The LRB Podcast

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 differences.Maglaque wrote about the plague in Florence in a recent issue of the LRB, reviewing Florence Under Siege: Surviving Plague in an Early Modern City by John Henderson.Read her piece here: https://lrb.me/maglaquepodRead Tom's piece on Italy and the coronavirus pandemic: https://lrb.me/jonesitalypodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 for stopping the contagion.Read Rupert's piece here: https://lrb.me/bealecoronaviruspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 the historical revisionism of the nationalist right. Richard Lloyd Parry considers the former emperor’s part in the intellectual and political debate over Japan’s wartime record, and its history of apology – or non-apology – for its conduct in East Asia.Find more from Richard Lloyd Parry in the LRB here: lrb.me/richardlloydparrypodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 explores the debate about the ethics of childbearing in the age of climate crisis. She addresses the relationship between BP and the British Museum, the implications of culture-washing, and the logic of cultural divestment initiatives.Read more from Meehan Crist in the LRB here: lrb.me/meehancristarticlespodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 within fictions. This lecture will aim to tell some (though not all) of the truth about the relationship between lies and fiction from Homer to Ian McEwan, and will ask if fiction has responded adequately to the maggoty abundance of lies in public life at the present time.Read more by Colin Burrow in the LRB: lrb.me/colinburrowpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett reads his Diary for 2019, with a few little extra bits.Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: lrb.me/bennettpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 and the Middle East.Due to some problems with the audio recording, this is a slightly abridged version of the event.Read more Jeremy Harding in the LRB: lrb.me/jhardingpodRead more Adam Shatz in the LRB: lrb.me/shatzpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 representations of women’s everyday lives.Read more in the LRB from:Tessa HadleyNell DunnJoanna Biggs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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-Smith, about London, through the lens of pieces they've written for the paper.Read more by Rosemary Hill in the LRB: lrb.me/hillpodRead more by Iain Sincliar in the LRB: lrb.me/sinclairpodSign up to the LRB's newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 pieces they've written for the paper.Read more by Katrina Forrester in the LRB: https://lrb.me/forresterpodRead more by William Davies in the LRB: https://lrb.me/daviespod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.