThe Real James Bond: A true story of identity theft, avian intrigue and Ian Fleming, by Jim WrightSubscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Mark Glanville to mark the centenary of the birth of Paul Celan, probably the most important post-war German-language poet, by revisiting the early poems in light of his later transformation; and Margaret Drabble considers the literature of urban walking, via the fiction of G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells and other metropolitan ramblers.Memory Rose into Threshold Speech: The collected earlier poetry: A bilingual edition, translated by Pierre JorisMicroliths They Are, Little Stones: Posthumous prose, translated by Pierre JorisUnder the Dome: Walks with Paul Celan, by Jean Daive, translated by Rosmarie WaldropThe Walker: On finding and losing yourself in the modern city, by Matthew Beaumont Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by two TLS editors, David Horspool and Toby Lichtig, to discuss books that have sustained and stimulated over the past twelve months, as selected by sixty-five writers from around the world; and we discuss the controversy surrounding a long-awaited statue of – or "for" – Mary Wollstonecraft.Read the TLS's Books of the Year feature here [https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/books-of-the-year-2020/]  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Remembrance Day approaches, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Éadaoín Lynch to remember fully and truthfully the relationship between the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon; and the TLS's sports editor David Horspool talks us through a couple of books on professional game playing, including a football memoir of obsession and crucial omissions by Arsène Wenger.My Life in Red and White by Arsène WengerThis Sporting Life: Sport and liberty in England, 1760–1960 by Robert Colls Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Lucy Scholes to revisit the work of the master of terror Shirley Jackson and review the new film Shirley (“about as far from a traditional biopic as you can get”); and Jane Darcy grapples with the neither quite Romantic nor quite Victorian Thomas De Quincey, whose life-writing paved the way for the autobiografiction to come Shirley, directed by Josephine Decker (various cinemas / Hulu)Thomas De Quincey: Selected writings, edited by Robert Morrison  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a special bonus podcast we bring you an episode of Stories of our times that we think you might enjoy.The Times's chief music critic, Richard Morrison muses over whether a combination of the coronavirus, environmental concerns and the MeToo movement will be the end of the 'maestro' - the classical music conductor - as we know it. Guest: Richard Morrison, Times chief culture critic and music writer. Host: David Aaronovitch.Clips used: Metropolitan Opera, Aurora Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, The Hendon Band YouTube Channel, ABC News, Washington Post, NBC News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The critic and novelist Elizabeth Lowry joins Thea Lenarduzzi and Toby Lichtig to discuss the Italian Baroque master Artemisia Gentileschi, the subject of a major exhibition at the National Gallery in London, a painter whose Life is as dramatic and moving as her art; and Toby reviews new fiction steeped in dread, paranoia and failure, including a short work by Don DeLillo and the debut novel from the Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman Artemisia – National Gallery, London, until January 24, 2021 The Silence by Don DeLilloAntkind by Charlie KaufmanReality: And other stories by John LanchesterWhy Visit America by Matthew Baker Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From a ballet stream to Homer's wine-dark sea. Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the historian and critic Judith Flanders to review the return of dance with new offerings from the Akram Khan Company and the Royal Ballet, and the novelist and poet Will Eaves returns to the Odyssey to explore the nature of memory. Back on Stage – The Royal Ballet, available online until November 8thThe Silent Burn Project – Akram Khan CompanyMichael Clark: Cosmic Dancer – Barbican, until January 2021, then at the V&A Dundee Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From a carvery lunch in Howards End to emotional Eurocrats. Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Norma Clarke to discuss the role in literary creation of food and its increasingly fraught means of production, and Russell Williams reports on the bookshops of Paris during lockdown and reviews the new novel by a totemic figure in French literature, Jean-Philippe Toussaint.The Literature of Food: An introduction from 1830 to present by Nicola HumbleFarm to Form: Modernist literature and ecologies of food in the British Empire by Jessica MartellRead My Plate: The literature of food by Deborah R. GeisThe Cambridge Companion to Literature and Food, edited by J. Michelle CoghlanLes Émotions by Jean-Philippe Toussaint Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Ovid to the "Black Spartacus". Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the TLS's classics editor Mary Beard to pick apart the story of "seduction", ancient and modern, the poet Fiona Benson reads her latest work, and the TLS's history editor David Horspool explores two accounts of America's domestic slave trade and a new biography of Toussaint Louverture.Strange Antics: A history of seduction by Clement KnoxWilliams’ Gang: A notorious slave trader and his cargo of Black convicts by Jeff Forret Sweet Taste of Liberty: A true story of slavery and restitution in America by W. Caleb McDanielBlack Spartacus: The epic life of Toussaint Louverture by Sudhir Hazareesingh Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.