Literary Friction Literary Friction

Dancing can be about escape, about pleasure, but it can also be about protest. It can be a powerful means of expression, but how does writing capture all that movement and rhythm? And what does good writing about dancing do? With us this month is Jaqueline Crooks to talk about her dynamic first novel, Fire Rush, an intoxicating story about the dub reggae scene in 70s and 80s London. Told from the perspective of a young Black woman named Yamaye, it’s also about love, loss, freedom and finding family. In honour of Crooks’ evocative depiction of the dub scene - and especially the dancing that goes on in it - we’re dedicating this show to dance in all its forms. We’ll be talking about dance subcultures, our favourite dance scenes in literature - from balls to clubs - and lots more, plus all the usual recommendations. Enjoy!


Recommendations on the theme, Dancing Time:
Octavia: At The Old Place by Frank O’Hara
Carrie: The Instant by Amy Liptrot


General Recommendations:
Octavia: Older Brother by Mahir Guven, translated by Tina Kover
Jaqueline: Radical by Xiaolu Guo
Carrie: Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker


Find a list of all recommended books at: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/mar-2023-dancing-time-with-jaqueline-crooks


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Our theme this month was inspired by a recent story in New York magazine about, as they described it, “How to text, tip, ghost, host, and generally exist in polite society today.” The idea behind this list of 140 rules is that the last three years have completely changed the way that we live and work, and also that everyone seems to have forgotten how to be in society, so we need a new code of conduct. This got us thinking about etiquette, advice more generally, and how it relates to literature. So, we’ll be getting into our thoughts on etiquette lists and advice columns(including our favourite agony aunts), what the novel has to say about manners, plus all the usual recommendations.

When journalists write books, how do they balance the potentially tricky relationship between weaving a compelling narrative and sticking to the facts? What's the role of storytelling in reportage? And what are the ethics of reporting on other peoples' lived experiences? This month our guest is Tania Branigan, foreign leader writer at The Guardian and author of Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China’s Cultural Revolution. Tania was a correspondent in China for seven years, and Red Memory is about the Cultural Revolution, a decade of upheaval, purging and torture that began under Chairman Mao in 1966. Crucially, it’s also about the act of both remembering and forgetting this period, and the role the Chinese government and people have played in that process. Listen in for our chat with Tania, an exploration of journalism in literature and all the usual recommendations.


Recommendations on the theme, Journalism:
Octavia: Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Carrie: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean


General recommendations:
Octavia: Archaeology of Loss by Sarah Tarlow
Tania: The Soviet Century, archaeology of a lost world by Karl Schlogel
Carrie: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell by Susanna Clarke


Find a list of all recommended books at: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/feb-2023-journalism-with-tania-branigan


Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/litfriction


Email us: litfriction@gmail.com


Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

Money makes the world go round: it's an inescapable presence in our lives, and yet in a lot of cultures it's still a pretty big conversational taboo. Here in the UK right now there’s a serious cost of living crisis after years of terrible Conservative rule, the newspapers are full of often extremely patronising articles about how to ‘tighten your belt’, and it feels like everyone is talking about money without necessarily really talking about money. Are all books to some extent about money? Does the novel offer a useful way into thinking and talking about it? And where does the myth of The Writer who can afford to live off their writing alone come into it? Listen in as we dig into this, plus all the usual recommendations. Enjoy!

Portraits of real people abound in books. There are novels that use transcribed conversations, like Sheila Heti’s How Should A Person Be, or fiction based on historical or even living people, like Curtis Sittenfield’s Rodham. Our guest this month is the writer Kathryn Scanlan who joined us from the States to talk about her riveting new novel, Kick the Latch, which is based upon a series of conversations that Kathryn had with a woman named Sonia about her joyful and brutal life as a trainer for racehorses. Lydia Davis called Kick the Latch a “magical act of empathic ventriloquy”, and this show is about literature that engages in similar ways with the lives of others. We’ll be getting into things like the ethics of writing from another life in fiction, the art of biography, and our favourite literary portraits, plus all our usual reading recommendations.


Recommendations on the theme, The Lives of Others:
Octavia: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Carrie: Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow


General recommendations:
Octavia: Avalon by Nell Zink
Kathryn: Guston in Time: Remembering Philip Guston by Ross Feld
Carrie: Foster by Claire Keegan


Find a list of all recommended books at: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/jan-2023-the-lives-of-others-with-kathryn-scanlan


Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/litfriction


Email us: litfriction@gmail.com


Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction

Our January theme is heavily influenced by this time of year. Because the winter months are full of different feast days and celebrations, and because generally in the northern hemisphere it's a time where you just want to cocoon inside and feel warm, cosy and nurtured, we thought we’d talk about food and feasting in all kinds of literature. Whether in fiction or non-fiction, does reading about food make your mouth water? What can good food writing open up for a reader? And what about the politics of what kinds of food gets written about? Listen in for all this and more, plus our usual cultural recommendations.