The Waterstones Podcast

Louise Kennedy has followed her Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize-nominated Trespasses with another brilliant novel, Stations, which follows the trajectories of two teenage friends as they leave '80s Ireland for London. We sat down with her to talk about her own journey, why escape is so difficult and creating characters for readers to take to their hearts.

After losing her best friend, Ann Patchett poured all that love into her new novel, Whistler. Bringing platonic love to the fore, alongside the unearthing of the past and a reckoning with our own mortality; we sat down to speak with her about what it means to love and to lose, what she's learned as a bookseller about reading and why the most important thing for any writer is getting your posture right.

50% of people in the UK take supplements and the consumer blood-testing industry is now a $128 billion business. But does any of it work? In an increasingly confusing world Xand van Tulleken wanted to cut through the noise to sort fact from fiction. Two years later, his new book, Make Me Well, shares the results. We sat down with him to discover what wellness means, what works (and what doesn't) and why for most people the real benefits might be found elsewhere entirely.

In her most personal novel yet, Rebecca F. Kuang transports readers to Taipei, where Yale student Lily is working on her Chinese language to better connect with her Chinese family, only for loss to appear suddenly and change her perspective. In a fascinating discussion we spoke with Rebecca about linguistic relativity, getting grief wrong and falling foul of flat listings with clever camera angles.

Kate Atkinson's latest novel beautifully combines her skills in historical detail and crime caper plotting for a story which assembles a motley crew of misfits attempting to curate 1951's Festival of Britain. We sat down to speak with her about the allure of the period, how she creates character and why bringing joy to readers is still what drives her.

Join us as we celebrate Rebecca Perry as the author of this year's Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize-winner, May We Feed The King. Over a glass of bubbly, we discuss the connections between her curator character and the art of writing, playing with the tropes of historical fiction, and her love of cats.

Jon Ronson's latest journalistic adventure begins with a series of text messages from his son which then leads to an odyssey from reality TV, to influencers, to America's disenfranchised men to paint a portrait of masculinity in crisis as only he can. We spoke with him about where his work ethic comes from, being a slave to the algorithm and how many turrets is too many turrets.

When Alice Oseman created the first volume of Heartstopper on her own, she couldn’t have foreseen what a phenomenon it would become. As the final volume hits shelves and the Netflix adaptation concludes with the film Heartstopper Forever, we were delighted to spend some time with Alice to reflect on all those years of work, the incredible fans and maybe even what might come next.

Andrew Sean Greer writes the kind of novels that you want to press into others' hands when what they need is a book filled with charm, comedy and a sense of romance. After the trials of his hapless author Arthur Less in his eponymous Pulitzer Prize-winning Less, Greer’s latest novel transports us to Villa Coco in Tuscany for a summer we will never forget. We sat down to speak with him about how to create a ‘charm novel’, the real-life inspiration behind his fiction and the deeper meaning that lies underneath even the funniest moments.

The Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize Shortlist is here and it's time to meet the class of 2026. With books that take us from modern America to medieval Europe, from magical realism to modern satire, from private lives to open houses - these are the writers that have most excited our experience booksellers and we can't wait for you to discover your own favourite. Join us for a freewheeling conversation about technique, tenacity and turning inspiration into something tangible.