Always Take Notes

By Always Take NotesArts

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Typical duration
65 min
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Always Take Notes episodes

September 08, 2020 #90: Geoff Dyer, author
Rachel and Simon speak with the prolific and genre-bending author Geoff Dyer. Geoff’s many books include the novel “Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi,” “But Beautiful” (about jazz), “Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It,” “Zona” (about Andrei Tarkovsky’s film “Stalker”) and, most recently, “Broadsword Calling Danny Boy” (on the film “Where Eagles Dare”). His books have been translated into twenty-four languages and he currently lives in Los Angeles where he is Writer in Residence at the University of Southern California. We spoke with Geoff about his early life and his entry into writing, fiction versus non-fiction, and the economics of his writing life.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Katy Lee. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

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58 min
August 25, 2020 #89: Amanda Craig, novelist
Rachel and Simon speak with the novelist Amanda Craig. After a brief spell in advertising and PR, Amanda became a journalist—writing for the Sunday Times, the Observer, the Telegraph and the Independent—and went on to win the Young Journalist of the Year and the Catherine Pakenham Award. Amanda is now a full-time novelist and her latest book, “The Golden Rule”, was published in June. We talked to Amanda about writing interconnected stories, the economics of the publishing industry and her experience of libel law.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Katy Lee. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar. The photo credit for Amanda's photograph is Charlie Hopkinson.

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56 min
August 11, 2020 #88: Toby Young, journalist and author
Simon and Rachel speak with journalist and author Toby Young. He has written for the Times, the Sun on Sunday, the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and has been a columnist at the Spectator since 1998. His book, “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People”, about his stint at Vanity Fair, became a bestseller and was adapted into a film starring Simon Pegg. Toby co-founded the West London Free School and is the chief executive of the Free Speech Union. We talked to Toby about his entry into journalism, his contrarian instincts and whether there is a “business of outrage”.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Katy Lee. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

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1 hr 4 min
July 28, 2020 #87: Anne Enright, novelist
Rachel and Simon speak with the author Anne Enright. Anne has written two collections of stories, one book of non-fiction and six novels. “The Gathering”, which was published in 2007, won the Booker Prize; Anne has also received the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. In 2015 she was appointed the first Laureate for Irish Fiction and in 2018 she received the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature. We spoke to Anne about creative writing programmes, her loathing of routine and writing “Actress” during the emergence of the #MeToo movement.
penguin.co.uk/authors/1009089/anne-enright.html
penguin.co.uk/books/1069718/the-gathering/9780099501633.html
penguin.co.uk/books/1118568/actress/9781787332065.html
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Katy Lee. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

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58 min
July 14, 2020 #86: Matthew Syed, author and journalist
Rachel and Simon speak with Matthew Syed, an author and journalist who writes about the practices and techniques that underpin high performance. He has written six books on the subject - including the best-sellers "Bounce" and "Black Box Thinking" - and has worked as a consultant with many leading organisations. He is also a journalist for The Times and a regular contributor to television and radio. In his previous career, Matthew was the England table tennis number one for almost a decade. We spoke to Matthew about his hugely successful popular science books, how he combined table tennis with breaking into journalism, and the challenges of writing a column.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Katy Lee. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

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53 min
June 30, 2020 #85: Louise Doughty, novelist
Rachel and Simon speak with Louise Doughty. Louise is the author of nine novels, including “Apple Tree Yard”, a number-one bestseller which was adapted as a four-part series by the BBC. Her sixth novel, “Whatever You Love”, was nominated for the Costa Novel Award and Orange Prize for Fiction; her eighth novel, “Black Water”, was chosen by the New York Times as one of their Notable Books of the Year. Her work has been translated into 30 languages. We spoke to Louise about creative writing programmes, the vexing “chick lit” label and her extensive research process.
https://www.louisedoughty.com/
https://louisedoughty.com/apple-tree-yard/
https://louisedoughty.com/whatever-you-love/
https://louisedoughty.com/black-water/
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Katy Lee. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

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58 min
June 16, 2020 #84: Guy Stagg, travel writer
Simon speaks with the travel writer Guy Stagg. In 2013 Guy, who had grown up in Paris, Heidelberg, Yorkshire and London, walked from Canterbury to Jerusalem. "The Crossway," an account of this journey, was published by Picador in 2018. The book won an Edward Stanford Travel Award and was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Deborah Rogers Foundation Award. We spoke to Guy about travel writing in the age of Tripadvisor, his long walk to Jerusalem, and how that experience turned into a book.
https://www.guystagg.co.uk/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509844597/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Eoin Redahan. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

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1 hr 1 min
June 02, 2020 #83: Hadley Freeman, journalist and author
Rachel and Simon speak with the journalist Hadley Freeman. She has been a staff writer at the Guardian since 2000, working in London and the US on the fashion desk, as a features writer and as a columnist. She has contributed to other publications including the British and American editions of Vogue, and written several books. We spoke to Hadley about fashion journalism, the challenges of column writing and her family memoir, “House of Glass”.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/01/nicolas-cage-if-i-dont-have-a-job-to-do-it-can-be-very-self-destructive
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/apr/29/tony-slattery-had-very-happy-time-went-slightly-barmy
https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008322632/house-of-glass-the-story-and-secrets-of-a-twentieth-century-jewish-family/
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Eoin Redahan. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

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51 min
May 19, 2020 #82: Colum McCann, novelist
Simon and Rachel speak with Colum McCann, who is the author of six novels and three collections of stories. His novel, "TransAtlantic", was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, and his previous novel, "Let the Great World Spin", won the National Book Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was a New York Times bestseller. His work has been published in 40 languages and he teaches on the MFA program at Hunter College in New York. We spoke with Colum, who was born in Dublin but now lives in New York, about his fiction, his teaching and his new, genre-busting novel "Apeirogon".
http://colummccann.com/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/24/apeirogon-a-novel-by-colum-mccann-book-review
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/creativewriting/
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Eoin Redahan. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

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58 min
May 05, 2020 #81: Alysoun Owen, editor of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook
Simon and Rachel speak with Alysoun Owen, editor of the “Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook” and the “Children’s Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook”, and the author of the “Writers’ & Artists’ Guide to Getting Published”. She has worked in the publishing industry, both in Britain and overseas, for more than 25 years; in 2012 she established her own consultancy. Alysoun talked about the history of the yearbook, first published in 1906, as well as how its content - and how the industry at large - has changed.
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/store/9781472947512/writers-artists-yearbook-2020/
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/store/9781472950215/writers-artists-guide-to-getting-published/
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/store/9781472947635/children-s-writers-artists-yearbook-2020/
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Nicola Kean. Our social media is run by Eoin Redahan. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

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57 min

About Always Take Notes

From the publisher's feed

Always Take Notes is a fortnightly podcast from London for and about writers and writing. Hosts Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd speak to a diverse range of people in the industry on a variety of topics,…