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Book NewsThe Guardian Books Podcast
guardian.co.uk © 2009 2013
Subscribe free to our weekly podcast, presented by editor of Guardian books Claire Armitstead, for author interviews, readings and discussions - plus a full recording of our monthly book club
Last feed update: Saturday May 25th, 2013 08:49:58 PM
Guardian Books podcast: Romantic fiction with Jenny Colgan, Graeme Simsion and DH Lawrence
Friday May 24th, 2013 03:58:52 PM
Jenny Colgan and Graeme Simsion reveal the summer's most romantic reads - and we listen in to the uncensored Sons and Lovers, to mark the centenary of its publication
James Salter reads Break it Down by Lydia Davis
Tuesday May 21st, 2013 10:47:40 AM
James Salter, the veteran American novelist and short story writer, reads a story by Lydia Davis, winner of the 2013 Man Booker International prize
Guardian Books podcast: Rick Gekoski on First Editions, Second Thoughts
Friday May 17th, 2013 12:03:37 PM
As Sotheby's prepares to auction first editions of books annotated by 50 top authors, curator and antiquarian book-dealer Rick Gekoski explains how he got all the greats to join in - and some of the secrets they reveal
Guardian Books podcast: Science, religion and the paranormal
Friday May 17th, 2013 02:26:47 PM
Geneticist Steve Jones considers the Bible as a science book, while magician turned historian of psychology Peter Lamont demystifies the paranormal
Guardian Books podcast: Memoirs of fathers and mothers
Friday May 10th, 2013 02:18:13 PM
Guardian books podcast: Novelist Bernadine Evaristo investigates how Maya Angelou's portrayal of her mother has changed in seven books spanning fifty years, Emma Brockes uncovers terrible secrets in her maternal family history, and anthologist Andre Gerard explains why they should all be called 'matremoirs'
Guardian Books podcast: Mark Haddon on The Curious Incident
Thursday May 2nd, 2013 12:46:19 PM
Mark Haddon talks to the Guardian Review book club about the crossover bestseller which launched his career, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Guardian Books podcast: Michael Rosen follows Emil to Berlin
Friday April 26th, 2013 01:35:25 PM
Michael Rosen goes to Berlin on the trail of Erich Kästner's boy sleuth from the children's classic Emil and the Detectives. Plus, Swiss German writer Rolf Dobelli explains The Art of Thinking Clearly
Guardian Books podcast: London Book Fair and Granta's Best Young Novelists
Friday April 19th, 2013 01:15:02 PM
Claire Armitstead tours this year's London Book Fair to find what's selling and what is on its way, and we look at Granta's list of the Best Young British Novelists
Guardian Books podcast: Richard Ford on The Sportswriter
Tuesday March 26th, 2013 01:00:27 PM
Richard Ford talks to John Mullan and the Guardian Review book club about the novel which made his name, The Sportswriter
Books podcast offer: The Guardian Audio Edition
Wednesday April 10th, 2013 09:41:59 AM
A selection of our best journalism across science, culture and sport in audio form
Guardian Books podcast: Political fiction
Thursday March 28th, 2013 02:38:49 PM
Jackie Kay pays tribute to the late Chinua Achebe, and Mohsin Hamid and Jim Crace join us to talk about their new political novels
Guardian Books podcast: Colm Tóibín on The Testament of Mary
Friday March 29th, 2013 08:00:59 PM
Colm Tóibín reads from his reimagining of the life of the mother of Christ, The Testament of Mary, and answers questions from the Guardian Review Book Club
Guardian Books podcast: Literature on the couch
Friday March 22nd, 2013 04:15:40 PM
We examine what makes us who we are, with Andrew Solomon, Greg Bellow and Stephen Grosz
Guardian Books podcast: Irish writers for St Patrick's Day
Friday March 15th, 2013 08:00:41 AM
Draw up a chair and celebrate St Patrick's Day with readings from WB Yeats, Bernard Shaw, Sean O'Casey and Liam O'Flaherty
Guardian Books podcast: Literature in translation and water stories
Friday March 15th, 2013 02:06:41 PM
We expand our horizons with the publisher Christopher MacLehose, the French novelist Philippe Claudel and the launch of a series of short stories from writers around the world inspired by water
Guardian Books podcast: Australian writing at the Adelaide festival
Friday March 8th, 2013 01:05:43 PM
A special edition from Writers' week at the Adelaide festival, uncovering lost Australian classics, new Aboriginal literature and the best young poets
Guardian Books poetry podcast: Jackie Kay reads Edwin Morgan
Thursday February 28th, 2013 10:22:14 AM
Jackie Kay rounds off our series of poets choosing their favourite poems with verses from Edwin Morgan's Love and a Life
Guardian Books poetry podcast: David Harsent reads Yannis Ritsos
Wednesday February 27th, 2013 10:23:32 AM
David Harsent reads three short poems by the Greek poet Yannis Ritsos, in his own translations
Guardian Books poetry podcast: John Burnside reads Maxine Kumin
Tuesday February 26th, 2013 10:25:19 AM
Today John Burnside chooses The Retrieval System by Maxine Kumin, a look at doubling mirrored in its intricate rhyme scheme
Guardian Books poetry podcast: Paul Farley reads Patrick Kavanagh
Friday February 15th, 2013 10:26:23 AM
Our series of poets reading favourite works continues with Paul Farley reading 'Innocence' by Patrick Kavanagh
Guardian Books poetry podcast: Imtiaz Dharker reads Elizabeth Bishop, Louis MacNeice and Arun Kolatkar
Friday February 15th, 2013 10:27:29 AM
Imtiaz Dharker launches our second week of poets choosing their favourite poems with a dazzling trio: One Art by Elizabeth Bishop, Meeting Point by Louis MacNeice and Yeshwant Rao by Arun Kolatkar
Guardian Books poetry podcast: Alice Oswald reads There Was a Man of Double Deed
Friday February 15th, 2013 10:28:15 AM
Alice Oswald rounds off the first week in our series of poets choosing their favourite poem with a reading of a nursery rhyme, There Was a Man of Double Deed
Guardian Books Poetry podcast: Fleur Adcock reads Judith Wright
Wednesday February 13th, 2013 10:29:12 AM
The latest podcast in our series of poets choosing their favourite poem finds Fleur Adcock reading Judith Wright's Request To A Year
Guardian Books poetry podcast: Michael Symmons Roberts reads John Donne
Wednesday February 13th, 2013 10:29:59 AM
Michael Symmons Roberts continues our series of poets choosing their favourite poems with a reading of John Donne's Elegy XIX: To His Mistress Going To Bed
Guardian Books poetry podcast: Fiona Sampson reads George Herbert
Tuesday February 12th, 2013 10:30:42 AM
Fiona Sampson continues our series of poets choosing their favourite lines with two poems from George Herbert, Love and Heaven
Guardian Books poetry podcast: Simon Armitage reads Ted Hughes
Wednesday February 13th, 2013 10:31:47 AM
One Yorkshire poet reads another as Simon Armitage continues our series of poets choosing their favourite verses with Ted Hughes's Full Moon and Little Frieda
Guardian Books poetry podcast: Robin Robertson reads David Jones
Friday February 8th, 2013 10:33:42 AM
Our series of poets choosing their favourite poem continues with Robin Robertson reading from David Jones's In Parenthesis
Guardian Books poetry podcast: Jo Shapcott reads Emily Dickinson
Friday February 8th, 2013 10:34:33 AM
Jo Shapcott kicks off a new series of poets reading from their favourite work by another author. Shapcott picks Emily Dickinson
Guardian Books podcast: Carol Ann Duffy's Love Poems for Valentine's Day
Wednesday February 13th, 2013 11:31:40 AM
The poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, reads from her collection Love Poems at a special Valentine's Day edition of the Guardian Book Club
Guardian book club podcast: The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
Thursday February 7th, 2013 10:26:41 AM
Kate Summerscale talks about her prize-winning story of a bloody Victorian murder
Guardian Books podcast: Crime fiction with Joseph Wambaugh and Gillian Flynn
Thursday January 31st, 2013 01:31:25 PM
We're on the trail of the best American crime writing, with Gillian Flynn, Joseph Wambaugh, Michael Koryta and Peter Messent
Guardian Books podcast: Creative writing courses and Hugh Howey
Friday January 25th, 2013 12:06:16 AM
Are creative writing courses cultural powerhouses or an elaborate con? We drop in on a Birkbeck seminar, investigate the effects of teaching the craft of fiction and hear from Hugh Howey, who took a very different route to success
Guardian Books podcast: Women writers - Austen, Plath, Olds and Segal
Friday January 18th, 2013 05:08:07 PM
This week, women writers down the ages: from Jane Austen's most famous novel at 200, Sylvia Plath's at 50, and 2013's crop of prize winners
Guardian Books podcast: the books of 2013 and Daniel Tammet on maths
Friday January 11th, 2013 04:02:05 PM
Claire Armitstead, Sarah Crown and The Bookseller's Benedicte Page bring us the books to look out for in 2013, and mathematician Daniel Tammet discusses the links between numbers and literature
Will Self reads 'On Exactitude in Science' by Jorge Luis Borges
Friday December 7th, 2012 10:15:15 AM
Jorge Luis Borges's combination of the anecdotal, philosophical and the literary showed Will Self how to achieve the 'truly veridical'. He gets his coordinates from 'On Exactitude in Science'
Nathan Englander reads 'The Story of My Dovecote' by Isaac Babel
Friday December 7th, 2012 10:12:41 AM
Nathan Englander finds Jewish history, corruption and man's inhumanity to man and pigeons in Isaac Babel's 'The Story Of My Dovecote'
Sebastian Barry reads 'Eveline' by James Joyce
Wednesday December 12th, 2012 09:55:46 AM
Forty years after he first read it, Sebastian Barry returns to James Joyce's short story Eveline
Anita Desai reads The Postmaster by Rabindranath Tagore
Friday December 7th, 2012 11:59:16 AM
Rabindranath Tagore returned again and again to the voiceless women of Bengal, as in his short story The Postmaster, says Anita Desai
Jon McGregor reads 'Notes from the House Spirits' by Lucy Wood
Friday December 14th, 2012 08:50:26 AM
Lucy Wood builds a story from glimpses and suggestions in 'Notes from the House Spirits', says Jon McGregor
Yiyun Li reads 'Three People' by William Trevor
Friday December 7th, 2012 07:18:08 AM
Yiyun Li reads William Trevor's 'Three People', a short story which moved her to write a story in reply, 'Gold Boy, Emerald Girl'
AS Byatt reads 'At Hiruharama' by Penelope Fitzgerald
Friday December 14th, 2012 09:15:49 AM
Penelope Fitzgerald looks at the world anew in her short story 'At Hiruharama', says AS Byatt
Hanif Kureishi reads 'A Hunger Artist' by Franz Kafka
Friday December 14th, 2012 08:51:04 AM
Franz Kafka's story of a man who starves himself for entertainment, The Hunger Artist, is 'absurb, moving and timely', says Hanif Kureishi
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reads 'No Sweetness Here' by Ama Ata Aidoo
Friday December 7th, 2012 09:39:23 AM
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie admires the 'old-fashioned social realism' of Ama Ata Aidoo's 'No Sweetness Here'
Nadine Gordimer reads 'The Centaur' by José Saramago
Friday December 7th, 2012 08:34:02 AM
José Saramago tackles the conflict between mind and body in 'The Centaur', says Nadine Gordimer
Simon Callow reads 'The Christmas Tree' by Charles Dickens
Thursday December 20th, 2012 09:40:17 AM
Charles Dickens celebrated Christmas throughout his writing life. His autobiographical story 'A Christmas Tree' is 'almost Proustian', says Simon Callow
Ruth Rendell reads 'Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook' by MR James
Thursday December 20th, 2012 08:19:46 AM
Ruth Rendell doesn't believe in ghosts, of course, but MR James's stories, like 'Canon Alberic's Scrapbook', frighten her nonetheless
Richard Ford reads 'The Student's Wife' by Raymond Carver
Friday December 7th, 2012 08:01:28 AM
Despite their restraint, Raymond Carver's 'early-period' stories, such as The Student's Wife, are full to the brim, says Richard Ford
Zadie Smith reads 'Umberto Buti' by Giuseppe Pontiggia
Friday December 7th, 2012 09:49:08 AM
Zadie Smith launches our winter series of short stories with an almost 'anti-Italian' story from Giuseppe Pontiggia, 'Umberto Buti'
Guardian Books podcast: Hilary Mantel on Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies
Thursday December 13th, 2012 03:49:25 PM
Hilary Mantel talks to John Mullan about her Man Booker prizewinning novels on the life of Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies. She also answers questions from the audience at a special Book Club in the Drapers Hall in the City of London, on the site of Cromwell's former home
Guardian Artangel Books podcast: Colm Tóibín in A Room For London
Wednesday December 12th, 2012 03:51:27 PM
Colm Tóibín reads a short story inspired by Heart of Darkness, written while he was living in A Room For London, a model of Joseph Conrad's boat positioned on the roof of London's South Bank Centre
Guardian Books podcast: Winter, kitchen technology and the joy of paper
Tuesday December 11th, 2012 03:07:26 PM
Ice from Adam Gopnik, fire from Bee Wilson and a hymn of praise to the pleasures of handwriting in our Books podcast seasonal special
Guardian Books podcast: Philip Pullman on Grimm Tales
Wednesday December 5th, 2012 02:10:24 PM
Philip Pullman reads from his new book of Grimm Tales and talks to John Mullan at the Guardian book club
Guardian Artangel Books podcast: Adonis in A Room for London
Tuesday December 4th, 2012 03:09:34 PM
During his week in A Room For London - a model boat on the roof of London's Queen Elizabeth Hall - Syrian poet Adonis talks to Nicholas Wroe about poetry, politics and London's literary greats
Guardian Books podcast: Kevin Powers wins Guardian first book award
Friday November 30th, 2012 05:16:50 PM
Kevin Powers, an American ex-soldier and poet, has won the Guardian first book award with The Yellow Birds. It's a novel about fighting, and surviving, the war in Iraq
Guardian Books podcast: Humour and Kurt Vonnegut
Friday November 23rd, 2012 02:57:16 PM
Kurt Vonnegut's daughter Nanette rediscovers her father's funny side, and the creator of Bleak Expectations turns the radio hit into a novel
Guardian Books podcast: graphic novels, with Robert and Aline Crumb
Thursday November 15th, 2012 02:12:50 PM
The artists Robert and Aline Crumb talk about Drawn Together, a book of 40 years-worth of strips they've been producing about themselves; plus, this year's Observer/Cape/Comica graphic short story winner
Guardian Artangel Books podcast: Kamila Shamsie in A Room for London
Wednesday October 31st, 2012 06:14:58 PM
Novelist Kamila Shamsie takes her turn in A Room for London - a model boat on the top of the South Bank - and ruminates on Conrad, Virginia Woolf and the women adventurers of her own family
Guardian book club: Rose Tremain on Restoration
Tuesday November 6th, 2012 04:34:15 PM
Rose Tremain tells how she began writing Restoration to restore the reputation of historical fiction
Guardian Books podcast: Hospital stories with Thomas Keneally and Sarah Wise
Friday November 2nd, 2012 01:55:51 PM
Thomas Keneally tells how he found a novel in a stash of nurses' journals, Sarah Wise on the ghosts of Victorian mental health and Brooke Magnanti on the Wellcome prize for medicine in literature
Books podcast: Biography lives on - from David Foster Wallace to Dumas
Friday October 19th, 2012 12:54:29 PM
There's a huge appetite for reading biographies, and thousands are written each year. But is it still a relevant kind of writing? Three authors tell us their Life stories
Guardian Books podcast: Maps from Ptolemy to Google
Wednesday October 17th, 2012 12:19:52 PM
We chart how maps have transformed the way we look at the world with Simon Garfield and Jerry Brotton
Guardian Books podcast: Hilary Mantel wins second Booker prize
Tuesday October 16th, 2012 05:23:59 PM
Hilary Mantel has taken the Man Booker prize for an historic second time with Bring Up the Bodies, the sequel to her 2009 winner on the life of Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall
Guardian book club: Iain M Banks on Use of Weapons
Thursday September 27th, 2012 12:06:59 PM
Iain M Banks explains how his science fiction novel grew out of a quite different kind of story – and a misunderstanding of structuralism
Guardian Books podcast: Pete Townshend, Neil Young and poetry books
Friday October 5th, 2012 03:29:10 PM
We harvest the best of this year's crop of celebrity memoirs, including rock'n'roll legends Pete Townshend and Neil Young, and hear from Forward-winning poet Jorie Graham
Guardian Artangel Books podcast: Ahdaf Soueif in A Room for London
Friday September 28th, 2012 11:38:26 AM
Ahdaf Soueif, the latest writer to take up residence in A Room for London, muses on rivers, bridges and terminals as motifs in the history of oppression and resistance
Guardian Books podcast: Crime fiction with Agatha Christie and Attica Locke
Friday September 28th, 2012 03:19:25 PM
We investigate a waspish essay on crime writing from Agatha Christie, Attica Locke considers race and history in the American south and Tanya Byrne tells us about young readers who are turning to crime
Guardian Books podcast: Moby-Dick Big Read and Robert Graves remembered
Friday September 21st, 2012 01:55:43 PM
David Cameron and Tilda Swinton are among the readers of a new online version of Moby Dick; poet and novelist Robert Graves' last years on Mallorca are recalled by his great nephew Simon Gough
Guardian Artangel books podcast: Teju Cole
Monday September 17th, 2012 07:30:21 AM
Teju Cole, the latest writer to take up residence in A Room for London, remembers a dinner with the great grouchy outsider VS Naipaul
Guardian Books podcast: JB Priestley and Javier Marías
Friday September 14th, 2012 12:33:51 PM
As JB Priestley's classic, English Journey, is republished, the comedian Roy Hudd and Priestley's son Tom celebrate his legacy, while the Spanish novelist Javier Marías tells us what it's like to become a classic
Guardian Books podcast: Man Booker prize shortlist 2012
Tuesday September 11th, 2012 04:35:43 PM
Claire Armitstead reviews the Man Booker shortlist with reporter Alison Flood and arts correspondent Mark Brown
Guardian Books podcast: Zadie Smith and James Meek
Friday September 7th, 2012 12:33:21 PM
Zadie Smith tells us how her latest novel, NW, made the return journey to north London, while James Meek investigates the science of Tolstoy
Guardian Books podcast: Guardian first book award longlist
Friday August 31st, 2012 10:40:46 AM
We discuss the longlist for the 2012 Guardian first book award, which mixes fiction and nonfiction with a poetry collection chosen by our readers
Guardian children's books podcast: Margo Lanagan and Melvin Burgess
Thursday August 30th, 2012 08:00:24 AM
This month's teen book club authors Margo Lanagan and Melvin Burgess read from and discuss their books Tender Morsels and Doing It, recorded at the Edinburgh books festivalFind out more about the teen book club with Melvin Burgess and Margo Lanagan
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: Jonathan Steele, Sadakat Kadri and Carlos Gamerro
Friday August 24th, 2012 11:10:15 AM
In the last of our Edinburgh podcasts, we look at the myths behind sharia law and the invasion of Afghanistan, while Carlos Gamerro examines the hold the Falkland Islands still exert on the Argentinian psyche
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: Junot Diaz, Claire Kilroy and Paul Durcan
Thursday August 23rd, 2012 03:00:28 PM
Dominican American writer Junot Diaz explores matters of the heart in masculine culture, Irish novelist Claire Kilroy explains why she set her new new novel against the mounting international debt crisis, and Paul Durcan hymns the crusty glories of the Irish loaf
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: Frank Westerman and Vic Armstrong
Wednesday August 22nd, 2012 12:14:10 PM
Frank Westerman charts the bloodline of the Lipizzaner horse – beloved of Hitler, Stalin and Tito – while the godfather of all stuntmen, Vic Armstrong, reveals whether Tom Cruise really does his own stunts ...
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: highlights from the World Writers' Conference
Wednesday August 22nd, 2012 01:02:27 PM
Fifty years after the explosive International Writers Conference was held in Edinburgh, contemporary writes have gathered to revisit the themes their predecessors considered in 1962
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: Kirsty Gunn and Kevin Barry
Monday August 20th, 2012 04:23:41 PM
Kirsty Gunn tells Charlotte Higgins how her new book The Big Music is structured like a piece of traditional bagpipe music. Kevin Barry tells Claire Armitstead that his short stories, while written in remote County Sligo, are based on his wide travels
Guardian Edinburgh Book Festival podcast: Pat Barker discusses Regeneration at Book Club
Sunday August 19th, 2012 04:24:36 PM
Pat Barker, author of the first world war novel Regeneration, which became a trilogy of the same name, comes to a special session of the Guardian Book Club at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. She talks to Professor John Mullan.
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: the Edwin Morgan Poetry prize
Sunday August 19th, 2012 10:46:23 AM
Five poets shortlisted for the annual Edwin Morgan Poetry prize read their entries at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, then we tell you the winner
Guardian Edinburgh Books Festival podcast: Translation and Metaphor
Friday August 17th, 2012 09:25:54 AM
Translator David Bellos and author James Geary debate the challenge of metaphor, while novelists Anjali Joseph and Nikita Lalwani discuss writing about foreign countries
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: World Writers' Conference with Jim Haynes
Thursday August 16th, 2012 11:35:10 AM
Jim Haynes remembers founding the original World Writers' Conference at Edinburgh 50 years ago. Plus Clive Stafford Smith and Raja Shehadeh
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: historical fiction with Hilary Mantel and Gillian Slovo
Thursday August 16th, 2012 02:39:00 PM
Should historical fiction be romantic, or politically accurate? Gillian Slovo and Hilary Mantel discuss their latest books, on Thomas Cromwell and Gordon of Khartoum. Elsewhere, Richard Holloway considers the problem of certainty in religion
Guardian Books podcast: Ned Beauman and Alasdair Gray at Edinburgh International Book Festival
Tuesday August 14th, 2012 02:15:39 PM
In our podcast from day four of the festival, Booker longlisted author Ned Beauman muses on The Teleportation Accident and Alasdair Gray considers the independence vote for Scotland
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: Nell Freudenberger, Sjon, Jess Richards and Michael Sandel
Tuesday August 14th, 2012 08:42:06 AM
In our podcast from day three of the festival, Nell Freudenberger talks about her novel The Newlyweds, and Jess Richards and Sjon discuss islands in literature, and Michael Sandel considers Paul Ryan's place on the US presidential campaign
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: war stories, horror and democratic Islam
Monday August 13th, 2012 08:14:40 AM
Simon Mawer and Michèle Roberts discuss their books set in occupied France, Louise Welsh moves from Glasgow to Berlin and Maajid Nawaz tells of how he moved from Muslim militancy to starting a movement for democratic Islam
Edinburgh International Book festival podcast: Andrew Motion, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Paul Mason
Saturday August 11th, 2012 07:15:01 AM
Frank Cottrell-Boyce on his new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang story, Andrew Motion on his follow-up to Treasure Island - Silver - and Paul Mason on what he now thinks about the revolutionary movements across the world: on the first day of Edinburgh Book Festival.
Guardian Books podcast: Edinburgh International Book festival preview
Friday August 3rd, 2012 02:06:04 PM
The Edinburgh International Book festival will welcome authors from 55 different countries, and include the first world writers conference in 50 years. Director Nick Barley previews some big names and we hear some participants from our own archive
Guardian Artangel Books podcast: Alain Mabanckou in A Room for London
Thursday August 9th, 2012 08:00:26 AM
The Congolese-born novelist is the latest writer to take up residency in A Room for London atop the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. Listen to the thoughts inspired by his stay
Guardian Books podcast: Summer reading
Friday August 3rd, 2012 12:49:17 PM
We round up this summer's hottest books to pack in your suitcase – or download on to your e-reader – with the Booker-longlisted Deborah Levy and Twitter hit Keith Ridgway
Gore Vidal on politics and patriotism: Guardian Books podcast
Wednesday August 1st, 2012 02:44:11 PM
Gore Vidal, who died yesterday, made his last visit to the UK in 2008, during the run-up to the US election. He appeared at the Hay Festival, and spoke to Claire Armitstead about his views on Obama's prospects for victory, and what it would take to make him proud to be an American
Guardian Books podcast: Writers as readers
Friday July 27th, 2012 12:17:30 PM
Every writer is first a reader – a solitary experience which Siri Hustvedt addresses head on in her latest collection of essays. Ben Lerner tells us about the books which inspired his debut novel, and we hear from The Bookshop Band
Guardian Books podcast: Sebastian Faulks on his novel Birdsong
Tuesday July 10th, 2012 01:39:01 PM
Sebastian Faulks comes to the Guardian Review Book Club to talk about his first world war novel, Birdsong, with Professor John Mullan
Guardian Books podcast: Olympic literature
Friday July 13th, 2012 12:36:17 PM
Get set for the London Olympics with a stack of books to put your literary life into training including fiction from Alexander MacLeod and Ben Fountain
Landscape and literature podcast: Alice Oswald on the Dart river
Thursday July 5th, 2012 11:18:42 AM
In the last in our series, Alice Oswald takes Madeleine Bunting for a walk along the river Dart and explains why, for her, water represents the complexity of putting an ever-changing landscape in to words
Landscape and literature podcast: Rachel Lichtenstein in Whitechapel, London
Thursday July 5th, 2012 11:08:12 AM
Artist and writer Rachel Lichtenstein takes Madeleine Bunting to Whitechapel in east London to revisit her own past and consider a place that has changed dramatically since her grandparents arrived there in the 1930s
Landscape and literature podcast: Robert MacFarlane in Orford Ness
Monday July 9th, 2012 11:04:08 AM
Robert Macfarlane kicks off our three-part series about literature and landscape. He takes Madeleine Bunting to the mysterious landscape of Orford Ness, a decommissioned nuclear testing site now owned by the National Trust
Guardian Books podcast: The pursuit of happiness
Friday July 6th, 2012 12:00:06 PM
Is positive thinking the route to happiness? Oliver Burkeman and Jules Evans make the case for looking on the dark side, while the narrator of Joanna Kavenna's latest novel takes off in search of a new way of living
Guardian Artangel books podcast: Michael Ondaatje
Tuesday July 3rd, 2012 12:30:19 PM
The Booker-winning novelist is the sixth writer to take up residency in A Room for London on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank. Listen to the thoughts inspired by his stay
Guardian Books podcast: Minority language literature
Friday June 29th, 2012 03:21:48 PM
What riches are to be found in the lesser-known languages of Europe? We talk to Clive Boutle and Paul Gubbins about the pleasures of publishing on the edge, and welcome the poet Gillan Clarke, who is headlining a festival of poetry and music in both Welsh and English
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'Nothin' but Blues Skies' tells Rust Belt stories
Sunday May 26th, 2013 07:00:00 AM By Scott Martelle
Edward McClelland's book reminds us of what has transpired in the heartland of America over the past 30 years.
To drive these days through Great Lakes cities — Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, among others — is to drive through the nation's industrial past. The iconic images have become Rust Belt cliché: weed-choked parking lots, windowless houses, cold factories stripped of their metals and open to the elements.
To drive these days through Great Lakes cities — Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, among others — is to drive through the nation's industrial past. The iconic images have become Rust Belt cliché: weed-choked parking lots, windowless houses, cold factories stripped of their metals and open to the elements.
'The Sad Passions' paints haunting tale of loss and art
Friday May 24th, 2013 04:00:00 PM By Margaret Wappler, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Veronica Gonzalez Peña follows the lives of a middle-class Mexican family that has been shaped by absence, loss, sickness and dead dreams.
Spectral girls and shadow fathers haunt the center and fringes of Veronica Gonzalez Peña's second novel, "The Sad Passions," but this isn't magical realism. These aren't spirits who visit in the middle of the night. These phantom girls and men are living, flesh-and-blood characters shaped by absence and loss, sickness and dead dreams. "The Sad Passions" knows that half-erased people are more devastating than any ghost.
Spectral girls and shadow fathers haunt the center and fringes of Veronica Gonzalez Peña's second novel, "The Sad Passions," but this isn't magical realism. These aren't spirits who visit in the middle of the night. These phantom girls and men are living, flesh-and-blood characters shaped by absence and loss, sickness and dead dreams. "The Sad Passions" knows that half-erased people are more devastating than any ghost.
J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Fall of Arthur' and the path to Middle-Earth
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 07:00:00 PM By Elizabeth Hand
The long unfinished poem edited by J.R.R. Tolkien's son, Christopher, provides fascinating insight into the author's work.
The books go ever on and on. Forty years after his death at 81, works by J.R.R. Tolkien continue to appear. The latest, "The Fall of Arthur," lists nine works published during his lifetime ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy appears as a single title) and 24 posthumously, including the 12-volume "History of Middle-Earth," edited by Tolkien's son and literary executor Christopher.
The books go ever on and on. Forty years after his death at 81, works by J.R.R. Tolkien continue to appear. The latest, "The Fall of Arthur," lists nine works published during his lifetime ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy appears as a single title) and 24 posthumously, including the 12-volume "History of Middle-Earth," edited by Tolkien's son and literary executor Christopher.
Khaled Hosseini sets 'And the Mountains Echoed' against Afghan history
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 08:30:00 PM By Wendy Smith, Special to the Los Angeles Times
A father's decision to give his 3-year-old daughter to a wealthy family in Kabul begins an almost 60-year Afghan history lesson as recounted by the characters in Khaled Hosseini's newest novel.
Although Khaled Hosseini has lived in the United States since he was 15, he remains engaged in the struggles of his native Afghanistan, which he has made palpable for Western readers in two bestselling novels, "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns." His beautifully written, masterfully crafted new book, "And the Mountains Echoed," spans nearly 60 years of Afghan history as it investigates the consequences of a desperate act that scars two young lives and resonates through many others.
Although Khaled Hosseini has lived in the United States since he was 15, he remains engaged in the struggles of his native Afghanistan, which he has made palpable for Western readers in two bestselling novels, "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns." His beautifully written, masterfully crafted new book, "And the Mountains Echoed," spans nearly 60 years of Afghan history as it investigates the consequences of a desperate act that scars two young lives and resonates through many others.
Judge rules gifts cards from belly-up Borders bookstores worthless
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 02:45:00 PM By Jenny Hendrix
Those clinging hopefully to the old Borders books gift cards stashed in their drawers or wallets are out of luck, a Manhattan federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Those clinging hopefully to the old Borders books gift cards stashed in their drawers or wallets are out of luck, a Manhattan federal judge ruled Wednesday. According to Reuters, there are about $210.5 million worth of such cards that had not been used by the time the bookstore chain went out of business in September 2011. All of which are now "equitably moot."
Those clinging hopefully to the old Borders books gift cards stashed in their drawers or wallets are out of luck, a Manhattan federal judge ruled Wednesday. According to Reuters, there are about $210.5 million worth of such cards that had not been used by the time the bookstore chain went out of business in September 2011. All of which are now "equitably moot."
Paperless public library to open in Texas
Wednesday May 22nd, 2013 03:02:00 PM By Jenny Hendrix
A groundbreaking paperless public library system will open in Texas this year, the BBC reports.
A groundbreaking paperless public library system will open in Texas this year, the BBC reports. Bexar County's $1.5-million BiblioTech project will open its first library branch without a single print book.
A groundbreaking paperless public library system will open in Texas this year, the BBC reports. Bexar County's $1.5-million BiblioTech project will open its first library branch without a single print book.
Qantas to fly the literary skies
Tuesday May 21st, 2013 03:31:00 PM By Jenny Hendrix
Australia's Qantas Airlines is promoting the announcement of its extended flight routes by commissioning a series of books that last exactly as long as each flight.
Australia's Qantas Airlines is promoting the announcement of its extended flight routes by commissioning a series of books that last exactly as long as each flight.
Australia's Qantas Airlines is promoting the announcement of its extended flight routes by commissioning a series of books that last exactly as long as each flight.
No e-book for Stephen King's new novel, 'Joyland'
Monday May 20th, 2013 03:25:00 PM By Jenny Hendrix
In a move to bump up physical book sales, Stephen King will not release an e-book version of his new novel, "Joyland," the Wall Street Journal reports.
In a move to bump up physical book sales, Stephen King will not release an e-book version of his new novel, "Joyland," the Wall Street Journal reports.
In a move to bump up physical book sales, Stephen King will not release an e-book version of his new novel, "Joyland," the Wall Street Journal reports.
Jaron Lanier takes a hard look at the wired world
Thursday May 16th, 2013 09:15:00 PM By Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
The Writer's Life: The smart, accessible 'Who Owns the Future?' peers critically at the online state of affairs and finds it out of balance.
Jaron Lanier has a research job with Microsoft. He won't go into specfics, but it has something to do with imagining the future and asking questions.
Jaron Lanier has a research job with Microsoft. He won't go into specfics, but it has something to do with imagining the future and asking questions.
Mo Hayder's 'Poppet' takes nuanced, compelling look at evil
Friday May 17th, 2013 07:00:00 PM By Paula L. Woods, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Detective Inspector Jack Caffery and Sgt. Flea Marley investigate strange occurrences at a psychiatric hospital and the disappearance of a footballer's wife.
Since introducing Detective Inspector Jack Caffery 14 years ago in "Birdman," Mo Hayder has written some of the grisliest crime fiction in recent memory. Caffery's cases in London and, later, in Bristol's Major Crime Investigation Team, have included the murder and bizarre postmortem autopsies of women by a surgically trained serial killer, abducted children and sadistic African rituals. That's enough evil to keep readers awake long after the cases are solved.
Since introducing Detective Inspector Jack Caffery 14 years ago in "Birdman," Mo Hayder has written some of the grisliest crime fiction in recent memory. Caffery's cases in London and, later, in Bristol's Major Crime Investigation Team, have included the murder and bizarre postmortem autopsies of women by a surgically trained serial killer, abducted children and sadistic African rituals. That's enough evil to keep readers awake long after the cases are solved.
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Last feed update: Saturday May 25th, 2013 08:49:59 PM
ArtsBeat: Book Review Podcast: Lamenting Defectors, Soviet and Otherwise
Saturday May 25th, 2013 12:57:33 AM By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Elliott Holt discusses her novel “You Are One of Them”; Rick Atkinson discusses his “The Guns at Last Light”; Julie Bosman has notes from the field; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news.

ArtsBeat: More Staff Members Leave Granta
Saturday May 25th, 2013 12:24:10 AM By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
The publisher of the magazine’s book imprint, Philip Gwyn Jones, is leaving, the latest in a string of departures.

TBR: Inside the List
Friday May 24th, 2013 05:12:41 PM By GREGORY COWLES
Crime sellers in the spotlight and Dan Brown’s “Inferno” makes its debut on the hardcover fiction list at No. 1.

Maria Semple: By the Book
Friday May 24th, 2013 04:27:26 PM
The author of “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” calls Franzen her “big daddy” — “My favorite kind of book is a domestic drama that’s grounded in reality yet slightly unhinged.”

‘Hannah Arendt’ Directed by Margarethe von Trotta
Friday May 24th, 2013 03:52:47 PM By FRED KAPLAN
A new film recalls how, 50 years ago, Hannah Arendt’s “Eichmann in Jerusalem” set off furious debates and coined the phrase “the banality of evil.”
‘Between My Father and the King,’ by Janet Frame
Friday May 24th, 2013 03:46:20 PM By ALISON McCULLOCH
Janet Frame was saved from undergoing a lobotomy when a book of her stories won a local literary prize.
‘The Hanging Garden,’ by Patrick White
Friday May 24th, 2013 03:42:15 PM By JOHN SUTHERLAND
In the eyes of Patrick White’s two refugee children, most Australians are horrible and very few are kind.
Open Book: Battle of the Brain
Friday May 24th, 2013 03:34:14 PM By JOHN WILLIAMS
The National Institute of Mental Health has distanced itself from the “D.S.M.,” the so-called bible of psychiatry, the fifth edition of which is published this week.
‘My Bright Abyss,’ by Christian Wiman
Friday May 24th, 2013 03:23:07 PM By KATHLEEN NORRIS‘You Are One of Them,’ by Elliott Holt
Friday May 24th, 2013 03:08:51 PM By MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD
Amid entanglements between Russia and young Americans, a first novel explores the sense of betrayal in the loss of family and friends.
‘Flora,’ by Gail Godwin
Friday May 24th, 2013 02:59:07 PM By LEAH HAGER COHENPaperback Row
Friday May 24th, 2013 02:52:21 PM By IHSAN TAYLOREssay: Bulgakov’s Ghost
Friday May 24th, 2013 02:43:09 PM By EMILY PARKERCrime: Walter Mosley’s ‘Little Green,’ and More
Friday May 24th, 2013 02:18:14 PM By MARILYN STASIO
Walter Mosley is never better than when he’s got a juicy cut of history to chew on — this time the late ’60s.
‘Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan,’ by William Dalrymple
Friday May 24th, 2013 01:58:48 PM By JOHN DARWIN
William Dalrymple seeks contemporary lessons in Britain’s disastrous 19th-century invasion of Afghanistan.
‘Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir,’ by Amanda Knox
Friday May 24th, 2013 01:54:04 PM By SAM TANENHAUS‘What Jane Saw,’ an Online Exhibition for Austen Fans
Friday May 24th, 2013 12:00:01 PM By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
The online exhibit “What Jane Saw” allows viewers to peruse a London gallery as Jane Austen saw it in 1813.
ArtsBeat: Rick Atkinson to Write Trilogy about the American Revolution
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 11:02:05 PM By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
Henry Holt and Company announced on Thursday that Mr. Atkinson, a former Washington Post editor and reporter, will be writing a trilogy covering the years 1775-1781.

‘Forty-One False Starts,’ by Janet Malcolm
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 09:11:06 PM By ADAM KIRSCH‘The Guns at Last Light,’ by Rick Atkinson
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 09:03:10 PM By BEN MACINTYRE‘Hollywood and Hitler,’ by Thomas Doherty
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 08:54:57 PM By DAVE KEHRArtsBeat: Ethan Coen Play to Open Atlantic Theater Company Season
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 08:29:29 PM By ALLAN KOZINN’Til Faith Do Us Part,’ by Naomi Schaefer Riley
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 06:23:41 PM By GUSTAV NIEBUHRArtsBeat: Lea Michele of ‘Glee’ Lands Book Deal for ‘Brunette Ambition’
Thursday May 23rd, 2013 04:07:41 PM By DAVE ITZKOFF
Ms. Michele, who plays the overachieving Rachel Berry on “Glee,” will write a book called “Brunette Ambition,” which is described as being “part memoir, part how-to and part style guide.”

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