The Libreria Podcast

In this episode we are listening to Rumaan Alam and Lloyd Sowerbutts discuss Rumaan’s recent novel Entitlement, which was recorded in October 2024, at Bloomsbury Publishing’s Headquarters in Central London.

The discussion touches on money, the role of the state, the value attributed to commodities, canonical authors, and being outwitted by the intentions of a novel.

Rumaan Alam is the author of four novels: Leave the World Behind, That Kind of Mother, Rich and Pretty, and Entitlement. He also hosts two podcasts for Slate.  Leave the World Behind was acclaimed by book critics and nominated for the 2020 National Book Award. It was later adapted as a 2023 film for Netflix with the same name.

Libreria wishes to thank Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to host this discussion.

In this episode we welcome Aamna Mohdin to discuss her memoir, Scattered: The Making and Unmaking of a Refugee.

Aamna is the Guardian’s first community affairs correspondent, reporting on the social, political and economic experiences of the UK’s diverse communities, with a focus on Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. Aamna spent her early years in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, Saudi Arabia, Germany and the Netherlands, before arriving in the UK aged seven.

Aamna is the winner of the British Journalism Award 2022 and her journalism has been shortlisted for the British Press Awards.

Libreria wishes to thank Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to host this interview for The Libreria Podcast.

In this episode we are listening to South London writer and storyteller Aniefiok Ekpoudom and bestselling writer, photographer and filmmaker Caleb Azumah Nelson, as they discuss ⁠the music and modern social history detailed in Neef's outstanding book; Where We Come From: Rap, Home & Hope in Modern Britain, published by Faber in 2024.

Libreria wishes to thank Aniefiok, Caleb and Faber for the opportunity to host this live discussion at the bookshop, in April 2024.

In this episode we are listening to renowned poet, activist and icon Nikki Giovanni, who visited Libreria for an intimate night of readings and discussion with a small audience. In this first of two episodes, we are listening to the live readings of: Ego Tripping (from Re: Creation, 1970), Still Life with Apron (from Chasing Utopia, 2013) & Vegetable Soup (from Make Me Rain, 2020).

We will follow this with the full recording of the special night Libreria was honoured to host, which was a celebration of a major new career-spanning selection of Nikki Giovanni’s poetry from 1968 to 2020, published by Penguin Classics. 

This is a comprehensive selection of her most important poetic works across 50 years and 15 collections, carefully curated by her long-term partner, writer and professor Virginia Fowler.

Libreria wishes to thank Nikki Giovanni and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to host this evening of intimate conversation and readings at the bookshop.

In this episode we are listening to renowned poet, activist and icon Nikki Giovanni, who visited Libreria for an intimate night of readings and discussion with a small audience. In this second of two episodes, we are listening to Nikki share her thoughts and feelings about the world, her fascination with space travel, a love of jazz, food and Black women, and some laugh-out-loud anecdotes.

This special night, which Libreria was honoured to host, was a celebration of a major new career-spanning selection of Nikki Giovanni’s poetry from 1968 to 2020, published by Penguin Classics. 

This is a comprehensive selection of her most important poetic works across 50 years and 15 collections, carefully curated by her long-term partner, writer and professor Virginia Fowler.

Libreria wishes to thank Nikki Giovanni and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to host this evening of intimate conversation and readings at the bookshop.

In this episode we are listening to Ros Taylor discuss her book The Future of Trust, recently published by Melville House, as part of their FUTURES series. 

We touch on the ideas of interpersonal and institutional trust, when events and public figures continue to undermine and erode them, but it’s not a doom-laden chat! 

Libreria wishes to thank Ros Taylor and Melville House for the opportunity to host this discussion.

In this episode we welcome Colum McCann, the National Book Award-winning author of Let the Great World Spin, and the Booker Prize-nominated Apeirogon, to discuss his first non-fiction book, American Mother. which tells the story of Diane Foley – mother of beheaded journalist James Foley – who has come face-to-face with her son’s killer and continues to campaign for the safety of journalists and revised government hostage policy.   

Colum McCann’s seven novels and three collections of short stories have been published in over forty languages and received some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards and honours.

Libreria wishes to thank Bloomsbury publishing and Colum McCann for the opportunity to record this conversation at Bloomsbury’s headquarters in London. 

In this episode we are listening to Benjamin Moser and Lauren Elkin discuss Ben’s recent publication The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters, which was recorded in October 2023, live in the bookshop. With the company of some of the finest artists known, Benjamin Moser discusses art, life, and death, with the passion of a knowledgeable guide who dismantles the hierarchical barrier that art can invoke in many of us. 

Benjamin Moser is a biographer and translator. His work Sontag: Her Life and Work won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. 

Lauren Elkin is the author of Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London, and Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art. 

Libreria wishes to thank Allen Lane and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to host this live discussion at the bookshop.

In this episode we are listening to Marie Darrieussecq and Brian Dillon discuss Marie’s recent publication Sleepless, which was recorded in October 2023, live in the bookshop.

Plagued by insomnia for twenty years, Marie Darrieussecq recounts her own experiences alongside those of fellow insomniacs, mostly fellow writers like Ovid, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Marguerite Duras, Franz Kafka, and Georges Perec. With inimitable humour, which ranges between autobiography, clinical observation and criticism, Sleepless is a graceful, inventive meditation by one of the leading voices of contemporary French literature

Libreria wishes to thank the publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions for the opportunity to host this live discussion at the bookshop.

In this episode we are listening to Lars Iyer and Jon Day discuss Lars’ recent novel My Weil, which was recorded live in the bookshop in September 2023. 

My Weil is the third in a loose trilogy of novels, where significant continental thinkers are brought into contemporary academic scenarios that skewer academia, and the parochial ways of British life. Bordering on the unruly and brimming with satire – Lars’ novels are the work of a distinctive voice in British literature. 

Libreria wishes to thank publishers, Melville House for the opportunity to host this live discussion at Libreria bookshop.