Public

2014 marked the bicentenary of the birth of the Russian novelist and poet Mikhail Lermontov. A book, After Lermontov, featured a number of the Russian’s poems translated into English. Many of the poets involved are Scottish because Lermontov traced his ancestry back to Scotland and was a great admirer of Ossian and Sir Walter Scott. This podcast from 2014 looks at After Lermontov in the company of its editor and contributors: Peter France, Robert Crawford, Sasha Dugdale and Alexander Hutchison. We also take a look at the short, turbulent life of the poet, a controversial figure in his day who may have been the victim of a fatal conspiracy at the age of 27.

Image: lino_Lermontov by Andrey under a Creative Commons licence

Catherine Lacey reads her story “Coconut Flan” from the October 13, 2025, issue of the magazine. Lacey is the author of five books of fiction, including the novels “Pew,” and “Biography of X,” both of which were short-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2021 and 2024, respectively. Her memoir and novella, “The Möbius Book,” was published earlier this year. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this interview of the Philosophy Bites podcast Nigel Warburton interviews David Edmonds about Peter Singer's famous thought experient about what you would do if you saw a child at risk of drowning in a shallow pond, and what the moral implications of that. David has recently published a book about this thought experiment called Death in a Shallow Pond.

After massive hits like The Poppy War, Babel and Yellowface, R.F. Kuang’s new novel takes readers to hell — quite literally. Katabasis follows two grad students who venture through the underworld to save their professor’s soul, and R.F. Kuang’s own experience as a PhD student, high school debater and talented chef all factor into the book. At a special live event presented by the Toronto International Festival of Authors, R.F. told Mattea Roach all about Katabasis … and dove into her own life and inspirations along the way.  

Liked this conversation? Keep listening:

• Nalo Hopkinson: How Caribbean folktales inspired her fantastical novel, Blackheart Man
• Ocean Vuong finds beauty in a fast food shift

Sarah Mullally, named this week as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, the most senior position in the Anglican Church. Formerly the Bishop of London, in her previous career she was the youngest ever chief nursing officer in England. She was ordained in 2001 and in 2005 became a Dame. Her appointment breaks the long-held tradition of a male head of the Church. She's expected to attract criticism from more conservative elements of the Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical elements of the church. Mark Coles speaks to friends, family and former colleagues.

This programme was first broadcast in December 2017.

Presenter: Mark Coles

On Point news analyst Jack Beatty on Kristi Noem. How the former South Dakota governor rose to head the Department of Homeland Security and the impact she is having on the agency that’s been described as “too big to manage.”

In this show Robert Harrison and Michaela Hulstyn discuss various experiences of unselfing, focusing on the nature of its shapeshifting and the knowledge that unselfing delivers. Michaela Hulstyn is a Lecturer at Stanford and Associate Director of Stanford’s Structured Liberal Education program. She is the author of Unselfing: Global French Literature at the Limits of […]

“The first draft is absolute torture,” says historical nonfiction writer David Baron. And yet, he persists and his newest book, The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America has garnered rave reviews from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and more. The Christian Science Monitor says, “The Martians is a fascinating tale that’s beautifully told.” We speak with Baron about the joys of research, the agony of writing, the delight in rewriting, how imagination cuts both ways, and how Truman Capote’s work has influenced his own.

David Baron is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and author of The Beast in the Garden, American Eclipse and his latest book The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America. A former science correspondent for NPR, he has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Scientific American, and other publications. David recently served as the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

He had just turned 14 when he sawed off his father’s shotgun, skipped school, and robbed a bank for $40,000. Now, 33 years later, he wants to apologize to the people he harmed that day.

Get ad-free episodes of Heavyweight by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. You'll also get an exclusive bonus episode where Jonathan, Stevie, and Kalila remember how the beloved Jackie calls came to be and share a never-before-aired opening that could have started the show in an alternate Heavyweight universe. Thanks for your support—and be sure to check out the other offerings available to Pushkin+ subscribers, including ad-free episodes, full audiobooks, and exclusive binges of other podcasts throughout the year.

Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plus

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a text

On today’s episode poet and critic Adam Wyeth reviews nine new poetry collections. Under the microscope are Infinity Pool by Vona Groarke; Belfast Twilight by Liam Carson; Harbour Doubts by Bebe Ahley; Over Here by Alan Gillis; Chic to be Sad by Molly Twomey; New Arcana by Jesica Traynor; The Convent of Mercy by Tom French; À la Belle Étoile: The odyssey of Jeanne by Afric McGlinchey and Scaffold by Thomas Brezing. A strong poet of coffee needed!

This episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’s Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. Logo designed by Freya Sirr.

Support the show