Bookshelfie: Women’s Prize Podcast

Bella Mackie, Okechukwu Nzelu and Nell Frizzell join Yomi to dive into the final two books from the 2021 shortlist, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones.   Bella Mackie is a journalist and the author of Jog On and her new book, How to Kill Your Family is out on July 22nd , Okechukwu Nzelu is a teacher and the award winning author of The Private J...

Outspoken Labour MP Jess Phillips tells Yomi why she was always destined for a life helping others, and how her favourite book helped her realise she was pregnant.  Jess has represented Birmingham Yardley in parliament since 2015, and currently serves in Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet on the front bench as Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding. She’s never been afraid to be outspok...

Candice Brathwaite, Michelle Elman and Caleb Azumah Nelson join Yomi to compare and contrast two books from this year's Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist, Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom and Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller.   Michelle Elman is an author, speaker and life coach who’s the force behind the Scarred not Scared campaign, Candice Brathwaite is the author of The Joy of Being Selfish...

Journalist and writer Paris Lees tells Yomi why being trans is only part of her identity, as she explores her top five books by women.    Paris is the editor of META, a new publication devoted to gender issues, a contributing editor at British Vogue, she has columns with Gay Times and DIVA and appears in The Guardian, VICE and Pink News. In 2013 she was given the title of most influential LGBT per...

Raven Smith, Otegha Uwagba and Yassmin Abdel-Magied join Yomi to dive into two books from this year's Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. Raven Smith is a fashion columnist and author of Trivial Pursuits , Otegha Uwagba is the former founder of the working women’s network Women Who and author of three incred...

Recently named as one of the most influential people of African heritage in the UK, Afua Hirsch takes us on a journey through the books that have shaped her. Afua Hirsch is a writer, broadcaster and author. Her book Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging was published in 2018 and became a Sunday Times bestseller, kickstarting a national conversation about what it means to grow up a person of c...

Join iconic fashion designer and legend of female empowerment Diane Von Furstenberg as she discusses the five books which have shaped her career with Yomi. Diane is best known for her groundbreaking “wrap dress” which came out in 1974 and earned her global recognition, becoming a wardrobe staple around the world. It’s still worn by celebrities including Michelle Obama and Catherine, Duchess of Cam...

DJ, presenter and author Annie Macmanus chooses her five favourite books by women and tells Yomi why she’s outgrown Annie Mac.  Annie is best known as a BBC Radio 1 DJ where she currently hosts the flagship daily new music show, Future Sounds. She’s also an incredible club DJ, playing at the world’s biggest venues, events and festivals, and has curated her own festival - Lost and Found  - in Malta...

Stand-up comedian, podcaster and screenwriter Deborah Frances-White explains how a Helene Hanff book got her free tickets for life in London’s West End on this week’s Bookshelfie episode with Yomi Adegoke.   Deborah is host of the hugely successful podcast The Guilty Feminist , which has also been made into a bestselling book. Her solo comedy shows have included Half a Can of Worms , which tackled...

No-one devours books like Sara Pascoe - on this week’s Bookshelfie she tells Yomi how reading novels you might disagree is a good antidote to an increasingly polarised world.  Sara is a comedian, writer, actor, podcaster and presenter whose extensive TV credits include regular appearances on panel shows like Mock the Week, QI and Have I Got News for You , alongside numerous other TV and radio prog...

Join special guest - Women’s Prize for Fiction ‘Winner of Winners’ - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie as she discusses the five books which have shaped her career, and her latest release, Notes on Grief, with Yomi Adegoke. Chimamanda is an internationally acclaimed author whose novel Half of a Yellow Sun won the Women’s Prize in 2007 and was adapted into a film starring Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor...

Join new host Yomi Adegoke as she explores the Bookshelfie titles which have inspired writer and podcaster Elizabeth Day.  Elizabeth is an award-winning journalist, the author of six books, spanning fiction and non-fiction, and host of the critically acclaimed hit podcast - How To Fail - which explores how failure can ultimately lead to success. She’s also a judge for this year’s Women’s Prize.  E...

In this episode Zing Tsjeng is joined by actress Kim Cattrall. Her impressive career spans over four decades, taking the form of numerous tv, theatre and film roles. However, it was her portrayal of sexually liberated PR exec Samantha Jones on the HBO sitcom Sex and the City and its two film sequels that brought her worldwide attention, and gained her five Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Gl...

Today’s special episode celebrates the launch of the Women’s Prize Trust’s new writers’ development programme, Discoveries. Zing Tsjeng is joined by three guests, all brilliant writers across different forms - Theresa Lola, award-winning poet and 2019 Young People’s Laureate for London; Nicole Taylor, the BAFTA winning screenwriter of Three Girls and Abi Daré, the international bestselling author...

In this episode Zing Tsjeng is joined by journalist, author and podcaster, Pandora Sykes. A former editor and columnist for the Sunday Times Style and a Contributing Editor at Elle, she has written for publications including Telegraph, Observer, GQ and Vogue. She is the author of The Sunday Times bestseller, How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right? , the host of her new podcast series Doing It Right a...

Zing Tsjeng is joined by Paula Akpan, a journalist and the co-founder of Black Girl Fest - a celebration of black women, girls and non-binary people, Hannah Witton, a YouTuber, broadcaster and author creating content focused on sexual health, liberation and welfare and Kiran Millwood Hargrave, a poet, playwright and award-winning and best-selling author of children’s and young adult fiction.  The...

In this episode Zing Tsjeng is joined by Grace Dent - the broadcaster, columnist and one of the most recognisable and unique voices on the British food scene. She's also an author and her latest book, Hungry - a nostalgic food memoir - is out on Oct 29th. Grace's book choices are: The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton Restoration by Rose Tremain Kinflicks By Lisa Alther Station Eleven by Emily St....

In this episode Zing Tsjeng is joined by Ruby Wax - a successful comedian, TV writer and performer of over 25 years. Ruby additionally holds a Master’s degree in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy from Oxford University, and was awarded an OBE in 2015 for her services to mental health. On this topic, she is the author of multiple best selling books. She is also the president of the UK’s leading r...

Zing Tsjeng is joined by Poorna Bell, an award winning journalist and the author of Chasing the Rainbow and In Search of Silence , Salma El-Wardany, a writer, spoken word artist and public speaker and JJ Bola, a writer and poet, who has released three collections of poetry as well as a novel and a non-fiction book about masculinity and patriarchy for young people. The theme of today's #ReadingWome...

In this episode Zing Tsjeng is joined by Laura Bates - a writer and the founder of the award-winning Everyday Sexism Project, an ever-expanding collection of more than 100,000 testimonies of gender inequality, which has been described as “one of the biggest social media success stories on the internet”. Laura’s first book Everyday Sexism w as published in 2014. Her latest book, Men Who Hate Women...

Today’s book club is all about Reclaim Her Name – a 25 book collection Women's Prize for Fiction sponsor Baileys have re-printed with a twist.    Throughout history, female writers have had to write under male pen names for their work to be published or taken seriously. The Reclaim Her Name collection aims to give these women the credit they deserve. For the first time, Baileys is printing the rea...

In this episode Zing Tsjeng is joined by Juno Dawson, a novelist, screenwriter and journalist, Sophie Hellyer, founder of Rise Fierce - a cold water community which exists to empower women through wild swimming and kinship and feminist historian, Dr Charlotte Riley who Lectures Twentieth-Century British History at the University of Southampton. The theme of today's #ReadingWomen book club is love....

In this episode Zing Tsjeng is joined by Lily Cole, who takes us on a tour of her bookshelves and tells us her five favourite books by women. Lily has been a household name for the past twenty years, first famous for her flaming red hair and modelling career and now better known for being an philanthropist, actress, entrepreneur, activist, mother and author. In 2013 she co-founded Impossible.com :...

In this episode Zing Tsjeng is joined by novelist and journalist, Anna James, musician and poet, Arlo Parks, and novelist and short story writer, Sophie Mackintosh. The theme of today's #ReadingWomen book club is family. The reading list: We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver, 2005 On Beauty by Zadie Smith, 2006 Home by Marilynne Robinson, 2009 Every fortnight, join Zing Tsjeng, editor at...

In this special episode of the podcast, Zing Tsjeng welcomes the six incredible authors who have been shortlisted for this year’s Prize: Bernardine Evaristo, Angie Cruz, Natalie Haynes, Jenny Offill, Maggie O’Farrell and Hilary Mantel. They discuss the inspirations behind their novels and tell us what it would mean to win the Women's Prize for Fiction. The 2020 shortlist is as follows: Dominicana...