A Pair of Bookends

Welcome back Bookends to another episode in our Debut Spotlight series, for this episode we were joined by author of The Voyageur which is out tomorrow & published by Swift Press.  We spoke to Paul about the real people that inspired his novel, why he thinks it's important to write bodily functions, not shying away from brutality and violence in his writing and more. If you enjoy this episode...

Welcome back Bookends to another episode in our Debut Spotlight series, for today's episode we were joined by author of 'Sparks of Bright Matter' which is published by Eriu in the UK & Ireland tomorrow! We chat to Leeanne about her literary influences, creativity and motherhood, her research process for the book and so much more! Let us know if you enjoy this episode by leaving us a rating or...

Welcome back Bookends to a bumper monthly culture round-up to make up for the delay, unfortunately Lydia was unable to record so Hannah was joined by friend of the pod and author of  The Knowing , Emma Hinds. Aswell as our recommendations for March we discuss the Women's Prize for Fiction longlist, those Emily Henry casting theories and the iconic Cowboy Carter album.  Currently reading:  Emma- Me...

Welcome back Bookends! With lots going on in the background we were unable to record our episode for last week so we hope you'll forgive us for missing a week. The new installment in our Debut Spotlight series is with the incredible writer/performer Roxy Dunn, whose debut novel 'As Young As This' publishes tomorrow with Penguin Fig Tree. For this episode we discuss the life of a creative, rejectio...

Hey Bookends! Apologies for the lack of episode last week, it's been a hectic month so we had a week off but are back with the latest instalment in our Debut Spotlight series! For this episode we chatted to the brilliant Ursula Villarreal-Moura, author of debut novel Like Happiness and the flash fiction collection Math for the self-crippling . We chat about how she kept the faith in her novel afte...

Welcome to our March Book Club episode where today our episode coincides with the release of the breathtaking memoir Unearthing by Kyo Maclear. We were so thrilled to be joined by Kyo to chat all about her book, we discuss the DNA test that changed her life, her evolving relationship with her mother, finding an appreciation for nature and how that helped her through the grieving process and so muc...

Welcome back Bookends, we apologise for the delay on this one but after some difficult news last week we needed to postpone editing. Here is our Feb Book Club episode with the astounding debut author Leo Vardiashvili, his book Hard by a Great Forest has been endorsed by the likes of literary legend Khaled Hosseini and was swept up by Bloomsbury in an overnight pre-empt and we cannot emphasise enou...

It's monthly culture round-up time, yay! On today's episode aswell as giving our recommendations for the month, we chat all about the inaugural Women's Prize for Non-Fiction longlist, the BAFTAs and what we're excited for in the coming month! Apologies for Hannah's echo-ey sound on this one, we've done our best to rectify on the edit! If you enjoy this episode please do rate, review & subscrib...

Welcome back to the latest episode in our Debut Spotlight series, for this episode we were joined by the wonderful Miranda Pountney, author of 'How to be somebody else'. We chat about the impact Tessa Hadley had on her road to publication, what living in New York is really like, affairs (obviously!) and so much more, we hope you enjoy this as much as we did! If you have time please do rate, review...

For today's Bonus Books we were joined by Australian Author Katherine Brabon, whose latest novel Body Friend completely blew us away. We chat about her experiences of living with chronic pain, what it was like to transfer that onto the page, creating characters that personified the inner struggle of choosing to rest and so much more, this was such a great conversation and we hope you enjoy it as m...

Welcome back Bookends to another episode in our Debut Spotlight series, where we shine the light on the freshest authors and their work. Today we bring you an episode with the wonderful Sarah Marsh, author of 'A Sign of Her Own' which is out now and published by Tinder Press. We chat about the importance of community for Deaf people, Sarah's research process (including bringing Alexander Graham Be...

Hey Bookends! Welcome to the FIRST in our brand new series: the monthly culture round-up where we chat about all of the recommendations we've been enjoying over the last month and boy are you in for a treat today! As always if you enjoy this episode please do rate, review & subscribe as it helps us massively and if you have any recommendations you want to get in touch with please do send them...

The woman of the hour, the book of the moment! On today's show we bring you the incredible Madeleine Gray, author of GREEN DOT- whose publishing journey is unlike anything we've heard before. We chat about why we love an affair narrative, why she wanted to write about working in retail, the representation of positive father/daughter dynamics and so much more. It was a DELIGHT to chat to Madeleine...

Welcome back Bookends to an exciting January minisode where we were joined by the brilliant, award-winning documentary filmmaker Emma Goude. We discuss how she turned her experiences with psychosis into her memoir My Beautiful Psychosis, the importance of having a support system in place and her time working at the BBC. If you wish to follow more of Emma and her work you can do so here . To check...

Welcome back Bookends to a new Debut Spotlight episode, this time we were joined by the incredible Kate Brody, author of 'Rabbit Hole' which is out in the UK TODAY! (Our lucky U.S listeners have had it a couple of weeks already!) Aswell as hearing about the journey in having her debut novel published, we chat about sister dynamics, grief and so much more... Hannah of course also asked how a debut...

Happy new year Bookends! Our first Book Club episode of the year is dedicated to The Knowing by friend of the pod Emma Hinds, it was only right that we brought Emma back to chat all about her debut novel, how she kept going in the face of rejections, why it's important to represent disabled characters in the way she did, the feminist issues she feels particularly passionate about writing and so mu...

Merry Christmas Bookends! What a gorgeous way to end 2023 with our finale - the Christmas special of dreams with the brilliant Saphire from Book Bodega! As always if you enjoy this episode please do rate, review & subscribe as it massively helps us to reach more of you. We chat through our top books of the year, what 2024 books should be on your pre-order lists and the bookish ghosts of our pa...

Welcome back Bookends to a very exciting episode in collaboration with the 2023 Polari Prize. For today's episode Hannah was joined by writer Julia Armfield to discuss her award-winning debut novel 'Our Wives Under The Sea' which our OG Bookends will remember was our second ever Book Club pick! To read more about this year's Polari Prize: https://www.polarisalon.com/copy-of-polari-prize-1 Aswell a...

Welcome Bookends to our December Bonus Books Special with the brilliant author & journalist Sarra Manning. Here to chat about her latest novel 'The Man Of Her Dreams', we deep-dive into all things rom-com, what makes them good, what makes them bad and what is it like to write the sex scenes? Aswell as this, Hannah invites Sarra into a festive quick-fire round where we find out what Sarra reall...

Welcome Bookends, it's been a while! We've got a fabulous November Bonus Books special for you today and as Hannah is already feeling festive, we've got something festive up our sleeves (yes that includes gifts)! Hannah was joined by author B.K Borison to discuss her romance series 'Lovelight Farms' which is out now and published by Pan Macmillan. In line with the release of this episode, Pan Macm...

Welcome Bookends to an incredibly special episode in collaboration with the 2023 Forward Prizes for Poetry. For this episode, Hannah was joined by winner of Best Collection, Jason Allen-Paisant. We talk about his experience of winning the prize, the inspiration behind his award-winning collection, how he felt connected to Shakespeare's Othello and so much more. It was a really interesting and thou...

Welcome back Bookends! We are back with the first episode in our THIRD season of Debut Spotlight - where we bring you the freshest debut authors and their work. For this episode we were joined by author and curator Celina Baljeet Basra, to discuss her upcoming novel 'Happy'. We talk about the inspiration for her young, ambitious protagonist, the importance of sharing stories of migrant workers &am...

Welcome back Bookends to another Book Club episode, for October we chose Land of Milk and Honey, the second novel from Booker Prize long-listed author C.Pam Zhang. For this episode we were thrilled to be joined by the author herself to chat all about the world of her novel. Our conversation covered food, class, climate change, family and how lots of these things play into one another, it was such...

Welcome Bookends to our October Bonus episode where Hannah was joined by the international best-selling author Victoria Hislop to chat all about her latest novel 'The Figurine' Unfortunately Lydia was ill for this episode but Hannah had a wonderful conversation with Victoria about her passion for Greek culture, her immersive research process, the ways in which Emily Brontë influences her writing a...

Welcome back Bookends to the finale of Season 2 of our Debut Spotlight series, where we shine the spotlight on the freshest authors and their work! For this episode we were joined by the brilliant Australian author of 'Sad Girl Novel', Pip Finkemeyer. We discuss why we love a sad girl novel, the beauty and intensity of female friendship, her positive debut publishing experience and so much more! W...