Explore every episode of the podcast The TLS Podcast

This week, Nicola Shulman is entranced by the life of a naturalist; and Larry Wolff enjoys a night at the opera - with added superheroes.

'A year with Gilbert White: The first great nature writer', by Jenny Uglow

'The amazing adventures of Kavalier & Clay', by Mason Bates and Gene Scheer, based on the book by Michael Chabon, Metropolitan Opera, New York, until October 11

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Richard Sennett delivers a powerful warning to universities to defend their freedom; and Helena Kelly on the revolutionary world that shaped Jane Austen.

'The Worlds of Jane Austen: The Influence and Inspiration Behind the Novels', by Helena Kelly

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, AE Stallings immerses herself in Daniel Mendelsohn's new translation of Homer's Odyssey; and Dinah Birch is intrigued by an ambitious novel twenty years in the making. 

'The Odyssey', by Homer, translated by Daniel Mendelsohn 

'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny', by Kiran Desai

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, James Shapiro celebrates New York's love affair with Shakespeare; Mark Nayler goes on the hunt for monsters; and Lily Herd introduces this issue's In Brief pages. 

'Monsterland: A journey around the world’s dark imagination', by Nicholas Jubber

'The Perilous Deep: A supernatural history of the Atlantic', by Karl Bell

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Professor Jonathan Bate on a tiny Elizabethan portrait with an illuminating history; and novelist Gwendoline Riley assesses the mysterious life and work of Dame Muriel Spark.

'Electric Spark: The enigma of Muriel Spark', by Frances Wilson

'The Letters of Muriel Spark – Volume 1: 1944–1963', edited by Dan Gunn

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, the winner of this year's TLS Ackerley Prize, Jeff Young, discusses his spellbinding memoir; and Toby Lichtig talks to the Australian novelist Michelle de Kretser at this year's Hay Festival.

'Wild Twin', by Jeff Young

'Theory & Practice', by Michelle de Kretser

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, George Berridge instructs Lucy and Alex on the noble art of oenophilia; and Lucy takes in a trio of musicals.

'Who's Afraid of Romanée-Conti: A shortcut to drinking great wines', by Dan Keeling

'One Thousand Vines: A new way to understand wine', by Pascaline Peltier

'Good Night, Oscar', by Doug Wright, Barbican, until September 21

'Top Hat', by Irving Berlin, Chichester Festival Theatre, until September 6

'Brigadoon', by Alan Lerner and Frederick Loewe, adapted by Rona Munro, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, until September 20

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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Alex Clark celebrates the life and work of Edna O'Brien with filmmaker Sinéad O'Shea and novelists Eimear McBride and Jan Carson at this year's Belfast Book Festival.

'Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story', by Sinéad O'Shea

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, a special interview with farmer and writer James Rebanks about a life-changing stay on the Norwegian coast.

'The Place of Tides', by James Rebanks

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Emile Chabal braces himself against the barrelling force of the Mistral; and Kathryn Hughes is exhilarated by memories of dancing to Dickens in the carpark of the Horsham Odeon.

'The Mistral: A Windswept History of Modern France', by Catherine Tatiana Dunlop

'Showtime!', at the Charles Dickens Museum, until January 18, 2026

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Norma Clarke explores the ancient arts of hedge-laying, thatching, hay-cutting and wood-turning; and highlights from this week's issue.

'Words from the Hedge: A hedgelayer’s view of the countryside', by Richard Negus

'Of Thorn and Briar: A year with the West Country hedgelayer', by Paul Lamb 

'On the Roof: A thatcher’s journey', by Tom Allan

'Where Are the Fellows Who Cut the Hay?: How traditions from the past can shape our future', by Robert Ashton

'Ingrained: The making of a craftsman', by Callum Robinson

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Alicia Rix charts Henry James's return to an unrecognisable homeland; and David Horspool on a Victorian conman and a contemporary swimmer.

'Henry James Comes Home: Rediscovering America in the Gilded Age', by Peter Brooks

'On Writers and Writing: Selected Essays', by Henry James, edited by Michael Gorra

'Swimmingly: Adventures in Water', by Vassos Alexander

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Michael LaPointe celebrates a century of The Great Gatsby; and Miranda France on an epistolary novel by Natalia Ginzburg.

'The Cambridge Centennial Edition of The Great Gatsby', by F Scott Fitzgerald, edited by James LW West III, with an introduction by Sarah Churchwell

'The Annotated Great Gatsby', by F Scott Fitzgerald, edited by James LW West III, with an introduction by Amor Towles

'The Great Gatsby and Stories from All the Sad Young Men', by F Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Philip McGowan, with an introduction by Min Jin Lee

'The Bloomsbury Handbook to F Scott Fitzgerald', edited by Laura Rattray and Linda Wagner-Martin

'The City and the House', by Natalia Ginzburg, translated by Dick Davies

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Nicola Shulman is staggered by Sarah Vine's account of Westminster rivalry; and James Clackson on the irresistible rise of Indo-European.

'How not to be a political wife: A memoir', by Sarah Vine

'Proto: How one language went global', by Laura Spinney

'The Indo-Europeans rediscovered: How a scientific revolution is rewriting their story', by JP Mallory

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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... thinking about tomorrow. This week, Michael Caines on a musical inspired by a classic album; and Toby Lichtig talks to Mike Berners-Lee about the future of cliimate action at the Guernsey Literary Festival.

'Sterophonic', by David Adjmi, Duke of York’s Theatre, until October 11

'A Climate of Truth: Why We Need It and How to Get It', by Mike Berners-Lee

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, what TLS contributors are reading this summer; and Catherine Taylor on a trio of novels highlighting the growing pains of adolescence.

'Back in the Day', by Oliver Lovrenski, translated by Nichola Smalley

'Fun and Games', by John Patrick McHugh

'Girl, 1983', by Linn Ullmann, translated by Martin Aitken

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Sara Lodge counts the ways that mathematics influenced writers from Byron to Trollope; and Russell Williams on the transformative power of rites and rituals.

'The Number Sense of Nineteenth-Century British Literature', by Stefanie Markovits

'The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic', by Alan Moore and Steve Moore

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, a special podcast from the Hay Festival ranges from the ancient world to the 16th-century, taking in the art of criticism, the centrality of religion and eco-catastrophe. With Stephanie Merritt, Edith Hall, Toby Lichtig and a guest appearance from TLS crossword compiler Praxiteles.

'Traitor's Legacy', by SJ Parris

'Epic of the Earth: Reading Homer's "Iliad" in the Fight for a Dying World', by Edith Hall

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Magna Carta experts David Carpenter and Nicholas Vincent tell us how they discovered a rare original of the document; and Michael Caines on a spritely new staging of a Shaw play starring mother and daughter Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter.

'Mrs Warren's Profession', by George Bernard Shaw, Garrick Theatre, London, until August 16

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Eimear McBride is captivated by the life and work of Joyce's biographer; and Mark Nayler is hot on the trail of the wolf who walked alone.

'Ellmann's Joyce: the biography of a masterpiece and its maker', by Zachary Leader

'Lone wolf: walking the faultlines of Europe', by Adam Weymouth

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Vanessa Curtis celebrates a century of Mrs Dalloway; and Claire Lowdon on the capacious diaries of Helen Garner.

'Mrs Dalloway', by Virginia Woolf

'Monkey grip', 'The children's Bach', 'This house of grief', 'How to end a story: collected diaries', by Helen Garner

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Nicola Shulman salutes the memoirs of an old-school editor and socialite; and Rebecca Fraser on an unexpectedly peaceful transition of power in 17th-century America.

'When the going was good: an editor’s adventures during the last golden age of magazines', by Graydon Carter

'Taking Manhattan: the extraordinary events that created New York and shaped America', by Russell Shorto

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Toby Lichtig travels to Oslo to interview Nobel laureate Jon Fosse; meanwhile, Natasha Lehrer heads to Zurich for a compelling new play by Deborah Levy.

Jon Fosse is published in English by Fitzcarraldo Editions

'50 Minutes', by Deborah Levy, Neumarkt Theatre, Zurich, until May 7

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, David Gallagher remembers Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa; and Laurent Binet whisks us to 16th-century Florence to explore the world of his novel Perspectives.

'Perspectives', by Laurent Binet, translated by Sam Taylor

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Peter Holland treads the boards in Elizabethan London in search of Shakespeare before the Globe; and Muriel Zagha on a captivating tale of cheese-making in the Jura.

'The dream factory: London’s first playhouse and the making of William Shakespeare', by Daniel Swift

'Holy Cow', a film by Louise Courvoisier

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Margaret Drabble explores how Dickens drew on his love of the macabre and grotesque to create literary magic; and Norma Clarke takes a tour around the British coast.

'Dickens the enchanter: Inside the explosive imagination of the great storyteller', by Peter Conrad

'The restless coast: A journey around the edge of Britain', by Roger Morgan-Grenville

'Seascape: Notes from a changing coastline', by Matthew Yeomans

'The Shetland Way: Community and climate crisis on my father’s islands', by Marianne Brown

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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Caroline Moorehead salutes the energetic brilliance of singer Josephine Baker; and Aaron Peck on the past, present and future of the avant-garde.

'Fearless and free: A memoir', by Josephine Baker, translated by Anam Zafar and Sophie Lewis

'Josephine Baker's secret war: The African American star who fought for France and freedom', by Hanna Diamond

'What art does: An unfinished theory', by Brian Eno and Bette A.

'How to be avant-garde: Modern artists and the quest to end art', by Morgan Falconer

'The uncanny muse: Music, art, and machines from automata to AI', by David Hajdu

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, we're joined by Harriet Baker, winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award; and Helen Scales tunes into the sonic marvels beneath the surface of the sea.

'Rural Hours: The country lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann', by Harriet Baker

'Sing Like a Fish: How sound rules life under water', by Amorina Kingdon

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, novelist Damon Galgut remembers the ground-breaking South African playwright Athol Fugard; and Michael Caines on two very different approaches to the Danish prince.

'Grand Theft Hamlet', on Mubi

'Hamlet', by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon- Avon, until March 29 

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Larry Wolff immerses himself in a bold operatic vision of Melville's classic; and Travis Elborough on a boosterish attempt to rescue Croydon from its knockers.

'Moby-Dick', composed by Jake Heggie, Metropolitan Opera House, New York, until March 29

'Croydonopolis: A Journey to the Greatest City that Never Was', by Will Noble

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Toby Lichtig chats to Sam Leith about formative literature at Jewish Book Week; and David Horspool meets Sue Prideaux, winner of this year's Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize.

'The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading', by Sam Leith

'Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin', by Sue Prideaux

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Michael Caines interviews the men behind the Royal Shakespeare Company's thrilling new production of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II; and Nat Segnit finds Pico Iyer's journeys to a Californian monastery a welcome retreat from the world.

'Edward II', by Christopher Marlowe, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until April 5 2025

'Learning from Silence: Lessons from More Than 100 Retreats', by Pico Iyer

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Edith Hall finds herself mesmerised, entranced and perplexed by Sophocles; and Barnaby Phillips on a bizarre imperial incursion in 19th-century Africa.

'Oedipus', by Sophocles, Old Vic until March 29

'Electra', by Sophocles, Duke of York's Theatre until April 12

'A Training School for Elephants', by Sophy Roberts

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This week, we're joined by Eimear McBride as she publishes a compelling new novel; and Anne Fuchs celebrates WG Sebald's illuminating and idiosyncratic essays.

'The City Changes Its Face', by Eimear McBride

'Silent Catastrophes: Essays in Austrian Literature', by WG Sebald, translated by Jo Catling

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Kevin Brazil on the revealing tour d'horizontal of a great writer; and Keith Miller goes down a rabbit-hole in search of Richard Ayoade.

'The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir', by Edmund White

'The Unfinished Harauld Hughes', 'Plays, Prose, Pieces, Poetry', 'The Models Trilogy', 'Four Films', by Harauld Hughes/Richard Ayoade

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Toby Lichtig assesses the latest recreation of Bob Dylan, man and myth; and David Gallagher on an academic and spy who inspired the work of Javier Marias.

'A Complete Unknown', a film by James Mangold

'Scholar-Spy: The Worlds of Professor Sir Peter Russell', by Bruce Taylor

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Boris Dralyuk on a compelling portrait of the Black Sea port of Odesa, past and present; and Russell Williams is put in mind of the rumpled TV detective Columbo by a pacy French novel.

'Undefeatable: Odesa in Love and War', by Julian Evans

'Bristol', by Jean Echenoz

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Vanessa Curtis is entranced by the candour of the Bloomsbury set's photograph albums; and Emma Greensmith on the mythical creatures that fascinated the ancient world.

'The Bloomsbury Photographs", by Maggie Humm

'Centaurs and Snake-Kings: Hybrids and the Greek Imagination', by Jeremy McInerney

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, JS Barnes trembles in his boots before the latest incarnation of a classic vampire tale; and Mary C Flannery on the practical magic of the medieval kitchen.

'Nosferatu', various cinemas

'Recipes and Book Culture in England, 1350-1600', Carrie Griffin and Hannah Ryley, editors

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Alex Clark and Lucy Dallas look forward to 2025's most tempting reading, plan a Jane Austen road trip and resolve to sit up straight.

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Simone Gubler ponders the contents of a dog's mind; and Tristram Fane Saunders praises the poet Wendy Cope's strengths and subtleties.

'The Happiness of Dogs: Why the Unexamined Life is Most Worth Living', by Mark Rowlands

'Collared: How We Made the Modern Dog', by Chris Pearson

'Collected Poems', by Wendy Cope

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This week, Catriona Seth goes in search of the mysterious last queen of France; and Maria Margaronis is entranced by the stage adaptation of a children's classic.

'Marie-Antoinette', by Charles-Éloi Vial

'Ballet Shoes', adapted by Kendall Feaver from Noel Streatfeild's novel, National Theatre, London, until February 22

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This week, novelist and playwright Caryl Phillips remembers his friendship with the magnificent James Baldwin; and Robert Potts on the ingenious return of George Smiley.

The works of James Baldwin

'Karla's Choice', a John le Carré novel, by Nick Harkaway

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Mary Beard squares up to the gorefest of Gladiator II; and Alan Hollinghurst in conversation at the Cambridge Literary Festival.

'Gladiator II', various cinemas

'Our Evenings', by Alan Hollinghurst

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Lauren Elkin on a Nobel Prize-winner's obsession with images; and Judith Flanders assesses bold claims about the origins of contemporary English.

'The Use of Photography', by Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie, translated by Alison L. Strayer

'La Langue Anglaise N'existe Pas: C’est du français mal prononcé', by Bernard Cerquiglini

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Toby Lichtig talks to the new Booker Prize-winner Samantha Harvey about her voyage to the stars; and TLS contributors choose their books of the year.

‘Orbital’, by Samantha Harvey

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Norma Clarke explores the world of 18th-century chameleon Mary Robinson; and Devoney Looser on a soccer player's passion for Virginia Woolf.

'Mary Robinson: Actress, mistress, writer, radical',  Chawton House, Chawton, Hampshire, until April 21, 2025 

'The Striker and the Clock: On Being in the Game', by Georgia Cloepfil

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Mary Beard reports on the American election from her billet on Pennysylvania Avenue; plus Regina Rini opens a can of temporal worms in a quest to cure worry.

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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In a special interview, Lucy Dallas meets artist William Kentridge to explore his new set of films.

'Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot', by William Kentridge, available on Mubi

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This week, Oonagh Devitt Tremblay is intrigued by the multiple voices in Sarah Moss's new memoir; and Lucy Dallas speaks to artist William Kentridge.

'My Good Bright Wolf', by Sarah Moss

'Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot', by William Kentridge, streaming on Mubi 

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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