The LRB Podcast

London Review of Books
The LRB Podcast

The LRB Podcast brings you weekly conversations from Europe’s leading magazine of culture and ideas. Hosted by Thomas Jones and Malin Hay, with guest episodes from the LRB's US editor Adam Shatz, Meehan Crist, Rosemary Hill and more. Find the LRB's new Close Readings podcast in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or search 'LRB Close Readings' wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 4 DAYS AGO

    A Conversation with Neal Ascherson

    Neal Ascherson has worked as a journalist for more than six decades, reporting from Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, its successor states and elsewhere. He has also written more than a hundred pieces for the London Review of Books, from its seventh issue (in February 1980) to its most recent. In this episode of the LRB podcast, Ascherson talks to Thomas Jones about his recent piece on the journalist Claud Cockburn and about his own life and career, from his time as propaganda secretary for the Uganda National Congress to the moment he witnessed preparations for the kidnapping of Mikhail Gorbachev in Crimea but ‘missed the scoop of a lifetime’. Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/aschersonpod Listen to Neal Ascherson deliver the 2012 LRB Winter Lecture: https://lrb.me/aschersonwl Subscribe to Close Readings for 2025: https://lrb.me/audio Or give your loved ones a Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 17m

  2. 24/12/2024

    Close Readings: Marcus Aurelius

    This week on the LRB Podcast, a free episode from one of our Close Readings series. For their final conversation Among the Ancients, Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones turn to the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Said by Machiavelli to be the last of the ‘five good emperors’ who ruled Rome for most of the second century CE, Marcus oversaw devastating wars on the frontiers, a deadly plague and economic turmoil. The writings known in English as The Meditations, and in Latin as ‘to himself’, were composed in Greek in the last decade of Marcus’ life. They reveal his preoccupation with illness, growing old, death and posthumous reputation, as he urges himself not to be troubled by such transient things. To listen to more Among the Ancients and all other Close Readings series in full, subscribe: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadings Or purchase a gift subscription: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Further reading in the LRB: Mary Beard: Was he quite ordinary? https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n14/mary-beard/was-he-quite-ordinary Emily Wilson: I have gorgeous hair https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n11/emily-wilson/i-have-gorgeous-hair Shadi Bartsch: Dying to Make a Point https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n22/shadi-bartsch/dying-to-make-a-point M.F. Burnyeat: Excuses for Madness https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v24/n20/m.f.-burnyeat/excuses-for-madness Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr

  3. 18/12/2024

    Saving Masud Khan

    Wynne Godley was by turns a professional oboist, a fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, an economist at the Treasury and a director of the Royal Opera House. Yet at thirty he found himself ‘living through an artificial self’ and turned to psychoanalysis for help. Masud Khan was a protégé of D.W. Winnicott and the darling of British psychoanalysis. He was also much else besides. In this unforgettable piece from 2001, Godley describes his baffling and disastrous sessions with Khan. Read by Duncan Wilkins. Find the original piece and further reading at the episode page: https://lrb.me/godleypod Give your loved one a Close Readings subscription or audiobook for Christmas: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    38 min

  4. 13/12/2024

    Gaza, Before and After

    Ghassan Abu-Sittah and Muhammad Shehada join Adam Shatz to describe what life was like in Gaza in the months and years leading up to the Hamas attack on Israel last October, and to discuss the experiences of Gazans during Israel’s subsequent – and ongoing – devastation of the territory. More in the LRB: Adam Shatz: Israel's Descent https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n12/adam-shatz/israel-s-descent Pankaj Mishra: The Shoah after Gaza https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n06/pankaj-mishra/the-shoah-after-gaza Also available to watch: https://youtu.be/_w3Pe00I_Ro Audio Gifts from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 25m

  5. 04/12/2024

    On Lisa Marie Presley

    As Elvis’s only child, Lisa Marie Presley was burdened from birth with extraordinary, largely unwanted fame. Before her death in 2023, she spent years as tabloid fodder, less for her sporadic music career than for her highly publicised relationships with Michael Jackson, Nicolas Cage and Scientology. In a recent review of her posthumous memoir, Jessica Olin celebrates Lisa Marie’s resilience and charisma in the face of ruthless publicity. Jessica joins Tom to discuss Lisa Marie’s ambivalent relationship with fame, and how a new generation are encountering the Presley family saga through her daughter, Riley Keough. Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/lisamariepod Sponsored Links: Find out more about ACE Cultural Tours: https://aceculturaltours.co.uk To learn more about financial support for professional writers, visit the Royal Literary Fund here: https://www.rlf.org.uk/ Audio Gifts from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    42 min

  6. 27/11/2024

    Labour's Economic Conundrum

    William Davies joins Tom to assess the efforts of the new Labour government in tackling the UK's many economic challenges. They consider whether Rachel Reeves’s first budget, with its substantial tax rises, can do anything more than arrest the decline of the public finances, and what Keir Starmer hopes to achieve with his public overtures to the likes of Google and BlackRock. Will their technocratic style of government be able to survive the pressures of populist politics, or is their long-term thinking simply too long-term to bring election-winning improvements to people’s everyday lives? Read William Davies's piece: https://lrb.me/davies4622pod Audio Gifts from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    53 min

  7. 20/11/2024

    Endgame in Ukraine

    James Meek talks to Tom about his latest report from Ukraine, where he spent time in Kharkiv and Kupiansk in the east of the country. In Kharkiv, he found a population living in fear not only of the Russian glide bombs falling daily on the city, but also of the increasingly ruthless activity of the Ukrainian military recruitment office, desperate to secure fresh troops to resist Russia's advances. James and Tom discuss the current state of the conflict, what a Trump presidency might mean for US policy and whether Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles could make any difference to the progress of the war. Read James's latest report from Ukraine: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n22/james-meek/nobody-wants-to-hear-this Sponsored Link: Get 10% off creative writing courses at NCW Academy in 2025 with code LRB10: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/academy/ Audio Gifts from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    57 min

  8. 14/11/2024

    The Trump Takeover

    Adam Shatz is joined by Jamelle Bouie and Deborah Friedell to pick through the results and implications of Trump’s victory. The US has a booming economy of high wages and nearly full employment, yet economic discontent, particularly around inflation, has been one of the more popular explanations for the election result. As well as considering the importance of inflation, Jamelle and Deborah look at what went wrong with the Harris campaign’s big bet on abortion rights, why Republican-voting women say they feel safer under Trump and why the Democrats’ insistence that democracy was on the ballot failed to resonate with many voters. Read Adam Tooze on the Democrats' defeat in the LRB: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n22/adam-tooze/the-democrats-defeat Read Deborah Friedell on J.D. Vance https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n20/deborah-friedell/short-cuts Audio Gifts from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    53 min
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  • Seamus Perry and Mark Ford consider poems that have been understood, admired and perhaps criticised for their politics, ranging across several hundred years of literary history. Mark Ford is Professor of English at University College, London, and Seamus Perry is Professor of English Literature at Balliol College, Oxford. Political Poems is part of the Close Readings podcast collection from the London Review of Books. Listen to this episode ad free, and get full access to all our Close Readings series, including more from Mark and Seamus: Sign up to the Close Readings subscription to listen ad free and to all our series in full: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/ppapplesignup In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/ppsignup Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • Close Readings is a new multi-series podcast subscription from the London Review of Books. Two contributors explore areas of literature through a selection of key works, providing an introductory grounding like no other. Listen to some episodes for free here, and extracts from our ongoing subscriber-only series. How To Subscribe In Apple Podcasts, click 'subscribe' at the top of this podcast feed to unlock the full episodes. Or for other podcast apps, sign up here: https://lrb.me/closereadings RUNNING IN 2025: 'Conversations in Philosophy' with Jonathan Rée and James Wood 'Fiction and the Fantastic' with Marina Warner, Anna Della Subin, Adam Thirlwell and Chloe Aridjis 'Love and Death' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford 'Novel Approaches' with Clare Bucknell, Thomas Jones and other guests ALSO INCLUDED IN THE CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION: 'Among the Ancients' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones 'Medieval Beginnings' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley 'The Long and Short' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Modern-ish Poets: Series 1' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Among the Ancients II' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones 'On Satire' with Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell 'Human Conditions' with Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards 'Political Poems' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Medieval LOLs' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • Close Readings is a new multi-series podcast subscription from the London Review of Books exploring different periods of literature through selections of key works. A new episode will appear every month from each of our Close Readings series running this year. This feed is identical to the 'free' version of Close Readings, which contains free extracts for non-subscribers. Subscribers can listen to all the full episodes in both feeds: https://podcasts.apple.com/ug/podcast/close-readings/id1669485143 RUNNING IN 2025: 'Conversations in Philosophy' with Jonathan Rée and James Wood 'Fiction and the Fantastic' with Marina Warner, Anna Della Subin, Adam Thirlwell and Chloe Aridjis 'Love and Death' with Seamus Perry and Mark Ford 'Novel Approaches' with Clare Bucknell, Thomas Jones and other guests ALSO INCLUDED IN YOUR CLOSE READINGS SUBSCRIPTION: 'Among the Ancients' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones 'Medieval Beginnings' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley 'The Long and Short' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Modern-ish Poets: Series 1' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Among the Ancients II' with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones 'On Satire' with Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell 'Human Conditions' with Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards 'Political Poems' with Mark Ford and Seamus Perry 'Medieval LOLs' with Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk

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  • Clare Bucknell and Colin Burrow attempt, over twelve episodes, to chart a stable course through some of the most unruly, vulgar, incoherent, savage and outright hilarious works in all of English literature. What is satire, what is it for, and why do we seem to like it so much? Clare Bucknell and Colin Burrow are both fellows of All Souls College, Oxford. Episodes will appear once a month throughout 2024, on the 4th of each month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • Seamus Perry and Mark Ford return for a second series of their acclaimed, 'revolutionary, *****' (The Times) podcast series looking at the lives and works of poets in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Seamus Perry is Professor of English at the University of Oxford and Mark Ford is Professor of English at University College London. Modern-ish Poets is part of the Close Readings podcast collection from the London Review of Books. To listen to the first series of Modern-ish Poets, and to Seamus and Mark's twelve-part series The Long and Short, sign up to the Close Readings subscription: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • In their first Close Readings series, Seamus Perry and Mark Ford considers the lives and works of Modernist and almost-Modernist poets, from A. E. Housman to Seamus Heaney. Modern-ish Poets is part of the Close Readings podcasts collection from the London Review of Books. Subscribe here or on the London Review of Books channel and access all our Close Readings series in full. Find our channel page here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/channel/london-review-of-books/id6450677311

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The LRB Podcast brings you weekly conversations from Europe’s leading magazine of culture and ideas. Hosted by Thomas Jones and Malin Hay, with guest episodes from the LRB's US editor Adam Shatz, Meehan Crist, Rosemary Hill and more. Find the LRB's new Close Readings podcast in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or search 'LRB Close Readings' wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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