Adam talks with author Zadie Smith about fun, trivial things like Wordle start words, men who dress as if they're still young, and the sadness of podcasts becoming TV shows, and then not trivial things like the problems associated with empathy when it comes to politics, war and fiction writing. Plus, what is Zadie's problem with Generation X?

Conversation recorded face-to-face in London on 7 October 2025 

Thanks to Séamus Murphy-Mitchell for production support

Podcast illustration by Helen Green

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