Best Mark Lerner Podcasts (2025)

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Renton Returns, Sick Boy in Love: Irvine Welsh Reimagines His Antiheroes 1:04:03

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8d ago1:04:03

1:04:03

In this electric conversation, Irvine Welsh joins Adam Biles at Shakespeare and Company to discuss Men in Love, the long-awaited sequel to Trainspotting. Picking up moments after Renton's betrayal, Welsh dives deep into the aftermath—friendship, love, addiction, class, and the cultural hangover of 1980s Thatcherism. The pair explore writing authent…

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Inside the Story Machine: Natasha Brown on Media, Power, and Fiction 54:48

15d ago54:48

54:48

In this episode novelist Natasha Brown joins Adam Biles to discuss her daring second book, Universality. The conversation explores the novel’s structural audacity—opening with a fictional long-read article—and its thematic interrogation of class, race, media narratives, and the modern British middle class. Brown dives into her creation of Leni, a p…

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Making Sense of Gertrude Stein, with Francesca Wade 1:05:38

21d ago1:05:38

1:05:38

In this rich conversation, Francesca Wade joins Adam Biles to discuss her biography Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife. Wade explores the complexities of Stein’s life, legacy, and literary innovations, foregrounding Stein’s long-overlooked partner, Alice B. Toklas, as a powerful and persistent force behind the myth. They dive into questions of biography,…

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Geoff Dyer’s Homework: Family, Class, and Memory 1:03:57

29d ago1:03:57

1:03:57

In this episode, Adam Biles speaks with acclaimed author Geoff Dyer live from Shakespeare and Company about his new memoir, Homework. Dyer reflects on growing up in 1960s Cheltenham, navigating family, class, and the formation of self. With characteristic wit and insight, he paints portraits of his quietly disappointed mother and parsimonious fathe…

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Rebecca Solnit: Changing the Story, Changing the World 1:05:08

1M ago1:05:08

1:05:08

Rebecca Solnit: Changing the Story, Changing the World In this powerful in-store conversation, Rebecca Solnit joins Adam Biles to discuss her new book No Straight Road Takes You There — a rallying call for hope, justice, and the reimagining of our collective future. With wit, clarity, and courage, Solnit explores how stories shape our world — and h…

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The Book That Refuses to End: Catherine Lacey on The Möbius Book 53:30

1M ago53:30

53:30

In this episode of the Shakespeare and Company Podcast, Adam Biles speaks with acclaimed author Catherine Lacey about her daring new work The Möbius Book. Structured as a "Tête-bêche"—two intertwined texts printed back-to-back—the book pairs a memoir chronicling the fallout of a painful breakup with a novella that spirals into the psychological sus…

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Writing the Unspeakable: Neige Sinno on Abuse, Memory, and Language 1:09:14

2M ago1:09:14

1:09:14

Trigger Warning: This episode contains detailed discussions of child sexual abuse, rape, trauma, and the failures of the justice system. In this powerful and deeply affecting conversation, Neige Sinno speaks with Adam Biles about her landmark book Sad Tiger, recently published in English in a luminous translation by Natasha Lehrer. A searing litera…

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On the Edge of the Real: Guadalupe Nettel on The Accidentals 51:34

2M ago51:34

51:34

In this rich conversation, Guadalupe Nettel joins Adam Biles at Shakespeare and Company to explore the themes of her short story collection The Accidentals. They delve into the complexities of perception and the uncanny, the deep strangeness embedded in familial relationships, and the porous boundary between nature and human nature. Nettel discusse…

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William Blake, Sea Monsters, and the Ecstasy of Art, with Philip Hoare 57:28

3M ago57:28

57:28

In this episode of the Shakespeare and Company Interview Podcast, Adam Biles welcomes Philip Hoare to the bookstore for a mesmerizing conversation about Hoare’s latest book, William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love. With characteristic lyricism, Hoare explores the mystic intersections between Blake’s visionary art and poetry and the siren call of…

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Overnight: Dan Richards on Sleep, Service, and the Secrets of the Small Hours 59:27

3M ago59:27

59:27

In this episode, Adam Biles is joined by writer Dan Richards to talk about his new book Overnight, a deep dive into the world of the night and the people who live and work while the rest of us sleep. From ferry captains and bakers to ICU nurses, researchers, and racing drivers, Richards explores the unseen rhythms and quiet heroism of nocturnal lif…

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Bruise, Heal, Repeat: Anna Whitwham on On Boxing, Loss, and the Female Body 45:45

3M ago45:45

45:45

In this episode, Adam Biles is joined in the bookshop’s writing studio by Anna Whitwham, author of Soft Tissue Damage, a raw and electrifying memoir of grief, boxing, and womanhood. Following her mother’s death, Whitwham trained and fought competitively as a boxer—an act of both healing and reckoning. She discusses how physical pain can become a la…

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Solvej Balle on Time, Wonder, and Writing the Impossible International Booker Prize Shortlist 56:43

4M ago56:43

56:43

In this episode recorded live at Shakespeare and Company, celebrated Danish author Solvej Balle returns to the bookshop she once called home to discuss her monumental literary project On the Calculation of Volume. The novel’s protagonist, Tara Selter, finds herself reliving November 18th—again and again—opening up a profound meditation on time, mem…

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Nobel Prizewinner Abdulrazak Gurnah on Theft, Love, and the Power of Fiction 48:45

4M ago48:45

48:45

Nobel Prize-winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah sits down with Adam Biles in store to discuss his new novel, Theft. Their conversation delves into the intricate interplay between personal history and the enduring legacy of colonialism, examines the complex dynamics of family and servitude, and discusses the challenge of transcending inherited narrativ…

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BONUS: Jeremy Pelt on Preserving Jazz Through Storytelling 54:10

4M ago54:10

54:10

For this bonus episode, the Shakespeare and Company podcast welcomes Jeremy Pelt, renowned jazz trumpeter and author of Griot: Examining the Lives of Jazz Great Storytellers. In conversation with Alex Freiman, Pelt discusses the evolution of jazz, the influence of oral traditions, and the importance of documenting firsthand accounts from legendary …

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Reimagining Moby-Dick, with Xiaolu Guo 57:03

4M ago57:03

57:03

In this episode, we’re joined by novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo to discuss her latest novel, Call Me Ishmaelle. A bold reimagining of Moby-Dick, Guo's novel audaciously swaps the gender of Melville’s narrator and plunges into a world of hidden identities, maritime adventure, and cultural collision. With host Adam Biles, Guo reflects on her perso…

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2016: The Year That Broke Us - with poet and oral-historian Sarah Hesketh 1:02:24

5M ago1:02:24

1:02:24

In this thought-provoking discussion, poet and oral historian Sarah Hesketh discusses her latest book, 2016 (CB Editions), a powerful exploration of one of the most pivotal years in recent history. Through a poetic and documentary approach, she captures the voices of twelve individuals reflecting on key events that shaped the world—Brexit, Trump’s …

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The Power of Voice – Sulaiman Addonia on The Seers 49:28

5M ago49:28

49:28

In this special live recording we dive into The Seers, the mesmerising new novel by Sulaiman Addonia. In conversation with Adam Biles, Addonia shares the story behind his bold, unfiltered novel—written as a single, unbroken paragraph—through the voice of Hannah, an Eritrean refugee navigating love, loss, sexuality, and identity on the streets of Lo…

Mark Lerner Podcasts

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Astroscope

Mark Lerner

1
The Shakespeare and Company Interview

Shakespeare and Company

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Lost Heroes, Missing Money

City of Montgomery, Ohio

1
Renton Returns, Sick Boy in Love: Irvine Welsh Reimagines His Antiheroes 1:04:03

1
Inside the Story Machine: Natasha Brown on Media, Power, and Fiction 54:48

1
Making Sense of Gertrude Stein, with Francesca Wade 1:05:38

1
Geoff Dyer’s Homework: Family, Class, and Memory 1:03:57

1
Rebecca Solnit: Changing the Story, Changing the World 1:05:08

1
The Book That Refuses to End: Catherine Lacey on The Möbius Book 53:30

1
Writing the Unspeakable: Neige Sinno on Abuse, Memory, and Language 1:09:14

1
On the Edge of the Real: Guadalupe Nettel on The Accidentals 51:34

1
William Blake, Sea Monsters, and the Ecstasy of Art, with Philip Hoare 57:28

1
Overnight: Dan Richards on Sleep, Service, and the Secrets of the Small Hours 59:27

1
Bruise, Heal, Repeat: Anna Whitwham on On Boxing, Loss, and the Female Body 45:45

1
Solvej Balle on Time, Wonder, and Writing the Impossible International Booker Prize Shortlist 56:43

1
Nobel Prizewinner Abdulrazak Gurnah on Theft, Love, and the Power of Fiction 48:45

1
BONUS: Jeremy Pelt on Preserving Jazz Through Storytelling 54:10

1
Reimagining Moby-Dick, with Xiaolu Guo 57:03

1
2016: The Year That Broke Us - with poet and oral-historian Sarah Hesketh 1:02:24

1
The Power of Voice – Sulaiman Addonia on The Seers 49:28