For this first episode of 2024 we are joined by the chair of Virago Press, Lennie Goodings to discuss a novel by her fellow Canadian, Margaret Laurence. First published in 1964, The Stone Angel is a landmark in modern Canadian fiction. The narrator is the unforgettable Hagar Shipley, a spiky, sharp-tongued, proud and profane ninety-year-old who is trying to ... Show More
Sep 1
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan (1971), the second Earthsea novel, is the subject of this episode. Joining Una and Andy is writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce, current Children’s Laureate. We look at how Le Guin shifts her story from the adventures of Ged in A Wizard of Earthsea t ... Show More
1h 11m
Mar 2025
Douglas Stuart on Shuggie Bain, Storytelling, and the Human Condition (Part Two)
This event is part of Conversations at the Kiln, a new event series at Kiln Theatre programmed by Intelligence Squared. For more events with speakers from the worlds of literature, art, poetry and politics, click here.
Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain a ... Show More
37m 8s
Jul 25
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Catch,' by Yrsa Daley-Ward
In this month’s installment of the Book Review Book Club, we’re discussing “The Catch,” the debut novel by the poet and memoirist Yrsa Daley-Ward. The book is a psychological thriller that follows semi-estranged twin sisters, Clara and Dempsey, who were babies when their mother w ... Show More
52m 25s
Sep 16
A New Chapter Begins | "Strangers" (401) with special guest Blake Stadnik
We made it to Season 4! On today’s episode of That Was Us, we’re talking all about Season 4, Episode 1: Strangers. This episode weaves together the stories of three new characters: Cassidy, a soldier returning home from Afghanistan; Malik, a teenage father finding his way; and Ja ... Show More
1h 24m
Jan 2025
Book Club: Let’s Talk About Alan Hollinghurst’s ‘Our Evenings’
The novel “Our Evenings,” by Alan Hollinghurst, follows a gay English Burmese actor from childhood into old age as he confronts confusing relationships, his emerging sexuality, racism and England’s changing political climate in the late 20th and early 21st century. It’s the story ... Show More
47m 52s
Feb 2025
Chris O’Dowd, sticky pulled pork and a pickled salad and a whisky
Nick and Angela welcome another Irish guest to Dish HQ. Chris O'Dowd is an award-winning actor, writer and director. He was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, and studied politics at University College Dublin, later enrolling at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Chris p ... Show More
36m 16s
Sep 30
Ballads of Love and Death
In this enchanting episode, Dr. Eleanor Janega dissolves the boundaries between history, folklore, and music to explore the haunting world of medieval ballads. Joined by author Amy Jeffs, illustrator Gwen Burns and composer/singer Natalie Brice, Eleanor uncovers the timeless stor ... Show More
1h 1m
Sep 2024
"Retronyms" w/ Stephen J. Dubner [Best-Of Episode]
The Puzzler team is taking a short summer break, and in the meantime we're bringing you some of our favorite episodes from the archives. We'll be back with brand new episodes soon! Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: author, journalist, and podcaster Stephen J. Dubner of Fre ... Show More
11m 15s