Little Atoms

By Neil DennySociety & Culture Fiction

Little Atoms episodes

October 22 Little Atoms 1009 - A. K. Blakemore's Doom Painting
A.K. Blakemore is a poet and novelist. Her debut novel, The Manningtree Witches, won the Desmond Elliott Prize for Best First Novel and was shortlisted for the Costa and RSL Ondaatje Prizes. Her second, The Glutton, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her third novel, Doom Painting, an hour by hour retelling of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt.
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38 min
October 15 Little Atoms 1008 - Elif Shafak's In One Brief Moment All Eternity
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist, whose work has been translated into fifty-seven languages. The author of twenty books, fourteen of which are novels, she was awarded the Halldór Laxness Prize for her contribution to the art of storytelling. Shafak's previous novel, There Are Rivers In The Sky, was the UK’s bestselling literary hardback novel of 2025, selling over 500,000 copies. Widely read in many countries around the world, her writing has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, and Prix Femina Etranger, amongst others, and she was nominated for ‘Author of the Year’ at the British Book Awards. Elif Shafak was appointed President of the Royal Society of Literature in 2025. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her latest novel In One Brief Moment All Eternity.
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33 min
October 08 Little Atoms 1007 - Hernan Diaz's Ply
Hernan Diaz is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Trust, which won the Pulitzer Prize and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. It was named one of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the Century. His previous novel, In the Distance, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. He has received the John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Kirkus Award, a Whiting Award, and a fellowship from the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest novel Ply.
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35 min
October 01 Little Atoms 1006 - Isabel Allende's Storytelling
Isabel Allende is one of the most widely read authors in the world, having sold more than seventy-seven million books. Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel won worldwide acclaim in 1982 with the publication of her first novel, The House of the Spirits. Since then, she has authored more than twenty-six bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including Daughter of Fortune, Island Beneath the Sea, Paula, and The Wind Knows My Name. On today’s episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her new book Storytelling: A Masterclass in Crafting Stories.
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30 min
September 24 Little Atoms 1005 - Louise Kennedy's Stations
Louise Kennedy grew up a few miles from Belfast. She is the author of the acclaimed short-story collection, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac, which won the John McGahern Prize. Her debut novel Trespasses, published in 2022, has been translated into over twenty languages. It won Eason Novel of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards, Book of the Year: Debut Fiction at the British Book Awards and the McKitterick Prize, and was also shortlisted for several awards including the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and Barnes and Noble Discover Prize. In 2025, Trespasses was made into a limited TV series by Channel 4, starring Lola Petticrew, Tom Cullen and Gillian Anderson. Before starting her writing career, Kennedy spent nearly thirty years working as a chef. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her new novel Stations.
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30 min
September 17 Little Atoms 1004 - China Miéville's The Rouse
China Miéville is a Sunday Times bestselling author of fiction and non-fiction. His novels include The City & The City, Embassytown, and Perdido Street Station. A recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction, he has won the World Fantasy, the Hugo, and the Arthur C. Clarke awards, among others. His non-fiction includes a study of international law and a history of the Russian Revolution. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his epic new novel The Rouse. Content warning: Contains discussion of suicide.
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29 min
September 10 Little Atoms 1003 - Fatima Bhutto's The Hour of The Wolf
Fatima Bhutto is the author of the novels The Runaways and the Women’s Prize for Fiction-longlisted The Shadow of the Crescent Moon, and the non-fiction New Kings of the World and Songs of Blood and Sword, which deals with her father’s murder and the Bhutto family's history in Pakistani politics. Bhutto’s journalism and essays have appeared in the New Statesman, New York Times and Guardian, and elsewhere. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her latest book The Hour of The Wolf.
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29 min
September 03 Little Atoms 1002 - Marlon James' The Disappearers
Marlon James is the author of the Booker Prize-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings; the National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf; the New York Times-bestselling Moon Witch, Spider King; The Book of Night Women; and John Crow’s Devil. In addition to the Booker Prize, his novels have won the American Book Award, the Los Angeles Times’ Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. On this episode of Little Atoms Marlon talks to Neil Denny about his Booker prize long listed novel The Disappearers.

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30 min
August 27 Little Atoms Archive - Sarah Polley's Run Towards The Danger
In the last episode of the Summer archive series, Sarah Polley talks to Neil about her book Run Towards The Danger, first broadcast in July 2022. Normal service resumes next week!
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29 min
August 20 Little Atoms Archive - Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait
From August 2022, Neil talks to Maggie O'Farrell about her novel The Marriage Portrait.
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27 min