Podcasts by The LRB Podcast
The LRB Podcast brings you weekly conversations from Europe’s leading magazine of culture and ideas. Hosted by Thomas Jones and Malin Hay, with guest episodes from the LRB's US editor Adam Shatz, Meehan Crist, Rosemary Hill and more.
Find the LRB's new Close Readings podcast in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or search 'LRB Close Readings' wherever you get your podcasts.
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Camus in the Americas from 2023-12-06T15:40:34
Feverish, homesick, bored, awed and on rollerskates: Albert Camus’s travel diaries are a fascinating window into an easily mythologised life. Camus visited the New World twice, and a new transla...
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Patricia Lockwood on Meeting the Pope from 2023-11-29T16:38:59
In June, the pope invited dozens of artists to Rome for the 50th anniversary of the Vatican Museum’s contemporary art collection. Patricia Lockwood, the author of Priestdaddy ...
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What was Orwell for? from 2023-11-22T16:27:34
George Orwell wasn’t afraid to speak against totalitarianism – but what was he for? Colin Burrow joins Tom to unpick the cultural conservatism and crackling violence underpinning Orwell’s writin...
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Next Year on Close Readings: Among the Ancients II from 2023-11-18T09:11:22
For the final introduction to next year’s full Close Readings programme, Emily Wilson, celebrated classicist and translator of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, returns for a...
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Next Year on Close Readings: Human Conditions from 2023-11-17T10:14:09
In the second of three introductions to our full Close Readings programme for 2024, Adam Shatz presents his series, Human Conditions, in which he’ll be talking s...
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Next Year on Close Readings: On Satire from 2023-11-16T14:01:58
In the first of three introductions to our full 2024 Close Readings programme, starting in January, Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell present their series, On Satire. Over twelve...
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The Infected Blood Scandal from 2023-11-15T15:00:32
In the 1970s and '80s, thousands of haemophiliacs in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through blood products known to be contaminated. In a recent piece, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithew...
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The Giant Crypto Fraud from 2023-11-08T12:36:02
When Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud last week, the only surprise was how quickly the jury reached their verdict. John Lanchester joins Tom to discuss how the former crypto billionai...
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What is British humour anyway? from 2023-11-01T12:53:25
Anglophiles abroad love the British sense of humour – but what does that actually mean? In a recent review for the paper, Jonathan Coe takes a scalpel to the satire boom and its aftermath to fin...
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Colour Revolution at the Ashmolean (sponsored) from 2023-10-31T11:27:17
Nineteenth-century Britain is often imagined as gloomy and dark, epitomised by Dickensian grime and Queen Victoria’s prolonged state of black-clad mourning. But in reality this period saw an exp...
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Who wrote the dictionary? from 2023-10-25T15:02:03
Compiling the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was a seventy-year endeavour that called on thousands of volunteers from all walks of life. The Dictionar...
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War in Gaza from 2023-10-18T13:14:14
As the siege on Gaza intensifies, many observers are describing the current Hamas-Israel conflict as a complete overhaul of the region’s status quo. Amjad Iraqi, a senior editor at +972 Magazine...
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Tom Crewe: Wrestling Days from 2023-10-11T14:53:10
Crass, violent, misogynistic, dumb, fake – and irresistible. Tom Crewe was one of many unlikely diehards who fell sway to the theatre of pro-wrestling, despite and because of its excesses. Here,...
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Into the Volcano from 2023-10-04T11:00:24
Between 1630 and 1944, Mount Vesuvius was continually erupting, and remains one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes. Yet, as Rosemary Hill explains in a recent piece, the volcano exerted an ...
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What is 'woke capital'? from 2023-09-27T11:01
For many on the right, Arif Naqvi epitomises the idea of the 'woke capitalist'. The private equity multimillionaire has promoted sustainable development and donated heavily to the Gates Foundati...
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Think of a Number from 2023-09-20T15:44:33
In a world where communication is only as effective as its ‘truthiness’, numbers are vital to political success. But, as John Lanchester explains on this week’s episode, some of the most influen...
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Adolfo Kaminsky, Beyond Borders from 2023-09-13T11:34:30
Adolfo Kaminsky, a first-class forger while still a teenager, saved thousands of lives as an agent of the French Resistance. After the war, he turned his counterfeiting skills towards anticoloni...
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Fact-Checking ‘Ulysses’ from 2023-09-06T16:27:20
Armed with Thom’s Directory, James Joyce strove to recreate 1904 Dublin as accurately as possible, down to the last solicitor and street railing. But, as Colm Tóibín explains in a ...
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Amia Srinivasan: The Sucker, the Sucker! from 2023-08-30T11:00:50
‘Octopuses,’ Amia Srinivasan writes, ‘are the closest we can come, on earth, to knowing what it might be like to encounter intelligent aliens.’ In our third summer reading, Srinivasan explores t...
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John Lanchester: The Case of Agatha Christie from 2023-08-23T12:36:52
Agatha Christie, writes John Lanchester, ‘is the only writer by whom I’ve read more than fifty books. So – why?’ In the second of our summer readings, Lanchester dissects Christie’s compulsive r...
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Terry Castle: Desperately Seeking Susan from 2023-08-16T13:20:29
In the first of our summer readings, Terry Castle reads her 2005 piece about her “on-again, off-again, semi-friendship” with Susan Sontag. She remembers Sontag as a “great comic character”: a hi...
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Life in Kyiv from 2023-08-09T12:49:10
Almost eighteen months since Russia invaded Ukraine, Kyiv residents have resumed something resembling pre-war life. James Meek recently returned to the city, and joins Tom to discuss the new nor...
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Chaucer's Ovid from 2023-08-02T16:09:10
Irina Dumitrescu joins Tom for a Close Readings fusion episode looking at Chaucer’s classical mind, and in particular his use of Ovid’s Heroides in The Legend of Good Wome...
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The Secrets of J. Edgar Hoover from 2023-07-26T14:49:45
As Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover exercised a dictatorial influence over the department – and, it seems, everyone else. Meticulous and vindictive, he frequently weaponised secrets while ca...
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On David Foster Wallace from 2023-07-20T16:10:28
In her recent piece for the paper, Patricia Lockwood revisits David Foster Wallace’s work in the light of posthumous publications and the shadow of #MeToo. Lockwood joined Joanne O’Leary, an edi...
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Inflation Fixation from 2023-07-11T12:41:18
As inflation continues to outstrip wage growth for all but the top ten per cent of earners, interest rates look set to keep rising at least until February 2024. The political economist William D...
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The Lives of Stonehenge: John Michell and Arthur Pendragon from 2023-06-27T15:19:43
For her final leg across Salisbury Plain, Rosemary Hill is joined by folklorist Jeremy Harte to look at the many groups and stories that have emerged throughout the 20th century to challenge the...
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The Lives of Stonehenge: Wordsworth and Blake from 2023-06-20T13:14:37
For the third episode in her short series on Stonehenge, Rosemary Hill is joined by Seamus Perry to experience the stone circle through the mind and eyes of a Romantic, with the likes of Wordswo...
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Africa’s Cold War from 2023-06-13T13:41:55
Kevin Okoth and Jeremy Harding join Tom to discuss two recent books reassessing decolonisation. Textbook histories used to describe African independence as more or less complete by the mid-1960s...
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The Lives of Stonehenge: John Aubrey and William Stukeley from 2023-06-06T13:40:22
In the second episode of her short series looking at why Stonehenge has occupied such an important place in the story of Britain, Rosemary Hill talks to Kate Bennett about the two antiquarians, ...
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Why did Erdoğan win? from 2023-05-30T15:19:25
Following the Turkish president’s success in the run-off election on Sunday, Izzy Finkel and Tom Stevenson join Tom to discuss whether Erdoğan’s victory was ever in doubt, why the recent devasta...
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The Lives of Stonehenge: Inigo Jones and John Wood from 2023-05-23T12:10:48
Rosemary Hill begins a new four-part series looking at what people have thought about Stonehenge over the past few hundred years, and why it’s come to matter so much in the story of Britain. In ...
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How radical is Scotland? from 2023-05-16T13:28:15
Rory Scothorne joins Tom to discuss the evolution of Scottish politics over the past century or so, and how best to understand a country that’s shifted from a centre right electoral majority in ...
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What Spotify Wants from 2023-05-09T21:32:03
Spotify, a company worth $23 billion, has come out on top of the streaming wars, and yet it’s never made a profit. Daniel Cohen joins Malin to discuss the history of the platform and how it's ch...
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Modi's Big Con from 2023-05-02T11:11:55
Accused of ‘the largest con in corporate history’, Indian magnate Gautam Adani has lost half his net worth and the indulgence of financial journalists. As Adani comes under increasing scrutiny, ...
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Thomas Hardy's Medieval Mind from 2023-04-25T15:37:58
Two worlds collide in this Close Readings fusion episode in which Mary Wellesley talks to Mark Ford about the medieval in Thomas Hardy and the wider Victorian imagination. They discuss why Hardy...
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Introducing Past Present Future from 2023-04-21T11:42:11
Past Present Future is a new weekly podcast with David Runciman, host of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology.&nb...
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Sisters Come Second from 2023-04-18T16:58:46
In his introduction to our twelfth collection of LRB archive pieces, Sisters Come Second, Colm Tóibín writes that most siblings dream of being only children. Malin Hay explores this ide...
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Mary Renault's Worldbuilding from 2023-04-11T17:18:48
Miranda Carter joins Tom to talk about the life and historical fiction of Mary Renault, whose popular and ingenious retellings of stories from Ancient Greece have never been out of print. They d...
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Sorry State from 2023-04-05T00:53:14
In the run up to the local elections, and following his recent piece on the care crisis, James Butler joins Tom to discuss some of the other problems facing the UK, and what the two major partie...
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Pirates of Madagascar from 2023-03-28T16:24:22
Francis Gooding joins Tom to discuss Pirate Enlightenment, David Graeber’s posthumously published study of 17th- and 18th-century piracy. Golden Age pirates maintained surpris...
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How to Plot an Abortion from 2023-03-14T16:40:59
Expanding on her recent Winter Lecture, Clair Wills talks to Tom about the stories people tell about abortions – stories conditioned by tradition, coerced by the courts, compelled by politics an...
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Climate, Politics and Procreation: Jade Sasser from 2023-03-07T14:34:01
In the final episode of this series on climate chaos and reproductive justice, Meehan Crist speaks to the feminist scholar Jade Sasser. Jade discusses how advocates for population control h...
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The Reaction Economy from 2023-02-28T13:07:35
William Davies talks to Tom about his recent LRB Winter Lecture, looking at why reactions – facial expressions, gestures or emojis – have become the main currency of the digit...
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Climate, Politics and Procreation: Alison Bashford from 2023-02-21T17:51:19
In the third episode of a four-part series exploring the intersection of climate chaos and reproductive justice, Meehan Crist speaks to historian Alison Bashford. Alison discusses the history of...
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The Weirdness of Paul Newman from 2023-02-14T15:43:34
The screen legend and salad dressing philanthropist Paul Newman recorded hundreds of personal interviews before destroying the tapes. The surviving transcripts, worked into a recent memoir and d...
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Climate, Politics and Procreation: Banu Subramaniam from 2023-02-07T15:33:39
In the second episode of a four-part series on climate chaos and reproductive justice, Meehan Crist speaks to Banu Subramaniam, the evolutionary biologist and feminist science scholar. They disc...
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The Hayek Puzzle from 2023-01-31T14:52:32
Long before Margaret Thatcher told her cabinet that The Constitution of Liberty was “what we believe”, neoliberal poster boy Friedrich Hayek had been denounced by his mentor a...
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Climate, Politics and Procreation: Loretta J. Ross from 2023-01-24T16:14:17
In the first episode of a four-part series exploring the intersection of climate chaos and reproductive justice, Meehan Crist talks to activist and feminist scholar Loretta J. Ross. Ross discuss...
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The Woman Who Interviewed Hitler from 2023-01-17T17:43:52
In 1939, Dorothy Thompson was on the cover of Time, the ‘First Lady of American journalism’ and a major celebrity. By 1945, she’d been widely dismissed as a crank.
Deborah Friedell jo...
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What do management consultants do? from 2023-01-10T17:08:24
Laleh Khalili, a former management consultant, talks to Tom about how firms such as McKinsey, Accenture and Bain go about their business, the consequences of their relentless quest for ‘efficien...
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How to Choose the Greatest Film of All Time from 2023-01-03T14:08:51
Michael Wood talks to Malin Hay about the recent list from Sight and Sound of the ‘greatest films of all time’ (in which he voted), and what considerations could, or should, g...
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Alan Bennett: Diary for 2022 from 2022-12-27T11:22:18
Alan Bennett reads his 2022 diary (with some extra bits), in which he buys his dad a violin, goes to Venice with a goat, and tries to make the queen laugh.
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After the Midterms from 2022-12-13T17:31:42
Thomas B. Edsall, a columnist for the New York Times, talks to Adam Shatz about the landscape of US politics following the recent elections. They consider some of the historic...
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The Dahl Factory from 2022-12-06T16:48:23
Roald Dahl's key skill, as Colin Burrow puts it, 'was his ability to repress nastiness while keeping it visible'.
Following his review of a new biography, Burrow talks to Tom Jones a...
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Introducing Medieval Beginnings from 2022-12-02T11:35:50
Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley return with a new twelve-part Close Readings series, Medieval Beginnings, exploring the strange and wonderful literary landsc...
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Who killed Jane Stanford? from 2022-11-29T16:18:16
Jane Stanford, the co-founder of Stanford University, was murdered with strychnine in 1905. Her killer was never discovered – until now (perhaps). James Lasdun talks to Malin Hay about a new boo...
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Introducing The Long and Short from 2022-11-25T14:23:09
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford return with a new twelve-part Close Readings series, The Long and Short, taking a fresh look at 19th and 20th-century literature throu...
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Introducing The Long and Short from 2022-11-25T14:23:09
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford return with a new twelve-part Close Readings series, The Long and Short, taking a fresh look at 19th and 20th-century literature throu...
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Consider the Pangolin, and Other Animals from 2022-11-22T17:24:45
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 un...
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What is Coral? from 2022-11-15T14:36:49
Corals have held our fascination for thousands of years, but much of what we know about them has only been discovered recently. Liam Shaw talks to Tom about what corals are and how they form, an...
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Fathers and Sons in Palestine from 2022-11-08T15:51:43
The writer and human rights lawyer Raja Shehadeh talks to Adam Shatz about his recent memoir, We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I, which reflects on Shehadeh’s relationship...
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Passports and Spies from 2022-10-25T14:05:43
Sheila Fitzpatrick talks to Tom about the perils of doing archive research in the Soviet Union, how she used Moscow telephone directories to investigate Stalin’s purges, and the multiple passpor...
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Will the world end in 2178? from 2022-10-18T15:35:25
Following Nasa’s Dart mission, which successfully fired a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos last month, Chris Lintott talks to Tom about what asteroids can tell us about the history of our ...
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Lula v. Bolsonaro from 2022-10-11T16:02:19
Forrest Hylton talks to Tom about the presidential elections in Brazil, where former president Lula faces the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, in the final round of voting. They consider the history o...
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On Ian McEwan from 2022-10-04T16:22:40
Daniel Soar talks to Tom about Ian McEwan’s latest novel, Lessons – how it fits with his earlier fiction, the relationship between world events and private histories, and McEw...
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On Jean-Luc Godard from 2022-09-27T16:25:23
Claire Denis and J. Hoberman join Adam Shatz to talk about the work and legacy of Jean-Luc Godard. They discuss Godard’s early fascination with American cinema, his extraordinary run of films in...
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Jonathan Meades: Closing Time for the Firm from 2022-09-20T16:16
Writer and filmmaker Jonathan Meades introduces and reads his review of Tina Brown's book about the royal family, The Palace Papers, from April this year.
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Grief Totalitarianism from 2022-09-13T15:53:43
As Britain acquires a new king and new prime minister, and ordinary people are arrested for expressing dislike of the royal family, James Butler and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite join Tom to co...
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Green Growth and Degrowth from 2022-08-30T16:03:12
In the 20th century, the pursuit of economic growth became central to political decision making. As the environmental consequences of this obsession have become increasingly clear, ideas of ‘gre...
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From the Bookshop: Elif Batuman and Merve Emre from 2022-08-23T11:17:45
This week, a guest episode from the London Review Bookshop Podcast, featuring Elif Batuman talking to Merve Emre about her latest book, Either/Or. The London Review Bookshop podcast com...
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Between Mykolaiv and Kherson from 2022-08-17T17:19
James Meek, recently returned from Mykolaiv, talks to Tom about the area of southern Ukraine that has become a crucial battleground in the war, as Russian forces seek to maintain control of the ...
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Two German Frauds from 2022-08-09T11:32:48
John Lanchester talks to Tom about the recent scandals involving two DAX-listed companies, Volkswagen and Wirecard, and the ways in which they challenge the stereotypes of German business.
Four Hundred Years of Women's Football from 2022-08-02T16:09:23
Emma John and Natasha Chahal join Tom to discuss England’s victory in Euro 2022, the long history of women’s football – mentioned in a poem by Philip Sidney in the 16th century, banned by the FA...
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On Desert Island Discs from 2022-07-26T14:25:03
Miranda Carter talks to Tom about the history of the world’s longest-running interview show, Desert Island Discs, from its early scripted days on the BBC Forces Programme in the 19...
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China's Gold Rush Migrants from 2022-07-19T16:00:31
Andrew Liu talks to Tom about the Chinese workers who followed the gold rush to California, Australia and South Africa, the racial stereotypes about them promoted by local politicians, and their...
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After Johnson from 2022-07-12T15:50:39
James Butler joins Tom to consider the fall of Boris Johnson, the candidates hoping to replace him, and what the next few years of British politics might look like.
Find more pieces on Bor...
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On Roe v. Wade from 2022-07-05T16:08:29
Laura Beers and Deborah Friedell talk to Tom about the recent decision by the US Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson, which removed the constitutional right to abortion. They consider the history ...
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Palm Oil Dependency from 2022-06-21T13:54:05
Bee Wilson talks to Tom about palm oil, which can be found in everything from pot noodles to shaving foam. In its purest state, squeezed from the fruit and kernels of the oil palm, it has a deep...
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Great Replacement Theory from 2022-06-14T12:29:32
Adam Shatz, the LRB’s US editor, talks to Sindre Bangstad and Reza Zia-Ebrahimi about the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, from its origins in the high tide of French colonial expansionism i...
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At the Bataclan Trial from 2022-06-07T12:41
Madeleine Schwartz talks to Tom about the trial of twenty men accused of involvement in the Paris terrorist attacks of 13 November 2015, which left 130 dead. It’s the largest criminal trial Fran...
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How To Win at Basketball from 2022-05-31T14:52:29
Ahead of the NBA finals next month, LRB contributor, novelist and former basketball player Benjamin Markovits talks to sports journalists Ben Cohen and Kevin Arnovitz about the role o...
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On Olympia from 2022-05-24T15:24:42
James Romm talks to Tom about the site of the Ancient Greek games, the subject of a new book by Judith Berringer, Olympia: A Cultural History. They discuss the various contests in which...
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A Covid Update from 2022-05-17T16:59:33
Rupert Beale returns to the podcast to talk to Tom about the current state of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK. They discuss what ‘living with Covid’ means, the chances of future waves and lockdowns, the di...
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Women on the Brink from 2022-05-11T15:04:39
Azadeh Moaveni talks to Tom about the situation on the Polish border, where women and children fleeing Ukraine face numerous dangers, including kidnapping, trafficking and forced labour. Moaveni...
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Julian Barnes: Flaubert at 200 from 2022-05-03T14:11:16
Julian Barnes reads his memoir about a lifetime of reading Flaubert.
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Romantic History: Waterloo to the British Musem from 2022-04-26T13:46:43
In the final episode in our series looking at the way history was transformed in the Romantic period, Neil MacGregor joins Rosemary Hill to discuss the circulation of artefacts throug...
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Mix Tapes and Flash Cubes from 2022-04-19T13:36:35
Andrew O’Hagan talks to Tom about the power of defunct objects, from the life-enhancing gadgets of his childhood to Seamus Heaney’s fax machine, and the role lost things play in fiction.
F...
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Romantic History: The Bayeux Tapestry from 2022-04-12T13:50:25
Who put the arrow in Harold’s eye? Why did Dick Whittington have a cat? Where did the pointed arch come from? These are all questions that the curious and energetic antiquarians of the late 18th...
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What the Welsh got right from 2022-04-05T14:56:19
Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite talks to Tom about how events in the 1960s, including the Aberfan disaster and a shift in strategy by the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru, helped pave the way ...
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Weapons of War from 2022-03-29T16:44:03
Tom Stevenson talks to Thomas Jones about the situation in Ukraine, the effectiveness of some of the weapons in use, from anti-tank missiles to economic sanctions, and the risk of nuclear escala...
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Romantic History: Balmoral from 2022-03-22T11:59:47
In the 1740s the Scots were invading England and the wearing of tartan was banned. By the 1850s, Queen Victoria had built her Gothic fantasy in Aberdeenshire and tartan was everywhere. What happ...
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Romantic History: Salisbury Cathedral from 2022-03-15T12:43:24
In the first episode of a new four-part series looking at the way history was transformed in the Romantic period, Rosemary Hill is joined by Tom Stammers to consider how an argument over the ‘im...
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Close Readings: On Charlotte Mew from 2022-03-08T16:11:59
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford look at the life and work of Charlotte Mew, who brought the Victorian art of dramatic monologue into the 20th century, and whose difficult experiences are often refrac...
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Putin's Mistake from 2022-03-01T16:26:24
James Meek talks to Tom about the events leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, from the fall of Yanukovych to the wars in the Donbas and Nagorno-Karabakh, and considers what may happen nex...
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The Special Forces Fantasy from 2022-02-24T17:11:31
Laleh Khalili talks to Tom about the mythology of covert military operatives, through romance novels, self-help books and, more recently, the business guru, in the form of retired US army genera...
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A Message and a Poem from 2022-02-22T16:12:57
This week's discussion, with Laleh Khalili, will be out on Thursday. In the meantime, here's Jorie Graham reading her latest poem for the LRB, 'One the Last Day'.
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The Climate Colossus from 2022-02-15T17:02:20
Geoff Mann talks to James Butler about the economic models developed by William Nordhaus and others, widely used by governments around the world as a tool to tackle climate change. They discuss ...
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John McGahern’s Letters from 2022-02-01T14:59:12
Colm Tóibín talks to Tom about the life and work of the novelist John McGahern through his recently published correspondence, which includes letters to Tóibín. They discuss his family, his banne...
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Anti-Vax Sentiments from 2022-01-25T13:57:55
Rivka Galchen talks to Tom about two recent books on the history of vaccine opposition and reluctance, from smallpox to covid, including the role of 'Big Supplement' and the effectiveness of man...
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Myself with Others: Claudia Roden from 2022-01-18T10:35:27
In the third and final guest episode from a new podcast series, Myself with Others, food writer Claudia Roden talks to Adam Shatz about her early life in Cairo and Paris, her obsession ...
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Myself with Others: James Lasdun from 2022-01-11T06:49:32
In this second guest episode from a new podcast series, Myself with Others, novelist, memoirist and poet James Lasdun talks to Adam Shatz about his taste for the Middle Ages, the power ...
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Myself with Others: James Lasdun from 2022-01-11T06:49:32
In this second guest episode from a new podcast series, Myself with Others, novelist, memoirist and poet James Lasdun talks to Adam Shatz about his taste for the Middle Ages, the power ...
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Myself with Others: Margo Jefferson from 2022-01-04T20:05:07
In the first of three guest episodes from a new podcast, Myself with Others, hosted by Adam Shatz, writer and critic Margo Jefferson talks about her childhood in Chicago, her early experiences i...
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Alan Bennett: Diary for 2021 from 2021-12-28T12:19:34
Alan Bennett reads his diary for 2021, in which he falls over Philip Roth, changes the course of English history, and considers selling his har on eBay.
Bennett read the first part of this...
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Close Readings: On W.B. Yeats from 2021-12-21T10:25:54
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford continue their Close Readings series with a look at the life and work of W.B. Yeats, from his early quest for a mythological Irish culture, to his shift towards the Mo...
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The Omicron Wave from 2021-12-14T15:43:18
John Lanchester and Rupert Beale talk to Tom about the spread of the latest variant, where we might stand in the story of Covid, and the failures of the state in coping with the pandemic.
...
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Among the Ancients: Aristophanes from 2021-12-07T14:43:54
In this sample episode from their forthcoming Close Readings series, starting next year, Emily Wilson talks to Thomas Jones about the comedies of Aristophanes, in particular Clouds...
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The Guatemalan Coup from 2021-11-30T15:11:24
Rachel Nolan talks to Tom about the overthrow of President Árbenz in Guatemala in 1954, its importance as a model for CIA-backed regime change across Latin America, and a new novel about it by M...
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A History of Revolution from 2021-11-23T14:32:55
Enzo Traverso talks to Adam Shatz about his new book on the history of revolutionary passions, images and ideas, from Haiti’s emancipatory slave rebellion in 1791 to Stalin’s top-down authoritar...
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The Last Asylums from 2021-11-16T15:53
Clair Wills talks to Tom about Netherne psychiatric hospital, where her mother and grandparents worked, and which became a national centre for art therapy. Wills asks how asylums such as Nethern...
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Encounters with Medieval Women: Firebrand from 2021-11-09T12:00:52
In the fourth and final episode in their miniseries, Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley look at the life and work of pilgrim, entrepreneur and visionary mystic Margery Kempe, who dictated what ...
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Elizabethan True Crime from 2021-11-02T15:15:58
Tom talks to Charles Nicholl about the craze in the 1590s for plays representing real-life murder on the London stage, from the first known example, Arden of Faversham, to the genre's i...
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Encounters with Medieval Women: Storyteller from 2021-10-26T15:25:30
In the third episode in their series, Irina and Mary discuss Chaucer’s sexually voracious professional widow, stealth preacher, vivid storyteller and teacher of love, the Wife of Bath.
Buy...
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On John Craxton from 2021-10-19T16:27:14
Rosemary Hill talks to Tom about the painter John Craxton: why he wasn’t a romantic, why he wasn’t interested in being famous, and his relationship with Lucian Freud, who very much was.
Encounters with Medieval Women: Anchoress from 2021-10-12T12:00:48
In the second episode in their series, Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley look at the work of mystic and anchoress Julian of Norwich, who wrote the first book in English that we can be sur...
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Encounters with Medieval Women: Repentant Sinner from 2021-09-28T14:36:05
In the first episode of their new podcast miniseries looking at the lives and voices of medieval women, Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley encounter Saint Mary of Egypt, who (if she e...
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The Peter Thiel Paradox from 2021-09-21T15:01:02
David Runciman talks to Thomas Jones about Silicon Valley’s best known investor-provocateur, his prescience, his mistakes, and why, despite his ultra-libertarian ideology, he owes so much to the...
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'Swish! Swish! Swish!' by Patrick Leigh Fermor, read by Dominic West from 2021-09-14T15:11:50
Dominic West reads Patrick Leigh Fermor's piece about the olive harvest on the Mani peninsula, written in the 1950s but first published in 2021 in the LRB.
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Lydia Davis: One French City from 2021-08-31T14:07:34
Lydia Davis reads her essay on Arles, recorded for the Trilling Lecture at Columbia University in 2019.
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Colm Tóibín: Alone in Venice from 2021-08-24T12:00:16
Colm Tóibín reads his diary from November 2020, about visiting Venice during the pandemic.
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Rosemary Hill: Populist Palatial from 2021-08-18T10:13:47
In the first of four summer readings visiting different places in Europe, Rosemary Hill explores the history of London's West End.
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On Elizabeth Bowen from 2021-08-10T17:17:05
David Trotter talks to Joanne O’Leary about the novels and stories of Elizabeth Bowen, from her weird families and idiosyncrasies of style, to her mastery of atmospherics and prescient use of te...
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Stephen Frears on Hollywood from 2021-08-03T14:34:19
Stephen Frears talks to Andrew O’Hagan about making movies in America, to mark the publication of a new collection of LRB essays on Hollywood. He describes being protected by Scorsese, learning ...
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The Most Interesting Place in the World from 2021-08-03T14:34:19
Stephen Frears talks to Andrew O’Hagan about making movies in America, to mark the publication of a new collection of LRB essays on Hollywood. He describes being protected by Scorsese, learning ...
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On Cheating in Sport from 2021-07-27T14:57:50
John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about ‘visible’ cheating in sport, that is, the kind which is against the rules but within the ethos of the game, from diving in football to bodyline bowlin...
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Running, Diving, Bleeding from 2021-07-27T14:57:50
John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about ‘visible’ cheating in sport, that is, the kind which is against the rules but within the ethos of the game, from diving in football to bodyline bowlin...
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The Assassination of President Moïse from 2021-07-20T14:46:46
Pooja Bhatia talks to Thomas Jones about the assassination of President Moïse in Haiti, the recent history of US involvement in the country, and the difference between elections and democracy. Listen
The Assassination of President Moïse from 2021-07-20T14:46:46
Pooja Bhatia talks to Thomas Jones about the assassination of President Moïse in Haiti, the recent history of US involvement in the country, and the difference between elections and democracy. Listen
Two Utopias from 2021-07-13T16:35:01
James Meek talks to Thomas Jones about the connected fates of two wind tower factories, one in Scotland, the other in Vietnam, and asks why the determination to achieve a green future isn’t matc...
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On Simone Weil from 2021-07-06T14:26:52
Toril Moi talks to Joanna Biggs about the French philosopher Simone Weil, whose short and uncompromising life became a workshop for her revolutionary ideas about labour, human suffering and...
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Ethel and Julius from 2021-06-29T15:17:39
Deborah Friedell talks to Thomas Jones about the Rosenbergs, from their early years on the Lower East Side of New York to their executions for conspiracy to commit espionage in 1953, and the sig...
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On the Irish Border from 2021-06-22T15:20:34
Niamh Gallagher talks to Thomas Jones about the history of the Irish border, from its origins in the 1920s to today, the way it has shaped Irish politics in both the south and north, and why the...
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On the Irish Border from 2021-06-22T15:20:34
Niamh Gallagher talks to Thomas Jones about the history of the Irish border, from its origins in the 1920s to today, the way it has shaped Irish politics in both the south and north, and why the...
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Muhammad, Cervantes and the Algarve from 2021-06-15T15:05:16
Tariq Ali talks to Thomas Jones about a newly reissued biography of the Prophet by Maxime Rodinson, and the historic prevalence of Arabic culture in the West, from Don Quixote...
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Art Spiegelman: Collapsing Time from 2021-06-08T15:32:29
The legendary cartoonist talks to Thomas Jones about his latest book, Street Cop, a collaboration with Robert Coover, and looks back on previous work including Maus&n...
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On Emily Dickinson from 2021-06-01T15:08:47
Seamus Perry, Mark Ford and Joanne O'Leary discuss the life and work of Emily Dickinson — her dashes, death instinct and obliquity.
Find Joanne's piece and more on Emily Dickinson...
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Alan Bennett: Diary From the Pandemic Year from 2021-05-25T16:37:23
Alan Bennett reads selections from his diary from March 2020 to March 2021.
Read more Alan Bennett in the LRB here: Listen
After the Ceasefire from 2021-05-21T16:04:11
Adam Shatz talks to Tareq Baconi and Henriette Chacar about the crisis in Israel-Palestine, the significance of the ceasefire, the context of the war, the politics inside Israel and the Gaza Str...
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Perfect Circles from 2021-05-18T14:27:41
Claire Hall talks to Thomas Jones about Ancient Greek horoscopy, the Ptolemaic model, the mysteries of the Antikythera mechanism, and why astrology was the first data science.
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Hydrological Uncertainty from 2021-05-11T17:01:20
Rosa Lyster talks to Thomas Jones about the global water crisis, from the severe droughts in her home city of Cape Town, to the sinking of Mexico City and the damming of the Nile, and the need f...
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One Big Payday from 2021-05-04T17:07:28
Peter Geoghegan talks to Thomas Jones about the Greensill lobbying scandal, the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s flat, the unhealthy relationship between successive British governments and the p...
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Blind Spots from 2021-04-28T14:54:14
Jesse McCarthy talks to Adam Shatz about his studies of Black diasporic culture, from Juan de Pareja to Audre Lorde, and his critique of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s case for reparations.
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Abbess, Editor, CEO from 2021-04-20T16:27:25
Irina Dumitrescu talks to Thomas Jones about female authorship in early medieval England, and how the power and freedom that (some) women had in the eighth century challenges the idea of linear ...
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The Long Way Round from 2021-04-13T16:09:06
John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about his experience of being on a cargo ship blocked from entering the Suez Canal in 1967, his subsequent journey round the Cape of Good Hope, and the...
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Try, Try, Try Again from 2021-04-06T16:18:29
Diane Williams talks to Thomas Jones about her short stories, and reads her latest two published in the LRB.
Find more stories by Diane Williams in the LRB here: Listen
Into the UbuVerse from 2021-03-30T16:37:58
Gill Partington and Thomas Jones explore Kenneth Goldsmith’s online avant-garde archive, UbuWeb, listen to ...
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Separateness from 2021-03-23T16:29:59
Mouin Rabbani and Nathan Thrall talk to Adam Shatz about Israel’s vaccination programme, the system of apartheid that now effectively exists between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, t...
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Jorie Graham: ‘To 2040’ from 2021-03-18T15:39:01
In this extra episode, Jorie Graham reads her poem ‘To 2040’, published in the latest issue of the LRB.
You can listen to Jorie Graham reading twelve more of her poems from the
Close Readings: On Derek Walcott from 2021-03-16T15:14:25
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford discuss the life and work of the Saint Lucian poet, playwright and Nobel laureate Derek Walcott.
Find more pieces about Derek Walcott in the LRB he...
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Peeping Pat from 2021-03-09T17:11:33
Terry Castle talks to Thomas Jones about Patricia Highsmith.
Find Castle's piece on Highsmith, and pieces by Highsmith, in the LRB here: Listen
Optimistic Caution from 2021-03-02T17:13:59
Catherine Moore, a consultant clinical virologist at Public Health Wales, and Rupert Beale, a clinician scientist group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, talk to Thomas Jones about the vacc...
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Analogous Patisseries from 2021-02-23T17:24:03
Mary-Kay Wilmers, who retired as editor of the LRB last month, talks to Andrew O’Hagan about her career, first at Faber and Faber, then the Listener, then for 42 year...
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This Is Not a War from 2021-02-16T17:18:55
Raphaëlle Branche talks to Adam Shatz about her new book, Papa, qu’as-tu fait en Algérie? (Daddy, What Did You Do in Algeria?). In it, Branche investigates the e...
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The View from Salvador from 2021-02-09T17:46:28
Forrest Hylton talks to Thomas Jones about what’s happening in Brazil: the oxygen shortage in Manaus, Bolsonaro’s disastrous response to the pandemic, why Trump’s departure won’t hurt him, and t...
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Forensic Midwives from 2021-02-02T17:46:10
Erin Maglaque talks to Thomas Jones about abortion in 16th-century Italy, the stories of women who experienced it, how it was investigated, and why attitudes to pregnancy 400 years ago were in s...
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Andrew O’Hagan: ‘Shy bairns get nae sweets’ from 2021-01-26T16:33:51
Andrew O‘Hagan reads his review of Sea State by Tabitha Lasley, a portrait of the oil rig industry, those who work in it, and a journalist‘s intensely close relationship with her subjec...
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Magical Authority from 2021-01-19T17:03:40
Colin Burrow talks to Thomas Jones about the work of Ursula Le Guin. They discuss the way she brought anthropology into speculative fiction, her explorations of power and moral responsibility in...
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The Colour Line in the Americas from 2021-01-12T19:24:29
Hazel Carby talks to Adam Shatz about the increasing nationalisation of racial histories, and the way African-American studies in the United States have been influenced by ideas of American exce...
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[Sponsored] Introducing Broccoli Book Club from 2021-01-07T15:35:13
Listen to this extract from the first episode of a new podcast series, Broccoli Book Club, presented by Diyora Shadijanova (@thediyora).
About this episode:
Diyora i...
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Bom, Bom, Bom, Bom from 2021-01-05T16:51:06
James Wood talks to Thomas Jones about Beethoven, drawing on his review of three recent books on the composer. They discuss some of the apparently immovable Beethoven mythologies – the keyboard ...
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John Lanchester: Twenty Types of Human from 2020-12-29T13:32:29
John Lanchester reads his review of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes.
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‘Tassel Rue’ and Other Stories from 2020-12-22T13:52:07
Diane Williams reads nine of her (very) short stories published in the LRB, the most recent, ‘Tassel Rue’, from our Christmas issue.
Find these stories and more, as well as a conv...
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Diego! Diego! from 2020-12-15T12:23:41
Thomas Jones reads his homage to Maradona, with help from some 1980s commentators.
Read the piece here: https...
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End in Sight from 2020-12-08T16:25:50
Rupert Beale talks to Thomas Jones about the new Sars-CoV-2 vaccines, how the mRNA technology works, why social distancing still matters, and why he’s worried about Christmas. (The conversation ...
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On Denise Riley from 2020-12-01T18:06:28
Ange Mlinko talks to Joanne O’Leary about the work of Denise Riley, following the publication last year of Riley’s Selected Poems: 1976-2016 and her essay Time Lived,...
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Close Readings: On Louis MacNeice from 2020-11-24T17:17:29
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford discuss the life and work of Louis MacNeice, the Irish poet of psychic divisions and authoritative fretfulness.
Find LRB pieces about Louis MacNeice her...
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Haiti’s Revolution from 2020-11-17T17:15:50
Pooja Bhatia talks to Thomas Jones about the Haitian revolution of 1791, the world-historical debut of the movement for Black liberation. They discuss the early insurrections, the leadership of ...
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From Fulton to Miami-Dade from 2020-11-10T17:43:01
Randall Kennedy and Mike Davis talk to Adam Shatz about the results of the US elections. They consider the achievement of Stacey Abrams in Georgia, why the pandemic didn’t make much di...
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‘Little girl, ya neck stinks. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh’ from 2020-11-03T15:59:21
Patricia Lockwood talks to Joanne O’Leary about being possessed by Vladimir Nabokov, reading Lolita as a teenage girl, the diagnostic value of Bend Sinister, and...
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Catholics and Lumpen-billionaires from 2020-10-27T17:05:24
Adam Shatz talks to Mike Davis about some of the underlying and long-term political shifts at play in next week’s US elections. They discuss both traditional and emerging swing voters, the obsta...
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‘Categories are stupid’ from 2020-10-21T11:42:11
Alex Abramovich talks to Thomas Jones about the history of country from Jimmie Rodgers to Lil Nas X, by way of Dolly Parton (and Eddie Van Halen), and the problems with the labels that get appli...
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Really Hot Hands from 2020-10-13T16:19:17
To mark the publication of the latest LRB Collection of essays, about sport, David Runciman, on loan from Talking Politics, talks to Ben Markovits about Michael Jordan, home advantage, how baske...
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Aeschylus’ Ghosts from 2020-10-06T16:06:30
Emily Wilson talks to Thomas Jones about three new translations of the Oresteia. They discuss what the texts of the tragedies may tell us about the state of democracy in fifth-cent...
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Close Readings: On Adrienne Rich from 2020-09-29T16:10:37
In the latest episode of Close Readings, Seamus Perry and Mark Ford turn to the life and work of Adrienne Rich, in whose poems the personal becomes not only political, but epic.
Read more ...
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No Wave Feminism from 2020-09-22T16:24:16
Jenny Turner talks to Joanna Biggs about the history of the Women’s Liberation Movement, the loneliness of feminist work, and the seemingly unavoidable question: How do you think your life compa...
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400 Million Guns from 2020-09-15T17:05:51
Deborah Friedell talks to Thomas Jones about the origins, and origin myths, of the National Rifle Association, how it spends its money, and why it's wary of winning.
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Katherine Rundell: Consider the Greenland Shark from 2020-09-08T12:10:53
Katherine Rundell reads her study of the Greenland shark, which can live for 500 years.
You can find all the pieces in Katherine Rundell's series of animal studies on her author page on th...
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Covidology from 2020-09-01T16:24:36
Rupert Beale talks to Thomas Jones about Covid-19 vaccine candidates, and reasons not to rush them; how worried we should be about reported cases of re-infection; possible reasons for the appare...
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Patricia Lockwood: Insane after coronavirus? from 2020-08-25T14:35:48
Patricia Lockwood reads her diary about catching and recovering from Covid-19.
Read more by Patricia Lockwood in the LRB here: Listen
The Absurdities of Race from 2020-08-18T16:11:20
Adam Shatz talks to Paul Gilroy about his intellectual background and the recent anti-racist protests in the UK and US. They discuss Gilroy’s experience growing up in North London in the 1950s a...
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Early and Late Kermode from 2020-08-11T16:42:45
Stefan Collini talks to Thomas Jones about the life and work of Frank Kermode, and Mary-Kay Wilmers remembers him as a contributor to the LRB.
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Close Readings: On Robert Frost from 2020-08-04T14:16:44
In the latest episode in their series of Close Readings, Seamus Perry and Mark Ford look at the life and work of Robert Frost, the great American poet of fences and dark woods. They discuss Fros...
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Press the Red Button from 2020-07-28T16:50
Following his piece in the latest issue of the LRB, William Davies talks to Thomas Jones about the new political polarisation, and what it owes to the online culture of instant fee...
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States of Shock from 2020-07-21T16:03:15
Pankaj Mishra talks to Adam Shatz about his latest piece for the LRB, which looks at the ways the US and UK have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, and what thos...
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Katherine Rundell: Consider the Lemur from 2020-07-14T11:00
Katherine Rundell reads her study of the lemur.
You can find all the pieces in Katherine Rundell's series of animal studies on her author page on the LRB website: Listen
Everyone misplaces my keys from 2020-07-07T15:00
Amia Srinivasan talks to Thomas Jones about the long search for a third person singular, gender-neutral pronoun, and the resurgence of the pronoun debate in recent years.
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How do you change things? from 2020-06-30T15:57:38
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor talks to Adam Shatz about the intellectual and historical background to the Black Lives Matter movement, and why she’s optimistic that the current protests might bring ch...
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Katherine Rundell: Consider the Swift from 2020-06-23T17:01:51
Katherine Rundell reads her study of the common swift, which flies about two million kilometres in its lifetime.
You can find all Katherine Rundell's pieces on animals for the LRB here:
Gaby Wood: How to Draw an Albatross from 2020-06-16T14:28:02
Gaby Wood reads her diary from the latest issue of the LRB, in which she tries to draw an albatross using a camera lucida.
Read the diary and much more in a latest issue: Listen
‘No, I’m not getting married!’ from 2020-06-09T15:38:19
Susan Pedersen talks to Joanna Biggs about Shelagh Delaney and her landmark 1958 play, A Taste of Honey.
Read Susan Pedersen on Shelagh Delaney in the LRB: Listen
Maigret Returns from 2020-06-02T16:02:38
John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about Georges Simenon, whose output was so prodigious that even he didn’t know how many books he wrote.
Find links to related articles and a full tran...
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Reopening the NHS from 2020-05-26T16:48:30
Sonia Gandhi and Rupert Beale, scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, talk to Thomas Jones about the ways Covid-19 can affect the nervous system, the steps required to reopen the NHS after l...
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Semi-Recumbent in Bournemouth from 2020-05-19T13:12:05
Andrew O’Hagan talks to Thomas Jones about the friendship between Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James, and the time they spent together in Bournemouth.
Find a full transcript of th...
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The Theory Truce from 2020-05-12T14:46:14
Michael Wood talks to Adam Shatz about critical theory, its origins, developments and various diversions, and where it stands today. The conversation marks the publication of the eighth volume i...
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This Bad Business from 2020-05-05T15:58:38
Colm Tóibín talks to Thomas Jones about the breakdown of Elizabeth Hardwick’s marriage to Robert Lowell, and its literary consequences.
Find the pieces mentioned in this episode here: Listen
The Idea of the Island from 2020-04-28T11:46:55
Mary Wellesley talks to Joanna Biggs about islands, blessed and not so blessed, from Homer to the Fyre Festival.
Read more by Mary Wellesley in the LRB:
Beauvoir and Me from 2020-04-21T17:57:55
Joanna Biggs talks to Thomas Jones about the life of Simone de Beauvoir.
Further reading on Beauvoir in the LRB:
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On the Ward from 2020-04-14T15:37:03
Lana Spawls talks to Thomas Jones about working on a paediatric ward during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the ways hospitals have changed in response to the virus.
Read Lana's latest piece in...
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In the Lab from 2020-04-06T16:15:17
Rupert Beale talks again to Thomas Jones about his work at the Francis Crick Institute, where he’s helping to set up a testing lab for Covid-19. He talks about the challenges of creati...
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Four Hundred Years of Quarantine from 2020-03-30T16:51:36
Erin Maglaque talks to Thomas Jones about the lockdown imposed by the city of Florence in January 1631 in response to a plague outbreak, the similarities with our current situation, and the diff...
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Close Readings: On Gerard Manley Hopkins from 2020-03-23T18:15:31
In the first episode in a new series of Close Readings, our ‘revolutionary . . . ★★★★★’ (The Times) podcast that considers the life and work of Anglophone poets from ...
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Wash Your Hands, Again from 2020-03-13T17:22:19
Following his piece for the LRB about Covid-19, Rupert Beale talks to Thomas Jones about what the novel coronavirus is, how well countries are dealing with it, and what hopes there are ...
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Richard Lloyd Parry: Akihito and the Sorrows of Japan from 2020-03-11T14:09:30
Akihito, who abdicated in April, was a paradoxical figure: a hereditary monarch, the son of the wartime emperor, Hirohito, strictly barred from political utterance, who even so stood out against...
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Meehan Crist: Is it OK to have children? from 2020-02-26T13:30:51
Given what we know about the future of the planet, is having children a matter of consumer choice, of political conviction, or something an authority will eventually decide for us? Meehan Crist ...
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Colin Burrow: Fiction and the Age of Lies from 2020-02-12T14:04:31
The line between making a fiction and telling a lie has been blurry at least since Homer, and liars – from Odysseus and Iago to Austen’s Wickham and beyond – have often played central parts with...
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Alan Bennett’s Diary for 2019 from 2019-12-23T17:43:37
Alan Bennett reads his Diary for 2019, with a few little extra bits.
Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: lrb...
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The LRB at 40: Jeremy Harding, Adam Shatz and Nikita Lalwani from 2019-11-07T17:55:20
In the last of a series of events marking the LRB's 40th anniversary, Jeremy Harding and Adam Shatz talk to Nikita Lalwani about their work for the paper, with a focus on North Africa a...
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The LRB at 40: Nell Dunn, Tessa Hadley and Joanna Biggs on women in fiction from 2019-11-05T13:44:43
As part of a series of events marking the LRB's 40th anniversary, Nell Dunn and Tessa Hadley talk to Joanna Biggs, one of the LRB's editors, about fictional representation...
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The LRB at 40: Rosemary Hill and Iain Sinclair on London from 2019-10-31T15:12:25
As part of our series of events marking the 40th anniversary of the LRB, longtime contributors Rosemary Hill and Iain Sinclair talked to the LRB’s digital editor, Sam Kinchin-S...
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The LRB at 40: Katrina Forrester and William Davies on the crisis of liberalism from 2019-10-25T16:44:21
As part of our series of events marking the LRB's 40th anniversary, Katrina Forrester and William Davies discuss political crisis, and in particular the crisis of liberalism, through the lens of...
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The LRB at 40: Mary-Kay Wilmers, Alan Bennett, Andrew O'Hagan, John Lanchester and Sheng Yun from 2019-10-11T14:02:05
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the London Review of Books, and mark the publication of The London Review of Books: An Incomplete History, the LRB’s editor, Mary-Kay Wilme...
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Bee Wilson: Mmmm, chicken nuggets from 2019-09-23T08:20:29
Bee Wilson on eating out in late Victorian London.
Read more by Bee Wilson in the LRB: https://lrb.me/beewil...
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James Wood: These Etonians from 2019-08-29T11:32:11
James Wood recalls his time at the college, with David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and others.
Read more by James Wood in the LRB: Listen
Close Readings: On Robert Lowell from 2019-08-20T14:40:32
In the concluding episode of their acclaimed series, Seamus Perry and Mark Ford confront Robert Lowell: the Boston Brahmin for whom poetry trumped every other consideration, and whose Cold War ‘...
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Andrew O'Hagan: The Lagerfeld Fandango from 2019-08-02T12:31:26
Andrew O'Hagan goes to the fashion designer's memorial at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Read more by Andrew O'Hagan in the LRB: Listen
Mary Wellesley: 'This place is pryson' from 2019-06-12T14:17:56
Mary Wellesley looks inside the cell of a medieval anchorite, and considers why so many women shut themselves away to devote themselves to prayer and contemplation, and what their lives were lik...
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Close Readings: On Seamus Heaney from 2019-05-30T12:22:54
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford discuss the work of Seamus Heaney, through the lens of pieces written about him in the London Review of Books.
You can find the pieces mentioned in this...
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Colm Tóibín: ‘It’s curable,’ he said from 2019-04-17T23:00
‘Instead of shaking all over, I read the newspapers. I listened to the radio. I had my lunch.’ Colm Tóibín reads his account of being treated for cancer.
Read more by Colm Tóibín in the LR...
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Close Readings: On Sylvia Plath from 2019-03-05T00:00
Mark Ford, Seamus Perry and Joanna Biggs consider the balance of biography and mythology in Plath’s work, situating her as a transatlantic, expressionist poet of the Cold War.
You can find...
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Alan Bennett: Diary for 2018 from 2019-01-03T00:00
Alan Bennett puts on a new play and finds himself on someone’s arm, in his 2018 diary.
Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: Listen
Close Readings: On Wallace Stevens from 2018-12-21T00:00
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford look at that great poet of winter and snow, Wallace Stevens, and the pieces about him in the LRB archive: his anecdote-proof life, the capitalist economy of his imagin...
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Close Readings: On A.E. Housman from 2018-10-02T23:00
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford discuss the life and work of Worcestershire lad and old-type natural fouled-up guy, A.E. Housman, through a lens of the pieces written about him in the LRB archive. Listen
Close Readings: On Stevie Smith from 2018-08-16T23:00
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford consider the life and work of Stevie Smith, ‘an eccentric poet with a tenacious reputation,’ through a lens of the pieces written about her in the LRB archive.
Y...
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Close Readings: On Thomas Hardy from 2018-06-26T23:00
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford discuss the poetry of Thomas Hardy in the latest in their series of discussions on 20th century poets.
You can find the pieces mentioned in this episode here:
Rosemary Hill: The Dress in Your Head from 2018-03-27T23:00
Rosemary Hill explores frock consciousness in life and literature in her LRB Winter Lecture, delivered at the British Museum.
Read more by Rosemary Hill in the LRB: https://lrb.me/hillpod<...
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Linda Colley: The Problem with Winning from 2018-03-14T00:00
Linda Colley argues that the prospect of Brexit makes history more important than ever in her LRB Winter Lecture, delivered at the British Museum.
Read more by Linda Colley in the LRB: htt...
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Anne Enright: The Genesis of Blame from 2018-02-28T00:00
Anne Enright delivers her Winter Lecture on the corruptions of the Adam and Eve story in her LRB Winter Lecture, delivered at the British Museum.
Read more by Anne Enright in the LRB: http...
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John Lanchester: 'Coffin Liquor', a story from 2018-02-06T00:00
Toby Jones reads John Lanchester’s ghost story.
Read more from John Lanchester in the LRB: https://lrb.me/lanchesterpod
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Alan Bennett: Diary for 2017 from 2018-01-04T00:00
Alan Bennett finds his métier at last in 2017.
Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bennettpod
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The Defectors: Richard Lloyd Parry talks to Krys Lee from 2017-12-21T00:00
In the latest instalment of the LRB podcast, recorded in Seoul, Richard Lloyd Parry talks to the Korean-American novelist Krys Lee about Christianity, plastic surgery and mutual incomprehension ...
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Jane Campbell: ‘Cat-Brushing’, a story from 2017-12-06T00:00
Jane Campbell reads a story about dispossession in paradise.
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Absolute Revolt: Adam Shatz talks to Olivier Roy, part 2 from 2017-10-16T23:00
In the second part of their conversation, Olivier Roy and Adam Shatz discuss the deculturation of Islam, and why it has led to the radicalisation of so many second-generation immigrants and conv...
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Living Orients: Adam Shatz talks to Olivier Roy, part 1 from 2017-10-10T23:00
In the first of two podcasts, Olivier Roy tells Adam Shatz about his experiences with the Gauche prolétarienne in the 1960s and his early travels in Afghanistan.
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Don’t learn shorthand: Rosemary Hill talks to Carmen Callil from 2017-09-26T23:00
Carmen Callil, writer, editor and founder of Virago, tells Rosemary Hill how she made her way in 1960s London.
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Ferdinand Mount: Staffing the Raj from 2017-09-06T23:00
Ferdinand Mount on how India was governed strictly for the benefit of Britain.
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Close Readings: On W.H. Auden from 2017-08-29T23:00
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford discuss the work of W. H. Auden with reference to pieces from the LRB.
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Trump is the Boot Man: Adam Shatz talks to Wallace Shawn from 2017-08-16T23:00
Writer and actor Wallace Shawn talks to Adam Shatz about ‘the thin line between entertainment and cruelty’ in the age of Trump.
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Post-Press Politics: Tom Crewe talks to William Davies from 2017-08-01T23:00
William Davies talks to Tom Crewe about politics in the new media age.
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Panthers in Algiers: Jeremy Harding talks to Elaine Mokhtefi from 2017-07-18T23:00
Elaine Mokhtefi tells Jeremy Harding about her time working in Algeria in the 1960s when she met Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver.
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Rosemary Hill: Ida John from 2017-06-28T23:00
‘Bohemia was never a safe country for women. If they didn’t all die of consumption in a garret, many of them might as well have done’ – Rosemary Hill on the letters of Ida John.
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Andrew O'Hagan: Dacre’s Paper from 2017-06-21T23:00
‘It’s like the drunken lout at a party who can’t get anyone to like him.’ Andrew O’Hagan reads the Daily Mail.
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The Corbyn Project: Tom Crewe talks to Lorna Finlayson from 2017-06-05T23:00
Tom Crewe talks to Lorna Finlayson about Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s prospects in the general election and beyond.
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Karma Nabulsi: Snitching on Students from 2017-05-17T23:00
‘Once you start seeing everyday behaviour as having the potential to draw people into terrorism, you’re inside the problem’ – Karma Nabulsi on the British government’s Prevent programme.
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Close Readings: On Philip Larkin from 2017-05-10T23:00
Seamus Perry and Mark Ford discuss the work of Philip Larkin, drawing on articles from our archive by contributors including Alan Bennett, Barbara Everett and John Bayley.
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Julian Barnes: People Will Hate Us Again from 2017-04-27T23:00
Julian Barnes on Georges Simenon and Brexit.
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The Syrian War: Adam Shatz talks to Joshua Landis from 2017-04-20T23:00
Adam Shatz talks to Joshua Landis about the war in Syria.
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Talking Politics: John Lanchester talks to David Runciman from 2017-04-12T23:00
David Runciman talks to John Lanchester about banks, Europe and technology in this latest collaboration with Talking Politics.
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Iain Sinclair: The Last London from 2017-03-29T23:00
Iain Sinclair delivers his lecture on ‘The Last London’ at the British Museum, as part of the LRB’s Winter Lecture series.
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Mary Beard: From Medusa to Merkel from 2017-03-16T00:00
Mary Beard delivers her lecture ‘Women in Power’ at the British Museum.
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Talking Politics: Mary Beard talks to David Runciman from 2017-02-28T00:00
In the first of our ongoing and occasional collaboration with the Talking Politics podcast, David Runciman talks to Mary Beard about women in power.
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Emily Witt: Burning Man from 2017-01-12T00:00
Emily Witt goes to the Burning Man gathering in Nevada, from our 17 July 2014 issue.
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from 2016-06-29T23:00
Andrew O'Hagan watches Craig Wright show Gavin Andresen, one of the most respected bitcoin core developers, that he holds the Satoshi key.
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Peter Pomerantsev: European Schools from 2016-06-15T23:00
Peter Pomerantsev remembers his time in the 'English section' at the European School in Munich.
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Naomi Klein: Let Them Drown from 2016-06-01T23:00
Naomi Klein examines how Edward Said’s ideas of racial hierarchy, including Orientalism, have long been the silent partners to climate change.
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Charles Hope: Giorgione from 2016-03-30T23:00
Charles Hope on Giorgione, 'a sort of Venetian counterpart to Leonardo'.
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Colm Tóibín: After I am hanged my portrait will be interesting from 2016-03-30T23:00
Colm Tóibín on the story of Easter 1916.
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Julian Bell: Delacroix from 2016-03-17T00:00
Julian Bell discusses Delacroix and his heirs.
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Frances Stonor Saunders: Where on Earth are you? from 2016-03-03T00:00
Frances Stonor Saunders examines the crossing of borders, in her LRB Winter Lecture delivered at the British Museum.
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James Meek: Robin Hood in a Time of Austerity from 2016-02-18T00:00
James Meek asks how, in a time of austerity economics, we define the robber and the robbed, in his LRB Winter Lecture delivered at the British Museum.
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Alan Bennett: What I Did in 2015 from 2016-01-07T00:00
Alan Bennett works the line, in his LRB Diary for 2015.
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David Runciman: Thatcher in Her Bubble from 2015-12-03T00:00
David Runciman on Margaret Thatcher.
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Chaohua Wang: Beijing locks up its lawyers from 2015-11-05T00:00
Chaohua Wang on justice in China.
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from 2015-09-23T23:00
Andrew O'Hagan crosses the road.
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Robert Hanks: On Putting Things Off from 2015-09-09T23:00
Robert Hanks on the pleasures and pains of putting things off.
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Julian Barnes: Selfie with ‘Sunflowers’ from 2015-07-29T23:00
Julian Barnes on Van Gogh.
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The Killing of Osama bin Laden: Seymour Hersh talks to Christian Lorentzen from 2015-05-20T23:00
Seymour Hersh talks to Christian Lorentzen about his pieces for the LRB, collected in a new book, The Killing of Osama bin Laden.
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Ghaith Abdul-Ahad: In Sanaa from 2015-05-20T23:00
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad on the rise of the Houthis in Yemen.
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Hilary Mantel: ‘The School of English’, a story from 2015-05-06T23:00
Hilary Mantel reads her short story, ‘The School of English’.
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Tariq Ali: The New World Disorder from 2015-04-08T23:00
In his 2015 Winter Lecture, Tariq Ali argues that we are living in the twilight period of democracy.
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Marina Warner: Learning My Lesson from 2015-03-19T00:00
In her 2015 Winter Lecture, Marina Warner shows how higher education in the UK has been betrayed.
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Adam Phillips: Against Self-Criticism from 2015-03-05T00:00
In his 2015 Winter Lecture, Adam Phillips reflects on the ways we hate ourselves.
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Peter Pomerantsev: Iammmmyookkraaanian from 2015-02-19T00:00
Peter Pomerantsev on images and myths of Maidan.
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Death in Belgravia from 2015-02-05T00:00
Rosemary Hill on the life and disappearance of Lord Lucan.
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Owen Bennett-Jones: Go-Betweens in Northern Ireland from 2015-01-22T00:00
Owen Bennett-Jones on the messengers that paved the way for the Northern Ireland peace process.
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Alan Bennett: What I did in 2014 from 2015-01-08T00:00
Alan Bennett on what he did in 2014.
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James Meek: Shamed in Afghanistan from 2014-12-18T00:00
James Meek on the British army’s eight years in Afghanistan.
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T.J. Clark: Face to Face with Rembrandt from 2014-12-04T00:00
T.J. Clark comes face to face with Rembrandt.
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from 2014-03-06T00:00
Andrew O’Hagan spent six months with Julian Assange helping him write his autobiography, though in the event Assange didn’t want the book published. O’Hagan speaks about those six months for the...
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James Wood: On Not Going Home from 2014-02-20T00:00
James Wood explores the estrangement of voluntary emigration: the puzzling sense of losing the country you leave and failing to find another. Homelessness, in a word.
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Alan Bennett: What I did in 2013 from 2014-01-09T00:00
Alan Bennett reluctantly pays some overdue bills.
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Penelope Fitzgerald from 2013-12-19T00:00
Jenny Turner on Penelope Fitzgerald
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A Death in Jenin from 2013-11-21T00:00
Adam Shatz on the life and death of Juliano Mer-Khamis.
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Australia’s Boat-People from 2013-09-25T23:00
In August, as Australian politicians hung tough on asylum seekers, the Melbourne Writers Festival asked Jeremy Harding how far governments can patrol migration. With grateful acknowledgments to the...
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In Conversation: Jacqueline Rose on Sylvia Plath, feminism, Proust, psychoanalysis, Zionism and more from 2013-08-31T23:00
Recognised for her writing on subjects including Sylvia Plath, feminism, Proust, psychoanalysis, Zionism, the Middle East conflict and Jewish identity, Rose discusses her work with Justin Clemen...
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Colm Tóibín: In Conversation from 2013-08-30T23:00
Author, essayist and poet Colm Tóibín is one of Ireland’s greatest living writers. He discusses his life and work, including his recent book The Testament of Mary, in which he re-imagines the life ...
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In Conversation: Jacqueline Rose on Rosa Luxemburg and Marilyn Monroe from 2013-08-30T23:00
Jacqueline Rose draws parallels between revolutionary 19th-century socialist Rosa Luxemburg and Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. She explains how each of these remarkable women straddled the divide b...
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At the Movies from 2013-08-07T23:00
Michael Wood reconsiders ‘Cleopatra’ – its expense, its quarrelling stars, its length, its success – on the release of a restored print for the film’s fiftieth anniversary.
The Syrian War Spills Over from 2013-06-05T23:00
Patrick Cockburn explains why the Syrian war feels close to ending when it isn’t and how YouTube is changing war reporting.
Seven Poems from 2013-04-17T23:00
Mark Ford reads a selection of poems he’s published in the LRB.
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American Democracy from 2013-03-21T00:00
David Runciman on the impossibility and persistence of the US political system.
Shakespeare: Our Contemporary? from 2013-02-01T00:00
Colin Burrow, Michael Dobson, James Shapiro, Emma Smith and Marina Warner discuss the ways we continue to make (and occasionally unmake) Shakespeare in our own image.
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Literary Names from 2012-11-22T00:00
Colin Burrow on the reasons Jane Eyre is called Jane Eyre and Tom Jones is called Tom Jones.
Philby in Beirut from 2012-10-10T23:00
Tom Carver on the night Kim Philby disappeared from the rue Kantari.
Memories of Amikejo from 2012-03-22T00:00
Neal Ascherson writes about Europe, its pasts and its possible future
A Part Song from 2012-02-09T00:00
Denise Riley reads ‘A Part Song’, her first poem in the LRB for many years.
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The Immigration Battle from 2012-02-09T00:00
Jeremy Harding discusses the politics of migration and the battle at Europe's borders.
An Interview with Jacqueline Rose from 2011-06-06T23:00
Jacqueline Rose speaks about her first readings of Freud and Jung and her encounters with feminism, Sylvia Plath and Israel/Palestine.
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Who Owns Kafka? from 2011-03-03T00:00
Judith Butler asks ‘Who Owns Kafka?’ in one of the LRB’s 2011 Winter Lectures.
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