It's Episode 5 of the Read Smart podcast! In this episode, Prize Executive Director Toby Mundy speaks with biographer and historian Richard Holmes about The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief, a shortlisted title for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.

Holmes charts Alfred Lord Tennyson’s early years against the backdrop of science, faith and poetic ambition, revealing how the nineteenth-century sea of ideas shaped a generation. In this conversation, he explores biography, belief, and how a poet confronted the emerging challenges of his time.

Listen now to discover this elegant and searching study of mind, myth and meaning. This podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. To keep up with all of our Prize news year-round, follow @BGPrize on Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube.