Category: Culture

Jeanette Winterson on Making Peace with the Past

Conversations | 12 December 2016 | 0h 50m | Listen Later
Interview with Jeanette Winterson recounting stories from her memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Winterson endured a difficult childhood before going on to become one of Britain’s most successful writers. Very very funny.

Lyanda Lynn Haupt on Mozart’s Starling

Reader’s Corner | 26 August 2017 | 0h 29m | Listen Later
Interview with Lyanda Lynn Haupt about her book Mozart’s Starling. Tells the story of Mozart’s relationship with his pet starling during one of the most creative and productive periods of his life. Also describes the remarkable capabilities of Haupt’s own pet starling.

Violet Moller on The Map of Knowledge

New Books Network | 31 July 2019 | 1h 04m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Violet Moller about her book The Map of Knowledge: A Thousand-Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found. Discusses the tenuous transmission of books from the ancient world to the modern, via Alexandria, Syria, Constantinople, Baghdad and Renaissance Venice.

Andrew Roberts on Churchill and the Craft of Biography

EconTalk | 26 August 2019 | 1h 10m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Andrew Roberts about the life of Winston Churchill and the art of biography. How did Churchill deal with the mistakes he inevitably made in a long career? Was he prescient or just the right man in the right place at the right time? Was he an alcoholic? Did he suffer from depression? Drawing on his biography of Churchill, Andrew Roberts answers these and other questions in this wide-ranging conversation that includes a discussion of the mechanics of writing a 1000 page book on a man who has had over 1000 biographies written about him already.

Robert Cottrell on the Future of Reading

Venture Stories | 22 August 2019 | 1h 04m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Robert Cottrell, editor of The Browser. Background on The Browser, the bond between readers and writers, future business models, long-form writing, algorithmic curation, and machine translation opening up non-English writing.

Elizabeth Gilbert on Life and Love

How to Academy | 19 August 2019 | 1h 20m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Elizabeth Gilbert exploring her life story and thoughts on genius and creativity, sex and adventure, wonder and fear. Draws on her books Eat, Pray, Love, Committed, Big Magic and City of Girls.

Tyler Cowen on Big Business

EconTalk | 19 August 2019 | 1h 06m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Tyler Cowen about his book, Big Business, which argues that big corporations in America are underrated and under-appreciated. Strays widely with a deliciously contrarian take on many subjects including the advantages of social media.

How We Can Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Language

The Guardian Books Podcast | 6 August 2019 | 0h 35m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interviews with David Shariatmadari, author of Don’t Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language and Cecelia Watson, author of Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark. Insights on language and punctuation.