logo
episode-header-image
May 2019
1h 15m

Sally Rooney and Kishani Widyaratna: Nor...

LONDON REVIEW BOOKSHOP
About this episode
Sally Rooney breathes new life into fiction. Her novels deal with ordinary life in all its unexpected ways. The Guardian said of Rooney’s debut novel, Conversations with Friends: ‘It’s rare that a novel elicits such ferocious and unmitigated awe from just about everyone you know, whether male, female, or millennial’. Rooney’s second novel, Normal People (published by Faber & Faber last September), was called ‘superb . . . a tremendous read, full of insight and sweetness’ by Anne Enright. Olivia Laing has stated that ‘Rooney is the best young novelist – indeed one of the best novelists – I’ve read in years.’ On the occasion of the paperback publication of Normal People, Rooney was in conversation with Kishani Widyaratna, editor at Picador Books and contributing editor at The White Review.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Up next
Oct 8
Sophie Lewis & Lola Olufemi: Enemy Feminisms
In Enemy Feminisms (Haymarket Books), described by Judith Butler as ‘honest, brutal, historically comprehensive, and brilliant’, Sophie Lewis provides a field guide to the reactionary stereotypes that have affected and distorted feminisms past and present, and propounds a paradig ... Show More
1h 7m
Oct 1
Jacqueline Rose & Yasmin El-Rifae: Women in Dark Times
Women in Dark Times (Fitzcarraldo) begins with three remarkable women: revolutionary socialist Rosa Luxemburg; German-Jewish painter Charlotte Salomon; and film icon Marilyn Monroe. The story of these women blazes a trail across some of the defining features of the twentieth cent ... Show More
1h 8m
Sep 24
T.J. Clark & Caroline Arscott: Those Passions - On Art & Politics
Art historian T.J. Clark began his academic career with two groundbreaking works on the art of mid-nineteenth century France, expounding materialist theory of art that has remained his watchword for five decades, with books on Poussin, Cézanne, Picasso and modernism. Those Passio ... Show More
1h 10m
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2024
How Sally Rooney became the voice of a generation
Normal People and Conversations with Friends author Sally Rooney is a publishing sensation and became a huge star whilst still in her twenties. Her new book Intermezzo, published today, follows two grieving brothers in complicated relationships. Will it cement Rooney’s reputation ... Show More
28m 56s
Nov 2024
Sally Rooney's "Intermezzo": Our Book Club Conversation
Sally Rooney is a writer people talk about. Since her first novel, “Conversations With Friends,” was published in 2017, Rooney has been hailed as a defining voice of the millennial generation because of her ability to capture the particular angst and confusion of young love, frie ... Show More
38m 55s
Sep 2024
Culture chat: ‘Intermezzo’ and the Sally Rooney phenomenon
Today, we discuss the author Sally Rooney. Her new novel Intermezzo was published this week – causing queues outside bookstores, launch parties everywhere and a flurry of praise from critics. Does Intermezzo live up to the hype? Why has Rooney become the voice of the millennial g ... Show More
28m 52s
Oct 2024
Merve Erme on Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf
I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the writer, critic, and author, Merve Emre. Currently the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University – and the Director of the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism – ... Show More
49m 21s
Dec 2024
Book Club: "Small Things Like These," by Claire Keegan
Clare Keegan's slim 2021 novella about one Irishman's crisis of conscience during the Christmas season, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, has also been adapted into a film starring Cillian Murphy. In this week’s episode, MJ Franklin discusses the book with his colleague ... Show More
51m 41s
Jun 2023
S6 Ep12: Bookshelfie: Alex Scott
Alex Scott MBE joins Vick at The Women’s Prize Live Festival  to talk about her journey to self-acceptance, dealing with online trolls and THAT World Cup moment in Qatar. Alex is a former professional footballer, presenter, and broadcaster. The former Arsenal Captain and England ... Show More
46m 20s
Jun 2025
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Mrs. Dalloway" at 100
“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself”: So reads one of the great opening lines in British literature, the first sentence of Virginia Woolf’s classic 1925 novel, “Mrs. Dalloway.”The book tracks one day in the life of an English woman, Clarissa Dalloway, living in ... Show More
42m 38s
Sep 2024
Megan Rooney
We meet artist Megan Rooney to explore her solo exhibition at Kettles Yard, Cambridge. Titled 'Echoes & Hours', this is the first major solo exhibition in the UK of work by Megan Rooney (b. 1985, South Africa). Her paintings have an irresistible life and energy, renewing the pote ... Show More
1h 29m
Dec 2024
Our Book Critics On Their Year in Reading
Dwight Garner, Jennifer Szalai and Alexandra Jacobs — staff critics for The New York Times Book Review — join host Gilbert Cruz to look back on highlights from their year in books.Books discussed:"Intermezzo," by Sally Rooney"All Fours," by Miranda July"You Dreamed of Empires," b ... Show More
31m 39s