This week on the Penguin Podcast, new host Derek Owusu is joined by Poet, activist, musician, actor, presenter and children's author, Benjamin Zephaniah!

Benjamin speaks to Derek about his journey into poetry and spoken word, the excitement at receiving a letter from Bob Marley, the life of his mother when she first came to England, existential fear and human mortality, and the importance of meditation and controlled breathing.

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.

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This week on the Penguin Podcast, Isy Suttie is joined by restaurateur and author, Asma Khan.

Asma speaks to Isy about her most recent work, her cookbook/memoir, Ammu. They also discuss food and its connection to memory, how revelatory the writing process was for her, how a pair of blue jeans changed her life, and the gentle expressions of love through cooking.

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.

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This week on the Penguin Podcast, Nihal Arthanayake is joined by award-winning writer and poet, Hanif Abdurraqib

Hanif speaks to Nihal about his most recent work of nonfiction, A little Devil in America, which won the 2021 Gorden Burn Prize. They also discuss how Hanif manages to write 25000 words a month, how important Soul Train was to Black American culture, his reasons for disliking the Academy Award-winning film, Green Book, and also what he feels went wrong with The Chapelle Show.

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.

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This week on the Penguin Podcast, Isy Suttie is joined by debut novelist Bonnie Garmus.

She speaks to Isy about her debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, and also discusses her reluctance to change any keyboard she's grown used to, often still using it when the key have come loose, her passion for swimming, what she learnt as a copywriter, the usefulness of lies in society, and how she wrote her first short story when she was five years old.

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.

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This week on the Penguin Podcast, Isy Suttie is joined by national treasure, poet and children’s author, Michael Rosen. 

He speaks to Isy about his experiences before and after contracting Covid, how to create more impactful life writing, what he now knows about death, and his yearning to understand the meanings of naughty words in Yiddish.

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.

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This week on the penguin podcast, Nihal Arthanayake is joined by theoretical physicist, futurist, and popularizer of science, Michio Kaku. Together they discuss string theory, the unifying threads of different religious beliefs, human curiosity and the barriers to scientific thinking.

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.

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This week on the Penguin Podcast, Nihal Arthanayake is joined by renowned essayist and novelist, Pankaj Mishra, to discuss his new novel, Run and Hide. Together they discuss the meaning of art and the novel, the Tibetan landscape and the Himalayas, nostalgia, and wood-panelled train compartments.

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.

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Claire Fuller, who recently won the Costa Novel of the Year for her latest book, Unsettled Ground, joins Nihal Arthanayake on the podcast this week. Together they discuss the importance of music in her creative process, what she doesn't like about being a novelist and how a book by Miranda July might just have kickstarted her writing career.

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.

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Last time we brought you some of the most exciting debut novelists to look out for in 2022, so this week we're introducing you to some of the best new non-fiction writers to add to your reading list this year. It's a veritable treasure chest of books, from a comic memoir to ornithology, mental health, family and cultural history, and an exploration of how the Earth, as we know it, came to be.

In this episode, we hear from: 

• CJ Hauser, author of The Crane Wife, 
• Mya-Rose Craig, author of Birdgirl, 
• Teresa Lim, author of The Interpreter's Daughter, 
• Thomas Halliday, author of Otherlands

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and please do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.

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A new year = new books, and there are plenty of brilliant new stories to look out for this year. To get your 2022 reading list started, we've brought together five of this year's most exciting debut novelists. Speaking to Isy Suttie, they introduce us to themselves and their books, and give us some insight into their inspirations and aspirations. From a darkly comic dystopia to sumptuous historical fiction to a subversive take on modern womanhood and more – there's something for everyone amongst our pick of 2022's must-read debuts.

In this episode, we hear from:

• Jessamine Chan, author of The School for Good Mothers,
• Nikki May, author of Wahala,
• Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora,
• Claire Alexander, author of Meredith, Alone,
• Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, author of When We Were Birds

Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and please do leave us a review as it really does help. Finally, to find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.

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