For the Service95 Book Club this month, Dua is joined by award-winning poet and novelist Kaveh Akbar to discuss his debut novel – and Dua’s Monthly Read for September – Martyr!, a poignant and generous exploration of addiction, identity, art and exile.

At the heart of the novel is Cyrus Shams, a newly sober poet struggling to find his footing in life while reckoning with the loss of his mother decades earlier. Together, Dua and Kaveh explore Cyrus’ grief, addiction and search for a sense of place, as well as the real-life events woven into the novel and the power of fiction to bring the human consequences of history into focus. They also discuss Kaveh’s philosophy on art, his journey from poetry into fiction and his friendship with fellow author Tommy Orange, which shaped his writing rituals.

Whether you’ve read Martyr!, plan to, or still need convincing, this is a conversation worth listening to. Rich, illuminating and deeply human, it’s a conversation about life, death and how we make sense of everything that happens in between.

Join the club:

📩 Email us your thoughts – 

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📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at Service95.com

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From the archives: Dua Lipa’s April 2025 conversation with author Max Porter on his novel Grief Is The Thing With Feathers.  

In this lyrical, surreal meditation on loss – in which a crow guides a father and his sons through the grief of losing their wife and mother – Max Porter tears up the rule book of what a novel should be.   

Throughout the episode, Dua and Max discuss his playful approach to novel writing – particularly its experimental form and the impact of Crow. “The thing about Crow is that he’s yours to make your own mind up about,” says Max. “Someone once said, ‘Oh, yeah, I get it, he’s a metaphor for grief.’ And that is one interpretation of him. He’s also real. He’s also a study of care. He’s also their babysitter. He’s also a study of domesticity. I hope he’s also a joke.”  

Expect a conversation about grief, love and what it means to care. And look out for a very special cameo partway through… 

Join the club:  

📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]  

📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews  

📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at Service95.com  

And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts  

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For her August Service95 Book Club interview, Dua Lipa is joined by author Madeline Cash to discuss her breakthrough debut novel, Lost Lambs. 

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From the Service95 Book Club archives, this episode from March 2025 sees Dua sit down with Tommy Orange to discuss There There – his powerful novel that follows 12 Native Americans whose lives converge at the Big Oakland Powwow. 
 
Dua and Tommy trace the histories often omitted from America’s national story and talk about what fiction can do that history books alone cannot. Tommy reflects on the real-life events that inspired the novel, including the 1969 to 1971 occupation of Alcatraz and the Standing Rock protests, and how those moments found their way into his characters. 
 
He describes personal experiences woven into the book through the character of Thomas Frank, and explains why he left the novels ending unresolved, handing the reader the job of imagining what comes next. 
 
It’s a story of identity, belonging, inherited trauma and resilience – and a conversation you’ll think about long after hearing it.  
 
Join the club:   

📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]   

📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews   

📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com   

And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts   

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For her July Service95 Book Club interview, Dua Lipa is joined by award-winning author and academic Lea Ypi to discuss Free, Lea’s internationally acclaimed memoir, which recounts her childhood in Albania during the collapse of communism.  

From hidden family histories and state surveillance to protest and modern-day Albania, Dua and Lea explore how political systems continue to shape individual lives, collective memory and the country’s evolving identity, returning to the question at the heart of the book: what does it really mean to be free?  

Watch (or listen to) the full conversation here to delve deeper into Free, Dua Lipa’s Monthly Read for the Service95 Book Club.  

Join the club:  

📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]  

📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews  

📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com  

And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts 

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From the archives this month: Dua’s February 2025 conversation with Irish author Paul Murray, on his novel The Bee Sting. 

An epic family saga set in contemporary Ireland, the novel follows the Barnes family through financial collapse, fractured relationships and the secrets that have shaped their lives across generations. 

Paul talks about growing up in 1990s Ireland, a country deeply influenced by the Catholic Church and its conservative values, and how that environment dictated what people could or couldn’t say about themselves. 

He and Dua discuss the loneliness of adolescence, the ‘friendships’ that define those years and the difficulty of leaving behind relationships that no longer serve you. 

They also get into the novel’s unforgettable ending and the case for ambiguity in storytelling. Paul draws on Twin Peaks and why David Lynch’s unanswered questions can sometimes be more compelling than definitive answers. 

Expect a conversation about family, identity, secrecy and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. 

Join the club: 

📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected] 

📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews 

📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at Service95.com 

And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts 

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For the Service95 Book Club this month, Dua is joined by writer, poet, playwright and musician Kae Tempest to discuss his latest novel, Having Spent Life Seeking, which is Dua’s Monthly Read for June. 

Together, Dua and Kae explore the novel’s core themes: forgiveness and atonement, the instability of home when both the person and the place have changed, and the difficult process of becoming fully ‘alive’ again after years spent disconnected from the world. At the centre of their discussion is Rothko, a character Kae describes as “dislocated from life”, alongside the novel’s wider cast, each carrying their own desires, wounds and ways of surviving. 

Kae also reflects on his immersive writing process, describing characters less as inventions than people he has spent years getting to know. The conversation moves through addiction, shame, creativity, identity and the role of art as a means of processing experience and remaining open to the world. 

Watch (or listen to) the full conversation here to dive deeper into Having Spent Life Seeking, Dua Lipa’s Monthly Read for the Service95 Book Club. 

Join the club: 

📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected] 

📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews 

📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com 

And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts 

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From the archives this month, we revisit Dua’s conversation with Malorie Blackman, the former Children’s Laureate and author of the groundbreaking young adult series Noughts & Crosses.  

The novel follows Callum and Sephy, childhood friends growing up on opposite sides of a violently segregated society, where the ruling Crosses hold power over the oppressed Noughts.  

More than 20 years after its release, Dua and Malorie discuss Noughts & Crosses’ lasting impact and why its themes of inequality, identity and division remain so relevant today. Together, they explore the lived experiences and inspirations behind the novel, as well as touching on the role of language, prejudice and storytelling, as well as how fiction can challenge the way we see one another.  

Tune into the full conversation above. 

Join the club: 

📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected] 

📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews 

📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com 

And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts 

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For her May Service95 Book Club interview, Dua Lipa is joined by one of Ireland’s most celebrated short story writers, Claire Keegan. 

Together, they explore Keegan’s powerful read So Late In The Day: a sharp, unsettling portrait of a man whose lack of generosity towards his fiancée gradually reveals the often quiet yet destructive nature of modern misogyny. 

Dua and Claire unpack the story’s subtle details, discussing how the author’s experiences as a woman living in Ireland helped to shape the narrative, and how – in a book that takes less than an hour to read – she captures an unsettling dynamic that resonates in relationships worldwide. 

There’s also a special bonus for dog lovers: keep watching for a charming appearance from a four-legged guest… 

Join the club: 

📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected] 

📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews 

📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com 

And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts  

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From the archives this month, we bring you Dua’s conversation with Polish-German author Tomasz Jedrowski, author of Swimming In The Dark. 

Set in 1980, it’s a story of first love between Ludwig and Janus, told against the backdrop of communist Poland as the regime starts to crumble. 

This queer coming of age story explores a time and place where love, class and politics do not exist in isolation. The communist party looms large in this story, impacting both professional and personal relationships. 

Dua and Tomasz reflect on what might have been if their parents had not made the choices they did. Tomasz asks what life would have been like for a young gay man in Warsaw in his parents’ generation and Dua imagines growing up in Kosovo under the shadow of war. 

It’s an intimate and beautiful conversation that illuminates a turbulent period of recent history that many people today know little about.

Join the club: 

📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected] 

📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews 

📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com 

And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts.

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