Ashton Politanoff is here to talk to me about his novel, DAD HAD A BAD DAY (Daunt Books)

Ashton's novel is an articulate exploration of masculinity, its patiently crafted unraveling narrative, and its loyal homage to the sport of tennis.

Here's some fun facts about Ashton.

Ashton Politanoff is a frequent contributor to NOON, edited by Diane Williams. He is a former Division I tennis player, and his childhood coach was Robert Lansdorp, who is credited with coaching Pete Sampras and Maria Sharapova. Politanoff’s first novel, You’ll Like It Here, was published in 2022 by Dalkey Archive Press. He is an English professor at Cypress College, and lives in Los Angeles.

In the episode, we'll be talking about (im)perfect role models and father figures, the challenges of writing about your passion, how to write narrative tension, and yes, of course, and tennis.

A reading list of books Ashton mentions in this episode are available to buy here: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/july-s-reads-2026?&new-list-page=true&bkshp-astro=t Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages Patreon and become a Page Rippler! https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Chapters  - 1.15 - Pete Sampras and Maria Sharipova? - 2.10 - watching Wimbledon - 4.15 - Who is Ned and why tennis? - 5.45 - setting a novel in a tennis club - 7.40 - Did Ashton feel like he had to write this novel - 10.15 - Ned's relationship with his son.  - 11.50 - Tough challenges of writing sons - 15.10 - fathers and sons and sports. - 17.45 - Ashton's own tennis career - 19.30 - different fraternal and paternal relationships - 20.30 - Rippling Pages Bookshop - 21.45 - Writing key smalls scenes - 27.00 - Writing tension - 32.25 - Ned's relationship with his wife. - 37.30 - Writing about tennis! -  

I'm a huge fan of Alice's first book, ILL FEELINGS (Fitzcarraldo Editions), so I was obviously really excited to get stuck into their next book, FANCY WORK (Fitzcarraldo Editions), for this special live edition of the Rippling Pages. 

That book indeed weaved (auto)biography, science art history, reportage, and polemic to explore the impact of chronic illness on theirs and their mother’s lives. Alice applied some of these innovative techniques to FANCY WORK.

Alice explores the life and work of the incredibly influential Morris family and the arts and craft movement. Alice finds and traces evidence and ephemerality related to the life and work May Morris and their gender non-conforming partner, M.F. 

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Chapters

0.15 - Introduction to the event 02.15 - How Alice was enjoying Leeds 03.00 - What is the book about? 05.00 - Who are the Morris Family? 9.00 - How the Morris's went back in history.  13.10 - Embroidery as labour 14.50 - Alice's reading. 22.45 - Why write history in this way? 26.05 - Making money from embroidery/writing 28.05 - How to uncover history 34.45 - Alice writing about feelings 40.00 - Alice's relationship with their mum.  43.00 - Alice's mum is an embroider  47.00 - Love in Alice's novel 47.30 - Rippling Pages Patreon Prize.

Reference Points

Walter Benjamin Judith Butler Ill Feelings (2021: Fitzcarraldo Books) - Alice Hattrick Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History - Heather Love  (2007:Harvard University Press) Queering the Subversive Stich (2020: Bloomsbury Publishing) - Joseph McBrinn José Esteban Muñoz The Subversive Stitch (1984:Bloomsbury Publishing) - Rozsika Parker  The Log Books (2026: Faber) - Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

This the podcast where writers get real about writing, but today, we’re getting real about podcasting!

In today’s episode of Ask the Host, we’re finding out:

- What’s the difference between the live coffee conversations and remote interviews> - My summer book preview and reading list? - Where have we been for Leeds Lit Fest? What is the hottest new literary salon on the scene? And looking forward to my event with Alice Hattrick - What’s the origin story of the podcast?

Enjoy and let me know if you’ve got any questions when you leave a review of my show!

Tickets to the Rippling Pages Live at Leeds Literature Festival with Alice Hattrick https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Books Jan Carson Raoul de Jong  John Eyck Neil Griffiths  Alice Hattrick Stu Hennigan  M. John Harrison - The end of everything  Hanna Nordenhök - Caesaria Agnes Lidbeck  Fernanda Melchor  Sara Mesa Jake Morris Campbell - A journey onto the salt and ash Flann O’Brien The Rickard Sisters  Keith Ridgway - Dooneen  C.D. Rose Guillermo Stitch - The Coast of Everything  Saskia Vogel Katie Whittemore Alice Evelyn Yang - A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing

This time, we’re going back to a conversation that was had in 2022 with the writer, editor, and all around bookish good guy, Nicholas Royle.

I spoke to Nicholas about his wonderful book about book collecting, WHITE SPINES:THE CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK COLLECTOR

Chances are, if you’ve a penchant for second-hand books, you’ll have been or known about one of the many bookshops Nicholas visited to find the Picador books that he coveted.

We’re also celebrating Leeds Literature Festival. The book features Leeds bookshops, and Nicholas is in Leeds talking about the art of the short story with Alice Jolly and Naomi Booth. 

Get your tickets below

Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick.  https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Reference Points

Writers and Books

AJ Ashworth Andrea Ashworth The Lake John Foxx (Nightjar Press) M. John Harrison Anna Kavan - Ice (Picador: 1967) Alberto Manguel (editor) Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature (Picador: 1983) Livi Michael - The Lake (Nightjar Press) Alison Moore Nicholas Royle - First Novel (Vintage: 2013) Nicholas Royle - Counterparts (Penguin: 1995) Nicholas Royle - Ornithology (Confingo: 2017) Nicholas Royle - An English Guide to Bird Watching (Myriad Editions: 2017) Nicholas Royle - Uncanny (Manchester University Press: 2003) Per Wahlöö - The Lorry (Picador: 1972) Conrad Williams

Artists

Paul Delvaux Salvador Dali

Chapters 3.00 - when did he first see the white spines? 7.00 - what was special about the books 9.00 - why write this book 12.15 - Writing a quest 14.45 - is it about confession or obsession  18.10 - giving second life to writers 19.35 - second hand bookshops  24.55 - tactile nature of books  26.09 - sharing names and uncanniness  28.15 - two Nicholas Royles 30.30 - dreams and realities of being a writer 34.45 - nightjar press

Not only is it lovely to speak about some of the places I know really well, but also a bittersweet too, as Stu’s novel reminds of me of the people and places I’ve moved away from. 

What I loved about Stu’s novel, is its sheer vividness of its writing, combining, artfully, the vernacular and the obscene. It’s evocations of northern town and cities that are close to me, but also its unflinching approach to troubling subject matter.

Stu Hennigan is a writer, poet, editor, and musician based in Leeds, UK. His acclaimed book, Ghost Signs: Poverty and the Pandemic, became notable for its powerful documentary fo the  city's most deprived communities during COVID-19 lockdown. KESHED, published by Ortac Press, is his first novel. 

*this episode features strong language and discussion of sensitive themes!*

Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick.  https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Stu’s Substack: https://stuhennigan.substack.com

References Writers Martin Amis Jenn Ashworth Charles Baudelaire Naomi Booth James Clark  Owen Jones Alice Jolly Alice Murphy-Pyle Ben Myers Annie Proulx Music Arab Strap Jimi Hendrix  Film and TV The Royle Family Ken Loach Chapters

1.45 - Uncategorising KESHED 6.15 - What is KESHED about 8.45  - why is Sean in Leeds.  9.55 - Is Sean a flaneur?  16.05 - Sean’s voice  19.20 - The importance of reading  20.10 - On truth 25.25 - Liam’s personal response to the book.  27.45 - Patreon shoutouts! 28.45 - Who is Mandy? 31.20 - Getting feedback on writing women 36.00 -the hard work of writing  37.30 - Assuming readers are smarter than you 38.45 - Language is not a barrier  40.15 - The market of writing 

Amber has been collated in one of the most select short story anthologies likely to hit the shelves this year. Magic and Mechanics (Scratch Books) features some of the most talented short story writers short stories alongside interviews about those stories.

The anthology about the art and craft of the short story features writers such as George Saunders, Claire-Louise Bennett, Mark Haddon, Camilla Grudova, and Colin Barrett. 

Amber tells me about her story, Mr Blythe Esq. 

Amber’s debut novel, WILD PETS, was published by Faber and Faber, and her book of non-fiction, ATTENTION SEEKER:THE TRUTH ABOUT ADHD, her exploration of the history of ADHD, was published by Dialogue Books. She has an MFA from Columbia University.  Links to heighting your Rippling Pages Experience

Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick.  https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

2.20 - what's it like being in the anthology with George Saunders 4.05 - is writing magic more mechanics? 6.10 - what is Amber's story about? 8.30 - the relationship between the two 10.00 - what is left out of a story? 12.50 - who is Mr Blythe? 14.15  - Power dynamics and musicality 17.30 - sentences on the ear  20.10 - taking creative writing MFAs 21.55 - writer's block 26.00 - Taking the weight from writing. 27.38 - Rippling Pages Bookshop 28.40 - what does it mean to have confidence as a writer. 33.00 - food in Amber's writing. 35.00 - Amber writing about ADHD 39.55 - writing about attentiveness

Referenc Points

Writers Claire-Louise Bennett Lucy Caldwell  George Saunders Joy Williams 

Films Fantasia 

Musicians Harry Styles

Over the years, we’ve been proud to feature emergent writers on the Rippling Pages and speak to them in the early stages of their careers.

One of those writers is Polly Barton, who’s just released her debut novel, WHAT AM I, A DEER? with Fitzcarraldo Editions.

I spoke to Polly five years ago about her Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize winning, FIFTY SOUNDS. 

Polly is a writer and translator from Japanese. Translations include Butter by Asako Yuzuki, Hunchback by Saul Ichikawa, and Where the Where the Wild Ladies Are by Akko Matsuda. Her essay, Porn: An Oral History was also published by Fitzcarraldo Editons. 

In our conversation, we picked out knotty debates about language, her time in Japan, and what it means to love and love in language

Enjoy!

If you fancy hearing another Fitzcarraldo essayist, why not buy tickets for my event with Alice Hattrick at Leeds Lit Fest: https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Chapters 3.00 - What are the Fifty Sounds 5.40 - what is the philosophy behind the bok 10.00 - Wittgenstein 14.30 - Embarrasment, error and comedy 16.15 - Binaries 20.15 - Outsiders and immersion 21.45 - Language games 24.14 - Structuring the book 28.00 - Japan as a man 31.45 - Loving language and people

Reference Points Ludwig Wittgenstein

It’s how they remind her of her childhood in Mexico and show off little details.

In fairness, it might once have been a lighter for Camille, but she still has them all. 

This is bonus content on the Rippling Pages where we ask a writer to provide us with an object that has been with them during their writing process.

You’re also going to hear a snippet of the Patreon close-reads podcast for subscribers. If you like the sound of it, you can sign up for exclusive member benefits, including the full close read podcast for Patreon subscribers.

Do that here: https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

You’ll also hear a little more about Camille’s experience of writing in French and English. 

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Tickets for live in conversation with Alice Hattrick at Leeds Lit Fest:

https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/

Chapters 2.20 - Objects of influence; miniature objects 7.50 - Patreon preview  9.25 - Camille writing in French and English 

What I loved about these stories is their wonderfully dry humour, empathetic narratives of flawed characters, and deeply woven observations, within the stories, about how fiction works. 

Plaudits for Camille have come from George Saunders, Zadie Smith, and Percival Everett. She’s a regular contributor to the New Yorker.

Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

1.30 - bad backs and teaching 4.00 - writing and talking about death  8.45 - creating character dynamics  11.10 - camille’s sociology background 12.45 - experimenting in stories and novels   15.10 - writing in French and English 17.40 - Rippling pages Patreon 19.55 - animation and jokes 22.15 - what animates a language 24.30 - writing dialogue  26.30 - misunderstanding ourselves  28.45 - illness and self growth  30.15 - plotting 33.30 - how sopranos helps with plotting  36.35 - recreating scenes from the sopranos 39.00 - acting and writing

Reference Points

Donald Barthelme  Delphine Horvilleur Karl Ove Knausgård Gwendoline Riley Katharina Volckmer 

TV The Sopranos

In this bonus content, you're going to hear a lot about Easter Eggs, but not the chocolate kind. Instead, we’re talking those little secret insights to Lucy's work, both past, present and future.

This is bonus content and our objects of influence segment where we ask a writer to provide us with an object that has been with them during the writing of the book.

It's also a little Easter Egg from the Rippling Pages too. You're going to hear a snippet of the Patreon close-reads podcast for subscribers. If you like the sound of it, you can sign up for exclusive member benefits, including the full close read podcast exclusive to subscribers.

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.

https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi 

Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience:

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Chapters - Close Read Patreon Preview 1.45 - Objects of Influence - 3.55

Reference Points Anton Chekhov Hamlet Taylor Swift

That's right, we were live and in person having a coffee talking about Lucy's new collection

I revelled in a theatre troupe performing a choose your own version of Hamlet; I had a wry smile watching Christopher Plummer ponder on whether he really did love Julie Andrews, and among the many other stories, continued to marvel at Lucy's capacity to meditate on death, existence, light and love.

Lucy is from Belfast. She lives in Kent, but we had our conversation in London. 

Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Chapters 2.00 - is 'master' the right word? 7.15 - Devotions forming a single whole 9.15 Lucy's relationship with her editor 12.50 - writing in real-time  16.50 - Choose your own adventure stories. 18.10 - Hamlet. 21.10 - Writing about love 26.05 - Devotions easter egg! 28.35 finding meaning in the here and the now.  32.20 - Patreon shoutouts! 33.50 - inspired by James Joyce 37.26 - writing great psychic movements. 42.00 - Special writing from Lucy.  46.45 - Finding meaning in the darkness 51.25 - Suffering as a portal. 

Reference Points

Sebastian Barry

Elizabeth Bowen

Willa Cather

Anton Chekhov

Dante

Ram Dass

John Donne

T.S. Eliot

Anne Enright

Wendy Erskine

bell hooks

Kazuo Ishiguro

James Joyce

Claire Kilroy

Rosamond Lehman

Louis MacNeice

Alice Munro

Cardinal Newman

Edna O’Brien

Frank O’Hara

Rumi

Helen Simpson

John Updike

Sylvia Townsend Warner

Virginia Woolf

W.B. Yeats

Lucy’s Work

Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (edited by Lucy, Faber, 2021)

Multitudes (Faber, 2016)

Intimacies (Faber, 2021)

Leaves (Faber: 2007)

Where They Were Missed (Faber: 2005)

Plays

Hamlet

Music Ludwig van Beethoven

Van Morrison

Taylor Swift

Films

The Sound of Music (1965: Robert Wise)

Leon was here to discuss THE DECADENCE (Sceptre), a novel about a group of friends who find shelter in an old abandoned home, but encounter more than they bargained for. Leon Craig, whose previous collection of short stories, PARALLEL HELLS, was also published by Sceptre, is a graduate of the Birkbeck MFA Creative Writing course. Her work has been published by Hazlitt, the Sunday Times, the London Magazine and others and is forthcoming in Nulla magazine and Berlin Babel anthology.

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Have you ever walked past an old abandoned house and wondered what kinds of lives were lived there? Have you ever dared to explore one? Perhaps you wanted to escape and hide in the house. Or perhaps you wanted to use it for something a little more nefarious.

Leon Craig, whose previous collection of short stories, PARALLEL HELLS, was also published by Sceptre, is a graduate of the Birkbeck MFA Creative Writing course. Her work has been published by Hazlitt, the Sunday Times, the London Magazine and others and is forthcoming in Nulla magazine and Berlin Babel anthology.

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Episode Chapters

1.30 - rising literary stars poll 3.30 - The crumbling haunted house 6.30 - the ensemble cast  7.25 - early hauntings.  10.10 - misunderstandings and humour  11.50 -embracing imperfect characters. 14.25 - secret passageways  16.05 - sexual elements to hauntings.  19.10 - colonial legacies and trespassing 22.55 - Rippling Pages Patreon 24.20 - on beauty   27.00 - getting what we want.  29.50 - desire and disgust  32.00 - The country housegenre 37.15 - Leon’s next novel

Reference Points House of Leaves (2000, Mark Z. Danielewski).

Saltburn (2023, dir. Emerald Fennell)

Beowulf

The Great Gatsby (1925, F.Scott Fitzgerald)

White is for Witching(2009, Helen Oyeyemi)

Brideshead Revisited (1945, Evelyn Waugh)

Dunja has finally launched her literary career, but the shadow and spectre of her brother’s death haunts both her and her family. What happens when she returns to investigate her brother’s death? And what happens when the truth becomes stranger than the fiction she writes?

Ana Schnabl’s novel is published by Divided Publishing. Ana is a Slovenian writer, and this is her second novel to be translated into English, by Rawley Grau. Her first novel to be translated into English was The Masterpiece, that time by David Limon. In Slovenia, she is a winner of Slovenia’s prestigious literary prize, the Kresnik award. She’s also a regular contributor to the journal The Guardian, writing on Balkan politics and culture.

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Episode Chapters

1.30 - Ana's based in Slovenia 2.35 - Fake crime novels 3.50 - Djuna's relationship with her dead brother. 5.30 - Why has Djuna returned? 7.30 - Family dynamics.  9.00 - Rockstars and the Slovene transition 10.35 - Michael Jackson 13.30 - a fake crime novel 15.00 - Rippling Pages Bookshop 16.00 - Not liking modernist novels 19.45 - Writing cerebral characters 21.00 - Sentimental feelings about home 24.15 - Ice cream and the Adriatic coast 27.30 - Not believing in legacies. 30.30 sitting with unpleasant people. 31.50 - who helps Djuna. 33.45 - Smoking

Reference Points

Agatha Christie 

Marcel Proust

Virginia Woolf

A government who seems slow to respond to a rapidly encroaching crisis. Marketing executives exploiting ways to make quick cash. A missing Prime Minister. Leavers and remainers conflicted about the right course of action. It all sounds like a playbook for our recent political crises. But when the dams start bursting in the Netherlands and the country rapidly begins to flood and be subsumed, what happens when people are faced with the unthinkable in this new waterworld. 

These are the questions at the heart of Eva Meijer’s, SEA NOW, translated by Anne Thompson Melo, and published by Peirene Press.

Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience:

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Chapters

2.25 - what is the novel about 4.25 - a human and animal story 7:45 - how people respond to the crisis in the book 11.15 - is the novel represent human experience 13.45 - widescreen viewpoints 17.45 - why is the sea so powerful 21.20 - the Rippling Pages Bookshop 23.10 - why do characters stay? 25.40 - is there hope in the novel 27.15 - endings and new beginnings and grief  30.30 - objects of influence  36.40 - Patreon subscriber shoutout! Reference Points Don DeLillo

In Pakistan, a young woman grapples with a strange, indefinable illness against a backdrop of political upheaval. In England, a teenager tries to make sense of his intense emotions during one hot summer at boarding school.

Farah Ali’s TELEGRAPHY, published by CB Editions, is her second novel. Originally from Pakistan, Farah has been anthologised for the Pushcart Prize and is the reviews editor at Wasafiri.

JEAN is the debut novel by London-based writer Madeleine Dunnigan, published by Daunt Books. She was a Jill Davis Fellow on the MFA programme at New York University.

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon with exclusive crafted subscriber benefits.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Reference Points

Tom McCarthy 

John McGahern

Gerald Murnane 

If you’re looking for your next great reads of 2026, look no further — Rippling Pages has you covered.

We’re going from Pakistan to a rural boarding school in 1970s London.

In Pakistan, a young woman grapples with a strange, indefinable illness against a backdrop of political upheaval. In England, a teenager tries to make sense of his intense emotions during one hot summer at boarding school.

Farah Ali’s TELEGRAPHY, published by CB Editions, is her second novel. Originally from Pakistan, Farah has been anthologised for the Pushcart Prize and is the reviews editor at Wasafiri.

JEAN is the debut novel by London-based writer Madeleine Dunnigan, published by Daunt Books. She was a Jill Davis Fellow on the MFA programme at New York University.

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon with exclusive crafted subscriber benefits.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Reference Points Mathias Énard - The Annual Banquet of the Gravedigger's Guild  Rachel Kushner - The Flamethrowers John McGahern - That They May Face the Rising Sun Gerald Murnane - The Plains Tom McCarthy - Remainder

Chapters

3.15 - illness and narrative voice 5.25 - feeling ill writing the book 10.15 - Madeleine's on Farah's narrator 12.30 - Madeleine's book 16.10 -  different kinds of love. 18.40 - Rippling Pages patreon 19.55 - a queer  story in the boarding school 21.50 - different kinds of intimacy 23.40 - precociousness 28.10 - bodies, illness and healing  33.00 - what these books say about the world.  38.00 - Dealing with fracture 40.50 - rippling pages bookshop 41.20 - Madeleine recommends 45.15 - Farah recommends. 

It must be another edition of Ask the Curator. In these episodes, we go behind the curtain of the literary industry to ask another literary curator, how they do what they do.

Over the years, Rali has worked at Penguin RandomHouse, Faber and Canongate, working with some of the biggest names in literature. But she recently went freelance to deliver on her aim of guiding writers refine and elevate their work. She was awarded with a Rising Star Award from The Printing Charity in recognition of her work.

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon with exclusive crafted subscriber benefits.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Links to Rali’s services:

Reference Points

Farah Ali Raymond Carver V.S. Naipaul Erin Sommers

Chapters

2.25 - what does Rali's work look like? 3.45 - Rali's ideal clients 4.50 - the importance of taking feedback 7.15 - strategies for taking and rejecting feedback 12.00 - finding people who champion you 15.20 - Do writers need to market themselves? 16.10 - Having ties to local communities. 17.40 - Rali’s top tip  19.40 - books Rali is looking forward to in 2026

Plus, you’re going to hear some extra bits about writing heroes and villains. 

Fulfillment, Lee Cole’s second novel, follows two half brothers whose clashing ambitions—Emmett’s longing to be a screenwriter and his brother’s academic ideals about “rural despair”—go beyond a simple difference in worldview. Something deeper threatens to pull them apart.

Lee is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, is also the author of Groundskeeping. Both his novels were published by Faber in the U.K. The New York Times has described his work as “Anne Tyler by way of Sally Rooney.” Originally from Kentucky, Lee joins me today from Philadelphia.

Buy Lee Cole’s book here

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Now living a humdrum life in Kentucky, Emmett spends his days packing boxes in a warehouse. But what happens when he begins to dream of another life—and when those dreams start to fracture his family relationships?

These questions lie at the heart of Fulfilment, Lee Cole’s second novel. The book follows two half brothers whose clashing ambitions—Emmett’s longing to be a screenwriter and his brother’s academic ideals about “rural despair”—go beyond a simple difference in worldview. Something deeper threatens to pull them apart.

Lee is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, is also the author of Groundskeeping. Both his novels were published by Faber in the U.K. The New York Times has described his work as “Anne Tyler by way of Sally Rooney.” Originally from Kentucky, Lee joins me today from Philadelphia.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops!

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon

https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages

1.35 - Ann Tyler and Sally Rooney

5.05 - why Kentucky 

7.25 - people who leave and stay in small towns 

9.30 - why does Emmett wish he had what Joel has?

11.10 - southern fried rendition of Marx

12.10 - warehouses 

16.12 - the difficulty of warehouse jobs 

18.30 - Kentucky’s beauty 

19.45 - backgrounds and worldviews 

21.45 - guilt about writing about home or 

22.30 - rippling pages bookshop

23.35 - Alice’s role

26.15 - Alice’s dream of owning a farm 

28.50 - knowing what our desires are 

32.50 - writing about writers impulses

Books

Wendell Berry

Annie Dillard

Sigmund Freud

Aldo Leopold

Karl Marx

Sally Rooney 

Anne Tyler

John Updike 

America is a place that has compelled countless writers to travel its vast and varied landscapes.  Perhaps you’ve done it yourself. But what happens when you feel compelled to do it all again? That’s the question at the heart of Joanna Pocock’s essay, Greyhound (Fitzcarraldo Editions). Named after the iconic bus company whose intercity network carries passengers from Detroit to Los Angeles — and which Joanna relies on for her own journey — Greyhound revisits familiar motels, crossings, and bus stations she first encountered years before.

Joanna’s writing has appeared in the LA Times, Guardian US and the Nation among others. GREYHOUND is her second book, and her first, SURRENDER, won the Fitzcarraldo essay prize.

Remember to like, share, follow, subscribe or leave a review if you enjoy the show. Joanna is talking about objects of influence, which are: Her notebooks Her photographs 

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Life is full of adjustments - perhaps there isn’t a bigger adjustment than having children. But what happens when you start to question your role in this adjustment? Crucially, what happens when a mother starts to question her role in this adjustment. 

These are the questions at the heart of Agnes’s novel, SUPPORTING ACT, published by Peirene Press and translated by Nichola Smalley. 

It’s a beautiful novel about fierce devotion in the face of fierce questions that need to be asked about why certain people seem to take on certain roles in society.

Agnes is the author of five novels, but this was her first novel, and it’s her first to be translated into English. She is a renowned name in Sweden on TV, radio, and Swedish letters. This book alone was the winner of the prestigious Bourous Debut Novel Prize.

This is part of Modern Culture’s programming of events called Stories from Sweden, so thanks to Martin Colthorpe for help making this happen. 

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops!

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Rippling Points

0.15 introductions.  3.25 - Agnes time in Leeds 4.35 opening to the novel 6.05 - Agnes and Jens 10.05 - Agnes’s reading  14.00 - touch and tactility    17.10 - Swedish society and parental leave 19.50 - spiritual and physical pain of Anna.  22.00 - Jens and Ivan 24.25 - why is Ivan so compelling to Anna 27.15 - grips of passion   29.00 - rippling pages bookshop  30.15 - different modes of time  35.30 - Anna’s dark thoughts  38.15 - Agnes’s next book  40.45 - frustration and being kind to Anna 42.30 - a strange interaction in the street! 45.00 - questions from the audience - do you have a different relationship with Anna as a result of the translation  47.30 question from audience - is Anna a detached person, or detached as a result of motherhood. 49.00 - the power of translation 

Reference Points

Hjalmar Söderberg  Baruch Spinoza  Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina  Annie Ernaux  Wretchedness - Andrzej Tichý (translated by Nichola Smalley)

Joanna’s writing has appeared in the LA Times, Guardian US and the Nation among others*. GREYHOUND is her second book, and her first, SURRENDER, won the Fitzcarraldo essay prize.

Remember to like, share, follow, subscribe or leave a review if you enjoy the show. *please note that I state an incorrect list of publications in the intro. Amended here!

Reference Points - 1.40 - is Joanna a city or a country writer  - 3.20 - where the journey starts -  6.15 - why are there not more women on the road? -  09.00 - starting in Canada. -  11.05 - Borders -  12.15 - the people Joanna meets -  16.05 - the sense of perspective. -  17.50 -  people Joanna sees - 19.30 - Amarillo and fecal dust  - 23.00 - rippling pages podcast -  24.05 - the cost of travel -  26.35  - the bus as a political space -  30.30 - the enduring appeal of the American road.

***** Tickets for Agnes Lidbeck in Conversation  https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/events/p/theripplingpagesliveoctober

***** Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Reference Points Ansel Adams Lewis Baltz Simone de  Beauvoir - America Day by Day Jack Kerouac - On the Road Irma Kirtz - The Great American Bus Ride Ethel Mannin - An America Journey Benjamin Markovits - The Rest of Our Lives William Least Heat-Moon - Blue Highways Ed Ruscha The Salt Path - Raynor Winn

It's time to answer some more questions from you, the listeners!

So, that’s what I’ve done: I’ve picked out some questions from the Rippling Pages inbox, and answered them!

In this episode, I answer: - What I have been reading lately? - How are my French lessons going?  - How do I prepare for interviews? - What is my favourite bookshop? - What is my favourite season? - Who's going to win the Premier League and Women's Super League?

Got a question yourself? Why not leave a review and a question and I might pick out one for a future show!

***** Tickets for Agnes Lidbeck in Conversation  https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/events/p/theripplingpagesliveoctober ***** Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops!

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Reference Points Books On the Clock by Claire Baglin (translated by Jordan Stump). Daunt Books Lanre Bakare - We Were There (Penguin Books) The Unreliable Nature Writer by Claire Carroll  (Scratch Books)  Joy is My Middle Name by Sasha Debevec-McKenney (Fitzcaralldo Editions ) Failed Summer Vacation by Heuijung Hur (translated by Paige Aniyah Morris) Scratch Books Noreen Masud  - A Flat Place (Penguin Books) White Spines by Nicholas Royle (Salt Books) 

Two Days, One Night (2014, directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)

The return of a potentially holy river in the Indian mountains - is it a sign of a new age, a divine intervention, or simply the workings of nature? These are the questions at the heart of Gurnaik Johal’s novel, SARASWATI, published by Serpent’s Tail. Frauds, politicians, mystics, writers, and the family who own the farm in which the river exists, are caught up in trying to determine what the return of the SARASWATI river means. It is a novel that is truly global in its scope, set in Canada, India, the Chagos Islands, and Wolverhampton. It was named as a Guardian newspaper selection for 2025, and shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. Gurnaik was a winner of the Galley Beggar short story prize. 

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages

Rippling Points

1.55 - what is the SARASWATI? 3.35 - the family connection  6.45 - river symbolism  8.20 - characters in the novel  10.30 - family dynasties and novels  11.55- reclamation 14.45 - rippling pages bookshop  15.30 - border conflicts  18.40 - human connection between  21 - romance in the novel  23.20 - the chagos islands  27.50 - how people communicate  29.30 - from short stories to novels  31.15 - being faithful to reality  34.35 - more advice for writers 

Welcome to part 2 of my conversation with Yan Ge.

Yan Ge is here to discuss her life and writing. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province People’s Republic of China. Emerging as a prodigious writer in Chinese and Sichuanese, she was named as one of China’s twenty future literary masters by People Magazine. In 2012, she was chosen as Best New Writer by the Prestigious Chinese Literature Media Prize. For English language readers, Nicky Harman first translated her novella, White Horse, for Hope Road publishing in 2014, a story about young girls negotiating adolescence in the presence of a mysterious white horse. Then, four years later, Nicky translated The Chilli Bean Paste Clan in 2018, published by Balestier. Elsewhere arrived in 2023 (Faber), and Yan Ge treated us to a new dimension of her work entirely: short fiction and, for the first time, written in English.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

 Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Rippling Points

Chapters 

- 3.30 - writing parts of ourselves that are distinct  - 7.35 - SBoC taking off  - 10.05 - identifying vulnerabilities  - 12.15 -all consuming spells of writing  - 16.45 - finding balance  - 20.15 - inspired by a younger self - 24.40 - The Chilli Bean Paste Clan - 27.35 - food in Yan ges work - 31.35 - Yan’s parents   - 35.02 - Another Liam!

Reference Points

Nicky Harman

Jeremy Tiang

It’s Women in Translation Month!

Yan Ge is here to discuss her life and writing. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province People’s Republic of China. Emerging as a prodigious writer in Chinese and Sichuanese, she was named as one of China’s twenty future literary masters by People Magazine. In 2012, she was chosen as Best New Writer by the Prestigious Chinese Literature Media Prize. For English language readers, Nicky Harman first translated her novella, White Horse, for Hope Road publishing in 2014, a story about young girls negotiating adolescence in the presence of a mysterious white horse. Then, four years later, Nicky translated The Chilli Bean Paste Clan in 2018, published by Balestier. Elsewhere arrived in 2023 (Faber), and Yan Ge treated us to a new dimension of her work entirely: short fiction and, for the first time, written in English.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

 Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Reference Points

George Saunders

Rippling Points 

Chapters 02.30 - connected by Leeds 4.20 - Drifting from the Chinese language 5.45 - Writing elsewhere in English 09.20 - Transforming the process 10:50 - A new relationship with language  14:05 - Linguistic and cultural experiences of the characters 16:47- Happiness 19:24 - Contentment and striving  21:00 - Rippling Pages Bookshop 23:41 - Making writing hard and easy 28:26 - Having belief

Kimberly Campanello is here to talk about her novel, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE (Somesuch Editions). It’s a sweltering summer in Bretagne, France. K, an American exchange student, is navigating more than just unfamiliar streets. She’s finding a new language. This is bonus content from the previous episode. 

In this bonus content, I’ve asked Kimberly to provide me with some objects that Kimberly associated with writing the book, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE. It’s an interesting and new way to think about influence, and a way to understand both the book and the writer a bit more. 

We talk about a flag, a musician, Alan Stivell, and something called a ‘Fest Noz’, all of them relating to the culture of Brittany where the novel is set.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Rippling Points

1.54 - Proust and Memory

04.01 - Objects of influence

06.21 - Fest Noz

07.01 - Alan Stivell

08.29 - The Brittany Flag, the Blanche Ermine

Reference Point

Jonathan Culler

Arthur Rimbaud

Kimberly Campanello is here to talk about her novel, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE (Somesuch Editions). It’s a sweltering summer in Bretagne, France. K, an American exchange student, is navigating more than just unfamiliar streets. She’s finding a new language.

Kimberly’s work moves between forms, genres, and histories. She’s the author of MOTHERBABYHOME (zimZALLA), a harrowing and formally innovative response to Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes, is held in the national poetry special collections across the U.K and Ireland. Her poetry has appeared in publications like Granta, The White Review, and The Poetry Review, and essays in Tolka. And, this year, her poetry collection, AN INTERESTING DETAIL was released by Bloomsbury. 

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Rippling Points 01:30 - Motherbabyhome 02:07 - From motherbabyhome to Use the words you have 05:38 - What is the novel about 08:02 - Sounding like you know what you’re doing when you don’t 09:51 - Differences poetry and the novel 11:46 - Who is K 14:16 - Belief and reading 15:58 - Making sense through Rimbaud 16:28 - Life in the Midwest 20:03 - Rippling Pages Bookshop 21:05 - K in Paris 22:16 - K’s notebook 25:37 - Wonky translations 29:19 - Kimberly’s notebooks. Reference Points Hart Crane Dante Marguerite Duras Annie Ernaux Tony Harrison Marcel Proust Arthur Rimbaud  Nathalie Sarraute Bruce Omar Yates review https://thelondonmagazine.org/review-use-the-words-you-have-by-kimberly-campanello/

In Uttama Kirit Patel’s novel, The Shape of an Apostrophe (Serpent’s Tail), Lina is pregnant, and she’s finding that this seemingly salubrious society is not congenial and accommodating to the difficult challenges of an unplanned pregnancy. Uttama, born to Gujarati parents who then since found their way to the United Arab Emirates via Kampala, Surat, Pondicherry and Colchester. Her short fiction was nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for emerging writers.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Reference Points

Helen Phillips - The Need

Rippling Points

.30 - Uttama's life living around the world. 2.47 - An unexpected pregnancy 3.45 - Limited reproductive rights and setting the novel in Dubai 5.47 - writing a novel about someone who doesn't want children 6.30 - Uttama writing an apology letter to herself 7.59 - On desire 11.17 - Lina's relationship with her parents 12.57 - Does Lina have a support network? 14.03 - Lina's husband and her mother-in-law 16.44 - Is Lina's mother-in-law a feminist? 22.27 - Uttama's interest in sea-life. 24.10 - Lina's feeling of loss 26.41 - Lines, traces and artistry of Lina in the novel.

32.45 - Uttama's writing journey

The personal journey to opening a bookshop in Leeds

Why she focusses women’s writing

Balancing commercial and personal interests

Creating a safe space and sense of community for readers

What she’s got planned for next week and the rest of the year.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  

Check out Next Chapter Books website: https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/ Tickets for Leeds Lit Fest Events: https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/ Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

If you were to meet a time traveller from the future, what would you ask them? This is the question Roisin Dunnett asks in her novel, A LINE YOU HAVE TRACED (Magpie Books/Oneworld Publications). Spanning over three centuries, three women are connected by forces they, at first, don’t understand. From post-WWI Britain, to East End London’s modern queer scene, to a portentous dystopian future, Roisin’s novel is coded with messages between the past, present and future. It's published by Magpie Books, an imprint of Oneworld.  

You can buy A LINE YOU HAVE TRACED from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Rippling Points

2.01 - the past, present and future. 3.55 - is there a past event that influenced this novel? 6.45 - Narratives of women 10.16 - which character did Roisin write first? 11.33 - Why do characters feel out of time 13.02 - Visions and dreams in Roisin's novel 19.24 - what would we do if we could actually see the future? 24.30 - The marshes in Roisin's novel.  29.24 - Does your dad pick up litter? 30.59 - Roisin's writing journey  

Reference Points Charles Dickens

Katharina Volckmer is here to discuss her second novel, Calls May Be Recorded for Training and Monitoring Purposes (Indigo Press) and it was live at the Hyde Park Book Club! Thank you to the Hyde Park Book Club for hosting us and Next Chapter Books for supporting the event. This is the second part of our conversation. 

Katharina’s first novel, THE APPOINTMENT, was translated into over fifteen languages, it was adapted for the stage starring Camille Cottin and was nominated for several prizes. Katharina is in ribald mode in this funny, outlandish, and yet, very melancholic novel about a man called Jimmie who works in a call centre. Jimmie helps holiday makers.  He placates their fears about sharks in the waters of Mykonos, Greece, among many other strange and wonderful challenges.  He also manages a complicated relationship with his mother and has a traumatic memory of an electric carving knife that threatens to burst to the surface. The Irish writer, Colm Tóibín, said the book is ‘filled with brilliant dialogue, unexpected turns, some very dirty talk with sudden bursts of hilarity, and then fierce sadness.’

A special treat here - Leeds based poet Kirsty Went gave a reading for, some of her work to open the event. We’ve re-recorded for the purposes of the podcast.

You can buy CALLS MAY BE RECORDED FOR TRAINING AND MONITORING PURPOSES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Where to find Next Chapter Books:  https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/ 

Rippling Points 

1.35 - writing about mothers and fathers 5.03 - clowns 9.45 - on jokes and fantasies  11.23 - Kirsty Went reading  14.19 - questions from the audience - where does the relentless comic vulgarity come from? 20.10 - question from the audience - does this book fit into the wonderfully weird fiction category? Can we have more daring takes in fiction?  23.35- question from the audience - did Katharina know the book would end in this subversive way? 

Reference points

Thomas Bernhard 

Katharina’s first novel, THE APPOINTMENT, was translated into over fifteen languages, it was adapted for the stage starring Camille Cottin and was nominated for several prizes. Katharina is in ribald mode in this funny, outlandish, and yet, very melancholic novel about a man called Jimmie who works in a call centre. Jimmie helps holiday makers.  He placates their fears about sharks in the waters of Mykonos, Greece, among many other strange and wonderful challenges.  He also manages a complicated relationship with his mother and has a traumatic memory of an electric carving knife that threatens to burst to the surface. The Irish writer, Colm Tóibín, said the book is ‘filled with brilliant dialogue, unexpected turns, some very dirty talk with sudden bursts of hilarity, and then fierce sadness.’

You can buy CALLS MAY BE RECORDED FOR TRAINING AND MONITORING PURPOSES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops!

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Where to find Next Chapter Books:  https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/ 

Rippling Points

05.07 - Katharina's tour of Leeds. 05.49 - What's Katharina's novel about? 08.11 - Jimmie's need for the toilet in the opening scenes! 10.28 - A reading from the novel. 14.07 - Life in a call centre. 16.42 - Experience of moving abroad 19.03 - Why people overshare 20.33 - Differences between this novel and Katharina's previous novel 24.14 - Intimacy and speaking to strangers 26.14 - The other side of anonymity 28.25 - Kafka

  Reference Points Franz Kafka The Appointment - Katharina Volckmer

Over the years, I’ve been asking the questions, but it’s about time I answered some too.

So, that’s what I’ve done: I’ve picked out some questions from the Rippling Pages inbox, and answered them!

In this episode, I answer:

- Where am I from? - Why did I start the podcast? - Who would I like to interview? - What books have I enjoyed recently? - Would I rather speak every language or to every animal?!

Got a question yourself? Why not leave a review and a question and I might pick out one for a future show! *****

Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation!

https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984

*****

Don’t forget there’s a Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops!

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages

***** Lots of books and writer’s mentioned in this one

Reference Points: Alice Chadwick - Dark Like Under (Daunt Books) Anton Chekhov Vincent Delacroix - Small Boat (Hope Road Publishing) - translated Helen Stevenson Gurnaik Johal - Saraswati (Serpent’s Tail) Vincenzo Latronico Tiago Miller Iris Mwanza Oluwaseun Olayiwola - Strange Beach (Fitzcarraldo Editions) Pola Oloixarac Mercè Rodereda Montserrat Roig - The Song of Youth (Fum d’Estampa) Montserrat Roig - Goodbye Ramona (Fum d’Estampa) Montserrat Roig - The Time of the Cherries (Daunt Books) Anthony Shapland - A Room Above a Shop (Granta Books) Olga Tokarczuk Virginia Woolf

Elaine Garvey, to discuss her novel, THE WARDROBE DEPARTMENT, published by Canongate Books. It’s 2002. Mairéad Sweeney has moved from rural Ireland to work in London’s West End. While the prestige of working in theatre doesn’t exactly wear off, the long hours and spoiled actors make Mairéad’s transition from Ireland more difficult than it should be. Things get even more difficult when Mairéad has to return home for her grandmother’s funeral. It’s here she begins to reconcile with the life, people and values she left behind. This is Elaine’s first book. She has been published in the Dublin Review and the Winter Papers, and has been awarded funding schemes by the Irish Department of Arts for her writing. ***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation! https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** You can buy THE WARDROBE DEPARTMENT from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages Rippling Points 1.31 - Why the year 2002? 4.32 - books about women walking. 5.39 - who is Mairéad and why is she in London 7.39 - what is the wardrobe department 9.40 - shadowing the costume department! 12.10 - differences between London and Mairéad's home in Ireland. 13.34 - Mairéad's family. 14:40 - Mairéad's boss. 18.15 - Similarities to the Milkman 21. 16 - when is Mairéad's moment of realisation 23.48 - Choosing your words and religion. 27.29 - Is how Mairéad feels about Ireland different to Elaine? 29.15 - how the novel emerged from a short story. Reference Points Anna Burns - Milkman Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre Seamus Heaney - Sweeney Astray Hilary Mantel - The Mirror and The Light Herta Müller - The Land of Green Plums Rozsika Parker - The Subversive Stich Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway

We discuss:

• Are families about power dynamics? Hear about Ben and I reflecting on our family life
• Is Steph Curry Benjamin’s new obsession instead of Michael Jordan?
• Why is Syme, Ben’s first novel, his mum’s favourite novel?

***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation!

https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** You can buy THE REST OF OUR LIVES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages

Benjamin Markovits is here to talk about his new and twelfth novel, THE REST OF OUR LIVES, published by Faber and Faber.

Tom Layward has made a pact with himself. After his daughter moves out of college, he’s moving out too. His wife had an affair, and he feels like he owes himself a road trip across America. He takes  in the sights, sounds and basketball games of the American heartland and beyond. But he’s deferring some health issues and it seems like it’s only a matter of time before his body asks him to stop and slow down, some of which was inspired by Ben’s own experiences.   Ben’s novel, You Don’t Have to Live Like This, won the James Tait Black Prize for fiction. He was a Granta Best of Young British Novelists. His writing has featured prolifically in mainstream publications.  ***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation!

https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** You can buy THE REST OF OUR LIVES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages

Rippling Points

2.42 - Why Tom goes on a roadtrip 4.12 - Feelings of failure and sport 7.10 - Constructing the narrator 9.00 - Tom’s difference to other narrators of Ben’s 11.30 - Pick-up basketball 15.15 - East Coast privilege 16.00 - The NBA - basketball and race 21.20 - Katharina Volckmer in conversation  22.45 - Tom’s relationship with his children 23.57 - Tom and Ben’s illness 26.58 - Matters of life and death 28.10 - Doctors and writers 29.45 - Ben’s next steps

Reference Points Philip Roth

John Updike Ben’s novels

The Syme Papers Playing Days You Don’t Have to Live Like This The Sidekick

Welcome to Rippling Points, more content and more insights and inspiration into the craft of literature: Marni Appleton is here to talk about her short story collection, I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY, published by Indigo Press. We discuss: - How Taylor Swift's ability to reinvent herself and stay relevant differs to that of the characters

- Ideas of productivity and how they shouldn't reflect your value in the world The modern world Marni presents to us in her stories is one that feels incredibly liberating, but then hinged by archaic attitudes from the past all at the same time. Women go viral on social media for seemingly innocent reasons; open and polyamorous relationships that suddenly feel shut; roles in theatre feel too close to real life. Marni holds a PhD in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. Her writing has been published in Banshee, The Tangerine, Contemporary Women’s Writing. This is her first collection. You can buy I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages

10.47 - Public and private selves

13.17 - Social media and the writer

14.15 - Theatre in Marni’s stories

18.10 - The different lives characters have

20.15 - How Marni writes about men

23.10 - The significance of mirrors

25.30 - Safe spaces

27.07 - Different registers and discourses

29.16 - Marni's journey to getting the book published. Reference Points

Melissa Febos Taylor Swift

- The global market of translation and the pleasure of being translated into English Vincenzo is one of the most distinguished novelists writing in Italian today. He has also translated many books into Italian, by authors such as George Orwell, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hanif Kureishi. In PERFECTION, there’s something missing from Anna and Tom’s life, and they can’t quite put their finger on what it is that is missing. It drives them to impatience and to the point of leaving their apartment in Berlin. But is it merely an itch they cannot scratch, or does it relate to a deeper lack of authenticity that strikes their core? You can buy PERFECTION from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops as all sales are from indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages

Reference Points

Elena Ferrante Minae Mizumura - The Fall of Language in the Age of English

Vincenzo Latronico is here to talk about his first novel translated into English - PERFECTION, published by Fitzcarraldo editions and translated from the Italian by Sophie Hughes.

Vincenzo is one of the most distinguished novelists writing in Italian today. He has also translated many books into Italian, by authors such as George Orwell, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hanif Kureishi.

In PERFECTION, there’s something missing from Anna and Tom’s life, and they can’t quite put their finger on what it is that is missing. It drives them to impatience and to the point of leaving their apartment in Berlin. But is it merely an itch they cannot scratch, or does it relate to a deeper lack of authenticity that strikes their core?

If you fancy hearing another Fitzcarraldo essayist, why not buy tickets for my event with Alice Hattrick at Leeds Lit Fest: https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Rippling Points 

2.18 - Desirability and Familiarity  4.27 - Driving the characters to dissatisfaction  7.05 - Does Vincenzo want us to ‘care’ about the characters? 10.20 - Any city or Berlin 12.50 - The loss of authenticity  16.20 - Are Anna and Tom in love? 21.30 - Is there another side to Berlin? 23.45 - The migrant crisis and activism  29.15 - On being translated into English

Reference Points

Hand Magnus Enzensberger  Michel Houellebecq  George Perec

Welcome to the first edition of Rippling Points - bonus content from last month’s episode!

A little bit more insight and a little bit more inspiration into the craft of writing!

Here, you can hear Pola talking about her delve into the archives to learn more about Argentina in 1970s. 

You’ll then hear Pola talking about her next project, Bad Hombre - which features real life accounts collected from Pola of women who were wanting to ‘ruin men’s lives’.

Pola Oloixarac, one of the most exciting voices in world literature today, was here to talk about her two novels that have been translated into English. Most recently SAVAGE THEORIES and then MONA (translated by Roy Kesey and Adam Morris). Both are published by Serpent’s Tail. She was named by Granta as one of the Best Young Spanish novelists as well as this and has written for a wide range of publications and is an Eccles Centre Fellow

SAVAGE THEORIES is a metaphysical, intertextual journey set in 1970s Buenos Aires. Rosa Ostreech struggles with her thesis on violence and culture and sleeps with a bourgeois former guerrilla while trying to kidnap her elderly professor. MONA is a satirical novel set within a global literary prize-giving event. It’s about the fetishisation of characteristics and the global market place of writers.  Buy Savage Theories here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/savage-theories-pola-oloixarac/2102898?aid=15004&ean=9781800818187 Buy Mona Here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/mona-pola-oloixarac/6331115?aid=15004&ean=9781788169899

Pola Oloixarac, one of the most exciting voices in world literature today, is here to talk about her two novels that have been translated into English. Most recently SAVAGE THEORIES and then MONA (translated by Roy Kesey). Both are published by Serpent’s Tail. She was named by Granta as one of the Best Young Spanish novelists as well as this and has written for a wide range of publications and an Eccles Centre Fellow

SAVAGE THEORIES is a metaphysical, intertextual journey set in 1970s Buenos Aires. Rosa Ostreech struggles with her thesis on violence and culture and sleeps with a bourgeois former guerrilla while trying to kidnap her elderly professor. MONA is a satirical novel set within a global literary prize-giving event. It’s about the fetishisation of characteristics and the global market place of writers.  Buy Savage Theories here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/savage-theories-pola-oloixarac/2102898?aid=15004&ean=9781800818187 Buy Mona Here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/mona-pola-oloixarac/6331115?aid=15004&ean=9781788169899

There’s also a festive treat for you in this episode. In the break, hear a reading from A POEM FOR EVERYDAY OF CHRISTMAS edited by Allie Esiri (MacMillan). I read Lemn Sissay’s ‘Let There Be Peace’. Buy it here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/a-poem-for-every-day-of-christmas-allie-esiri/7738901?aid=15004&ean=9781035068388&

Reference Points

Thomas Bernhard

Robert Bolano

Karl Ove Knausgaard

Dark Constellations - Soho Press

Friða Ísberg is here to talk about THE MARK (Faber and Faber) translated by Larissa Kyzer. The book centres on a referendum in Iceland about whether mandatory tests should be imposed on its citizens. Friða talks about writing over the divide, arguments with her father, and Icelandic literary culture and how they have all shaped the book. 

Rippling Points

02:05 - what is the mark?

04:12 - where are the divides?

06:30 - working in London while Brexit happened

08:07 - Frida's relationship with her dad and how it informed The Mark

11.15 - feeding emotion into a novel

13:46 - is it easier to write characters we agree with?

18:31 - Icelandic meaning of The Mark and how it relates to divides.

21:25 - why an empathy test?

25.51 - who is profiting from the mark?

28:30 - is one in ten a published writer in Iceland?

31:22 - do writers have a public duty?

Reference Points

Writers

Fernanda Melchor Jacqueline Rose George Saunders Ali Smith

Films

There's Something About Mary (1998, dir: Peter and Bobby Farrelly)

Naomi Wood joins me to discuss THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS (Published by Orion)

It’s a collection that features the BBC Short Story Prize winner, Comorbidities. We talk about different kinds of intimacy in the stories, and how or why Naomi often writes about mothers in the . Naomi also talks about the craft and how she clashed registers to dazzling effect.

Naomi Wood is the bestselling author of The Godless Boys, Mrs. Hemingway and The Hiding Game. As a novelist, her books have won a Jerwood Award, the British Library Hay Festival Prize, and been shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Historical Writers Golden Crown. Mrs. Hemingway was a Richard and Judy Bookclub pick in 2014 and a Chanel Bookclub pick in 2023.

for details about Naomi’s short fiction course, visit www.naomiwood.com

Rippling Points

1.45- comorbidities and winning the bbc short story prize award 

5.34 - pie charts’

8.17 - on writing about mothers

10.29 - transgressive actions in characters

12.07 - complicated or bad? 

15.48 - what’s a register clash?

18.54 - are they healing?

23,20 - influence of the pandemic and previous novels 

27.30 - what do we do with old me?

29.04 - what’s next for Naomi?

Reference Points

Rachel Cusk

Yan Ge

Ernest Hemingway 

Elizabeth Morris’ Crib Notes: https://cribnotesbookclub.substack.com

Reference Points  01.30 - who is Ezra

02.20 - is Ezra a flaneur? 04.53 - why the novel is set on this day 06.28 - the multiplicity of Jewish identity 09.40 - how death or organises or doesn’t organise the novel 15:00 different desires 19:20 - Ezra’s mother and her absence 24.25 - second hand bookshops and legacies 29.00 - the hopeful message of Sam’s novel Reference Points Hervé Guibert Andrea Lawlor Virginia Woolf

1.20 - How Jennifer’s early experience with clay led to her enchantment of it and then writing this boundless history 6.04 - How the book on clay differs to Jennifer’s previous book on foghorns 10.30 - Ephemerality of sound and permanence of clay - the writing challenges. 13.40 - Clay: its history compared with human history 15:15 - Who is Marija Gimbutas, and why is she important 21:15 - Language and touch 24.40 - Climate change and how it's revealing more about clay 28.00 - How clay becomes an object Reference Points

Marija Gimbutas. Ladi Kwali Maria Martinez

In a contemporary and entertaining novel set in aftermath of the Iraq war, a man who is obsessed with old Western movies dresses in double denim and roams a lawless landscape in search of his own Western story.  Rippling Points 1.32 - Bruce's family and how these fed into ideas about a 'muslim cowboy' 4.30 - Nameless and speechless: playing with the archetype of the cowboy 6.20 - Song writing in Nashville to writing this novel 8.40 - Iraq as the setting for the novel 12.00 - Removing binaries around what is good and not good 17.33 - A camel and child - the other characters 20.53 - The novel as a sandbox 25.30 - The act of making his characters watch westerns Reference Points Aladdin (1992. Dir: John Musker and Ron Clements) David Foster Wallace Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes  Lucky Luke - Goscinny Once Upon a Time in the West (1969. Dir: Sergio Leone) The Road - Cormac McCarthy (2006) Shane (1953. Dir: George Stevens) True Grit (1969. Dir: Henry Hathaway) Zadie Smith

Rippling Points 2.00 - Claire's dreams and reading. 4.55 - The different personal and impersonal voices in Claire's work 10:37 - Being a writer and knowing or not knowing answers 13:12 - Unreliable narrators and what they mean to Claire 18:00 - How and why Claire writes about animals. 24:30 - The challenge of having 'authority' on the climate crisis 28.40 - Giving the stories a sense of wonder 30:00 - Claire's book tour!

Reference Points

Franz Kafka Cormac McCarthy - The Road Ben Pester Saba Sams Samantha Walton - The Nature Cure

Reference Points Writers

Roland Barthes Annie Ernaux Clarissa Pinkola Estés - Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype  Saidiya Hartman Alice Hattrick Sophie Lewis Sam Mills Margery Williams - The Velveteen Rabbit Filmmakers Chantal Akerman

This is Rachel's second collection after Kingdom of Love (also Carcanet - and which I reviewed here!) The book is a Poetry Book Society recommendation and you kind find tickets to her launch here. Tickets to the Carcanet launch of the book here: https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/events?showpage=913 This show comes with a content warning - we do talk about some sensitive topics, such as domestic violence, so please do take care of yourself when listening.

Rippling Points 5.05 - Poetry and embroidery 8.03 - What Eleanor's story,  and Rachel's poetry, tells us about embodiedness 11.45 - Society and Eleanor's story 14.54 - How details about Eleanor's life helped in writing the collection. 18.30 - 'Violence' in craft and the writing process. 21.45 - How themes of violence and the body converge in Rachel's poems. 28.20 - 'Fear' of working with heavy and sensitive topics Reference Points

Gilles Deleuze Umberto Eco

Rippling Points

• Returning to the story: where the last book left us (2:30)
• How Kathy's letters tell the story: Being with Kathy's 'intimate testimony' to tell her powerful and painful story (19:30)

Reference Points

• Sylvia Plath
• Evan Stark
• Jane Monckton-Smith

If you've enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

Tickets to Tom Branfoot launch that I'm hosting here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/boar-book-launch-tickets-733576425837 Rippling Points

• Fruit bats: the mystery of the mystery, and how we write it
• Unnatural world: how even poets find it difficult to connect with nature

Reference Points

Anthony Vahni Capildeo

• The rhythm of poetry, the poetry of jobs: how the different rhythms of the jobs Baron undertook in rural Maine influenced his poetry 
• A chance of tragedy: Baron's philosophy of tragedy, chance, and, ultimately, life

Reference Points Charles Taylor - A Secular Age (Harvard University Press) Baron Wormer - Teach us That Peace (Piscataqua Press) Baron Wormser - Tom O'Vietnam (New Rivers Press) Emily Dickinson Robert Frost William Shakespeare Walt Whitman

Leslie is a founder and director of the Carbone-Smolan agency. She met Rodney in the 90s and worked with him on his most iconic shoots.  There's a whole host of events going on this week to celebrate A Leap of Faith: David Campany and Paul Martineau will be in conversation at the Fashion Institute of Technology on the 27th September - But your tickets here The first NYC exhibition of Rodney's work will be held at the Staley Wise Gallery, with a book signing launching the exhibit on the 28th September. More info here. Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points In fashion: how Rodney transcended the genre to create timeless images Hang on to your hats: Enduring and iconic motifs  Reference Points Ansel Adams Wes Anderson Henri Cartier-Bresson Walker Evans  Federico Fellini René Magritte Cary Grant Alfred Hitchcock Edward Hopper Irving Penn Tom Wolfe

Reference Points Francis Bacon Lucia Berlin Patrick deWitt - The Sister's Brothers Jack Kerouac Ian Nairn Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita Terry Southern - The Magic Christian Event with Charlie Baylis in Leeds - tickets here: 

Enjoyed today's episode? Leave a tip!: https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

Rippling Points

• Corrie and the Tower: setting a novel in Blackpool. 
• Time please: The enduring appeal of a novel set in a day

Reference Points

James Joyce Julia Kristeva Coronation Street

Driven to distraction: how 'Rome's great poet's' ideas of the pastoral influenced a story of today. Reference Points Writers Anne Carson Virgil's Eclogues - You can read on Project Gutenberg for free here:  TV Shows Beverly Hills 90210 Friends That 70's Show. 

Reference Points Writers Toni Morrison Film and TV Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The Exorcist Myths and Folklore Anansi Ol Higue Rolling Calf

• Witchhunts and witchcraft - a cultural phenomenon or do novels about it reveal something more pervasive about our culture?
• Permission to read - knowing no boundaries and enjoying what you read. How Aurora and her friend's quest for new knowledge is something to be embraced

Reference Points: Dee Brown - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Carlos Castaneda Joseph Campbell Dion Fortune Jack Kerouac - On the Road Seraphina Madsen - Dodge and Burn

The Book of the Dead

Who needs origin myths? Lessons re-learned from Eve Leave no trace: what we leave when we leave Reference Points Malcolm Gladwell - Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Eileen Myles - Chelsea Girls Donald Winnicott  

Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

Reference Points: Geoffrey Hill

Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

Rippling Points The Second Life of Books: the second-hand bookshop as a home for new, undiscovered and forgotten writers Got to Catch Them All: Is your favourite bookshop named?

Writers and Books AJ Ashworth Andrea Ashworth The Lake John Foxx (Nightjar Press) M. John Harrison Anna Kavan - Ice (Picador: 1967) Alberto Manguel (editor) Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature (Picador: 1983) Livi Michael - The Lake (Nightjar Press) Alison Moore Nicholas Royle - First Novel (Vintage: 2013) Nicholas Royle - Counterparts (Penguin: 1995) Nicholas Royle - Ornithology (Confingo: 2017) Nicholas Royle - An English Guide to Bird Watching (Myriad Editions: 2017) Nicholas Royle - Uncanny (Manchester University Press: 2003) Per Wahlöö - The Lorry (Picador: 1972) Conrad Williams Artists

Paul Delvaux Salvador Dali

Caroline's book is about the "hardest thing she's been through physically" and the "hardest things she's found mentally.  Find out more book here: 

Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points

• In the moment: how do we translate our most difficult moments?
• By your side: verbatim writing

Reference Points:

Svetlana Alexievich - Chernobyl Prayer Marit Kapla - Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village

Caroline's interview with Rowena MacDonald - https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/sovietica-an-interview-with-caroline-clark/

Caroline's Previous Books Saying Yes in Russian (2012: Agenda Editions) Sovetica (2020: CB Editions)

Rippling Points:

• Safely Gathered In? Containment as a literary, psychological and physical idea
• Shopping lists and short stories: when fiction crosses over with the everyday.

  Reference Points:

Elizabeth Baines Roald Dahl

Tania Hershman

Adrian Henri

Mary Shelley William Wordsworth

Rippling Points

• Don't read it on Wikipedia: shedding light on expectations of roles
• Travelling by song: the powerful nature of song.

Reference Points

• Ron King, artist
• Small World by Richard Price (2012: Carcanet)
• Quentin Tarantino

Welcome back to the Rippling Pages and Series Three: Beneath the Surface. 

We have Erica Mou and Clarissa Botsford here to discuss Thirsty Sea. Erica is a successful musician with six albums to her name. Her novel is translated by Clarissa and published by exciting new press, Héloïse Press, who are championing world-wide female talent.

You can buy the book here:

https://www.heloisepress.com/book/thirsty-sea Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

Rippling Points

• Sea change? How Erica sings and writes about the sea
• Translating as a reader: How Clarissa read the book 'like a reader.'

Reference Points

Erica's podcast, Punti di Fuga

 'Contro le Onde' by Erica Mou

• A common tone: how the creation of a certain atmosphere leads to individual variations
•  How Sevastopol was translated into English

Reference Points

Péter Esterházy Graham Greene William Kennedy Leo Tolstoy Raymond Williams

Previous interview with Emilio and Zoë in Partisan Hotel

Rippling Points:

• Day and Night: structuring around the rhythms of the day
• The conscious art of repeating

Reference Points

Poets John Ashbery Sean Bonney SJ Fowler Selima Hill Luke Kennard Aaron Kent Andrew McMillan Chelsey Minnis Frank O'Hara Sophie Robinson Matthew Welton Charlie's interview with Andrew McMillan

Charlie's previous collections Hilda Doolittle's Carl Jung t-shirt (erbacce press, 2018) Swimming (Red Ceilings Press, 2019) Novels Albert Camus - The Stranger (1942)

Reference Points

Films

American Sniper (2014: directed by Clint Eastwood) Spotlight (2015: directed by Tom McCarthy Articles More was found about Priest Leduc here following the publication of Jo's book: https://www.pe.com/2019/02/16/priest-named-on-molestation-list-was-texas-snipers-scoutmaster-friend-and-confidant/

• Is this the end for me, you, all of us? What's it like writing about characters and limited horizons?
• The history of flooding: researching local and national history for lessons about the past and the future.

Reference Points: Books

• Sight, Jessie's first novel
• An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It, Jessie's collection of short stories
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• Alice Oswald.
• Liable to Flood (1974) - J.R Ravensdale

We also discussed the Eyemouth Fishing Disaster, and the 1953 North Sea Flood which Jessie researched for the novel.

Jeff Chon joins me to discuss his novel, Hashtag Good Guy with a Gun, published by the exciting Sagging Meniscus press (buy here)

Please be advised we recorded this conversation earlier this year and discuss issues of a sensitive nature with some instances of strong language Rippling Pages:

• Good guys and bad guys: a troubling distinction
• What's it like writing about people we really do not like?

Reference Points Books Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger  Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess Films Death wish (1974: Michael Winner; 2018 remake starring Bruce Willis and directed by Eli Roth Falling Down (1993: Joel Schumacher) Fight Club (1999: David Fincher) Taxi Driver (1976: Martin Scorsese) Superheroes Superman

Essays Alex Diggins on Hashtag Good Guy with a Gun for 3:AM Magazine

Really excited to have American poet, Khalisa Rae, join me for series two, episode two!

Khalisa is here to talk about Ghost in a Black Girl's Throat, published by Red Hen Press (buy here) Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

Rippling Points:

• Title collection: the story of a title
• Surrounded by the best: environments of poetic creativity and support

Reference Points

Writers Maya Angelou Dasan Ahanu James Baldwin Gwendolyn Brooks Jericho Brown Camonghne Felix Nikky Finney Siarra Freeman Ada Limón Toni Morrison Alice Walker Interview between Khalisa and the writer/photographer Rachel Eliza Griffiths

"I wanted to give people tools they could then forget about for the rest of the book." Polly Barton is here to talk about Fifty Sounds, winner of the Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize 2019. (BUY HERE!)

Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

Rippling Points:

• Loving others and loving language: is there one without the other?
• Wittgenstein: even he got it wrong at times

Reference Points:

Books Ray Monk - Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius

Theory John Bowlby's Theory of Attachment

(Buy here!) It's a perfect way to conclude the 'Finding Room' series - promoting the voices of some fantastic Jamaican women writers. Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points:

• Voices of nurturing and healing: Jamaican women writers
• Changing conceptions of society, but preserving these writers

Reference Points

We mention a lot of writers in this episode because the book is about writers. But it does cause us to reflect on some other names too Monique Roffey - (Monique selected Jacqueline's book as a cultural highlight in the Guardian) Jane Austen Jean Rhys Kamau Braithwaite George Lamming Derek Walcott

• The power of the poet in different parts of the world: UK and Somalia
• 100 drafts: writing about the ones we love

Reference Points

Poets

Don Paterson Jason Allen-Paisant - subcribe to the PN Review to read his essay in PN Review 257 Thinking with Trees, Allen-Paisant's debut collection, is out in June. Musicians Bob Dylan.

Follow Liam on Twitter - @liamhbishop Follow the Rippling Pages on Instagram - @rippling_pages

It's a Flipped Eye anniversary special as I'm joined buy two of their poets. First up - Katherine Lockton talking about Paper Doll. Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Buy Paper Doll here

Rippling Points:

• Like a Rubix cube: life and poetry
• Notes from a childhood in Bolivia. 

Reference Points

T.S Eliot

Follow Liam on Twitter - @liamhbishop Follow the Rippling Pages on Instagram - @rippling_pages

Neil talks candidly about his essay which reflects on his experiences of depression. Indeed, if you are affected by any  of the themes discussed in today's episode, I've reserved this episode's Rippling Points for a couple of links to charities.

The Samaritans  Mind

Reference Points:

Books: Neil's Novels: As a God Might Be (Dodo Ink) Saving Caravaggio (Penguin) Betrayal in Naples (Penguin)

Clair-Louise Bennett - Pond Charles Dickens - Bleak House Fyodor Doestoyevsky - Crime and Punishment Mathias Énard - Zone Eimear McBride - A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing

Isobel Wohl - Cold New Climate - the inaugural novel of Neil's publishing company, Weatherglass Books

Writers:

Francis Spufford

Essays:

Neil's Review of Francis Spufford's True Stories and Other Essays on Review 31

BUY TRAUMA: WRITING ABOUT ART AND MENTAL HEALTH HERE

Follow Liam on Twitter - @liamhbishop Follow the Rippling Pages on Instagram - @rippling_pages Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

What a pleasure to talk to the Montenegrin writer, Olja Knežević about her trans-generational novel, Catherine the Great and the Small (Istros Books). The novel is translated by Paula Gordon and Ellen Elias-Bursać

Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points:

• Lessons from writing in and about a civil war
• Why don't we write about grandmothers more?

BUY CATHERINE THE GREAT AND THE SMALL HERE

Reference Points

Writers

• Rachel Cusk
• Sheila Heti
• Karl Ove Knausgaard
• Olja's first novel - Milena and Other Social Reforms

Ideal lockdown literary listening. 

Follow Liam on Twitter - @liamhbishop Follow the Rippling Pages on Instagram - @rippling_pages

The incredibly talented Jen Calleja joins the RP Pod to talk about her short story collection, I'm Afraid That's All We've Got Time For (Prototype Publishing), and Goblins (Rough Trade Books), a personal exploration of 'goblinery.' Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points:

• That's all we've got time for: setting 'temporal parameters' for writing a story
• Is it really the way it is? Working with and against lessons learned in youth

Buy I'M AFRAID THAT'S ALL WE'VE GOT TIME FOR here

Buy GOBLINS here

Reference Points

Books and Writers

• Jen Calleja's poetry collection, SERIOUS JUSTICE
• Interview with the writer Megan Nolan
• The Complete Short Stories of Leonora Carrington

Films

• Labyrinth (1986: Jim Henson)

Artists

• Paula Rego
• Rachel Louise Hodgson

Ideal lockdown literary listening. 

Follow Liam on Twitter - @liamhbishop Follow the Rippling Pages on Instagram - @rippling_pages

Hello! Katharina Volckmer talks about her debut novel, The Appointment (Fitzcarraldo Editions), a TLS 'Book of the Year 2020', and one critics have called 'a darkly funny untangling of national and sexual identity' (The Guardian). And what a great way to kick off our 'Finding Room' series with a novel set entirely in one room... Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points

• Can the restrictions of writing in a language which isn't your 'mother tongue' ultimately set you free?
• How a 'silent' character can be a 'loud' presence.

Buy THE APPOINTMENT here

Reference Points

Books and Writers

Thomas Bernhard - The Old Masters

Siri Hustvedt - The Blindfold

Franz Kafka

Ottessa Moshfegh

Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint

Articles

Katharina in conversation with RL Goldberg for the Paris Review

Katharina on 'that strange German silence' that persists over the Holocaust for the Guardian

Ideal lockdown literary listening. 

Follow Liam on Twitter - @liamhbishop Follow the Rippling Pages on Instagram - @rippling_pages

These are some Rippling Pages Pilot episodes published in Summer 2020.

Gaia Holmes talks about her story, '198 Methods of NVDA', which features in Comma Press's Resist Anthology. 

Rippling Points:

• Researching the environment to create your story's environment.
• 'Thisness' and how some elements of the story might refuse to be resolved.

Buy RESIST: STORIES OF UPRISING from Comma Press here.

Reference Points Books 9 Miles by Jim Hindall - http://www.ninemiles.org/​

Circles on the Water – Selected Poems of Marge Piercy - https://margepiercy.com/portfolio-ite...​ Articles

The Newbury bypass protest of 1996 - in pictures - https://www.theguardian.com/artanddes...​

Did the Newbury bypass tree huggers change anything - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...​

How the Greenham Common protests changed lives - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...​

198 Methods of Non-Violent Action – Gene Sharp - https://www.brandeis.edu/peace-confli...​

Films

Tales of Resistance by Jamie Lowe - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9037272/

• Using the ‘byproducts’ of our lives and writing in writing
• How a concept like 'haunting' can be a less than spooky idea

Buy ABOVE THE FAT here.

Reference Points Books

Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures by Mark Fisher (2014: Zero Books)