Today we’re talking to poet and novelist Aria Aber. Aria is an Afghan-German poet, novelist and educator. Her poetry collection Hard Damage won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize and Whiting Award. Her debut novel, Good Girl, was shortlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Yale Review, and Granta. Good Girl is my favourite book I’ve read so far in 2026, I absolutely loved it.

We follow a girl, Nila, who is immersed in the Berlin clubbing scene, grappling with her Aghan identity in the wake of increasing xenophobia towards Afghan people. She explores friendship, family, and also a tumultuous relationship with an older man – a writer called Marlowe. I am so thrilled to be introducing to the Inklings Book Club, Aria Aber.

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Well, it’s safe to say the whole world is talking about Wuthering Heights. Hello and welcome back to the Inklings Book Club where this month we are reading Emily Brontë’s gothic classic, just in time for the release of Emerald Fennell’s adaptation. And so… who better to speak to than Emerald herself? I caught up with Emerald to chat all things Wuthering Heights, as well as her favourite books and poems.

Emerald Fennell is an actress, filmmaker and writer. In 2021, Promising Young Woman won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay – one of three nominations the film received that year. The film also won a Critics Choice Award, two BAFTAs, and a Film Independent Spirit Award. She returned to directing with Saltburn in 2023 which set the world ablaze, and now of course Wuthering Heights is doing the same. She also starred as Camilla in The Crown and Midge in Barbie. She is completely unstoppable.

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When I asked Inklings members what book we should read for February, you guys voted overwhelmingly for Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontè’s gothic masterpiece. Set amongst the backdrop of the sprawling Yorkshire Moors, in the first part of the novel Bronte details the all consuming, toxic, passionate, obsessive, and destructive relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Heathcliff is a real enigma and a social outcast – he is adopted from Liverpool and brought up alongside Cathy. But, when Catherine chooses a wealthier man to marry – Edgar Linton – Heathcliff embarks on a bitter quest for vengeance. The second part of the novel details the way he inflicts pain and suffering on the next generation too. The novel explores this magnetism between Cathy and Heathcliff, two people who just cannot resist each other’s pull. There’s revenge, discussions of social class, and the dark – even defensive – side of human nature when the ego is bruised and feelings are hurt. Today we’re joined by Oscar-nominated actors Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, as well as Alison Oliver, who play Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Isabella Linton in the new retelling, “Wuthering Heights”.

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I always say the best celebrity memoir I’ve ever read is I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy -- it’s so open and vulnerable and honest and raw, but it’s also beautifully written. She details what it was like to grow up as a child star, especially when a parent is putting an immense amount of pressure on you. Not just to be a breadwinner, but to look a certain way, behave in a certain way, and nothing is enough for them.

The memoir went on to be crowned winner of the 2023 American Library Association Alex Award and the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography. 

Now, given that I love that book so much – of course my most anticipated release of 2026 has to be Half His Age, Jennette’s debut novel. Yes, she’s turned her hand to fiction and it is a wild ride. And, it’s already a Sunday Times number one bestseller. I was very lucky to be given the opportunity to interview Jennette for her London book tour, and here it is!

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One of the most enduring, perennial and important plays ever written, and Shakespeare’s longest, Hamlet tells the story of a man torn by internal conflict after his uncle murders his father, the king of Denmark, and marries his mother, the queen. Many actors have dreamed of taking on this role, and Riz Ahmed is the latest to do so in his new adaptation of Hamlet in cinemas now. Riz Ahmed is an Oscar-nominated British-Pakistani actor, who you’ll know from Sound of Metal, Rogue One, Nightcrawler, and The Night Of. This adaptation is refracted through a South Asian lens in contemporary London. It proves how timeless Shakespeare’s lines are that they can be so deeply felt in this modern context, and Riz speaks with such passion about the revolutionary qualities of the play.

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Today I’m joined by Jente Posthuma whose novel What I’d Rather Not Think About was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2024. Ironically, is something I ALWAYS THINK ABOUT!!! The novel is fertile ground for rumination and thought-provoking conversation. It’s told in a series of vignettes, as a woman contemplates the suicide of her twin brother. It’s a deeply felt meditation on grief, translated into English from the original Dutch by Sarah Timmer Harvey

I wanted to ask Jente about the process of crafting this gorgeous little book, and I hope you enjoy this conversation. Welcome to the Inklings Book Club, Jente Posthuma.

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Today I’m excited to be sharing an interview with one of my favourite short story writers, Bora Chung. Bora is a South Korean writer, as well as a translator. She has a pHD in Slavic literature. I first encountered her work when her short story collection Cursed Bunny was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022, translated from the original Korean into English by Anton Hur – straight out of the gate, from the opening line, it’s unlike anything else I’ve ever read. The first line is “She was about to flush the toilet” – and you’ll hear Bora explain this story later in the interview.

This was her debut collection in English, but this first story was actually first published in 1998. She has since published another short story collection titled Your Utopia, as well as novels Midnight Timetable and Red Sword.

Bora joined me backstage at the Gothenburg Book Festival in Sweden to discuss her work. Please welcome to the Inklings Book Club, Bora Chung!

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A debut novel being shortlisted for The Booker Prize and WINNING the Women's Prize -- yeah, it doesn't get much bigger than that. Yael Van Der Wouden's The Safekeep totally floored me. It considers ownership, property, lust, yearning, repression, and the echoes of war that richochet long after the final bullet is fired. It’s historical fiction set in 1961, and writes hatred and love with the same passion and intensity. This was one of my favourite conversations I’ve had for the podcast, and I’m so happy to be sharing it with you today. I asked Yael a tonne of questions from our Fable Book Club chat and Instagram account – search Inklings Book Club if you’d like to join. For now, please welcome to the Inklings Book Club, Yael Van Der Wouden.

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Caroline O'Donoghue is a New York Times bestselling author and podcaster. Her podcast Sentimental Garbage has been streamed 12 million times. Her book The Rachel Incident has sold over 250,000 copies and is currently being adapted for the screen. Meanwhile, her young adult debut was All Our Hidden Gifts which became a much loved trilogy. Today we’re also going to be discussing her new book, the first in a duology, titled Skipshock! We discussed Irish literature, being described as Sally Rooney-esque, and the difference between YA and adult fiction.

Thanks to Hay Festival for hosting us :)

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Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and Emily Bader (My Lady Jane) star in the first of Emily Henry's book-to-screen adaptations, People We Meet On Vacation. Here, they talk about their characters, Alex and Poppy, as well as their taste in books!!

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