Always Take Notes

Simon and Rachel speak with the screenwriter and novelist Jed Mercurio. A former hospital doctor and Royal Air Force officer, Jed made his entry into television after he answered an advert in the British Medical Journal seeking advisors for a hospital drama. Although he had limited experience, he was soon scripting the BBC series "Cardiac Arrest". Jed's subsequent television credits include "Bodies", "Lady Chatterley’s Lover", "Critical", "Strike Back", and "The Grimleys", and his most recent creations, police dramas "Line of Duty" and "Bodyguard", both topped the ratings for UK television drama. Jed's screenwriting work has achieved award wins or nominations at the Emmys, Golden Globes and BAFTAs, and he has also published several novels, including "Ascent" in 2007 which focuses on a Soviet fighter pilot turned cosmonaut. We spoke to Jed about moving from the air force and medicine into writing, working on novels as well as screenplays, and creating "Line of Duty".

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.

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Rachel and Simon speak with the literary agent Carrie Plitt. She began her career in publishing in the rights department at Penguin, before moving to the literary agency Conville and Walsh in 2011. In 2016 she joined Felicity Bryan Associates and the authors she now represents include Reni Eddo-Lodge, Catherine Belton and Natasha Lunn. In 2018 Carrie was included on the Bookseller's list of rising stars of the book trade and in 2020 she was shortlisted for Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards. She is also the co-host of "Literary Friction", a podcast about books and ideas. We spoke to Carrie about life as an American in London and building her list of clients, representing Reni Eddo-Lodge as her book, "Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race", became a huge hit, and her advice for young writers looking to secure representation. 

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.

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Simon and Rachel speak to David Wolf, who runs the Long Read section of the Guardian newspaper, publishing in-depth reporting, profiles and essays. David has worked at the Long Read since the section was founded in 2014 – first as commissioning editor, then overall editor. During that time, the Long Read has published over 1,000 pieces and David has personally edited articles on a wide variety of subjects, from profiles of the French President and Britain's most successful estate agent, to stories about Leni Riefenstahl, Hindu Supremacism and "proper" binmen. Before he joined the Guardian, David was arts & books editor of Prospect magazine. He has also written for the Guardian, Observer, Prospect, Slate and the New Republic. We spoke to David about how studying French and philosophy at university shaped his approach to editing, the history of the Long Read section, and the sometimes extended process of bringing a story idea to fruition. 

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.

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Rachel and Simon speak to the journalist and author Sally Hayden, who won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2022 for her book "My Fourth Time, We Drowned". Currently the Africa correspondent for the Irish Times, she has also worked with the BBC, the Financial Times, Foreign Policy, the Guardian, the New York Times and the Washington Post. In 2019 she was included on Forbes's "30 Under 30" list of young media stars in Europe. Sally's reporting focuses on migration and human rights; that led to "My Fourth Time, We Drowned", an investigation into the migrant crisis across North Africa. Alongside winning the Orwell Prize, the book was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing. We spoke to Sally about entering the world of journalism, reporting from countries across Africa and the Middle East, and the genesis of her book.

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.

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Simon and Rachel speak with Fraser Nelson, who has edited the Spectator magazine since 2009. Previously a financial journalist with the Times and political editor of the Scotsman, during his tenure at the Spectator Fraser has overseen a near doubling of the magazine’s sales. He is also a columnist with the Daily Telegraph, sits on the board of the Centre for Social Justice, a centre-right think tank, and has presented two Channel Four documentaries on the subject of inequality. We spoke to Fraser about the process of running a weekly magazine, his earlier career in newspapers, and adapting a print title to the digital age.

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.

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Rachel and Simon speak with the literary agent Karolina Sutton. After a brief stint in advertising, she got a job as an agents' assistant and quickly started putting together her own list. She has worked with authors including Margaret Atwood, Ed Caesar, Anthony Doerr, Haruki Murakami, Tara Westover and Malala Yousafzai. In 2020 she won Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards. Earlier this year she moved from Curtis Brown to CAA. We spoke to Karolina about moving from advertising to agenting, working with high-profile clients and what she looks for in a book proposal.

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Simon and Rachel speak with the novelist Ian McEwan, the critically acclaimed author of 17 novels and two short-story collections. His first published work, a collection of short stories, "First Love, Last Rites", won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976. Ian's novels include "The Child in Time", which won the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award in 1987; "The Cement Garden"; "Enduring Love"; "Amsterdam", which won the Booker Prize in 1998; "Atonement"; "Saturday"; "On Chesil Beach"; "Solar"; "Sweet Tooth"; "The Children Act"; "Nutshell"; and "Machines Like Me", which was a number-one bestseller. "Atonement", "Enduring Love", "The Children Act" and "On Chesil Beach" have all been adapted into films. We spoke to Ian about his experience as the first-ever student on the University of East Anglia creative-writing course, his extraordinary run of success in the 1990s and early 2000s, and about his new novel, "Lessons."

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.

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Rachel and Simon speak with the novelist and short-story writer Tessa Hadley. She is the author of eight novels, including "Accidents in the Home" (2002), for which she was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, and "The Past" (2015), which won a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize. Tessa regularly publishes stories in the New Yorker; a new collection of her short fiction, "After the Funeral", will be released in July. We spoke to Tessa about being published for the first time in her 40s, writing in different mediums, and her latest novel, "Free Love".

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.

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Simon and Rachel speak to Orlando Figes, author of nine books on Russian and European history which have been translated into over 30 languages. Born in London, Figes studied history at Cambridge and, as a graduate student, completed archival research in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. He rose to prominence in 1996 with his second book, "A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924", which the Times Literary Supplement later named as one its "100 most influential books since the war". His subsequent works include "Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia", "Crimea: The Last Crusade" and "The Europeans", and until recently he was a professor of history at Birkbeck College, University of London. We spoke to Orlando about reaching a popular audience with his history books, "The Whisperers" and "The Europeans", and his timely latest project, "The Story of Russia".

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.

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Rachel and Simon speak to Moya Lothian-McLean, contributing editor at Novara Media. She began writing articles about music for Vice in 2015 while studying at university; in 2016, after graduating, she joined Stylist as an editorial assistant and wrote features as well as articles for the website. In 2020 she joined gal-dem, an independent magazine, as politics editor. Now she is contributing editor at Novara Media and writes for the New York Times and the Guardian, among other publications. Alongside her editorial work, she presents "Human Resources", a podcast about Britain's involvement in slavery, and appears on broadcast media. We spoke to Moya about breaking into freelancing, her stint at gal-dem and her current role at Novara Media, and the differences between journalism and content creation.

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.

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