Ourshelves
79 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 months ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsOurshelves is a place where writers from the legendary feminist publishing house Virago will talk about their cultural worlds. Host Lucy Scholes will be diving into writers’ bookshelves, record collections and recollections to discover what inspires them.
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Episodes
OurShelves with Linda Grant
September 17, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 143 MBHow can we reconsider failure? In this episode of OurShelves Lucy Scholes interviews Linda Grant, a multi-award-winning author whose latest novel, A Stranger City, is out now in paperback. In this episode Lucy and Linda discuss Barbara Pym, Mrs. America and the importance of recalling our failures as well as our successes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
OurShelves with Margaret Atwood
September 04, 2020 05:30 - 49 minutes - 45.2 MBDoes nostalgia change the way you feel about the past? In this episode of OurShelves Lucy Scholes interviews Margaret Atwood, two-time winner of the Man Booker Prize and author of more than forty works, including fiction, poetry and critical essays. From the medieval inspiration for Game of Thrones to editing out mosquitos from your memories, this episode is a goldmine of facts, guilty pleasures and a little bit on the joy of Hercule Poirot. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...
OurShelves with Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman
August 20, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 155 MBWhat does friendship mean to you? In this episode of OurShelves Lucy Scholes interviews Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, creators of the hit podcast; Call Your Girlfriend. In this episode Lucy, Ann and Aminatou talk about fighting for a radically different future, the comfort of being read to and the sex scenes in Normal People. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
OurShelves with Deborah Frances-White
August 07, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 150 MBIn this episode of OurShelves Lucy Scholes interviews Deborah Frances-White, stand-up comedian, creator of the hit podcast and book of the same name, The Guilty Feminist, and an official ambassador of Amnesty International. From George the Poet to Mae Martin, join us for a conversation about being open to criticism, privilege, challenging your own beliefs and finding where you belong. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
OurShelves with Lennie Goodings
July 24, 2020 06:00 - 43 minutes - 99.5 MBHow much courage does it take to write? In this episode of OurShelves Lucy Scholes interviews Lennie Goodings, Chair of Virago Press and author of A Bite of the Apple. We dive into stories about Maya Angelou and Rosamond Lehmann, the origins of Virago Press in the seventies, the narratives that shape our lives and the authors who continue to inspire Lennie's work and personal life. Join us for a conversation about courageous women, beautiful prose and the nature of storytelling. Books dis...
Virago Celebrates LGBTQ+ History Month
February 17, 2020 17:07 - 21 minutes - 24.8 MBJoin us as we celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month! This month Virago editor, Rose Tomaszewska, is joined by Eleanor Crewes, author of The Times I Knew I Was Gay. Tune in for a wonderful discussion around their favourite books by queer authors or that deal with queer themes, including Daphne du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, Sarah Waters and more... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
VIRAGO LIVE: Virago Speakeasy: On Witches at Pages Cheshire St.
January 20, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 135 MBAhead of our second Virago Speakeasy, we are delighted to share a live recording of our inaugural Speakeasy event at Pages Cheshire Street: On Witches. At this event Virago editor Rose Tomaszewska chatted to Shahrukh Husain, author of The Virago Book of Witches, and Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock about the transgressive place of witches in literature, society, history and contemporary politics. Listen to the end for a chilling reading from The Ghost Stories of E...
Take a Bite of the Apple with Lennie Goodings
January 05, 2020 07:03 - 31 minutes - 71.2 MBIn this episode of the Virago podcast editor Ailah Ahmed talks to Lennie Goodings about her book A Bite of the Apple - part memoir, part history of Virago Press and part thoughts on more than forty years of feminist publishing. Tune-in for Lennie Goodings, stay for the stories about Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood and a life in publishing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Virago's 2020 Reading Recommendations
December 16, 2019 00:00 - 21 minutes - 39.5 MBGet inspired for 2020 with some reading recommendations from the Virago team. A few members of the Virago team got together to discuss our reading recommendations and resolutions for the new decade! With titles like Big Friendship, The Street and How Much of These Hills is Gold, among others, our TBR stacks are growing ever taller. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Virago's 2020 Reading Recommendations
December 16, 2019 00:00 - 21 minutes - 39.5 MBGet inspired for 2020 with some reading recommendations from the Virago team. A few members of the Virago team got together to discuss our reading recommendations and resolutions for the new decade! With titles like Big Friendship, The Street and How Much of These Hills is Gold, among others, our TBR stacks are growing ever taller. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Get Equal with Carrie Gracie
November 09, 2019 07:15 - 28 minutes - 52.7 MBIn honour of Equal Pay Day 2019, we welcome Carrie Gracie to the podcast. In this episode Carrie discusses her experience fighting for equal pay and her book, Equal, with Chair of Virago Press, Lennie Goodings. In January 2018, Gracie left her post as the BBC's China editor, following a career at the BBC that spanned more than three decades, in protest at unequal pay, publishing an open letter to BBC audiences and giving evidence before a parliamentary committee. Six months later, she won a...
Between the Stops with Sandi Toksvig
October 10, 2019 23:00 - 32 minutes - 73.9 MBTake a ride atop the Number 12 bus with national treasure, Sandi Toksvig. In this episode Chair of Virago Press Lennie Goodings chats with the one and only Sandi Toksvig about her long-awaited memoir, Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus. Well known for her television and radio work as a broadcaster, writer, activist and comic on stage, screen and radio, Sandi Toksvig also writes for theatre and television: her film The Man starred Stephen Fry and Zoe Wan...
The Brink of Being by Julia Bueno
September 05, 2019 06:00 - 29 minutes - 68.3 MBIn this episode Julia Bueno and Sarah Savitt discuss miscarriage, women's health and Julia's book The Brink of Being: Talking about Miscarriage. A captivating mixture of memoir, stories from the consulting room, history and science, The Brink of Being is a much-needed, comprehensive look at the common yet still taboo experience of miscarriage. 'A much needed book on this difficult and often unspoken loss, that of early pregnancy ... both illuminating and consoling.' Julia Samuel, author of...
Summer Reading Recommendations from the Virago team
August 12, 2019 10:15 - 20 minutes - 46.5 MBFill your August with books with this list of reading recommendations from members of the Virago team. Books discussed in this episode: Crimson by Niviaq Korneliussen Three Women by Lisa Taddeo Less by Andrew Sean Greer Heartburn by Nora Ephron House of Glass by Susan Fletcher Girl by Edna O'Brien A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read by Philippa Perry Let us know what you are reading this summer on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Host...
A Stranger City with Linda Grant
July 01, 2019 23:00 - 26 minutes - 60.8 MBEnter A Stranger City with Linda Grant. In this episode of the Virago podcast Lennie Goodings is in conversation with author Linda Grant, discussing her new novel A Stranger City. Linda Grant is author of five non-fiction books and seven novels. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 and the Lettre Ulysses Prize for Literary Reportage in 2006. The Clothes on Their Backs was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008 and went on to win the South Bank Show Award. The Dark Circle was ...
Katie Hickman: She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen
May 30, 2019 23:00 - 24 minutes - 56.2 MBThis month Chair of Virago Press, Lennie Goodings, chatted to Katie Hickman about her new book: She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen: British Women in India 1600 – 1900. She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen is an extraordinary and illuminating book that tells the incredible stories of the first British women to set foot in India - 250 years before the Raj. In this landmark book, celebrated chronicler, Katie Hickman, uncovers stories, until now hidden from history: here is Charl...
A Woman of No Importance
April 16, 2019 15:45 - 33 minutes - 77.8 MBThis Virago podcast features Virago Publisher Sarah Savitt in conversation with biographer and journalist Sonia Purnell, discussing Sonia's latest book, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of WWII's Most Dangerous Spy, Virginia Hall. A Woman of No Importance tells the incredible untold story of Virginia Hall, an American woman with a wooden leg who infiltrated Occupied France for the SOE and became the Gestapo's most wanted Allied spy. Discover five additional unsung heroines on the...
Virago Reading Resolutions
March 18, 2019 10:26 - 30 minutes - 70.1 MBA few members of the Virago team gathered together earlier this year to discuss 2019 reading resolutions and books we are looking forward to reading this year. In this episode you will hear from Sarah Savitt, Zoe Hood, Hayley Camis, Susan de Soissons, Grace Vincent and Madeleine Hall. Do you have any reading resolutions? Let us know on Twitter using #ViragoPodcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Clare Clark
February 28, 2019 11:19 - 20 minutes - 47.7 MBThis month we spoke to Clare Clark, author of In the Full Light of the Sun, a gripping tale is about beauty and justice, and the truth that may be found when our most treasured beliefs are revealed as illusions. Clare Clark is the author of five highly acclaimed historical novels, including The Great Stink, Savage Lands (both longlisted for the Orange Prize) and The Nature of Monsters. Born in 1967, she graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with a double first in History, and now lives ...
Can We All Be Feminists? Live Podcast
December 28, 2018 06:00 - 1 hour - 138 MBCan We All Be Feminists? is "the intersectional feminist anthology we all need to read" (Bustle), edited by June Eric-Udorie, a remarkable and inspiring twenty-year-old activist who the BBC named one of 100 "inspirational and influential women" of 2016. At this year's Durham Book Festival 2018, Hayley Camis (Virago Publicity Manager) spoke to contributor Soofiya Andry about their essay 'Deviant Bodies'. Soofiya is a visual artist, illustrator and designer and has an essay in the collection ...
Susan Fletcher
November 29, 2018 14:51 - 24 minutes - 55.2 MBVirago's Lennie Goodings spoke to Susan Fletcher about her beautiful new novel, House of Glass and we hear Susan read a passage from the novel. As Tracy Chevalier has said, House of Glass starts 'as a ghost story but turns into something much more profound: a lyrical examination of how women carve lives out of a male-dominated society, even with a war looming that will change everyone.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Deborah Frances-White
November 20, 2018 10:06 - 18 minutes - 42.9 MBDeborah Frances-White is the creator and host of the hit podcast The Guilty Feminist. She is a stand-up comedian best known for her BBC Radio 4 show Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice which won the Writers' Guild Award for Best Radio Comedy. Her book, The Guilty Feminist, was a Sunday Times bestseller and described by Emma Thompson as 'essential reading for the planet'. We spoke with Deborah just after the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, about traversing the bounda...
Lara Thompson
October 31, 2018 10:33 - 34 minutes - 78.1 MBLara Thompson won the first Virago/The Pool New Crime Writer Award for her novel One Night, New York in 2017. This is the first episode of a series following Lara through the process of publication - from her writing life before winning the prize (featuring jealousy-inducing stories of a "Writing Shed"), to discovering she won the prize whilst eating in a Vietnamese restaurant and her experience and journey towards becoming a published author. [Please note there is some background noise a...
Virago Modern Classics 40th Anniversary
August 22, 2018 14:41 - 30 minutes - 70 MBTo celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Virago Modern Classics, we sat down with Donna Coonan (Editorial Director) as well as to discuss our baker’s dozen of stunning, deluxe paperbacks and hardback anthology. Later in the episode, Donna speaks to the series designer, Hannah Wood, about the beautiful artwork created by illustrator, Yehrin Tong. Throughout the podcast you will hear the Virago team speaking about each of the books included in the collection. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...
Susie Boyt & Rachel Seiffert
July 19, 2018 14:49 - 43 minutes - 99.4 MBThis month we have a double-header for you on the Virago podcast. First up we have Susie Boyt discussing her latest novel, Love & Fame. And then we have Rachel Seiffert in conversation with Lennie Goodings talking about her novel Boy in Winter and the recently rediscovered classic, The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Caroline O'Donoghue
July 05, 2018 10:38 - 30 minutes - 70.6 MBThis month, we speak to Caroline O'Donoghue about her debut novel, Promising Young Women. Promising Young Women is a gothic, darkly witty novel about sex, power, work and being a young woman in a man's world. It is out now in hardback. 'I loved it. The writing is whipsmart and so witty. A fabulous and timely novel.' Marian Keyes 'So brilliant ... Compelling and illuminating ... I highly recommend it.' Dolly Alderton 'A future classic.' Jane Casey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...
Åsne Seierstad
April 24, 2018 13:00 - 31 minutes - 43.6 MBIn October 2013 two teenage sisters left Oslo for Syria. What follows is the gripping, heartbreaking story of a family ripped apart. While Sadiq risks his own life to bring his daughters back, at home his wife Sara begins to question their life in Norway. We spoke to author Åsne Seierstad about her new book, Two Sisters. Two Sisters is a powerful and gripping true account of a family torn apart - by the author of the international bestseller, The Bookseller Of Kabul. Hosted on Acast. See ...
Sarah Dunant
March 22, 2018 09:00 - 27 minutes - 38.3 MBThis month, Sarah Dunant joins us to discuss In the Name of the Family, which we have just published in paperback. Conjuring up the past in all its complexity, horror and pleasures, In The Name of the Family confirms Sarah Dunant's place as the leading novelist of the Renaissance and one of the most acclaimed historical fiction writers of our age. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sarah Waters
February 26, 2018 05:00 - 38 minutes - 53.4 MBVirago has been home to the wonderful Sarah Waters since 1998, when her debut novel Tipping the Velvet was published to rave reviews. Tipping the Velvet is an exuberant, exultant novel. It's saucy and sensuous and followers the glittering career of Nan King, oyster girl turned music hall star turned rent-boy turned East End tom turned feminist. It was a revolutionary novel. Twenty years on, Sarah Waters is one of Britain's most acclaimed novelists; her novels have won praise and awards, ...