Inklings Book Club

Hello and welcome to a very special mini series here on the Inklings Book Club podcast where we’ll be meeting each of the six shortlisted authors for the Women’s Prize for Fiction! The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of the most successful, influential and popular literary prizes in the world, championing and amplifying women’s voices and nurturing a global community of readers. The Prize was established in 1996 to highlight and remedy the imbalance in coverage, respect and reverence given to women writers versus their male peers, creating a platform for exceptional writing by women to shine. The Prize is awarded annually to the author of the best full-length novel of the year written in English and published in the UK. The winner receives £30,000, anonymously endowed, and the ‘Bessie’, a bronze statuette created by the artist Grizel Niven. Today we’re meeting, Lily King, author of Euphoria, The English Teacher, Writers & Lovers, and Heart The Lover, among others. Heart the Lover is her sixth novel, both a prequel and a sequel to the wildly successful Writers & Lovers – she’s the patron saint of love triangles. Even Pythagorus didn’t explore triangles as much as Lily King. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to our special Inklings Book Club series spotlighting each of the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlisted authors. First up, we’re meeting Rozie Kelly, author of Kingfisher. This is her debut novel, about an academic married to a man who becomes infatuated with a female poet. Kelly finds beauty in the messiness of being human in this meditation on grief, power, desire, our search for identity, how we love and the consequences when we fall short. Rozie Kelly was shortlisted for the PFD Queer Fiction Prize 2023 and was one of the eight participants in the inaugural Prototype Development Programme 2024. Her debut novel Kingfisher won the NorthBound Book Award before being shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg James has been a presenter for BBC Radio 1 since 2007 where he now host the coveted breakfast show. He is also a children’s author, known for the Kid Normal series he writes with Chris Smith, and now his memoir is here. It’s called All The Best For The Future, and it’s a meditation on life and all its trimmings. My first ever job was at a plastic factory, and when I worked there I used to always listen to Radio 1 and my favourite radio DJ, Greg James. Listening to how he hosted his show made me want to be in this world, so today this is very full circle moment for me to be introducing Greg to the Inklings Book Club podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we’re joined by poet, lecturer, and literary critic Seán Hewitt. Seán is the author of three original poetry collections, a memoir, and several curations of other poets’ work, from wood engravings to tales of love from the ancient world. His debut novel, Open, Heaven, was published last year and I utterly adored it. A man returns to the small village in which he first fell in love, which summons up memories of the charismatic and impulsive Luke. There’s gorgeous nature writing, and plenty of yearning, but also that perfect literary alchemy that happens when a poet writes a novel. I interviewed Seán at Waterstones with a bunch of you wonderful people – so, here’s what happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Benjamin Wood is the author of five novels, the first of which – called The Bellwether Revivals, was shortlisted for the 2012 Costa Book Awards and Commonwealth Book Prize. His fifth novel, Seascraper, won the Nero Book Award for fiction and was longlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Walter Scott Prize. Seascraper is a portal to the seaside where we follow a young man called Thomas who works a pretty archaic job as a seascraper, which his family rely on him to do. He dreams, however, of becoming a folk singer, and longs to perform at his local pub. One day he comes home to find a man called Edgar waiting for him – Edgar is a Hollywood producer who wants to shoot a film on the beach, and asks for Thomas’ help and expertise. The book is atmospheric and moving, at times capturing the isolation and monotony of the work and his aspirations to be anywhere else, and at other times fast-paced and intense – reminding us of the extreme danger of such a job. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel Khong started out as the executive editor of Lucky Peach Magazine, before turning her eye to novel writing. Her debut, Goodbye, Vitamin, was released in 2017 and won the California Book Award for First Fiction. Her second novel, Real Americans, became an instant New York Times bestseller, following three generations of a family, spanning 80 years. It explores themes of Chinese-American identity, genetic engineering, inheritance, and the way that our heritage shapes our lives. Today we’ll mostly be discussing her new short story collection, My Dear You, which uses supernatural elements to explore human concerns around race, destiny, and mortality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we have a very special episode where we’ll be talking about Enid Blyton’s classic series of children’s books The Faraway Tree, co-hosted by Ruby Granger! Ruby will be chatting with Claire Foy, Nicola Coughlan, Phoenix Laroche, Billie Gadsdon, Delilah Bennett Cardy, Simon Farnaby, and Ben Gregor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andy Weir is the king of sci-fi. His first novel The Martian follows Mark Watney, an astronaut mistakenly presumed dead and abandoned on Mars by his crew during a dust storm. Stranded with limited supplies, he uses his botany and engineering skills to survive while NASA figures out how to rescue him. His next novel was Artemis, following a woman living in the first city on the Moon. Then came Project Hail Mary. We follow science teacher Ryland Grace as he wakes up on a spaceship with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory slowly returns, he discovers he is the last surviving person on a mission into space to understand a substance called astrophage. Astrophage is causing the sun to die out, and scientists have discovered a distant planet that might hold the key to destroying it. Ryland Grace has to use his scientific training to finish the mission alone, and meets an unlikely ally in space. It’s a story of friendship, communication, understanding, and resilience. It’s both laugh out loud funny and cry your eyes out heartbreaking, a modern sci-fi classic. Now it’s been turned into a film. In our last episode I met with star of the film Ryan Gosling and filmmakers Lord and Miller. And now, we’re chatting with the author himself Andy Weir. I really hope you enjoy this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we’re talking to one of the greatest living writers, George Saunders. He is the author of 12 books, including Tenth of December, Pastoralia, Swimming in a Pond in the Rain, and Lincoln in the Bardo which won the the Booker Prize. Three of his books were included in the New York Times’ top 100 books of the 21st century so far, and his work is noted for its humanity and unique, often experimental narrative style. He’s the king of short stories and has one of the best selling pages on Substack. His newest release, Vigil, is about a lady called Jill Blaine who has died in an explosion. She comes back to earth to help guide people who are dying to the afterlife and provide comfort in their final moments. But she meets her match in KJ Boone – an owner of an oil company who have caused immense damage to the climate, all while he denied climate change. He is a bad person, and yet Jill wants to empathise with him. The third major player in the novel is called The Frenchman – he is the man who invented the first engine. He feels a lot of guilt about how his inventions were used, unlike KJ Boone. Here’s what happened when I chatted with George Saunders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, it’s safe to say the whole world is talking about Wuthering Heights. Hello and welcome back to the Inklings Book Club where this month we are reading Emily Brontë’s gothic classic, just in time for the release of Emerald Fennell’s adaptation. And so… who better to speak to than Emerald herself? I caught up with Emerald to chat all things Wuthering Heights, as well as her favourite books and poems. Emerald Fennell is an actress, filmmaker and writer. In 2021, Promising Young Woman won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay – one of three nominations the film received that year. The film also won a Critics Choice Award, two BAFTAs, and a Film Independent Spirit Award. She returned to directing with Saltburn in 2023 which set the world ablaze, and now of course Wuthering Heights is doing the same. She also starred as Camilla in The Crown and Midge in Barbie. She is completely unstoppable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I always say the best celebrity memoir I’ve ever read is I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy -- it’s so open and vulnerable and honest and raw, but it’s also beautifully written. She details what it was like to grow up as a child star, especially when a parent is putting an immense amount of pressure on you. Not just to be a breadwinner, but to look a certain way, behave in a certain way, and nothing is enough for them. The memoir went on to be crowned winner of the 2023 American Library Association Alex Award and the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography. Now, given that I love that book so much – of course my most anticipated release of 2026 has to be Half His Age, Jennette’s debut novel. Yes, she’s turned her hand to fiction and it is a wild ride. And, it’s already a Sunday Times number one bestseller. I was very lucky to be given the opportunity to interview Jennette for her London book tour, and here it is! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I’m joined by Jente Posthuma whose novel What I’d Rather Not Think About was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2024. Ironically, is something I ALWAYS THINK ABOUT!!! The novel is fertile ground for rumination and thought-provoking conversation. It’s told in a series of vignettes, as a woman contemplates the suicide of her twin brother. It’s a deeply felt meditation on grief, translated into English from the original Dutch by Sarah Timmer Harvey I wanted to ask Jente about the process of crafting this gorgeous little book, and I hope you enjoy this conversation. Welcome to the Inklings Book Club, Jente Posthuma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices