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Little Atoms 558 - Kristen Ghodsee's Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
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When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Kristen R. Ghodsee was travelling in Europe, and spent the summer of 1990 witnessing first-hand the initial hope and euphoria that followed the sudden and unexpected collapse of state socialism in the former Eastern Bloc. The political and economic chaos that followed inspired Ghodsee to pursue an academic career studying this upheaval, focusing on how ordinary people’s lives – and women’s particularly – changed when state socialism gave way to capitalism. For the last two decades, she has visited the region regularly and lived for over three years in Bulgaria and the Eastern parts of reunified Germany. Now a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, she has won many awards for her work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and has written six books on gender, socialism, and postsocialism, examining the everyday experiences of upheaval and displacement that continue to haunt the region to this day. Ghodsee also writes on women's issues for the Chronicle of Higher Education and is the co-author of Professor Mommy: Finding Work/Family Balance in Academia. Her articles and essays have appeared in publications such as Eurozine, Aeon, Dissent, Foreign Affairs and The New York Times. Her latest book is Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.
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Little Atoms 988 - Francis Spufford's Nonesuch
31:52|Francis Spufford is the author of three novels and five works of non-fiction. His debut work of fiction was the historical novel Golden Hill, which won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, and was shortlisted for four others. His second novel, Light Perpetual, was awarded the Encore Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize. His third novel, the alternative history Cahokia Jazz, was recognised by the Science Fiction community when it was awarded the Sidewise Award in 2023. He teaches writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest novel Nonesuch.
Little Atoms 987 - James Geary's The World In A Phrase
33:00|James Geary, an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, is the author of Wit's End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It, Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists and I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How It Shapes the Way We See the World. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about the reissue of his New York Times best-selling book The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism.
Little Atoms 986 - Alex Preston's A Stranger in Corfu
28:27|Alex Preston is an award-winning author of five novels including This Bleeding City, The Revelations, In Love and War and Winchelsea, as well as a book of non-fiction As Kingfishers Catch Fire. He writes regularly for the New York Times, the Economist and Harper's Bazaar. He reviews books for the Observer's New Review, Financial Times and Spectator. Alex is co-founder of the Corfu Literary Festival and Patron of Oxford Literary Festival. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest novel A Stranger in Corfu.
Little Atoms 985 - Manish Chauhan's Belgrave Road
28:08|Originally from Leicester, Manish Chauhan works as a finance lawyer and currently lives in East London. His short story, "Pieces", was shortlisted for the 2024 BBC National Short Story Award. His work has been shortlisted for the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize and the Exeter Short Story Competition. Early excerpts of Belgrave Road were longlisted for the Curtis Brown First Novel Award and shortlisted for the Daniel Goldsmith First Novel Prize. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about Belgrave Road, his debut novel.
Little Atoms 984 - George Saunders' Vigil
27:48|George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker Prize in 2017, and five collections of stories including Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the recent collection Liberation Day (selected by former President Obama has one of his ten favourite books of 2021). Three of Saunders' books - Pastoralia, Tenth of December, and Lincoln in the Bardo - were chosen for the New York Times' list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Saunders hosts the popular Story Club on Substack, which grew out of his book on the Russian short story, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. In 2013, he was named one of the world's 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest novel Vigil.
Little Atoms 983 - Grace Murray's Blank Canvas
28:30|Grace Murray was born in 2003 and grew up in Norwich. She has recently graduated from Edinburgh University, where she read English Literature and found time to write between her studies and two part-time jobs. Her short fiction has been published in The London Magazine. On this episode of Little Atoms she talks to Neil denny about her debut novel Blank Canvas, which was written over the course of a year as part of WriteNow, Penguin Random House’s flagship mentorship scheme for emerging talent. Grace won one of nine places on the scheme on the exceptional strength of her writing, selected from a pool of over 1,300 applicants.
Little Atoms 982 - Daniyal Mueenuddin's This Is Where The Serpent Lives
27:57|Daniyal Mueenuddin graduated from Dartmouth College and Yale Law School. After winning a Fulbright scholarship to study in Norway, he practiced law in New York before returning to Khânpur, Pakistan to manage the family farm. He divides his time between Oslo and Pakistan. Stories in his collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders have appeared in the New Yorker, Granta and Salman Rushdie's Best American Short Story collection. 'Our Lady of Paris' was nominated for a National Magazine Award. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his new novel This Is Where The Serpent Lives.
Little Atoms 981 - Sebastian Faulks' Fires Which Burned Brightly
28:00|Sebastian Faulks has written nineteen books, of which A Week in December and The Fatal Englishman were number one in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. He is best known for Birdsong, part of his French trilogy, and Human Traces, the first in an ongoing Austrian trilogy. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist on national papers. He has also written screenplays and has appeared in small roles on stage. On this episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his latest book Fires Which Burned Brightly: A Life in Progress.
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.