Bookshelfie: Women’s Prize Podcast

A double bill for Toni Morrison in bestselling author Tayari Jones’ book picks – she explains why she’s her favourite author;  the need for deep, ferocious crying when reading; and her unexpected guilty pleasure – a good old murder mystery.

Tayari is the internationally bestselling author of five novels, including An American Marriage, which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019. It was also an Oprah’s Book Club selection, was included on Barack Obama’s summer reading list and has been published in two dozen countries, selling over 350,000 copies in the UK alone.

Tayari was born and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and is currently professor of Creative Writing at Emory University, and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.

Her most recent novel, Kin, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and has been named a Best Book of the Year so Far. It’s another Oprah Book Club Selection; Oprah called it, “a masterpiece of a novel that will live with you long after you turn the last page.” 

Tayari Jones is a mentor for Originators 2027 – the Women’s Prize Trust’s mentorship and development program, dedicated to supporting emerging women fiction writers from across the United States, presented by CHANEL. Find out more here. 

Tayari’s book choices are: 
09:56  Jazz by Toni Morrison
17:14 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
24:13 Faithful Place by Tana French
29:53 The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
36:33 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

In this funny and uplifting conversation, novelist and screenwriter Maria Semple discusses her desire to re-write women in fiction, why she feels “naked” when writing books and her fascination with stoicism.

Maria used to work in television, producing and writing for sitcoms and comedy specials such as Arrested Development, The George Carlin Show and Mad About You, which earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination. Maria’s novels – Today Will Be Different, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, and This One Is Mine – have been translated into forty languages, and Where'd You Go, Bernadette has sold over 200 thousand copies in the UK alone and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2013. Go Gentle, her most recent novel, is out now. 

Maria’s book choices are: 
11:02 Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
18:16 The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard
24:40 The Art Of Living by Epictetus
32:29 Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt
38:51 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Bestselling author Lousie O’Neill explains why she decided to set up daily dates around the world, how it inspired her new memoir and her journey to acceptance around addiction.

*Listener/viewer  note  - this episode contains reference to eating disorders and disordered eating*

Louise grew up in Clonakilty in the heart of the rugged coastline of West Cork in Ireland. After stepping away from a career in the fashion industry, she returned home to dedicate her time to writing her first novel, Only Ever Yours, a dystopian feminist story which went on to win The Bookseller‘s inaugural YA Book Prize in 2015. This success was quickly cemented following the release of her second critically acclaimed YA novel, Asking For It, which was voted Book of the Year at the Irish Books Awards the very same year, and spent 52 consecutive weeks in the Irish top 10 bestseller list. In the decade that followed she’s written three novels for adults and a YA feminist re-imagining of The Little Mermaid, and has not one but two more titles being published this year. Her latest novel, Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone? came out in April, and her first memoir, A Bigger Life, is published this month by HQ.

Louise’s book choices are: 
12:43 How to Fail: Everything I’ve Ever Learned from Things Going Wrong by Elizabeth Day
18:28 Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes
25:30 Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 
35:14 The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
42:39 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Diana Reid, the writer behind the new Sense and Sensibility adaption, explains to Vick how re-reading Austen taught her something unexpected and why she still cringes at the thought of herself as a writer. 

Diana is a screenwriter and the bestselling author of the novels Love & Virtue, Seeing Other People, and Signs of Damage. Her debut Love & Virtue won several prizes including the ABIA Book of the Year Award. She was also named Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelist in 2022. Most recently, she’s written a new film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility for Working Title and Universal Pictures, set for release in cinemas on 25 September starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles as the Dashwood sisters.
Diana’s book choices are:
06:00 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
16:23 The Secret History by Donna Tartt
23:51 Middlemarch by George Eliot
31:35 The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
27:11 On Beauty by Zadie Smith

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

In a first for Bookshelfie, Vick is brought to tears by bestselling author Katherine Rundell’s rousing speech on the importance of teaching children courage and not breaking faith with the beauty and love of the world.

Katherine’s novels for children have won the Waterstones Book of the Year, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Costa Children’s Book Award, among many others. In 2024, she was named the British Book Awards Author of the Year, and Impossible Creatures won the Children’s Fiction Book of the Year. She is a Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and her books for adults include Super-Infinite, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize. The third installment of her Impossible Creatures series The Neverfear is out now with Bloomsbury. 

Katherine’s book choices are:

06:02 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
15:00 Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
21:18 Emma by Jane Austen
30:09 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
37:50 Priestdaddy: A Memoir by Patricia Lockwood

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Recorded Live at Women’s Prize Live, global bestselling writer Kathryn Stockett talks to Vick about the enduring allure of Mississippi, the book that gave her  “electricity in my ass” and her long awaited second novel, 17 years in the making, The Calamity Club.

Kathryn  was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. Her first novel, The Help, which was first published in the US back in 2009 has sold over 1 million copies in the UK and 15 million copies worldwide. 

Kathryn’s book choices are:
09:58 The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty
17:32 The Secret History by Donna Tartt
24:19 Animal by Lisa Taddeo
29:49 The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
38:59 The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Live from Baileys HQ, Ashley James joins Vick Hope to discuss how motherhood transformed her perspective, the realities of class in modern Britain, and the rise of the “trad-wife” movement.

Ashley is a broadcaster, author, DJ and advocate who first appeared on our screens in the early days of Made in Chelsea back in 2012, and has since gone on to be a feminist campaigner and social commentator. Her debut book BIMBO was published earlier this year. A Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, BIMBO has been described as a rallying cry for every woman who’s ever felt ‘too much’ or ‘not enough’, covering the many themes of feminism and the labels that box women in.

Ashley’s book choices are:
09:16 The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
20:07 La Place (or A Man’s Place) by Annie Ernaux
29:54 Fix the System, Not the Women by Laura Bates
41:00 Matrescence by Lucy Jones
49:50 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org  – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

The UK’s bestselling poet, Donna Ashworth, joins Vick to discuss why ‘Instapoetry’ should not be dismissed, finding herself in the words of Sylvia Plath and the power of a midlife muse. 

Donna started her social media accounts in 2018 in a bid to create a 'safe' space for women to come together and connect, but her love of all things wordy quickly became the focus, and a past love for poetry was reignited. Over 10 books and nearly 2 million followers later, Donna has made it her daily mission to shower the world with words and bring poetry back into focus. Her bestselling books include To the Women, Wild Hope, Words to Live By: A Journal, Growing Brave, I Wish I Knew, Love, Loss, Life and an illustrated book of children's poetry, Words Can Fly.

Donna’s book choices are
** The Bell Jar by Sylvia Path
** In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women by Alice Walker
** Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding
** Menopausing: The Positive Roadmap to Your Second Spring by Davina McCall and Dr Naomi Potter
** Enough by Dawn French

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Award-winning poet, playwright, and novelist Kiran Millwood Hargrave makes a confession about her book “borrowing”, and explains why a 50 year old book about photography should be mandatory reading for young people before they join social media. 

Kiran’s first novel for adults, The Mercies, became an instant Sunday Times bestseller. It won a Betty Trask Award, was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize and was named among the New York Times 100 Most Notable Books of 2020. Her bestselling works for children include The Girl of Ink & Stars. Her new book, Almost Life, a queer love story that spans decades, is out now. 

Kiran’s book choices are
** Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin
** On Photography by Susan Sontag
** The Wild Iris by Louise Glück
** Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
** The Carrier Bag of Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Skins and Game of Thrones star Hannah Murray talks about the journey to writing her new memoir, early acting fame and why a love story with a merman had her spellbound to the end.

Hannah worked as an actor for over a decade, cast as Cassie in E4’s Skins at the tender age of 16, and later as Gilly in HBO’s Game of Thrones, alongside numerous other roles for theatre, TV and film. During her early acting career, Hannah studied English at Cambridge University and later Creative Writing at UEA, and is about to release her first book, The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness – an autobiographical account of her involvement in a wellness cult, which will be published on 28th May.

Hannah’s book choices are
** The Secret History by Donna Tartt
** How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
** In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
** The Pisces by Melissa Broder
** Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan

You can buy all books mentioned from our dedicated shelf on Bookshop.org – every purchase supports the work of the Women's Prize Trust and independent bookshops. 

Every week on Bookshelfie, Vick Hope is joined by inspirational women to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize for Fiction, the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, is run by the Women’s Prize Trust, the charity building a better future by championing women’s writing. 

Don’t want to miss the rest of season nine? Follow or subscribe now!

This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.