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The TLS Podcast
Writers at the Gates of Dawn
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This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark are joined by Sara Hudston to talk about how to write about our environment, who gets to write about it, why it is so crucial - and "horsey" books; and James McConnachie, himself a keen player, discusses the future of strategy games, given that the computers are increasingly beating the humans
Women on Nature, edited by Katherine Norbury
Wild Isles, edited by Patrick Barkham
Gifts of Gravity and Light, edited by Anita Roy and Pippa Marland
Out of Time: Poetry from the climate emergency, edited by Kate Simpson
Seven Games: A Human History by Oliver Roeder
Produced by Sophia Franklin
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Mind Games
45:50|This week, Joanna Kavenna explains why she invented a game to write her new novel; how to survive life online; and a new poem.'Seven', by Joanna Kavenna'This Is for Everyone', by Tim Berners-Lee with Stephen Witt'Enshittification: Why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it', by Cory Doctorow'How to Save the Internet: The threat to global connection in the age of AI and political conflict', by Nick Clegg'The Future', by Jesse NathanProduced by Charlotte Pardy
Exclusive: Doubting Thomas
59:54|This week, publisher Alessandro Gallenzi reveals how he turned literary detective and uncovered Dylan Thomas's youthful plagiarism; and Norma Clarke on the stunning work of two 18th-century women portrait artists.'Mrs Kauffman and Madame Le Brun: The entwined lives of two great eighteenth-century women artists' by Franny Moyle Produced by Charlotte Pardy
Merry Christmas!
32:37|This week, we introduce a very festive issue; and Toby Lichtig on the puppeteers pulling the strings of this season's big productions.'The Pelican Child', by Joy Williams'The BFG', by Roald Dahl, adapted by Tom Wells RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon'Pinocchio', by Carlo Collodi, adapted by Charlie Josephine, Globe TheatreProduced by Charlotte Pardy
Altogether Elsewhere
41:58|This week, Lily Herd heads for outer space in the company of a prodigious imagination; and Andrew Motion joins us with a wonderful new poem.'Collected Stories' by Cixin Liu, translated by John Chu, Andy Dudak et al'All that We See or Seem', by Ken Liu'Snow', by Andrew Motion Produced by Charlotte Pardy
Beyond the bonnet
54:56|This week, Devoney Looser on what we don't know about Jane Austen; and Peter Swaab introduces a previously unpublished story by the great Sylvia Townsend Warner. 'Jane Austen in 41 Objects', by Kathryn Sutherland'Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: The women writers who shaped a legend', by Rebecca RomneyJane Austen and George Eliot: The lady and the radical', by Edward Whitley'Wild for Austen: A rebellious, subversive, and untamed Jane', by Devoney Looser'The Pursuit and the End', by Sylvia Townsend WarnerProduced by Charlotte Pardy
In Transit
50:26|This week, Camille Ralphs confides the highs and lows of travelling by Greyhound bus; and Alev Adil boards a train to join current night owls and bygone tourists.'Greyhound', by Joanna Pocock'Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train', by Monisha Rajesh'To the Sea by Train: The Golden Age of Railway Travel', by Andrew MartinProduced by Charlotte Pardy
Foundation course
56:56|This week, Damian Flanagan explores the complex history of the Japanese masterpiece The Tale of Genji; and Miranda France on the eventful life and enduring work of Miguel de Cervantes.'The Tale of Genji', by Murasaki Shikibu'El Verano de Cervantes', by Antonio Muñoz Molina'El Cautivo', directed by Alejandro AmenábarProduced by Charlotte Pardy
Books of the Year
47:55|This week, TLS contributors select their favourites from 2025; plus an interview with CD Rose, winner of this year’s Goldsmiths Prize.‘We Live Here Now’, by CD RoseProduced by Charlotte Pardy
Devices and Desires
47:33|This week, how well does Alan Hollinghurst's novel The Line of Beauty translate to the stage? And Toby Lichtig interviews the newest winner of the Booker Prize, David Szalay.'The Line of Beauty', by Jack Holden, based on the novel by Alan Hollinghurst, Almeida Theatre, London, until November 29'Flesh', by David SzalayProduced by Charlotte Pardy