The London Magazine Podcast

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast , we speak to translator and editor Ann Goldstein , renowned for bringing Elena Ferrante’s work to English readers. A former editor at the New Yorker , Goldstein has also translated works by Primo Levi, Jhumpa Lahiri and, most recently, Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s The Brittle Age . In the episode, we discuss the oxymoron of the ‘celebrated translator’...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast , we speak to short story writer and novelist Gurnaik Johal . Gurnaik’s 2022 collection We Move won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Tata Literature Live! Prize, and his debut novel, Saraswati , is out now with Serpent’s Tail. In the episode, we discuss maximalism in the novel, the Indian diaspora and the difficulty of writing about current events –...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast , we speak to award-winning cultural critic and novelist Leo Robson . Leo’s writing has appeared in the New Yorker , the London Review of Books , Granta and the New Left Review . He works for Literary Review and Granta , and The Boys is his first novel. In the episode, we talk about evoking London on the page, the strange nostalgia of the 2012 Olympic...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast , we talk to writer Mark Bowles . Mark grew up between Bradford and Leeds, and went on to study English at Liverpool and Oxford Universities. His debut novel, All My Precious Madness , was published at the end of last year, and has been nominated for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Authors’ Club Best First Novel award. In the episode, we hear more about...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast , we talk to designer and magazine aficionado Jeremy Leslie . Jeremy’s platform, magCulture , sells a huge range of magazines from its London shop and online, posts regular reviews and essays via its journal, runs annual conferences in London and New York, as well as recording a regular podcast of its own. A passionate advocate for editorial design, J...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast , we talk to poet and editor Paul Stephenson about his debut collection, Hard Drive , that has been shortlisted for the Polari Book Prize this year. Paul has previously published three poetry pamphlets ( Those People , The Days that Followed Paris and Selfies with Waterlillies ), and he occasionally teaches for the Poetry School . We discussed absurdi...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast , we talk to Joshua Jones , writer and artist from Llanelli in south Wales. Joshua was a Literature Wales Emerging Writer and a Hay Festival Writer at Work. He has published various poetry pamphlets, including Three Months in the Zebra Room and The City on Film , both out this year. On this episode, we talk to Joshua about his book, Local Fires . A co...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast, we talk to Claire Carroll, a regular London Magazine contributor who writes experimental fiction about the intersection of nature, technology, and desire. She is also a PhD researcher at Bath Spa and Exeter Universities, where she explores how experimental writing – particularly short stories and prose-poetry – can reimagine how humans relate to the...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast, we talk to Orlando Whitfield, writer and self-proclaimed failed art dealer. Orlando started dealing art while still a student at Goldsmiths, and worked in and around the art world for fifteen years. His writing has appeared in the The Paris Review and The White Review, among other places. Orlando joins us to talk about his new book: All That Glitters...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast, we talk to Dan Sperrin. Dan is a Junior Research Fellow in English at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and The London Magazine 's political cartoonist. He predominantly works on satire and satirists, with a special interest in the period 1660-1760. Dan talks to us about the state of satire in modern Britain, David Cameron's rogue return to c...

Please be aware that this episode contains discussions of abortion and strong language. On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast, we talk to writer Vida Adamczewski. Vida's writing has appeared in Ambit Magazine, Document Journal, Vittles and The Mays . In July 2021, a staged reading of Vida’s debut lyric play AMPHIBIAN was performed at the Playmill New Writers Festival at the King’s Head Th...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast, we speak to Patrick Cash. Patrick holds a Masters in Creative Writing from Oxford and spent three months as writer-in-residence at Shakespeare & Company, Paris. He’s had two plays published by Bloomsbury and written for Vice, Dazed and Attitude . His writing has been selected for the BBC Drama Room and The London Library’s Emerging Writers Progra...

On this episode of The London Magazine podcast, we speak to Tom Conaghan. Tom is the publisher of Scratch Books - a small press dedicated to the craft of the short story. Tom's reviews and essays have appeared in The Observer, The TLS, The Irish Times, The LA Review of Books, amongst others. And, most importantly, Tom is a judge for our 2023 Short Story Prize. We spoke to him about Chekov, the Iri...

On this episode of The London Magazine podcast, we speak to Jiaqi Kang. Jiaqi is currently a DPhil candidate in Art History candidate at the University of Oxford and founding editor-in-chief of Sine Theta, an international, print-based creative arts magazine for the Sino diaspora. Last year, they won The White Review Short Story Prize with 'Class of 1985', commended as "a story that sings with rom...

On this episode of The London Magazine podcast, we speak to Phoebe Hurst. Phoebe is currently an assistant editor at the Guardian and is a former managing editor at VICE. Her short fiction has previously been shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award and longlisted for the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize. We spoke to her about her new story, 'The Dump', as featured in our June/Ju...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast, we speak with Ella Griffiths. Ella is an editor at Faber & Faber and the person behind the wonderful Faber Editions series. We chatted about her foreword to 'The Shutter of Snow' in our Feb/March issue of the magazine, the origins of Faber Editions itself and what the Faber archive is really like. Subscribe to The London Magazine now for just £33...

On this episode of The London Magazine Podcast, we speak with Max Wilkinson. Max is a playwright and screenwriter whose award-winning play, Rainer, about a voyeuristic delivery rider riding around London, played at the Arcola Theatre last summer and is being produced for BBC Radio Four’s Afternoon play slot. His new piece, ‘Death of a Go-Go driver’, part of a longer play titled 'Ghost City', appea...

We spoke to poet and essayist from Newry, Co. Down, James Connor Patterson. His debut collection bandit country has been nominated for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2022, and his writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Irish Times, New Statesman, Poetry Review and The Stinging Fly , among others. We discuss two poems from bandit country in our December/January issue, the lingering effects of the Troubles...

We spoke to Matthew Turner, senior lecturer at Chelsea College of Arts who is currently finishing his first short story collection. His essays, reviews and short stories have been published in Art Review, Frieze, Gorse and elsewhere. In 2021 his story ‘Loom’ was included in Salt’s Best British Short Stories. We discuss his new story in our December/January issue, 'Still Life', share our experience...

We spoke to award-winning poet, playwright, author and educator, Joelle Taylor. Her most recent collection, C+NTO & Othered Poems (Westbourne Press, 2021) was the winner of the T.S. Eliot Award 2021. She is co-curator and host of Out-Spoken Live, a live poetry and performance club in residence at the Southbank Centre. We discuss her new poem in our October/November issue, 'the o god', as well...

We are joined by writer and publisher Sam Mills, author of The Quiddity of Will Self , and the memoir The Fragments of my Father (Fourth Estate, 2020). She is the co-founder of indie press Dodo Ink. We discuss the enduring fascination with Pierre de Laclos' 1779 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses and the many adaptations that have followed it, including the 1988 film staring Glenn Close and John Malko...

We spoke to poet Holly Pester about her new 'Café Poems' in our August/September 2022 issue, as well as her 2021 poetry collection 'Comic Timing'. We are treated to some wonderful readings by Holly, discuss the role that poetry plays in finding new ways of thinking while confronting everyday issues, and Holly gives one of our listeners some writing advice in our 'Literary Clinic'. To read Holly's...

We spoke to author and poet Keiran Goddard about his new story in our August/September 2022 issue, 'A Season for Every Activity', as well as his 2022 novel 'Hourglass'. We discuss the importance of finding your authentic voice when writing, how to sound funny on the page, and Keiran gives one of our listeners some writing advice in our 'Literary Clinic'. To read Keiran's new story, go to: bit.ly/3...

We spoke to writer Nell Stevens about her new short story in our June/July issue, 'Pulse', the release of her debut novel, 'Briefly, A Delicious Life' and judging our Short Story Prize 2022. Listen to hear Nell's best tips on writing while juggling work and family time, Chopin's music and horny ghosts! Enter our Short Story Prize 2022 here: https://bit.ly/3R74mUW To read Nell's new story, grab a c...

We spoke to author Jessie Greengrass about her new story in our June/July 2022 issue, 'A Lone Astronaut Watches the World End', as well as her 2021 novel 'The High House'. We discuss the role of the writer in the climate crisis, the power of the monologue and Jessie gives one of our listeners some great writing advice in our 'Literary Clinic'. To read Jessie's new story, go to: https://bit.ly/3z4G...