logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2023
46m 22s

Mary Renault's Worldbuilding

THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS
About this episode
Miranda Carter joins Tom to talk about the life and historical fiction of Mary Renault, whose popular and ingenious retellings of stories from Ancient Greece have never been out of print. They discuss her eventful life, which took her from Edwardian East London to apartheid South Africa, and her meticulous classical reconstructions. Find further reading on t ... Show More
Up next
Oct 14
Who were the English?
For decades after the Roman legions left Britain in the early fifth century, people expected them sooner or later to return. ‘During this bizarre interregnum,’ Pablo Scheffer wrote recently in the LRB, ‘a veneer of romanitas was everywhere.’ But unlike in other parts of the forme ... Show More
33m 10s
Oct 8
On Politics: What is political writing?
In What is literature? (1948) Jean-Paul Sartre argued that writers and artists have a responsibility to engage with political and social realities. But is it still possible for writers to have political agency in a culture that instantly commodifies ideas? Lea Ypi, a professor of ... Show More
57 m
Oct 6
Fascism in a time of AI
Since Trump first took office in 2016 there has been a debate on the left as to whether he and other authoritarian right-wing leaders, such as Viktor Orbán and Narendra Modi, should be described as fascist. Some have dismissed the label as rhetorical excess, while others have cho ... Show More
54m 26s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
Power Play
This week, we drop in on a conversation between Mary Beard and two former TLS editors; and Anne Enright joins us to talk about turning poet in her new novel.'Emperor of Rome: Ruling the ancient Roman world', by Mary Beard'Big Caesars and little Caesars: How they rise and how they ... Show More
1h 5m
Oct 2025
Escape Artists
This week, Margaret Drabble enjoys an enthralling biography of an adventure writer and his entourage; and Thea Lenarduzzi on the gothic mystery at the heart of her new book.'Storyteller: The life of Robert Louis Stevenson', by Leo Damrosch'The Tower', by Thea LenarduzziProduced b ... Show More
50m 28s
Aug 2018
Interview: Mary Robinette Kowal on the 'Lady Astronaut' Duology
Mary Robinette Kowal’s work has inspired several episodes of the podcast. She has just written a pair of books that are called the Lady Astronaut duology, and Tracy got the chance to speak with Mary about her work and its historical settings.   Learn more about your ad-choices at ... Show More
45m 56s
Jul 2024
CZM Book Club: "The Three Trials of the Wind," by Shiv Ramdas, Part 1 of 2
Margaret reads you a reimagining of Hindu mythology by a masterful speculative fiction author.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
30m 37s
Apr 2022
SMNTY Classics: Mary Seacole
Time for another Female Firsts! Yves joins us to share the story of Mary Seacole, author of what is considered the first autobiography by a Black woman in Britain in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
51m 59s
Sep 2022
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
This week, Thea Lenarduzzi joins us to explain how she captured the stories of her Italian grandmother; and Edmund Gordon admires how Ian McEwan’s new novel juxtaposes an individual life with memorable social and political events.‘Dandelions’ by Thea Lenarduzzi‘Lessons’ by Ian Mc ... Show More
58m 47s
Jan 2017
Bad sex, 'the Malala effect', layers of place
With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Eimear McBride on the dark side of bad sex writing and why a new anthology is nothing to be snickered at; Diana Darke on the stories of two young women who have fled war in the Middle East and the new pressures they face; and Jenny Hendrix jo ... Show More
45m 43s
May 2023
Conversations: Jason as Colonizer, Rewriting Medea w/ Savage Beasts Author Rani Selvarajah
Liv is joined by Rani Selvarajah to talk about her Medea retelling set in colonial India ( and gods, so much more!). Follow Rani on Twitter and Instagram. Order Savage Beasts in the UK (and Commonwealth aside from Canada) wherever you get your books, or from Blackwell's who ship ... Show More
1h 25m
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami