London Review Bookshop Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Sheila Fitzpatrick & James Meek: The Shortest History of the Soviet Union Feb 22, 2023

Show notes

Over a century after the Russian Revolution, the tumultuous history of the Soviet Union continues to fascinate us and influence global politics. In The Shortest History Of The Soviet Union (Old Street Publishing), acclaimed historian Sheila Fitzpatrick charts the development of the nation, from its accidental beginnings to its unexpected departure, and asks what lessons the global superpowers of today have learned from its story. Sheila Fitzpatrick was in conversation with writer, journalist and fellow LRB contributor James Meek.

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Katherine Rundell and Alice Spawls: The Golden Mole Feb 15, 2023

Show notes

Katherine Rundell has been writing about endangered animals in the LRB since 2018. Her new book, The Golden Mole, gathers those essays and new pieces into a bestiary of unusual and underappreciated creatures. Katherine was joined by LRB editor Alice Spawls in a discussion touching on Elizabethan celebrity bears, Amelia Earhart’s bones, and the greatest lie we’ve ever told: that the world is ours for the taking.

Find upcoming events on the Bookshop website: lrb.me/eventspod

You can read Katherine’s work in the LRB archives: lrb.me/rundell

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Derek Owusu & Jason Okundaye: Losing the Plot Feb 08, 2023

Show notes

Derek Owusu’s first novel That Reminds Me, a haunting, edgy Bildungsroman, won the Desmond Elliott prize in 2020. He was joined by Jason Okundaye to discuss and read from his second novel Losing the Plot, which continues his exploration of Black lives in Britain.

Find more events on our website: lrb.me/eventspod

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Wallace Shawn and Gareth Evans: Sleeping Among Sheep Under a Starry Sky Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

Wallace Shawn talks to Gareth Evans about his new collection of essays.

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Sophie Lewis & Lola Olufemi: Abolish the Family Jan 25, 2023

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In Abolish The Family, leading feminist critic Sophie Lewis asks us to imagine a world without families. She traces the history of family abolitionism, before introducing us to the groundbreaking politics of radical feminists and gay liberationists that have called for a society organised without the family at its core.

Lewis was joined by Lola Olufemi, author of Experiments In Imagining Otherwise.

Find more events at the Bookshop website: https://lrb.me/eventspod

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Vigdis Hjorth & Shahidha Bari: Is Mother Dead Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Vigdis Hjorth’s latest novel Is Mother Dead (translated by Charlotte Barslund; Verso) is a characteristic blend of thriller, metafiction, meditation on art, motherhood, belonging and surveillance. She cites as influences Brecht and Céline. Others have compared her to Kafka and Thomas Bernhard, but in truth, she is quite unique. Hjorth was in conversation with writer and broadcaster, Shahidha Bari.

Find more events on the Bookshop website: https://lrb.me/eventspod

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Chantal Mouffe & James Schneider: Towards a Green Democratic Revolution Jan 11, 2023

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Chantal Mouffe is one of the world’s leading left thinkers on power and populism. In her latest book, she proposes the creation of a broad coalition of movements under the banner of a Green Democratic Revolution to confront the impending ecological crisis.

Mouffe was joined in conversation with James Schneider, co-founder of Momentum and author of Our Bloc: How We Win.

Find more events at the Bookshop website: https://lrb.me/eventspod

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Martin Shaw and Claire Armistead: s t a g c u l t Jan 04, 2023

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A storyteller, mythologist and poet, Martin Shaw’s latest collection, s t a g c u l t (Hazel Press, 2022) lifts a lantern to a kind of haunting we can’t quite exorcise, or don’t wish to. Shaw was joined in conversation by Claire Armitstead, associate culture editor at the Guardian and presenter of their weekly books podcast.

Buy a copy of s t a g c u l t from the Bookshop: https://lrb.me/stagcult

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Lara Feigel and Lauren Elkin: Look! We Have Come Through! Dec 28, 2022

Show notes

In the spring of 2020 Lara Feigel found herself locked down with her partner, her two children and the works of D.H. Lawrence. In Look! We Have Come Through! (Bloomsbury) she blends biography, autobiography and literary criticism in a way familiar to readers of Free Woman, her book about Doris Lessing.

Feigel was joined in conversation about Lawrence and her own rediscovery of him with author Lauren Elkin.

Buy a copy of Look! We Have Come Through!: https://lrb.me/lawrencefeigel

Find upcoming events at the Bookshop website: https://lrb.me/eventspod

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Perdendosi: Edmund de Waal, Norman McBeath & Alexandra Harris Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Perdendosi: an instruction, typically at the end of a piece, for musicians to gradually diminish in volume, tempo and tone, to the point of disappearance. Photographer Norman McBeath uses the term to describe the way his images of fallen leaves portray how they lose colour and volume, turning from living things into something like parchment. During lockdown, McBeath’s images were a constant companion to artist and writer Edmund de Waal, who responds to them here with a series of texts evoking change, decay and transformation, a unique collaboration beautifully documented in a new book from Hazel Press.

McBeath and de Waal are in conversation with Alexandra Harris, Professor of English at Birmingham University and author of Weatherland and Romantic Moderns.

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