Always Take Notes

Rachel and Simon speak to the journalist, author and former co-host of Always Take Notes, Kassia St. Clair. She has written for Architectural Digest, The Economist, the Times Literary Supplement and Wired, and had a column in Elle Decoration for many years. Her first book, “The Secret Lives of Colour”, recounted the “unusual stories of the 75 most fascinating shades, dyes and hues”; the book was a top-ten bestseller, a Radio 4 Book of the Week and has been translated into more than 20 languages. “The Golden Thread”, her second book, chronicled 30,000 years of textile history and was named a Book of the Year by the Sunday Times. Her latest book, “The Race to the Future”, revisits the Peking-Paris automobile race of 1907. We spoke to Kassia about getting started in journalism, writing “The Secret Lives of Colour” and changing direction for “The Race to the Future”. “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via ⁠Amazon⁠, ⁠Bookshop.org⁠, ⁠Hatchards⁠ or ⁠Waterstones⁠. You can find us online at ⁠⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠⁠⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Simon and Rachel speak with the biographer Adam Sisman. After an initial career in publishing, Adam's first book, a biography of historian A.J.P. Taylor, appeared in 1994. His second, "Boswell's Presumptuous Task" (2000), won the US National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, and he has subsequently written biographies of another historian, Hugh Trevor-Roper, and the espionage novelist John le Carré. A coda to his original biography of Le Carré, published in 2015, came out this year; it contains information he was unable to publish in the novelist's lifetime. Among Adam's other works are two volumes of letters by travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. We spoke to Adam about his new book - "The Secret Life of John le Carré" - his early career in publishing, and his move into writing biographies.  “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via ⁠Amazon⁠, ⁠Bookshop.org⁠, ⁠Hatchards⁠ or ⁠Waterstones⁠. You can find us online at ⁠⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠⁠⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel and Simon speak with the novelist Victoria Hislop. After studying English at university, Victoria worked in book publishing, PR and journalism. She turned to fiction in 2005 with “The Island”, a love story set on Spinalonga, Greece’s former leprosy colony. The novel was translated into 40 languages and sold more than six million copies worldwide; it was adapted into a 26-part Greek television series, which achieved record ratings in the country. Subsequent books, including “The Return” and “One August Night”, have also been bestsellers. We spoke to Victoria about the origins and development of her interest in Greece, moving from publishing to journalism to fiction-writing, and her latest novel, “The Figurine”. “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via Amazon, Bookshop.org, Hatchards or Waterstones. You can find us online at ⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Simon and Rachel speak with Anjan Sundaram, an award-winning author, journalist and television presenter, whose war correspondence has won a Frontline Club Award and a Reuters prize. Anjan's previous books are "Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship" (an Amazon Book of the Year) and "Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo" (a Royal African Society Book of the Year). He has reported from Central Africa for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Observer, Granta, Foreign Policy, Politico and the Associated Press. His books have been featured by Christiane Amanpour and Fareed Zakaria on CNN; by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show; and on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week and Start the Week. We spoke to Anjan about working as a stringer in the Congo and elsewhere in Africa, juggling journalism and book writing, and his new book, "Breakup", on the personal costs of war reporting.  “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via Amazon, Bookshop.org, Hatchards or Waterstones. You can find us online at ⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel and Simon speak with Sarah Braybrooke, publishing director at Ithaka Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK. Sarah started her career in publicity, first at Profile, then at Scribe, an independent publishing house based in Australia. She stayed with Scribe for 12 years, becoming managing director of Scribe UK in 2017, and publisher in 2020. During her time there, Sarah worked on titles including "Gut", a bestselling science book about the digestive system, and "Billion Dollar Whale", an investigation into the 1MDB scandal. She moved to Ithaka in 2022. We spoke to Sarah about getting started in publishing, the differences between the Australian and British industries and setting up her list (which includes the new "Always Take Notes" book). Book tickets to our live recording in London on October 25th with Nicholas Shakespeare here.  “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via Amazon, Bookshop.org, Hatchards or Waterstones. You can find us online at ⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Simon and Rachel speak with the author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce. "Millions", his debut children's novel, published in 2004, won the CILIP Carnegie Medal. He is also the author of "Noah's Gold", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again", "Cosmic", "Framed", "The Astounding Broccoli Boy" and "Runaway Robot". His books have been shortlisted for numerous other prizes, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children's Fiction Award (now the Costa Book Award) and the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Along with Danny Boyle, Frank also devised the Opening Ceremony for the London Olympics in 2012. He has written for the hit TV series "Dr Who" and was the screenwriter for films including "Goodbye Christopher Robin" and "Millions". We spoke to Frank about his career as a screenwriter - moving from soap operas to feature films - his work on the Olympic Opening Ceremony, and his new novel, "The Wonder Brothers". “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press on October 12th. You can order it via Amazon, Bookshop.org, Hatchards or Waterstones. You can find us online at ⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel and Simon speak with Helen Macdonald, nature writer and novelist, about her success with 'H is for Hawk', her new sci-fi novel 'Profit', and writing about the natural world. They discuss collaborative writing, grief, training a hawk, exploring Midway Atoll, and the evolution of nature writing with diverse voices.

Lee Child, bestselling novelist who created Jack Reacher, discusses his move from TV redundancy to writing and why he handed Reacher to his brother Andrew. Conversations cover crafting a morally clear, uncomplicated hero, writing by instinct rather than plotting, adaptations from film to TV, and the long slow rise to worldwide success.

In this episode Rachel and Simon speak with the novelist and journalist Megan Nolan. Her essays and reviews have been published by the Guardian and the New York Times, among other publications. Her debut novel, "Acts of Desperation", was published in 2021 and received a Betty Trask Award, was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her second novel, "Ordinary Human Failings", was published in July. We spoke to Megan about getting started in journalism in her early twenties, balancing essay-writing with fiction-writing and about "Ordinary Human Failings". You can find us online at ⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Simon and Rachel speak to James Daunt, who runs both Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest retail bookseller, and Waterstones, the largest retail bookseller in the United Kingdom. James currently oversees approximately 600 Barnes & Noble shops in the United States and 293 Waterstones locations across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium. After an early career as an investment banker, James opened his own bookstore, Daunt Books, in London in 1990. In 2011 James was appointed managing director of Waterstones when the struggling bookseller was bought by a Russian businessman, Alexander Mamut; Waterstones was subsequently restored to profitability. In 2019 he additionally became chief executive of Barnes & Noble. We spoke to James about setting up his own independent bookstore in the 1990s, being brought in to save Waterstones two decades later, and subsequently taking on the top role at Barnes & Noble.  This episode of Always Take Notes is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative. Go to www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk to find out more about their creative writing courses. Use code ATN20 for £20 off the full price of any four-, five, six- or ten-week online course. You can find us online at ⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices