London Review Bookshop Podcast

In this podcast, Ruth Padel reads from and discusses her new long poem, 'Tidings', a Christmas tale featuring a little girl, a homeless man and a fox, that takes us on a journey from Australia to London and New York via Rome and Bethlehem, She is in conversation with fellow poet Sarah Howe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Renowned arabist and regular LRB contributor Robert Irwin was in the shop to read from and talk about his latest novel 'Wonders Will Never Cease' (Dedalus), his return to fiction after a break of 17 years. Set during the Wars of the Roses, the book promises to be a mind-altering blend of fantasy, fact and fiction, encompassing the Swordsman’s Pentacle, the Draug, the Miraculous Cauldron, the Curse of the Roasted Goose, the Talking Head and the Museum of Skulls. In this podcast, listen to Irwin in conversation with Nicholas Lezard, whose weekly ‘Choice’ column in the Saturday Guardian has made him one of Britain’s most influential book reviewers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The revolutionary Leveller movement grew out of the explosive tumult of the 1640s and the battlefields of the English Civil Wars. They were central figures in those turbulent years which resulted in the execution of Charles I and the abolition of the House of Lords, and brought Britain to the edge of a radical republican government. From the streets of London and the clattering printers’ workshops that stoked the uprising to the rank and file of the New Model Army and the furious Putney debates, at which the Levellers argued with Oliver Cromwell about the fate of English democracy, the Levellers' story demonstrates the revolutionary potential of ordinary people, and provides hope and inspiration for the future. In this podcast listen to historian and activist John Rees discuss his new book 'The Levellers' Revolution' with Diane Purkiss, Professor of English at Keble College, Oxford and author of 'The People’s History of the English Civil War' and 'Literature, Gender and Politics During the English Civil War'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen to Cockburn discuss his latest book 'The Age of Jihad' (Verso) with 'Guardian' journalist Rachel Shabi, author of 'Not the Enemy: Israel's Jews from Arab Lands'. Award-winning journalist Patrick Cockburn’s chronicles of the collapse of Syria/Iraq and the devastating role of the West have become essential reading for anyone interested in the dominant conflict of our time – the Sunni-Shia war – and in the birth of ISIS. So prescient have his analyses of the region been that last year the judges of the British Journalism Awards advised the UK government to ‘consider pensioning off the whole of MI6 and hiring Patrick Cockburn instead.’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Poet, essayist, novelist, broadcaster, artist and film-maker John Berger celebrates his 90th birthday this month. To mark the occasion we have declared him our Author of the Month for November. John Berger’s work, across a range of media, has been transforming the way we look at art, life and everything else, from Ways of Seeing in 1972 to the present day. In our latest podcast in collaboration with Verso, Gareth Evans, Tom Overton, Yasmin Gunaratnam and Mike Dibb discuss Berger's art and politics and its continuing relevance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sheila Rowbotham was one of the leading figures behind the Women’s Liberation Movement in Britain and is one of the best-loved feminists of our times. In conversation with Melissa Benn, Rowbotham discussed her latest book 'Rebel Crossings: New Women, Free Lovers and Radicals in Britain and the United States' and its transatlantic story of six radical pioneers, showing how rebellious ideas were formed and travelled across the Atlantic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben Lerner and Andrea Brady in conversation at the London Review Bookshop. Lerner is a novelist, poet and critic, whose most recent collection is No Art, and whose controversial critical essay The Hatred of Poetry began as a piece in the LRB. Brady is a professor, poet and editor at Barque Press, whose most recent book is Mutability: Scripts for Infancy, published by University of Chicago Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the tyranny of exercise to the crisis of policing, via the sexualization of childhood (and everything else), Mark Greif’s Against Everything is an essential guide to the vicissitudes of everyday life under twenty-first-century capitalism and a vital scrutiny of the contradictions arising between our desires and the excuses we make. In a wide-ranging conversation for the latest Verso podcast in collaboration with the London Review Bookshop, Mark Greif and Brian Dillon discuss modes of critique and cultural forms, and the role of the intellectual in stripping away the veil of everyday life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the aftermath of the failed military coup, two of Turkey’s most prominent young writers discuss Turkey, its past, present and future. Ece Temelkuran’s 'Turkey: The Insane and the Melancholy' is published by Zed Books, and Kaya Genç’s 'Under the Shadow: Rage and Revolution in Modern Turkey' is newly published by I.B. Tauris. The chair for this evening was Daniel Trilling, editor of the New Humanist and author of Bloody Nasty People: The Rise of Britain's Far Right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen to this podcast of poetry 'up close' with 'Prac Crit' founding editor and winner of the T.S Eliot Prize, Sarah Howe. Four recently featured poets – Vahni Capildeo, Mark Waldron, R.A. Villanueva and Maureen McLane – read and discuss their latest work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.