78: Murmuration, with Blake Auden
The Brit Lit Podcast
Our guest on episode 78 is poet Blake Auden, who has almost 300,000 Instagram followers and is known for speaking openly about mental health. He also has four collections of poems out in the world, and the most recent is Murmuration, which came out in October.
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Bonus episode: The Idea Of You, with Robinne Lee
The Brit Lit Podcast
My guest in this special bonus episode is Robinne Lee, the author of my favourite read of 2021, The Idea Of You. She's not British, but I loved this book so much that I wanted to bring you this interview anyway!
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77: The Party Crasher, with Sophie Kinsella
The Brit Lit Podcast
I’m so excited to bring you an interview with none other than Sophie Kinsella, who’s known to many as the queen of British chick lit and the author of the mega-bestselling Shopaholic series.
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76: Careless, with Kirsty Capes
The Brit Lit Podcast
This month’s guest is Kirsty Capes, author of the novel Careless. We talked about why she wanted to write about female friendship, what it was like to study with Bernadine Evaristo, why it's especially important for kids in the foster care system to see themselves reflected in books, and a whole lot more.
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75: The Roxy Letters, with Mary Pauline Lowry
The Brit Lit Podcast
This month’s guest is Mary Pauline Lowry, who wrote . Mary is married to a Brit, and she had lots of fascinating insights about the cultural differences between the countries, and I loved talking to her back about Bridget Jones and Jane Austen too. The Roxy Letters was one of my favourite reads of 2020. It was really fun and just what I needed. It’s out now in paperback. Mary and I talked about why we love epistolary novels, took a bit of an accidental deep dive into books about Hollywood, chatted about the difference between...
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74: The Summer Job, with Lizzy Dent
The Brit Lit Podcast
Our guest on episode 74 of the Brit Lit Podcast, is Lizzy Dent, who wrote The Summer Job, and who’s also a YA author -- as Rebecca Denton, she wrote This Beats Perfect, among other books.
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73: Star-Crossed, with Minnie Darke
The Brit Lit Podcast
Our guest on episode 73 of the Brit Lit Podcast is Danielle Wood who, as Minnie Darke, wrote one of Claire's very favourite books of recent years, called Star Crossed. Among other things, she discussed what makes One Day by David Nicholls such an amazing novel, and gave some recommendations for books by Tasmanian authors.
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72: Who's Loving You: Love Stories by Women of Colour, with Sareeta Domingo
The Brit Lit Podcast
Our guest today is Sareeta Domingo, who’s the author of both adult and young adult fiction, and most recently the editor of the collection called Who's Loving You: Love Stories by Women of Colour. She talks about romantic reads she loves, the process of putting together an anthology, why books by British authors of colour are important, and more.
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71: Exciting Times, with Naoise Dolan
The Brit Lit Podcast
Today, we hear from Naoise Dolan, who’s an Irish author and the writer of the Women’s Prize longlisted novel Exciting Times. She and I talked about cultural and literary differences between the UK, the US, and Ireland, what we both think about the idea of “likeable” characters, some great Irish authors, and more.
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The Most Fun Job, with Laurie Gillman of East City Bookshop
The Brit Lit Podcast
Happy Independent Bookstore Day! I work part-time in a lovely bookshop on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, and in this bonus episode, I interview my boss, Laurie Gillman, who founded the shop five years ago, to talk about what goes into starting and running a bookshop.
info_outlineOn this episode, we hear from Stephen Cox, whose debut novel Our Child of the Stars came out earlier this year. And he’s also part of an innovative new bookshop in North London that’s being run by a cooperative.
He and I talked about what makes the '60s such an interesting time to set a novel, the importance of bookshops on the high street, what makes a great writers’ group, and more.
Books Mentioned on the Podcast:
Our Child of the Stars, by Stephen Cox
This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood Today would have been my dad's 76th birthday. In his honour, I've made five of his songs public on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, and all (or most of) the other places people listen to music.
These songs were part of the soundtrack to my childhood. You On My Mind is my favourite of these, and I love that Have Another Drink really showcases his piano playing -- the riffs are very him, very representative of his best musicianship.
In his later years, he got a bit obsessed with adding electronic music effects, and I much prefer the original song-and-piano only versions of his songs. I hope some of those survive somewhere, and that I'll be able to share them one day.
He also got a bit obsessed with the Obama campaign in '07-'08, and wrote a whole load of songs about that. They're not his best work, but I'll share them at some point too. Heck, maybe the Crooked media boys will get a kick out of them.
I miss my dad often and a lot these days -- a lot of his heroes and influences are hitting milestones, releasing memoirs, and, sadly, passing away. I wish I could have seen Rocketman with him, and bought him Elton John's memoir. I wish I could have ranted about Brexit with him, too -- though it's probably best he never had to live through it. I know he'd be pleased that his music lives on, though. I hope people will enjoy it.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6Gw81dZOrnvx2kpFKpKN8P?si=NG9WPRjpQSSQPNod7CtN5w
The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
Grand Union: Stories, by Zadie Smith
Me, by Elton John
Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, Julie Andrews
Confessions of a Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella
Christmas Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella
Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe
*****
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