Is there anything better than the story of a master forger? If there is, I don't know it. This time we take a trip to the realm of non-fiction, looking into the complex world of Han Van Meegeren, a forger working in the style of Frans Hals and,...

An interview with author, professor and psychoanalyst Josh Cohen, spy of our inner selves, examiner of the lies we live, and creator of the smash new meme, '#pervingon'. No secrets, please – we're going English.

Hans Erich Nossack's rare first person account of the 1943 destruction of Hamburg is served with a side of WG Sebald, who employs the word 'should', with grave consequences. BFFs.

King Charles, Oliver Cromwell, a vagrant narrator, hedge mazes and dreaded puritans – Jeanette Winterson goes historical fiction on us again in her 1989 novel that is less than the sum of its parts. For a short book, it's quite long.

Review of Kurt Vonnegut's 1961 novel, 'Mother Night'

Canonical fodder about a little boy with a man's mind, who becomes a fully grown man in a little boy's body, born and raised in the foreshadow and shadow of the Second World War. Blechtrommel is one word for it: execrable.

Review of the 2011 debut novel by Ben Lerner in which a young American goes to Spain on the US government's buck, meets two girls, and learns to fall in love with himself. Excellent book.

Good news! This is a brief audio note from Ian and Peter about our RSS feed. Litopia is expanding, with more shows and more RSS feeds. This feed – the one you’re currently subscribed to – will become our MASTER feed: in other words, every show we produce will appear here automatically. Hopefully, that will suit you just fine. If not, Ian and Peter explain other options. See you soon!

The latest struggle between Amazon and a major publisher is anything but a regular business negotiation. It will, we believe, profoundly affect the future of the global publishing industry. Hear our analysis – and decide for yourself.

The growing media furor occasioned by the dismissal of former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson finds a strange connection this week to a far larger media scandal in the UK. How much did former BBC Director-General Mark Thompson know about the activities of BBC star and serial paedophile Jimmy Savile – who may have abused up to 1,000 victims on BBC premises, apparently under the noses of BBC staff for more than 40 years?