Share

Little Atoms
475: Vanessa Potter & Pía Spry-Marqués
•
Vanessa Potter spent 16 years as an award-winning broadcast producer in London's advertising industry, before one day fate conspired to turn the lights out on her. Suddenly losing then slowly regaining her sight led Vanessa to change direction, turning the camera upon herself to tell her story via immersive art and storytelling. Vanessa's collaborations have led to some exciting partnerships, and she is currently working on developing an interactive EEG science-art project that allows the public to see and understand the effects of mindfulness on their brains. She is also involved in several other scientific research projects. Her speaking engagements include a June 2016 TEDx talk in Ghent, Belgium. Vanessa is the author of Patient H69: The Story of My Second Sight.
Pía Spry-Marqués gained her PhD in archaeology from the University of Cambridge, where, following post-doctoral research, she now works in communications. Her research took her across Europe and across time, from the late Iron Age back to the Ice Age, identifying, classifying and decoding the meaning of animal remains in human-associated deposits. Originally from Spain, Pía is predisposed to a keen understanding, awareness and love of the pig and the many tasty pork products that are so much a part of Spanish cuisine. Pia is the author of PigPork: Archaeology, Zoology and Edibility.
More episodes
View all episodes

Little Atoms 980 - Jarett Kobek's Invocation Of My Demon Brother
46:52|Jarett Kobek is an internationally bestselling Turkish-American writer living in California. His previous books have been translated into eleven languages and include ATTA, Do Every Thing Wrong!: XXXTentacion Against the World, and Motor Spirit. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest book Invocation Of My Demon Brother, which is published by DieDieBooks and is available here.
Little Atoms 979 - Miriam Robinson's And Notre Dame is Burning
28:27|Miriam Robinson is an author who has worked in the world of books and bookshops for over 15 years. Previously the host of podcast My Unlived Life, she holds an MA in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths, University of London and her short fiction has been shortlisted for a Pushcart Prize, the inaugural Pindrop/RA Short Story Prize and the Pat Kavanagh Prize. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil Denny about her debut novel And Notre Dame is Burning.
Little Atoms 978 - Harry Sidebottom's Those Who Are About To Die
28:41|Harry Sidebottom teaches classical history at Oxford University, and is the bestselling author of fifteen novels. His debut trade non-fiction book, The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome, was published in 2022 and was a Book of the Year in the Spectator, the Financial Times and BBC History. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest book Those Who Are About To Die: Gladiators and the Roman Mind.
Little Atoms 977 - Ziyad Marar's Noticing
27:12|Ziyad Marar is a publisher and author of The Happiness Paradox , Deception, Intimacy and Judged: The Value of Being Misunderstood. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest book, Noticing.
Little Atoms 976 - Graham Robb's The Discovery of Britain
27:56|Graham Robb was born in Manchester in 1958 and is a former fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. He has published widely on French literature and history. His book The Discovery of France won both the Duff Cooper and Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prizes. For Parisians the City of Paris awarded him the Grande Médaille de la Ville de Paris. He lives on the English-Scottish border. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest book The Discovery of Britain.
Little Atoms 975 - Joanna Pocock's Greyhound
28:01|Joanna Pocock is an Irish-Canadian writer living in London. Her writing has notably appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Nation and Guardian US, and she is a contributing editor at the Dark Mountain project. She won the 2018 Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize for Surrender and in 2021 she was awarded the Arts Foundation’s Environmental Writing Fellowship. On this episode of Little Atoms, Joanna talks to Neil Denny about her latest book Greyhound.
Little Atoms 974 - James Rebanks' The Place of Tides
29:21|James Rebanks is a farmer and writer based in the Lake District. His No. 1 bestselling debut, The Shepherd’s Life, was translated into sixteen languages. His second book, English Pastoral, was also a Top Ten bestseller and was named the Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year. On this episode of Little Atoms, James talks to Neil Denny about his latest book The Place of Tides.
Little Atoms 973 - Mary Roach's Replaceable You
28:37|Mary Roach is the author of seven best-selling works of nonfiction, including Grunt, Stiff, and, most recently, Fuzz. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine, among other publications. On this episode of Little Atoms, Mary talks to Neil Denny about her latest book Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy.
Little Atoms 972 - Thomas McMullan's Groundwater
29:11|Thomas McMullan lives and works in London. His debut novel, The Last Good Man, won the 2021 Betty Trask Prize. His short fiction has been published in Ploughshares, The Dublin Review, Granta, 3:AM Magazine, Lighthouse and Best British Short Stories, and his journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, frieze, ArtReview and BBC News. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest novel Groundwater.