John Lanchester on his novelistic portrayal of London on the brink of a financial crisis in "Capital" and intergenerational strife in his new book "Look What You Made Me Do"

John Lanchester on his novelistic portrayal of London on the brink of a financial crisis in "Capital" and intergenerational strife in his new book "Look What You Made Me Do"

From Always Take Notes by Always Take Notes

June 9, 2026 · 1h 7m

About this episode

Simon and Rachel interview novelist and journalist John Lanchester about his works, including 'Capital' and 'Look What You Made Me Do'.

Simon and Rachel speak with the novelist and journalist John Lanchester. John has written six works of fiction including "The Debt to Pleasure", "Capital" and "Fragrant Harbour" and four of non-fiction including "Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay". His books have won the Hawthornden Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award, the E. M. Forster Award and the Premi Llibreter, been longlisted for the Booker Prize and translated into 25 languages. The television mini-series adaptation of "Capital" won an International Emmy Award. He is a contributing editor to the London Review of Books and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. We spoke to John about his long relationship with the LRB, his state of London novel "Capital" and his new novel, "Look What You Made Me Do." In addition to the standard audio format, the podcast is now available in video. You can check us out on YouTube under Always Take Notes. We’ve also made (yet) another update for those ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We’ve added a further 70 pages of new material to the package of successful article pitches that goes to anyone who supports the show with $5…

People in this episode

Hosts: Simon, Rachel

Guest: John Lanchester

Topics covered

  • novelistic portrayal of London
  • financial crisis
  • intergenerational strife
  • John Lanchester
  • literature
  • podcast updates

Keywords

  • John Lanchester
  • Capital
  • Look What You Made Me Do
  • London
  • financial crisis
  • intergenerational strife
  • literature
  • podcast
  • Patreon

Sponsors

Scrivener

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: London Review of Books

Books & works: Capital, Look What You Made Me Do, The Debt to Pleasure, Fragrant Harbour, Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay

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