The Exchange | Long-form interviews from the New Statesman

In 2011, Ben Lerner stormed onto the scene with his debut novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, a winning blend of low comedy and high art. He has since firmly established himself as one of America’s most acclaimed novelists and is a leading voice in so-called autofiction. Now he returns with his fourth novel, and it may be his most profound yet.  In Transcription, Lerner turns his mind to the nature of art, and of ageing. It’s a novel about generations, of growing children, and dying forebears, and the way the secrets and gifts of life and art move from one era to the next.  It’s also a novel about technology, and our increasing reliance on it, the way it shapes our speech, our thoughts, our memories and even our conceptions of ourselves. In this episode, Tanjil Rashid sits down with Ben Lerner to talk about how we record our conversations, why novels may matter even more in the age of AI, and - in his words - the bankruptcy of political speech. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fatima Bhutto was born into exile - and into one of the most powerful political dynasties in South Asia. Her life has been shaped by both privilege and profound personal tragedy. Born in Afghanistan, she spent her early years displaced, after her grandfather, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was executed under General Zia-ul-Haq’s military regime. Her childhood was marked by instability and violence. Her father, Murtaza Bhutto, became involved in militant activism linked to acts including a political assassination and a plane hijacking. When the family returned to Pakistan, tensions deepened. Though it was his own sister Benazir Bhutto in power, Murtaza was killed in a police encounter - a death that Fatima has long held her aunt responsible for. In 2007, Benazir Bhutto herself was assassinated. Today, the Bhutto name still carries political weight in Pakistan. Her uncle is currently the president. But Fatima Bhutto has chosen a different path, as a writer - exploring her family’s turbulent history as well as the emerging popular culture of the global south, and moving between memoir, fiction, and reportage. Now, she returns with her most personal story yet... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister and darling of the European left, turned 65.He celebrated his birthday on stage in London, gathering figures from across the left together. Zack Polanski was there, so was Jeremy Corbyn.Varoufakis' mission? To explore what resistance means today across the left.In this episode of The Exchange Oli Dugmore sits down with Varoufakis to speak about resistance, his childhood in a fascist dictatorship, how this shaped him, whether he uses that word to describe the climate today, and the strategic importance of Cyprus for the war in the Middle East - for Britian, the US, Israel, Iran, Greece and Turkey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Amia Srinivasan published The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century in 2021, it sparked widespread debate about the politics of desire, consent, and sexual justice.In this episode of The Exchange, the Oxford academic joins Tanjil Rashid to discuss how philosophy can illuminate some of the most contentious questions in contemporary culture: from incels and pornography to whether our desires are shaped by society.Find more from Amia Srinivasan here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pussy Riot's 2012 "Punk Prayer" was a global flashpoint - a defining test of free expression in Putin’s Russia.When co-founding member Masha Alyokhina was arrested, she told her son she would be back the next day. She was gone for two years.In 2022, she fled the motherland, but continues to fight Putin from afar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his 30s, Rutger Bregman, the Dutch historian, had what he described as “an early midlife crisis”.After a decade spent as a pundit, commenting on the global state of politics and economics, as well as publishing optimistic titles such as Utopia for Realists and Humankind: A Hopeful History - Bregman felt stuck. Something had to change.And if he wanted to see that change in the world, he needed to make that change in himself.In January he joined Oli Dugmore for an extended interview, delving into the prospects of a moral life, how morality has changed history, and how it could serve our current moment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.