The TLS Podcast

The TLS Podcast

A weekly podcast on books and culture brought to you by the writers and editors of the Times Literary Supplement. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

June 19, 2025 52 mins

This week, what TLS contributors are reading this summer; and Catherine Taylor on a trio of novels highlighting the growing pains of adolescence.


'Back in the Day', by Oliver Lovrenski, translated by Nichola Smalley

'Fun and Games', by John Patrick McHugh

'Girl, 1983', by Linn Ullmann, translated by Martin Aitken


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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This week, Sara Lodge counts the ways that mathematics influenced writers from Byron to Trollope; and Russell Williams on the transformative power of rites and rituals.


'The Number Sense of Nineteenth-Century British Literature', by Stefanie Markovits

'The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic', by Alan Moore and Steve Moore


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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June 5, 2025 63 mins

This week, a special podcast from the Hay Festival ranges from the ancient world to the 16th-century, taking in the art of criticism, the centrality of religion and eco-catastrophe. With Stephanie Merritt, Edith Hall, Toby Lichtig and a guest appearance from TLS crossword compiler Praxiteles.



'Traitor's Legacy', by SJ Parris

'Epic of the Earth: Reading Homer's "Iliad" in the Fight for a Dying World', by Edith Hall


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May 29, 2025 52 mins

This week, Magna Carta experts David Carpenter and Nicholas Vincent tell us how they discovered a rare original of the document; and Michael Caines on a spritely new staging of a Shaw play starring mother and daughter Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter.


'Mrs Warren's Profession', by George Bernard Shaw, Garrick Theatre, London, until August 16


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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May 22, 2025 42 mins

This week, Eimear McBride is captivated by the life and work of Joyce's biographer; and Mark Nayler is hot on the trail of the wolf who walked alone.


'Ellmann's Joyce: the biography of a masterpiece and its maker', by Zachary Leader


'Lone wolf: walking the faultlines of Europe', by Adam Weymouth


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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May 15, 2025 46 mins

This week, Vanessa Curtis celebrates a century of Mrs Dalloway; and Claire Lowdon on the capacious diaries of Helen Garner.


'Mrs Dalloway', by Virginia Woolf

'Monkey grip', 'The children's Bach', 'This house of grief', 'How to end a story: collected diaries', by Helen Garner


Produced by Charlotte Pardy



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May 8, 2025 45 mins

This week, Nicola Shulman salutes the memoirs of an old-school editor and socialite; and Rebecca Fraser on an unexpectedly peaceful transition of power in 17th-century America.


'When the going was good: an editor’s adventures during the last golden age of magazines', by Graydon Carter

'Taking Manhattan: the extraordinary events that created New York and shaped America', by Russell Shorto


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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May 1, 2025 59 mins

This week, Toby Lichtig travels to Oslo to interview Nobel laureate Jon Fosse; meanwhile, Natasha Lehrer heads to Zurich for a compelling new play by Deborah Levy.


Jon Fosse is published in English by Fitzcarraldo Editions

'50 Minutes', by Deborah Levy, Neumarkt Theatre, Zurich, until May 7


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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April 24, 2025 51 mins

This week, David Gallagher remembers Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa; and Laurent Binet whisks us to 16th-century Florence to explore the world of his novel Perspectives.


'Perspectives', by Laurent Binet, translated by Sam Taylor


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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April 17, 2025 51 mins

This week, Peter Holland treads the boards in Elizabethan London in search of Shakespeare before the Globe; and Muriel Zagha on a captivating tale of cheese-making in the Jura.


'The dream factory: London’s first playhouse and the making of William Shakespeare', by Daniel Swift

'Holy Cow', a film by Louise Courvoisier


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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April 10, 2025 52 mins

This week, Margaret Drabble explores how Dickens drew on his love of the macabre and grotesque to create literary magic; and Norma Clarke takes a tour around the British coast.


'Dickens the enchanter: Inside the explosive imagination of the great storyteller', by Peter Conrad

'The restless coast: A journey around the edge of Britain', by Roger Morgan-Grenville

'Seascape: Notes from a changing coastline', by Matthew Yeoma...

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April 3, 2025 46 mins

Caroline Moorehead salutes the energetic brilliance of singer Josephine Baker; and Aaron Peck on the past, present and future of the avant-garde.


'Fearless and free: A memoir', by Josephine Baker, translated by Anam Zafar and Sophie Lewis

'Josephine Baker's secret war: The African American star who fought for France and freedom', by Hanna Diamond


'What art does: An unfinished theory', by Brian Eno and Bette A.

'How to...

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March 27, 2025 48 mins

This week, we're joined by Harriet Baker, winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award; and Helen Scales tunes into the sonic marvels beneath the surface of the sea.


'Rural Hours: The country lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann', by Harriet Baker

'Sing Like a Fish: How sound rules life under water', by Amorina Kingdon



Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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March 20, 2025 49 mins

This week, novelist Damon Galgut remembers the ground-breaking South African playwright Athol Fugard; and Michael Caines on two very different approaches to the Danish prince.


'Grand Theft Hamlet', on Mubi

'Hamlet', by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon- Avon, until March 29 


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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March 13, 2025 46 mins

This week, Larry Wolff immerses himself in a bold operatic vision of Melville's classic; and Travis Elborough on a boosterish attempt to rescue Croydon from its knockers.


'Moby-Dick', composed by Jake Heggie, Metropolitan Opera House, New York, until March 29

'Croydonopolis: A Journey to the Greatest City that Never Was', by Will Noble


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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March 6, 2025 56 mins

This week, Toby Lichtig chats to Sam Leith about formative literature at Jewish Book Week; and David Horspool meets Sue Prideaux, winner of this year's Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize.


'The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading', by Sam Leith

'Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin', by Sue Prideaux


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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February 27, 2025 50 mins

This week, Michael Caines interviews the men behind the Royal Shakespeare Company's thrilling new production of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II; and Nat Segnit finds Pico Iyer's journeys to a Californian monastery a welcome retreat from the world.



'Edward II', by Christopher Marlowe, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until April 5 2025

'Learning from Silence: Lessons from More Than 100 Retreats', by Pico Iyer


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February 20, 2025 49 mins

This week, Edith Hall finds herself mesmerised, entranced and perplexed by Sophocles; and Barnaby Phillips on a bizarre imperial incursion in 19th-century Africa.


'Oedipus', by Sophocles, Old Vic until March 29

'Electra', by Sophocles, Duke of York's Theatre until April 12

'A Training School for Elephants', by Sophy Roberts


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February 13, 2025 44 mins

This week, we're joined by Eimear McBride as she publishes a compelling new novel; and Anne Fuchs celebrates WG Sebald's illuminating and idiosyncratic essays.


'The City Changes Its Face', by Eimear McBride

'Silent Catastrophes: Essays in Austrian Literature', by WG Sebald, translated by Jo Catling


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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February 6, 2025 48 mins

This week, Kevin Brazil on the revealing tour d'horizontal of a great writer; and Keith Miller goes down a rabbit-hole in search of Richard Ayoade.


'The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir', by Edmund White

'The Unfinished Harauld Hughes', 'Plays, Prose, Pieces, Poetry', 'The Models Trilogy', 'Four Films', by Harauld Hughes/Richard Ayoade


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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