logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2025
38m 5s

On Mavis Gallant

THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS
About this episode

Mavis Gallant is best known for her short stories, 116 of which were first published in the New Yorker. Extraordinarily varied and prolific, she arranged her life around the solitary pleasure of writing while battling extreme self-doubt. Tessa Hadley joins Joanne O’Leary to discuss her recent review of 44 previously uncollected Gallant stories and her own forthcoming selection for Pushkin Press. They explore what makes Gallant a ‘writer’s writer’, where her reporting and fiction intersect, and why her novels fail where her short stories succeed.


Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/gallantpod


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Aug 20
Close Readings: 'Our Mutual Friend' by Charles Dickens
'Our Mutual Friend' was Dickens’s last completed novel, published in serial form in 1864-65. The story begins with a body being dredged from the ooze and slime of the Thames, then opens out to follow a wide array of characters through the dust heaps, paper mills, public houses an ... Show More
35m 43s
Aug 13
The Psychology of Tennis
As well as raw talent and incredible athleticism, professional tennis ‘requires extraordinary psychological capacities’, Edmund Gordon wrote recently in the LRB: ‘obsessive focus, epic self-belief’. Edmund – whose son is a rising star on the London under-nine circuit – joins Tom ... Show More
46m 12s
Aug 6
Why you should care about golf
With the world's most famous amateur golfer now in charge of the 'free world', the sport has never been more important in the lives of non-golfers. When Donald Trump was spotted cheating recently on a course in Scotland, it was recognised by enthusiasts and sportswriters as a maj ... Show More
55m 56s
Recommended Episodes
May 2022
Anna Quindlen: You're Never Alone When You Read Great Novels
In this episode of Just the Right Book with Roxanne Coady, Anna Quindlen joins Roxanne Coady to discuss her latest book, Write For Your Life, out now from Random House. Anna Quindlen is a novelist and journalist whose work has appeared on fiction, nonfiction, and self-help bests ... Show More
59m 12s
Sep 2022
Amy Fusselman
Jordan talks to Amy Fusselman about writers who perform, getting out of your own head, and the agonies and ecstasies of comedy. It's a laugh-out-loud kind of episode.MENTIONED:McSweeney's Internet Concern"Hawk" by Joy WilliamsSecond PositionAmy Fusselman is the author of five boo ... Show More
36m 18s
May 16
One Golden Summer With Carley Fortune
This week on Barely Famous, Kail sits down with New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune, the mind behind viral romance hits Every Summer After, Meet Me at the Lake, and the brand-new release One Golden Summer. Carley opens up about her writing process, the real-life insp ... Show More
54m 39s
Jun 2012
Jeanette Winterson - Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is Jeanette Winterson's searing yet ultimately uplifting coming-out, coming-of-age tale, in which a young girl learns to rebel against her fanatical, cult-like upbringing, and set out on her own path in life. To mark thirty years since its publicati ... Show More
53m 30s
Jul 2024
Wattpad (ft. Princess Weekes)
Wattpad: a literary oasis of the Web 2.0, or a cash cow monopolizing on the infernal musings of a thousand Club Chalamets? In this episode, Hannah and Maia are joined by Youtube superstar Princess Weekes, to ponder the eponymous literary platform; from its gaming origins, to its ... Show More
1h 15m
Dec 2024
Sheila Heti on Jenny Holzer, Berthe Morisot, Margaux Williamson, and more
Welcome to the FINALE of Season 12! I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the acclaimed writer, Sheila Heti. Born in 1976 in Toronto, where she lives today, Heti is the author of eleven books, from novels to novellas, short stories and children’s books. Most ... Show More
33m 37s
Oct 2023
Alexandra Pringle
Georgina Godwin interviews former editor in chief of Bloomsbury Publishing, Alexandra Pringle, who held the post for twenty years. Her list of authors includes William Boyd, Margaret Atwood, Richard Ford, Khaled Hosseini and Kamila Shamsie. She joined Virago Press in 1978 and hel ... Show More
26m 17s
Feb 2025
How Romantasy Seduces Its Readers
A few years back, novels classed as “romantasy”—a portmanteau of “romance” and “fantasy”—might have seemed destined to attract only niche appeal. But since the pandemic, the genre has proved nothing short of a phenomenon. Sarah J. Maas’s “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series regul ... Show More
49m 37s
Feb 2025
Anne Burzynski : “Jeanne Benameur change la vie”
On parle souvent de Jeanne Benameur pour la singularité de son style : une prose poétique, des mots choisis avec minutie, une écriture à la fois sobre et puissante. Son travail littéraire, marqué par une profonde humanité, résonne avec une intensité rare. Anne Burzynski, libraire ... Show More
19m 23s
Dec 2024
Women in love with romance
Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two writers of romantic fiction about their passion for creating stories that end happily ever after.Kiru Taye wanted to read stories about Africans falling in love. When she couldn’t find those books, she decided to write the stories herself. The b ... Show More
26m 28s