Explore every episode of the podcast The Worms Podcast

Sophie Lewis is a London-born translator and editor. With Gitanjali Patel, she co-founded the Shadow Heroes translation workshops enterprise. Lewis’s translations have been shortlisted for the Scott Moncrieff and Republic of Consciousness prizes, and longlisted for the International Booker Prize. She won the 2022 French-American Foundation prize for non-fiction translation with Nastassja Martin’s anthropology memoir In the Eye of the Wild.

Ash Sarkar is a writer, journalist, lecturer and political commentator, and a contributing editor at Novara Media. She’s written for The Guardian, The Independent and HuffPost, and you might’ve seen her on British TV and radio shows like Question Time and Good Morning Britain.

Arcadia Molinas is a writer, editor and performer. She is the online editor of Worms Magazine.Phoenix Yemi is a Nigerian-British poet, founder of Black Geographies, and the voice behind our A Worm Moon column.Summer Moraes aka Mother Of The Insane is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily through writing and performance. She is also the host of the worms podcast.

Stephanie LaCava is a New York–based writer whose work navigates desire, identity, and cultural myth. Her latest novel, Nymph was published in October, 2025.
Note: This is an online episode, so audio quality may vary.

Fariha Róisín is a multidisciplinary writer and artist.
Her book Who Is Wellness For? examines the politics of self-care and the wellness industry.

Emily LaBarge is a Canadian-born writer and critic based in London, currently teaching at Royal College of Art. She writes essays and art criticism that appear in major publications including Artforum, The Paris Review, The London Review of Books, and Granta. Her debut book, Dog Days is out now.

Hi Wormies,

Unfortunately, we’ve had a technical hiccup this week (our brand new episode got corrupted 😅) But!!! We’re excited to share something special instead: a previously unpublished live event with CAConrad at Champ Lacombe.

Enjoy! xx

Chris Kraus is an American writer, filmmaker and art critic whose work often mixes memoir, fiction and cultural criticism.

Her latest novel, The Four Spent the Day Together (2025), continues her signature blend of autofiction and social commentary by weaving together the story of a murder in Minnesota, the ambitions of a working-class family, and the fall-out of a crumbling marriage.

Lynne Tillman is a novelist, essayist, and cultural critic known for her sharp, inventive prose and genre-defying work. She is the author of several acclaimed books, including American Genius, A Comedy and Men and Apparitions. Her latest book, Thrilled to Death: Selected Stories, published in 2025, showcases four decades of her short fiction.

We also mention The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim and Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz by Cynthia Carr.

Heather McCalden is a multidisciplinary artist working with text image and movement. The Observable Universe is her first book.

Books mentioned

- Lady Sings The Blues by Billie Holiday

Ariana Reines is an award winning poet, playwright and performance artist.

Books mentioned- Paradise Lost by John Milton, The Rose, Waves Of Blood and A Sand Book by Ariana Reines.

Charlie Porter is a writer, fashion critic and curator. He has written for the Financial Times, the Guardian, The New York Times, GQ, amongst others, and has been described as one of the most influential fashion journalists of his time.

Books mentioned: The Gentrification of the Mind by Sarah Schulman, The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington

Judith Butler is a leading philosopher and gender theorist, best known for their book Gender Trouble, where they introduced the concept of gender performativity. Their work has greatly influenced feminist and queer theory.

Books mentioned: Who's afraid of gender? by Judith Butler, The second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir

Tilly Lawless is a queer, Sydney-based sex worker and writer. Her debut title Nothing But My Body was published in 2021 followed by Thora (2024).

Books mentioned:

Revolting Prostitutes: the fight for sex workers rights by Juno Mac and Molly Smith, Working girl: on selling art and selling sex by Sophia Giovannitti, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, Women Who Become Men by Antonia Young.

Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a writer, poet, independent scholar, and activist. Their latest book is titled Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde.

Book mentioned: Survival is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde

Eileen Myles is a poet, novelist, performer and art journalist. They are one of the most important figures in American Literature and Poetry.

Books mentioned: A working life by Eileen Myles, Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau

Song mentioned: Hot Topic by Le Tigre

Kate Nash is a BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter, musician and actress.

Books mentioned

The Revenge of the She Punks by Vivien Goldman

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino

The Body Keeps The Score by Besser van der Kolk

Stephen Ellcock is a renowned image collector whose "online cabinet of curiosities" has attracted more than 633,000 followers worldwide. His most recent book `Elements` is out now.

Books and writers mentioned

Shirley Jackson, Harry Smith, In defense of Witches by Mona Chollet.

Elida Silvey is a self-taught Mexican-American poet, writer, and editor living in London. She is a writer for Hard of Hearing Magazine and a member of the Gobjaw Poetry Collective. She is also the Assistant Editor at Montez Press.

Kita Ward is an artist, writer and food researcher looking to deepen our connection to every being we eat through story telling.

CACONRAD is an author and poet. They teach regularly at Columbia University in New York City and Sandberg Art Institute in Amsterdam.

Claire Marie Healy’s writing and curated projects explore film, art, fashion, and the internet, with a focus on the experiences of young women. Formerly the editor of Dazed, she has since edited publications on roller discos, dancefloors and SFX makeup for places like IDEA and A24. Her writing has been published by the Tate ("Girlhood", 2023), The Guardian, Dirt, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Cultured, Real Review and others, and she is also a Contributing Editor for AnOther, where her Girlhood Studies column has lived since 2019. Lately, Claire has been working on a new history of girlhood as told through clothing and makeup. 

Books mentioned: ’Girlhood’ by Marie Claire Healy, ’A Summer Bird-Cage’ by Margaret Drabble,

’Women in the Picture’ by Catherine McCormack, ’The Untethered Soul’ by Michael Singer.

Buy Claires book here ⁠Look Again: Girlhood | Books | Tate Shop | Tate Directors mentioned: Sofia Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola.

Movies mentioned: Virgin suicides, Marie Antoinette, The Beguiled, Hoard, Maxine.

Travis Alabanza is a writer, performer and theatre maker. Their theatre shows Burgerz, Overflow and Sound Of The Underground were all received with critical acclaim. They have given talks on Race and Gender at Harvard, Oxford and Bristol, with their impact in the LGBT plus community being noted in the Forbes 40 under 30 list, Dazed 100 and Attitudes magazine 100 list.

Writers mentioned

James Baldwin, bell hooks.

Books mentioned

None of the Above by Travis Alabanza

The Will To Change by bell hooks

Ella Frears is a poet and artist based in London. Her collection Shine, darling was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for best first collection, and the TS Eliot prize for poetry. 

Writers/artists mentioned

John Cooper Clarke, Sylvia Plath, William Burroughs, Patti Smith, Toni Morrison, William McGonagall.

Book mentioned

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood.

Tice Cin is an interdisciplinary artist from North London. A London Writers Award winner, her work has appeared in numerous magazines including Extra Teeth and Skin Deep. "Keeping Up The House" is her debut novel.

Writers mentioned
Gabor Mate, Gertrude Stein, Grace Dent, Kareem Parkins Brown.

Filmmaker mentioned
Quentin Tarantino

Musician mentioned
Casisdead

Olivia Sudjic is a writer living in London. Her writing has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Vogue, Frieze and Wired. She has taught Creative Writing at Kings College London and is the author of Asylum Road {2021}, Exposure {2018} and Sympathy {2017}.

Books mentioned
Motherhood by Sheila Heti, The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, Everyday Utopia by Kristen R. Ghodsee, Mother State by Helen Charman

Writers mentioned
Zadie Smith, Martin Amis, Rachel Cusk

Movies mentioned
The worst Person in the world, Past Lives

Olivia Laing is an acclaimed writer and critic. Recently the author of The Garden Against Time, Laing writes on art and culture for the Guardian, Financial Times and New York Times.

Artists and writers mentioned:
Derek Jarman, Andy Warhol, Chantal Joffe, Hunter S. Thompson.

Books mentioned:
The trip to echo spring and Everybody by Olivia Laing, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, Modern Nature by Derek Jarman, The Artists Way by Julia Cameron.

Amelia Abraham is a journalist and author. She has worked as an editor for VICE, Refinery29 and Dazed, and writes for The Guardian, British Vogue, and many other publications. Amelia edited ‘We can do better than this: 35 voices of LGBTQ+ rights’ and her first book ‘Queer Intentions’ is a first-person exploration of the mainstream of queer culture across the West.
Amelia’s favourite book is ‘Walking through clear water in a pool painted black’ by Cookie Mueller.

Writers mentioned:
Edouard Louis, Constance Debre, Sheila Heti, Annie Ernaux, Travis Alabanza

Books mentioned:
‘The woman in me’ by Britney Spears
‘Down the drain’ by Julia Fox

The author of ‘Bad Taste: or the politics of ugliness’, Nathalie Olah is an author, journalist and cultural critic whose writing has been published in The New Statesman, The Guardian, Dazed, and i-D amongst many others.

Nathalie’s favourite writer is Lucia Berlin.

References:
‘A manual for cleaning women’ by Lucia Berlin
George Monbiot (journalist)
Mary Harron, David Lynch, Tim Burton and Charlie Kaufman (filmmakers)
Gloria Steinem (feminist)
Giovannis Room by James Baldwin
American Psycho (movie)
Bret Easton Mills (novelist)
Marlon Brando (actor)
Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky (movies)

Jess Cole is a writer and model. She has written for the Guardian, Dazed, I-D, Vogue International, The New York Times amongst others.

Jess's favourite poet is Rita Dove.

Poem mentioned

I wanna be yours by John Cooper Clarke

Song mentioned

I wanna be yours by Arctic Monkeys

Artists mentioned

Kendrick Lamar

Courtney Love

Recently the author of "This Ragged Grace", Octavia Bright is a writer and broadcaster. She co-hosted Literary Friction, the literary podcast and NTS show, with Carrie Pitt. Her writing has been published in a number of magazines including The White Review, Harpers Bazaar, Elle, The Sunday Times, amongst others.

Octavia's favourite writer is Maggie Nelson.

Musician mentioned

Amy Winehouse

Artist mentioned

Louise Bourgeois

Charlie Fox is a writer and artist based in London. 

Charlies book was The Safety of Objects by A.M Homes.

Writers mentioned

R.L. Stine

Angela Carter

Filmmakers mentioned

Chantal Akerman 

John Waters

David Lynch

Movies and tv shows mentioned

Batman Returns

Twin Peaks

Eraserhead

Hook

Music mentioned

Sallys song by Fiona Apple

Deftones

Sky Dair (she/her) is a writer, filmmaker and musician from London. Her practice focuses on the presence of catharsis within the act of making and thinking. She is interested in the intersection and collaging of video, photography, audio and language as a vessel to explore emotional release.

Stephs books were Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter and Poor by Caleb Femi. 

Movies mentioned:
Aftersun
Matilda

Music mentioned:
Feel by Robbie Williams
Born slippy by Underworld

Play mentioned:
The confessions by Alezander Zeldin

Artists mentioned:
Tish Murtha

Other books and writers mentioned:
Shy by Max Porter
Bernardine Evaristo

Most recently the author of “The Other Side: a journey into women, art and the spirit world” Jennifer Higgie is an acclaimed writer, screenwriter, art critic and former editor of the London based contemporary arts magazine, Frieze.
Jennifers book were Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford and The See through House by Shelley Klein.

Juliet is a writer and filmmaker. Her short fiction and journalism have appeared in Frieze, The New York Times, Granta, London Review of Books and other publications. Her short films have screened in galleries and festivals worldwide. She is the author of Trans: A Memoir (2015), Variations (2021), Front Lines: Trans Journalism 2007 - 2021 (2022). Juliet appears in issue 2 of WORMS MAGAZINE.

Rebecca May Johnson has published essays, reviews and non-fiction with Granta, Times Literary Supplement and Daunt Books Publishing, among others, and is an editor at the trailblazing food publication Vittles. Small Fires is her first book- it was short listed for Foyles Nonfiction Book of the year 2022 and was Foyles Non-fiction Book of the Month for September 2023.

Most recently the author of ‘Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and the Philosophy of Fashion’ Charlie Porter is a writer, fashion critic and curator. He has written for The Financial Times, The Guardian, The New York Times amongst others. He is one of the most influential fashion writers of his time.
Charlie’s books were In Search of Lost Time {vol 1 - 7} by Marcel Proust

Lauren Elkin is a writer and translator, most recently the author of Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art and the UK translator of Simone de Beauvoir's previously unpublished novel The Inseparables. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications including the London Review of Books, the New York Times, Granta, Harper’s, Le Monde, the Times Literary Supplement and Frieze.

Laurens books were Bodies of Work by Kathy Acker and The Art Of Cruelty by Maggie Nelson.

Read Laurens tribute to Hilary Mantel here

Listening to Ghosts | Lauren Elkin (astra-mag.com)

TRIGGER WARNING

This episode contains discussions of PTSD and the depiction of traumatic events including discussion of 9/11 and gun control in the States. Listener discretion is advised.

Sheena Patel is a poet and writer. She is part of the 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE collective and her debut novel I'm a Fan won the Discover Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2023, has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and it was Foyles Fiction Book of the Year 2022. Sheena was also our cover star on issue 6 of WORMS MAGAZINE.

Sheena’s books :

- ’ Motherhood’ by Sheila Heti

- ’Minor Feelings’ by Cathy Park Hong