Ernest Hemingway was a radical Nobel prize winning writer who lived at the centre of Paris’ glamorous Lost Generation. But, he's troubled by mental illness, and his image as the über macho male may be ruining his legacy. Is he an extraordinary writer being lost in the clichés? It’s time for us to look delve deeper into his life. And luckily Hemingway expert, ... Show More
Jun 2023
China's Under Martial Law
It’s the penultimate episode, and Billy’s taken us back to China to talk about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and the massacre that followed. In classic To this day, discussion of the events are strictly censored in China but in this episode we’ll explore it all. What happen ... Show More
1h 1m
Mar 2022
The Writing Life of Ernest Hemingway
How did one of history's greatest writers — Ernest Hemingway — get going with his craft, develop his indelible style, and infuse his narratives with memorable life and compelling tension?Today we delve into the answers to those questions with Hemingway scholar Mark Cirino, who is ... Show More
50m 10s
Aug 2017
Brando, Robert Frost and the Other Men in Patricia Bosworth's Life
Mark Twain once likened biographies to “the clothes and buttons of the man” saying “the biography of the man himself, cannot be written.” The quote is a favorite of Patricia Bosworth, a 1950s model-actor turned biographer known for capturing the lives of Diane Arbus, Montgomery C ... Show More
38m 36s
Feb 2022
380 Ian Fleming | PLUS The Black James Bond
Ian Fleming (1908-1964) always wanted to be a writer. Not an "author," as he put it, and not someone in the "Shakespeare stakes," but someone who wrote for money and pleasure. In developing his enduring character James Bond, he managed to accomplish both. In this episode, Jacke t ... Show More
51m 52s
Jul 2023
530 Martin Amis RIP (with Mike Palindrome)
Jacke and Mike discuss the life and works of novelist Martin Amis (1949-2023), who recently died of esophageal cancer. The son of writer Kingsley Amis, Martin forged his own path, writing fifteen novels and several other works of essays and memoirs, with a devotion to style that ... Show More
1h 11m
Dec 2023
It’ll Take Some Time | The Stoic Art Of Not Caring What People Think
In 1922, while an unpublished, struggling writer named Ernest Hemingway was covering events in Switzerland, his wife Hadley came from Paris to see him. Assuming he would want them, she packed up the writings Hemingway had accumulated in their apartment–manuscripts, short stories, ... Show More
17m 10s
Oct 2023
557 Somerset Maugham (with Tan Twan Eng)
The English novelist, playwright, and short story writer Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) lived a life as eventful as his prodigious literary output. In this episode, Jacke takes a look at Maugham's travels and travails, following Maugham across numerous continents as he sought mater ... Show More
54m 47s