The LRB Podcast

Daniel Soar talks to Thomas Jones about the sixth taste, variously translated as ‘mouthfulness’, ‘thickness’ and ‘lingeringness’, apparently discovered by the Japanese company Ajinomoto, and its origins in the twisty and opaque story of MSG in North America. Read Daniel Soar's piece here: https://lrb.me/kokumipod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lydia Davis reads her essay on Arles, recorded for the Trilling Lecture at Columbia University in 2019. Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/lydiadavisarlespod Subscribe to the LRB and get a 79% discount: https://lrb.me/travel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colm Tóibín reads his diary from November 2020, about visiting Venice during the pandemic. Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/aloneinvenicepod Subscribe to the LRB and save 79% on the cover price: https://lrb.me/travel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of four summer readings visiting different places in Europe, Rosemary Hill explores the history of London's West End. Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/hillwestendpod Subscribe to the LRB and save 79% off the cover price: https://lrb.me/travel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Trotter talks to Joanne O’Leary about the novels and stories of Elizabeth Bowen, from her weird families and idiosyncrasies of style, to her mastery of atmospherics and prescient use of technology to shape her characters. Find David's piece and more on Elizabeth Bowen in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bowenpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Frears talks to Andrew O’Hagan about making movies in America, to mark the publication of a new collection of LRB essays on Hollywood. He describes being protected by Scorsese, learning from Billy Wilder, and why films often had budgets of $39 million. Buy the collection here: lrb.me/hollywood Find more on the episode page: https://lrb.me/frearspod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about ‘visible’ cheating in sport, that is, the kind which is against the rules but within the ethos of the game, from diving in football to bodyline bowling in cricket. Read John's piece in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/lanchestersportpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pooja Bhatia talks to Thomas Jones about the assassination of President Moïse in Haiti, the recent history of US involvement in the country, and the difference between elections and democracy. Find Pooja Bhatia's writing on Haiti in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/seizeduppod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Meek talks to Thomas Jones about the connected fates of two wind tower factories, one in Scotland, the other in Vietnam, and asks why the determination to achieve a green future isn’t matched by a determination to ensure fair wages and good conditions for the workers who will make it possible. Meek also describes the challenges of reporting on the story remotely during the pandemic. You can find his piece and watch some of the video shot by his researcher, Chi Mai, of the CS Wind factory in Phu My, here: https://lrb.me/windfarmspod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toril Moi talks to Joanna Biggs about the French philosopher Simone Weil, whose short and uncompromising life became a workshop for her revolutionary ideas about labour, human suffering and the power of paying attention. Read Toril Moi on Simone Weil in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/weilpod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription here: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deborah Friedell talks to Thomas Jones about the Rosenbergs, from their early years on the Lower East Side of New York to their executions for conspiracy to commit espionage in 1953, and the significance of their trial in American public life, not least as a platform for Donald Trump’s future lawyer, Roy Cohn. Read Deborah's piece on the Rosenbergs and more here: https://lrb.me/rosenbergspod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Niamh Gallagher talks to Thomas Jones about the history of the Irish border, from its origins in the 1920s to today, the way it has shaped Irish politics in both the south and north, and why the Troubles can’t be repeated. Find Niamh Gallagher's piece in the LRB and more here: https://lrb.me/irishborderpod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tariq Ali talks to Thomas Jones about a newly reissued biography of the Prophet by Maxime Rodinson, and the historic prevalence of Arabic culture in the West, from Don Quixote to Trafalgar Square. Find Tariq Ali's review and other related pieces in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/muhammadcervantespod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The legendary cartoonist talks to Thomas Jones about his latest book, Street Cop, a collaboration with Robert Coover, and looks back on previous work including Maus and In the Shadow of No Towers, which was originally published in the LRB. Find related pieces in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/spiegelmanpod Buy Street Cop here: https://isolarii.com/ Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett reads selections from his diary from March 2020 to March 2021. Read more Alan Bennett in the LRB here: lrb.me/alanbennettpod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Shatz talks to Tareq Baconi and Henriette Chacar about the crisis in Israel-Palestine, the significance of the ceasefire, the context of the war, the politics inside Israel and the Gaza Strip, and the response in Washington. Read Tareq Baconi on the LRB blog: https://lrb.me/afterceasefirepod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Hall talks to Thomas Jones about Ancient Greek horoscopy, the Ptolemaic model, the mysteries of the Antikythera mechanism, and why astrology was the first data science. Find Claire's LRB pieces and more here: https://lrb.me/perfectcirclespod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosa Lyster talks to Thomas Jones about the global water crisis, from the severe droughts in her home city of Cape Town, to the sinking of Mexico City and the damming of the Nile, and the need for all countries to prepare for future shortages. Find Rosa Lyster's pieces (and listen ad free to this podcast) on our website here: https://lrb.me/waterpod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Geoghegan talks to Thomas Jones about the Greensill lobbying scandal, the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s flat, the unhealthy relationship between successive British governments and the private sector, and what it might all mean for the future of the Union. Find Peter's pieces others in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/onebigpaydaypod Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jesse McCarthy talks to Adam Shatz about his studies of Black diasporic culture, from Juan de Pareja to Audre Lorde, and his critique of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s case for reparations. Find related pieces in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/blindspotspod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irina Dumitrescu talks to Thomas Jones about female authorship in early medieval England, and how the power and freedom that (some) women had in the eighth century challenges the idea of linear social progress. Find more by Irina Dumitrescu in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/dumitrescupod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about his experience of being on a cargo ship blocked from entering the Suez Canal in 1967, his subsequent journey round the Cape of Good Hope, and the modern-day business of containers. Read John's piece and more in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/longwayroundpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diane Williams talks to Thomas Jones about her short stories, and reads her latest two published in the LRB. Find more stories by Diane Williams in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/williamspod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gill Partington and Thomas Jones explore Kenneth Goldsmith’s online avant-garde archive, UbuWeb, listen to some of the things you can find on it, and consider what might not be found there. Find Gill's piece and more relevant LRB pieces here: https://lrb.me/ubuwebpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mouin Rabbani and Nathan Thrall talk to Adam Shatz about Israel’s vaccination programme, the system of apartheid that now effectively exists between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, the legacy of Trump’s policies, and how the Biden administration may or may not exert its influence. Read Mouin Rabbani in the LRB: https://lrb.me/rabbanipod Read Nathan Thrall in the LRB: https://lrb.me/thrallpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this extra episode, Jorie Graham reads her poem ‘To 2040’, published in the latest issue of the LRB. You can listen to Jorie Graham reading twelve more of her poems from the LRB on our website here: https://lrb.me/graham Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Terry Castle talks to Thomas Jones about Patricia Highsmith. Find Castle's piece on Highsmith, and pieces by Highsmith, in the LRB here: lrb.me/highsmithpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catherine Moore, a consultant clinical virologist at Public Health Wales, and Rupert Beale, a clinician scientist group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, talk to Thomas Jones about the vaccine rollout for Sars-CoV-2, the new variant originally found in Brazil, and whether the virus might ever be eliminated. Find Rupert Beale's latest piece and others here: lrb.me/bealemoorepod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary-Kay Wilmers, who retired as editor of the LRB last month, talks to Andrew O’Hagan about her career, first at Faber and Faber, then the Listener, then for 42 years at the London Review of Books. She talks about working with T.S. Eliot, the importance of being teased, and how a joke by Alan Bennett changed her life. The episode also contains extracts from Wilmers’s 1988 diary for the LRB, ‘Putting in the Commas’, and O’Hagan’s piece about Wilmers in the latest issue of the paper. Read and listen to them in full here: Mary-Kay Wilmers: Putting in the Commas Andrew O'Hagan: Miss Skippit Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Raphaëlle Branche talks to Adam Shatz about her new book, Papa, qu’as-tu fait en Algérie? (Daddy, What Did You Do in Algeria?). In it, Branche investigates the experiences of French conscripts in the Algerian war, what they saw and did, and, more important, how they did and didn’t talk about it afterwards. Shatz reviews Branche's book in the latest issue of the LRB. Find it and other related pieces here: https://lrb.me/branchepodcast Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forrest Hylton talks to Thomas Jones about what’s happening in Brazil: the oxygen shortage in Manaus, Bolsonaro’s disastrous response to the pandemic, why Trump’s departure won’t hurt him, and the prospects for the left in next year’s general election. Find pieces by Forrest Hylton and others on Brazil in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/viewfromsalvadorpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Erin Maglaque talks to Thomas Jones about abortion in 16th-century Italy, the stories of women who experienced it, how it was investigated, and why attitudes to pregnancy 400 years ago were in some ways preferable to those now. Find more LRB pieces by Erin Maglaque here: lrb.me/erinmaglaquepod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O‘Hagan reads his review of Sea State by Tabitha Lasley, a portrait of the oil rig industry, those who work in it, and a journalist‘s intensely close relationship with her subject. Read the review here: https://lrb.me/seastatepod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colin Burrow talks to Thomas Jones about the work of Ursula Le Guin. They discuss the way she brought anthropology into speculative fiction, her explorations of power and moral responsibility in the Earthsea books, and what it was like for Burrow growing up with another writer of fantasy and speculative fiction: his mother, Diana Wynne Jones. Find Burrow's piece on Le Guin and more here: https://lrb.me/ursulaleguinpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hazel Carby talks to Adam Shatz about the increasing nationalisation of racial histories, and the way African-American studies in the United States have been influenced by ideas of American exceptionalism. She argues instead for a broader, global view of race and African culture. Carby explores these ideas in her review of Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents: https://lrb.me/hazelcarbypod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Wood talks to Thomas Jones about Beethoven, drawing on his review of three recent books on the composer. They discuss some of the apparently immovable Beethoven mythologies – the keyboard pedagogy, the heroic glower, the many appropriations of the 9th Symphony – and the blend of Viennese tradition and radical invention which characterises his music, particularly the piano sonatas, from the ethereal melodic sweetness of The Tempest to the terrifying, thumping trills of the Hammerklavier. Read James Wood's piece here: https://lrb.me/beethovenpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Pieces and recordings featured in this episode: 5th Symphony: Berlin Philharmonic / Furtwängler (1954) 3rd Symphony: Berlin Philharmonic / Furtwängler (1952) Piano Sonata No. 29 (‘Hammerklavier’): Barenboim (1984) Piano Sonata No. 29 (‘Hammerklavier’): Solomon (1952) Piano Sonata No. 17 (‘The Tempest’): Gould (1960) 9th Symphony: Beyreuth Festival Orchestra / Furtwängler (1951) Piano Sonata No. 7: Horowitz (1959) Piano Sonata No. 26 (‘Les Adieux’): Kempff (1951) Piano Sonata No. 31: Hess (1953) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester reads his review of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes. Read the piece here: lrb.me/neanderthalspod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diane Williams reads nine of her (very) short stories published in the LRB, the most recent, ‘Tassel Rue’, from our Christmas issue. Find these stories and more, as well as a conversation between Williams and Lara Pawson from the London Review Bookshop, on our website: https://lrb.me/dianewilliamspod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thomas Jones reads his homage to Maradona, with help from some 1980s commentators. Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/maradonapod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rupert Beale talks to Thomas Jones about the new Sars-CoV-2 vaccines, how the mRNA technology works, why social distancing still matters, and why he’s worried about Christmas. (The conversation was recorded before the publication of the AstraZeneca/Oxford trial data.) Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ange Mlinko talks to Joanne O’Leary about the work of Denise Riley, following the publication last year of Riley’s Selected Poems: 1976-2016 and her essay Time Lived, without Its Flow. They look in particular at Riley’s celebrated poem ‘A Part Song’, a long elegy for her adult son, Jacob, who died from undiagnosed cardiomyopathy in 2008. ‘A Part Song’ was published first in the LRB in 2012 and won the Forward Prize for best poem in that year, and this discussion features extracts of Riley reading from the poem. Click here for more by Ange Mlinko and Denise Riley This episode of the LRB Podcast is supported by The Week magazine. To try your first 6 issues of The Week for free, visit theweek.co.uk/offer and enter offer code LONDON Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pooja Bhatia talks to Thomas Jones about the Haitian revolution of 1791, the world-historical debut of the movement for Black liberation. They discuss the early insurrections, the leadership of Toussaint Louverture and his complicated legacy, the post-revolutionary land reforms and their traces in modern Haiti’s mango industry, and how Bhatia managed to get an interview with former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide after his return from exile. Find more by Pooja Bhatia on Haiti in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/haitirevolutionpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Randall Kennedy and Mike Davis talk to Adam Shatz about the results of the US elections. They consider the achievement of Stacey Abrams in Georgia, why the pandemic didn’t make much difference, how Democrats failed to understand changing Latino demographics, the role of progressives in Biden’s victory, and the intransigent, exurban core of the Republican base. Find more on the US elections in the LRB on the episode page for this podcast: https://lrb.me/kennedydavispod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patricia Lockwood talks to Joanne O’Leary about being possessed by Vladimir Nabokov, reading Lolita as a teenage girl, the diagnostic value of Bend Sinister, and her anxiety about writing after having Covid-19. Read Patricia Lockwood on Nabokov and more in the LRB: https://lrb.me/lockwoodnabokovpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Shatz talks to Mike Davis about some of the underlying and long-term political shifts at play in next week’s US elections. They discuss both traditional and emerging swing voters, the obstacles to majority rule, the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett as the latest move in an ongoing civil war within the Catholic Church in the United States, the critical failure of the left to challenge the philosophy of the Reagan revolution, the death cult at the core of today’s Republican base, the importance of Bernie Sanders’s presidential run and the Black Lives Matter movement, and why, fifteen years ago, Davis predicted an age of pandemics. Find LRB pieces related to this episode here: https://lrb.me/mikedavispod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Abramovich talks to Thomas Jones about the history of country from Jimmie Rodgers to Lil Nas X, by way of Dolly Parton (and Eddie Van Halen), and the problems with the labels that get applied to American vernacular music. Find Alex Abramovich's piece on Ken Burns' series here: https://lrb.me/countrymusicpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the publication of the latest LRB Collection of essays, about sport, David Runciman, on loan from Talking Politics, talks to Ben Markovits about Michael Jordan, home advantage, how basketball has tackled racial inequality, the difference between writing about sport in fiction and non-fiction, and why it turns out that players really are sometimes hot and sometimes not. Pre-order the LRB's collection of sports writing here: https://lrb.me/sport Find the pieces mentioned in this episode here: https://lrb.me/sportpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Wilson talks to Thomas Jones about three new translations of the Oresteia. They discuss what the texts of the tragedies may tell us about the state of democracy in fifth-century Athens, the difficulties of Aeschylus’ language, why Hamilton may be the best modern analogue to Ancient Greek drama, and how Wilson came to do her own translation of the Odyssey. Find Emily Wilson's piece on Aeschylus and more here: https://lrb.me/emilywilsonpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jenny Turner talks to Joanna Biggs about the history of the Women’s Liberation Movement, the loneliness of feminist work, and the seemingly unavoidable question: How do you think your life compares to your mother’s? Find Jenny Turner’s piece and other related pieces on the episode page for this podcast: https://lrb.me/jennyturnerpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deborah Friedell talks to Thomas Jones about the origins, and origin myths, of the National Rifle Association, how it spends its money, and why it's wary of winning. Read Deborah Friedell on the NRA here: https://lrb.me/friedellnrapod And you can find her other pieces for the LRB here: https://lrb.me/friedellpod Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.