“Lucian Bernhard (1883-1972) was one of the great founders of modern graphic design. In a career spanning nearly five decades in Berlin and New York, Bernhard laid the foundation for a new language of form and communication. His brilliant poste

Nick Anthony on AI, and writing his first Novel

Mar 7th, 2024 39m 31s

I interviewed Nick Anthony a year or so ago about his experience writing a first novel and getting parts of it work-shopped. Today I catch up with him to find out what he’s been doing and where he’s at now on the road to getting his first book

John Sargent on beating Amazon & Google, and saving Books

Feb 6th, 2024 1h 19m

John Sargent was too young to fight in WW ll but he spent years battling Amazon and Google in the trenches on behalf of publishers and authors, protecting copyright and defending book prices. John grew up on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. Over fort

Joshua Doležal on being a Book Coach

Jan 26th, 2024 56m 52s

Joshua Doležal is a writer and award-winning teacher with 20 years of experience in publishing and editing. His mentor was Ted Kooser, former Poet Laureate of the United States and Pulitzer Prize winner. Josh's work has ap

Andrew Franklin "the best of the best in U.K. publishing"

Nov 15th, 2023 54m 2s

James Daunt calls him "the best of the best in U.K. publishing, constantly challenging the industry to move on when it drags its feet." Listen to my conversation with Andrew Franklin to learn why. Andrew is founder and, until recently, publishe

Michael Schmidt on 50+ years publishing poetry

Nov 15th, 2023 1h 6m

Here’s how the Carcanet Press website describes him: Michael Schmidt FRSL, poet, scholar, critic and translator, was born in Mexico in 1947; he studied at Harvard and at Wadham College, Oxford, before settling in England. Among his many publica

Andrew Nash on the value of Publishers' Archives

Oct 8th, 2023 1h

Andrew Nash is Reader in Book History at the Institute of English Studies, University of London (a leading book history scholar in other words) and Director of the London Rare Books School. We sat down in the stacks at the Mark Longman "Books a

Sir Tim Waterstone on Building a Bookselling Empire

Sep 14th, 2023 55m 43s

Sir Tim Waterstone revolutionized bookselling in Britain and changed the country's cultural landscape. He also wrote a memoir, called The Face Pressed Against a Window (Atlantic, 2019). We met at The Garrick Club in London to talk about the boo

Novelist David Mitchell on What he Does and How he Does it

Aug 18th, 2023 56m 32s

I was in Ireland recently to interview two of the best novelists on the face of the planet. John Banville, in Dublin, and David Mitchell, in Cork. As a cost-cutting measure I decided to ask them both the same questions: What do you do? How do

John Banville on How and Why he Writes Novels

Aug 12th, 2023 1h 1m

Early on in this conversation there's a dead patch. The mic didn't pick up the glorious seagull call that comes reverberating down the chimney into the room John Banville and I were sitting in. John Banville is an Irish novelist, short

Tim Parks on how to be a better reader

Jul 31st, 2023 1h 10m

Last year I interviewed Margaret Atwood about "the role" of the writer. No such thing she informed me. So we talked about the "non-role." Combatative she is. Just like Tim Parks. He talks with me here about the other end of the spectrum, the re

Marta Sylvestrova on Czech Film Poster Design

Jul 17th, 2023 47m 31s

Marta Sylvestrova is a curator and art critic, and has headed the graphic design department at the Moravian Gallery in Brno, Czech Republic, since 1986. She is a graduate of Masaryk University where she studied art history, and has, over the ye

Nic Bottomley on his Reading Spas and the future of Bookselling

Jun 15th, 2023 1h 2m

Nic Bottomley is a bookseller, and co-owner with his wife Juliette of Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, an independent bookshop based in Bath that has twice been named UK Independent Bookshop of the Year. Prior to setting up shop Nic was a c

Nana Lohrengel on booksellers school in Milan

Jun 6th, 2023 32m 44s

The Umberto and Elisabetta Mauri Booksellers School was founded in 1983 by Luciano Mauri in memory of his father and his daughter, who died prematurely. "In the course of almost thirty years of teaching activity it has trained new generations

Ricky Cavallero on Book Publishing as Partying

May 30th, 2023 46m 23s

Ricky Cavallero was CEO of the Spanish-language publisher Random House Mondadori for eight years. In 1995 he joined Mondadori as Director of Marketing Books; two years later he was appointed General Manager of the Spanish subsidiary and launche

Matteo Columbo on Falling in Love with Margaret Atwood

May 22nd, 2023 54m 31s

Matteo Columbo is Margaret Atwood's publicist and personal magician at the Ponte alle Grazie publishing house in Italy. We met in Milan to discuss, among other things, the relationship between magic and publicity, the things that Margaret's han

Dan Fridd on the latest in Bookselling Technology

Apr 25th, 2023 58m 51s

I saw Dan Fridd in action promoting Edelweiss "the book industry's platform to market, sell, discover, and order new titles" at the RISE Bookselling Conference in Prague a few weeks ago and knew I had to have him on the show. Dan is Client

Maria Hamrefors: Sweden's James Daunt

Apr 18th, 2023 34m 2s

Maria Hamrefors was appointed chairwoman of the Swedish Booksellers Association in 2019 after a long career in the book industry. Previous positions include CEO of Akademibokhandeln, CEO of Bokus, CEO of Norstedts Publishing Group, CEO of Thoms

Barbara Hoepli on how they love Bookstores in Italy

Apr 9th, 2023 39m 22s

Putin is murdering Ukrainians. Xi is likely perpetrating a genocide on the Uyghurs. He's also threatening to murder Taiwanese, and he's crushing democracy in Hong Kong. Trump is ignoring the rule of law. Florida is censoring books. Why am I do

Jeff Deutsch on a new kind of bookstore and the joys of the browse

Apr 2nd, 2023 1h 11m

Jeff Deutsch is a devoted reader, browser and lifelong bookseller. He's the director of Chicago's iconic Seminary Co-op Bookstores, and has written a book entitled In Praise of Good Bookstores (Princeton, 2022) in which he calls for a re-imagin

Book Designer Jerry Kelly on what to do once you've written your Manuscript

Mar 23rd, 2023 58m 52s

I've long been interested in rhetoric, the techniques of persuasive argument, propaganda; the use of passionate language. It's why I collect publishers' sales and bookseller catalogues, I'm sure! Ever since first laying hands on the booksell

Justin Pemberton on how to adapt an 800-page best-seller into a documentary film

Mar 7th, 2023 1h 6m

About a month ago I watched a documentary entitled Capital in the 21st Century. It was pretty riveting, describing much of what, and how, I've been thinking over the past few years about the American take-over of Canada, and the belief that th

Scott Ferris on Artist and Book Illustrator Rockwell Kent

Feb 28th, 2023 1h 1m

Scott R Ferris, is a researcher, writer and specialist in the art of Rockwell Kent (1882-1971). He has conducted many lectures on Kent and has served as curator for a lot of Kent exhibitions. Here's a thumbnail of Kent culled from what Zoë S

Stephen Marche on Writing and Failure and mock executions

Feb 19th, 2023 1h 5m

Is failure an inherent part of the writing "enterprise"? Yes, I'd say, this is undoubtedly true. If seen, however, solely as an "exercise" in itself, does this still hold true? I'm not quite so sure. These are the axes along which I tread dur

Sasha Tochilovsky on one of the greatest partnerships in magazine history

Feb 14th, 2023 1h 7m

Sasha Tochilovsky is a graphic designer, typographer, curator, teacher and head of the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography at the Cooper Union in New York City. We talk here about one of the greatest creative teams in magazine h