"She finds herself in London working in a theatre having to touch people!"

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

“It’s my mum’s favourite book that I wrote!” 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. 

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

“The book is me trying to have a conversation with my father and reach a middle ground.”

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)

“Some people have been, oh these women are so grotesque. I don’t think they are! They’re quite relatable.”

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

"I think their experience in the bookstore is trying to think literary inheritance and spiritual and intellectual experience." Sam sax is here to discuss YR DEAD, their debut novel about Ezra, a queer, non-binary 27-year-old of Jewish heritage, whose life we see in fragments and flashbacks when they self-immolate outside trump tower. We talk about qualities of wandering, the multiplicities of Jewish identities, and what second hand bookstores can tell us about legacies and life. Sam's PIG was named one of the best books of 2023 by New York Magazine and Electric Lit. They're also the author of Madness, winner of The National Poetry Series and ‘Bury It’ winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets YR DEAD is published by McSweeney's in the US and Daunt Books in the UK

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

"I'd done a lot of clay-making...you can spend a lifetime and only get good at one technique!" Jennifer Lucy Allan joins me to talk about her second book, CLAY: A HUMAN HISTORY (White Rabbit Books). After Jennifer's exploration and writing about sound in The Foghorn's Lament (White Rabbit Books), Jennifer has, quite literally, turned her hand to a more physical and enduring substance in clay. From Japanese Tea Ceremonies, to humans making their own image, to life on Mars, clay is seemingly everywhere. Jennifer is also a presenter on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction.  Rippling Points

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

"This book is begging to be written...It has this a frontier-ness to it..." Bruce Omar Yates is here to discuss his upcoming novel published by Dead Ink Books, THE MUSLIM COWBOY . 

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

"The smotheringly neutral voice" Claire Carroll is here to talk about her new and debut collection of short stories THE UNRELIABLE NATURE WRITER. A truly candid insight into the workings of craft and being a writer from one of the most exciting and upcoming fiction writers today. THE UNRELIABLE NATURE WRITER is published by Scratch Books - more here

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

"The garden is a co-author" Marchelle Farrell is here to talk about her essay in a new anthology from Daunt Books, BY THE RIVER: ESSAYS FROM THE WATER'S EDGE. I've wanted to talk to Marchelle since the publication of UPROOTING: FROM THE CARIBBEAN TO THE COUNTRYSIDE - Canongate Books), so it was great to have her here when she's part of an anthology featuring the likes of Caleb Azumah Nelson and Tessa Hadley. Marchelle, a consultant psychiatrist as well as a writer, often blends personal history with reflections on how colonial history has shaped the world and behaviour Rippling Points 1.25 - The rivers that Marchelle writers about in her essay, 'Memory River 4.06 - the noise of the river and how it infiltrated Marchelle's dreams 7.08 - A sense of renewal and writing about childhood 9.00 - The pain and joy in revisiting childhood 12.34 - Marchelle's belief on balancing both pain and joy in life. 15.04 - The story of Marchelle's family and forgotten stories 18.23 - Can anything ever be permanently erased? 20.22 - Leaving space for the reader to make interpretations. 22.13 - The river and its links to colonial history. 25.22 - How the 'English' garden isn't so English. 28.20 - What is play and why is it important Reference Points Jo Hamya Amy Key Donald Winnicott

"I wanted to be talking choice in a way that was routed in a social context, and that was true to the particularity and intimacy that I shared with my mum at the end of her life." Marianne Brooker is here to talk about her Women's Prize for Non-Fiction shortlisted essay, INTERVALS, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions. Marianne talks about her life and living with her mother who was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. The book is a blend of memoir, philosophy, literary criticism, and politics.  It's a tough but incredibly beautiful read.  Rippling Points 2.05 - When Marianne decided this story about her mother was going to be a book 3.40 - 'Trying, circling, avoiding' - setting down to write a book like this 4.30 - How Marianne would categorises this book 7:00 -  On planning or not planning the book 8:44 - When Marianne's mother developed primary progressive multiple sclerosis 10:20 - Finding a voice and coming up with a 'vocabulary' 12:20 - The 'forces' in the book and Marianne's mother 16:10 - Marianne's relationship with her mother. 20:00 - What primary progressive multiple sclerosis is. 22:20 - Marianne on 'choice'  25:21 - When Marianne found a video of her mother.

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

"That whole question of the invisible life...that there's something going on we cannot see that determines our health and the future of the planet." Dawn Garisch, one of South Africa's most pre-eminent writers, joins the Rippling Pages to talk about Breaking Milk, published in the UK by Heloise Press. Shortlisted for the prestigious Sunday Times South Africa/CNA Literary Awards '21, it finally lands on our shores. Dawn is also a doctor and a CEO of the Life Righting Collective, a non-profit organisation aiming to provide creative practice as a low-cost resource for humane, responsible and compassionate attitude in institutions and society as a whole. Find out more here: https://liferighting.com/ Rippling Points 1.40 - Who the narrator (Kate) of this novel is, and why Dawn chose to write about her at this point in the narrator's life. 7.00 - Why Dawn spent some time making cheese for the book 8.40 - what separates us from our parents and other people 11.43 - Kate's former job as a geneticist 14.26 - The voice of the inner critic 17.54 - The benefits of the life writing collective 21.00 - Kate's husband, the other writer in the book. 27.30 - Dawn's work as a doctor. Reference Points Christa Wolf - Accident: A Day's News J.M. Coetzee Disgrace Dawn Garisch - Eloquent Body Bessel Van der Kolk - The Body Knows the Score Jaakp Panksepp Donald Winnicott Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own.

"Wounds, whilst they open us to the world...they can be points of infection."  Welcome to 2024 and a new episode of the Rippling Pages. Rachel Mann is a poet, scholar, novelist and Anglican priest. She is Rachel Mann is here to talk about her new collection, Eleanor Among the Saints (Carcanet), which takes inspiration from the life of Eleanor 'John' Rykener. A trans woman, seamstress, embroider, and sex worker who lived in medieval England. More info about the book here

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

‘The people I like to write about are what I would describe as moderately successful failures.’

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

"Kathy had a documentary impulse that is teaching us now." Jo Scott-Coe returns to the Rippling Pages to talk about her latest book, UNHEARD WITNESS: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KATHY LEISSNER WHITMAN (University of Texas Press) Jo is a previous guest of the podcast, joining us in Series 2 to discuss MASS (Pelekinesis), an account of Charles Whitman, the Texas Tower Shooter.  Listen to that episode here: https://ripplingpages.podbean.com/e/jo-scott-coe-on-mass/ Now she returns to discuss a follow-up to that book, the story of Whitman's wife, Kathy Leissner Whitman. 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

• 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

"It's not confessional...but it's absolutely full of concrete details of things that I've observed or really happened." Charlotte Eichler joins the Rippling Pages to discuss her new collection, SWIMMING BETWEEN ISLANDS, published by Carcanet

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

"There was a lot of solitude quiet and silence, and I believe poetry exists in relation to silence." Baron Wormser, a former National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Fellow, is here to talk about his eleventh collection of poetry, THE HISTORY HOTEL, and THE ROAD WASHES OUT IN SPRING , an account of a poet living life off the grid.  Tickets to Tom Branfoot launch that I'm hosting here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/boar-book-launch-tickets-733576425837 Rippling Points

• 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

"it took a lot of courage to keep going and channel that sadness and melancholy into pictures of such joy and exuberance " Leslie Smolan, widow and creative partner of the photographer Rodney Smith is here to talk about a new book celebrating his life and work.  A LEAP OF FAITH, with essays from Paul Martineau, Rebecca Senf, and Graydon Carter, is also packed full of Rodney's iconic images. It's published by Getty Publications (available here )

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

"We live in a world where we increasingly want to control everything...I hope that in fictional spaces, the effort of trying to keep up becomes so much you eventually say, hey, let's go." Nii Ayikwei Parkes is here to discuss his second novel, Azúcar, published by Peepal Tree Press. How do we grow in... Fictional spaces: understanding when we're not in control Real spaces: understanding control and conditioning Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Nii is also director of poetry publisher, Flipped Eye publishing. We featured Samatar Elmi and Katherine Lockton back in series one of the Rippling Pages for their new pamphlets. You can listen to those episodes here: Samatar Elmi: https://ripplingpages.podbean.com/e/samatar-elmi-and-a-portrait-of-colossus/ Katherine Lockton: https://ripplingpages.podbean.com/e/katherine-lockton-on-paper-doll-flipped-eye-anniversary-part-1/

"I hate judging characters - you have to have respect for people's origins." James Clarke is here to talk about his new novel, Sanderson's Isle, published by Serpent's Tail (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 Ebullient characters: stepping into the sixties and using real-life figures as reference points and inspiration Lost and looking: writing characters that are lost and looking for someone, or maybe anyone.

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: 

'I wanted to write a queer love story, Blackpool is crying out for literary renditions and I'm obsessed by Ulysses.' Helen Palmer is here to talk about her Ulysses inspired queer love story, Pleasure Beach which is published by Prototype (more info 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

"There is a genuine search for something - much of the time it turns out to be distraction." Duncan Wiese joins me from Denmark to discuss his new collection of poetry based on Virgil's Eclogues, Tityrus: A Pastoral. Published by Lolli Editions (more info here!), the poems were translated by Max Minden Ribeiro (Pelle Hvenegaard’s Dear Zoe Ukhona and Finn Juhl: Life, Work, World by Christian Bundegaarand) and  Sam Riviere (81 Austerities, Kim Kardashian's Marriage) Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points Life in the twenties: Tityrus as an emblem of finding your way in life, sitting alongside pop culture.

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. 

"I was interested in stories with stories and how the family used folklore to approach conflict" Soraya Palmer joins me from Brooklyn to discuss her debut novel, recently released in the UK, The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts, published by Serpent's Tail (more info here!). We speak about hauntings, family narratives, and Anansi the animal trickster! Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points: Tales from the Caribbean: myth and folklore re-told in modern day Brooklyn Life inside the multiverse: seeing different aspects of characters through time.

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

The Exorcist Myths and Folklore Anansi Ol Higue Rolling Calf

It's a Catalan Literature in Translation Special! I'm delighted to welcome Mara Faye Lethem and Tiago Miller to discuss two recently released books from Catalonia Irene Solà's When I Sing, Mountains Dance has has been re-released in paperback translated by Mara for Granta Josep Maria Argemí's The Angel of Santa Sofia has been newly released and translated by Tiago for Fum d'Estampa Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points: Good and Evil: how the boundaries between what's right and wrong are blurred and might reflect debates about Catalonian history The Catalan Language: Literature and it's role in keeping a language thriving Reference Points: Irene Solà's first novel Els dics (The Dams, L'Altra Editorial, 2018) Jaume Cristòfol Pons Alorda Jorge Luis Borges Víctor Català Jordi Cussa Josep Palau i Fabre Maria Mercè Marçal Mercè Rodoreda Marià Vayreda Artists Caravaggio Salvador Dali Mara's Essay in Lithub: https://lithub.com/author/marafayelethem/

"Taylor Swift is somebody who has managed to keep reinventing herself to stay relevant."

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

"I was fascinated by the idea of what is real and what isn't real what people perceive to be real and not real" Welcome back to Series 4 of the Rippling Pages. And Seraphina Madsen is here to talk witches, the occult and different realities! Aurora is Seraphina's second novel and is published by Dodo Ink Read an extract 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:

• 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

"I don't think poetry should be giving a lesson to anyone" Caitlin Stobie is here to talk about THIN SLICES, her new collection from Verve Press (Pre-order here ) Caitlin examines culture's need for 'origin' myths, as well as asking what is a language for the pre-lingual? We recorded this episode in the run-up to Caitlin's appearance at Ilkley Literature Festival - more of which you can find out here: https://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk/whats-on And find out more about the University of Leeds Poetry Centre here - https://poetry.leeds.ac.uk/ Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points

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  

Both writer and translator of SALT CRYSTALS, Cristina Bendek and Robin Myers, are here to discuss this shape-shifting and history-searching novel.  A book about a woman, Victoria, who explores her own and the island she's from, San Andrés's, history. Find out more about the book here Rippling Points: A momentaneous piece or peace? How can we write about the transient, the changing, in a form which preaches endurability and timelessness? Disease as a symptom: why Cristina chose to write about diabetes

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

"It's a quest to try to collect all of the Picadors..." Nicholas Royle is here to talk about White Spines: Confessions of a Book Collector, and his journey to find Picador books. You can buy the 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 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

"All this wouldn't have happened without that experience of cancer..." Caroline Clark is here with one of the most tender and moving books due to be released this year: Own Sweet Time.

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)

"As humans, we're really scared of forgetting..." Welcome back for another episode of the Rippling Pages – I’m delighted to speaking to Sarah Schofield, author of the short story collection, SAFELY GATHERED IN (Comma Press - you can find 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:

• 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

"Song is very powerful...it's not a truth teller, it's a state-changer." Richard Price joins today's show to discuss his collection of 'Three Inuit Stories Retold.' Published by Carcanet, the book was a Scotsman Book of the Year in 2021, and Richard joined me to discuss the challenges of retelling these tales. You can buy the book here: https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781800171176 Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

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

"The first thing that came to me? A woman, alone with the sea, and in charge of her own destiny?"

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

"It's nice to see my imagination dressed with my words...It's very interesting to see a universe in other words." What a pleasure have both Emilio Fraia and Zoë Perry to discuss with me the writing and translating of Emilio's novel Sevastopol (Lolli Editions - buy here) Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Ripping Points:

• 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

'You can't just have a greatest hits collection, there has to be a flow of ideas.' Charlie Baylis, poet, critic, and editor joined me to talk about his latest collection, Santa Lucía, published by Invisible Hand Press - available 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:

• 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)

"It builds to women and girls choosing to hide their mouths because of the effect of this trend...things just morph and take on different meanings as they're shared in different contexts" Marni Appleton is here to talk about her collection of short stories, I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY, published by The Indigo Press. 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 Rippling points 2.00 - The women that inspired the stories 4.08  - Giving the characters control or not 5.41 - Moments in the Spotlight 8.26 - Marni’s bold story titles

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

"It seemed to be a flashpoint moment, it was saying more than we thought it was saying." Jo Scott-Coe joins me to talk about Charles Whitman, the man known as the 'Texas Tower Sniper'. In this discussion which touches on some challenging subjects, Jo discusses her book and the journey behind the writing of the book MASS: A Sniper, a Father, and a Priest (published by Pelekinesis Press) Please be advised we recorded this conversation earlier this year and discuss issues of a sensitive nature Rippling Points: 'Senseless Acts': the troubling terminology of describing acts as 'senseless' Not an isolated incident: building up the picture and story of the crime. Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop

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/

'All the way through the book, it should feel like there's going to be some kind of ending which will enable a potential future' What a pleasure to welcome Jessie Greengrass to talk about the High House! (Buy here). We talk about the climate crisis and writing about the end times. Enjoyed this episode - why not send a small donation to support with the running costs! Thank you! - https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points:

• 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.

"The thing I learned last year is that the product is sometimes the problem"

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

'The south is a living breathing thing in this book. it's a personality.'

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

Welcome Back! Series Two: Horizons is here with Polly Barton.

"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

"The sense we don't have to trample on each other, to amplify each other, we can heal and nurture each other." Jacqueline Bishop is here to talk about her collection of interviews, The Gift of Music and Song: Interviews with Jamaican Women Writers

(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

"I knew from the age of 13, 14, I needed to write poetry, I just didn't fully understand why." It's part two of our Flipped Eye 20th birthday special, and I'm joined by Samatar Elmi talking about his debut collection, Portrait of Colossus.   Thank you Katherine and Samatar for joining me. Two exciting, upcoming poets. Buy Portrait of Colossus 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:

• 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

'[Poetry] is the beginning to accepting, the beginning to processing emotion.'

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

"I was wrestling with what certain states of being feel like as negatives." Novelist and publisher, Neil Griffiths, joined me to discuss his essay, 'Madness as Such', which is featured  in Trauma: Writing About Art and Mental Health (Dodo Ink).

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

"Being published in English is a big milestone..." 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. Welcome to Rippling Points, more content insights and inspiration into the craft of literature: - How and why he set his novel in Berlin, or why locations don't become so important for the novel

- 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

'Where there is conflict, there is always a path to literature...Freedom is an important topic for me.'

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

'I want the story the story to be as disorientating for the reader as it is for me...I'm not trying to offer an answer or a safe and complete world...'

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

'It felt liberating to find that voice and put it on paper...Some restrictions can be creative.'

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

'I did feel like I wasn't living my own life. I was in the world of Newbury and trees.'

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/