The TLS Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Notes on 50 years of the Man Booker Prize Jul 04, 2018

Show notes

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 Britain

Books

The White Working Class: What everyone needs to know by Justin Gest

Making Sense of the Alt-Right by George Hawley

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An interview with Tim Winton – a bonus episode Jun 27, 2018

Show notes

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.

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The wildness of Muriel Spark Jun 27, 2018

Show notes

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 period

Works discussed

The Centenary Edition of the Novels of Muriel Spark, edited by Alan Taylor

Tolkien: 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 TLS

Medieval Bodies: Life, death and art in the Middle Ages by Jack Hartnell

Sea of Caliphs: The Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world by Christophe Picard, translated by Nicholas Elliott

The Oxford English Literary History, Volume 1: 1000–1350: Conquest and Transformation by Laura Ashe

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Russia's blood games Jun 20, 2018

Show notes

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 passage

Books

Machines of Youth: America’s car obsession by Gary S. Cross

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Changing your mind and opening the doors Jun 13, 2018

Show notes

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.

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Rules of law Jun 13, 2018

Show notes

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.

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Jesmyn Ward’s lyrical fiction - a bonus episode Jun 07, 2018

Show notes

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.

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Those are pearls . . . and Michael Jackson's performative drama Jun 06, 2018

Show notes

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.

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Philip Roth and the translatable May 30, 2018

Show notes

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.

Books

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

The 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

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The making of me May 25, 2018

Show notes

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.

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