Dissect the making and unmaking of civilisations and cultures at a conversation between MOBO award-winning hip-hop poet Akala and historian David Olusoga. Chaired by television broadcaster June Sarpong MBE.

This timely discussion explores everything from empire and race to culture and class, retracing and contextualising the roots of modern British society.

For more information and other events, go to: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Hear Roger Daltrey in conversation with writer and presenter Will Hodgkinson.

He tells the inside story of the rise of British rock, becoming the vocalist in one of rock music’s era-defining bands and he separates myth from reality, reflects on his wild journey with the band through chart-topping hits, in-fighting, drugs, mayhem, trashed hotel rooms and the premature death of Keith Moon, and a life spanning a tumultuous time of change in Britain and America.

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2018, Anna Burns talks to Ted Hodgkinson about how she went about creating a story that won one of the most prestigious prizes in literature, why her characters don't need names and when her writing makes her feel 'angel shivers'.

"You only get the first step and then you have to trust and have faith that more steps will come, and it will all make sense in the end."

ANNA BURNS

You can subscribe to Southbank Centre's book podcast for more interviews with everyone from journalist Khaled Hosseini to Jordan Stephens from Rizzle Kicks.

This episode looks at migration, civil war, and the power of stories and poetry to take us beyond the headlines.

Three years ago, the body of three-year-old Syrian refugee, Alan Kurdi was found on the beach in Turkey. This provoked Khaled Hosseini, best-selling author and Afghan refugee, to write the illustrated story, Sea Prayer.

Ted Hodgkinson had poet Nick Makola in the studio where they talked about politics, family and his experience of fleeing Uganda as a child.

"I connect with that man running from his country and not knowing he has to leave, with tears in his eyes, while he holds his mother's hand."

NICK MAKOLA

In this episode we bring you highlights from author Matt Haig’s recent interview at Southbank Centre about his new book Notes on a Nervous Planet and musician and campaigner Jordan Stephens talks to Ted Hodgkinson about the relationship between mental health and creativity.

"There's a lot of 'I' and 'self' wrapped up in the consumerist world we live in."

JORDAN STEPHENS

Following on from the mould-breaking memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, Matt Haig’s new book is a personal look at living with anxiety in the age of social media. We bring you key moments from his conversation last month with Bryony Gordon, offering insights on the why staying happy is difficult in our comparative culture and the relationship between the internet and his writing process.

Jordan Stephens is best known as one half of the hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks and has since lead a range of campaigns challenging stigma about mental health including for YMCA and NHS. He talks candidly about the expectations of fame, masculinity and anxiety have shaped his life and fuelled his music.

In this episode, we bring you some of the highlights from Man Booker 50 festival at Southbank Centre, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Man Booker Prize.

We hear extracts from a talk with novelists Alan Hollinghurst and Marlon James; a debate about the meaning and importance of genres; the moment the winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, was announced; and interviews with judges Robert McCrum and Kamila Shamsie backstage after the announcement.

Man Booker 50 festival ran at Southbank Centre from 6 - 8 July 2018.

We're celebrating 50 years of the Man Booker Prize this July with Man Booker 50 festival and it spurred us to look back on some of the previous Man Booker Prize winners we've had here in recent years.

In this first episode of Southbank Centre's Book Podcast, we bring together extracts from talks with four previous Man Booker Prize-winning authors here at Southbank Centre: Eleanor Catton, Richard Flanagan, Marlon James and George Saunders.

Man Booker 50 festival takes place at Southbank Centre from 6 - 8 July 2018 and is packed full of talks with some of the world's most celebrated novelists. Highlights include talks between Julian Barnes & Peter Carey, Hilary Mantel & Pat Barker, Kazuo Ishiguro & Michael Ondaatje, and the closing event of the festival, Golden Man Booker Live, which crowns the best of the winning novels from the last five decades.

Tickets to the events in Man Booker 50 festival are available here: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/man-booker-50?utm_source=Soundcloud&utm_medium=Lit%20podcast%20June&utm_campaign=SC%20Lit%202018