Little Atoms

John Grindrod takes us on a journey around the landmark buildings of contemporary Britain in his new book Iconicon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks smuggling and rebellion with Alex Preston in his new novel Winchelsea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks to Miranda Cowley Heller about her debut novel The Paper Palace. (Contains some discussion of writing about sexual abuse). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil has been waiting for 20 years to talk to Louise Welsh about her latest novel The Second Cut. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks to Lisa Harding about her novel Bright Burning Things, which is just out in paperback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil will return from holiday eventually, but meanwhile why not listen to another deep cut from the Little Atoms archive, this week Matthew Baker talks about his short shory collection Why Visit America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil is still on holiday so here's another hit from the Little Atoms archive, Jarett Kobek on his novel Only Americans Burn In Hell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil is on holiday so please enjoy from the Little Atoms archive Sarah Churchwell on her book Behold America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laurie Winkless talks to Neil about all things Sticky (and slippery) in her new book Sticky: The Secret Science of Surfaces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Storr talks to Neil about his new book The Status Game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks to Honorée Fanonne Jeffers' about her epic debut novel The Love Songs Of W.E.B Du Bois. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Booker Prize winner Marlon James talks to Neil about the second novel in his fantasy trilogy Moon Witch Spider King. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sequoia Nagamatsu talks to Neil about his billion-year spanning debut novel How High We Go In The Dark. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks to Julie Bindel about how equality is not the same as liberation, in her new book Feminism for Women. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks to John Banville about his latest two crime novels April in Spain and Snow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks to award-winning comedy writer Georgia Pritchett about her adventures in anxiety, in her memoir My Mess Is A Bit Of A Life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Padraig chats to Harper's and n+1 critic Christine Smallwood about "adjunct lit", therapists, the end of the world, and her debut novel The Life Of The Mind Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Brooks talks to Neil about how maths underpins the rise of civilisation in his new book The Art of More. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Helen Oyeyemi talks to Neil about her latest novel Peaces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The New Yorker's Music critic Kelefa Sanneh talks to Neil about his new book Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the last Little Atoms of 2021, Judy Golding talks to Neil about her father William Golding, on the republication by Faber of The Inheritors, Pincher Martin and The Spire. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rebecca Donner talks to Neil about her great-great-aunt Mildred Harnack and her part in the German Reistance to Hitler, in her new book All The Frequent Troubles Of Our Days. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Chivers joins Neil to talk about walking the historical strata of London and it's hidden rivers, in his new book London Clay. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks to Nickolas Butler about his latest novel Godspeed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks to Ruth Ozeki about her latest novel The Book of Form & Emptiness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Qian Julie Wang talks to Neil about growing up hungry and afraid in America as an undocumented migrant, in her new memoir Beautiful Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Standage talks to Neil about his new book A Short History Of Motion, from who invented the wheel to self-driving cars. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Monisha Rajesh, author of Around The World in 80 Trains, talks to Neil about how her obsession with train travel began, puts up a hearty defence of Amtrak, and tells of her travels to North Korea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Roach talks to Neil about house-breaking bears and monkey muggers in her new book Fuzz: When Nature Breaks The Law. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alexandra Kleeman talks to Neil about her latest novel Something New Under The Sun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jackie Higgins talks to Neil about what the amazing senses of animals from the cheetah to the octopus can tell us about our own senses in her new book Sentient. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Birdsong author Sebastian Faulks talks to Neil about his latest novel Snow Country, set in Austria between the wars, the second novel of an Austrian trilogy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Geoff Dyer talks to Neil about SEE/SAW his latest collection of essays on looking at photographs. Yes we talk about lots of photographs on an audio podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cultural critic Travis Elborough talks to Neil about the history an cultural impact of spectacles in his latest book Through The Looking Glasses. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lauren Groff returns to Little Atoms and talks to Neil about her latest novel Matrix, a meticulously recreated historical fiction set in a 12th century abbey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julianne Pachico talks to Neil about her Colombia set debut novel The Anthill. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joyce Carol Oates talks to Neil about her latest novel Breathe, "a memoir that has been reimagined as a work of fiction" about grief. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ece Temelkuran returns to Little Atoms to tell Padraig about Together: Ten Choices for a Better Now, the sequel to the global hit How To Lose A Country. Ece discusses how criticism replaced action, the role of the exile, and the radical proposition of trust. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist whose work has been translated into 54 languages. Shafak's last novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize. She talks to Neil about her latest novel The Island of Missing Trees, set in Cyprus during the partition and contemporary London, and featuring a rather unusual narrator. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Walker talks to Neil about the 60th annversary of Yuri Gagarin's incredible journey into space in his new book Beyond. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jean Hanff Korelitz talks to Neil about her latest novel The Plot, which centers around the literary world and the contested ownership of the right to tell a story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julian Sancton on his new book Madhouse at the End of the Earth, and incredible survival story of an ill-fated Antarctic expedition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura Lippman talks to Neil about the gentrification of Baltimore and using elements of the horror genre in her new novel Dream Girl, and of writing about herself in her essay collection My Life as a Villainess. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brandy Schillace tells Neil the incredible story of Dr Robert White and his quest to perform the first head transplant. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Spitzer talks to Neil about his new history of the world through the evolution of music, The Musical Human. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alice Bell talks to Neil about her history of climate change, Our Biggest Experiment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil talks to optogenetics pioneer Karl Deisseroff about the work of his Stanford lab, and about his new book Connections: A Story of Human Feeling. Also contains Karl's wind-chimes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephanie Scott talks to Neil about her debut novel What's Left Of Me Is Yours. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex von Tunzelmann is a bestselling author, screenwriter, broadcaster, and media commentator. Her latest book is Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made History. Inspired by the toppling of the Edward Colson statue in Bristol, Alex tackles the bad faith arguments of the culture warriors head on, talking about some historical examples of other statues around the world that have fallen from favour. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott Weidensaul is one of the most respected natural history writers in the country. Among the more than 30 books he's written are Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. His latest book is A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.