The LRB Podcast

By The London Review of Books

Society & Culture

What's The LRB Podcast about?

The LRB Podcast brings you weekly conversations from Europe’s leading magazine of culture and ideas. Hosted by Thomas Jones, it also features regular contributions from US Editor Adam Shatz and the ongoing ‘Close Readings’ series, which explores the lives and works of writers through the pieces about them in the LRB archive. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

4.4

133 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

Myself with Others: Claudia...

01.18.2022

In the third and final guest episode from a new podcast series, Myself with Others, food writer Claudia Roden talks to Adam Shatz about her early life in Cairo and Paris, her obsession with collecting recipes, how politics informs her ...

The LRB Podcast episodes:

01.18.2022 Myself with Others: Claudia Roden In the third and final guest episode from a new podcast series, Myself with Others, food writer Claudia Roden talks to Adam Shatz about her early life in Cairo and Paris, her obsession with collecting recipes, how politics informs her ...
01.11.2022 Myself with Others: James Lasdun In this second guest episode from a new podcast series, Myself with Others, novelist, memoirist and poet James Lasdun talks to Adam Shatz about his taste for the Middle Ages, the power of Patricia Highsmith, and his memoir about being ...
01.04.2022 Myself with Others: Margo Jefferson In the first of three guest episodes from a new podcast, Myself with Others, hosted by Adam Shatz, writer and critic Margo Jefferson talks about her childhood in Chicago, her early experiences in radical theatre at Brandeis University, her relationship ...
12.28.2021 Alan Bennett: Diary for 2021 Alan Bennett reads his diary for 2021, in which he falls over Philip Roth, changes the course of English history, and considers selling his har on eBay. Bennett read the first part of this diary earlier this year, for his ...
12.21.2021 Close Readings: On W.B. Yeats Seamus Perry and Mark Ford continue their Close Readings series with a look at the life and work of W.B. Yeats, from his early quest for a mythological Irish culture, to his shift towards the Modernist experiment, and preoccupation with ...
12.14.2021 The Omicron Wave John Lanchester and Rupert Beale talk to Tom about the spread of the latest variant, where we might stand in the story of Covid, and the failures of the state in coping with the pandemic. Find their pieces on the ...
12.07.2021 Among the Ancients: Aristophanes In this sample episode from their forthcoming Close Readings series, starting next year, Emily Wilson talks to Thomas Jones about the comedies of Aristophanes, in particular Clouds and Lysistrata. Close Readings Plus: Among the Ancients is a new subscription podcast ...
11.30.2021 The Guatemalan Coup Rachel Nolan talks to Tom about the overthrow of President Árbenz in Guatemala in 1954, its importance as a model for CIA-backed regime change across Latin America, and a new novel about it by Mario Vargas Llosa. Find Rachel Nolan's ...
11.23.2021 A History of Revolution Enzo Traverso talks to Adam Shatz about his new book on the history of revolutionary passions, images and ideas, from Haiti’s emancipatory slave rebellion in 1791 to Stalin’s top-down authoritarianism. Are revolutions, as Marx suggested, the ‘locomotives of history’, or, ...
11.16.2021 The Last Asylums Clair Wills talks to Tom about Netherne psychiatric hospital, where her mother and grandparents worked, and which became a national centre for art therapy. Wills asks how asylums such as Netherne – ‘total institutions’ as Erving Goffman described them – ...
11.09.2021 Encounters with Medieval Women: Firebrand In the fourth and final episode in their miniseries, Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley look at the life and work of pilgrim, entrepreneur and visionary mystic Margery Kempe, who dictated what is thought to be the first autobiography in English. ...
11.02.2021 Elizabethan True Crime Tom talks to Charles Nicholl about the craze in the 1590s for plays representing real-life murder on the London stage, from the first known example, Arden of Faversham, to the genre's influence on Hamlet, Macbeth and, perhaps, the death of ...
10.26.2021 Encounters with Medieval Women: Storyteller In the third episode in their series, Irina and Mary discuss Chaucer’s sexually voracious professional widow, stealth preacher, vivid storyteller and teacher of love, the Wife of Bath. Buy all the books from the series: https://londonreviewbookbox.co.uk/collections/gift-boxes/products/medieval-women Find more on our ...
10.19.2021 On John Craxton Rosemary Hill talks to Tom about the painter John Craxton: why he wasn’t a romantic, why he wasn’t interested in being famous, and his relationship with Lucian Freud, who very much was. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
10.12.2021 Encounters with Medieval Women: Anchoress In the second episode in their series, Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley look at the work of mystic and anchoress Julian of Norwich, who wrote the first book in English that we can be sure was authored by a woman. ...
10.05.2021 On Christopher Ricks Tom talks to Colin Burrow about a new book by Christopher Ricks, regarded by some as the greatest living literary critic. They also look back at his previous studies of, among others, Milton, T.S. Eliot and Bob Dylan, and consider ...
09.28.2021 Encounters with Medieval Women: Repentant Sinner In the first episode of their new podcast miniseries looking at the lives and voices of medieval women, Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley encounter Saint Mary of Egypt, who (if she existed) lived sometime between the 3rd and 6th centuries. ...
09.21.2021 The Peter Thiel Paradox David Runciman talks to Thomas Jones about Silicon Valley’s best known investor-provocateur, his prescience, his mistakes, and why, despite his ultra-libertarian ideology, he owes so much to the state. Listen without ads, and find further reading, on our website: https://lrb.me/thielpod ...
09.14.2021 'Swish! Swish! Swish!' by Patrick Leigh Fermor, read by Dominic West Dominic West reads Patrick Leigh Fermor's piece about the olive harvest on the Mani peninsula, written in the 1950s but first published in 2021 in the LRB. Read it here: https://lrb.me/leighfermorpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: ...
09.07.2021 Kokumi Daniel Soar talks to Thomas Jones about the sixth taste, variously translated as ‘mouthfulness’, ‘thickness’ and ‘lingeringness’, apparently discovered by the Japanese company Ajinomoto, and its origins in the twisty and opaque story of MSG in North America. Read Daniel ...
08.31.2021 Lydia Davis: One French City Lydia Davis reads her essay on Arles, recorded for the Trilling Lecture at Columbia University in 2019. Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/lydiadavisarlespod Subscribe to the LRB and get a 79% discount: https://lrb.me/travel See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
08.24.2021 Colm Tóibín: Alone in Venice Colm Tóibín reads his diary from November 2020, about visiting Venice during the pandemic. Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/aloneinvenicepod Subscribe to the LRB and save 79% on the cover price: https://lrb.me/travel See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
08.18.2021 Rosemary Hill: Populist Palatial In the first of four summer readings visiting different places in Europe, Rosemary Hill explores the history of London's West End. Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/hillwestendpod Subscribe to the LRB and save 79% off the cover price: https://lrb.me/travel See acast.com/privacy ...
08.10.2021 What Just Happened? David Trotter talks to Joanne O’Leary about the novels and stories of Elizabeth Bowen, from her weird families and idiosyncrasies of style, to her mastery of atmospherics and prescient use of technology to shape her characters. Find David's piece and ...
08.03.2021 The Most Interesting Place in the World Stephen Frears talks to Andrew O’Hagan about making movies in America, to mark the publication of a new collection of LRB essays on Hollywood. He describes being protected by Scorsese, learning from Billy Wilder, and why films often had budgets ...
07.27.2021 Running, Diving, Bleeding John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about ‘visible’ cheating in sport, that is, the kind which is against the rules but within the ethos of the game, from diving in football to bodyline bowling in cricket. Read John's piece in ...
07.20.2021 Seized Up Pooja Bhatia talks to Thomas Jones about the assassination of President Moïse in Haiti, the recent history of US involvement in the country, and the difference between elections and democracy. Find Pooja Bhatia's writing on Haiti in the LRB here: ...
07.13.2021 Two Utopias James Meek talks to Thomas Jones about the connected fates of two wind tower factories, one in Scotland, the other in Vietnam, and asks why the determination to achieve a green future isn’t matched by a determination to ensure fair ...
07.06.2021 Ultimate Outsider Toril Moi talks to Joanna Biggs about the French philosopher Simone Weil, whose short and uncompromising life became a workshop for her revolutionary ideas about labour, human suffering and the power of paying attention. Read Toril Moi on Simone Weil ...
06.29.2021 Ethel and Julius Deborah Friedell talks to Thomas Jones about the Rosenbergs, from their early years on the Lower East Side of New York to their executions for conspiracy to commit espionage in 1953, and the significance of their trial in American public ...
06.22.2021 On the Irish Border Niamh Gallagher talks to Thomas Jones about the history of the Irish border, from its origins in the 1920s to today, the way it has shaped Irish politics in both the south and north, and why the Troubles can’t be ...
06.15.2021 Muhammad, Cervantes and the Algarve Tariq Ali talks to Thomas Jones about a newly reissued biography of the Prophet by Maxime Rodinson, and the historic prevalence of Arabic culture in the West, from Don Quixote to Trafalgar Square. Find Tariq Ali's review and other related ...
06.08.2021 Art Spiegelman: Collapsing Time The legendary cartoonist talks to Thomas Jones about his latest book, Street Cop, a collaboration with Robert Coover, and looks back on previous work including Maus and In the Shadow of No Towers, which was originally published in the LRB. ...
06.01.2021 On Emily Dickinson Seamus Perry, Mark Ford and Joanne O'Leary discuss the life and work of Emily Dickinson — her dashes, death instinct and obliquity. Find Joanne's piece and more on Emily Dickinson in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/emilydickinsonpod Subscribe to the LRB from ...
05.25.2021 Alan Bennett: Diary From the Pandemic Year Alan Bennett reads selections from his diary from March 2020 to March 2021. Read more Alan Bennett in the LRB here: lrb.me/alanbennettpod Alan Bennett’s pandemic diary will be published as a signed, numbered London Review Bookshop limited edition at the ...
05.21.2021 After the Ceasefire Adam Shatz talks to Tareq Baconi and Henriette Chacar about the crisis in Israel-Palestine, the significance of the ceasefire, the context of the war, the politics inside Israel and the Gaza Strip, and the response in Washington. Read Tareq Baconi ...
05.18.2021 Perfect Circles Claire Hall talks to Thomas Jones about Ancient Greek horoscopy, the Ptolemaic model, the mysteries of the Antikythera mechanism, and why astrology was the first data science. Find Claire's LRB pieces and more here: https://lrb.me/perfectcirclespod Subscribe to the LRB from ...
05.11.2021 Hydrological Uncertainty Rosa Lyster talks to Thomas Jones about the global water crisis, from the severe droughts in her home city of Cape Town, to the sinking of Mexico City and the damming of the Nile, and the need for all countries ...
05.04.2021 One Big Payday Peter Geoghegan talks to Thomas Jones about the Greensill lobbying scandal, the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s flat, the unhealthy relationship between successive British governments and the private sector, and what it might all mean for the future of the Union. ...
04.28.2021 Blind Spots Jesse McCarthy talks to Adam Shatz about his studies of Black diasporic culture, from Juan de Pareja to Audre Lorde, and his critique of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s case for reparations. Find related pieces in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/blindspotspod Subscribe to the ...
04.20.2021 Abbess, Editor, CEO Irina Dumitrescu talks to Thomas Jones about female authorship in early medieval England, and how the power and freedom that (some) women had in the eighth century challenges the idea of linear social progress. Find more by Irina Dumitrescu in ...
04.13.2021 The Long Way Round John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about his experience of being on a cargo ship blocked from entering the Suez Canal in 1967, his subsequent journey round the Cape of Good Hope, and the modern-day business of containers. Read John's ...
04.06.2021 Try, Try, Try Again Diane Williams talks to Thomas Jones about her short stories, and reads her latest two published in the LRB. Find more stories by Diane Williams in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/williamspod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b ...
03.30.2021 Into the UbuVerse Gill Partington and Thomas Jones explore Kenneth Goldsmith’s online avant-garde archive, UbuWeb, listen to some of the things you can find on it, and consider what might not be found there. Find Gill's piece and more relevant LRB pieces here: ...
03.23.2021 Separateness Mouin Rabbani and Nathan Thrall talk to Adam Shatz about Israel’s vaccination programme, the system of apartheid that now effectively exists between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, the legacy of Trump’s policies, and how the Biden administration may ...
03.18.2021 Jorie Graham: ‘To 2040’ In this extra episode, Jorie Graham reads her poem ‘To 2040’, published in the latest issue of the LRB. You can listen to Jorie Graham reading twelve more of her poems from the LRB on our website here: https://lrb.me/graham Subscribe ...
03.16.2021 Close Readings: On Derek Walcott Seamus Perry and Mark Ford discuss the life and work of the Saint Lucian poet, playwright and Nobel laureate Derek Walcott. Find more pieces about Derek Walcott in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/walcottpodcast Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per ...
03.09.2021 Peeping Pat Terry Castle talks to Thomas Jones about Patricia Highsmith. Find Castle's piece on Highsmith, and pieces by Highsmith, in the LRB here: lrb.me/highsmithpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
03.02.2021 Optimistic Caution Catherine Moore, a consultant clinical virologist at Public Health Wales, and Rupert Beale, a clinician scientist group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, talk to Thomas Jones about the vaccine rollout for Sars-CoV-2, the new variant originally found in Brazil, ...
02.23.2021 Analogous Patisseries Mary-Kay Wilmers, who retired as editor of the LRB last month, talks to Andrew O’Hagan about her career, first at Faber and Faber, then the Listener, then for 42 years at the London Review of Books. She talks about working ...

Older episodes

The LRB Podcast

What's The LRB Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The LRB Podcast episodes:

Myself with Others: Claudia Roden

Myself with Others: James Lasdun

Myself with Others: Margo Jefferson

Alan Bennett: Diary for 2021

Close Readings: On W.B. Yeats

The Omicron Wave

Among the Ancients: Aristophanes

The Guatemalan Coup

A History of Revolution

The Last Asylums

Encounters with Medieval Women: Firebrand

Elizabethan True Crime

Encounters with Medieval Women: Storyteller

On John Craxton

Encounters with Medieval Women: Anchoress

On Christopher Ricks

Encounters with Medieval Women: Repentant Sinner

The Peter Thiel Paradox

'Swish! Swish! Swish!' by Patrick Leigh Fermor, read by Dominic West

Kokumi

Lydia Davis: One French City

Colm Tóibín: Alone in Venice

Rosemary Hill: Populist Palatial

What Just Happened?

The Most Interesting Place in the World

Running, Diving, Bleeding

Seized Up

Two Utopias

Ultimate Outsider

Ethel and Julius

On the Irish Border

Muhammad, Cervantes and the Algarve

Art Spiegelman: Collapsing Time

On Emily Dickinson

Alan Bennett: Diary From the Pandemic Year

After the Ceasefire

Perfect Circles

Hydrological Uncertainty

One Big Payday

Blind Spots

Abbess, Editor, CEO

The Long Way Round

Try, Try, Try Again

Into the UbuVerse

Separateness

Jorie Graham: ‘To 2040’

Close Readings: On Derek Walcott

Peeping Pat

Optimistic Caution

Analogous Patisseries