
Little Atoms
A Podcast about Ideas and Culture
Neil Denny
Show overview
Little Atoms has been publishing since 2014, and across the 12 years since has built a catalogue of 712 episodes, alongside 2 trailers or bonus episodes. That works out to roughly 440 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence.
Episodes typically run twenty to thirty-five minutes — most land between 28 min and 41 min — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. It is catalogued as a EN-language Society & Culture show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 4 days ago, with 24 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2023, with 79 episodes published. Published by Neil Denny.
From the publisher
Little Atoms is a weekly show about books, with authors in conversation. Produced and presented by Neil Denny. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Latest Episodes
View all 712 episodesLittle Atoms Archive - Bret Easton Ellis' the Shards
Little Atoms Archive - Alice Winn's In Memoriam
Little Atoms Archive - Adrian Chiles' The Good Drinker
Little Atoms 1001 - Ann Patchett's Whistler
Little Atoms 1000 - Douglas Stuart's John of John
Little Atoms 999 - Daniel Lavelle's Chasing Aliens
Little Atoms 998 - Daniel Trilling's If We Tolerate This
Little Atoms 997 - Claire Fuller's Hunger and Thirst
Little Atoms 996 - Richard Byrne's Beauty Doesn't Reach Me
Little Atoms 995 - Angela Tomaski's The Infamous Gilberts
Little Atoms 994 - Sian Hughes' No Such Thing As Monday

Little Atoms 993 - Elizabeth Arnott's The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives
Elizabeth Arnott is an award-winning writer and journalist and has written critically acclaimed historical fiction as Lizzie Pook. Her work has featured in publications including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, and Stylist. On today’s episode of Little Atoms, she talks to Neil Denny about her new novel The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Little Atoms 992 - Sophie Mackintosh's Permanence
Sophie Mackintosh is the author of four novels, including The Water Cure and Cursed Bread. She has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Women's Prize, has won a Betty Trask Award, and has been selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. She has been published in Granta, The White Review and TANK magazine among others. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her latest novel, Permanence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Little Atoms 991 - John Grindrod's Tales of the Suburbs
John Grindrod is the author of Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain, Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt (shortlisted for the 2018 Wainwright Prize for UK travel and nature writing), and Iconicon: A Journey Around the Landmark Buildings of Contemporary Britain. He hosts the podcast Monstrosities Mon Amour. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest book Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Little Atoms 990 - Robert Plunket's Love Junkie
Robert Plunket was born in Greenville, Texas, in 1945, but raised in Havana and Mexico City. After college he moved to New York and became a writer, publishing two novels, My Search for Warren Harding (1983) and Love Junkie (1992). He later became Mr Chatterbox, the gossip columnist for Sarasota Magazine. He is retired and lives in a trailer park in Englewood, Florida. On today’s episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his novel Love Junkie which was recently re-released by penguin Modern Classics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Little Atoms 989 - Isabel Waidner's As If
Isabel Waidner is the author of five novels – including Sterling Karat Gold, which won the Goldsmiths Prize and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and Corey Fah Does Social Mobility which was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. They teach in the School of the Arts at Queen Mary University of London. On this episode of Little Atoms they talk to Neil Denny about their latest novel As If. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Little Atoms 988 - Francis Spufford's Nonesuch
Francis Spufford is the author of three novels and five works of non-fiction. His debut work of fiction was the historical novel Golden Hill, which won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, and was shortlisted for four others. His second novel, Light Perpetual, was awarded the Encore Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize. His third novel, the alternative history Cahokia Jazz, was recognised by the Science Fiction community when it was awarded the Sidewise Award in 2023. He teaches writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest novel Nonesuch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Little Atoms 987 - James Geary's The World In A Phrase
James Geary, an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, is the author of Wit's End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It, Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists and I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How It Shapes the Way We See the World. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about the reissue of his New York Times best-selling book The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Little Atoms 986 - Alex Preston's A Stranger in Corfu
Alex Preston is an award-winning author of five novels including This Bleeding City, The Revelations, In Love and War and Winchelsea, as well as a book of non-fiction As Kingfishers Catch Fire. He writes regularly for the New York Times, the Economist and Harper's Bazaar. He reviews books for the Observer's New Review, Financial Times and Spectator. Alex is co-founder of the Corfu Literary Festival and Patron of Oxford Literary Festival. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest novel A Stranger in Corfu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Little Atoms 985 - Manish Chauhan's Belgrave Road
Originally from Leicester, Manish Chauhan works as a finance lawyer and currently lives in East London. His short story, "Pieces", was shortlisted for the 2024 BBC National Short Story Award. His work has been shortlisted for the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize and the Exeter Short Story Competition. Early excerpts of Belgrave Road were longlisted for the Curtis Brown First Novel Award and shortlisted for the Daniel Goldsmith First Novel Prize. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about Belgrave Road, his debut novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.