Literary Friction

Everyone needs a little magic from time to time, and this episode is brimming with it. We spoke to Leone Ross about her sensuous, absorbing new novel, This One Sky Day, which is set in the fictional Carribean archipelago of Popisho, where everyone is born with a certain magical gift, or cors. It's a story about many things, but mainly of two lovers trying to find their way back to one another over the course of a single day while the world shifts around them. We spoke to Leone about the subversive potential of magical realism, it's political power, and why some people are still so snobby about it. So listen in for our interview with Leone, a more general discussion of the literature of magical realism, and finally our usual book recommendations, and let us whisk you away to a better place for an hour. Recommendations on the theme, Magical Realism: Octavia: Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/571/57141/fictions/9780141183848.html Carrie: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, translated by Gregory Rabassa https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/572/57241/one-hundred-years-of-solitude/9780141184999.html General recommendations: Octavia: Everybody: A Book About Freedom by Olivia Laing https://www.olivialaing.com/everybody Leone: Diary of a Film by Niven Govinden https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/niven-govinden/diary-of-a-film/9780349700724/?v2=true Carrie: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro https://www.faber.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/7906/s/9780571364879-klara-and-the-sun/ Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/litfriction Email us: litfriction@gmail.com Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction This episode is sponsored by Picador https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

This month, as spring begins to spring, we're thinking about vulnerability, about the perils and pleasures of opening up. Joining us is author and academic Katherine Angel, whose latest book Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again is a nuanced and thought-provoking examination of women’s desire in the age of consent, exploring the shortcomings of our current discussions around things like sex, power and violence. Our theme is inspired by Katherine’s book, and her discussion of the necessity of vulnerability in sex, so listen in for our thoughts about some of the books that explore vulnerability and the complicated terrain of consent, as well as the vulnerability of writing itself. Come let your guard down with us for the next hour of Literary Friction. Recommendations on the theme, Vulnerability: Octavia: To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571326211-to-throw-away-unopened.html Carrie: The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571327850-the-lesser-bohemians.html General recommendations: Octavia: Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux, translated by Tanya Leslie https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/books/simple-passion Katherine: Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin https://granta.com/products/gay-bar/ Carrie: Things I Don’t Want to Know by Deborah Levy https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/253/253221/things-i-don-t-want-to-know/9780241983089.html You can support us on Patreon: http://patreon.com/litfriction Email us: litfriction@gmail.com Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction This episode is sponsored by Picador https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

For Minisode Nineteen we’re doing something a little different - this episode is sponsored by publisher Serpent’s Tail, who are celebrating their thirty-fifth birthday this year (just like both of us!). We’ve had many of their authors on the show over the years, including Chris Kraus, Carmen Maria Machado, Mary Gaitskill, Esi Edugyan and Sarah Perry. So in honour of their birthday, we talked to Serpent’s Tail publisher Hannah Westland about what it's like to be an editor, how she works with authors and with text, and what it means to be looking for fresh talent. Plus she gave some hot tips about upcoming books this Spring. We hope you enjoy it! https://serpentstail.com/

Building on our show in 2017 with Dana Spiotta that looked at books about film, this month we want to explore what happens when books turn into films. We’ll be asking why literature is often a source for cinema, thinking about what the best adaptations get right, and remembering some of our favourite movies inspired by books. Our guest is author Niven Govinden, whose sixth novel, Diary of a Film, unfolds over the course of three days in an unnamed Italian city, where an auteur director has come to premier his latest film at a festival. It’s a love letter to the cinema, and an intense meditation on the creative process, artistic control, queer love and flaneurs. So, grab your popcorn - it will almost be like sitting in a crowded movie theatre again! Our recommended film adaptations: Octavia: Lady Macbeth, directed by William Oldroyd (https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/lady-macbeth-william-oldroyd-period-film-bones) based on the novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov: https://www.nyrb.com/products/lady-macbeth-of-mtsensk?variant=32796791701641 Carrie: Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve (https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/11/13587262/arrival-movie-review-amy-adams-denis-villeneuve) based on the short story Story Of Your Life by Ted Chiang: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538163/arrival-stories-of-your-life-mti-by-ted-chiang/ General recommendations: Octavia: The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein https://www.europaeditions.com/book/9781933372006/the-days-of-abandonment Niven: Romance in Marseille by Claude McKay https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/604955/romance-in-marseille-by-claude-mckay-edited-by-gary-edward-holcomb-and-william-j-maxwell/ Carrie: Having and Being Had by Eula Biss https://www.faber.co.uk/books/non-fiction/9780571346424-having-and-being-had.html We'll be launching our Patreon next month so keep an eye on our socials if you'd like to become a patron and support our work! Email us: litfriction@gmail.com Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction This episode is sponsored by Picador: https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

Minisode Eighteen is dedicated to winter reads. Summer reading seems to get all the attention, but as we hunker down into our second month of winter lockdown in the UK, we’ve been thinking about the kinds of books we turn to in the colder months of the year (and at peak pandemic exhaustion). We’re going to discuss what makes a good read in bleak weather, and some of the best books set in the bleakest season. Also featuring: tantalising news of our forthcoming Patreon page! We can't wait for Spring but, til then, let's get lost in some excellent books. Enjoy! Email us: litfriction@gmail.com Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

For our first show of 2021, we bring you this author special with Raven Leilani, who joined Carrie in cyberspace to talk about her smash hit debut novel, Luster. In this extended interview, they discussed making art in precarity, writing so the reader can’t look away, good and bad sex, what it means to write Black characters who unapologetically deny respectability, nerd culture, and so much more. Plus the usual book recommendations. We hope you enjoy! Recommendations: Raven: Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/hex-9781526611444/ Carrie: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/109/1095909/the-interestings/9780099584094.html Email us: litfriction@gmail.com Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction This episode is sponsored by Picador https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

It’s our last Literary Friction of 2020, and as usual it's time for our year in review show, packed full of recommendations just in time for your holiday shopping. We'll be looking back over some of the books that got us through this wildly challenging year, and gently revisiting the reading resolutions we made in 2019, when we were still so innocent and full of optimism. We'll also give some resolutions for the year ahead, plus some of the books we are excited to read in 2021. We've teamed up with two of our favourite independent bookshops to offer some ace deals for LF listeners: Burley Fisher (https://burleyfisherbooks.com/) are offering 10% off using the code LITFRICTION at checkout, available until midnight on 23/12. If you spend over £20 at Pages of Hackney (https://pagesofhackney.co.uk/) they'll throw in one of their brilliant totes for free, just add the tote plus books to your basket and use the code LITFRICTION at checkout. They've also put together a list of everything we recommended on this show, here: https://pagesofhackney.co.uk/litfriction/ Top picks from 2020: Carrie: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein Lost Cat by Mary Gaitskill The Years by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer Euphoria by Lily King Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo In The Woods by Tana French Octavia: Weather by Jenny Offill In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado Blueberries by Ellena Savage This Brutal House by Niven Govinden Things I Don’t Want To Know by Deborah Levy Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan A Man’s Place by Annie Ernaux, trans. Tanya Leslie Unknown Language by Hildegard of Bingen and Huw Lemmey Looking forward to next year: Carrie: Open Water by Caleb Azuman Nelson Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler Having and Being Had by Eula Biss Octavia: Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again by Katherine Angel Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu This One Sky Day by Leone Ross Email us: litfriction@gmail.com Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

Does the written word really have the power to change things? How do you make a good argument in writing? Does the form of the essay lend itself particularly well to politics? Join us as we talk to the writer Otegha Uwagba about her brilliant essay Whites, a clear sighted, powerful comment on race in our society which examines her feelings in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, and the failures of white allyship. Picking up from our discussion of the form of the essay with Brian Dillon in 2017, we’ll be exploring the strengths and limitations of the form and talking about our favourite political essayists, from George Orwell to James Baldwin to Rebecca Solnit, plus all the usual recommendations. Our recommended political essays: Octavia: Daddy Issues by Katherine Angel https://peninsulapress.co.uk/product/daddy-issues Carrie: On Witness and Repair by Jesmyn Ward https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/jesmyn-ward-on-husbands-death-and-grief-during-covid General Recommendations: Octavia: A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/10378/a-very-easy-death-by-simone-de-beauvoir/ Otegha: America Is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549486/america-is-not-the-heart-by-elaine-castillo/ Carrie: Intimations by Zadie Smith https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/321/321775/intimations/9780241492383.html Email us: litfriction@gmail.com Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

What with the news of a viable Covid vaccine in the works and a Biden Harris administration on the horizon, you may be having an unusual feeling, one that you vaguely recognise but can’t quite put your finger on... Well, friends, it might just be Optimism. We're a few weeks into lockdown two in the UK, and seeing as we talked about joy at the start of the first one, it feels like good symmetry to call on our optimistic reserves this time around. As the global pandemic drags on, we think it's a good muscle to flex. So join us as we ask, what does it really mean to feel optimistic now? How does it work for us, and how can we nurture it in a helpful way? Plus some aural and visual recommendations for when reading isn't hitting the spot.

What does it mean to love too much, or in a way that society doesn’t see as appropriate? Is loving an inherently complicated experience? Helping us consider these questions is our guest, the author Mary Gaitskill, who joined us to talk about her masterful long essay Lost Cat, which has just been published in the UK for the first time. It’s the story of her lost cat, Gattino, and also a clear-eyed and heartbreaking meditation on who we are allowed to love, how different kinds of suffering are connected, and the hope and pain that love can bring. Inspired by Gattino and Mary, the theme of today’s show is ‘Complicated Love’, and we’ll be looking at its joys and perils in books from Romeo and Juliet to Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Listen in for our interview with Mary Gaitskill, thoughts about the whys and wherefores of how love gets complicated in literature, and all our usual recommendations. Recommendations on the theme, Complicated Love: Octavia: The Pisces by Melissa Broder https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-pisces-9781408890981/ Carrie: Middlemarch by George Eliot https://www.gutenberg.org/files/145/145-h/145-h.htm General Recommendations: Octavia: Hot Milk by Deborah Levy https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2016/hot-milk-by-deborah-levy/ Mary: Snow by Orhan Pamuk https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/snow/author/orhan-pamuk/ Carrie: Beloved by Toni Morrison https://bookshop.org/books/beloved/9781400033416 Email us: litfriction@gmail.com Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction