London Review Podcasts

Akihito, who abdicated in April, was a paradoxical figure: a hereditary monarch, the son of the wartime emperor, Hirohito, strictly barred from political utterance, who even so stood out against the historical revisionism of the nationalist right. Richard Lloyd Parry considers the former emperor’s part in the intellectual and political debate over Japan’s wartime record, and its history of apology – or non-apology – for its conduct in East Asia.Find more from Richard Lloyd Parry in the LRB here: lrb.me/richardlloydparrypodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Given what we know about the future of the planet, is having children a matter of consumer choice, of political conviction, or something an authority will eventually decide for us? Meehan Crist explores the debate about the ethics of childbearing in the age of climate crisis. She addresses the relationship between BP and the British Museum, the implications of culture-washing, and the logic of cultural divestment initiatives.Read more from Meehan Crist in the LRB here: lrb.me/meehancristarticlespodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The line between making a fiction and telling a lie has been blurry at least since Homer, and liars – from Odysseus and Iago to Austen’s Wickham and beyond – have often played central parts within fictions. This lecture will aim to tell some (though not all) of the truth about the relationship between lies and fiction from Homer to Ian McEwan, and will ask if fiction has responded adequately to the maggoty abundance of lies in public life at the present time.Read more by Colin Burrow in the LRB: lrb.me/colinburrowpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alan Bennett reads his Diary for 2019, with a few little extra bits.Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: lrb.me/bennettpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the last of a series of events marking the LRB's 40th anniversary, Jeremy Harding and Adam Shatz talk to Nikita Lalwani about their work for the paper, with a focus on North Africa and the Middle East.Due to some problems with the audio recording, this is a slightly abridged version of the event.Read more Jeremy Harding in the LRB: lrb.me/jhardingpodRead more Adam Shatz in the LRB: lrb.me/shatzpod  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As part of a series of events marking the LRB's 40th anniversary, Nell Dunn and Tessa Hadley talk to Joanna Biggs, one of the LRB's editors, about fictional representations of women’s everyday lives.Read more in the LRB from:Tessa HadleyNell DunnJoanna Biggs  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As part of our series of events marking the 40th anniversary of the LRB, longtime contributors Rosemary Hill and Iain Sinclair talked to the LRB’s digital editor, Sam Kinchin-Smith, about London, through the lens of pieces they've written for the paper.Read more by Rosemary Hill in the LRB: lrb.me/hillpodRead more by Iain Sincliar in the LRB: lrb.me/sinclairpodSign up to the LRB's newsletter: lrb.me/acast  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As part of our series of events marking the LRB's 40th anniversary, Katrina Forrester and William Davies discuss political crisis, and in particular the crisis of liberalism, through the lens of pieces they've written for the paper.Read more by Katrina Forrester in the LRB: https://lrb.me/forresterpodRead more by William Davies in the LRB: https://lrb.me/daviespod  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the London Review of Books, and mark the publication of The London Review of Books: An Incomplete History, the LRB’s editor, Mary-Kay Wilmers, along with Alan Bennett, Andrew O’Hagan, John Lanchester and Sheng Yun, talk to LRB publisher Nicholas Spice about the history and character of the paper. The London Review of Books: An Incomplete History is available to buy on the LRB store:https://lrb.me/storepodRead more Alan Bennett in the LRB here: https;//lrb.me/bennettpod  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bee Wilson on eating out in late Victorian London.Read more by Bee Wilson in the LRB: https://lrb.me/beewilsonpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Wood recalls his time at the college, with David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and others.Read more by James Wood in the LRB: https://lrb.me/jameswoodpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Andrew O'Hagan goes to the fashion designer's memorial at the Grand Palais in Paris.Read more by Andrew O'Hagan in the LRB: https://lrb.me/ohaganpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mary Wellesley looks inside the cell of a medieval anchorite, and considers why so many women shut themselves away to devote themselves to prayer and contemplation, and what their lives were like.Read Mary Wellesley in the LRB: lrb.me/wellesleypodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

‘Instead of shaking all over, I read the newspapers. I listened to the radio. I had my lunch.’ Colm Tóibín reads his account of being treated for cancer.Read more by Colm Tóibín in the LRB archive: lrb.me/colmtoibinpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alan Bennett puts on a new play and finds himself on someone’s arm, in his 2018 diary.Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bennettpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rosemary Hill explores frock consciousness in life and literature in her LRB Winter Lecture, delivered at the British Museum.Read more by Rosemary Hill in the LRB: https://lrb.me/hillpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Linda Colley argues that the prospect of Brexit makes history more important than ever in her LRB Winter Lecture, delivered at the British Museum.Read more by Linda Colley in the LRB: https://lrb.me/colleypodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anne Enright delivers her Winter Lecture on the corruptions of the Adam and Eve story in her LRB Winter Lecture, delivered at the British Museum.Read more by Anne Enright in the LRB: https://lrb.me/enrightpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Toby Jones reads John Lanchester’s ghost story.Read more from John Lanchester in the LRB: https://lrb.me/lanchesterpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alan Bennett finds his métier at last in 2017.Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bennettpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.