Backlisted

Rerun - Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee

Recorded live in Galway in 2021, we were joined by novelist Mary Costello for a special episode recorded live at Galway International Arts Festival in Ireland. The book w

Rerun - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

Returning to a show we made in 2022. The Ice Palace or Is-slottet by Tarjei Vesaas is a 20th century classic by one of Norway’s greatest modern writers. First published b

Gaining Ground by Joan Barfoot - Rerun

In light of it's republication by Faber this month, we are replaying this wonderful episode where author Rose Ruane first brought Gaining Ground A.K.A. Abra (1978) by Can

Summer Reading 2026

Just in time for the summer holidays, the Backlisted team recommend six books we have enjoyed recently: As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee; Boulder by Ev

Summer Reading 2023 - Rerun

Over here in the UK, we are well and truly into summer: some of us have World Cup fever, and others... have not. To celebrate the continuing balm, we are rerunning one of

How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard - Rerun

Recorded back in 2018 at Port Elliot festival, Andy and John are joined on stage by writer, actor and comedian Ben Moor, author of More Trees to Climb (Granta) and whose

Look At Me by Anita Brookner - rerun

This is a vintage Backlisted episode recorded back in 2017. John and Andy were joined by Una McCormack and Lucy Scholes to discuss Anita Brookner's third novel Look At Me

Beloved by Toni Morrison - rerun

Beloved by Toni Morrison was first published in 1987 by Knopf, it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988, among many other prizes. In 2006, the New York Ti

Springs of Affection by Maeve Brennan - rerun

There can be few writers more deserving of Backlisted’s attention than the Irish writer, Maeve Brennan. An adopted New Yorker, Brennan died there in 1993 and was by that

De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

Back in 2022, our guest was Stephen Fry, writer, actor and polymath, who joined John and Andy to discuss Oscar Wilde's De Profundis, the essay addressed to Lord Alfred Do

Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald - rerun

In this episode from March 2019, Andy and John are joined by Georgina Morley who was then the Non-Fiction Editorial Director at Picador,  and Lucy Scholes, the Senior Edi

Alma Cogan by Gordon Burn - Rerun

In a special edition recorded earlier this year live at the Durham Book Festival, John and Andy are joined by writers Adele Stripe and Ben Myers to discuss Gordon Burn's

Under The Volcano by Malcolm Lowry - Rerun

Recorded back in 2017, John and Andy were joined by poet, radio presenter, playwright and genuine tyke Ian McMillan to discuss Malcolm Lowry's 1947 masterwork, Under The

The Inheritors by William Golding

Joining John and Andy in this episode are multiple returnees and Official Friends of Backlisted: Dr Una McComack and Andrew Male. The book they are here to talk about is

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

Dr Rowan Williams, theologian, poet and former Archbishop of Canterbury, joins Andy and John for a thoughtful and moving discussion of Till We Have Faces (1956), the last

The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch

Ian Patterson, author of Books: A Manifesto , returns to Backlisted for a joyful discussion of Iris Murdoch and her sixteenth novel The Sacred and Profane Love Machine (1

Jake Thackray: The Unsung Writer by Paul Thompson

Biographer and singer-songwriter Paul Thompson joins us for a new episode of Backlisted devoted to the life and work of Jake Thackray, the so-called 'Yorkshire chansonnie

Asterix and the Roman Agent by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo

Merry Christmas! Join Andy and Una, plus authors Louie Stowell and Robert Shearman, for a post-solstice celebration of Asterix and the Roman Agent (1972) by René Goscinny

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild - rerun

A timely revisit of our 2022 Christmas special which celebrates Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, a classic of children’s literature and the childhood favourite of our pr

Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon

Writer and critic Matthew De Abaitua joins Andy, Una and Nicky to discuss Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future (1930), the astounding first novel by Ola