Granta

In this episode of the Granta podcast, we are joined by Olga Ravn, author of The Employees , My Work and, most recently, The Wax Child.   We discuss Tove Ditlevsen, technology, the difference between consciousness and intelligence, as well as her short story ’ The High Priestess ’, which appeared in Granta 175: Scandinavia . Thomas Meaney is the editor of Granta .  

In this episode of the Granta podcast, we are joined by the Danish author Helle Helle , author of multiple novels and two collections. Her work has been translated into twenty-four languages and her novel they was published in English this year, translated by Martin Aitken. Six short stories by Helle Helle will be appearing in our forthcoming issue, Granta 175: Scandinavia. We discuss writing abou...

In this episode of the Granta podcast, we speak with Christopher Bollas, a leading figure in contemporary psychoanalytic theory and author of the forthcoming Essential Aloneness and Streams of Consciousness . A wide-ranging interview about his life and work appeared in Granta 174: Therapy . In this further conversation, Bollas reflects on the relationship between psychoanalysis and literature, the...

In this episode of the  Granta podcast, we speak to Sujatha Gidla , author of Ants Among Elephants: an Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India . Gidla’s essay, ‘ I Am My Mother’s Older Brother ’, about dementia and caring for her mother, appeared in Granta 173: India . We discuss the history of the caste system, writing a political memoir, and Gidla’s experiences as a train conductor for...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast we speak to Karan Mahajan, author of Family Planning , The Association of Small Bombs and the forthcoming The Complex . Mahajan’s essay ‘ The Killing of a Canadian Sikh ’, on an extrajudicial killing in Surrey, Canada, appeared in Granta 173: India . We discuss his forthcoming novel, the Khalistani separatist movement, Salman Rushdie’s influence and the relati...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast we speak to Zoe Dubno, author of Happiness and Love (2025), whose short story ‘ The Full Package ’ appeared in Granta 166: Generations . We discuss her novel, Happiness and Love , its relationship to Thomas Bernhard’s Woodcutters , and the differences between homage and appropriation. Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the London Re...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast we speak to Guadalupe Nettel, author of four novels and three collections of short stories, including the most recent collection The Accidentals . We discuss her novel, Still Born, as well as her stories, ‘ The Wanderers ’, ‘ Divination ’ and ‘ Bonsai ’, as well as her approach to the politics of motherhood, realism and exile in her writing. Leo Robson is a cu...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast we speak to Diane Williams, author of eleven books of fiction, including the short story collection I Hear You’re Rich . We discuss the four short stories Diane Williams contributed to the summer issue, Granta  172: Badlands , as well as her various collections, her love of surprise in fiction and the porosity between her identity as a writer and an editor. Le...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast we speak to Tao Lin, the author of ten books, including Leave Society and Taipei . We discuss two of Tao Lin’s recent essays, ‘ My Spiritual Evolution ’, and ‘ Gian ’, which appeared in Granta 171: Dead Friends, as well as the effects of psychedelics and the possibilities of reincarnation. Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the Lond...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast we speak to Susie Boyt, the author of seven novels, most recently Loved and Missed , and the memoir My Judy Garland Life . We discuss Susie Boyt’s short story, ‘All Being Well’, from Granta 171: Dead Friends, and consider the function of ghosts, Henry James, and how to be mourned. Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the London Review...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to Nico Walker , author of the novel Cherry .  We discuss Nico Walker’s essay ‘Mucker Play’, published in Granta 170: Winners, which considers American football as a reflection of the country’s violence, the intimate relationship between the military and sport, and how athletes cultivate their public image, from Deion Sanders to Jim Thorpe. Leo Robso...

Granta 170: Winners is out this week. In this episode, we speak to Declan Ryan about his essay on the British heavyweight boxing today, ‘The Hurt Business’, which appears in the magazine's new sports issue.  You can read the essay discussed in this episode here .  Follow these links to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts . Declan Ryan is the author of Crisis Actor, a poetry...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to the film director Wang Xiaoshuai, known for the films Beijing Bicycle (2001) and So Long, My Son (2019). We discuss Wang Xiaoshuai’s thoughts on the porosity between literature and cinema, and the challenges facing independent filmmakers today. Follow these links to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts . Leo Robson is a cultural...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to Allen Bratton, whose short stories Barbarism and Honeymoon have been published online at granta.com. His debut novel Henry Henry was published in 2024. We discuss Shakespearean adaptations, the fine line between humour and cruelty and the legacy of the British aristocracy. Leo Robson is a cultural journalist whose work has appeared in the London R...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to Alan Hollinghurst, author of seven novels including The Swimming-Pool Library , the Booker Prize-winning The Line of Beauty and Our Evenings , which was published in 2024.  We discuss his new novel, writing from the outsider's perspective and cataloguing the chapters of queer life from the mid-century to now. Follow these links to subscribe t...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to the novelist and essayist Rachel Kushner, author of the books The Mars Room , The Flamethrowers , Telex from Cuba and The Hard Crowd . Her latest novel, Creation Lake , will be published in September 2024. We discuss her story, ‘The True Depth of a Cave’, which appeared in Granta 167: Extraction, as well as the mysteries of prehistory and the vari...

In this episode of the Granta podcast we speak to the novelist and journalist Benjamin Kunkel, author of Indecision (2005) and co-founder of the journal n+1. We discuss his short story ‘Prairie Dogs’ ( Granta 167: Extraction), his return to writing fiction, involuntarily becoming a ‘Marxist public intellectual’ and being politicised by literature. Follow these links to subscribe to the podcast on...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to the novelist Sheila Heti, author of the books How Should a Person Be? , Motherhood and Pure Colour . Her latest book, Alphabetical Diaries , was published in 2024. We discuss her new book, along with her interview with the academic Phyllis Rose that appeared in Granta 166: Generations. You can find all of Heti's contributions to the magazine...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to the novelist and journalist Andrew O’Hagan , author of seven novels and several books of non-fiction. We discuss his short story, ‘The Sensitivity Reader’ ( Granta 166: Generations), and the new novel Caledonian Road (2024), both of which explore the value of challenging the established narrative as a journalist, and the capacity for fiction to of...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to the novelist and critic Lauren Oyler , author of No Judgement (2024) and Fake Accounts (2024), about living in Berlin, the boundary between our private and public selves, and the trajectory of autofiction. We also discuss Oyler’s essay, ‘Last Week at Marienbad’, which appeared in Granta 165: Deutschland. You can read ‘Last Week at Marienbad’ here...

In this episode of the Granta Podcast, we speak to the novelist Brandon Taylor, author of Real Life (2020) and The Late Americans (2023), about naturalism, the future of fiction, and the connection between Émile Zola and The Sims. We also discuss Taylor’s short story ‘Stalin, Lenin, Robespierre’, which appeared in Granta 166: Generations. You can read ‘Stalin, Lenin, Robespierre’ here . Follow the...

In 2022 Jamaica Kincaid spoke to editor Josie Mitchell about childhood, the concept of memory and her early love of Paradise Lost. Jamaica Kincaid grew up on the island of Antigua. She began writing for the New Yorker and went on to publish many books, including the novel Annie John and the collection of stories At the Bottom of the River . A number of her books have recently been reissued, or are...

Last year Claire-Louise Bennett and editor Josie Mitchell talked about rereading, resisting homogenisation and committing to the process of unravelling. Claire-Louise Bennett is the author of Pond , a collection of short stories, and the 2021 novel Checkout 19 . Read an extract of Bennett's novel here .

In 2022 Lynne Tillman and editor Josie Mitchell discussed the afterlife of novels, haunted houses and the sexual revolution.  Lynne Tillman is the author of many books, including the 2006 novel American Genius: A Comedy and the 2014 essay collection, What Would Lynne Tillman Do?  Two of Tillman’s early works are now published in the UK by Peninsula Press: Weird Fucks and Haunted Houses . Read an e...

In 2022 Vanessa Onwuemezi spoke to editor Josie Mitchell about Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring , sitting with strangeness and the joy of trying out new sounds on the page. Vanessa Onwuemezi is a writer and poet living in London, her story ‘At the Heart of Things’ won the White Review Short Story Prize in 2019. Her debut story collection, Dark Neighbourhood , was published in 2021 by Fitzcarraldo...