The Booker Prize Podcast The Booker Prize

Sara Cox, host of BBC Two's TV book club, Between the Covers, joins Jo and James to discuss our December Book of the Month: Any Human Heart by William Boyd. Told through the journals of Logan Mountstuart, it's an engrossing – and often funny – novel that takes in many of the defining events of the 20th century and the people who shaped them. The Booker Prize 2002-longlisted book was recently discussed on Between the Covers, so tune in to our podcast as Sara, James and Jo talk about William Boyd's beloved novel, as well as Sara's own reading habits and inspirations.

In this episode Jo, James and Sara talk about:

The idea behind television book club Between the Covers

The variety of books guests have been bringing to this series of Between the Covers

The novels that got Sara into reading at a young age

Sara's favourite Booker Prize books

How Sara balances reading and her own writing – and whether what she's reading influences her work

What the book clubbers on Between the Covers thought of Any Human Heart

A brief summary of Any Human Heart and a discussion about its plot

Who they'd recommend the book to


Reading List:

Any Human Heart by William Boyd: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/any-human-heart


Life of Pi by Yann Martel: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/life-of-pi


The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Pessimism is for Lightweights by Salena Godden

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume

Catherine Cookson novels

Jilly Cooper novels

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/paddy-clarke-ha-ha-ha


John Boyne novels

Margaret O'Farrell novels

Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/redhead-by-the-side-of-the-road


A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/a-spool-of-blue-thread



A full transcript of the episode is available at our website.

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Step behind the velvet rope and let Jo and James take you on a VIP tour of the Booker Prize 2023 award ceremony. Listen in as they speak to some of this year's shortlisted authors and judges, as well as other guests at the ceremony and hear, first-hand, how the shortlisted authors felt in the run up to the announcement, how the judges enjoyed being part of the jury and what it feels like to be a guest at one of the most exciting events in the booklover's calendar.

In this episode Jo and James speak to:

Paul Lynch, 2023 Booker Prize winner

Paul Murray, 2023 Booker Prize shortlistee

Robert Webb, 2023 Booker Prize judge

Adjoa Andoh, 2023 Booker Prize judge

Graeme Macrae Burnet, 2016 Booker Prize longlistee

Frederick Studemann, literary editor of the Financial Times


A full transcript of the episode is available at our website.

Follow The Booker Prize Podcast so you never miss an episode. Visit http://thebookerprizes.com/podcast to find out more about us, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok @thebookerprizes.
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Hot off the press, we're bringing you The Booker Prize Podcast's reaction to the Booker Prize 2023 winner. Recorded at the Booker Prize award ceremony on 26 November, Jo and James share their thoughts on the winning book and hear directly from winner Paul Lynch and Esi Edugyan, chair of judges and previous Booker Prize nominee. That's not all for this week though, as we'll be back with a special episode in our usual Thursday slot.

A full transcript of the episode is available at our website.

Follow The Booker Prize Podcast so you never miss an episode. Visit http://thebookerprizes.com/podcast to find out more about us, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok @thebookerprizes. 
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We're only three days away from finding out who will take home the Booker Prize 2023 so who better to speak to than last year's winner? Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the prize for his searing satire The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida in 2022, and the 13 months since his win has been a whirlwind of activity. This week, Shehan joins us on the podcast to tell us all about the past year and what the 2023 winner can expect on the night of the award ceremony and beyond.

In this episode Jo and James speak to Shehan about:

What it's like to be at the Booker Prize award ceremony – and how it felt to be announced as the 2022 winner

The strangeness of winning the Booker Prize amidst economic crisis and civil unrest in Sri Lanka

The impossibility of making an acceptance speech in one minute

Why he paints his fingernails black

How he spent his prize money

The whirlwind that has been the 13 months since he won the Booker Prize

His daily writing and reading routine


Books and authors mentioned:

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Agatha Christie

Salman Rushdie

Raymond Chandler

John le Carré

Armistead Maupin


A full transcript of the episode is available at our website.

Follow The Booker Prize Podcast so you never miss an episode. Visit http://thebookerprizes.com/podcast to find out more about us, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok @thebookerprizes. 
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Iris Murdoch was a prolific writer, completing 26 novels and several philosophy books in her lifetime. She still holds the record for most Booker Prize shortlistings (a joint record with Margaret Atwood) and the Booker Prize trophy has recently been renamed the 'Iris' in her honour. This month, we've picked The Black Prince, which was shortlisted for the Booker in 1973, as our Book of the Month. It's a part-thriller, part-love story that follows Bradley Pearson – an elderly writer with a ‘block’. Adding and contributing to his torment are a host of predatory friends and relations: his melancholic sister, his ex-wife and her delinquent brother, and a younger, deplorably successful writer, Arnold Baffin.

In this episode Jo and James share:

Their thoughts on Iris Murdoch's novels

Why Murdoch was an exceptionally funny writer, as well as a gifted one

A brief biography of Murdoch

A summary of The Black Prince

What they thought about The Black Prince

Who should read The Black Prince


Reading list:

The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/the-black-prince


The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/the-sea-the-sea


Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch

The Bloater by Rosemary Tonks


A full transcript of the episode is available at our website.
Follow The Booker Prize Podcast so you never miss an episode. Visit http://thebookerprizes.com/podcast to find out more about us, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok @thebookerprizes.
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This week we're bringing you a special episode recorded live at Cheltenham Literature Festival in October. Tune in as James is joined by all six Booker Prize 2023 shortlisted authors and we get to hear all about their books, the varied inspirations behind them and why and how they write.

Reading list:

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein

Chetna Maroo's Western Lane

Paul Lynch's Prophet Song

Paul Murray's The Bee Sting


A full transcript of the episode is available at our website.

Follow The Booker Prize Podcast so you never miss an episode. Visit http://thebookerprizes.com/podcast to find out more about us, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok @thebookerprizes.
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