London Review Bookshop Podcasts

The inaugural discussion of a new series to commemorate Frank Kermode's highly influential work saw Jacqueline Rose and Michael Wood, among others, ranging freely and informally across his contributions to criticism in numerous fields, from apocalyptic theory to contemporary fiction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What would happen if a story were successively translated by a series of novelists, each one working only from the version immediately prior to their own – the aim being to preserve that story’s style? Adam Thirlwell's Multiples set out to explore this idea. To celebrate its UK publication, several writers from the anthology - Tash Aw, A.S. Byatt, Joe Dunthorne, Adam Foulds, Ma Jian and Francesco Pacifico - joined Adam Thirlwell at the Bookshop to talk about the project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Kushner isn’t only a novelist. She is also a regular contributor of sharp criticism to such free-thinking American publications as Artforum, and however good her stories and sparkling her prose, she has other aims in her novel too. Its subject is inequality – economic, social, sexual – but the art world, with its attendant performances, is always there to complicate it." Naomi Fry (LRB 18 July 2013) Rachel Kushner came to the bookshop to talk about her new book, 'The Flamethrowers'. Set in the art world of the 1970s, the novel explores themes of gender, terrorism and authenticity. She spoke in conversation with Nina Power, senior lecturer in philosophy at Roehampton University and the author of 'One-Dimensional Woman'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author Joshua Cohen came to the shop celebrate the publication of Attention! a (short) history' (Notting Hill). He was joined by writer and critic Brian Dillon for a dicussion of the cultural history of the concept of attention: an evening of conversation which ranged across centuries and subjects, from Saint Augustine to amphetamines. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Distinguished critic and translator Edith Grossman was in conversation with Daniel Hahn of the British Centre for Literary Translation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

China Miéville read from his work, and discussed some of the issues raised by it with Ben Eastham, co-founder and editor of The White Review. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sheila Heti was in conversation about writing, life and the future of fiction with the critic and experimental novelist Adam Thirlwell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Marcus talks to Christian Lorentzen about his novel The Flame Alphabet, as well as previous works The Age of Wire and String and Notable American Women. Topics covered include online fiction magazines, mathematics, creating a religion, why writing courses are unfairly criticised, the influence of Borges, encyclopaedias as a source of literary delight and ‘Reader’s Cream’, a lotion Marcus is developing to improve reader sensitivity. Marcus’s latest book is Leaving the Sea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Turkish writer Kaya Genç discussed with Maureen Freely how his writing reflects and interacts with literary traditions, as well as Turkish culture, history and politics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Symmons Roberts has been described by Jeanette Winterson as ‘a religious poet for a secular age’ and by Les Murray as ‘a poet for the new chastened, unenforcing age of faith that has just dawned.’ His latest collection Drysalter (Jonathan Cape) is a series of 150 poems each of 15 lines and takes its name from the ancient trade in powders, chemicals, salts and dyes, while drawing formal inspiration from the Book of Psalms. Michael will be at the shop to read from his work, and to discuss his poetry and its inspirations with fellow poet and essayist Jean Sprackland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Wood visited the Bookshop to talk about his new collection of pieces, The Fun Stuff, and to discuss life, literature, and the role of the critic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Translators Adriana Hunter and Polly McLean shared their versions of a specially-commissioned short story by the French writer Emma Becker, with Sarah Ardizzone in the chair and Emma Becker herself on the panel. The event explored the particular challenges of translating erotic fiction, discussing the decisions the translators made about voice and vocabulary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our first Literary Friendships event brought together Colm Tóibín with his friend the writer László Krasznahorkai. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Glyn Maxwell offers us a guide to reading poetry in seven chapters: ‘White’, ‘Black’, ‘Form’, ‘Pulse’, ‘Chime’, ‘Space’ and ‘Time’. Described by Katy Evans-Bush in Poetry Review as being ‘as highly charged as a stick of poetry dynamite’, On Poetry sold out its first printing in less than a week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our first Live Translation event of the 2012-13 season explored the work of Guatemalan author Eduardo Halfon, named one of the best young Latin American writers by the Hay Festival of Bogotá. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the publication of the paperback edition of Mother, Brother, Lover, Jarvis Cocker joined us at the shop for a conversation with the novelist Jon McGregor – ‘Cocker’s lyrics were what made me want to tell stories’, McGregor wrote in the Guardian’s ‘My Hero’ column. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our International Translation Day event celebrated the distinguished career of Anthea Bell, who was in conversation with Daniel Hahn of the British Centre for Literary Translation. Literary translators are often compared to ventriloquists, but few have as many and varied voices as Anthea Bell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Self leads a panel discussion about questions thrown up by new technology, with special reference to ‘Kafka's Wound’, the digital literary essay he produced in collaboration with the LRB for The Space, a project from the Arts Council and BBC digital arts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Teju Cole came to the Bookshop to discuss his first novel, Open City. The book, which follows a young Nigerian-German psychiatrist in New York City five years after 9/11, was named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won both the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Internationaler Literaturpreis. Cole spoke in conversation with writer and journalist Max Liu. Their discussion took in the cities of Lagos, London and New York; W.G. Sebald; twitter as a literary medium; and the disturbing revelation which closes the novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'To the River' is the story of the Ouse, the Sussex river in which Virginia Woolf drowned in 1941. One midsummer week over sixty years later, Olivia Laing walked Woolf’s river from source to sea. The result is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love. Olivia came to the bookshop to talk about 'To the River' with Jean Sprackland, who won the 2012 Portico Prize for non-fiction for 'Strands: A Year of Discoveries on the Beach', a series of meditations prompted by walking on the wild estuarial beaches of Ainsdale Sands between Blackpool and Liverpool. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.