The Libreria Podcast

In this episode we are listening to writer and translator Kate Briggs and poet, writer and scholar Holly Pester discuss Hélène Bessette’s Lili Is Crying, which has been translated by Kate and published in the UK by Fitzcarraldo Editions.Hélène Bessette (1918–2000) published thirteen novels with Gallimard between 1953 and 1973, won the Cazes prize in 1954 and was twice in the running for the Goncourt prize and the Médicis prize.Kate Briggs grew up in Somerset, UK, and lives and works in Rotterdam, NL, where she founded and co-runs the writing and publishing project ‘Short Pieces That Move’. She is the  translator of two volumes of Roland Barthes’s lecture and seminar notes at the Collège de France: The Preparation of the Novel and How to Live Together, both published by Columbia University Press. This Little Art, her genre-bending essay on the art of translation, was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2017. In 2021, she was awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize. Her debut novel, The Long Form, was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2023 and shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize the same year.Libreria wishes to thank Fitzcarraldo Editions who helped create this event at Libreria.Books mentioned in the episode:Lily Is Crying by Hélène Bessette, published by Fitzcarraldo EditionsThis Little Art by Kate Briggs, published by Fitzcarraldo EditionsFair: The Life-Art of Translation by Jen Calleja, published by Prototype

In this episode we are listening to acclaimed writers Adam Weymouth and Jay Griffiths  discuss their new books, Lone Wolf and How Animals Heal Us. which was recorded live in the bookshop. From Adam Weymouth, the winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, comes Lone Wolf, an epic walk across the Alps in the footsteps of a wolf, throwing unique light on Europe's mountainous hinterlands at a moment of political and environmental change.In 2011, a young wolf named Slavc set out from Slovenia. Tracked by GPS, he travelled a thousand miles through the Alps, arriving four months later on the Lessinian plateau, north of Verona. There had been no wolves in northern Italy for a century, but here he crossed paths with a female wolf on a walkabout of her own. A decade later and there are more than a hundred wolves back in the area, the result of their remarkable meeting.  In Lone Wolf, Weymouth walks Slavc's path, examining the changes facing these wild corners of Europe. Here, the call to rewild meets the urge to preserve culture; nationalism and globalisation pull apart; climate change is radically changing lives; and migrants, too, are on the move. The result is a multifaceted account of a region caught in amoment of kaleidoscopic flux, from an award-winning writer with a uniquely perceptive eye for detail.From celebrated author Jay Griffiths comes a unique and heartfelt insight into the healing nature of our relationship with animals. Pet-owners and animal-lovers instinctively know that animals heal. This book offers evidence, drawing widely on scientific discoveries, history, and Indigenous knowledge.In this original, revelatory and exuberant book, Jay Griffiths draws widely on scientific discoveries, history, and Indigenous knowledge to explore how animals can have a role in every level of healing, from the individual to the collective, guiding us in how we might create societies that are healthier, fairer and kinder. Wolves may be teachers of ethics; monkeys and dogs can object to unfairness and bees take collective decisions. Animals are irresistible medicine for a healthy culture, animating the arts with spectacular vitality and verve, as poetry knows.Libreria wishes to thank Hutchinson Heinemann and Hamish Hamilton of Penguin Books who helped bring this event together at Libreria.

In this episode we are listening to critically acclaimed writer Yoko Tawada and interdisciplinary artist Tice Cin discuss Yoko’s novel Spontaneous Acts. which was recorded live in the bookshop. In Spontaneous Acts, Patrik is a literary researcher living in Berlin, a city just coming back to life after lockdown. Though his beloved opera houses are open again, Patrik cannot leave the house and hardly manages to get out of bed.He is supposed to give a paper at a conference in Paris, on the poetry collection Threadsuns by Paul Celan, but he can’t get past the first question on the registration form: ‘What is your nationality?’ As Patrik attempts to find a connection in a world that constantly overwhelms him, he meets a mysterious stranger. The man’s name is Leo-Eric Fu, and somehow he already knows Patrik.Yoko Tawada’s mesmerising novel unfolds like a lucid dream in which the solace of friendship, reading, conversation, music – of seeing and being seen – is examined and celebrated. Spontaneous Acts reaches out to all of us who find meaning and even obsession in the words of those before us.Libreria wishes to thank Dialogue Books and the Japan Foundation, who kindly supported Yoko’s visit to the UK in 2024.

In this episode we are listening to Rumaan Alam and Lloyd Sowerbutts discuss Rumaan’s recent novel Entitlement, which was recorded in October 2024, at Bloomsbury Publishing’s Headquarters in Central London.The discussion touches on money, the role of the state, the value attributed to commodities, canonical authors, and being outwitted by the intentions of a novel.Rumaan Alam is the author of four novels: Leave the World Behind, That Kind of Mother, Rich and Pretty, and Entitlement. He also hosts two podcasts for Slate.  Leave the World Behind was acclaimed by book critics and nominated for the 2020 National Book Award. It was later adapted as a 2023 film for Netflix with the same name.Libreria wishes to thank Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to host this discussion.

In this episode we welcome Aamna Mohdin to discuss her memoir, Scattered: The Making and Unmaking of a Refugee.Aamna is the Guardian’s first community affairs correspondent, reporting on the social, political and economic experiences of the UK’s diverse communities, with a focus on Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. Aamna spent her early years in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, Saudi Arabia, Germany and the Netherlands, before arriving in the UK aged seven.Aamna is the winner of the British Journalism Award 2022 and her journalism has been shortlisted for the British Press Awards.Libreria wishes to thank Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to host this interview for The Libreria Podcast.

In this episode we are listening to South London writer and storyteller Aniefiok Ekpoudom and bestselling writer, photographer and filmmaker Caleb Azumah Nelson, as they discuss ⁠the music and modern social history detailed in Neef's outstanding book; Where We Come From: Rap, Home & Hope in Modern Britain, published by Faber in 2024.Libreria wishes to thank Aniefiok, Caleb and Faber for the opportunity to host this live discussion at the bookshop, in April 2024.

In this episode we are listening to renowned poet, activist and icon Nikki Giovanni, who visited Libreria for an intimate night of readings and discussion with a small audience. In this first of two episodes, we are listening to the live readings of: Ego Tripping (from Re: Creation, 1970), Still Life with Apron (from Chasing Utopia, 2013) & Vegetable Soup (from Make Me Rain, 2020).We will follow this with the full recording of the special night Libreria was honoured to host, which was a celebration of a major new career-spanning selection of Nikki Giovanni’s poetry from 1968 to 2020, published by Penguin Classics. This is a comprehensive selection of her most important poetic works across 50 years and 15 collections, carefully curated by her long-term partner, writer and professor Virginia Fowler.Libreria wishes to thank Nikki Giovanni and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to host this evening of intimate conversation and readings at the bookshop.

In this episode we are listening to renowned poet, activist and icon Nikki Giovanni, who visited Libreria for an intimate night of readings and discussion with a small audience. In this second of two episodes, we are listening to Nikki share her thoughts and feelings about the world, her fascination with space travel, a love of jazz, food and Black women, and some laugh-out-loud anecdotes.This special night, which Libreria was honoured to host, was a celebration of a major new career-spanning selection of Nikki Giovanni’s poetry from 1968 to 2020, published by Penguin Classics. This is a comprehensive selection of her most important poetic works across 50 years and 15 collections, carefully curated by her long-term partner, writer and professor Virginia Fowler.Libreria wishes to thank Nikki Giovanni and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to host this evening of intimate conversation and readings at the bookshop.

In this episode we are listening to Ros Taylor discuss her book The Future of Trust, recently published by Melville House, as part of their FUTURES series.  We touch on the ideas of interpersonal and institutional trust, when events and public figures continue to undermine and erode them, but it’s not a doom-laden chat! Libreria wishes to thank Ros Taylor and Melville House for the opportunity to host this discussion.

In this episode we welcome Colum McCann, the National Book Award-winning author of Let the Great World Spin, and the Booker Prize-nominated Apeirogon, to discuss his first non-fiction book, American Mother. which tells the story of Diane Foley – mother of beheaded journalist James Foley – who has come face-to-face with her son’s killer and continues to campaign for the safety of journalists and revised government hostage policy.   Colum McCann’s seven novels and three collections of short stories have been published in over forty languages and received some of the world’s most prestigious literary awards and honours.Libreria wishes to thank Bloomsbury publishing and Colum McCann for the opportunity to record this conversation at Bloomsbury’s headquarters in London. 

In this episode we are listening to Benjamin Moser and Lauren Elkin discuss Ben’s recent publication The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters, which was recorded in October 2023, live in the bookshop. With the company of some of the finest artists known, Benjamin Moser discusses art, life, and death, with the passion of a knowledgeable guide who dismantles the hierarchical barrier that art can invoke in many of us. Benjamin Moser is a biographer and translator. His work Sontag: Her Life and Work won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. Lauren Elkin is the author of Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London, and Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art. Libreria wishes to thank Allen Lane and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to host this live discussion at the bookshop.

In this episode we are listening to Marie Darrieussecq and Brian Dillon discuss Marie’s recent publication Sleepless, which was recorded in October 2023, live in the bookshop.Plagued by insomnia for twenty years, Marie Darrieussecq recounts her own experiences alongside those of fellow insomniacs, mostly fellow writers like Ovid, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Marguerite Duras, Franz Kafka, and Georges Perec. With inimitable humour, which ranges between autobiography, clinical observation and criticism, Sleepless is a graceful, inventive meditation by one of the leading voices of contemporary French literatureLibreria wishes to thank the publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions for the opportunity to host this live discussion at the bookshop.

In this episode we are listening to Lars Iyer and Jon Day discuss Lars’ recent novel My Weil, which was recorded live in the bookshop in September 2023. My Weil is the third in a loose trilogy of novels, where significant continental thinkers are brought into contemporary academic scenarios that skewer academia, and the parochial ways of British life. Bordering on the unruly and brimming with satire – Lars’ novels are the work of a distinctive voice in British literature. Libreria wishes to thank publishers, Melville House for the opportunity to host this live discussion at Libreria bookshop.

In this episode Libreria welcomes Pulitzer Prize winner, MacArthur Fellow and esteemed sociologist, Matthew Desmond. Matthew is the author of Poverty, by America, and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Libreria wishes to thank Allen Lane publishers of the Penguin Random House group for the opportunity to host a live discussion with Matthew Desmond at Libreria bookshop.

In this episode the microphone is passed on to Libreria bookseller Buitumelo, who has invited debut author Santanu Bhattacharya, to chat about his recent novel One Small Voice, which was published by Fig Tree. Santanu Bhattacharya’s debut novel One Small Voice introduces us to the epic tale of a young man's life and journey through India, starting in the early 90s. We bear witness to Shubhankar’s life from a boy - who witnesses a hate crime that no one around him addresses or wants to acknowledge - to a man nicknamed, Shabby - who is faced with his own fragility and yearning for a freedom that sometimes feels unattainable. This intimate, delicately narrated novel will hold each reader by the hand and heart. Bhattacharya is rightly deserving of one the Observers Best Novels for 2023.

In this episode Libreria welcomes Turkish writer and political thinker Ece Temelkuran, whose recent publications Together: A Manifesto Against a Heartless World and How To Lose A Country: The 7 Steps From Democracy to Dictatorship focus on fascism, rising populism, and morals in the 21st century. In this discussion, Ece and Lloyd talk about witnessing political changes, her desire  to tell the global story of the rise in populism, and the choices we can make together to overcome these challenges.

In this episode Libreria welcomes John Grindrod, author of Concretopia and Outskirts. Together with Iconicon these books form a loose trilogy about how the British have planned, built, lived and worked over the last 80 years. During the conversation John mentions the following books and authors:The City and The City - China MiévilleCapital - John LanchesterCity of the Mind - Penelope Lively

In this episode Libreria welcomes established writer and poet JJ Bola ahead of the publication of his new novel, The Selfless Act of Breathing. In this wide-ranging and candid conversation, we jump off from JJ’s recent work to discuss masculinity, purpose, searching, discovery and failure.During the conversation, JJ cites the following books and authors:bell hooks - The Will to Changebell hooks - We Real CoolBessel van der Kolk - The Body Keeps the ScoreThomas E. Joiner Jr. - The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide 

In this episode Libreria welcomes writer, translator and lecturer Dennis Duncan. In his new book “Index, A History of the” Dennis enthuses about how the book index came to be, its uses and abuses - featuring the classic anecdote about Norman Mailer’s vanity - and the influence of the index on the internet and Google.

In this episode Libreria welcomes two legends in psychedelic research, the award-winning author Michael Pollan and the brilliant ethnopharmacologist Dennis McKenna, as we discuss how psychoactive plants impact our brain and culture.