This week, Fintan O'Toole assesses what makes Labour leader Keir Starmer tick; and Linda Kinstler on the Ukrainian writer, musician and activist Serhiy Zhadan's chronicles of life during wartime. Plus John Kinsella reads his new poem, 'Rooks'.'Keir Starmer: The Biography', by Tom Baldwin'Rooks', by John Kinsella'How Fire Descends: New and Selected Poems', by Serhiy Zhadan, translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps'Sky Above Kharkiv: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Front', by Serhiy Zhadan, translated by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse WheelerProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, comedian and actor Tim Key introduces us to his new book of poetry; and Devoney Looser on the bold runaway women of early British novels.'Chapters', by Tim Key, designed by Emily Juniper'Gone Girls,1684–1901: Flights of feminist resistance in theeighteenth- and nineteenth-century British novel', by Nora GilbertProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The distinguished sociologist and cultural thinker Richard Sennett was once a professional cellist and his new book, The Performer, examines the links between artistic performance, politics and the public-sphere. We were delighted to talk to him about his own experiences asa musician and about prominent figures from Leonard Bernstein and Roland Barthes to Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.'The Performer: Art, Life, Politics', by Richard SennettProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, a special interview with the sociologist Richard Sennett takes us from Roland Barthes to Leonard Bernstein; and Hettie Judah on two memoirs inspired by a love of 17th-century art.'The Performer: Art, Life, Politics', by Richard Sennett'Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life & Sudden Death', by Laura Cumming'The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters', by Benjamin MoserProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Sinéad Gleeson delights in the byways of Maeve Brennan's New York; and Costica Bradatan explores the enduring appeal of Henry David Thoreau.'The Long-Winded Lady', by Maeve Brennan, with an introduction by Sinéad Gleeson'Thoreau's Axe: Distraction and Discipline in American Culture', by Caleb Smith'Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living', by John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle'Henry David Thoreau: Thinking Disobediently', by Lawrence BuellProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lamorna Ash goes back to school for the latest reboot of Tina Fey's Mean Girls; and Professor Eric Naiman on the challenges of teaching in the age of ChatGPT.'Mean Girls', screenplay by Tina Fey, directed by Samantha Jayne andArturo Perez Jr'The Brothers Karamazov', by Fyodor DostoevskyProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, will George Berridge be convinced by the film adaptation of Alasdair Gray's Poor Things? And Peter Geoghegan explores how the climate emergency is being treated in Westminster.'Mission zero: The independent net zero review', by Chris Skidmore'Climate capitalism: Winning the global race to zero emissions', by Akshat Rathi'The price is wrong: Why capitalism won’t save the planet', by BrettChristophers'Poor things', directed by Yorgos LanthimosProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Charles Foster explores how psychedelic drugs are changing lives; and Alan Jenkins on the lure of the open seas.'Ten Trips: The new reality of psychedelics', by Andy Mitchell'Psychedelics: The revolutionary drugs that could change your life – aguide from the expert', by David Nutt'I feel love: MDMA and the quest for connection in a fractured world',by Rachel Nuwer'Psychonauts: Drugs and the making of the modern mind', by Mike Jay'Sailing Alone: A history', by Richard J KingProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The acclaimed novelist and her musician daughter on the joys of reading in trees, childhood gardens and what it's like to have a David Austin rose named after you.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special seasonal highlights show, with contributions from novelists Anne Enright and Samantha Harvey; and James Marcus on partygoers Susan Sontag and George Steiner.'The Wren, The Wren', by Anne Enright'Orbital', by Samantha Harvey'Maestros and monsters: Days & nights with Susan Sontag & GeorgeSteiner', by Robert BoyersProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Toby Lichtig goes to see the latest Roald Dahl adaptations, junior critic in tow; and Dinah Birch celebrates the enduring power of Ebenezer Scrooge.'The Witches', at the National Theatre, London, until 27 January 2024'Wonka', on general release'A Christmas Carol', by Charles DickensProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lauren Elkin takes an artistic stroll in the footsteps of Gertrude Stein; and Maria Margaronis goes in search of Willa Cather deep in the Midwest.'Gertrude Stein et Pablo Picasso: L'invention du langage', at the Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, until 28 January 2024'Chasing Bright Medusas: A life of Willa Cather', by Benjamin TaylorProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, TLS editor Martin Ivens and writer and broadcaster James O'Brien on the long decline of the Conservatives; and Muriel Zagha celebrates 75 years of Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes.'The Party's Over: The rise and fall of the Conservatives fromThatcher to Sunak', by Phil Barton-Cartledge'The Right to Rule: Thirteen years, five prime ministers and theimplosion of the Tories', by Ben Riley-Smith'The Case for the Centre Right', edited by David Gauke'All to Play For: The advance of Rishi Sunak', by Michael Ashcroft'The Red Shoes: Beyond the mirror', BFI Southbank, until January 7Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, our special interview with the newest winner of the Booker Prize, Paul Lynch; and Emily Kopley on new editions of Virginia Woolf's mesmerising diaries.'Prophet Song', by Paul Lynch'The Diary of Virginia Woolf', in five volumes.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Mary C Flannery explores the spells and potions of medieval magic; and Jean Wilson on the trail of the ever elusive Anne Boleyn.‘Love spells and lost treasure: Service magic in England from the later Middle Ages to the early modern era’, by Tabitha Stanmore ‘Textual magic: Charm and written amulets in medieval England’, by Katherine Storm Hindley‘Hunting the falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the marriage that shook Europe’, by John Guy and Julia Fox Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's show, TLS contributors on the best books of 2023; and David Horspool explores the crucial part sport has played in the evolution of Britain and Britishness.'More than a game: A history of how sport made Britain', by David HorspoolProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Samantha Harvey joins us to talk about her voyage around the earth; and Miranda France on a fascinating tour of the British archipelago.‘Orbital’, by Samantha Harvey‘The Britannias: An island quest’, by Alice AlbiniaProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, James Marcus goes partying with Susan Sontag and George Steiner; and Laura Beers sheds a light on Eileen O'Shaughnessy, George Orwell's first wife.'Maestros and monsters: Days and nights with Susan Sontag and GeorgeSteiner', by Robert Boyers'Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's invisible life', by Anna FunderProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Colin Jones explores the streets of Paris as the French Revolution grew pace; and an extract from a very special event at the British Library in celebration of Hilary Mantel.'The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789', by Robert Darnton'A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing', by Hilary MantelProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Ruth Scurr on a magnificent biography of Claude Monet; and Fiona Stafford explores how vital trees were to Wordsworth's work.'Monet: the restless vision', by Jackie Wullschläger'Versed in living nature: Wordsworth's trees', by Peter Dale and Brandon C YenProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Theo Zenou introduces us to the heroes of Jewish boxing; and Sophie Oliver on the development of Virginia Woolf's 'frock consciousness' .'Stars and scars: The story of Jewish boxing in London', by Jeff Jones'Bring no clothes: Bloomsbury and the philosophy of fashion', by Charlie Porter'Bring no clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion', at Charleston in Lewes until 7 January 2024Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Ysenda Maxtone Graham on the women who fought their way into horticulture; and Mary Beard leads us down a Homeric rabbit hole.'An almost impossible thing: the radical lives of Britain's pioneering women gardeners', by Fiona Davison'Homer and his Iliad', by Robin Lane Fox'The Iliad', translated by Emily WilsonProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Elizabeth Lowry is impressed by a study of Hardy’s late-life love poetry; and TLS science editor Sam Graydon on his ‘mosaic’ biography of Einstein‘Woman much missed: Thomas Hardy, Emma Hardy, and poetry’, by Mark Ford‘Einstein in time and space: a life in 99 particles’, by Samuel Graydon Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Jonathan Barnes joins us to explore the visionary work of Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale; and a wonderful conversation about literature and horticulture between Dame Penelope Lively and her daughter, musician Josephine Lively.'The Quatermass Experiment 70th Anniversary', Nigel Kneale, Alexandra Palace'You Must Listen', BBC Sounds'Life in the Garden', by Penelope LivelyProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, poet Camille Ralphs explains why she submitted to WH Auden's exacting syllabus; and Toby Lichtig joins us to preview the autumn's notable fiction.'Daydream College for Bards', by Camille Ralphs'The Fraud', by Zadie Smith'North Woods', by Daniel Mason'The Variations', by Patrick Langley'The Wren, The Wren,' by Anne EnrightProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we drop in on a conversation between Mary Beard and two former TLS editors; and Anne Enright joins us to talk about turning poet in her new novel.'Emperor of Rome: Ruling the ancient Roman world', by Mary Beard'Big Caesars and little Caesars: How they rise and how they fall -from Julius Caesar to Boris Johnson', by Ferdinand Mount'Palatine: An alternative history of the Caesars', by Peter Stothard'The Wren, The Wren', by Anne EnrightProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Nicola Shulman introduces the volunteer army who joined James Murray to create the OED; and John Niven on his extraordinary memoir of his brother's life.'The Dictionary People: The unsung heroes who created the OxfordEnglish Dictionary', by Sarah Ogilvie'O Brother', by John NivenProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Adam Mars-Jones on the "fractal brocade" of his semi-infinite novel series; and Amber Massie-Blomfield revisits Susan Sontag's production of Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo, thirty years on.'Caret', by Adam Mars-JonesProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last of our summer round-ups, Gwendoline Riley stalks the streets of London in the company of Michael Bracewell; and Ruth Scurron a final work by the indomitable Janet Malcolm.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's round-up, we talk to Mary C Flannery about the continuing attraction of the irrepressible Wife of Bath; and mystery writer Nicola Upson on the unconventional life and unforgettable work of Josephine Tey.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second of our summer round-ups, we revisit Richard Smyth discussing the life and the work of the naturalist Ronald Blythe; and Lucasta Miller on an extraordinary collection of commonplace books.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of our seasonal round-ups, we look back at Stephen Marche on the agonies of the writing life; and Nat Segnit dives into Adam Gopnik's survey of mastery.'On writing and failure: Or, the peculiar perseverance required toendure the life of a writer', by Stephen Marche'The real work: On the mystery of mastery', by Adam GopnikProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Kate Hext on women who have run or climbed their way through the world, despite efforts to stop them; and Alice Robb thinks about how - and why - we tell stories through dance.'In Her Nature: How Women Break Boundaries in the Great Outdoors', by Rachel HewittProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, cycling commentator par excellence Ned Boulting on the Tour de France of a century ago; and Peter Parker delves into the many faces of the self-styled 'Master' playwright, Noel Coward.'1923: The Mystery of Lot 212 and a Tour de France Obsession', by Ned Boulting'Masquerade: The Lives of Noel Coward', by Oliver Soden Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, AE Stallings, the new Oxford professor of poetry, on the lives of poets; and Ann Kennedy Smith considers the different faces of Cornwall.'Sleeping on islands: A life in poetry', by Andrew Motion'The American poet laureate: A history of US poetry and the state', by Amy Paeth'The granite kingdom: A Cornish journey', by Tim Hannigan'Treasures of Cornwall: A literary anthology', edited by Luke Thompson Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Mary Beard is fascinated by an ancient graffito, and novelist Michael Hughes on the murder case that almost brought down the Irish government.A Don's Life: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/virgil-on-pots-and-walls-blog-post-mary-beard/'A Thread of Violence: A Story of Truth, Invention and Murder', by Mark O'ConnellProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kathleen Taylor considers human personality under assault from advanced dementia.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/alzheimer-dementia-sandeep-jauhar-dasha-kiper-susan-elkin-book-review-kathleen-taylor/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's bumper podcast, George Berridge assesses the legacy of Cormac McCarthy; Toby Lichtig on this summer's ideal reads; and an interview with American novelist Brandon Taylor.'The Late Americans', by Brandon TaylorProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Owen Matthews on the triumph of the Kremlin propaganda machinehttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/russia-ian-garner-jade-mcglynn-alexandar-mihailovic-alexander-etkind-book-review-owen-matthews/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, an exhibition of the Italian Renaissance painter Lavinia Fontana's work thrills Norma Clarke; and Kieran Setiya on Sarah Bakewell's bravura survey of the history of humanism.'Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, rule breaker', at the National Gallery of Ireland until August 27, with accompanying book by Aoife Brady, Babette Bohn and Jonquil O'Reilly'Humanly Possible: Seven hundred years of humanist freethinking, enquiry and hope' by Sarah BakewellProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Thonemann on a civilization that questions its first principles.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-west-naoise-mac-sweeney-book-review-peter-thonemann/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy and Alex head to Hay, and find guest stars Eleanor Catton and Sarah Raven.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Edward Chancellor considers why central bankers have lost the plot with inflation.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/we-need-to-talk-about-inflation-stephen-d-king-book-review-edward-chancellor/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Norma Clarke unpicks the complicated business of family legacy in Polly Toynbee’s memoir; and Nicholas Clee immerses himself in Paul Murray’s multi-generational saga of Irish small-town life.'An Uneasy Inheritance: My Family and Other Radicals’ by Polly Toynbee’The Bee Sting’ by Paul MurrayProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe Moran explores the weird world of fandom.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/fans-michael-bond-book-review-joe-moran/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, TLS contributors on what art and literature mean in a time of crisis; and we take a trip to the melancholy, beautiful, faded English seaside.‘The Seaside: England’s Love Affair’, by Madeleine BuntingProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Kate Simpson introduces us to the precarious and vital world of the gastropods; and James McConnachie plunges into the teeming waters of the St George’s Channel.‘A World in a Shell: Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions’ by Thom van Dooren’The Turning Tide: A Biography of the Irish Sea’ by Jon GowerProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abigail Green considers a panoramic account of the continent-wide outbreak of revolutions in 1848.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/revolutionary-spring-christopher-clark-book-review-abigail-green/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Ben Hutchinson takes us to Paris to survey the invention of type; and Joe Moran on giving your creativity a workout.‘Imprimer! L’Europe de Gutenberg’, Bibliothèque nationale de France, until July 16'Imprimer! L’Europe de Gutenberg 1450-1520’, edited by Nathalie Coilly and Caroline Vrand‘The Imagination Muscle: Where good ideas come from (and how to have more of them)’, by Albert ReadProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tyler Cowen on the advantages of gradual reform over long-term thinking.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-long-view-richard-fisher-the-lost-future-jan-zielonka-gradual-greg-berman-aubrey-fox-book-review-tyler-cowen/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy and Alex discover how James Shapiro created his landmark work on a formative year in Shakespeare’s life; and Miranda France on her spellbinding study of memoir and creative writing.‘1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare’, by James Shapiro‘The Writing School’, by Miranda FranceProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Throsby on the ruthlessness of the consulting industry.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/consulting-mckinsey-mariana-mazzucato-rosie-collington-walt-bogdanich-michael-forsythe-book-review-david-throsby/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Laurie Maguire is in the audience for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet; and Lucy and Alex catch up with novelist Curtis Sittenfeld on her whistle-stop visit to the UK.‘Hamnet’, an RSC production, from the novel by Maggie O’Farrell‘Romantic Comedy’, by Curtis SittenfeldProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tristram Hunt revisits the monuments controversy. https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/monumental-lies-robert-bevan-everyday-like-of-memorials-andrew-shanken-on-the-street-edwin-heathcote-book-review-tristram-hunt/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Historian Emily Baughan on two books chronicling the immense impact of the NHS and the welfare state on the lives of Britons; and a new film explores Patricia Highsmith’s hinterland.’The Welfare State generation: Women, agency and class in Britain since 1945’, by Eve Worth‘Poster, protests and prescriptions: Cultural histories of the National Health Service in Britain’, edited by Jennifer Crane and Jane Hand‘Loving Highsmith’, a film by Eva VitijaProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nicola Shulman on two anthologies that display the obituarist’s art.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/lives-less-ordinary-nigel-farndale-eccentric-lives-andrew-brown-book-review-nicola-shulman/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Boyd Tonkin visits Complicité’s audacious adaptation of Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead; and Barnaby Phillips on two Victorian explorers at daggers drawn'Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead’, staged by Complicité, based on the novel by Olga Tokarczuk‘River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile’ by Candice Millard Producer: Lucy Dichmont Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Searching for the Good LifeSkye Clery on how to cope with the fear of death and other anxieties https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/life-is-short-dean-rickles-life-is-hard-kieran-setiya-book-review-skye-cleary/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lamorna Ash joins us to talk about Shy, Max Porter’s tale of teenage angst; and Jonathan Taylor on an illuminating survey of the uses and abuses of storytelling.’Shy’ by Max Porter’Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative’ by Peter BrooksProducer :Lucy Dichmont Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mother Knows BestMichele Pridmore-Brown considers recent insights into parenthood from neuroscience, archaeology and social policyhttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/mother-brain-chelsea-conaboy-what-makes-a-person-mark-hanson-lucy-green-growing-up-human-brenna-hassett-book-review-michele-pridmore-brown/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we go in search of the meaning of life, death and the universe, in the capable hands of Nat Segnit and Skye Cleary.‘The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery’ by Adam Gopnik‘Life is Short: An Appropriately Brief Guide to Making It More Meaningful’ by Dean Rickles‘Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way’ by Kieran SetiyaProduced by Lucy Dichmont Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irina Dumitrescu considers what psoriasis tells us about social outcasts.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/skin-sergio-del-molino-book-review-irina-dumitrescu/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Margarette Lincoln on the secret life of Daniel Defoe, government agent; and Claire Lowdon transports herself back to the teenage turmoil of Martin Amis’s debut novel, fifty years on. ‘The Cambridge Edition of the Correspondence of Daniel Defoe’ edited by Nicholas Seager‘The Rachel Papers’ by Martin AmisProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Helen Bynum enjoins us to consider the secret lives of plants; and Jacqueline Banerjee on love and marriage in the world of George Eliot.‘Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant Intelligence’ by Paco Calvo with Natalie Lawrence‘The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s Double Life’ by Clare CarlisleProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Geoffrey Wheatcroft considers how the First World War triggered a wave of xenophobia and a Red Scare.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/american-midnight-adam-hochschild-book-review-geoffrey-wheatcroft/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Flora Willson explores the struggle of four women composers to have their work heard, and Biancamaria Fontana on the late David Graeber’s survey of Madagascan pirate kingdoms.‘Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World’ by Leah Broad‘Pirate Enlightenment: Or the Real Libertalia’ by David GraeberProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our first instalment, we talk to novelist Dame Margaret Drabble and her son, gardener and TV presenter Joe Swift. Their wide-ranging conversation includes a disagreement over pelargoniums, Joe’s childhood insistence on playing football in his mother’s cottage garden, the joys of irregular hedges and fashions in fiction and foliage alike.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Mazower asks: did the Ottomans preserve the Parthenon and Elgin wreck it?https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/who-saved-the-parthenon-william-st-clair-book-review-mark-mazower/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Margaret Drabble and Joe Swift talk about the relationship between literature and gardening; and a new short-story collection from Margaret Atwood.‘Turning Leaves’, a new podcast from the TLS team‘Old Babes in the Wood’ by Margaret AtwoodProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ferdinand Mount considers how the English upper classes appropriated fair play from the lower orders.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/an-english-tradition-jonathan-duke-evans-book-review-ferdinand-mount/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we hear about the pursuit of the perfect library, and celebrate the brilliance of crime writer Josephine Tey. Irina Dumitrescu on the bibliophile’s life‘The Franchise Affair’, ‘To Love and Be Wise’ and ‘The Daughter of Time’ by Josephine TeyProduced by Charlotte Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Godfrey-Smith on two books about living like a deer and learning from the birds.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/deer-man-geoffroy-delorme-the-parrot-in-the-mirror-antone-martinho-truswell-book-review-peter-godfrey-smith/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we examine the highs and very many lows of the writing life. Tom Seymour Evans explores a disquieting biography of crime writer James Ellroy, and Stephen Marche shines a light into the abyss of literary failure in his new book.‘Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy’ by Steven Powell‘On Writing and Failure’ by Stephen MarcheProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an extract from Lawcraft, published by TLS Books last month, Geoffrey Robertson explains how Russian oligarchs use British courts to close down investigative journalism.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/lawfare-geoffrey-robertson-extract-russia-free-speech/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Richard Norton-Taylor braves the terrifying world of cyberattacks and their brutal cost; and Lucasta Miller on an intriguing collection of 19th-century commonplace books.'Pegasus: The Story of the World’s Most Dangerous Spyware’ by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud‘Striking Back: The End of Peace in Cyberspace - and How to Restore It’ by Lucas KelloThe work of scholar and collector William St ClairProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

N. J. Enfield considers how software engineers became social engineers in our democracies.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/freedom-to-think-susie-alegre-the-digital-republic-jamie-susskind-book-review-n-j-enfield/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Elizabeth Dearnley hunts for the hags, fairies and wandering women of the pagan past; and Ruth Scurr on a thrilling final book from the celebrated journalist Janet Malcolm.‘Queens of the Wild: Pagan Goddesses In Christian Europe’ by Ronald Hutton‘Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory’ by Janet MalcolmProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nessa Carey explores how recent scientific breakthroughs allow experimentation with the DNA of all living species.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-genetic-age-matthew-cobb-book-review-nessa-carey/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Smyth remembers the equanimity and attentiveness of Ronald Blythe; and Mary Flannery on the enduring appeal of Alison, the Wife of Bath.‘Next to Nature: A Lifetime in the English Countryside’ by Ronald Blythe‘The Wife of Bath: A Biography’ by Marion TurnerProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kirsty Gunn considers Katherine Mansfield’s place in the literary canon.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/all-sorts-of-lives-katherine-mansfield-claire-harman-book-review-kirsty-gunn/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Gabriel Roberts explores the past, present and - we very much hope - the future of bioabundance in animal species; and novelist Gwendoline Riley takes us into the affecting and brutally funny world of Michael Bracewell’s return to fiction after 21 years.Species loss and bioabundance, by Gabriel Roberts‘Unfinished Business’ by Michael BracewellProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christy Edwall reflects on a meditations on Keats’s poems, and a new account of his last days.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/a-greeting-of-the-spirit-susan-wolfson-written-in-water-alessandro-gallenzi-keats-book-review-christy-edwall/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Olivia Laing secrets and lies in the life and work of Kathy Acker.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/eat-your-mind-kathy-acker-jason-mcbride-book-review-olivia-laing/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Lethbridge explains what a curate's eye is, and how ideas of British cooking range from Aga fantasies to bacon butties; and J. S. Barnes takes us to the dark side of the festive season, via Dickens and M. R. James....'The British Cookbook: Authentic home cooking recipes from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland' by Ben Mervis'To Be Read At Dusk: Dickens, ghosts and the supernatural', Charles Dickens Museum, London, until March 5, 2023 'The Witch Farm', BBC Radio 4 and Sounds 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas', Nunkie Theatre Company, December 24, live online  Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon McBurney, the artistic director of the endlessly innovative and influential Complicité theatre company, talks to Lucy Dallas about two of their major new projects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we hear how the music-hall star Josephine Baker became a secret agent; and we talk to Simon McBurney of Complicité theatre company, about their haunting audio production of Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising.'The Flame of Resistance' by Damien Lewis'The Dark Is Rising' by Susan Cooper, BBC World Service, December 20Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Forrest on Napoleon’s enemies at home and abroad.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/napoleon-michael-broers-napoleon-at-peace-william-doyle-book-review-alan-forrest/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Breeze Barrington takes us through a history of art with a difference - there are no men; and Larry Wolff talks us through the diva-rich operatic event of the season, the world premiere of The Hours at the Met in New York.'The Story of Art Without Men' by Katy Hessel'The Hours' by Kevin PutsMetropolitan Opera, New York, until December 15. Live transmission in various cinemas, December 10Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna Reid on the improbable rise of Volodymyr Zelenskyhttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/volodymyr-zelensky-biographies-book-review-anna-reid/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Mary Beard talks us through coins and emperors, real and fake, and the hidden networks beneath the Roman Empire; and Norma Clarke discusses the life and work of Rosa Bonheur, a celebrated female artist who kept her radical private life to herself.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michele Pridmore-Brown on the troubled dreams of the gods of the digital universehttps://www.the-tls.co.uk./articles/survival-of-the-richest-douglas-rushkoff-book-review-michele-pridmore-brown/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Baillie Gifford Prizewinner Katherine Rundell describes how John Donne’s life force captivated her; and celebrated actor and playwright Wallace Shawn surveys a lifetime of writing essays.Produced by Charlotte Pardy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George Berridge on Cormac McCarthy’s long-awaited diptych of conspiracy and nuclear anxietyhttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-passenger-stella-maris-cormac-mccarthy-book-review-george-berridge/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we discuss Emmanuel Carrère’s incisive account of France’s judicial response to the Bataclan attacks; and a host of TLS contributors on their favourite books of 2022.‘V13: Chronique judiciare’ by Emmanuel CarrèreBooks of the Year 2022Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Potts considers the inconstancies of John le Carré.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/private-spy-letters-john-le-carre-secret-heart-suleika-dawson-book-review-robert-potts/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Alex Clark and Lucy Dallas explore the rise to prominence of Volodymyr Zelensky, the satirical stand-up turned president and war leader; and blow the cobwebs off the world’s rarest medieval manuscripts.'The Zelensky Effect' by Olga Onuch and Henry E Hale'Zelensky: Ukraine’s president and his country' by Steven Derix with Marina Shelkunova, translated by Brent Annable'The Fight of Our Lives: My time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s battle for democracy, and what it means for the world' by Iuliia Mendel, translated by Madeline G Levine'Zelensky: A biography' by Serhii Rudenko, translated by Michael M Naydan and Alla Perminova'The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club' by Christopher de HamelProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colin Thubron on an anthology of human beings straining at the limits.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/endurance-levison-wood-book-review-colin-thubron/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week André Aciman toasts the genius of Marcel Proust, a century after his death; and Richard Lea on the mesmerising multiverses of John Banville.The works of Marcel Proust‘The Singularities’ by John BanvilleProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Leith on Roald Dahl’s life of plane crashes, bunk-ups, secret agenting – and children’s writinghttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/teller-of-the-unexpected-roald-dahl-matthew-dennison-book-review-sam-leith/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we learn about the final years of the Napoleonic era, poke around the exclusive gentlemen’s watering holes of Pall Mall, and discover how Roy Orbison ended up meeting his wife in Batley Variety Club.’Napoleon: The decline and fall of an Empire, 1811-1821’ by Michael Broers’Napoleon at Peace: How to end a revolution’ by William Doyle‘Behind Close Doors: The secret life of London’s private members’ clubs’ by Seth Alexander Thévoz‘Clubland: How the working men's club shaped Britain’ by Pete Brown Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura Thompson on the much-married daughter of Barbara Cartland who became Lady Diana’s stepmotherhttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/three-times-a-countess-tina-gaudoin-book-review-laura-thompson/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Toby Lichtig interviews the new Booker laureate, Shehan Karunatilaka, and discovers why he killed off his protagonist; and we explore the latest developments in a Chaucerian controversy.‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ by Shehan KarunatilakaMary C Flannery on ChaucerProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michele Pridmore-Brown considers our quest for godlike immortalityhttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/hybrid-humans-harry-parker-the-price-of-immortality-peter-ward-book-review-michele-pridmore-brown/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Dunn joins Alex and Lucy to discuss how humanity began to measure the world around it; and Lauren Elkin illuminates the immense artistic contribution of Annie Ernaux, this winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature.‘Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement’ by James VincentThe work of Annie Ernaux, Nobel Prize laureate 2022Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bill McKibben considers the future of farming in a rapidly warming worldhttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/rooted-sarah-langford-sixty-harvests-left-philip-lymbery-regenesis-george-monbiot-review-bill-mckibben/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sofia Chelyak joins us to preview this weekend’s Lviv International Book Forum, in which guests including Margaret Atwood and Henry Marsh will join Ukrainian writers and thinkers in an online extravaganza; plus highlights of our live podcast on narrative arcs in fiction, history and politics and how to support a literary fundraiser for those affected by floods in Pakistan.Lviv International BookForum, 7-9 October 2022https://airauctioneer.com/books-for-pakistanProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charles Foster considers the extraordinary variety of animals’ sensory worldshttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/an-immense-world-ed-yong-book-review-charles-foster/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Dennis Zhou joins us to illuminate the activism, anarchism and agility of the poet Gary Snyder; and Hannah Skoda reports from the Globe on a bold reinterpretation of the life of Joan of Arc.'Collected Poems' by Gary Snyder, edited by Jack Shoemaker and Anthony Hunt'I, Joan' by Charlie JosephineProduced by Charlotte Pardy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we talk to Jonathan Spector about the European premiere of his play at the Old Vic; and Dimitra Fimi unpacks what's behind the new tv series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.Eureka Day, The Old Vic, London, until October 31The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Amazon PrimeProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jane Ridley looks back at the Queen’s eight-decade reign Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Miranda France explores a suite of books about motherhood; and we survey the pick of this autumn’s fiction with Toby Lichtig. ‘Don’t Forget to Scream: Unspoken Truths About Motherhood’ by Marianne Levy‘Motherhood: Feminism’s Unfinished Business’ by Eliane Glaser‘Motherload: Modern Motherhood and How to Survive It’ by Ingrid WassenaarThe Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem’ by Julie Phillips’Still Born’ by Guadelupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey‘Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation’ by Sophie Lewis’The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ by Shehan Karunatilaka’The Trees’ by Percival Everett‘Haven’ by Emma Donoghue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Wilson considers how we address our final daysBook reviewed: The Mortal Coil: A history of death by Andrew DoigThe Inevitable: Dispatches on the right to die by Katie EngelhartAll the Living and the Dead: A personal investigation into the death trade by Hayley Campbellhttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/mortal-coil-andrew-doig-the-inevitable-katie-engelhart-all-the-living-and-the-dead-hayley-campbell-book-review-emily-wilsoniew-emily-wilson/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi joins us to explain how she captured the stories of her Italian grandmother; and Edmund Gordon admires how Ian McEwan’s new novel juxtaposes an individual life with memorable social and political events.‘Dandelions’ by Thea Lenarduzzi‘Lessons’ by Ian McEwan Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nat Segnit explores the strange world of the modern richBook reviewed: Serious Money: Walking plutocratic London by Caroline KnowlesA Class of Their Own: Adventures in tutoring the super-rich by Matt Knotthttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/serious-money-caroline-knowles-class-of-their-own-matt-knott-book-review-nat-segnit/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Clark and Lucy Dallas are joined by Rohan Maitzen to discuss the new novel by Maggie O’Farrell, an ingenious and daring Browning version; and Sarah Hill charts musician Vashti Bunyan’s epic walk from London to Scotland in search of freedom.‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell‘Wayward: Just Another Life to Live’ by Vashti Bunyan‘Stories I Might Regret Telling You: A Memoir’ by Martha Wainwright‘This Woman’s Work: Essays on Music’ edited by Sinéad Gleeson and Kim GordonProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last of our August highlights programmes, Alex Clark and Lucy Dallas talk self-improvement with Kathryn Hughes and step into the mire of Westminster with Edward Docx. And we revisit a magical Hay Festival moment courtesy of correspondents Lyse Doucet and Sana Safi.Produced by Charlotte Pardy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Alex Clark and Lucy Dallas look back at a riveting and prescient conversation with climate writer David Wallace-Wells; plus Margaret Drabble on the allure of roses, and Jeremy Mynott on our affinity with birds.Produced by Charlotte Pardy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s look at the highlights of the last year, Mary Norris explores Margaret Atwood’s dystopian fantasies, and we hear about James Joyce from Booker long-listed novelist Audrey Magee and poet Paul Muldoon.Produced by Charlotte Pardy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Alex and Lucy look back over some recent highlights, including Mary Beard’s survey of the Romans at play, and the best summer reads. Plus: we hear from a cat called Vincent Price.Produced by Charlotte Pardy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Roy Foster introduces us to a Devonshire debutante turned IRA terrorist, and Emile Chabal explains how Marine Le Pen created the phenomenon of ‘cat-washing'.'Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber: The Extraordinary Life of Rose Dugdale' by Sean O’Driscoll'Qu’est-ce que L’actualité Politique?: Événements et Opinions au XXIe Siècle' by Luc Boltanksi and Arnaud Esquerre'Marginal Men and Micks on the Make' by Roy FosterProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we go in search of the woman who created William Brown, beloved outlaw of the suburbs; and take a look at the sporting scene in the Middle East ahead of this winter’s men’s Fifa World Cup.‘Richmal Crompton, author of Just William: A Literary Life’ by Jane McVeigh'Routledge Handbook of Sport in the Middle East', edited by Danyel Reiche and Paul Michael Brannagan'The Business of the Fifa World Cup', edited by Simon Chadwick, Paul Widdop, Christos Anagnostopoulos and Daniel ParnellThis summer we’re celebrating the serendipity of second-hand books - let us know your finds by writing to letters@the-tls.co.uk or tweeting us @TheTLSProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Jonathan Bate leads us a merry dance in search of fresh woods and pastures new; and Philip Ball explains the importance of the mysterious Higgs Boson.‘A History of Arcadia in Art and Literature: Volume 1: Earlier Renaissance; Volume 2: Later Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassicism’ by Paul Holberton‘Elusive: How Peter Higgs solved the mystery of mass’ by Frank Close.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Clark and Toby Lichtig are joined by Devoney Looser, who scrutinises the naval career of Charles Austen, Jane’s youngest brother, in the dying days of the slave trade; and Jeremy Allen talks us through the art of waiting tables in Paris.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Alex Clark and Michael Caines discuss the turbulent history of the Tour de France and wander through London’s richest enclaves ‘Le Fric: Family, Power and Money: The Business of the Tour de France’ by Alex Duff‘Serious Money: Walking Plutocratic London’ by Caroline Knowles‘A Class of Their Own: Adventures in Tutoring the Super-Rich’ by Matt KnottProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy and Alex are joined by fiction and politics editor Toby Lichtig to reveal what’s hot in summer reading, with recommendations from TLS contributors; and Henry Hitchings takes a stroll through the complex world of cryptocurrency and one of its most charismatic characters.‘The Missing Cryptoqueen’ by Jamie Bartlett. Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Alex Clark and Lucy Dallas are joined by Paul Muldoon to celebrate Bloomsday with a close reading of the very first few words of Ulysses; there’s news from the world of Ukrainian literature; and Toby Lichtig catches up with Tessa Hadley at the Hay Festival.‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce ‘The Orphanage’ by Sergiy Zhadan‘Free Love’ by Tessa HadleyProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Alex Clark, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig as they chat to the BBC correspondents Lyse Doucet and Sana Safi, and to the legendary documentarian Norma Percy, in a special conversation recorded live at the Hay Festival.‘My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women’, compiled by Lucy Hannah, with an introduction by Lyse Doucet‘Afghanistan and Me: A Female Perspective’, an audio documentary by Sana SafiProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by Lucy Hughes-Hallett to discuss two books about Mussolini’s Italy, and train buff extraordinaire Andrew Martin gets on board with a history of British Rail.‘Blood and Power: The Rise and Fall of Italian Fascism’ by John Foot’Mussolini Also Did a Lot of Good: The Spread of Historical Amnesia’ by Francesco Filippi‘British Rail: A New History’ by Christian WolmarProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by Tom Seymour Evans to head for the beaches of Fire Island, and the TLS’s French editor Russell Williams surveys the country’s philosophical and political landscape, past and present.‘Fire Island: Love, loss and liberation in an American paradise’ by Jack Parlett’The French Mind: 400 years of romance, revolution and renewal’ by Peter Watson‘France: An adventure history’ by Graham RobbProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by TLS classics editor Mary Beard to find out what the Romans brought back from their holidays, and novelist Edward Docx is roused to righteous fury over the parlous state of the House of Commons.‘Destinations in Mind: Portraying Places on the Roman empire’s souvenirs’ by Kimberly Cassibry’Souvenirs and the Experience of Empire in Ancient Rome’ by Maggie L. Popkin‘Held in Contempt: What’s wrong with the House of Commons?’ by Hannah White Produced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas is joined by Kathryn Sutherland to tuck into the three o'clock dinners of Joseph Johnson, publisher and friend of Mary Wollstonecraft, Joseph Priestley, Henry Fuseli, Williams Blake and Wordsworth, and many more great minds of that era. And Boyd Tonkin explains that Napoleon's conqueror, the "Iron Duke" of Wellington, had a great and unexpected gift for friendship - with women.'Dinner with Joseph Johnson' by Daisy Hay'Wellington, women and friendship' at Apsley House, London, until October 30Produced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by Joe Moran to explore the strange world of precognition, and Elizabeth Lowry is bowled over by the iconoclastic work of South African multimedia artist William Kentridge. Plus great news for Terry Pratchett fans, as an all-star cast records his much-loved Discworld series.'The Premonitions Bureau’ by Sam Knight‘SYBIL’ by William KentridgeProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by Carol Tavris to discuss two wide-ranging works of biology that cast fascinating light on our understanding of sexual behaviour and gender identity throughout the animal and human world. And James Waddell explores a “bibliobiography” by a Shakespeare scholar that digs deep into centuries of books and their readers - from “shelfies” to book burning to the historical precedent for Jilly Cooper’s Riders.'Different: Gender through the eyes of a primatologist’ by Frans de Waal‘Bitch: A revolutionary guide to sex, evolution and the female animal’ by Lucy Cooke‘Portable Magic: A history of books and their readers’ by Emma SmithProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by Nat Segnit to discuss the long reach of the gambling industry and the music of chance, and Kevin Brazil brings to life a dystopian novel from 1977.‘Jackpot: How Gambling Conquered Britain’ by Rob Davies‘Might Bite: The Secret Life of a Gambling Addict’ by Patrick Foster, with Will Macpherson‘Big Snake Little Snake: An Inquiry into Risk’ by DBC Pierre’They’ by Kay DickProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by Dinah Birch to discuss Elizabeth Finch, the new novel by Julian Barnes, and find themselves in a world of charismatic teachers and forgotten Roman emperors. Also, the sports historian David Goldblatt explores a global survey of sport through the ages from the ancient Chinese game of cuju to the glories of Bristol Rovers.‘Elizabeth Finch’ by Julian Barnes‘Games People Played: A Global History of Sport’ by Wray VamplewProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by Emma Clery, specialist in 18th and 19th-century literature and author of Jane Austen: The Banker’s Sister, to discuss what Austen’s juvenilia and unpublished works tell us about the writer - will we find, as some critics have suggested, a far less restrained and irreverent novelist than we might expect? And Catherine Taylor, who is writing a memoir of her Sheffield upbringing, explores two accounts of growing up in the north of England.‘Jane Austen, Early and Late’ by Freya Johnston‘Lady Susan, Sanditon and The Watsons: Unfinished Fictions and Other Writings by Jane Austen' edited by Kathryn Sutherland‘My Own Worst Enemy: Scenes of a Childhood’ by Robert Edric‘No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs of a Working-Class Reader’ by Mark HodkinsonProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Cal Flyn, the author of 'Islands of Abandonment: Life in the post-human landscape’, to venture into the 'extreme north' – part place, part concept – where sparsely populated landscapes have long offered a blank canvas on which to project hopes, dreams and neuroses; the critic En Liang Khong considers Ai Weiwei’s artistic rebellion against the Chinese state, situating its roots in the artist's early years and relationship with his father'Extreme North: A cultural history' by Bernd Brunner, translated by Jefferson Chase‘1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: The story of two lives, one nation, and a century of art under tyranny’ by Ai WeiWeiProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Miranda France, the TLS’s Hispanic editor, to discuss the Mexican writer Fernanda Melchor and two new works that approach brutal and brutalized lives in innovative ways; Michael Caines, also of the TLS, considers a collection of essays that sets out to complicate stereotypes of East and Southeast Asian identity in Britain; and there’s focus on film, including Nosferatu at 100, unsung heroines of the big screen, and a fresh look at Marilyn Monroe’s difficult stay in London.‘Paradais’ by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes‘Aquí no es Miami’ by Fernanda Melchor‘East Side Voices: Essays celebrating East and Southeast Asian identity in Britain’, edited by Helena Lee‘When Marilyn Met the Queen: Marilyn Monroe’s life in England’ by Michelle Morgan ‘The Performer’s Tale: Nine lives of Patience Collier’ By Vanessa Morton‘Forever Young: A memoir’ by Hayley Mills‘The Great Peace: A memoir’ by Mena Suvari‘Movie Workers: The women who made British cinema’ by Melanie BellProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the critic Nelly Kaprièlian and the TLS’s French editor Russell Williams to discuss ‘Anéantir’, the latest novel by France’s best-known and maybe most controversial writer, Michel Houellebecq; the TLS’s Toby Lichtig talks us through a new memoir by the ‘pre-eminent author of British Jewish novels’, Howard Jacobson, and we consider a masterclass in sympathy from Anne Tyler, a tale of revenge by Japan’s ‘Queen of mysteries’, and a wartime reckoning in Finland.‘Anéantir’ by Michel Houellebecq‘Mother’s Boy: A writer’s beginnings’ by Howard Jacobson‘French Braid’ by Anne Tyler‘Lady Joker: Volume one’ by Kaoru Takamura, translated by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell  ‘Land of Snow & Ashes’ by Petra Rautiainen, translated by David HackstonProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the writer and critic Mary Norris to discuss the phenomenon that is Margaret Atwood – surely her kind of success requires a method? A new collection of essays and talks sheds some light; Sujit Sivasundaram, the author of ‘Waves Across the South: A new history of revolution and empire’, considers a work of non-fiction by the novelist Amitav Ghosh which paints a compelling picture of how the trade in nutmeg prefigured today’s environmental crisis‘Burning Questions: Essays and occasional pieces 2004–2021’ by Margaret Atwood‘The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a planet in crisis’ by Amitav GhoshProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the critic Muriel Zagha to discuss a new play by Florian Zeller, ‘the most successful representative of contemporary French theatre’; Kathryn Hughes, the author of ‘Victorians Undone: Tales of the flesh in the age of decorum’, explores the cultural significance of passing out, from ‘Troilus and Criseyde’ to ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, via Shakespeare and Bram Stoker; plus, a poem by Ange Mlinko, ‘Storm Windows’ ‘The Forest’ by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton, Hampstead Theatre, until March 12‘Swoon: A poetics of passing out’ by Naomi BoothProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Jeremy Mynott, the author of ‘Birdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience’ and ‘Birds in the Ancient World’, to ponder 12,000 years of human–bird relations. ‘How is it that, despite a historically deep-rooted veneration, we could also have predated, exploited and depleted bird populations to the point where more than one in ten species is now threatened with extinction?’; and Janet Montefiore, Chair of the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society, asks whether this vivid and varied satirical novelist might finally take her place alongside Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Bowen among the canon of accepted classics? Plus, a Life of the poet Valentine Ackland, still best known as Warner’s partner‘Flight From Grace: A cultural history of humans and birds’ by Richard Pope                                                                                                                   ‘Avian Illuminations: A cultural history of birds’ by Boria Sax‘Birds and Us: A 12,000-year history: from cave art to conservation’ by Tim Birkhead                               ‘Valentine Ackland: A transgressive life’ by Frances Bingham‘Lolly Willowes’, ‘Mr Fortune’s Maggot’, ‘ The True Heart’, ‘Summer Will Show’, etc, by Sylvia Townsend Warner – for other books by Warner, find Janet Montefiore’s article at the-tls.co.uk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Alex Clark are joined by Ann Hallamore Caesar, Professor Emerita in Italian Literature at the University of Warwick, to discuss the birth and legacy of Pinocchio, the world’s most famous (and most insolent) puppet – is his story really only for children? And do we need another English translation?; George Berridge, a TLS editor and restaurant-kitchen survivor, considers two close-ups on the troubled life of the chef, restaurateur and TV presenter Anthony Bourdain ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ by Carlo Collodi, translated and edited by John Hooper and Anna Kraczyna‘Bourdain: In stories’ by Laurie Woolever'In the Weeds: Around the world and behind the scenes with Anthony Bourdain’ by Tom VitaleProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by Sara Hudston to talk about how to write about our environment, who gets to write about it, why it is so crucial - and "horsey" books; and James McConnachie, himself a keen player, discusses the future of strategy games, given that the computers are increasingly beating the humansWomen on Nature, edited by Katherine NorburyWild Isles, edited by Patrick Barkham Gifts of Gravity and Light, edited by Anita Roy and Pippa MarlandOut of Time: Poetry from the climate emergency, edited by Kate SimpsonSeven Games: A Human History by Oliver RoederProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, to mark 100 years since the publication of ‘Ulysses’, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the novelist Audrey Magee to discuss how James Joyce wrestled with the demands, political and personal, of the Irish language; the anthropologist and science writer Barbara J. King reviews Andrea Arnold’s film ‘Cow’, which attempts to show life from an animal’s perspective; plus, Mary Beard shares a few thoughts on Roman kissing.'Cow', directed by Andrea ArnoldProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Benjamin Markovits, the novelist, critic and teacher of creative writing, to discuss 100 American essays spanning 300-odd years (‘have we got any better at it?’); the sinologist Rana Mitter discusses the supremely difficult, and controversial, job of adapting the Chinese script for the modern age; plus, ‘Edelweiss’, a poignant new poem by Fiona Benson‘The Glorious American Essay: One hundred essays from colonial times to the present’, edited by Phillip Lopate‘Kingdom of Characters: A tale of language, obsession, and genius in modern China’ by Jing TsuProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the writer and broadcaster Muriel Zagha to discuss 'Nightmare Alley', an unsettling vision of delight and deceit from the Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro; the historian Abigail Green explores the untold stories of the women behind Europe’s premier banking dynasty, the Rothschilds; plus, a dinosaur poem of note'Nightmare Alley', various cinemas'The Women of Rothschild: The untold story of the world’s most famous dynasty' by Natalie LivingstoneProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the poet A. E. Stallings to reconsider the ground-breaking work of Edna St Vincent Millay, a modern but not modernist poet, once judged 'the most glamorous, sexually-dangerous since Byron'; Thomas Morris, the author of medical and crime histories, delves into the often-troubling history of medical transplants; plus, a new poem by Ben Wilkinson, ‘What We Were’'Poems and Satires' by Edna St Vincent Millay, edited by Tristram Fane Saunders 'Spare Parts: A surprising history of transplants' by Paul CraddockProduced by Sophia Franklin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the writer and translator Chiara Marchelli to revisit the work of Antonio Tabucchi, a master of the uncanny, ten years after his death; and the multilingual critic Irina Dumitrescu discusses a poignant study of bilingualism that considers how mother tongues are lost and found and at what cost‘Little Misunderstandings of No Importance: And other stories’, by Antonio Tabucchi, translated by Frances Frenaye‘Requiem: A hallucination’, by Antonio Tabucchi, translated by Margaret Jull Costa‘Pereira Maintains: A testimony’, by Antonio Tabucchi, translated by Patrick Creagh‘Memory Speaks: On losing and reclaiming language and self’ by Julie SedivyProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas look back at this year’s podcasts. We hear from Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Drabble, Mary Beard and Paul Muldoon, among others, covering literature, film, art, poetry and much more.Produced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas look back at this year’s podcasts. We hear from Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Drabble, Mary Beard and Paul Muldoon, among others, covering literature, film, art, poetry and much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A conversation between the novelists Sarah Hall and Sarah Moss, both of whose most recent novels confront life in the middle of a pandemic, chaired by the TLS’s fiction editor Toby Lichtig.(This event was recorded in November at Hay Festival’s Winter Weekend)'Burntcoat' by Sarah Hall'The Fell' by Sarah MossProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Emer Nolan, Professor of English at Maynooth University, to discuss the letters of John McGahern, one of Ireland’s most accomplished writers of fiction; How did Napoleon get his hands on Veronese’s enormous masterpiece “The Wedding Feast at Cana”, once safely housed in a Venetian monastery? Does it matter and should we do anything to remedy the situation? Ruth Scurr, the author of ‘Napoleon: A Life told in gardens and shadows’, considers Napoleon’s thirst for art, and its legacy; plus, a quick look at some of 2021’s most favourably reviewed films and plays ‘The Letters of John McGahern’, edited by Frank Shovlin‘Napoleon’s Plunder: And the theft of Veronese’s Feast’ by Cynthia SaltzmanProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Francesca Wade, at work on a book about Gertrude Stein’s afterlife, to discuss Stein’s ‘lost’ notebooks – and the magnificent amount of research conducted by Leon Katz, who discovered them some seventy years ago – and shed new light on the writer’s process and personal life; and the musician and critic Wesley Stace takes us back to a stormy but productive time in the life of The Beatles, via a new film by Peter Jackson‘No no no, nonsense, never: Hidden notebooks reveal the tense relationships behind Gertrude Stein’s genius’ by Francesca Wade, in this week’s TLS.‘The Beatles: Get Back’, on Disney+Produced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark discuss roses, Orwell and rhizomatic thinking with Margaret Drabble; Kathryn Hughes is our guide through histories of self-improvement; plus, what log-rolling really means.'Orwell's Roses' by Rebecca Solnit'The Art of Self-Improvement' by Anna Katharina SchaffnerThe Log Driver's Waltz: https://www.nfb.ca/film/log_drivers_waltzProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by TLS editors to look through twelve months of intriguing books, as nominated by contributors including Mary Beard, the poet Paul Muldoon and the writer and critic Marina Warner, covering a range of genres and subjects, from ancient Greek swear words to fictional messiahsFor the full round-up, go to the-tls.co.uk/ Produced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig are guided by Mark Ford through Concord, Massachusetts, the home of Emerson, Thoreau and the Transcendentalists; we talk to Susan Owens about the mystery and melancholy of lighted windows seen from outside; plus, new work from Dave Eggers and Zadie Smith'The Transcendentalists and their world' by Robert A. Gross'The Every' by Dave Eggers'The Wife of Willesden' by Zadie Smith'The Lighted Window: Evening walks remembered' by Peter DavidsonProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig speaks to 2021’s Booker Prize-winner Damon Galgut, whose recent novel ‘The Promise’ follows one family through three decades of life and death in South Africa; Douglas Smith, whose books include a biography of Rasputin, turns to Russia in the 1830s to try to understand the Russia we face today; plus, the lyrics of Paul McCartney, explained by the man himself'The Promise' by Damon Galgut'1837: Russia’s quiet revolution' by Paul W. Werth'The Lyrics: 1956 to the present' by Paul McCartney, edited by Paul Muldoon – discussed at an event at the Royal Festival Hall, London on November 5; available to stream until November 12 Stream link: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/literature-poetry/lyrics-paul-mccartney-conversation-live-streamProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Michael Sherborne to consider a master of science fiction, H. G. Wells, whose life was a runaway spaceship… until it ran out of steam; Niki Segnit, the author of ‘The Flavour Thesaurus’, explores some of the world’s rarest and most endangered foods; plus how sustainable – ecologically and economically – is book selling?‘The Young H. G. Wells: Changing the world’ by Claire Tomalin‘The City of Dr Moreau’ by J. S. Barnes‘Eating To Extinction: The world’s rarest foods and why we need to save them’ by Dan SaladinoProduced by Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, ahead of COP26, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by David Wallace-Wells, the author of ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’, to discuss a flurry of new books on climate change and what to do about it, from quiet reflection to radical, explosive action; and the biographer of royals A. N. Wilson considers a lively new Life of King George V that suggests the monarch wasn’t that dull after all‘Deep Adaptation: Navigating the realities of climate chaos’, edited by Jem Bendell and Rupert Read‘How To Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to fight in a world on fire’ by Andreas Malm‘Saving Us: A climate scientist’s case for hope and healing in a divided world’ by Katharine Hayhoe‘Geopolitics For the End Time: From the pandemic to the climate crisis’ by Bruno Maçães'George V: Never a dull moment’ by Jane RidleyProducer: Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Michael Caines are joined by Jenni Quilter, the author of ‘New York School Painters and Poets: Neon in daylight’, to discuss the colourful and ceaselessly experimental work of the American artist Helen Frankenthaler; and Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford, reviews a radical (and watery) new production of ‘Macbeth’ that redeems the fallen world of this overfamiliar tragedy.‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’, Almeida Theatre, London; also streaming‘Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York’ by Alexander Nemerov‘Helen Frankenthaler: Radical beauty’, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London; until April 18, 2022A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Russell Williams, to talk through the uniquely French phenomenon of the rentrée littéraire - the politics, the scandals, the big beasts and the new voices; and Michele Pridmore-Brown considers a recent book that offers a cultural history of breast milk and the rise of the bottle.‘White Blood: A history of human milk’ by Lawrence Trevelyan Weaver  A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Sophia Franklin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Peter Parker, the biographer of J. R. Ackerley and Christopher Isherwood among others, to reconsider the gestation and legacy of E. M. Forster’s final novel, ‘Maurice’, a love story between men across the class divide, published fifty years ago; ‘Keep up, watch out: Or why the people next door have always mattered’ – the historian Arnold Hunt reviews two studies of neighbourly love, and hate, in early modern Britain.‘Faith, Hope and Charity: English neighbourhoods, 1500–1640’ by Andy Wood‘Caritas: Neighbourly love and the early modern self’ by Katie Barclay Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus TLS long read, the former politician Rory Stewart discusses to power of modern politics, Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings and the corrosion of morals.www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/long-players-tom-gatti-book-review-paul-gendersIf you would like to listen to more audio articles from The TLS, you can do so on The TLS website or the News Over Audio app.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the scholars Janet Todd and Derek Hughes to revisit the life and work of Restoration England’s first woman of letters, the playwright Aphra Behn, who “seems formed for our noisy, sex-obsessed times”; the translator, poet and critic Sasha Dugdale considers Russian protest poetry and the rise of Galina Rymbu; plus, literary festivals rebooted.‘The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Aphra Behn: Volume IV: Plays, 1682–1696’, edited by Rachel Adcock, et al‘F Letter: New Russian feminist poetry’, edited by Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky and Ainsley Morse; translated by Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse, Alex Karsavin, Helena Kernan, Kit Eginton, Valzhyna Mort and Kevin M. F. Platt‘Life In Space’ by Galina Rymbu; translated by Joan BrooksValzhyna Mort’s translation of the poem ’Summer’, read by Sasha Dugdale, also appears at - www.granta.com/summer-gates-of-the-body‘The Scar We Know’, a bi-lingual edition of Lida Yusupova's poetry with introductions by Oksana Vasyakina and Ainsley Morse, has just been published by Cicada BooksA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Skye C. Cleary to discuss Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘lost’ novel, ‘The Inseparables’, published almost seventy years after it was written; Anna Picard reviews a very dark production of ‘Rigoletto’ at the Royal Opera House; plus, buying and selling (and maybe stealing) Emily Dickinson’s hair (maybe).'The Inseparables' by Simone de Beauvoir'Rigoletto' by Giuseppe Verdi, at the Royal Opera House, until September 29, then February–March, 2022 A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus TLS long read, the writer Paul Genders discusses the influence of pop music on literature.www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/long-players-tom-gatti-book-review-paul-gendersIf you would like to listen to more audio articles from The TLS, you can do so on The TLS website or the News Over Audio app.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig are joined by the critic and gym-sceptic Irina Dumitrescu to consider a clutch of books about fitness – how it came to be the industry it is, what it means to us, even what the smell of sweat does; Alex Clark, a regular contributor to the TLS’s fiction pages, runs through this year’s Booker Prize shortlist, just announced, before turning to a real-life story that reads like a mystery novel: the “Stonehouse affair”, the tale of the MP and former Cabinet minister John Stonehouse, who disappeared while swimming from a private beach in Miami The Age of Fitness: How the body came to symbolize success and achievement by Jürgen MartschukatExercised: The science of physical activity, rest and health by Daniel LiebermanThe Joy of Sweat: The strange science of perspiration by Sarah EvertsThe Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison BechdelJohn Stonehouse, My Father: The true story of the runaway MP, by Julia StonehouseStonehouse: Cabinet minister, fraudster, spy by Julian Hayes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy Dallas and Michael Caines are joined by Dennis Duncan, the author of ‘Index, A History of the’, to discuss how we navigate the contents between books' covers, taking in alphabets, concordances, ancient search engines and much more; What is Substack: a publishing start-up or a reboot of a nineteenth-century literary idea?; and the writer and translator Miranda France discusses a new book by the famed psychogeographer Iain Sinclair, which takes us to Peru, in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, who made a fascinating and, to us, troubling expedition to the Upper Amazon region in 1891.‘Index, A History of the’ by Dennis Duncan‘The Gold Machine: In the tracks of the mule dancers’ by Iain SinclairA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout the summer, we are revisiting the very best of the podcast during the last year.In this episode - it's movie week; the author Colin Grant discusses Steve McQueen's Small Axe and the Academy Award-winning Nomadland starring Frances McDormand, Yoojin Grace Wuertz talks us through the Korean American Dream film Minari, and Clifford Thompson reviews Regina King's directorial debut One Night in Miami - which sees Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Cassius Clay gather for a heated debate.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout August, we are revisiting the very best of the podcast during the last year.In this episode; the comedian David Baddiel joins Toby Lichtig to talk about his book 'Jews Don't Count' which explores the insidious, pervasive, exclusionary nature of ‘progressive’ antisemitism, Éadaoín Lynch remembers fully and truthfully the relationship between the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, and Lucy Scholes reviews a clutch of novels in the British Library's Women Writers series, dedicated to once-popular writers.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus TLS long read, the writer and author of Mind the Gap, Ferdinand Mount, asks - how much is too much meritocracy?www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-aristocracy-of-talent-adrian-wooldridge-book-review-ferdinand-mountIf you would like to listen to more audio articles from The TLS, you can do so on The TLS website or the News Over Audio app.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout August, we are revisiting the very best of the podcast during the last year.In this episode; the TLS's Classics editor Mary Beard emphasizes the importance of teaching Classics in context, the medievalist Hetta Howes reviews a female take on 'Beowulf', and Ruth Scurr reveals the true history of the secretive Freemasons.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout August, we are revisiting the very best of the podcast during the last year.In this episode; the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to Douglas Stuart about his 2020 Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain, the writer Laura Thompson joins Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas to discuss the work of Agatha Christie and how she has managed to move with the times, and Edmund Gordon to reviews 'Klara and the Sun' - Kazuo Ishiguro’s new Booker Prize longlisted novel about an Artificial Friend.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a special bonus podcast we bring you an episode of Secrets of the Side Hustle that we think you might enjoy.Host Laura Jackson speaks with Alighieri Jewellery founder, Rosh Mahtani, about her business journey, the importance of connecting with your customers and why a 14th century epic poem makes the perfect inspiration for a 21st century business...Visit the Alighieri Jewellery websiteFollow Alighieri Jewellery on InstagramFollow The Sunday Times Stylehttps://www.instagram.com/theststyle/https://twitter.com/TheSTStyleTo get more of The Times and The Sunday Times, visit thetimes.co.uk/secretsofthesidehustle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus TLS long read, Michele Pridmore-Brown, researcher at The University of California - Berkeley, discusses what science can tell us about manliness.www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-better-half-sharon-moalem-are-men-animals-matthew-guttmann-guynecology-rene-almeling-review-michelle-pridmore-brownIf you would like to listen to more audio articles from The TLS, you can do so on The TLS website or the News Over Audio app.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Thomas Morris, the author of 'The Matter of the Heart: A history of the heart in eleven operations', to discuss the extraordinary life and influence of the Nobel prize-winning Jewish biochemist Otto Warburg, whose research into cancer, as well as his audacious character, helped him to survive Nazi Germany; the art critic and historian Frances Spalding celebrates the energetic and sophisticated paintings of Nina Hamnett, whose colourful social life has tended to eclipse her talents. Plus, Shakespeare in the open air.Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the search for the cancer-diet connection, by Sam AppleNina Hamnett, Charleston, Sussex, until August 30thA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Nick Groom, Professor of Literature in English at the University of Macau, to discuss William Blake, who saw wonders everywhere (including a tree on Peckham Rye), and communicated them urgently in art and poetry – what does he have to tell us now?; the critic and writer Michael Kerrigan guides us through the ‘improbably enthralling mundanities’ of the Uruguayan novelist Mario Levrero; plus, a dazzling history of Sicily, the demise of local journalism, and ‘bald’ philosophy.William Blake Vs the World by John HiggsThe Luminous Novel by Mario Levrero, translated by Annie McDermottPanic as Man Burns Crumpets: The vanishing world of the local journalist by Roger LytollisBald: 35 philosophical short cuts by Simon CritchleyThe Invention of Sicily: A Mediterranean history by Jamie MackayA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus TLS long read, the writer Joan C. Williams discusses how Amazon’s business practices harm America.www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/fulfillment-alec-macgillis-review-joan-c-williams-amazonIf you would like to listen to more audio articles from The TLS, you can do so on The TLS website or the News Over Audio app.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas as joined by Keith Hopper, a critic of film and literature, to revisit the film ‘Midnight Cowboy’ (1969), a 'dark, difficult masterpiece' starring Jon Voight as an aspirant sex worker and Dustin Hoffman as his friend, an ailing con man; before it’s available in English, the journalist Henri Astier delves into the 'secret' diary of Michel Barnier, the European Union’s Brexit negotiator, who the British tabloids named 'the most dangerous man in Europe'; plus, what does Brexit mean for books? ‘Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, sex, loneliness, liberation, and the making of a dark classic’ by Glenn Frankel‘La Grande Illusion: Journal secret du Brexit (2016-2020)’ by Michel BarnierA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Noo Saro-Wiwa, the author of ‘Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria’, to discuss developments in travel writing; Alice Kelly, the author of ‘Commemorative Modernisms: Women writers, death and the First World War’, considers how conflict permeates American culture; plus, a new poem by André Naffis-Sahely, ‘At the Graves of Labour’s Fallen’‘The Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in search of a genre’ by Tim Hannigan‘War and American Literature’, edited by Jennifer Haytock‘A History of American Literature and Culture of the First World War’, edited by Tim Dayton and Mark W. Van WienenA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus TLS long read, the writer Joyce Carol Oates explores the quintessential American minimalism of Walker Evans.www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/walker-evans-svetlana-alpers-review-joyce-carol-oatesIf you would like to listen to more audio articles from The TLS, you can do so on The TLS website or the News Over Audio app.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Adam Watt, Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Exeter, to mark 150 years since the birth of Marcel Proust, whose legacy seems stronger than ever; Sarah Lonsdale, the author of 'Rebel Women Between the Wars', re-considers ‘Diary of a Provincial Lady’, a funny novel about interwar life in deepest Devon whose darker tones tend to be overlooked; plus, Mary Beard on new developments at the Colosseum.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the novelist Margaret Drabble to consider the ‘curiously free-floating reputation’ of Russell Hoban, whose adult novels, including ‘Riddley Walker’, now appear as Penguin Modern Classics; as twin exhibitions mark the centenary of the birth of the English sculptor, painter, writer, designer and illustrator Michael Ayrton, the critic Boyd Tonkin delves into the myth-laden maze of the artist’s thought‘From Oprah to Medusa: The endlessly various world of Russell Hoban’ by Margaret Drabble: www.the-tls.co.uk‘Michael Ayrton: A singular obsession’, Fry Art Gallery Too, Saffron Walden, until October 31st‘Michael Ayrton Centenary: Ideas, images, reflections’, edited by Justine Hopkins‘Celebrating Michael Ayrton: A centenary exhibition’, the Lightbox, Woking, until August 8thA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week: How far off is a world in which robots do most of our jobs? Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Benjamin Schneider, a DPhil Candidate in Economic and Social History at Merton College, Oxford, to explore Artificial Intelligence, societal change, real and imagined, and the future of work; what will our writers, from Andrew Motion to Joyce Carol Oates, be reading this summer?; plus, it’s Independent Bookshop Week and the nominations came thick and fast… 'Summer books 2021 – Our contributors provide their seasonal reading lists' www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/summer-books-2021A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig are joined by Paul Griffiths to discuss the beauty and grace of Mozart, the untortured genius; David Edgerton talks us through the decline and fall of British coal mining and its relationship with the Labour Party; plus, new discoveries about Locke and Leviathan, obituary codes and the Buddha's wife'La Clemenza di Tito' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart'Mozart in Prague' by Daniel E. Freeman'Mozart: The reign of love' by Jan Swafford'The Shadow of the Mine: Coal and the end of industrial Britain' by Huw Beynon and Ray Hudson'Yasodhara and the Buddha' by Vanessa R. SassonA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Rosinka Chaudhuri, the author of ‘The Literary Thing: History, poetry and the making of a modern cultural sphere’, to discuss Rabindranath Tagore, who, in 1913, became the first non-white and non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature – since which he has been largely overlooked; Kate Kennedy, the author of ‘Dweller in the Shadows’, a new Life of the war poet Ivor Gurney, considers the “peculiarly direct, urgent intensity” of the later work, composed while confined in an asylum; plus, let’s hear it for independent bookshops'Rabindranath Tagore' by Bashabi Fraser 'The Cambridge Companion to Rabindranath Tagore', edited by Sukanta ChaudhuriA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Michael Caines are joined by the critic and literary scholar Marjorie Perloff to discuss an encyclopedic work that sets out to tackle ‘Art and thought in the Cold War’, from Jean-Paul Sartre to Elvis Presley; the English professor and literary critic Rohan Maitzen explores the meticulously observed world of Olivia Manning’s Balkan novels; plus, the unhappy story of a youthful romance between Eric Arthur Blair and Jacintha Buddicom, played out in poetry‘The Free World: Art and thought in the Cold War’ by Louis Menand‘The Balkan Trilogy’ by Olivia Manning‘“Dracula’s Daughter”: The rediscovery of a love poem for George Orwell’, by Eileen M. Hunt, and ‘Annotating George Orwell’, by D. J. Taylor ­– both in this week’s TLS: the-tls.co.ukA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Gerri Kimber to discuss a bold new biography of D. H. Lawrence, 'the most judged writer of his age'; twenty-odd writers share their formative encounters with nature, including the novelists Maaza Mengiste and Ali Smith; plus, reviews of the television adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s 'The Pursuit of Love' and 'Harm', a new play about loneliness and social media addictionBurning Man: The ascent of D. H. Lawrence, by Frances Wilson'Sinister, sublime, exhausting, hungry – formative encounters with the natural world', see the-tls.co.ukThe Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, BBC iPlayer'Harm' by Phoebe Eclair-Powell, the Bush Theatre, London Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Devoney Looser, Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University and the author of ‘The Making of Jane Austen’, to discuss new research into the Austen family’s ties with slavery; Colin Grant, critic and writer, introduces Writers Mosaic, a new platform for writing and recordings; and Mary Beard considers the Roman love of temple-building and Euripides as reimagined by a poet and a comic-book illustrator.Jane Austen & Cowritersmosaic.org.uk/The Trojan Women: A comic book by Anne Carson and Rosanna BrunoThis episode of The TLS podcast is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative. Go to www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to find out more about their creative writing courses. Use code YOURWRITINGSUMMER for £20 off any six-week course. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Dinah Birch, Professor of English Literature at the University of Liverpool, to consider the work of Angela Thirkell, a kind of (but not really...) Anthony Trollope for the twentieth-century; the writer and audio documentarist Maria Margaronis considers the transformation of London’s Royal Court Theatre into a radical and moving “living newspaper”; plus, a library of the world’s literature that no censor can get to‘Angela Thirkell: A writer’s life’ by Anne Hall‘Living Newspaper’, Editions 6 and 7, Royal Court Theatre and royalcourttheatre.comThis episode of The TLS podcast is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative. Go to www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to find out more about their creative writing courses.Use code YOURWRITINGSUMMER for £20 off any six-week course.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Ann Hallamore Caesar to mark 100 years since the première of the modernist masterpiece ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’, considering it in the context of Luigi Pirandello’s life and work; Alexander Leissle reviews ‘Promises’, an intoxicating intergenerational collaboration between a jazz saxophonist and an electro producer; plus, a new poem by Andrew Motion, “At Low Tharston”, written in memory of the late Anthony Thwaite. 'Stories for the Years' by Luigi Pirandello, translated by Virginia Jewiss'The Notebooks of Serafino Gubbio' by Luigi Pirandello, translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff'Promises' by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra This episode of The TLS podcast is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative. Go to www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to find out more about their creative writing courses.Use code YOURWRITINGSUMMER for £20 off any six-week course.A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Patricia Craig, a writer and critic from Northern Ireland, who relates a sad and murky case of accidental killings, which took place during the Irish Civil War of the early 1920s; the TLS’s politics editor Toby Lichtig reviews a handful of recent films – works of documentary and fiction – with political stories, mostly atrocities, at their hearts; plus, a lost Proust manuscript finally sees the light of day. Can’t Get You Out of My Head, BBC iPlayerThe Mauritanian, Amazon PrimeThe Dissident, Amazon PrimeQuo Vadis, Aida?, Curzon Home CinemaLes Soixante-quinze feuillets et autres manuscrits inédits, by Marcel Proust, edited by Nathalie Mauriac Dyer, with a preface by Jean-Yves Tadié (Gallimard) A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Patricia J. Williams to discuss ‘Giving a Damn: Racism, romance and Gone with the Wind’, Williams’s deeply researched, and deeply felt, essay on the roots and legacy of racial injustice in the United States; Douglas Field considers a novel about a 'human mole' by Richard Wright, the African American writer best known for 'Native Son', which now sees the light of day, eighty years after it was written; plus Sylvia Plath’s domestic embellishments and the greatest novels of the twenty-first century to date (cont.)Giving a Damn: Racism, romance and 'Gone with the Wind' by Patricia J. Williams, published next week by TLS Books The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard WrightA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford, to discuss the new Arden 3 edition of ‘Measure for Measure’, one of the "problem plays" (word-bothers, en garde); the poet and translator Beverley Bie Brahic marks 200 years since the birth of Charles Baudelaire, whose extraordinary work seems bizarrely neglected; plus, Charlotte Mew, and the dangers of ancient Greek medicine.Measure for Measure, edited by A. R. Braunmuller and Robert N. Watson (Arden Shakespeare)The Invention of Medicine: From Homer to Hippocrates, by Robin Lane FoxThis Rare Spirit: A Life of Charlotte Mew, by Julia CopusA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Elaine Showalter, Professor Emerita of English at Princeton University, to discuss Blake Bailey’s keenly anticipated ‘Philip Roth: The biography’; and Alexandra Harris, the author of ‘Weatherland: Artist and writers under English skies’, considers a twenty-first century perspective on Joseph Wright of Derby, an eighteenth-century painter who is perhaps more darkness than light, more magic than science, and who deserves to be ranked among Europe’s greats.Philip Roth: The biography by Blake BaileyJoseph Wright of Derby: Painter of darkness by Matthew Craskewww.the-tls.co.ukProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig are joined by Mary Norris, a New Yorker and editor at - what else? - the New Yorker magazine, to discuss the changing life of the city and its inhabitants; Yoojin Grace Wuertz talks us through a film garlanded with Oscar nominations, Minari, which casts a new light on the immigrant story and the American Dream; plus, the week's fiction reviewsNew Yorkers: A city and its people in our time by Craig Taylor Pretend It's A City: NetflixThe Barbizon: The New York hotel that set women free by Paulina BrenMinari: Amazon Prime, Apple TV, etcA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the historian Mark Mazower, who presents new approaches to the battle for Greek independence in 1821; Noreen Masud reviews a performance of Stevie Smith’s poems that conveys the unsettling power of her presence; plus, Paul Muldoon marks 400 years since the birth of Andrew Marvell with a new poem, ‘The Glow-Worm to the Mower’. Stevie Smith: Black March – Dead Poets Live, filmed at the Wanamaker Playhouse, available on Globe Player until April 5thPlease visit the TLS website to read Mark Mazower’s essay (including bibliography) and to find Paul Muldoon’s poem, as well as those by Angela Leighton and Will Harris.www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the critic and novelist Claire Lowdon to consider Vivian Gornick, an American writer of essays – on literature, politics, the self – that demonstrate a rare “ability to stand back and look at the world in which she finds herself, and then set it down calmly on paper”; the TLS’s poetry editor Camille Ralphs explores the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and some of the literature that inspired it; plus, libraries under threat (again), Unica Zürn gets her time in the sun, and the three greatest novels of the twenty-first century...so far.Taking a Long Look: Essays on culture, literature, and feminism in our time by Vivian GornickAppendix N: The eldritch roots of Dungeons and Dragons, edited by Peter Bebergalwww.the-tls.co.ukProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Ann Pettifor, the economist and author of ‘The Case for the Green New Deal’, to discuss some inconvenient but incontrovertible truths left out of Bill Gates’s vision of the fight against climate change; Anna Aslanyan on a freewheeling account of the unpredictable life of the twentieth-century German writer Hasso Grabner; plus, re-reading Philip Larkin.How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill GatesJourney through a Tragicomic Century: The Absurd Life of Hasso Grabner, by Francis Nenik, translated by Katy Derbyshirewww.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Edmund Gordon to review 'Klara and the Sun', Kazuo Ishiguro’s surprisingly hopeful new novel about an Artificial Friend; the world’s first poem about Superman (perhaps) was written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1942 but not published until now, in this week’s TLS – we discuss; and the medievalist Hetta Howes reviews two new translations of 'Beowulf', taking us back to the rich and troubling ambiguities of the original.Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro“The Man of To-morrow’s Lament”, a poem by Vladimir Nabokov, with commentary by Andrei BabikovBeowulf: A new translation by Maria Dahvana HeadleyBeowulf: In blank verse by Richard Hamer www.the-tls.co.ukProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Joyce Carol Oates to talk about the minimalist beauty in the photographs of Walker Evans, and his austere approach to his art. Colin Grant discusses the new film Nomadland, a blend of fact and fiction about US citizens who take to the road when they realize they cannot afford to grow old...and we look through a science fiction dictionary and check up on the latest writing by robots.Walker Evans: Starting from scratch by Svetlana AlpersNomadland, on Hulu - UK release April 2021www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Alan Rusbridger, former editor of the Guardian, to discuss the rise of Bellingcat, an investigative body, started in one man’s bedroom in 2014, now able to get to the bottom of even the murkiest global events; Dante, Dante, Dante…. and Anne Weber’s epic of Annette Beaumanoir; and who was Keats’s mysterious Mrs Jones? The biographer Jonathan Bate shares a theory.We Are Bellingcat: An intelligence agency for the people by Eliot HigginsDante by John TookAnnette, Ein Heldinnen Epos / Epic Annette by Anne Weber‘Cherchez la femme’ – Keats and Mrs Jones, by Jonathan Bate in the TLSwww.the-tls.co.ukProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Cal Revely-Calder, who finds that, in Samuel Beckett Studies, jargon and certainty too often crowd out impressions of the work and the importance of ‘knowing what you don’t know’; Alice Wadsworth brings snippets of interest from this week’s TLS, including ‘women who wouldn’t wait’ and Borges in Inverness; and Ruth Scurr on the history of the secretive, ritual-loving Freemasons.Beckett’s Political Imagination by Emilie MorinSamuel Beckett and the Visual Arts by Conor CarvilleThe Craft: How the Freemasons made the modern world, by John DickieProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Avril Horner, author of a biography of Barbara Comyns whose quirky, menace-laced novels, long championed by Graham Greene, are finding their way back to us; a new poem by John Kinsella, 'Villanelle of Star-Picket-Hopping Red-Capped Robin'; and En Liang Khong describes the powerful pull – particularly difficult to resist during lockdown – of the fantasy urban landscapes portrayed in video games and animeSeveral novels by Barbara Comyns, including: 'Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead', 'Mr Fox', 'Sisters by a River', 'The House of Dolls' and 'The Vet's Daughter''The legend and the crazy novelist: Graham Greene’s role in Barbara Comyns’s writing career' by Avril HornerVirtual Cities: An atlas and exploration of video game cities, by Konstantinos DimopoulosAnime Architecture: Imagined worlds and endless megacities, by Stefan Riekeles Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The writer and comedian David Baddiel has written a book called 'Jews Don't Count', which explores the insidious, pervasive, exclusionary nature of ‘progressive’ antisemitism. Here, he talks to Toby Lichtig about how and why one of the most persecuted minorities in history continues to be overlooked'Jews Don't Count' by David BaddielProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by David Gallagher to discuss two new books about Jorge Luis Borges – one a collection of essays and remembrances by the great Latin American writer Mario Vargas Llosa, the other a more curious offering by the American writer and critic Jay Parini; David Baddiel on the insidious, pervasive, exclusionary nature of ‘progressive’ antisemitism; Alice Wadsworth and Lucy Dallas on food podcasts and the French comedy-drama Call My Agent!Medio siglo con Borges, by Mario Vargas Llosa (published in Spain by Alfaguara)Borges and Me: An encounter, by Jay Parini Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel 'The Sporkful' and 'Off Menu' available on podcast platformsCall My Agent!, NetflixProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Clifford Thompson to discuss One Night in Miami, a film by Regina King, which sees Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Cassius Clay gather for heated debate; from exclusivity and luxury in imperial China to cheap ubiquity in modern day Europe, Norma Clarke considers the rise and fall of porcelain; plus, a new poem by Anne Carson, “Sure, I Was Loved”One Night in Miami, dir. Regina KingThe City of Blue and White: Chinese porcelain and the early modern world by Anne GerritsenPorcelain: A history from the heart of Europe by Suzanne L . Marchand“Sure, I Was Loved” by Anne Carson, in this week’s TLSProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the TLS's Classics editor Mary Beard, who, via an old exam paper, emphasizes the importance of teaching Classics in context (Q1: "Dryads, Hyads, Naiads, Oreads, Pleiads … Does 'Classical influence' in modern poetry always come down to snobbery and elitism?”); Zachary Leader reports on the latest offerings from the Joyce Industry; and Jane O'Grady considers how the Enlightenment undid itself.James Joyce and the Matter Of Paris, by Catherine FlynnJames Joyce and the Jesuits, by Michael MayoPanepiphanal World: James Joyce’s epiphanies, by Sangam MacduffThe Enlightenment: The pursuit of happiness 1680–1790, by Ritchie Robertson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the Karachi-based journalist Sanam Maher to discuss cliché and originality in foreign correspondents' writing on Pakistan; a whistle-stop tour through (some) of the books of 2021; Lucy Scholes reviews a clutch of novels in the British Library's Women Writers series, dedicated to once-popular writersThe Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a divided nation, by Declan WalshO, the Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn SmithThe Tree of Heaven by May Sinclair Chatterton Square by E. H. YoungFather by Elizabeth Von Arnim  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the critic Muriel Zagha to marvel at a five-volume, “definitive” study of the iconic French filmmaker Jacques Tati, every aspect of whose apparently chaotic cinematic universe was controlled to the nth degree; Calum Mechie considers some new approaches to the life and legacy of George Orwell; and – “Can we take it? Can Dickens take it?” – ’tis the season for adaptations of A Christmas Carol…The Definitive Jacques Tati, edited by Alison CastleOn Nineteen Eighty-Four: A biography by D. J. TaylorOrwell: A man of our time by Richard BradfordBecoming George Orwell: Life and letters, legend and legacy, by John RoddenEileen: The making of George Orwell, by Sylvia Topp Subscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Toby Lichtig are joined by Stephen Lovell, Professor of Modern History at King’s College London, to discuss two important biographies of Joseph Stalin, covering the opposite ends of the dictator’s life; the debate around the official Home Office history of Britain, a document full of omissions and riddled with errors, rolls on; and can a book make you a better person? Can even the high modernists be mined for lessons in life? Joanna Scutts considers the relationship between 'serious' literature and self-help.Stalin: Passage to revolution by Ronald Grigor SunyLate Stalinism: The aesthetics of politics by Evgeny Dobrenko, translated by Jesse M. SavageThe Self-Help Compulsion: Searching for advice in modern literature, by Beth BlumReading for Life by Philip DavisSubscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Paul Griffiths, the author most recently of the novel Mr Beethoven, to discuss the heroic oeuvre of the great composer, 250 years after his birth; Joseph Farrell takes us through the life and work of Gianni Rodari, a kind of Italian George Orwell transplanted to Neverland.Selected books:Beethoven's Conversation Books, translated and edited by Theodore AlbrechtBeethoven's Lives by Lewis LockwoodBeethoven: A Life by Jan CaeyersBeethoven: A life in nine pieces, by Laura Tunbridge– read the full piece here Telephone Tales, by Gianni Rodari, translated by Antony Shugaar Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special bonus episode, the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to Douglas Stuart about his 2020 Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

From Poirot on the River Nile to Verdi's take on the infamous Scottish play. Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas talk to writer Laura Thompson about the work of Agatha Christie and how she managed to move with the times, and Professor Larry Wolff joins us from Florence to discuss the tentative return of live opera in Italy with Verdi's Macbeth at the Parma Verdi Festival. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toby Lichtig talks us through this year's Booker shortlisted novels, plus a couple of others, and Lucy Dallas reports on the French scene (where real life and fiction blur...); finally, we explore the situation in Israel and Palestine from three rather different perspectives.An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defence Forces made a nation by Haim Bresheeth-Zabner The Conflict over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine campus debate by Kenneth S. SternThe new peace? – Israel’s unexpected ray of light by Ari Shavit – www.the-TLS.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1405, Christine de Pisan took up the pen in defense of her maligned sex, imagining a 'City of Ladies' in which the most virtuous female leaders of history might be preserved from the distortions of misogyny. Six hundred years later, with Cleopatra, Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great as her guides, the novelist and historian Lisa Hilton revisits the City to shake the foundations of the way we write about power Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout August, we are revisiting our books roundups from previous years, and today we’re returning to last year’s suggestions. In 2019, our contributor Diana Darke said in the paper: "A lot of things need saving this summer – tangible things like bees, Notre-Dame, water … and intangible things like democracy, humanitarian ideals, community". Among the many subjects under discussion here are Oulipo, impeachment, and climate change. We’ll be back with new weekly episodes from September 10th. Until then, head to the website – the-tls.co.uk – to keep up with the weekly magazine.    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout August, we are revisiting our books roundups from previous years, to give you a chance to catch up on books you might have missed. Today we are sauntering back to the summer of 2018, and an episode in which we learnt which books our contributors – including Bernardine Evaristo, Claire Lowdon and Carlo Rovelli – were looking forward to. We’ll be back with new weekly episodes from September 10th. Until then, head to the website – the-tls.co.uk – to keep up with the weekly magazine.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout August, we are revisiting books roundups from previous years, to give you a chance once again to hear recommendations from our writers and editors, on subjects like Marcel Proust’s letters, tech-ensnared science fiction and Euripides. In this episode, from 2017, there is also an interview with that year’s Man Booker International Prize Winner, David Grossman, and his translator Jessica Cohen. We’ll be back with new weekly episodes from September 10th. Until then, head to the website – the-tls.co.uk – to keep up with the weekly magazine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout August, we are revisiting books roundups from previous years, to give you a chance to catch up on all that good stuff. Today we’re skipping back to 2016’s books of the year recommendations. We’ll be back with new weekly episodes from September 10th. Until then, head to the website – the-tls.co.uk – to keep up with the weekly magazine.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gabrielle Walker talks us through three unhelpful attitudes to global warming, as exemplified in the Michael Moore-produced film Planet of the Humans; Sudhir Hazareesingh discusses the complex relationship between charisma and celebrity in the age of Revolution (spoiler: it helps to have a horse)Planet of the Humans - YouTubeMen on Horseback by David Bell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What style of life did an ancient Roman emperor lead? How did he actually spend his time? Mary Beard fills us in; Frances Wilson on literary couples (and their pet names) and what they can, and can’t, tell us about marriage; Mika Ross-Southall on how gentrification works and who it works for The Emperor in the Roman World by Fergus MillarLiterary Couples and 20th-Century Life Writing: Narrative and intimacy by Janine UtellParallel Lives: Five Victorian marriages by Phyllis RoseNewcomers: Gentrification and its discontents by Matthew L. SchuermanUs Versus Them: Race, crime, and gentrification in Chicago neighborhoods by Jan DoeringThe Aesthetics of Neighborhood Change, edited by Lisa Berglund and Siobhan GregoryAlpha City: How London was captured by the super-rich, by Rowland Atkinson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Geoff Dyer on why Larry McMurtry’s novel Lonesome Dove was one of the most memorable reading experiences of his life (a taster from his essay: “There was no book and no reader. There was just this world, this huge landscape and its magnificently peopled emptiness”); In April 1939, the black contralto Marian Anderson stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and performed to a crowd of 75,000 people. Carol J. Oja sheds light on the twists and turns behind a moment when the history of Civil Rights intersected with that of classical music. Read more at the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Min Wild on recent attempts to get to grips with that most slippery of beasts, the history of the novel (expect a lively cast, including Frances Burney, Daniel Defoe, Laurence Sterne and Jane Porter); Declan Ryan on where writing overlaps with boxing and the story of the eighteenth-century boxer Daniel Mendoza, known as The Fighting Jew, who made of the sport an art form BooksWithout the Novel: Romance and the history of prose fiction by Scott BlackRevising the Eighteenth-Century Novel: Authorship from manuscript to print by Hilary HavensPublic Vows: Fictions of marriage in the English Enlightenment by Melissa J. GanzBorn Yesterday: Inexperience and the early realist novel by Stephanie Insley HershinowCaptain Singleton by Daniel Defoe, edited by Manushag PowellTristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne, edited by Judith HawleyThaddeus Of Warsaw by Jane Porter, edited by Thomas McLean and Ruth Knezevich Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lynsey Hanley on the Pet Shop Boys and how a music duo that has always refused to play the pop game just keeps winning; The TLS’s history editor David Horspool talks us through a selection of articles on medieval history, including a compelling account of Henry III, a pious and peculiar king, who, against the odds, reigned for more than half a century ‘Pet Shop Boys, Literally’ and ‘Pet Shop Boys Versus America’, both by Chris Heath Blood Royal: Dynastic politics in medieval Europe by Robert Bartlett Henry III 1207–1258: The rise to power and personal rule by David Carpenter Westminster Abbey: A church in history, edited by David Cannadine Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When, last year the writer and activist Bernardine Evaristo, won the Booker Prize for fiction – becoming in fact, the first black British person to do so – we at the TLS were not surprised. Evaristo has written for us for some years now, and ‘Girl, Woman, Other’, the novel for which the prize was awarded, was only the latest in a run of novels full of life and questions and challenges. And the recognition keeps coming. This week brought two more prizes at the British Book Awards; 'Girl, Woman, Other' won in the Fiction category and Evaristo was named Author of the Year. In this reissued episode of the TLS podcast, recorded just after winning the Booker Prize, the author speaks to our fiction editor Toby Lichtig Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TLS editors pick through the books some of our writers will be reading this summer, and share their own selections.Visit the-TLS.co.uk to read the 'Summer Books' feature in full   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The death row lawyer Clive Stafford Smith certainly can’t, especially as this week should have seen Edward Earl Johnson turn sixty. Instead, in 1987, he was executed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary for a crime nobody thinks he committed; Harry Sidebottom considers the ancients’ view on the plague, a serious outbreak of which occurred somewhere around the Mediterranean every ten to twenty years; “If oil is the blood of the global economy, shipping is the circulatory system”, say Tom Stevenson, who describes how the world’s economic and diplomatic relationships play out at sea Fourteen Days in May – BBC Storyville, on BBC iPlayerSinews of War and Trade: Shipping and capitalism in the Arabian peninsula by Laleh Khalili Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What art have we been enjoying in lockdown? What are we most missing? And what is the future of art institutions? The TLS's arts editor Lucy Dallas joins us to discuss; Edith Hall tells us about Artemidorus, the author of an ancient dream manual now finally available in English; David Bromwich on democracy and the rise of the strongman A symposium on art in lockdown by the TLS , plus commentary by Nicholas KenyonThe Interpretation of Dreams by Artemidorus, translated by Martin HammondAn Ancient Dream Manual – Artemidorus’ The Interpretation of Dreams, by Peter ThonemannSee David Bromich’s round-up of books on the TLS website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colin Grant on several hundred years of Jamaican excellence and dysfunction; fifty years since the death of E. M. Forster, Michael Caines considers Forster’s legacy as a novelist and critic; the poet A. E. Stallings on an Athens slowly emerging from lockdown The Confounding Island: Jamaica and the postcolonial predicament by Orlando Patterson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The poet and novelist Adam Foulds on the evolution of loneliness and its traditionally privileged cousin, solitude; Sam Leith on thrills, spills and racism in Willard Price’s children’s Adventure series; Molly Guinness dips into 300-odd years of children’s books and finds leaden instruction, radical ideas and pure nonsenseA History of Solitude by David VincentA Biography of Loneliness: The history of an emotion by Fay Bound AlbertiDiscovering Children’s Books, the British Library onlineBritish Literature Catalogue, Peter Harrington Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hirsh Sawhney files a lockdown dispatch from New Haven, Connecticut, the uneasy home of Yale University; Arin Keeble talks us through the tricksy, rewarding and under-known work of Percival Everett; Lauren Kassel on the history of astrology, one of the oldest, most complex, intellectually powerful – and controversial – sciences Telephone by Percival EverettA Scheme of Heaven: Astrology and the birth of science by Alexander Boxer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The TLS’s philosophy editor Tim Crane guides us through a selection of reviews and essays from this week’s issue, including on the future of AI and what Thomas Hobbes, Susan Sontag, Montaigne and the trolley problem can tell us about our present predicament; the novelist Will Eaves re-reads Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, “a caravan of episodes, made up of people going through the same horror in different ways”, and ponders a big-screen adaptation…  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian Buruma on the twentieth-century Italian writer Curzio Malaparte, a fascist and a fabulist with a hunger for war and a remarkable way of capturing it; Sue Stuart-Smith on gardening in the trenches of the First World War and the concept of horticultural therapy; to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the TLS's history editor David Horspool talks us through a range of books, articles and essays covering the Second World WarSelected booksDiary of a Foreigner in Paris, by Curzio Malaparte, translated from the Italian and the French by Stephen TwilleyThe Well-Gardened Mind: The restorative power of nature, by Sue Stuart-SmithDresden: The fire and the darkness, by Sinclair McKayThe Volunteer: The true story of the resistance hero who infiltrated Auschwitz, by Jack Fairweather Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Waddell on the disorderly history of alphabetic order; Beejay Silcox, who fled Cairo for Western Australia as the coronavirus spread, tells a tale of star-crossed lovers; Jordan Sand gives a short cultural history of mask-wearingA Place for Everything: The curious history of alphabetical order by Judith Flanders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lawrence Douglas, in Massachusetts, on the presidential past, present and future of Donald Trump; Irina Dumitrescu, in Germany, on books as escape (attempt) and reading the plague into plague-free books; Lucy Dallas presents this month’s round-up of audio / visual offerings A Very Stable Genius: Donald Trump’s testing of America, by Philip Rucker and Carol LeonnigUnmaking The Presidency: Donald Trump’s war on the world’s most powerful office, by Susan Hennessey and Benjamin WittesAmerican Carnage: On the front lines of the Republican civil war and the rise of President Trump, by Tim Alberta Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

William Shakespeare, the writer who – above all others, perhaps – keeps giving and giving. Michael Caines takes us through the latest research, theories and discoveries (or not, as the case may be); Why do women read more fiction than men? Lucy Scholes returns to the age-old conundrumDeath by Shakespeare: Snakebites, stabbings and broken hearts by Kathryn HarkupUntimely Death in Renaissance Drama by Andrew GriffinShakespeare in a Divided America by James ShapiroShakespeare and Trump by Jeffrey R. Wilson‘Infecting the teller – The failure of a mathematical approach to Shakespeare’s authorship’ by Brian Vickers, in this week’s TLSWhy Women Read Fiction: The stories of our lives by Helen Taylor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today an edition of our new daily podcast - Stories of our times. Our new free daily news podcast takes you to the heart of the stories that matter, with exclusive access and reporting. Published for the start of your day, it is hosted by Manveen Rana and David Aaronovitch.If you want to hear more please search for Stories of our times and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.With reading on the rise under the lockdown, TLS editor Stig Abell suggests three books for a little escapism during these uncertain times. Stories of our times is the new daily podcast from The Times. Listen to more episodes here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ellen Crowell investigates an early-twentieth-century tale of doomed lesbian romance, decadent cryptography, morphine-induced suicide and more; Richard Smyth on the joys of bird-watching during lockdown; Michael Caines reads his poem “Decadence” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recovering Alexander van Tulleken shares some thoughts on the British response to Covid-19; What cultural things are people doing to pass the time in isolation? We asked a selection of our writers, and Lucy Dallas joins us (from what sounds like a small tin box) to pluck at the results Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Samuel Graydon reviews two new albums, by the folk troubadour Sam Lee and indie rock band Cornershop, both of which offer innovative and intelligent musical perspectives on modern England; the TLS’s arts editor Lucy Dallas presents this month’s ‘Audio/Visual’, a monthly round-up of listening and watching; Josephine Livingstone grapples with the 'omnivore paradox' in the arts sector: why broader tastes in art have not led to wider participationFeatured works Old Wow by Sam LeeEngland is a Garden by CornershopAudio: ‘Reply All’, the podcastVisual: ‘Five Guys a Week’, Channel 4Entitled: Discriminating tastes and the expansion of the arts by Jennifer C. LenaSteal as Much as You Can: How to win the culture wars in an age of austerity by Nathalie OlahSmashing It: Working class artists on life, art and making it happen, edited by Sabrina Mahfouz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Parks talks us through the lockdown from Milan; A. N. Wilson explains the Prayer Book Controversy of the 1920s, and why it's a bit like Brexit; and Anna Girling looks back on the - failed - poetic and critical career of Richard AldingtonRichard Aldington, Two volumes, by Vivien Whelpton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frances Wilson gets implausibly angry about the hypocrisy of Patrick O’Brian; Michèle Roberts makes the case for the forgotten author of the nineteenth century, George Sand; Miranda Seymour turns literary detective to identify a new work by Ada Lovelace. And Roz Dineen fails to be enticed by cakes.Romans 1 & 2 George Sand; Edited by José-Luis Diaz and Brigitte DiazPatrick O’Brian – A very private life Nikolai Tolstoy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Edmund Gordon discusses whether Hilary Mantel's final Cromwell novel lives up to its billing - and whether, at 900-odd pages, it is the right length; Muriel Zagha looks at the female gaze in French cinema, with respect to the new film Portrait of a Lady on Fire; Irina Dumitrescu talks about how to write well, and when to break the rulesThe Mirror & the Light, by Hilary MantelPortrait of a Lady on Fire, by Céline SciammaWhy They Can't Write, by John WarnerWriting to Persuade, by Trish HallEvery Day I Write the Book, by Amitava Kumar  First You Write a Sentence, by Joe MoranMeander, Spiral, Explode, by Jane Alison Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week the TLS is running an extract from The Mirror & the Light, the long-awaited third and final volume of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell novels. In 1538 Thomas Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, questions Geoffrey Pole, the youngest son of a great family. Pole is accused of conspiring against Henry VIII and attempting to bring back the old religion and reinstate the Pope as head of the Church. (The Mirror & the Light will be published on March 5 by Fourth Estate. The audio book is published by W F Howes and narrated by Ben Miles.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Shapiro, the author of Shakespeare in a Divided America, discusses the history of West Side Story, the most popular and successful Shakespeare musical of all time, and Ivo van Hove's flawed Broadway adaptation; Toby Lichtig reviews Tom Stoppard's new play Leopoldstadt and talks us through a selection of Jewish-focused pieces in this week's issue of the TLS; David Horspool, the TLS's history editor and a keen consumer of audiobooks, tells us what he has been listening to this monthWest Side Story, directed by Ivo van HoveLeopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard, Wyndham's Theatre, London, until June 13 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rebecca Langlands on lessons learnt in the only known ancient Roman brothel; Caroline Moorehead reviews Elena Ferrante's latest novel; Rory Waterman reads a new poem, "Defences" ("'Crikey!' you say. 'It’s gorgeous!'...")Books: The Brothel of Pompeii: Sex, class, and gender at the margins of Roman society, by Sarah Levin-Richardson La vita bugiarda degli adulti, by Elena Ferrante Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Irish novelist reads an extract from her new novel, published in this week's TLS, in print, app and online  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is it the best of times or the worst of times to be a satirist? Madeleine Brettingham, a writer on the BBC's News Quiz, joins us to discuss; Toby Lichtig on a new production of Endgame and the constraints imposed on Samuel Beckett adaptations; founded in the 1960s, the Oulipo was – and remains – a group of writers and scientists striving for "potential literature". Anna Aslanyan considers the movement's legacyMarch of the Lemmings: Brexit in print and performance 2016–2019, by Stewart LeeThe Joke is On Us: Political comedy in (late) neoliberal times, edited by Julie A. WebberEndgame / Rough For Theatre II, at the Old Vic theatre, LondonThe Oulipo and Modern Thought, by Dennis DuncanAll that is Evident is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo 1963–2018, edited and translated by Daniel Levin Becker and Ian Monk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of Germany's most acclaimed novelists talks to Maren Meinhardt about his new novel, Tyll, a vivid account of a seventeenth-century trickster's journey through a Europe ravaged by the Thirty Years’ War. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Caryl Emerson on Tolstoy’s art, ideas and life, and the extent to which these came together; Benjamin Markovits returns to a treasured childhood book: The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook; Eve Babitz – a “fizzy”, “fabulous” chronicler of 1960s and 70s Los Angeles – is mid revival. Megan Marz fills us in.Lives and Deaths: Essential stories by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Boris DralyukLeo Tolstoy: A very short introduction by Liza KnappLeo Tolstoy by Andrei ZorinThe Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook by Gary GygaxI Used To Be Charming: The rest of Eve Babitz, edited by Sara J. KramerHollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the secret history of L.A., by Lili Anolik Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy Dallas reports on theories, developments and disputes in the world of science fiction; Lawrence Douglas adds crucial historical context – stretching back to the Middle Ages, in fact – to the current US presidential impeachment; the poet Hannah Sullivan emerges from Princeton University Library with fresh insight into T. S. Eliot's love letters   The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction by Ursula Le GuinThe Expanse, Volumes 1–8, by James S. A. Corey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did Byron have an eating disorder? Mummy issues? Daddy issues? Does it matter? Emily A. Bernhard Jackson joins us to discuss; Stanley Donwood, the artist and designer of Radiohead's record covers, makes the case for this most democratic of artforms; Keith Miller on the work of the designer and architect Charlotte Perriand, a high-minded high modernist whose life spanned the whole of the twentieth centuryThe Private Life of Lord Byron by Antony PeattieCharlotte Perriand: Complete works, by Jacques Barsac Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Muriel Zagha reviews Marriage Story and considers a few other deserving/undeserving films either lauded or ignored by this year's awards panels; a clip from an interview with Francesca Wade, the author of Square Haunting: Five women, freedom and London between the wars (you'll find the full interview in your podcast feed); this month marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anne Brontë, the sister whose reputation has been slowest to blossom but who, according to Samantha Ellis, was the most radical and modern of them all Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Between 1916 and 1940, Mecklenburgh Square was home to the poet and novelist HD, the detective novelist Dorothy Sayers, the classicist Jane Ellen Harrison, the historian and activist Eileen Power, and, finally, Virginia Woolf, who saw it reduced to rubble. Francesca Wade, the author of 'Square Haunting: Five women, freedom and London between the wars', talks to Thea Lenarduzzi about what drew the women to this small pocket of Bloomsbury. Read an exclusive extract from 'Square Haunting' in this week's TLS, in print and online. 'Genius and Ink: Virginia Woolf on how to read' is available to purchase via the TLS website.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sanam Maher looks at how Muslim women are viewed in the West; Claire Lowdon finds puzzles and philosophy but no pleasure in J. M. Coetzee's recent work; Alan Jenkins explains the significance of the recently opened archive of T. S. Eliot's letters; Jeffrey Wainwright reads his poem "If all this did begin"BooksFrom Victims to Suspects: Muslim women since 9/11 by Shakira HusseinIt’s Not About the Burqa: Muslim women on faith, feminism, sexuality and race, edited by Mariam KhanThe Death of Jesus by J. M. Coetzee Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Graydon grapples with quantum physics and the subatomic world; Elaine Showalter considers the 'startlingly racy, contradictory, emblematic' E. Nesbit, the 'first modern writer for children'; Which out-of-print books should be back in circulation and why? Roz Dineen presents the results of a TLS symposium BooksSix Impossible Things: The ‘quanta of solace’ and the mysteries of the subatomic world, by John GribbinEinstein’s Unfinished Revolution: The search for what lies beyond the quantum, by Lee SmolinThe Life and Loves of E. Nesbit: Author of ‘The Railway Children’, by Eleanor FitzsimonsThe Extraordinary Life of E. Nesbit: Author of ‘Five Children and It’ and ‘The Railway Children’, by Elisabeth Galvin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TLS editors gather to consider some of the decade’s major cultural shifts and events, with specialist insights from Mary Beard on academia, Beejay Silcox on fiction and Zoe Williams on gender  Go to the-tls.co.uk for the full twelve-page retrospective.For the competition, Barbican membership Terms and Conditions can be found here: https://www.barbican.org.uk/join-support/membership#faqs. The competition closes December 31, 2019. Good luck. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A newly discovered, pseudonymously signed mock-letter to the editor of 'The Lady’s Magazine' in 1823 tells the story of a wannabe writer who is visited by the "gentle spirit of Miss Austen". Not only might the letter offer new information on what Austen might actually have been like, says Devoney Looser, it is also the first piece of Jane Austen-inspired fan fiction; Anna Picard discusses the poet Anne Boyer’s memoir of modern illness and considers the intersections of literature and cancer; Jonathan Lynn shares memories of adventures with his cousin Oliver SacksFor more on the Jane Austen story, go to www.the-tls.co.uk'The Undying: Pain, vulnerability, mortality, medicine, art, time, dreams, data, exhaustion, cancer, and care' by Anne Boyer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Norma Clarke considers the third and final volume of Charles Moore’s biography of Margaret Thatcher; having spent the past twenty years reporting on Russia, Owen Matthews tries to put his finger on why Vladimir Putin may prove to be one of the most successful political leaders of our eraBooksThe Code of Putinism by Brian Taylor Putin’s World: Russia against the West and with the rest by Angela Stent The Putin System: An opposing view by Grigory YavlinskyKremlin Winter: Russia and the second coming of Vladimir Putin by Robert ServiceThe Return of the Russian Leviathan by Sergei Medvedev, translated by Stephen DalzielWe Need To Talk about Putin: How the West gets him wrong by Mark GaleottiDealing with the Russians by Andrew MonaghanPutin v. the People: The perilous politics of a divided Russia by Samuel A. Greene and Graeme B. RobertsonRussia’s Crony Capitalism: The path from market economy to kleptocracy by Anders Åslund Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The author of 'The Five: The untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper', which won the 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction, speaks to Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's that time again... TLS contributors and editors share recommendations from a year of reading Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just over ten years since introducing readers to a frustrated maths teacher called Oliver Kitteridge, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Elizabeth Strout reprises the character in a new novel, ‘Olive, Again’. Here, Strout talks to the TLS’s Roz Dineen about the craft of writing, why Olive has returned, and ageing on the page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Apart from capitalism itself, is there any cultural and economic manifestation in the world today as ubiquitous, powerful and globalized as football?” John Foot assesses two new studies of the game; just over ten years ago, Elizabeth Strout introduced readers to a frustrated maths teacher called Olive Kitteridge. The novelist speaks to Roz Dineen about bringing Olive back onto the scene; the famously over-the-top cookery show ‘Two Fat Ladies’ last graced our television screens twenty years ago. Anna Girling celebrates the legacy of this unlikely union ‘The Age of Football: The global game in the twenty-first century’ by David Goldblatt‘Ultra: The underworld of Italian football’ by Tobias Jones‘Olive, Again’ by Elizabeth Strout Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TLS editors talk about Virginia Woolf's writing for the TLS, as we publish a collection of the reviews she wrote for us over a period of thirty years; on the eve of George Eliot's bicentennial, Rosemary Ashton talks about how she came to conclusions, moral and otherwise, in her novels; Caryn Rose sees Bruce Springsteen's new film and looks over his 'storied fifty-year career' Genius and Ink: Virginia Woolf on How to Read by Virginia WoolfLong Walk Home: Reflections on Bruce Springsteen, edited by Jonathan D. Cohen and June Skinner SawyersWestern Stars by Bruce Springsteen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Lonsdale recounts how writers became enmeshed in national struggles; Jane Yager tells the surprising story of DIY punk in the DDR; we talk to Robert Potts about the pleasures of reading John le Carré ("I was never happier than when I was reading John le Carré")Cold Warriors: Writers who waged the literary Cold War, by Duncan White Burning Down the Haus: Punk rock, revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall, by Tim Mohr   Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Caines reports on an unprecedented gathering of work by William Hogarth, “replete with a bitter exuberance, folly finely observed and sin satirized”; “Sometimes a dark and stormy night calls for nothing more innovative than a classic chilling tale.” Joanna Scutts considers three new compendiums of the spooky and the macabre; Les Green makes a case for changing the UK's constitution (writing it down in one place being a good start...)Hogarth: Place and progress, at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, until January 5, 2020A Quaint and Curious Volume: Tales and poems of the gothicWomen’s Weird: Strange stories by women, 1890–1940, edited by Melissa EdmundsonPromethean Horrors: Classic tales of mad science, edited by Xavier Aldana Reyes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Having asked a selection of writers to nominate their favourite magazines/journals, for a symposium in this week’s TLS, we pick through the results; as Granta turns forty, Alex Clark dives into the magazine’s archives, recently given to the British Library, and emerges clutching gems and old boots (including meeting minutes and evidence of fantasy commissioning); finally, the novelist and translator Lydia Davis talks us through her Thoreau-inspired approach to gardening Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bernardine Evaristo speaks to the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig about her novel 'Girl, Woman, Other' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Having been staged in Edinburgh and Melbourne, David Greig's adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s 'Solaris' is now at the Hammersmith Lyric Theatre in London. The TLS's Arts editor Lucy Dallas asks him about returning to this strange story of contact, consciousness and how to avoid using "fremulators" on stage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the Nobel in Literature and the Booker Prize break the rules, split opinion, and (probably) boost sales of a few books, a bunch of TLS editors share their thoughts on the whole endeavour of prize-giving (Michael: "you may as well throw a stone..."); Alexander van Tulleken considers 'War Doctor: Surgery on the front line', David Nott's tales from the operating tables, and floors, of war-torn places; as his stage adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s 'Solaris' comes to London, David Greig, the artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, talks to the TLS's arts editor Lucy Dallas Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As #PublishingSoWhite continues to shame publishers into diversifying their lists, Colin Grant discusses some of the anxieties and complexities beneath the surface; Andrew Motion on why he keeps returning to William Wordsworth; Kate Miller reads a new poem, "Turned-down"Wordsworth’s Fun by Matthew BevisThe Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and their year of marvels by Adam NicolsonWordsworth’s Poetry: 1815–1845 by Tim Fulford Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus edition of the podcast, William Collins have taken over the feed to play a new episode of their podcast, Ideas Matter. In this exclusive extract, science writer Phillip Ball talks to his editor Myles Archibald about the ideas explore in his book, How To Grow A Human.To subscribe to Ideas Matter and discover more authors by William Collins, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Was the 1960s a good decade for Norman Mailer? Thomas Meaney reconsiders the work; Henry Hitchings on Auberon Waugh, anarcho-snob and master of the "vituperative arts"; Toby Lichtig on the vitality of documentary filmmaking‘Collected Essays of the 1960s’ and ‘Four Books of the 1960s’ by Norman Mailer A Scribbler in Soho: A celebration of Auberon Waugh, edited by Naim AttallahWaugh on Wine, by Auberon WaughSay What Happened: A story of documentaries, by Nick FraserOpen City Documentary Festival – opencitylondon.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elaine Showalter on the “avid, ardent, driven, generous, narcissistic, Olympian, obtuse, maddening, sometimes loveable but not very likeable” Susan Sontag; Patrice Higonnet goes in search of the real Robespierre; A. N. Wilson cuts through class, aristocracy, family and fantasy in Downton AbbeySontag: Her life, by Benjamin MoserRobespierre: L’homme qui nous divise le plus, by Marcel GauchetDownton Abbey (Various cinemas)Almanach de Gotha 2019, two volumes, edited by John James Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"When future historians study these troubled times, they will marvel at the relentless rise of sea levels, strongman politics and Kardashians." So says Irina Dumitrescu, who joins us to discuss the phenomenon of celebrity, from Sarah Bernhardt to the Kardashian-Jenners; Rafia Zakaria on the murder of the Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch, aka "How I'm looking?" girl; Lamorna Ash on 'Bait', a new film about a timeless clash between them and us, set in a small Cornish fishing villageThe Drama of Celebrity by Sharon MarcusKardashian Kulture: How celebrities changed life in the 21st century by Ellis CashmoreTweenhood: Femininity and celebrity in tween popular culture by Melanie KennedyA Woman Like Her: The short life of Qandeel Baloch by Sanam MaherBait by Mark Jenkin, in various cinemas  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The future of the planet is in question this week, or at least, humanity's place on it, as Gabrielle Walker discusses possible solutions to climate change and why we don't need to panic - yet - but we do need to act, together. The TLS's fiction editor, Toby Lichtig, talks us through the hype and hoopla around Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale - and what the book itself is like. And are you Team Scott or Team Zelda? Joanna Scutts looks at 'the messy intertextuality of a marriage', and the question of influence within the Fitzgerald ménage. Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? by Bill McKibbenLosing Earth: The Decade We Could Have Stopped Climate Change by Nathaniel RichDown to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime by Bruno LatourThe Testaments by Margaret AtwoodThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldSave Me The Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We turn to children's and YA literature in this week's episode, with Rozalind Dineen and Toby Lichtig presenting new releases (as reviewed by a selection of young readers), as well as discussing some of the pros and cons of age-specific reading; Robert Douglas-Fairhurst reintroduces J. M. Barrie's classic work Peter Pan, where a wild imagination masks tragic, sometimes disturbing, realitiesAlfie On Holiday by Shirley HughesThe Fate of Fausto: A painted fable by OliverThe Good Thieves by Katherine RundellThe Burning by Laura Bates Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What kind of son was Philip Larkin? The TLS's poetry editor Alan Jenkins finds insight in some of the 4,000-odd letters and postcards the poet sent home to his "Mop" and "Pop"; Helen Macdonald, the author of H is for Hawk, tells us more than we could ever hope to know about pigeons and pigeon fanciers; Norma Clarke considers the internet artist Cold War Steve, whose ‘furious absurdism’ has won him some 192.8K Twitter followers, and ponders connections with the eighteenth-century satires of Hogarth and GillrayLetters Home, 1936–1977, by Philip Larkin, edited by James BoothHoming: On pigeons, dwellings, and why we return, by Jon Day Cold War Steve Presents...The Festival of Brexit, by Cold War Steve Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The whereabouts of the "Salvator Mundi", the most costly artwork in the world, are still uncertain, as is its attribution to Leonardo da Vinci. Federico Varese, best known for his studies of the mafia, follows the trail; the TLS's history editor David Horspool considers the inner and outer worlds of Anne Frank’s diary, the actual anniversary of the Peterloo massacre, and a selection of other contributions to this week's special issue; Ladee Hubbard reflects on the late Toni Morrison, who died last week, and considers 'The Pieces I Am', a documentary that highlights Morrison's multifaceted life, work and legacyThe Collected Works, by Anne Frank, translated by Nancy Forest-Flier, Susan Massotty, Mirjam Pressler and Kirsten Warner and edited by Mirjam PresslerPeterloo: The English uprising by Robert PooleLegacy: One family, a cup of tea and the company that took on the world, by Thomas HardingThe Pieces I Am, by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jill Lepore traces the history of conspiracy theories and the conditions that allow them to thrive; Tim Crane talks us through whether we have free will or not, and why it is still a problem; Michael Caines looks at non-traditional approaches to criticismBooksCONSPIRACY THEORIES AND THE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THEM, edited by Joseph E. Uscinski CONSPIRACIES OF CONSPIRACIES: How delusions have overrun America, by Thomas Milan Konda  THE STIGMATIZATION OF CONSPIRACY THEORY SINCE THE 1950s:  ‘A plot to make us look foolish’, by Katharina ThalmannTHE AMERICAN CONSPIRACIES AND COVER-UPS: JFK, 9/11, the Fed, rigged elections, suppressed cancer cures, and the greatest conspiracies of our time, by Douglas Cirignano  REPUBLIC OF LIES: American conspiracy theorists and their surprising rise to power, by Anna Merlan  A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE SAYING:The new conspiracism and the assault on democracy, by Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum  HARVESTER OF HEARTS: Motherhood under the sign of Frankenstein, by Rachel Feder  THE HUNDREDS, by Lauren Berlant and Kathleen Stewart  TUNNEL VISION, by Kevin Breathnach  ON THE LITERARY MEANS OF REPRESENTING THE POWERFUL AS POWERLESS, by Steven Zultanski  The Limits of Free Will: Selected essays by Paul Russell Aspects of Agency: Decisions, abilities, explanations, and free will by Alfred R. Mele Self-Determination: The ethics of action – Volume One by Thomas Pink Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following the discovery of a strange book, Sarah Green revises the story of the late nineteenth-century poet Lionel Johnson, whose legacy was distorted in the 1950s by a criminal with a taste for fancy bedding; in the US, of 70,000 cases that went to disposition in 2016, more than 99 per cent resulted in conviction. What does this tell us? Clive Stafford Smith explains why American justice is a mirage; since 2015, Refugee Tales – part walking pilgrimage, part protest, part collection of narratives about those unjustly treated by Britain’s immigration system – has become an annual event. David Herd tells us what ground remains to be covered Doing Justice: A prosecutor’s thoughts on crime, punishment, and the rule of law, by Preet Bharara Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nick Groom ponders the fate of the beleaguered British countryside and shares new theories about the economics of the natural world; En Liang Khong takes us through the increasingly global phenomenon of Japanese manga (which translates as “pictures run riot”); Damian Flanagan on Mishima, a writer who yearned to transcend time and identity Green and Prosperous Land: A blueprint for rescuing the British countryside by Dieter HelmWho Owns England?: How we lost our green and pleasant land and how to take it back, by Guy ShrubsoleManga, and exhibition at the British Museum in LondonStar, by Yukio Mishima; translated by Sam BettThe Frolics of the Beasts, by Yukio Mishima; translated by Andrew Clare Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"The sociable side of nineteenth-century musical life is not acknowledged as often as it should be..." – Laura Tunbridge discusses the interconnected, complicated and often contradictory myths and realities that link Chopin, Schumann and Brahms; the TLS's music editor Lucy Dallas takes us through a selection of other pieces on music in this week's issue, including new histories of the blues and the poetic pop of Kate Bush and the Pet Shop Boys; when Irving Sandler wrote his seminal history of abstract expressionism, he neglected to mention Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan and Elaine de Kooning – Jenni Quilter joins us to put these artists back in the frameNinth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler: Five painters and the movement that changed modern art, by Mary Gabriel Fryderyk Chopin: A life and times by Alan Walker Schumann: The faces and masks by Judith ChernaikBrahms in Context, edited by Natasha Loges and Katy Hamilton(with Liebeslieder Walzer, Opus 52, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra)Up Jumped the Devil: The real life of Robert Johnson by Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean WardlowThe Original Blues: The emergence of the Blues in African American vaudeville, by Lynn Abbott and Doug SeroffOne Hundred Lyrics and a Poem by Neil TennantHow To Be Invisible by Kate Bush Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the centenary of the birth of Iris Murdoch, the novelist-philosopher who dominated the literary pages for much of the twentieth century. Where do we stand on her now? Michael Caines and Frances Wilson discuss; This was the week that the US women’s football team won the World Cup. Devoney Looser, the roller derby queen of academia, enjoys “a brief opportunity to revel in America’s better strengths”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do the kids – in these times of identity politics – still read Updike? The answer is “probably not”. But should they? Claire Lowdon makes the case; Toby Lichtig discusses Chelsea Manning, the US Army data analyst turned whistle-blower, and a new documentary on her life; Eric Rauchway considers the prevalence of pro-Nazi feeling and policy in 1940s America and beyond Novels 1959–1965: The Poorhouse Fair, Rabbit, Run, The Centaur, Of the Farm, by John Updike (Library of America)XY Chelsea, directed by Tim Travers HawkinsHitler’s American Friends: The Third Reich’s supporters in the United States, by Bradley HartThe Unwanted: America, Auschwitz, and a village caught in between, by Michael Dobbs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thea Lenarduzzi on the cultural history of gesture and body language; What is Chaucer to us today? When did he become known as the "Father of English poetry", and what did he get up to when he was not writing rude and memorable poetry? Julia Boffey explains; the Stonewall uprising in New York is remembered as a pivotal moment in LGBTQ rights – fifty years on, Hugh Ryan revisits the history Books Dictionary of Gestures: Expressive comportments and movements in use around the world by François CaradecSilent History: Body language and nonverbal identity, 1860–1914, by Peter K. AnderssonThe Stonewall Riots: A documentary history, edited by Marc SteinThe Stonewall Reader, edited by the New York Public LibraryPride: Photographs after Stonewall by Fred W. McDarrahLove and Resistance: Out of the closet into the Stonewall era, edited by Jason Baumann Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TLS contributors – including David Baddiel, Mary Beard, Paul Muldoon and Elizabeth Lowry – give their seasonal reading recommendations; TLS editors wreak havoc and suggest their own. (Visit the-tls.co.uk to read the summer books feature in full.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A "new" ending to a Nabokov novel and the unregarded first volume of Vasily Grossman's epic, the "Soviet War and Peace"; Rebecca Reich guides us through these and the question of whether the West is paranoid about Russia or vice versa; Laura Freeman joins us to talk about dinner with the Durrells and pond life sandwiches.BooksStalingrad: A novel by Vasily GrossmanVasily Grossman and the Soviet Century by Alexandra PopoffPlots against Russia by Eliot BorensteinThe Russia Anxiety by Mark B. SmithDining with the Durrells by David Shimwell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If capitalism is broken, can it be fixed? And can it save the environment? Joseph E. Stiglitz discusses; as we mark seventy-five years since the D-Day landings, William Boyd considers a brilliant new "worm's-eye view" of historical events; a decade after leaving academia for the "wilderness of writing", Stephen Marche returns to report on the troubled field of the humanitiesThe Future of Capitalism: Facing the new anxieties by Paul CollierCapitalism: The future of an illusion by Fred L. BlockMoney and Government: A challenge to mainstream economics by Robert SkidelskyNormandy ’44: D-Day and the battle for France by James Holland Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Omani novelist Jokha al-Harthi and the translator Marilyn Booth won this year's Man Booker International prize for fiction in translation, for the novel Celestial Bodies, an account of three sisters living in the village of al-Awafi in an Oman on the brink of change. A couple of days after the announcement, at Waterstones book shop in Piccadilly, the winners spoke to the Turkish novelist Elif Shafak about the novel, Arabic culture and modernisation, translation, and women’s wisdom. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna Katharina Schaffner on the cultural history of fat and fat phobia; the TLS's travel editor Catharine Morris on why Paris will always be disappointing, the solitude of open spaces, and the problem with "Victor" the archetypal travel writer; an extract from the 2019 Man Booker International prize-winning Celestial Bodies by Jokha al-Harthi, read by the novel's translator Marilyn Booth BooksFat: A cultural history of the stuff of life by Christopher E. ForthThe Truth About Fat by Anthony WarnerFearing the Black Body: The racial origins of fat phobia by Sabrina StringsWe’ll Never Have Paris, edited by Andrew GallixThe Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel EhrlichHeida: A shepherd at the edge of the world by Steinunn Sigurðardóttir and Heiða Ásgeirsdóttír, translated by Philip RoughtonWhere the Hornbeam Grows: A journey in search of a garden by Beth LynchThe Cambridge History of Travel Writing, edited by Nandini Das and Tim YoungsCelestial Bodies by Jokha al-Harthi, translated by Marilyn Booth Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the bicentenary of Queen Victoria's birth, the TLS's history editor David Horspool guides us through all manner of Victorian matters, including the Widow of Windsor's mastery of soft power, how different things might have been had she been born a boy, how the Victorians amused themselves, and the Rebecca Riots; we also have a symposium in this week's paper, asking writers and thinkers – including Steven Pinker and Bernardine Evaristo – to tell us about the important books from their childhoods. To discuss this – and to share our own youthful reading – we're joined in the studio by a [insert collective noun here] of TLS editors Go to www.the-tls.co.uk/ to read a selection of articles from our Victorian special issue, and much more.Our symposium was prompted by an initiative – Books To Inspire – launched by Hay Festival Wales, aiming to compile a crowd-sourced list of titles to inspire the next generation. Find out more at hayfestival.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The comedian and writer Helen Lederer joins us to discuss gender and comedy and the new Comedy Women In Print Prize; Lucy Dallas considers a clutch of novels in which animals might offer a little respite from human company; the TLS’s philosophy editor Tim Crane guides us through the riches of this week’s philosophy issue, including how the advent of biological immortality might augur “the greatest inequality experienced in all human history” and what happened when Michel Foucault took LSD in Death Valley To Leave with the Reindeer by Olivia Rosenthal, translated by Sophie LewisAnimalia by Jean-Baptiste del Amo, translated by Frank WynneThe Animal Gazer by Edgardo Franzosini, translated by Michael F. Moore“The last mortals: why we are especially unfortunate to die, when our near-descendants could be immortal", by Regini Rini – see this week’s TLS (in print and online)Foucault in California: A true story, wherein the great French philosopher drops acid in the Valley of Death by Simeon Wade Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Macfarlane joins us to discuss our "peculiar times", the memory of ice, and the world beneath out feet; Margie Orford brings our attention to South Africa at a crucial moment in its history, twenty-five years since the first democratic election and as another makes its mark; Nicola Shulman offers a new theory about race in Disney's original Dumbo, from 1941Underland: A deep time journey by Robert MacfarlaneThe Café de Move-on Blues: In search of the new South Africa by Christopher Hope Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Avengers: Endgame is released, Roz Kaveney sweeps us through the shifting cast of superheroes and, latterly, heroines that populate the Marvel Universe, considers the evolving politics of the comic-book film, and answers the question on (some) people's lips: "but why...?"; Imogen Russell Williams's introduces some of the best writing on LGBTQ themes for children and young adultsAvengers: Endgame Spiderman: Into the SpiderverseJulian Is a Mermaid by Jessica LoveAalfred and Aalbert by Morag Hood Death in the Spotlight by Robin Stevens Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) by L. C. RosenProud: Stories, poetry and art on the theme of pride, compiled by Juno Dawson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ruth Scurr on the master biographer Robert A. Caro, whose subjects include Robert Moses, Lyndon B. Johnson and, now, himself; Dmitri Levitin talks us through Diogenes Laertius' Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, an eccentric and often inaccurate guide to early thinkers; Why bother with literary criticism? Whither this generation's Lionel Trilling? Michael LaPointe joins us to discussWorking: Researching, interviewing, writing by Robert A. CaroAmerican Audacity: In defense of literary daring by William GiraldiHater: On the virtues of utter disagreeability by John SemleyLives of the Eminent Philosophers, by Diogenes Laertius, translated by Pamela Mensch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is only one author to whom the TLS devotes an issue every year: William Shakespeare. Michael Caines talks us through the latest theories, research and reviews; Ian McEwan discusses his new novel, Machines Like Me  ‘Still a giddy neighbour’ – Shakespeare’s parish in the 1590s, by Geoffrey Marsh, the TLSThe Bible on the Shakespearean Stage: Cultures of interpretation in Renaissance England, edited by Thomas Fulton and Kristen PooleBelieving in Shakespeare: Studies in longing, by Claire McEachernReligious Conversion in Early Modern English Drama, by Lieke StellingWhat Blest Genius?: The Jubilee that made Shakespeare, by Andrew McConnell StottShakespeare’s Rise to Cultural Prominence: Politics, print and alteration, 1642–1700, by Emma DepledgeShakespeare: The theatre of our world, by Peter ConradMachines Like Me by Ian McEwan (Cape) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The novelist discusses his new book Machines Like Me with the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shauneen Lambe on ephibiphobia, fear of the teenager, and why we get youth justice wrong; Alice Bloch considers new possibilities at the frontiers of sex and robotics; George Berridge explains why now is the time to take out shares in the novelist Max Porter Why Children Follow Rules: Legal socialization and the development of legitimacy by Tom R. Tyler and Rick TrinknerJames GarbarinoMiller’s Children: Why giving teenage killers a second chance matters for all of us by James GarbarinoTurned On: Science, sex and robots by Kate DevlinGrief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, adapted by Enda Walsh (Barbican Theatre, before heading to New York)Lanny by Max Porter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna Picard discusses the problems of subject matter and sensationalism in the new opera Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel; Anna Vaux talks us through the Bauhaus school and its global influence, as well as Lucian Freud's compulsion to create and controlBooksJack the Ripper:The Women of Whitechapel by Iain Bell, ENO, until April 12Walter Gropius: Visionary founder of the Bauhaus by Fiona MacCarthyJosef Albers: Life and work by Charles DarwentLucian Freud by Martin Gayford Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Fortey takes us on an energetic sprint through 65 million years of Europe's complex biological history; David Robey introduces the life and work of Emilio Salgari, the Italian Rider Haggard; Ella Baron, the TLS's regular cartoonist, discusses her work, including this week's European cover.BooksEurope: A natural history by Tim FlanneryEmilio Salgari: Una mitologia moderna tra letteratura, politica, società (volumes I and II) by Ann Lawson LucasElla Baron's work will be exhibited at Christie's in London, from April 5 to 10 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carol Tavris considers new approaches to the old problem of old age (and the newer problem of old old age); as secularism wanes on the global scale, Rupert Shortt considers whether religion does more harm than good BooksBolder: Making the most of our longer lives by Carl HonoréBorrowed Time: The science of how and why we age by Sue ArmstrongRetirement and Its Discontents: Why we won’t stop working, even if we can by Michelle Pannor SilverWomen Rowing North: Navigating life’s currents and flourishing as we age by Mary PipherOn the Brink of Everything: Grace, gravity and getting old by Parker J. PalmerThis Chair Rocks: A manifesto against ageism by Ashton ApplewhiteDoes Religion do More Harm than Good? by Rupert Shortt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“What we often forget in the daily drumbeat of abuses by the dominant tech companies is our complicity in these abuses, and in the fundamental and unsettling ways the internet has changed every one of us.” As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enters its seventieth anniversary, Dave Eggers, in the 2018 PEN H. G. Wells lecture, argues that urgent amendments are needed to mitigate the corrosive effects of technology on the societal and the personal. You can read an edited extract from the lecture on the TLS website. This is a recording of an event that took place on December 16, 2018, at the Bridge Theatre, London.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phil Baker guides us through the morbid, wistful and yet immensely charming world of the writer and illustrator Edward Gorey; Frances Wilson weighs the pleasures and pains of letter and email writing; Ian Sansom on the struggle to be funnyBooksBorn To Be Posthumous: The eccentric life and mysterious genius of Edward Gorey, by Mark DeryWhat a Hazard a Letter Is: The strange destiny of the unsent letter, by Caroline AtkinsWritten In History: Letters that changed the world, by Simon Sebag MontefioreIn Their Own Words: Volume 2: More letters from historyWit's End: What wit is, how it works, and why we need it, by James GearyMessing About In Quotes: A little Oxford dictionary of humorous quotations, compiled by Gyles Brandreth Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Coward celebrates the 400th anniversary of the birth of Cyrano de Bergerac, whose radical thought has long been obscured by his protuberant nose; Muriel Zagha on Molière, France’s most famous playwright, and a bold new adaptation of Tartuffe; finally, a poem by Stephen Knight: “Rail Replacement Bus Service” (sigh) Molière’s ‘Tartuffe’, a new version by John Donnelly, at the National Theatre, London Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy DallasToby Lichtig comes in to talk the wide scope of Jewish culture, the “lachrymose” theory of history and why it is Arthur Miller time once more. Roz Dineen deals with porn, pile-ons and goop podcasts. And we call Thea when she is “working from home” to check in on her new dog. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A conversation between the novelist and essayist Zadie Smith and the journalist Carolina, recorded at Hay Festival Cartagena in Colombia earlier this month. The full Hay Festival archive can be accessed by subscribing to Hay Player online at hayfestival.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The writer and comedian Charlie Higson, half of the team behind The Fast Show, on the curious history of comedy written and performed by pairs; the novelist Margaret Drabble considers the dizzying new releases from the estate of Anthony Burgess, the man Philip Larkin once called “the Batman of contemporary letters”  TextsStan & Ollie, directed by Jon S. Baird Morecambe & Wise: 50 years of sunshine, by Gary MorecambeThe Double Act: A history of British comedy duos, by Andrew RobertsSoupy Twists!: The full, official story of the sophisticated silliness of Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, by Jem RobertsBeard’s Roman Women by Anthony Burgess, edited by Graham FosterPuma by Anthony Burgess, edited by Paul WakeThe Black Prince by Adam RobertsObscenity and the Arts, a talk by Anthony Burgess, edited by Johnny Walsh Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recording of the inaugural Gabriel García Marquez lecture given this February by the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, at Hay Festival Cartagena in Colombia. The full Hay Festival archive can be accessed by subscribing to Hay Player online at hayfestival.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the MeToo movement continues to focus our attentions on questions around abuse, consent and justice, Rebecca Watson joins us to discuss the various and prolonged impacts of sexual assault, and the warping effect of trauma on narrative; the TLS’s French editor Adrian Tahourdin considers the inexorable rise of “le globish” (by which English words supplant, or pervert, French ones), and presents the diverse and challenging books in contention for this year’s Society of Author’s Translation Prizes BooksNot That Bad: Dispatches from rape culture, edited by Roxane GayA False Report: A true story by T. Christian Miller and Ken ArmstrongOn Rape by Germaine Greer The President’s Gardens by Muhsin al-Ramli, translated by Luke Leafgren Seeing Red by Lina Meruane, translated by Megan McDowellKruso by Lutz Seiler, translated by Tess Lewis  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eighteen months after Emmanuel Macron rode a wave of optimism to the Élysée Palace, the French are rioting and the President's approval ratings are desperately low – Sudhir Hazareesingh tells us what went wrong; James O'Brien reflects on another week of Brexit bafflement; Laura Freeman introduces the "Hungry Novel", a sub-genre of the post-war British novel in which writers, subsisting on meagre rations of stodge and tinned goods, channelled their appetites into their prose Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Read by Lisa Dwan. Full text available at the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catherine Taylor on bookish goings on in the north of England, from her family’s bookshop in Sheffield to the Northern Fiction Alliance of small presses; Diarmaid Ferriter considers the fraught matter of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland; Fríða Ísberg on the spectre of war in Icelandic film and fiction BooksThe Border: The legacy of a century of Anglo-Irish politics by Diarmaid FerriterHotel Silence (Ör) by Auður Ava ÓlafsdóttirWoman at War, directed by Benedikt ErlingssonSection 6 of “American Standard”, a new poem by Paul Muldoon published in this week’s TLS; read by Lisa Dwan (full recording available as a separate podcast episode) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imogen Russell Williams on children's books that tackle grief and war, “offering distressed adults the calming certainty of a script, and baffled children the reassurance of straightforward answers”; Carl Miller discusses the creation, and squabbling continuation, of Reddit, one of the most popular websites in the world; A. N. Wilson considers the Travellers Club in London, now in its 200th year, where Britain's prime ministers "got stuff done" BooksWhite Feather by Catherine and David MacPhailThe Skylarks’ War by Hilary McKayAn Anty-War Story by Tony RossOnly One of Me by Lisa Wells and Michelle Robinson (illustrated by Tim Budgen and Catalina Echeverri)The Afterwards by A. F. Harrold and Emily GravettWe Are the Nerds: The birth and tumultuous life of Reddit, the internet's culture laboratory by Christine Lagorio-ChafkinThe Travellers Club: A bicentennial history (1819–2019) by John Martin Robinson  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Boyd Tonkin states the case – never overstated – for literature in translation, and reviews a commendable recent effort "to grasp, and to survey, the entire planet of words"; Andrew Scull considers the travails of social psychology and the egos and experiments that professed to tell us something essential about human nature by setting fire to forests or electrocuting dogs... Books Found in Translation: 100 of the finest short stories ever translated, edited by Frank WynneThe Lost Boys: Inside Muzafer Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment by Gina Perry The Hope Circuit: A psychologist’s journey from helplessness to optimism by Martin Seligman  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Stevenson offers a recent history of political assassination, from a CIA manual of 1953 to the Jamal Khashoggi affair; The literary achievements of Nancy Cunard have long been eclipsed by her image as the archetypal flapper-muse of the roaring 1920s – as Anna Girling reveals a previously unknown short story (published for the first time in this week's TLS), we reassess Cunard's legacy; Who killed Edwin Drood? In 1914, faced with Dickens's final, unfinished novel, prominent literary types gathered to stage the trial of Drood's alleged killer – Pete Orford tells us more... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy DallasLara Pawson drops in to tell the tale of David Wojnarowicz, the New York artist whose time has come. Elaine Showalter examines a new biography of Germaine Greer. Kim Addonizio, winner of the Mick Imlah Prize for Poetry, reads her victorious poem. Plus, Lucy admits to having an allotment, and Stig learns he has been introducing the show all wrong. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who is Odysseus? Why can't he get home? And will the gods help or hinder his journey? In this special episode, the TLS's Classics editor Mary Beard chairs a panel featuring the author and academic Simon Goldhill, the memoirist and translator Daniel Mendelsohn, the poet Karen McCarthy Woolf and the novelist Madeline Miller. This is a recording of a live event, staged in collaboration with the Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival in October 2018. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An end-of-year edition, bringing together some of our favourite bits from the past twelve months: Kathryn Hughes on whether and where Charlotte Brontë meets Jane Eyre; Margaret Drabble reviews the life and work of Muriel Spark, whose centenary we marked this year; David Baddiel discusses whether Jewishness is inherently funny; Clare Pettitt revisits the history of the Peterloo massacre of 1819. A refresher for regular listeners and a sampler for newcomers – with thanks to all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TLS editors discuss some memorable arts events from the past twelve months; plus, food and drink in literature and a preview of the TLS's Christmas double issue, including how to do German food, M. F. K. Fisher, French food slang, pub stories, and a deconstruction of the traditional British Christmas dinner  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy Atkins charts our changing relationship with Orcinus orca, from "demon dolphin" to cuddly icon; Ruth Scurr on the lives and unlikely friendship of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn BooksOrca: How we came to know and love the ocean’s greatest predator by Jason M. ColbyJohn Evelyn: A life of domesticity by John Dixon Hunt The Curious World of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn by Margaret Willes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Caines on the little-known romantic William Gilbert, a “man of fine genius” (according to William Wordsworth) who had “unfortunately received a few rays of supernatural light through a crack in his upper story”; Daniel Beer tells the tale of the Gulag at Solovki, a converted monastery known as “the Paris of the Northern concentration camps”, a place of brutality but also of resistant culture and ideas; finally, Laurence Scott considers the cultural history of shoeshining, from Dickens to Police Squad BooksWilliam Gilbert and Esoteric Romanticism by Paul CheshireIntellectual Life and Literature at Solovki, 1923–1930: The Paris of the northern concentration camps by Andrea Gullotta Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forty years since the controversial Spanish constitution of 1978, Rupert Shortt, Hispanic editor at the TLS, discusses the painful evolution of democracy in Spain; Siobhan Magee considers our problematic relationship with farmed animals, namely dairy cows, and crops, such as palm oil; Dwight Garner, a literary critic at the New York Times, offers glimpses into his commonplace book, in which four decades of favourite quotations converse with each otherBooksThe Cow with Ear Tag #1389 by Kathryn GillespiePalma Africana by Michael Taussig Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A handful of TLS editors gather for the yearly process of picking through contributors' Books of the Year selections, and nominate their own books to remember; Serhii Plokhy, the winner of this year's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction for 'Chernobyl: The history of a nuclear catastrophe', speaks to the TLS's History editor David HorspoolSelected booksThe Western Wind by Samantha HarveyCharles de Gaulle: A certain idea of France by Julian JacksonNormal People by Sally RooneyMurmur by Will EavesCirce by Madeline MillerTalking To Women by Nell DunnGhost Wall by Sarah MossThe Collected Letters of Flann O’Brien, edited by Maebh LongGrant by Ron Chernow  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Beard joins us to answer the question: Is it accurate to call Donald Trump a fascist?, while the TLS's fiction and politics editor Toby Lichtig discusses how the President is presented, in books and on film; and Julia Bell looks back on her Oxford entrance interview - with no fondness - and wonders: "Was it a trap or a test?"BooksFear: Trump in the White House by Bob WoodwardThe Fifth Risk by Michael LewisNobody hates Trump more than Trump by David Shields  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, the TLS's History editor David Horspool talks us through books, exhibitions and events that commemorate cataclysmic slaughter and scars that endure to this day; it’s easy to think of privacy invasion as a peculiarly modern phenomenon, but it has its own history dating back to the American Civil War – Sarah Igo tells us more; finally, the food writer Bee Wilson discusses two new cookbooks that capture a “fresh mood of experiment in the kitchen”Works discussedPandora’s Box: A history of the First World War, by Jörn Leonhard (translated by Patrick Camiller)Robert Graves: From Great War poet to ‘Good-Bye to All That’, 1895–1929 by Jean Moorcroft WilsonMaking a New World (across the Imperial War Museum, London, and the Imperial War Museum North)Plus reviews and original pieces published in the TLS, including “What did Tommy read: The complex mental worlds of soldiers on the Western Front” by Bill Bell – go to the-TLS.co.uk for detailsSight Smell Touch Taste Sound:  A new way to cook by Sybil KapoorLateral Cooking by Niki Segnit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Mike Leigh's film of the Peterloo massacre of 1819 is released, Clare Pettitt revisits the history; Marina Benjamin offers a personal and literary account of the threshold between sleep and wakefulness; following the publication of a second volume of Sylvia Plath's letters, Hannah Sullivan looks for fresh insights into the poet's work, life and death; finally, Sam Riviere reads his new poem, "Sushi Tuesday"Works discussedPeterloo, directed by Mike LeighInsomnia by Marina BenjaminThe Letters of Sylvia Plath Volume I (1940-1956) and Volume II (1956-1963), edited by Peter K. Steinberg and Karen V. Kukil Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are authors, reviewers and publicists wasting their time on book coverage? The contemporary conversation about books and ideas goes way beyond traditional features and interviews. Book groups, academic seminars, Amazon user reviews, Goodreads, the press, radio, podcasts, and sometimes even TV: the form, tone and quality of coverage has infinite variety. But how much does any of it help the books business – if it can be measured at all? Do authors, reviewers, and publicists feel their efforts are worthwhile? Michael Caines, an editor at the TLS, chairs an eclectic panel for a crucial conversation about the conversation around books. (This a live recording of an event, in collaboration with BookMachine, which took place on October 3, 2018, at the Driver, Kings Cross, London) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elaine Showalter on a history of obscenity and censorship and the largely futile efforts of a US Postal Inspector; Ladee Hubbard on five years of Black Lives Matter and the myth of an egalitarian, post-racial America; Kassia St Clair on women, weaving and the rewriting of historyBooksLust on Trial: Censorship and the rise of obscenity in the age of Anthony Comstock by Amy Werbel The Fire This Time: A new generation speaks about race, edited by Jesmyn WardMy Brother Moochie: Regaining dignity in the face of crime, poverty and racism in the American South by Isaac J. Bailey  The Golden Thread: How fabric changed history by Kassia St Clair   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keith Miller joins us to discuss everybody's favourite Renaissance man; the TLS's Fiction editor Toby Lichtig meets Anna Burns, the winner of the 2018 Man Booker Prize for her novel Milkman; this year's Nobel Prize for Literature, meanwhile, remains suspended following charges of serious sexual misconduct and cronyism – Richard Orange reports on the mess that has engulfed the Swedish AcademyBooksLiving with Leonardo: Fifty years of sanity and insanity in the art world and beyond by Martin Kemp Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Beard reflects on the peculiarities of Homer's best-loved, many-sided epic; Neel Mukherjee on the scandalous survival of the Indian caste system; following the recent party conferences, James O'Brien offers a wry overview of Britain's political messBooks: The Measure of Homer: The ancient reception of the Iliad and the Odyssey by Richard HunterAnts Among Elephants: An untouchable family and the making of modern India by Sujatha GidlaHow To Be Right ... in a World Gone Wrong by James O'Brien Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Caines joins us to discuss female liberation in genteel Cheltenham; we look ahead to an Odyssey extravaganza, with Ted Hodgkinson from the Southbank centre; Paul Muldoon brings a salutary note of optimism to US politics and history with his new poem "With Joseph Brant in Canajoharie"BooksVotes for Women: Cheltenham and the Cotswolds by Sue JonesThe Odyssey translated by Emily WilsonSelected Poems 1968-2014 by Paul Muldoon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, the TLS's History editor David Horspool discusses Thomas Cromwell with Diarmaid MacCulloch, the author of a new, definitive biography. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lorna Scott Fox joins us to discuss the fiftieth anniversary of Mexico's Tlatelolco of 1968, a travesty still shrouded in obfuscation; the TLS's History editor David Horspool discusses Thomas Cromwell with Diarmaid MacCulloch, the author of a new, definitive biography; and finally, Rozalind Dineen offers a round-up of interesting new podcastsBooks and podcasts discussedMéxico 68: The students, the President and the CIA by Sergio AguayoThomas Cromwell: A Life by Diarmaid MacCullochThe Teachers Pet (The Australian)West Cork (Audible)The Ratline (BBC)In Our Time (BBC Radio 4) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philip Horne and Frances Wilson join us to discuss Henry James, the not-always masterly Master who gave us novels as apparently divergent as Washington Square, with its clear, tight prose, The Ambassadors (prone to accidents of publication) and The Golden Bowl, which spills pleasures of an altogether more sinuous nature; plus, details of a little-known trip James took to California, which – unexpectedly, perhaps –“completely bowled” him over  BooksGenerous Mistakes: Incidents of error in Henry James by Michael Anesko The Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James: The Ambassadors; Edited by Nicola Bradbury. The Portrait of a Lady; Edited by Michael Anesko. The Jolly Corner and Other Tales, 1903–1910; Edited by N. H. Reeve (Michael Anesko, Tamara L. Follini, Philip Horne and Adrian Poole, general editors) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roz Dineen on the time-stained image of the artist-addict, The Recovering by Leslie Jamison, and whether “stories about getting better [can] ever be as compelling as stories about falling apart"; "David Foster Wallace would send me letters and I wouldn’t answer them. He would send works in progress with forlorn notes. 'You’re under no obligation to read or to pretend you’ve read the enclosed,' he wrote on one piece. I didn’t." – David Streitfeld recalls being David Foster Wallace's "worst friend"BooksThe Recovering by Leslie JamisonIn The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close encounters with addiction by Gabor Maté   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Motion discusses the life, work and curious afterlife of his friend and "subject" Philip Larkin; Imogen Russell Williams has written an essay on diversity (or the lack of it) in children's books and offers some recommendations; Zoe Williams gives her verdict on the very British political tradition that is Prime Minister’s QuestionsBooksPhilip Larkin: A writer's life by Andrew Motion (1993; reissued September 2018)  The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo  Square by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen  I Am Thunder by Muhammad KhanKnights and Bikes by Gabrielle KentYou’re Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar and Poonam MistryKnights and Bikes by Gabrielle KentYou’re Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar and Poonam Mistry(For all the books discussed by Imogen Russell Williams, go to the-tls.co.uk)Punch and Judy Politics: An insider’s guide to Prime Minister’s questions by Tom Hamilton and Ayesha Hazarika Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carl Miller, the author of The Death of the Gods, which deals with how power works and who holds it in the digital age, sheds light on how algorithms, originally devised as simple problem-solving devices, have become so complicated that no one, not even their creators, can control them; Kristen Roupenian points out the problem with an “unfailingly enthusiastic” compendium of twentieth-century female intellectuals (including Dorothy Parker and Joan Didion): who is left out and why?; eighty-odd years ago, Zora Neale Hurston, now best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, interviewed Kossola O-Lo-Loo-Ay, the last known survivor of the Atlantic Slave Trade. As her book is finally published, Colin Grant joins us to tell us more Books The Death of the Gods: The new global power grab by Carl Miller Sharp: The women who made an art of having an opinion by Michelle Dean Barracoon: The story of the last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the course of his long literary career, Samuel Johnson reviewed only one novel. Who was it by? None other than the "preposterously confident” Charlotte Lennox, a force in eighteenth-century prose and a model for Jane Austen – Min Wild tells us more; What happens if you ask a literary critic to watch top-grossing (pun intended) Hollywood comedies from the past three decades? Robert Douglas-Fairhurst explains how comedy reflects broader culture and anxieties; How are women treated in film and television? Is there cause for celebration? Alice Wadsworth joins us in the studio to discuss.BooksCharlotte Lennox: An independent mind by Susan Carlile Stealing the Show: How women are revolutionizing television by Joy Press Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before: Subversive portrayals in speculative film and TV by Diana Adesola Mafe  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are we entering a new age for LSD, full of medical potential? Can it shed its heavily tie-dyed cultural baggage? And who has written the finest prose about psychedelics? Toby Lichtig joins us to discuss; Eri Hotta (re)introduces us to Natsume Sōseki, "the greatest novelist of modern Japan"; Kate Chisholm considers the chequered history of Virago, founded in 1973 as a "feminist press", plus 40 years of Modern Classics, a series conceived to challenge the established male dominated literary canon and rescue and rehabilitate forgotten works by women Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Roz Dineen. Steven Nadler drops in to tell us all we need to know about the much-misunderstood Descartes; and En Liang Khong visits the Foundling museum to see an installation about how to commemorate loss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark 200 years since Emily Brontë’s birth, we are joined by Robert Potts and Jacqueline Banerjee to look back at Brontë’s life and most famous work Wuthering Heights – with a nod to Kate Bush’s memorable track, as well as to other, more recent tributes; Mika Ross-Southall shares the story of Tommy Nutter, the "rebel tailor of 1960s Savile Row", who, from humble origins, pulled himself up by the force of his wild imagination to dress anyone who was anyoneBooks, etc Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (new edition by HQ; with a foreword by Michael Stewart)Ill Will: The untold story of Heathcliff by Michael Stewart Emily Brontë: A life in twenty poems by Nick Holland Emily Brontë Reappraised: A view from the twenty-first century by Claire O’CallaghanEmily Jane Brontë and Her Music by John HennessyThe Brontë Stones project - https://bit.ly/2LOgEiQHouse of Nutter: The rebel tailor of Savile Row by Lance Richardson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“How much do you make things happen or let them happen to you?” “Can women be happy alone?” – questions such as these form the basis of a series of interviews with women, from heiresses to factory workers, conducted in the 1960s by the British writer Nell Dunn; as a reissue of Talking To Women appears Kate Webb introduces us to this seminal feminist text. And Patricia J. Williams discusses the role and lingering influence of the  Progressive Era's 'American Plan' to stamp out immorality through policies including compulsory STD tests and government-endorsed sterilizationBooksTalking To Women by Nell DunnFixing the Poor: Eugenic sterilization and child welfare in the twentieth century by Molly Ladd-Taylor The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, surveillance, and the decades-long government plan to imprison 'promiscuous' women by  Scott W. Stern  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Leith, the books editor of the Spectator, and Stig Abell discuss their mutual appreciation of the crime novels of Lee Child. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re joined in the studio by TLS editors for arts, features and fiction, respectively, Lucy Dallas, Roz Dineen and Toby Lichtig, to pick through a selection of TLS writers’ summer reading choices – from reworked Classical myths to Deadpool comics – before offering a taste of our own, including books by Sally Rooney, Bruno Latour and an account of witchcraft and agrarian cults in early modern Italy. Go to the-TLS.co.uk to read our summer books feature in full. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This year marks half a century since the establishment of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The TLS’s Fiction editor Toby Lichtig joins us to debate the point of literary prizes and discuss the most under- (or over-) rated winners; Joan C. Williams, the author of last year’s White Working Class: Overcoming class cluelessness in America, considers the political consequences of class divides in the US and BritainBooksThe White Working Class: What everyone needs to know by Justin GestMaking Sense of the Alt-Right by George Hawley Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Winton discusses his new novel, The Shepherd's Hut, with the TLS's Fiction editor Toby Lichtig. Go to the-tls.co.uk to read an exclusive extract from the novel.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Critic and novelist Margaret Drabble joins us to review the life and work of Muriel Spark, whose centenary we mark this year; Samuel Graydon discusses a new exhibition on J. R. R. Tolkien, including drawings and doodles, language trees and fan mail; the TLS's History editor David Horspool introduces a selection of new work on the medieval periodWorks discussedThe Centenary Edition of the Novels of Muriel Spark, edited by Alan TaylorTolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth, an exhibition at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, with accompanying book by Catherine McIlwaine‘Finding Henry – Why England’s most powerful medieval monarch should be better remembered’ by Claudia Gold, in this week’s TLSMedieval Bodies: Life, death and art in the Middle Ages by Jack HartnellSea of Caliphs: The Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world by Christophe Picard, translated by Nicholas ElliottThe Oxford English Literary History, Volume 1: 1000–1350: Conquest and Transformation by Laura Ashe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're joined by Arkady Ostrovsky to discuss Russia’s long history of using sport as a proxy for war and invasion; E. J. Iannelli draws our attention to the rise and (perhaps...) fall of the automobile in the US, and the distinctly American phenomenon of the car as teenage male rite of passageBooksMachines of Youth: America’s car obsession by Gary S. Cross  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk to Michael Pollan about his new book How To Change Your Mind: The new science of psychedelics, in which he explores the history and landscape of psychedelic drugs, for therapeutic and personal use. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas. On the first anniversary of Grenfell Tower, Terri Apter tells us about how art can respond to tragedy; former New York prosecutor David Pitofsky assesses the judicial heft of James Comey; and hear a bit of our interview with Michael Pollan on the beneficial return of psychedelic drugs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jesmyn Ward’s most recent novel Sing, Unburied Sing won the National Book Award in 2017 and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year. In this bonus episode, Jesmyn Ward talks to Roz Dineen about fiction, her characters, living through Hurricane Katrina, and the enormous burden of empathy. This continues a conversation started earlier in the year - and included in the podcast of April 26 - when Jesmyn discussed The Fire This Time, a collection of essays she had edited about racial politics and experience in America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We explore the complex, brutal, swaggering history of pearls and those who found, traded and wore them, with Kathryn Hughes. Sam Byers talks about the self-authored creation that was Michael Jackson and the public's response to him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philip Roth, who died last week aged eighty-five, has left behind a vast literary canon and a complicated legacy. But is there more to this great American novelist than just sordid sex? Ben Markovits shares his thoughts; TLS Features editor, Roz Dineen interviews Man Booker international prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, and her translator, Jennifer Croft; Eric Ormsby explores the significance of context when translating the seemingly immutable text of the Qur’an.BooksFlights by Olga TokarczukThe Koran in English - A biography by Bruce B. Lawrence The Qur'an - A historical-critical introduction by Nicolai Sinai The Sanaa Palimpsest - The transmission of the Qur'a n in the first centuries by Asma Hilali  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re joined by the novelist Margaret Drabble, whose books have for decades chronicled the difficult path to selfhood, particularly for women, and the actor and writer Robert Webb, whose recent memoir How Not To Be a Boy, focuses on how notions of masculinity shape identity. Recorded in front of a live audience at Bath Festival.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The world is being slowly poisoned, the environment destroyed. Why don’t we care about such an apocalypse more? Clare Saxby joins us to discuss; Mary Beard considers the cultural legacy of Caligula, that most reviled of all emperors, via a revisionist work of fiction told from the perspective of the emperor's exiled sister; as Arsène Wenger's twenty-two year tenure as Arsenal manager draws to a close, the TLS's History editor and Arsenal fan David Horspool shares his thoughts on football's modern myth-makingBooks  Mourning Nature: Hope at the heart of ecological loss and grief, edited by Ashlee and Karen Landman CunsoloWalking on Lava: Selected works for uncivilised times, edited by Charlotte Du Cann, Dougald Hine, Nick Hunt and Paul KingsnorthEnergy Humanities: An anthology, edited by Imre Szeman and Dominic BoyerCaligula by Simon Turney Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy Dallas is joined by Madeline Miller to discuss her new book, Circe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy DallasReal-life millennial Samuel Earle pops in to consider the status of young people in an unequal society, keeping avocado references to a minimum; Ruth Scurr analyses the role of mothers in life and literature; and Madeline Miller talks about inhabiting the role of Circe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In popular science books, including 'Seven Brief Lessons on Physics' and 'Reality Is Not What It Seems', the Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has studied the phenomena – namely time and space – that structure our very existence. In doing so, he has become something of a phenomenon himself, praised for his charm, clarity and humour – things we might not immediately associate with the field of quantum gravity. Here, the TLS's Samuel Graydon asks him about his new book The Order of Time Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do we account for Richard Nixon's stubborn unpopularity? Sure, he was a liar and a crook, but that has not stopped the rehabilitation of many a politician – as a new biography appears Barton Swaim joins us to discuss; why is it that certain ailments suffered by women are so scarcely discussed or resolved? Leonore Tiefer considers endometriosis and a "legacy of disinterest";  “The world is far more complicated than what we see”, says the theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, putting it mildly. Reality “is mind-blowing” – here, he discusses the structure of time with the TLS's Samuel GraydonBooksRichard Nixon: The Life by John A. FarrellThe Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli Ask Me About My Uterus: A quest to make doctors believe in women's pain by Abby Norman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Rowson, cartoonist for the Guardian and elsewhere, joins us to discuss caricature as political hit-job; the TLS's Arts editor Lucy Dallas considers the jolly japes and scrapes of the Beano, as that publication marks its eightieth year; and our Features editor Rozalind Dineen goes to meet Jesmyn Ward, a writer described in our pages as “an important new voice of the American South – one developing, perhaps, into the twenty-first-century’s answer to William Faulkner”BooksThe Communist Manifesto: A Graphic Novel, adapted by Martin RowsonThe Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race by Jesmyn Ward  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas. Lionel Shriver castigates the arrogant British for snootiness over American English; David Coward tells the story of Simon Leys, "the man who did for Mao" and who called Sartre a "windbag"; and Kate Bingham reads her poem "This hair". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are we hard-wired to feel other people’s pain? And if so, is it necessarily a good thing? Andrew Scull has reviewed three new books on empathy and joins us to tell us more; Charles Dickens's love of all things theatrical – in life as in art – is no secret. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst considers fifty years' worth of Dickens adaptations for the stage (and film)BooksThe Empathy Instinct by Peter BazalgetteAgainst Empathy: The case for rational compassion by Paul BloomThe Invention of Humanity: Equality and cultural difference in world history by Siep Stuurman  Dickensian Dramas: Plays from Charles Dickens (Volume One, edited by Jacky Bratton; Volume Two, edited by Jim Davis  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who are the most exciting novelists from the British Isles currently working? In a spirit of mischief, the TLS asked 200 notable names in the publishing industry (editors, agents, publishers and writers) to nominate those at the top of their literary game. The critic Alex Clark and TLS fiction editor Toby Lichtig join us in the studio to pick through the results Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The political philosopher John Gray discusses the failures of liberalism; as the TLS publishes its 6,000th issue, Ruth Scurr delves into the back issues to explore how the paper has changed, and how it reflects literary culture more broadly; the TLS's poetry editor Alan Jenkins reads two of his favourite poems from the past century: D. J. Enright 's "The Laughing Hyena, by Hokusai" and "In Your Mind" by Carol Ann Duffy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Literary prizes come in more shapes and sizes than ever before: we have prizes that echo the Man Booker, and prizes that set out not to be the Man Booker; we have prizes for first novels, second novels, crime novels that don’t feature violence against women, and, more satirically, a prize for “bad sex in fiction”. Why do we need so many? Do we need them at all? And how do prizes work not only for writers but for those people who do all the reading (and sometimes arguing): the judges? The TLS's Michael Caines chairs a lively discussion between Toby Lichtig, the fiction editor of the TLS, and Alex Clark, a critic and regular prize judge/chair. This live event was a collaboration with BookMachine.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Science reporter Jennie Erin Smith joins us to discuss our desire, or evolutionary compulsion, to delve into the minds of other animals, from cows and penguins to the dismally misunderstood hyena; the TLS's George Berridge shares new insights into the work of Cormac McCarthy and the various (failed) attempts at adapting his novels; much has been said about how literary blogs killed off 'proper', print criticism. Jennifer Howard explains why the picture is far more complicated, and positive, than that Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Miranda Seymour reveals the peculiar circumstances surrounding the marriage of Lord Byron's daughter and his super-fan, William King; just how seriously should we be taking the Virtual Reality revolution? Tom Rachman cautiously probes the frontier of what is possible; Death Row attorney Clive Stafford Smith shares the story of Billy Neal Moore, a tale of murder, hope and Mother Theresa; and finally, before the winner of the Republic of Consciousness Prize for small presses is revealed, the TLS's Fiction editor Toby Lichtig meets Neil Griffiths, the prize's founder, to find out more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dale Salwak, the editor of a new collection of essays, tells us why he wanted to probe this most complicated of relationships, while Judy Carver, the daughter of William Golding – he of Lord of the Flies – sheds light on her father’s difficult relationship with his mother; Charlotte Shane introduces us to Marjorie Hillis, who, in the 1930s, taught American women how to "live alone and like it"; finally, TLS editor Catharine Morris considers the difficult genesis of Latvian literature Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Baddiel – comedian and, as per his Twitter profile, Jew – joins us to discuss whether Jewishness is inherently funny; as Italians prepare to elect their next prime minister (an unenviable choice between undesirables and impossibles), Tim Parks – author, translator, and resident of Italy – talks us through the excessively complicated mess that is Italy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just how odd was Isaac Newton? Quite, it turns out, because as well as being one of history’s greatest mathematicians, he was also an alchemist and a millenarian, happily wallowing in conspiracy theories – Oliver Moody joins us to tell us more; did the Cold War ever end? Not as straightforward a question as you might think – the historian David Motadel considers a controversial new book; and finally, Thea Lenarduzzi discusses Greta Gerwig and her Oscar-nominated film Lady Bird   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This special episode – a live recording of an event at Hay Festival, in Cartagena, Colombia, earlier this year – features a discussion with two novelists: Fiona Mozley, whose Booker-shortlisted novel Elmet caused a stir last year, and Lisa McInerney, an Irish writer described by the TLS as “busily combining the traditions of hardcore Irish crime writing with fast-talking foul-mouthed wit and gentle good humour”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The "ape bumfodder" of one man (Philip Larkin) is another man's treasure – Susan Irvine makes the case for the relevance of Old English literature in the modern world (and leaves us with a beautiful reading of "The Husband's Message", a poem told from the perspective of a wooden staff...); the Whiggish idea of constant societal improvement has, as its most high-profile advocate, Steven Pinker, whose 'The Better Angels of our Nature' caused a stir in 2011. Now he's back with 'Enlightenment Now', another data-heavy work of optimism – David Wootton weighs up the evidence Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi are joined in the studio by political commentator Zoe Williams to discuss the future of Corbynism, Brexit, Lexit, and British politics more broadly; and, to mark the 100th anniversary of British women’s suffrage, Emelyne Godfrey sheds light on the mosaic of approaches that led, eventually, to something worth celebrating in all its complexity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TLS editor Michael Caines meets Gregory Norminton, the author of a collection of aphorisms, two translations of classic French books for children, two collections of short stories and four novels – including, most recently, The Devil’s Highway – that range across history, from the medieval period up to that far more horrific time known as the early 1990s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi are joined by Kathryn Hughes, to discuss whether and where Charlotte Brontë meets Jane Eyre; Katharine Craik looks back on Shakespeare's mysterious, and 'weirdly memorable', sonnets; Kate Brown on the social-media-fuelled Ukrainian uprising of 2013, the David-and-Goliath battle that followed, and the view from 2018 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas. We are joined by Maren Meinhardt to discuss the unrequited love, and painful experiments on frogs, of Prussian polymath Alexander von Humboldt; Ruth Scurr assesses the literary legacy of Julian Barnes; and Joyce Chaplin reveals the seething malevolence beneath American "niceness". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi are joined in the studio by Daisy Dunn to discuss the history of the written word (yes, all of it), from the Chinese invention of paper in 100 BC to the advent of a new BuzzFeed-y style guide; What was Stalin's real purpose? Lewis Siegelbaum considers Stalin's middle years in light of a new instalment of Stephen Kotkin’s epic biography. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi are joined in the studio by Marcel Theroux to discuss why a mysterious nineteenth-century Russian writer-explorer may have forged a tale about Jesus in India; the Palestinian writer Linah Alsaafin considers the (f)utility of writing about Israeli occupation, via recent efforts including Kingdom of Olives and Ash, edited by Michael Chabon and Avelet Waldman; Francesca Happé tells us what it means to be 'on the autism spectrum' and how gender affects diagnosis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas. We are joined by Patricia Williams, to discuss how black girls are silenced, marginalised and abused within American society, an ongoing tragedy with its origins in slavery. Katherine Lewis, the winner of the inaugural TLS/Mick Imlah Poetry Prize, then comes on to read her prize-winning poem, "Memory of An Ocean". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special end-of-year edition of the podcast, with highlights, including: Sudhir Hazareesingh came on thew show back in March, ahead of the French election, to share his thoughts on Emmanuel Macron, the underdog philosopher-politician soon to become President; before Weinstein and #metoo, Charlotte Shane drew our attention to problems and divisions in feminism, and called for responsible, serious literature to take things forward; Clive Stafford-Smith, liberal lawyer and campaigner against the death penalty, on the rise of 'kill lists', an almost-blatant programme of state-sanctioned murder that goes on around the world; finally, in 2017 we marked the bicentennial of the death of Jane Austen by inviting Austen expert Claire Harman for a game of “rank your favourite Austen novels”. A refresher for regular listeners and a sampler for newcomers – with thanks to all.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi are joined in the studio by TLS Arts editor Lucy Dallas and Fiction editor Toby Lichtig to discuss the best (and worst) arts events of 2017. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – The American author and cultural critic Naomi Wolf explores connections between Oscar Wilde and Edith Wharton, taking us from gay rights to "strong" women; Dinah Birch turns to John Ruskin, the great polymath of his age – and ours?; finally, continuing the theme of Victorian excellence, Charles Darwin is the subject of a number of recent books, including an excoriating criticism by A. N. Wilson – Clare Pettitt sets the record straight Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Elizabeth Hardwick, the critic, co-founder of the NYRB, and, yes, stoic wife of Robert Lowell, died ten years ago this month – a new Collected Essays is cause for celebration; Suzannah Lipscomb delves into early modern French court records to tell us about the lives of women at a time when moral crimes were punished by strange rituals of public shaming; Leaf Arbuthnot, one of this year's judges of the Michael Marks Poetry Pamphlet Awards, discusses the importance of this playful format, bringing us poems to be read, heard – and sniffed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Who reads Anthony Powell now? A. N. Wilson celebrates the muted comedy of a British novelist best-known (only known?) for his twelve-novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time; TLS Fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to the novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer at the 2017 Hay Festival in Arequipa, Peru; Imogen Russell Williams rounds up the brightest and most inspiring new children's books Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TLS Fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to the novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer at the 2017 Hay Festival in Arequipa, Peru. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – 500-plus years since Thomas More coined the term “Utopia”, denoting a too-good-to-be-true land, Chloë Houston considers the relevance, and importance, of Utopian thinking, and asks if we feel more at home in dystopia; prompted by a magisterial new biography by Jonathan Eig, J. Michael Lennon describes the transformation of Cassius Clay into Muhammad Ali (and tells us what it was like to meet Ali at Normal Mailer’s seventy-fifth birthday party); TLS editor Lucy Dallas speaks to the novelist Nick Harkaway, no stranger to grim (not necessarily) alternative realities, about his new novel Gnomon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're joined by TLS editors Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig to pick through the "books of the year", as nominated by a roster of TLS contributors, including Lydia Davis, Hilary Mantel, William Boyd and Tom Stoppard; plus, we bite the literary bullet and share our own nominations, from Reni Eddo-Lodge's account of entrenched racism to Laurent Binet's riotous fictional homage to Roland Barthes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're joined this week by the TLS's Classics editor Mary Beard to discuss Emily Wilson's new translation of the Odyssey – the first ever by a woman – as well as other issues surrounding women in Classics and women in power more generally; Andrew Motion considers the life of the editor Edward Garnett, “one of the great taste-makers of the twentieth century”; and finally, could you name anything by Dorothy Dunnett? Rohan Maitzen fills us in on The Lymond Chronicles, the most rollicking historical novels you might never have heard of Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Toby Lichtig and Lucy Dallas – London has a brand-new theatre: the Bridge, the latest venture by Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr, based in Southwark and dedicated to original writing. And it starts its life with a new play by Richard Bean and Clive Young: Young Marx features Rory Kinnear as a delinquent Karl Marx, with a dash of Monty Python thrown in. The TLS’s Michael Caines joins us in the studio to discuss it; The “common view” of atheists is that religion is a combination of cosmology (a theory of the universe) and morality (or how best to behave) – but for the TLS’s Philosophy Editor Tim Crane this conception seems “deeply inadequate”. Crane identifies a third category, too often ignored: religious practice itself. He joins us on the line to discuss the religion of belonging, along with this week’s other philosophy pieces; The Austrian author Marianne Fritz was hailed in the late 1970s as a literary wunderkind, for a debut novel that described the descent into madness of a young mother in post-war Vienna. But as the decades progressed, her work grew increasingly obscure: brilliant for some, maddening for others. Jane Yager offers her insights into the author often dubbed, perhaps unfairly, “the female James Joyce”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Georgina Colby joins us in the studio to discuss our growing recognition of the punk writer Kathy Acker, an experimental late-modernist; Alev Scott on 'Weinsteining' in publishing and what we should do about it; Tove Jansson is best known as the creator of the Moomins, but there is a great deal more to her oeuvre than those strange hippopotamus-like creatures – TLS Arts editor Lucy Dallas visits a new retrospective of Jansson's work Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – The Mexican-born novelist Valeria Luiselli joins us to discuss her new book, Tell Me How It Ends: An essay in 40 questions, about America's role in an ongoing immigration crisis where tens of thousands of Mexican and Central American children arrive at the border, unaccompanied and undocumented; Is Matthew Arnold responsible for the worst opening line of a sonnet in English? Seamus Perry gives an impassioned defence of the poet's dissonant and awkward verse; "If you are transgender, and if you come out as an adult in a position of authority (a tenured professor, say), non-trans people may treat you as an expert." So argues Harvard Professor Stephanie Burt, who has reviewed two accounts of being a trans person, Trans Like Me, by C. N. Lester and The Gender Games by Juno Dawson. She joins us to discuss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Mexican-born novelist Valeria Luiselli joins us to discuss her new book, Tell Me How It Ends: An essay in 40 questions, about America's role - and her own - in an ongoing immigration crisis where tens of thousands of Mexican and Central American children arrive at the border, unaccompanied and undocumented. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joining Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas this week: Muriel Zagha, to discuss the redolent funk of French cinema; and James O'Brien, to summarise the rancid political mess of Great Britain. Meanwhile, Sam Graydon goes to see the National Poetry Library in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – As a new anthology of stories brings the thrills-and-chills of genre writing to bear on the experiences of the "wrongfully convicted", the author and essayist Leslie Jamison discusses competing impulses in the writer–convict–reader relationship, why we need to talk about guilt rather than innocence, and her own correspondence with three prisoners; Federico García Lorca is well-known as a modernist, avant-garde poet and playwright, but what of his proficiency in haiku? And how does this Japanese tradition relate to the Spanish art of flamenco? We're joined by Paul Chambers, himself a haiku poet who has translated a number of Lorca's poems for the first time Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – "For every competent feminist book”, Camille Paglia wrote in 1995, “there are twenty others shot through with inaccuracies, distortions, and propaganda.” Charlotte Shane runs us through a clutch of recent books by, among others, Laurie Penny, Rebecca Solnit and Paglia herself; How do we account for the extraordinary and enduring popularity of the French theorist Roland Barthes? Might it have something to do with his incurable boredom? Samuel Earle joins us in the studio to discuss the bundle of contradictions that was, and is, Barthes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A bonus episode: Stig Abell hosts a debate at the Brooklyn Literary Festival in which the New Yorker's Jelani Cobb, the New York Times' Michelle Goldberg and Pen America's Suzanne Nossel consider what is going on in American universities and beyond when it comes to debates about race, gender and identity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Would you take fashion advice from Beckett? Was John Updike an early advocate of "norm-core"? We're joined in the studio by Laura Freeman to discuss a new book, Legendary Authors and the Clothes they Wore; addiction represents the height of paradox: the quest for fulfilment of individual desire that embraces the destruction of the individual self. Eric Iannelli considers a clutch of studies and memoirs that seek to describe the causes and consequences of the addict's “self-perpetuating vortex”; Charlottesville, the college city in Virginia, has impinged on the global consciousness in recent weeks, since a rash of neo-Nazi-instigated violence spread from the University of Virginia's campus into the streets. Krishan Kumar, a sociology professor at UVA, reflects on the institution's legacy, and that of its founder Thomas Jefferson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas - we are in the studio with Ian Thomson discussing the unlikely collaboration between a Neo Dadaist and Dante; we talk to Mark Ford about Weldon Kees, the American poet you should have heard of; and Michael Caines delves into the theatrical mind of the great Peter Brook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, visionary director Peter Brook talks about his life in the theatre – and explains why Shakespeare is like a skyscraper Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – The meaning of the 15th-century Voynich manuscript – a strange compendium of undecipherable signs, astrological symbols and pictures of nude bathing women – has long eluded scholars. We're joined by bibliographical sleuth Nicholas Gibbs, who appears to have discovered the manuscript's secret; to mark the double anniversary of one of America's greatest poets, Robert Lowell (1917-1977), Paul Muldoon – himself a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, and Poetry editor at the New Yorker – reads his new poem 'Robert Lowell at Castletown House'; finally, TLS Fiction editor Toby Lichtig discusses the latest releases from established writers (including John le Carré and Salman Rushdie) and debut novelists (Gabriel Tallent and Fiona Mozley) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas – Alexander van Tulleken on what makes popular science books – including Neil deGrasse Tyson's Astrophysics for People in a Hurry – so popular, and is there a hidden danger in making science the subject of water-cooler conversations?; Clair Wills joins us in the studio to discuss the forgotten stories of Punjabi migrants who came to England in the 1950s and early 60s, and introduces us to the fascinating, genre-blending works they composed and performed in pubs; and finally, the TLS's History editor David Horspool explains how Oliver Cromwell’s embarrassingly messy attempts to conquer the Caribbean in the mid-17th century nonetheless set the stage for modern overseas expansion – as well as giving us an early instance of fake news Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – We're joined in the studio by Sam Leith, Literary editor of the Spectator and self-professed rhetoric geek, discusses the problem of fake news in a post-truth world, with recourse to Aristotle and economic theory; we're running an extract, in this week's summer double issue, from My Absolute Darling, the new American novel everyone seems to be talking about – we'll discuss the dark material at its centre with the author himself, Gabriel Tallent; "Walid Jumblatt has the air of quiet dignity which befits a retired warlord with nearly half a million Twitter followers", so begins Alev Scott's essay on her experiences among the Druze of Lebanon, one of the country's eighteen recognised minorities. Alev joins us to describe an enlightening and troubling encounter. The podcast will take a break and return on August 31; keep up with the TLS at the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Novelist Neel Mukherjee discusses the vexed state of Modern India and the legacy of Partition 70 years on; Frances Wilson considers a problematic clutch of books that look to describe a "sisterhood" of female writers from Jane Austen to Virginia Woolf and beyond Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Lucy Dallas and Toby Lichtig. The TLS critic David Collard explores the idiosyncratic worlds of Ian Nairn – architectural critic, psychogeographer, “a cross between Anthony Burgess and Tony Hancock” – and describes Nairn’s influence on a generation of authors, including Simon Okotie, whose new novel he’s also reviewed in this week’s TLS. The paper's biography editor Catharine Morris tells the story of Tuco, the African grey parrot, and his influence on the life and work of the novelist Brian Brett. Lisa Hilton explains why the Marquis de Sade is a progressive moral satirist and a “rotten pornographer”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Former US Government consultant Edward Luttwak explains how the rising cost of cars in the US lies behind Donald Trump's election, and why the Democrats' sustained failure to address the problem may lead to consecutive terms for The Donald and his progeny; Humans are, more or less, logical and rational beings, aren't they? Cecilia Heyes, Senior Research Fellow in Theoretical Life Sciences and Professor of Psychology, discusses the irrationality of human thought and why it's easier to reason together; Michael Hoffman, the German-born poet, translator and, most recently 2018 Man Booker International judge, reads his new translation of a poem by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, "Female, 33" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – We're joined in the studio by Claire Harman, author of Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen conquered the world, to discuss the life and legacy of this perhaps most-loved of all authors: what makes her so special, so alive in the modern world? And will there be no end to (stranger and stranger) adaptations of her work? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi: Politicians – Theresa May foremost among them – always begin their obfuscations and delusional self-justifications by pretending to offer clarity. Journalist James O'Brien joins us to discuss the past thirty-odd days in the world of Prime Minister May, from the flunked general election to the travesty of Grenfell Tower, in a quest for that most elusive of things – a clear and concrete plan; TLS Visual Arts editor Anna Vaux brings us a preview of Tate Modern's new exhibition, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, an examination of the role of black artists in the Civil Rights movement; historian Roy Foster considers the fraught new relationship between the Conservative Party and the Irish Democratic Unionist Party, finding parallels, and missed warnings, dating back more than 100 years Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi: David Bromwich dips into the newly published letters, spanning 1920–8, of Robert Frost, the farmer-cum-teacher-cum-giant of American poetry who believed that a master writer should 'invade' younger writers 'to show them how much more they contain than they can write down'; 'Conversations around race and racism tend not to happen as much in Britain as in America', says Bernardine Evaristo in a discussion of the state of race relations in Britain and the importance of a provocative new book, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race Book by Reni Eddo-Lodge Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – 'Few people are aware that every week the White House indulges in Terror Tuesday, where the US President personally approves people for death without any legal process at all' – so says Clive Stafford Smith, who joins us in the studio to chart the global proliferation of modern state-led assassination and the moral, legal and human 'collateral damage'; Lamorna Ash, fresh from a week's research aboard the Cornish deep-sea trawler Crystal Sea, offers insights into the distinct rhythms, language and politics of Britain's beleaguered fishing industry Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every year we ask a selection of TLS contributors what they'll be reading with those extra hours of daylight. In this episode, we're joined by Fiction editor Toby Lichtig and Arts editor Lucy Dallas to pick through the results and discuss our own selections. Plus, an exclusive interview with 2017 Man Booker International-winner, the Israeli novelist David Grossman, and translator Jessica Cohen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas. We discuss the election that nobody won and (almost) nobody predicted; varnishing day at the Royal Academy's summer exhibition; and the dubious merits of 1967's Summer of Love. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Distinguished social psychologist Carol Tavris discusses whether we are seeing the end of definition by gender and whether there is any benefit in trying to track, physiologically and psychologically, the differences between men and women; Brian Dillon tackles the past, present and future of the essay form, via the indolent and melancholic work of Cyril Connolly, whose book The Unquiet Grave is "one of the strangest, funniest, most formally daring if badly flawed contributions to the literature of depression, disarray and the decay of ambition"; finally, the TLS's Religion Editor Rupert Shortt joins us to consider the true meaning of Islam, a religion so full of contradictions that – according to one critic – “very few Muslims consciously understand what being Islamic truly means”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – TLS Politics editor Toby Lichtig speaks to Assaf Gavron, author of a fascinating essay on the role of football in the politics of the Middle East, and runs us through a number of pieces from this week’s issue on the legacy of the Six-Day War, 60 years on; "No wild animal plays a more significant or ambivalent role in the imaginings of the British than the fox", so says Tom Holland, who joins us to consider this curiously divisive beast; fresh from a marathon production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, opera critic Guy Dammann explains the importance of this towering work of music and drama Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – TLS Philosophy editor Tim Crane grapples with the mind-body problem and "what it means to be the kind of creatures we are", plus the year that brightened Nietzsche's outlook, and Biscuit the dog's self-consciousness; Korean American author Min Jin Lee on how Korean literature approaches the difficult dream of reunification and what a new collection of stories, The Accusation by the pseudonymous author "Bandi", "the first work of fiction written by a North Korean author presumed still to be alive and living in the country”, tells us about life in that deeply mysterious land; finally, the great Alasdair Gray, author of Lanark, reads "From Vers Doré by Gérard de Nerval", a new work first published in this week's TLS. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Michel Foucault was so fascinated by lettres de cachet – pre-Revolutionary requests made by citizens to the lieutenant of police calling for the imprisonment without trial of a troublesome family member or neighbour – that he co-edited a little-known compendium of them: Biancamaria Fontana joins us to explain; Was the "plunder of black life" the driving force in making America great? Stephanie McCurry weighs in on a recent book, Slavery's Capitalism: A new history of American economic development; finally, in light of the Oxford Companion to Cheese, Paul Levy considers the politics of cheese and makes the case for a good strong Cheddar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas. Sudhir Hazareesingh gives his analysis of the French election and the rise of Macron; Toby Lichtig (sic) helps us tackle genre fiction, including our tips for the greatest ever historical novel; and Hal Jensen celebrates an 8-hour play about American identity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On April 30, at London's Southbank Centre, an extraordinary cast of readers – including Philippe Sands, Tom Stoppard, Niklas Frank, whose father was Adolf Hitler's lawyer, and Susan Pollack, who survived the camp – gathered to mark 70 years since the publication of this seminal account of humanity at its most brutal. Across five episodes, in collaboration with the Southbank Centre, we bring you the full, live recording of the event, part of the Belief and Beyond Belief festival, exploring what it means to be human. This performance was directed by Nina Brazier with music directed by Tomo Keller and performed by Raphael Wallfisch, Tomo Keller, Robert Smissen, Simon Wallfisch and Lada Valesova; the event was devised by A. L. Kennedy and Philippe Sands, in collaboration with Ted Hodgkinson, Senior Programmer for Literature and Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre. You'll find all episodes on the-tls.co.ukChapters 1–3 read by: human-rights lawyer Philippe Sands QC; author A. L. Kennedy; actors Samuel West... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Frances Wilson on how Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions of 1789 laid the foundations for the messy modern memoir; TLS commissioning editor Mika Ross-Southall on a strange new exhibition of Picasso's work that examines his career-long engagement with minotaurs and matadors; Lorna Scott Fox rediscovers Leonora Carrington, an almost-forgotten radical artist-thinker for our fragile times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – The graphic artist Nicola Streeten discusses two new exhibitions, in Paris and London, linking comics to trauma theory, radical politics and feminism; Alexander van Tulleken on a new book by two "rock star professors" that purports to provide a bold new solution to the refugee crisis; a crackly clip just a few minutes long is all we have left of Virginia Woolf's voice – Emily Kopley fills us in on the fraught context behind "Craftsmanship", a talk broadcast by the BBC 80 years ago Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Philippe Sands discusses his forthcoming project which assembles an international cast of actors, writers, musicians and politicians to read Primo Levi's seminal account of survival in Auschwitz, seventy years after its publication; as part of our Shakespeare edition this week, TLS Commissioning Editor Michael "The Doctor" Caines considers how protective we should be of the man and the work; Rebecca Spang wades through the murky matter of money, the growth of "off shore" finance and the bewildering sexualization of monetary metaphors.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – TLS editor James Campbell, Baldwin's biographer and friend, on the writer's complex presence and legacy on and off screen; Michael Rosen on the "disappearance" of Émile Zola and the long, dappled shadow of the Dreyfus Affair; Jane Yager on a sensational and problematic investigation into mass rapes committed by allied soldiers in Germany in the wake of the Second World War, and how attitudes have – and haven't – changed.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Rory Waterman on the "uses" of poetry and Stephen Burt's admirable, if rather vexing, new collection The Poem is You: 60 contemporary American poems and how to read them; Barbara J. King on the cannibals in our midst (note: fragile-stomached listeners and lovers of banana slugs be warned); When did modern philosophy begin? And who is its godfather? – TLS Philosophy Editor Tim Crane tackles a new book by A. C. Grayling which seeks answers to these thorny questions.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Libby Purves on the stranger-than-fiction life of Aimée Crocker, a nineteenth-century heiress with proto-PC views and an affection for boa constrictors; Gabriel Josipovici on a magisterial but contentious study of two of the greatest figures in European art history, Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder; and finally, the novelist and poet Colm Tóibín discusses his forthcoming novel, set in ancient Greece, and reads five new poems, published for the first time in this week's TLS Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Henry K. Miller on the cinematic progress of Christopher Isherwood, a novelist who wanted nothing more than to be a filmmaker; Lamorna Ash on All This Panic, a dreamy documentary about seven girls stumbling towards womanhood in Brooklyn; Richard Fortey tells the story of the British landscape, a sweeping tale spanning several millennia, from the retreat of the ice caps in 9700 BC to the crowded island of today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Sudhir Hazareesingh on the seemingly unstoppable rise of Emmanuel Macron, the only politician now standing between the far-Right Marine Le Pen and the French presidency; Claude Rawson on the complex rage of Jonathan Swift, and why we should resist all attempts to sanitise Gulliver's Travels; Diane Purkiss delves into the murky history of alchemy, a slippery amalgam of science and the make-believe of great importance to our ancestors – and which we would do better than to scoff at.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – In these science fictional times, Jonathan Barnes considers the importance of sci-fi, plus a new sequel to H. G. Wells's satirical masterpiece The War of the Worlds; Thea reports from a new exhibition of Pop Art and print work at the British Museum, which showcases six decade's worth of American dreaming; Fiction Editor Toby Lichtig discusses George Saunders's new novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, a humorous, moving and formally inventive account of President Lincoln's grief following the death of his son. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus programme, TLS fiction editor Toby Lichtig interviews George Saunders about his first novel, 'Lincoln in the Bardo'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – D. J. Taylor on the bookish sensibilities of Paul Weller's post-punk romanticism (including a bizarre medley of Orwell's 1984 and Wind in the Willows); Stephen Brown considers a clutch of books about practising, playing and listening to music, how to think about Mahler, and the perfect aphorisms of Michael Hampe (“Develop a feeling for greatness. It protects against stupidity”) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea LenarduzziPaul Howard brings us an unpublished Burgess essay on an untranslatable poet; J. Michael Lennon links the writing of Joan Didion with Trump's America; and Simon Armitage reads us a brand new poem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Caryl Emerson on poetry and prose forged in the immediacy of the Russian Revolution of 1917; Phil Baker considers the strange split legacy of British writer Colin Wilson, a curious and often hateful figure with an extreme superiority complex; finally, Clive James reads his beautiful new poem "Anchorage International" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Gerri Kimber on the role of women in the rise of the Western (plus the notorious case of Mrs Clem); as Tate Britain unveils the most extensive David Hockney retrospective yet, one of the show's curators talks us though some key moments, and themes, in a long and eclectic career; what makes a bestseller? Daisy Hildyard considers four new books that purport to tell us why some books succeed while others flop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clive Stafford Smith, lawyer and campaigner against miscarriages of justice, joins us in the studio to discuss his time defending death-row prisoners in Guantánamo and elsewhere, the "integrity" of the system, why torture doesn't work, and whether the age of mass incarceration might finally be drawing to a close. We end with Helen Mort reading her new poem, "Glasgow".Presented by Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Paul Collier on the new "hard" pragmatism and the future of capitalism; Michael Chabon discusses his invigorating new novel, Moonglow; Mary Beard on women in academia (the troubles and the triumphs, past and present), and why the Trump inauguration protests were a step in the right direction.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Devoney "Stone Cold Jane Austen" Looser on the slew of Jane Austen reincarnations (and why it's nothing to worry about); David Wheatley on the long-awaited final volume of Samuel Beckett's letters and its "black diamonds of pessimism"; and J. Michael Lennon on the titan of publishing Robert Gottlieb, and the writer-editor relationship. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Eimear McBride on the dark side of bad sex writing and why a new anthology is nothing to be snickered at; Diana Darke on the stories of two young women who have fled war in the Middle East and the new pressures they face; and Jenny Hendrix joins us from New York to discuss new works of imaginative cartography that portray that city – indeed any city – in full, kaleidoscopic complexity.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Andrew Scull on the deeply unsettling – and surprisingly recent – history of lobotomy, and the sorry tale of Patient H. M.; Lisa Hilton on the sometimes mystifying appeal of the French Riviera and the vapid aristocrats who holidayed there; Kate Symondson on an all but forgotten novel by Joseph Conrad and a clutch of new books that scrutinize his philosophical and political scepticism – a man for our times? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recording from the TLS’s 2016 London Lit Weekend at King’s Place, London: Historians Simon Bradley and Rosemary Ashton and the architect Paul Williams (of Stanton Williams Architects) discuss the literary and architectural heritage of King’s Cross, London, an area which has seen tremendous upheaval in the past century.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recording from the TLS’s 2016 London Lit Weekend at King’s Place, London: 2016 was the 200th anniversary of a dark and stormy night with an extraordinary literary legacy: Frankenstein. Frances Wilson and Benjamin Markovits recount the three days in June, 1816, at the Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva, when a group of young writers – among them Mary Godwin – sheltered from the gloom.Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recording from the TLS’s 2016 London Lit Weekend at King’s Place, London: Cinema and television are brimming with literary adaptations. But how does the page translate to the screen? To discuss the ins and outs, successes and failures, we brought together Mary Beard, David Farr (whose screenwriting credits include The Night Manager), and the novelist and literary adaptee Alan Hollinghurst. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recording from the TLS’s 2016 London Lit Weekend at King’s Place, London: Overrated/Underrated, a favourite TLS game in which a panel of critics (David Collard, Alex Clark and Michael Caines) select the esteemed writers they would like to build up or knock down a peg or two. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – James O'Brien on Brexit and the battle for Britain's soul; a (rather idiosyncratic) round-up of the best arts of 2016 with Arts editor Lucy Dallas; finally, in honour of the season, Philosophy editor and oenophile Tim Crane on the "champagne phenomenon"; see you in 2017. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Rupert Shortt on why Christianity has been more help than hindrance to social and intellectual progress; Fiction editor Toby Lichtig meets Emily Witt to discuss sex, drugs and a new novel by Dana Spiotta; Terri Apter on new essays by Siri Hustvedt, the (narrowing?) gap between art and science, and the persistent gender biases that underpin experience. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Frances Wilson on the eccentric life of Lady Anne Barnard, loved by men and bad girls alike; Michael Caines on death and women, and indeed, dead women, on the Shakespearean stage; Scott Esposito on Mexico's violence transmogrified into art, including music made using human vertebrae; finally, seven new (and rare) poems from the critic Barbara Everett. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi: – Jennifer Howard on the threats and thrills of the internet: what price for online freedom?; Rebecca Lemov considers the neurological effects of torture, plus the chilling account of a man who survived Guantanamo; Tom Shippey on the liberated and oppressed societies of Scandinavia, where light meets dark.Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi are joined by Fiction editor Toby Lichtig and Arts editor Lucy Dallas to discuss their favourite books of 2016, plus the titles they guiltily haven't read (yet), old favourites, and a few disappointments; to end the show, Alan Jenkins, TLS Poetry editor, reads "The Song of the Swimmer" by J. A. Symonds, a feverish poem which could never have been shared in the writer's lifetime and which is published for the first time in this week's issue of the TLS. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catharine Morris, at the 2016 Singapore Writers Festival, interviews the American novelist and journalist Lionel Shriver about Trump, Brexit and her unsettling new novel, The Mandibles. Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Seamus Perry on the difficult, "spiritually dyspeptic" life and work of D. H. Lawrence; Ruth Scurr on two new books by Elena Ferrante, and the struggle over her name; Kathryn Hughes on the knotty, globe-spanning cultural life of hair; and finally, a snippet from our recent interview with the American author Lionel Shriver: can fiction contain the real-life Trump? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas:Mary Beard shares her experience of election night in America; Mark Bostridge discusses Queen Victoria and the stinginess of the Royal Archive; and Nick Groom makes the case for wondrous nature writing.Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – our History editor David Horspool on the (uniquely?) violent English and seven centuries' worth of pacification; Mark Hutchinson on the lesser-known modernist poet Basil Bunting and his love-hate relationship with T. S. Eliot; Fiona Green on a bold new collection of Emily Dickinson poems – does it bring us closer to the reclusive poet herself?; and finally, we have a recording of the late Robert Conquest, a man best known for his groundbreaking work as a historian, reading his poem "The Rokeby Venus" in 1960. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell, Thea Lenarduzzi and Michael Caines.Three extracts of spooky stories for Halloween. Stig reads from Dracula by Bram Stoker; Thea from Mr Jones by Edith Wharton; and Michael from Two Doctors by MR James.Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Elaine Showalter on how extreme misogyny turned Clinton vs Trump into woman vs man; Jonathan Barnes on the long shadow of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'; Houman Barekat on 250 years of 'Index on Censorship' and the mutable and myriad threats to free speech; Lara Feigel on two books, by the late Sue Lloyd-Roberts and Lara Pawson, about violence and the sufferings of women around the world – how much progress is there? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toby Lichtig talks to Ali Smith about her new novel, Autumn; plus, an exclusive extract read by the author. Find out more: the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Ruth Scurr on Beryl Bainbridge's life, love and works; Jessica Loudis on two memoirs, of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel; ruthless and high-minded or likeable and good-natured? Dinah Birch on the ever-enigmatic J. M. W. Turner; and finally, we're joined by the TLS's resident Shakespearean Michael Caines to talk us through a new compendium of writing on the playwright. Just don't call him the Bard. Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Adam Kuper on French structuralist and hoarder of myths Claude Lévi-Strauss; Joe Paul Kroll on what happened when a slightly belligerent group of eminent German writers visited America; Laura James on the intractable paradox of aid in Africa and different approaches to nation-building; finally, TLS Poetry Editor Alan Jenkins discusses the enigmatic poet Louis Aragon, and reads his new translation "Elsa at the Mirror".Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Terry Eagleton gives the Theos annual lecture, on the not un-problematic, not un-high-stakes, and not un-incendiary twin matters of The Death of God and the War on Terror. Find our more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abel and Thea Lenarduzzi: Tim Crane guides us through our philosophy special edition (including on how the brain works); Lisa Hilton helps to recover the voices of Parisian wartime women; Anna Katharina Schaffner explains why the Nazis were all high. Plus Andrew Motion reflects on his freedom from the role of Poet Laureate, and reads his poem "Evening Traffic". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The novelist in conversation, with Michael Caines, about her latest novel, The Gustav Sonata, and forty years as a published author.www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Marcia Zug on marriage in America (plus the pros and cons of mail-order brides); Laura Freeman on Beatrix Potter's naughty charm; Paul Duguid considers the implications of unrestrained information for all – is more necessarily better?; and finally, Robert Potts reads "Gift", a poem by the concrete poet Ian Hamilton Finlay, first published in the TLS in 1960. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Mark Ford on Thomas Hardy's unlikely London romance; Hirsh Sawhney on Aravind Adiga's captivating new novel and his messy portrait of India; to tie in with a special run of features on the Middle East, TLS editors Robert Irwin and Toby Lichtig discuss the challenges, historical and present, facing the region; and finally, Mark Ford reads Thomas Hardy's poem "Coming Up Oxford Street: Evening", from 1872. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas.Including Ferdinand Mount on what defines England and its inhabitants;David Horspool on responses to Hitler and his ideas; and Mika Ross-Southall on Nick Cave's savagely sad album. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas.Raymond Tallis on the ongoing threat to the NHS; Bee Wilson on descriptions of pregnancy and childbirth; and Marjorie Perloff on seeing O.J. Simpson as Othello. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas: Clare Lowdon on Safran Foer's great big dazzling novel; Mary Beard on what makes Classics relevant; and Can Dundar on being imprisoned by the Turkish state for telling the truth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toby Lichtig from The TLS chats to author Eimear McBride about her latest novel, The Lesser Bohemians. Find out more: the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Thea Lenarduzzi and Toby Lichtig – Edward Luttwak on the global unravelling occasioned by the Panama Papers; Mary Beard on the enigmatic Emperor Nero, matricidal monster and lover of music; and Hermione Hoby on the difficult beauties of Hollywood, from Babra Streisand to Meryl Streep; plus, a look ahead to next week's special edition of the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Patrick Wilcken brings us the real Brazil, a country at breaking point; Francesca Wade considers the radical interior designs, and desires, of the Bloomsbury Group; Toby Lichtig on the failures and successes of Geoff Dyer; and Rachel Hadas reads her poem, "Raw Jute". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Thomas Meaney on death (and what to do with the remains) in the West; Professor Amy Knight on how Putin keeps getting away with murder; Edmund White reconsiders Pale Fire, Nabokov's "great gay comic novel", and reads from the novel's opening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week: Andrew Motion on Housman's hidden corners; Trev Broughton on rediscovering Charlotte Bronte; and DJ Taylor on the myths of the Sixties. Plus Andrew Motion reads from Housman's A Shropshire Lad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The TLS podcast, with Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – this week: why eat meat?; how political was Shakespeare, and does it matter?; the ethics of dust at the Houses of Parliament; a report from Taksim Square, as Turkey reels. Discover more: the-tis.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The TLS podcast, with Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – this week: the complexities of modern Irish history; the ups and downs of historical fiction; Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Richard Ford gets to know Donald Trump; finally, Robert Potts reads a poem by Seamus Heaney. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The TLS podcast, with Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – this week featuring: Tim Parks on reviving and translating Giacomo Leopardi; Pamela Haag on America's surprisingly modern love affair with guns; Kate Webb on the category defying life and work of Angela Carter; finally, Alan Jenkins reads a poem by the late, great Geoffrey Hill, who died last week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Books, culture and more from the TLS podcast, with Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – this week featuring: Athelstan – Britain's forgotten king; Mary Beard on the ancient precedent of our very modern referendum; a philosophical look at the ugly; English Country Houses, real and literary; and a poem, "Visiting Europe", by Bill Manhire Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Books, culture and more from the TLS podcast – this week featuring: responses to the refugee crisis, political and literary; the new Tate in London; Turkey's secular spaces; and a poem by Stephen Knight. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, gives the Elliott Lecture at St Antony's College Oxford, taking as her subject "The history of the Russian-Soviet soul". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Caines talks to two authors who have been shortlisted for the 2016 South Bank Sky Arts Awards.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew Beaumont, Michael Caines, Chloe Houston and Nicole Pohl discuss Thomas More's Utopia, first published 500 years ago in 1516, and utopianism in its many and varied forms.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Jenkins introduces and reads a selection of the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adrian Tahourdin and Mika Ross-Southall dip their toes in Casanova's celebrated memoirs.Find out more: www.the-tis.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catharine Morris and Michael Caines take a look at the English essayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.Find out more at the-tis.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Graydon looks at the poet Robert Browning, exploring the major role he played in the development of the dramatic monologue, with a selection of readings from his works. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare and Cervantes, Mika Ross-Southall introduces a talk on these two giants of world literature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Caines and Lucy Dallas take a tour of Thomas More's imaginary commonwealth, where private property has been abolished and reason rules all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toby Lichtig talks to Morris Dickstein about the ever-evolving relationship between Judaism and American literature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mika Ross-Southall and Michael Caines look at the enduring appeal of Thomas Chatterton, an icon of thwarted Romantic genius, and how he became a figure of especial importance for Oscar Wilde. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the centenary of Henry James's death, Catharine Morris and Michael Caines trace the course of his work as it was discussed in his lifetime – and as some of it appeared in the TLS itself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the 10th anniversary of her blog, A Don's Life, The TLS' Classics Editor Mary Beard joins Rozalind Dineen to discuss its success. Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Caines and Catharine Morris celebrate the bicentenary of Jane Austen's magnificent novel and its quixotic heroine.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Caines reads a short story about a man and a woman taking tea, watching the surfers at Morecambe Bay – and falling out over art.For more information, head to www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A selection of poems by Aphra Behn, John Milton, Alexander Pope and the Earl of Rochester.Read by Michael Caines, Mika Ross-Southall and Alan Jenkins. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Donne was the greatest English dramatic poet who never wrote a play. Here, Alan Jenkins reads a selection of his works. Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vertigo special: Toby Lichtig of The TLS introduces David Collard who compares Alfred Hitchcock's film interpretation to the original novel.The film was recently voted 'the best of all time' by 846 critics, programmers, academics and distributors. Find out more: www.the-tls.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Caines looks back to Douglas Oliver's long poem The Infant and the Pearl, first published in 1985 – a poetic vision of the contemporary political scene, among other things, cast in the mould of a medieval dream poem.Find out more: www.the-tls.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss a poem by J.H. Prynne called To Pollen, from 2006, which conducts its own examination of the uses and misuses of images and stories of suffering.Read by Robert Potts.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“August for the people and their favourite islands”, said W.H. Auden in 1935, with the Isle of Wight in mind. Now people’s favourite islands are more likely to be Majorca or Mykonos, but the lure of the seaside remains. Alan Jenkins reads a selection of holiday poems from the past eighty years.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Horspool and Lucy Dallas take an in-depth look at the world of cycling literature. Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of TLS Voices, Michael Caines and Mika Ross-Southall look at how tennis has inspired writers over the centuries.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of TLS Voices, Mika Ross-Southall and Michael Caines consider Shakespeare's collaborator John Fletcher – a major English dramatist whose work, paradoxically, is largely neglected today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of TLS Voices, Michael Caines, Natalie Ferris and Mika Ross-Southall explore the experimental work of Christine Brooke-Rose. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of TLS Voices, Adrian Tahourdin goes to Waterloo.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of TLS Voices, Michael Caines and Roz Dineen celebrate a selection of Byron's Letters and Journals.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

200 years since his birth, we discuss the life and work of Anthony Trollope. Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

100 years since its publication, Hermione Lee discusses The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf.In discussion with Thea Lenarduzzi from the TLS.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ruth Scurr talks about her unconventional approach to writing a biography of John Aubrey, the seventeenth-century biographer most famous for Brief Lives.In discussion with Mika Ross-Southall from the TLS.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Caines reads a selection of verses by the seventeenth-century poet Robert Herrick, as well as a remarkable and little-known elegy by the diarist John Evelyn.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Jenkins reads a selection of Ariel poems by, among others, Thomas Hardy, Walter de la Mare and T. S. Eliot, from Faber's Christmas pamphlet seriesFind out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to TLS Voices Deputy Editor Alan Jenkins considers the work of T. E. Hulme.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TLS VoicesMichael Caines considers the work of the war poet Ivor Gurney, and reads a selection from his work, including the previously unpublished poems "The Women at Work" and "The Vow of Life".Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.The TLS turns to the dark side, finding stories within stories, eyes in the dark, guilty consciences and beasts in the woods – tales from M. R. James, Edith Wharton and Saki, read and introduced by Michael Caines, Mika Ross-Southall and Lucy Dallas.3 of 3Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.The TLS turns to the dark side, finding stories within stories, eyes in the dark, guilty consciences and beasts in the woods – tales from M. R. James, Edith Wharton and Saki, read and introduced by Michael Caines, Mika Ross-Southall and Lucy Dallas.2 of 3Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.The TLS turns to the dark side, finding stories within stories, eyes in the dark, guilty consciences and beasts in the woods – tales from M. R. James, Edith Wharton and Saki, read and introduced by Michael Caines, Mika Ross-Southall and Lucy Dallas.1 of 3Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Poet, novelist and screenwriter Laurie Lee is discussed with further contribution from fellow writer, Ronald Blythe.Introduced by Michael Caines and Rozalind Dineen from The TLS.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Regular TLS contributor David Collard discusses Hugo Ball's Dadaist novel Flametti.Introduced by Toby LichtigFind out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Clive James reads a selection of poems first published in The TLS.Sentenced To LifeRounded With A SleepHolding CourtMy Father Before MeOccupation Housewife Winter PlumsIntroduced by Alan Jenkins.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Mary Beard discusses the recent production of Medea by Euripides, in a new version by Ben Power, at The National Theatre.Introduced by Rozalind Dineen.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Alan Jenkins reads a selection of poems from Edward Thomas.In addition, Rozalind Dineen reads a passage taken from Helen Thomas' memoirs, World Without End. Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Alex Clark tells us why she's looking forward to The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector and reads an extract from the book.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Frances Wilson tells us why she's looking forward to What You Want by Constantine Phipps and reads an extract from the book.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Lidija Haas tells us why she's looking forward to The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle by Francisco Goldman and reads an extract from the book.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Mary Beard tells us why she's looking forward to Augustus by John Williams and reads an extract from the book.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Alan Jenkins reads a selection of poems from Constantine P. Cavafy.Find out more: http://www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Alan Jenkins reads a selection of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Literary Supplement - an occasional series of readings.Alan Jenkins reads a collection of poems written by Ian Hamilton.The StormPretending Not to SleepMid-WinterAdmissionThe VisitNow and ThenCritiqueRoseReturningThe GardenAgainWebsite: http://www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.