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.
info_outline Bonus episode: The Idea Of You, with Robinne LeeThe 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!
info_outline 77: The Party Crasher, with Sophie KinsellaThe 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.
info_outline 76: Careless, with Kirsty CapesThe 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.
info_outline 75: The Roxy Letters, with Mary Pauline LowryThe 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...
info_outline 74: The Summer Job, with Lizzy DentThe 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.
info_outline 73: Star-Crossed, with Minnie DarkeThe 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.
info_outline 72: Who's Loving You: Love Stories by Women of Colour, with Sareeta DomingoThe 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.
info_outline 71: Exciting Times, with Naoise DolanThe 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.
info_outline The Most Fun Job, with Laurie Gillman of East City BookshopThe 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_outlineMy 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!
Robinne and I talked about her origin story as a fanfic writer, why she chose to make her main character French, why love stories that don’t end happily can have such a big impact on us both in fiction and in real life, and a whole lot more.
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Books Mentioned in this episode:
The Idea of You, by Robinne Lee
Bringing Up Bébé (US)/French Children Don't Throw Food (UK),
by Pamela Druckerman
Bonjour Tristesse, by Françoise Sagan (French version)
Bonjour Tristesse, by Françoise Sagan (in English)
My Oxford Year, by Julia Whelan
Girl, Unstrung, by Claire Handscombe
Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe
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In the US and now the UK, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!
In other countries, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.
Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.
Help fund the podcast through this PayPal link!
Buy Claire’s novel, Unscripted.
Pre-order Claire’s YA novel, Girl, Unstrung.
Sign up for Claire’s mailing list.
Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at [email protected]
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