Shows
Always Take Notes#178: Adam Thirlwell, novelistSimon and Rachel and Simon speak with the novelist Adam Thirlwell. The author of four novels - the first of which, "Politics", was published in 2003 when he was 24, and the latest of which is "The Future Future" - Adam's work has been translated into 30 languages. His essays appear in the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, and he is an advisory editor of the Paris Review. His awards include a Somerset Maugham Award and the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Soci...2024-01-2354 min
Download Latest Full Audiobooks in Non-Fiction, Language InstructionAlways Take Notes: Advice from some of the world's greatest writers by Simon Akam, Rachel LloydPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/700973to listen full audiobooks.
Title: Always Take Notes: Advice from some of the world's greatest writers
Author: Simon Akam, Rachel Lloyd
Narrator: Simon Akam, Rachel Lloyd
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 8 hours 0 minutes
Release date: October 12, 2023
Genres: Language Instruction
Publisher's Summary:
'Inspiring' - Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Write It All Down 'Fascinating and useful' - Joe Moran, author of First You Write A Sentence Bestselling and award-winning authors share the secrets to their success, and the hard lessons they have learnt along the way. Where do the best ideas come from? How do you stay...2023-10-128h 00
Download Latest Full Audiobooks in Non-Fiction, Language InstructionAlways Take Notes: Advice from some of the world's greatest writers by Simon Akam, Rachel LloydPlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/700973 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Always Take Notes: Advice from some of the world's greatest writers Author: Simon Akam, Rachel Lloyd Narrator: Simon Akam, Rachel Lloyd Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 8 hours 0 minutes Release date: October 12, 2023 Genres: Language Instruction Publisher's Summary: 'Inspiring' - Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Write It All Down 'Fascinating and useful' - Joe Moran, author of First You Write A Sentence Bestselling and award-winning authors share the secrets to their success, and the hard lessons they have learnt along the way. Where do the best ideas come from? How do you...2023-10-1205 min
Download Latest Full Audiobooks in Non-Fiction, Language InstructionAlways Take Notes: Advice from some of the world's greatest writers by Simon Akam, Rachel LloydPlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/700973 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Always Take Notes: Advice from some of the world's greatest writers Author: Simon Akam, Rachel Lloyd Narrator: Simon Akam, Rachel Lloyd Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 8 hours 0 minutes Release date: October 12, 2023 Genres: Language Instruction Publisher's Summary: 'Inspiring' - Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Write It All Down 'Fascinating and useful' - Joe Moran, author of First You Write A Sentence Bestselling and award-winning authors share the secrets to their success, and the hard lessons they have learnt along the way. Where do the best ideas come from? How do you...2023-10-1205 min
Always Take Notes#165: Francesca Main, publisher, Phoenix BooksRachel and Simon speak to Francesca Main, publisher of Phoenix Books, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group which in turn is part of Hachette. She started her career at Penguin, first in the rights department and then as an editorial assistant at Hamish Hamilton; she then spent four years as a commissioning editor at Simon & Schuster. She joined Picador as editorial director in 2011 and launched the careers of writers including Adam Kay, Cathy Rentzenbrink and Jessie Burton. In 2015 Francesca was named Editor of the Year at the Bookseller Industry Awards. In 2020 she moved to Orion to launch her own im...2023-07-251h 00
Always Take Notes#163: Abigail Bergstrom, literary agent and novelistRachel and Simon speak with the literary agent and novelist Abigail Bergstrom. She started her career at the publisher Simon & Schuster in 2011; by 2014 she had been promoted to commissioning editor. She was then headhunted to set up and launch the literary arm of Gleam Futures, a talent-management agency, and oversaw the publication of several bestselling books. In 2020 Abigail was nominated for Literary Agent of the Year 2020 at the British Book Awards and in 2021 she launched her own company, Bergstrom Studio, a literary agency and publishing consultancy. Abigail is also a writer in her own right: her debut novel, “What a Sham...2023-06-2757 min
Travels Through TimeSimon Akam: The Changing of the Guard (2006)The British Army can trace its origins back to the Acts of Union of 1707 and its rich history involves conflicts both large and small in all corners of the globe.
But as the twenty-first century dawned, the organisation found itself in a transitional phase and with something of an identity crisis. What exactly was its culture? What, with its resources, could it really be expected to achieve? What was its relevance to modern Britain?
Today’s guest, Simon Akam, sought to confront questions like these in his book Changing the Guard: The British Army Since 9/11. Gr...2023-01-1758 min
Always Take Notes#118: Alex Wade, libel lawyer, journalist and authorSimon speaks with Alex Wade, a libel lawyer, journalist and author. Alex began life at law firm Carter-Ruck and went on to work as a lawyer for national newspapers. A spell off the rails in his early 30s saw Alex reinvent himself as freelance journalist and take up boxing. His experience of the then-subterranean world of white-collar boxing led to his first book, "Wrecking Machine". Alex went on to write two books about surfing and, in 2016, his first novel, "Flack's Last Shift", was published. Alex now combines working as a media lawyer for the firm Reviewed and Cleared with writing...2021-10-0559 min
Countercurrent: conversations with Professor Roger KneeboneSimon Akam in conversation with Roger KneeboneSimon Akam is a British writer and journalist who studied journalism in New York before working all over West Africa as a freelance correspondent. He writes for the Economist’s 1843 magazine and other publications. His 2021 book The Changing of the Guard, telling the inside story of the British Army in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11, has proved highly controversial. In this conversation we explore what it means to be a journalist and a non-fiction writer. http://www.simonakam.com/about/2021-09-271h 06
Britain Debrief with Ben JudahWhat went wrong for the British Army? || A debrief from Simon AkamWhat went wrong for the British Army? On the eve of twenty years since 9/11, I wanted to find out what went wrong in Iraq and Afghanistan for what used to call itself "the best little army in the world." To find out I spoke to Simon Akam for this week's #BritainDebrief for the Atlantic, the author of the recently published "The Changing Of the Guard: The British Army since 9/11." Why did the British lose control of Basra and then Helmand? How has a culture of no resignation unaccountability taken hold at the top? And why...2021-09-1129 min
Death Of 1000 CutsS4E36 - Chatting With Simon AkamOn this episode I chat with Simon Akam about his book THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD: THE BRITISH ARMY SINCE 9/11.
We talk about writing nonfiction, dealing with sources, and how to handle when things go wrong, based on Simon's experiences when the army objected to some of the things he'd written, and his publisher didn't back him up.
If you want to grab a copy of THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD you can get it here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-changing-of-the-guard/simon-akam/9781913348489
You can listen to the ALWAYS TAKE NOTES podcast here: https://www.alwaystakenotes.com/
And if you'd...2021-08-231h 08
Always Take Notes#112: Simon Scarrow, novelistRachel and Simon speak with historical novelist Simon Scarrow. Simon worked first as a schoolteacher, before becoming a full-time writer. His Roman-era "Eagles of the Empire" series has sold over 4 million copies in the UK alone, and his work has been translated into 24 languages. His other work includes a quartet of novels about the lives of the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte, a novel about the 1565 Siege of Malta, a contemporary thriller written with Lee Francis, and "Blackout", the first in a new series set in Berlin during the early months of the Second World War. We spoke to Si...2021-07-131h 01
Veteran State Of Mind NetworkVeteran State Of Mind 135: The Changing of the Guard, with Simon AkamSend us a textSimon Akam is a British writer who has worked all over the world. He is the author of 'The Changing of the Guard - The British Army since 9/ 11', which is available to order here: https://amzn.to/3twEHrFConnect with Simon at http://www.simonakam.com/Links to Geraint's books are available at http://www.grjbooks.comAudiobooks available at: https://www.audible.co.uk/search?searchAuthor=Geraint+JonesIf you are a veteran struggling with mental health, or you just want a bit...2021-05-101h 24
Always Take Notes#106: Simon Sebag Montefiore, historian and novelistSimon and Rachel speak with Simon Sebag Montefiore, a historian and novelist whose books have been published in 48 languages. His history books include "Catherine the Great and Potemkin", which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson and Duff Cooper Prizes, "Young Stalin", which won the Costa Biography Award (UK) and "Jerusalem: The Biography" which won the Wen Jin Prize in China. His Moscow trilogy of novels comprises "Sashenka", "Red Sky at Noon" and "One Night in Winter." We spoke with Sebag, as he likes to be known, about interviewing Margaret Thatcher as a schoolboy, his adventures in the Russian archives, and com...2021-04-201h 02
Fast Jet PerformanceSimon Akam, author of 'The Changing of the Guard - the British Army Since 9/11'A revelatory, explosive new analysis of the British military today!Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Britain has changed enormously. During this time, the British Army fought two campaigns, in Iraq and Afghanistan, at considerable financial and human cost. Yet neither war achieved its objectives. This book questions why, and provides challenging but necessary answers.Award-winning journalist Simon Akam, who spent a year in the army when he was 18, returned a decade later to see how the institution had changed. His book examines the relevance of the armed forces today ― th...2021-04-151h 35
Always Take Notes#104: Simon Akam, magazine writer and authorIn an episode with a difference Rachel interviews her Always Take Notes co-cost Simon to mark the publication of his book "The Changing of the Guard," which tells the story of the British Army since 9/11. After a complicated gestation the book was published last month and has generated extensive debate on the review pages, along with excerpts in the FT magazine, the Atlantic and GQ. Rachel also asks Simon about his magazine journalism and balancing time as a freelancer.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfun...2021-03-231h 00
Angry PlanetHow 9/11 Changed the British MilitaryIt’s been a long time since the sun set on the British Empire and many institutions in British society have changed a great deal. In some ways, the British Army is the exception - a living linkage between imperial great power status and the current post-colonial European nation. In other ways, like the US military, the British Army has been comprehensively transformed by the long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. The way the British Army has altered - and also failed to react - over the last two decades is the subject of the new...2021-02-2652 min
Always Take Notes#96: Samanth Subramanian, magazine writer and authorRachel and Simon talk to magazine writer and author Samanth Subramanian. Samanth is a contributing writer to the Guardian Long Read, and his writing has also appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, WIRED, Granta, Harper's and 1843, among other publications. He is the author of three books, “Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast,” (which won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize in 2010), “This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War” (winner of the 2015 Crossword Prize for Non-Fiction) and his latest, “A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J. B. S. Haldane”, published in...2020-12-011h 08
Always Take Notes#95: Emily Hayward-Whitlock, book-to-film agentSimon and Rachel speak with agent Emily Hayward-Whitlock, head of the book-to-film department at The Artists Partnership. Emily handles the film and TV rights for various literary agencies and publishers, including Rogers Coleridge and White, Serpent’s Tail, Janklow and Nesbit, Unbound, Profile Books and Nosy Crow. Her recent deals include Richard Osman’s bestselling novel, “The Thursday Murder Club”, to Amblin Pictures and Gail Honeyman’s “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” to Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon’s production company. We spoke to Emily about what kinds of books are most attractive for film and TV, how much involvement a writer can exp...2020-11-1755 min
Always Take Notes#94: Patrick Radden Keefe, author and New Yorker staff writerRachel and Simon speak with Patrick Radden Keefe, a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine and author of three books. Patrick's most recent title is the best-selling “Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.” His work at The New Yorker, where he has been a contributor since 2006, has received the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. “Say Nothing” received the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the National Book Critics Circle Award. We spoke to Patrick about his early reporting on the US National Security Agency, his entry to The New Yorker, and the challenge of res...2020-11-0353 min
Always Take Notes#93: Phoebe Hurst, managing editor, Vice UKSimon and Rachel speak with Phoebe Hurst. As the managing editor of Vice UK, Phoebe is responsible for commissioning and editing stories with a youth-focused lens; she has also written about topics as varied as mental health, plastic waste, and the rise of Pret A Manger. Before that, she was the editor of Munchies, Vice's food channel, and has freelanced for publications including Wired, the Guardian and Dazed. We spoke to Phoebe about getting started in journalism, the joys of a good editor and the fabled “Vice Voice”.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitt...2020-10-2054 min
Always Take Notes#92: Alexander McCall Smith, novelistRachel and Simon speak with prolific novelist Alexander McCall Smith. Alexander was a professor of Medical Law, before turning his hand to writing fiction. His first book, “The White Hippo”, a children’s title, was published in 1980. But it wasn’t until the appearance of the highly successful “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series that Alexander became a household name. The series has now sold over twenty million copies in English alone. Alexander’s various series of books have been translated into forty-six languages. Others include the “44 Scotland Street” novels and the Isabel Dalhousie books. Recently, he launched the Ulf Varg series of ‘...2020-10-0655 min
Always Take Notes#91: Linda Grant, writer and novelistSimon speaks with the writer and novelist Linda Grant. She began her career as a journalist, writing for the Guardian and the Independent on Sunday, before publishing “The Cast Iron Shore”, her first novel, in 1996. Her subsequent books include “Remind Me Who I Am, Again” (1998), “When I Lived in Modern Times” (2000), “Still Here” (2000), “The People on the Street” (2005) and “The Clothes on their Backs” (2008). Her work has variously won or been nominated for a clutch of prizes, including the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Man Booker Prize and the Letter Ulysses Prize for Literary Reportage. Linda talked about literary touchstones, writing gre...2020-09-2249 min
Always Take Notes#90: Geoff Dyer, authorRachel and Simon speak with the prolific and genre-bending author Geoff Dyer. Geoff’s many books include the novel “Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi,” “But Beautiful” (about jazz), “Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It,” “Zona” (about Andrei Tarkovsky’s film “Stalker”) and, most recently, “Broadsword Calling Danny Boy” (on the film “Where Eagles Dare”). His books have been translated into twenty-four languages and he currently lives in Los Angeles where he is Writer in Residence at the University of Southern California. We spoke with Geoff about his early life and his entry into writing, fiction versus non-fictio...2020-09-0855 min
Always Take Notes#89: Amanda Craig, novelistRachel and Simon speak with the novelist Amanda Craig. After a brief spell in advertising and PR, Amanda became a journalist—writing for the Sunday Times, the Observer, the Telegraph and the Independent—and went on to win the Young Journalist of the Year and the Catherine Pakenham Award. Amanda is now a full-time novelist and her latest book, “The Golden Rule”, was published in June. We talked to Amanda about writing interconnected stories, the economics of the publishing industry and her experience of libel law.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on F...2020-08-2553 min
Always Take Notes#88: Toby Young, journalist and authorSimon and Rachel speak with journalist and author Toby Young. He has written for the Times, the Sun on Sunday, the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and has been a columnist at the Spectator since 1998. His book, “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People”, about his stint at Vanity Fair, became a bestseller and was adapted into a film starring Simon Pegg. Toby co-founded the West London Free School and is the chief executive of the Free Speech Union. We talked to Toby about his entry into journalism, his contrarian instincts and whether there is a “business of outrage”.
You ca...2020-08-111h 01
Always Take Notes#87: Anne Enright, novelistRachel and Simon speak with the author Anne Enright. Anne has written two collections of stories, one book of non-fiction and six novels. “The Gathering”, which was published in 2007, won the Booker Prize; Anne has also received the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. In 2015 she was appointed the first Laureate for Irish Fiction and in 2018 she received the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature. We spoke to Anne about creative writing programmes, her loathing of routine and writing “Actress” during the emergence of the #MeToo movement.
pengui...2020-07-2855 min
Always Take Notes#86: Matthew Syed, author and journalistRachel and Simon speak with Matthew Syed, an author and journalist who writes about the practices and techniques that underpin high performance. He has written six books on the subject - including the best-sellers "Bounce" and "Black Box Thinking" - and has worked as a consultant with many leading organisations. He is also a journalist for The Times and a regular contributor to television and radio. In his previous career, Matthew was the England table tennis number one for almost a decade. We spoke to Matthew about his hugely successful popular science books, how he combined table tennis with...2020-07-1450 min
Always Take Notes#85: Louise Doughty, novelistRachel and Simon speak with Louise Doughty. Louise is the author of nine novels, including “Apple Tree Yard”, a number-one bestseller which was adapted as a four-part series by the BBC. Her sixth novel, “Whatever You Love”, was nominated for the Costa Novel Award and Orange Prize for Fiction; her eighth novel, “Black Water”, was chosen by the New York Times as one of their Notable Books of the Year. Her work has been translated into 30 languages. We spoke to Louise about creative writing programmes, the vexing “chick lit” label and her extensive research process.
https://www.louisedoughty.co...2020-06-3055 min
Always Take Notes#84: Guy Stagg, travel writerSimon speaks with the travel writer Guy Stagg. In 2013 Guy, who had grown up in Paris, Heidelberg, Yorkshire and London, walked from Canterbury to Jerusalem. "The Crossway," an account of this journey, was published by Picador in 2018. The book won an Edward Stanford Travel Award and was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Deborah Rogers Foundation Award. We spoke to Guy about travel writing in the age of Tripadvisor, his long walk to Jerusalem, and how that experience turned into a book.
https://www.guystagg.co.uk/
https://www.amazon.co.u...2020-06-1658 min
Always Take Notes#83: Hadley Freeman, journalist and authorRachel and Simon speak with the journalist Hadley Freeman. She has been a staff writer at the Guardian since 2000, working in London and the US on the fashion desk, as a features writer and as a columnist. She has contributed to other publications including the British and American editions of Vogue, and written several books. We spoke to Hadley about fashion journalism, the challenges of column writing and her family memoir, “House of Glass”.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/01/nicolas-cage-if-i-dont-have-a-job-to-do-it-can-be-very-self-destructive
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/apr/29/tony-slattery-had-very-happy-time-went-slightly-barmy
https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008322632/house-of-glass-the-story-and-secrets-of-a-twentieth-century-jewish-family/
You can find us online at always...2020-06-0248 min
Always Take Notes#82: Colum McCann, novelistSimon and Rachel speak with Colum McCann, who is the author of six novels and three collections of stories. His novel, "TransAtlantic", was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, and his previous novel, "Let the Great World Spin", won the National Book Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was a New York Times bestseller. His work has been published in 40 languages and he teaches on the MFA program at Hunter College in New York. We spoke with Colum, who was born in Dublin but now lives in New York, about his fiction, his teaching and his new, genre...2020-05-1955 min
Always Take Notes#81: Alysoun Owen, editor of the Writers’ & Artists’ YearbookSimon and Rachel speak with Alysoun Owen, editor of the “Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook” and the “Children’s Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook”, and the author of the “Writers’ & Artists’ Guide to Getting Published”. She has worked in the publishing industry, both in Britain and overseas, for more than 25 years; in 2012 she established her own consultancy. Alysoun talked about the history of the yearbook, first published in 1906, as well as how its content - and how the industry at large - has changed.
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/store/9781472947512/writers-artists-yearbook-2020/
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/store/9781472950215/writers-artists-guide-to-getting-published/
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/store/9781472947635/children-s-writers-artists...2020-05-0554 min
Always Take Notes#80: Tim Rice, lyricistRachel and Simon speak with lyricist Tim Rice, who has worked in music, theatre and films since 1965. In collaboration with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim wrote song lyrics for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Evita.” He has since worked with other distinguished popular composers such as Elton John (“The Lion King,” “Aida”) and Alan Menken (“Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast”). His awards include three Oscars, four Tonys, five Grammys and one Emmy. Tim spoke about his collaborations with different composers, his songwriting process and the business of musicals.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, a...2020-04-2156 min
Always Take Notes#79: Sophie Elmhirst, magazine writerRachel and Simon speak with magazine writer Sophie Elmhirst, a freelance journalist. As well as writing regularly for the Guardian Long Read and The Economist’s 1843 Magazine, on subjects ranging from millennial culture to the inner workings of the tampon business, Sophie is a contributing editor at The Gentlewoman and Harper’s Bazaar. She talked about her decision to enter, leave, and re-enter journalism, producing longform features and how she manages multiple commissions at once.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/11/tampon-wars-the-battle-to-overthrow-the-tampax-empire
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/culture/2012/10/unquiet-mind-hilary-mantel
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/31/intimate-terrorism-domestic-abuse-coercive-control-farieissia-martin
https://www.1843magazine.com/feat...2020-04-0754 min
Always Take Notes#78: Simon Lancaster, speechwriterSimon speaks with Simon Lancaster, who runs Bespoke Speechwriting Services and has written speeches for top politicians and the CEOs of some of the biggest companies in the world, including Unilever, Rio Tinto, and Nestle. Simon is the author of “Speechwriting: The Expert Guide” and “Winning Minds: Secrets from the Language of Leadership.” He is a fellow at Henley Business School, lectures at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, and regularly appears as a media pundit on oratory. Simon told us about his experience writing speeches for British politicians, how the fundamentals of rhetoric have remained consistent across time, language and culture, and how speechwri...2020-03-241h 00
Always Take Notes#77: Kiley Reid, novelistSimon and Rachel speak with Kiley Reid, the bestselling author of “Such a Fun Age”. A recipient of the Truman Capote Fellowship at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, “Such a Fun Age” is her debut novel. The book was the subject of a 10-way bidding war while the television and film were acquired by Lena Waithe, an Emmy-award winning writer and producer, ahead of its publication. Kiley talked about how her experiences informed the book’s plot, the process of workshopping a novel and what it’s like to adapt your own work for the screen.
You can find us online at alwaystakeno...2020-03-1041 min
Always Take Notes#76: Giles Hattersley, features director, British VogueRachel and Simon speak with Giles Hattersley, the features director of the British edition of Vogue magazine. Giles studied English at Warwick University and completed an MA in fashion journalism before joining the Sunday Times in 2003. Working his way up from an intern on the Style section, he joined the News Review later that year and went on to become the paper's youngest ever chief interviewer, aged 25, writing profiles of everyone from Beyonce to Richard Dawkins. In 2007, he briefly became editor-in-chief of Arena magazine, before returning to The Sunday Times. In 2017, he was hired by Edward Enninful as features director...2020-02-2555 min
Always Take Notes#74: Jay Rayner, restaurant critic, the ObserverSimon and Rachel speak with Jay Rayner, the restaurant critic of the Observer. After studying politics at Leeds University, where he edited the student newspaper, Jay entered national newspaper journalism, winning Young Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards in 1992. The restaurant critic of the Observer since 1999, Jay has also worked extensively in television, including as a judge on Masterchef, and written several books. Jay talked about how, in his view, there is no such thing as “food writing” (just writing that happens to be about food), his lesser-known stint as a novelist and his celebrated hatchet job on L...2020-01-2258 min
Always Take Notes#73: Alexandra Pringle, editor-in-chief, Bloomsbury Publishing2020 sees a new co-host join Always Take Notes - Rachel Lloyd, assistant editor for Books and Arts at The Economist. In this episode Simon and Rachel speak with Alexandra Pringle, the editor-in-chief of Bloomsbury Publishing. Alexandra began her career at Art Monthly, before joining the pioneering feminist press Virago in 1978, where she edited the Modern Classics series before becoming editorial director. After stints at Hamish Hamilton and as a literary agent, Alexandra joined Bloomsbury in 1999. Alexandra talked about the importance of finding the right agent, how the industry has changed over the course of her career and the impact of P...2020-01-1457 min
Always Take Notes#72: Charles Moore, journalist and biographerSimon and Eleanor speak with Charles Moore, who was handpicked by Margaret Thatcher to write her authorised biography – he has just published his third and final volume, Herself Alone. Prior to writing about Mrs Thatcher, Charles was editor of the Spectator between 1984 and 1990, and editor of the Daily Telegraph between 1995 and 2003. Charles spoke about editing Boris Johnson's copy, his one journalistic regret, and his heated tête-à-têtes with Margaret Thatcher.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is pr...2019-12-3151 min
Always Take Notes#71: Tanya Gold, freelance journalistSimon speaks with freelance journalist Tanya Gold, who has written for a broad range of publications in both the UK and the US. Tanya discussed her investigation into anti-semitism in the Labour Party for the American magazine Harper's, her experience at the centre of a Twitter storm earlier this year after she criticised Nike's plus-sized mannequins, her decision 15 years ago to first write about her struggles with alcohol, and her plans for a potential book on that subject.
https://harpers.org/archive/2018/10/among-britains-anti-semites/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/obese-mannequins-selling-women-dangerous-lie/
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/sep/22/how-to-survive-a-twitter-storm-tanya-gold-fat-shaming
https://www...2019-12-1755 min
Always Take Notes#68: Simon Robinson, global managing editor, Thomson ReutersSimon and Eleanor speak with Simon Robinson, global managing editor at Thomson Reuters. Simon joined the news service in 2010 and ran investigations and enterprise reporting in Europe, Middle East and Africa for six years, editing major series on Iran, Russia and migration. Between 2017 and 2019 he was regional editor for EMEA, running Reuters' biggest region. Between 1995 and 2010, Simon was a correspondent and then editor for Time magazine, reporting from more than 50 countries. Simon spoke about what the work of a newswire involves and how it has changed, his own career progression from starting out in Australia to foreign correspondency, and the chan...2019-11-0556 min
Always Take Notes#67: Anna Davis, director, Curtis Brown CreativeSimon speaks with Anna Davis, founder and director of Curtis Brown's creative writing school, which launched in 2011. Anna worked for Curtis Brown for more than a decade as a literary agent before setting up Curtis Brown Creative. Previously she was a lecturer on Manchester University’s MA in novel writing. She is also a former Guardian columnist, and the author of five novels, published around the world in 20 languages: The Dinner, Melting, Cheet, The Shoe Queen and, most recently, The Jewel Box. Anna talked to Simon about how Curtis Brown Creative differs to university writing courses, her entry into the pu...2019-10-2255 min
Always Take Notes#66: Ferdinand Addis, historianSimon speaks with Ferdinand Addis, the author of Rome: Eternal City, a narrative history of Rome which spans 3,000 years over some 650 pages. Ferdinand read Classics at university before embarking on a career as a journalist and author. He wrote three short books for the publisher Michael O'Mara before moving on to his epic biography of Rome, which was published last year. He is now working on a history of Roman Britain. Ferdinand spoke about the origins of his interest in Rome, gave a robust defence of the classics, and discussed whether ‘popular historian’ is a useful term.
https://www.amazon...2019-10-0854 min
Always Take Notes#65: May Jeong, magazine writerSimon speaks with Canadian magazine writer May Jeong, who spent five years reporting on Afghanistan, and is best known for her months-long investigation in to the bombing of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz for The Intercept. This story won her the 2017 South Asian Journalists Association’s Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Report on South Asia, as well as the Prix Bayeux Calvados Award for War Correspondents in the Young Reporter category. May's work has also appeared in other publications including the New York Times, Harper's and the London Review of Books. In this episode, May talke...2019-09-2452 min
Always Take Notes#64: Jeffrey Archer, novelistSimon speaks with Jeffrey Archer, a novelist whose books have sold more than 275 million copies worldwide. Archer wrote his first novel aged 34, when a failed business deal left him heavy in debt. His third novel, Kane and Abel, sold over a million copies in its first week of release in 1979. He has now written more than 20 novels, alongside short stories, a play and non-fiction, and is published in 97 countries and more than 33 languages. Archer was deputy chairman of the Conservative Party in the 1980s and in 1999 stood as the Conservative candidate for mayor of London. In November that year, he withdre...2019-09-1056 min
Always Take Notes#63: Zahra Hankir, editor and anthologistEleanor and Simon speak with Zahra Hankir, journalist and editor of Our Women on the Ground, an anthology of essays from Arab women reporting from the Arab world, published this month by Penguin. Zahra spoke about her personal connection as an Arab woman to these journalists, their stories and their work. She discussed the difficulties of compiling and editing an anthology broaching delicate political topics that could prove dangerous to their writers. She also talked about whether she ever worries about feeling professionally pigeonholed by her heritage and "specialist subject".
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takeno...2019-08-2754 min
Always Take Notes#61: Ruth Padel, poetEleanor and Simon speak with Ruth Padel, who is a poet, novelist, critic and Professor of Poetry at King’s College London. Ruth spoke about her verse biography of her great-great-grandfather Charles Darwin, as well as her upcoming verse biography of Beethoven, Beethoven Variations. Ruth also discussed her brief tenure as Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 2009, and her view on the new generation of Instagram poets.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Eleanor Halls and Si...2019-07-3047 min
Always Take Notes#60: James Graham, playwright and screenwriterSimon speaks to James Graham, one of Britain's best known contemporary playwrights who has also written widely for film and television. James' first award was the Pearson Playwriting Bursary in 2006. His big break came when his 2012 play This House, written for the National Theatre and set in the British parliament in the 1970s, enjoyed a sell out run and garnered widespread critical acclaim. His subsequent work includes the 2017 play Ink, about the early days of Rupert Murdoch, and this year's film Brexit: An Uncivil War, which was broadcast on Channel 4 and HBO and starred Benedict Cumberbatch. James spoke about how he bro...2019-07-161h 00
Always Take Notes#59: Christina Lamb, chief foreign correspondent, the Sunday TimesSimon speaks to Christina Lamb, one of Britain’s leading foreign correspondents who has documented conflict across the world, from Afghanistan to Rwanda. Currently chief foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times, Christina discussed balancing her war reporting duties with her work as an author, including writing I Am Malala and her most recent book Our Bodies, Their Battlefields, about women in war. She also talked about getting arrested and deported in Pakistan while reporting for the Financial Times, and the impact her work has had on her mental health.
http://christinalamb.net/articles/it-was-what-we-feared.html
http://christinalamb.net/articles/yazidis.ht...2019-07-0259 min
Always Take Notes#58: Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer, the New YorkerSimon and Eleanor speak to Jon Lee Anderson, a staff writer at the New Yorker magazine and veteran war correspondent. Jon Lee began his career in the early 1980s, reporting on Central America. As a New Yorker staff writer since 1998, he has reported from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Liberia and many other countries. Jon Lee spoke about about the myths and realities of conflict journalism, the time he discovered the hidden grave of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and the experience of profiling Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1998/10/19/the-dictator-2
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Che...2019-06-1859 min
Always Take Notes#57: Anna Codrea-Rado, campaigner for freelancer rightsSimon speaks with Anna Codrea-Rado, a freelance journalist who has written for titles including the New York Times and Wired, and who now advocates for better conditions for freelancers, through her #FairPayForFreelancers campaign, her popular newsletter The Professional Freelancer, and FJ&Co, a platform that provides tools and resources and organises events. Alongside discussing her campaigning, Anna, who studied journalism at Columbia in New York, talks about the potential pitfalls of journalism degrees, including the way they can contribute to elitism within the industry. She also discusses the pressure she felt to become a "real journalist" while working on an alumn...2019-06-0459 min
Always Take Notes#56: Ed Caesar, magazine writerSimon and Eleanor speak to British magazine writer Ed Caesar, who was recently made a contributing writer at the New Yorker and whose work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, Wired, GQ and numerous other publications. Ed talked about his early career at the Independent, his decision to go freelance, breaking into the American market and the challenges of balancing his writing work and travel with his domestic commitments. He also discussed why he chooses not to live in London.
https://edcaesar.co.uk/2011/05/04/isner-mahut-endless-tennis-gq/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/01/house-of-secrets
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13...2019-05-2157 min
Always Take Notes#55: Ann Goldstein, Elena Ferrante's translatorSimon and Eleanor speak to Ann Goldstein, who translated Elena Ferrante's phenomenally successful Neapolitan novels (My Brilliant Friend and its three sequels) out of Italian and into English. Ann also had a long and distinguished career as an editor at the New Yorker, where she rose to become head of the copy department. Ann spoke about the process of literary translation, the challenges of working with a writer whose identity she did not know, and also how the world of magazines has changed since she began her working life in the 1970s.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com...2019-05-0751 min
Always Take Notes#53: Pandora Sykes, journalist and podcasterSimon and Eleanor speak to Pandora Sykes, journalist and co-host of the hugely successful podcast the High Low. Pandora began her journalistic career at the Sunday Times, where she held the position of fashion features editor and wrote the Wardrobe Mistress column for the paper's Style magazine. She has written for numerous other titles including Elle, the Telegraph, the Guardian, Marie Claire, and the Spectator, and consults widely for a range of brands from Topshop to Cartier.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/when-hungry-bum-attacks-0gp0kqcg9q2
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/how-bff-marketing-became-the-m-o-for-womens-direct-to-consumer-brands
You can find us online at alwa...2019-04-0953 min
Always Take Notes#52: Andrew Hankinson, journalist and authorIn an episode recorded live at the Well Told longform journalism conference in London, Simon and Eleanor speak with author and journalist Andrew Hankinson. Hankinson has written magazine features for the Observer, Wired and Cosmo, and is author of literary nonfiction book You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life, a retelling of the last eight days of killer Raoul Moat and his stand off with the Northumbrian police in 2010. Hankinson spoke about why he chose to write in the rarely used second person and how he got the idea for his book, as well as how, as a result...2019-03-2645 min
Always Take Notes#51: Jennifer Croft, Booker Prize winning translatorSimon and Eleanor speak to Jennifer Croft, who won the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of Olga Tokarczuk’s Polish novel Flights. Jennifer, currently based in New York, has received a slew of other plaudits for her work, including NEA, Cullman, PEN, Fulbright and MacDowell awards, as well as the inaugural Michael Henry Heim Prize for Translation. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Granta, Vice, n+1 and the Guardian. We spoke to Jennifer about her entry into translation, her longstanding relationship with Tokarczuk, the potential role of artificial intelligence in translation and her own up...2019-03-1253 min
Always Take Notes#50: Alex Perry, journalist and authorSimon speaks to Alex Perry, who is a reporter, author and writer for film and television. His books include The Good Mothers, about the women who exposed the true might of the Calabrian mafia, which was excerpted in the New Yorker. His journalism has additionally appeared in The Guardian, The Sunday Times magazine, TIME, Newsweek, and other publications. Alex spoke to Simon about his first overseas assignment, what it's like reporting from danger zones including Afghanistan in 2001, working as a bureau chief in India and Africa, and how The Good Mothers is currently being developed into a television project.
You...2019-02-2653 min
Always Take Notes#49: Farrah Storr, editor-in-chief, Cosmopolitan UKEleanor and Simon speak to Farrah Storr, editor-in-chief of the British edition of Cosmopolitan magazine. In her current role since 2015, Farrah was previously the launch editor of Women’s Health. She has won a slew of awards, including 'New Editor of the Year' in 2014 and 'Editor of the Year' (Men's and Women's category) in 2018 from the British Society of Magazine Editors, and is also author of the book The Discomfort Zone. Farrah spoke about the evolution of her career, whether 'women's magazine' is still a useful term, the position of reported journalism in Cosmopolitan and how the magazine now shows a...2019-02-1255 min
Always Take Notes#48: Dan Franklin, associate publisher, Jonathan CapeSimon speaks to Dan Franklin, associate publisher at Jonathan Cape and one of the most celebrated book editors in the United Kingdom. Franklin talked about how the world of books has evolved since he started his career in the 1970s, the experience of editing some of Britain's most well known literary novelists, including Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes, and also publishing some more eclectic books, including Michael Jackson's autobiography 'Moonwalk' and Madonna's 'Sex.'
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always...2019-01-2954 min
Always Take Notes#47: Rebecca Mead, staff writer, the New YorkerSimon and Eleanor speak with Rebecca Mead, a longtime staff writer at the New Yorker magazine who recently returned to the UK after many years in the United States. Rebecca spoke about her early career as a fact-checker, how she moved into writing her own features, first at New York magazine and later for the New Yorker, and lifted the lid on some of the internal processes at the celebrated magazine, from the process of assigning stories to the practicalities of spending months reporting individual assignments. She also spoke about My Life in Middlemarch, her book length tribute to George...2019-01-151h 05
Always Take Notes#46: Mark Haddon, novelistSimon speaks with Mark Haddon, who won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year award for his bestselling novel A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Haddon also teaches creative writing for the Arvon Foundation and Oxford University. He spoke to Simon about how writing and illustrating children's books provided a stepping stone to writing for adults, and about his very first (unpublished) novel, which could be published as a warning "for young men who think they're rather clever". Haddon also discussed the distance he keeps from Curious Incident, as well as his upcoming novel Porpoise.
You can find...2019-01-0158 min
Always Take Notes#42: Ian Rankin, novelistSimon and Eleanor speak to crime writer Ian Rankin, the multi-million copy bestseller of over thirty novels and creator of detective John Rebus. Ian's books have been translated into thirty-six languages and adapted for radio, the stage and the screen. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards, including the Diamond Dagger, the UK’s most prestigious award for crime fiction. We spoke to Ian about the changing face of crime fiction, his struggles during his early years as a writer, and subsequently the lived experience of enormous literary success.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com...2018-11-0651 min
Always Take Notes#41: Hermione Lee, biographerSimon speaks with Hermione Lee, the biographer known for her lives of Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather and Penelope Fitzgerald. She has chaired the judges of the Man Booker Prize, is a fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the British Academy, is published in the Guardian and regularly contributes to arts programmes on Radio 4. Until last year, Hermione was President of Wolfson College Oxford. Simon interviewed Hermione about her entry into academia, the process of writing biographies versus journalism, and the surprising misconceptions around biography as a genre.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com...2018-10-2354 min
Always Take Notes#40: Richard Skinner, director of the fiction programme at the Faber AcademySimon and Kassia speak with Richard Skinner, director of the fiction programme at the Faber Academy, one of a number of creative writing schools established outside the traditional university context in recent years. Richard created the academy's flagship 'Writing a Novel' six-month course in 2009 and since then has worked with hundreds of writers. Notable graduates include SJ Watson, whose debut novel Before I Go To Sleep became an international bestseller and Andreas Loizou, whose The Devil's Deal was translated into nine languages. In his own life Richard is a novelist, poet and critic. We spoke about how the Faber Academy...2018-10-0954 min
Always Take Notes#39: Cal Flyn, authorKassia and Simon speak with Cal Flyn, a Scottish author and journalist. Cal worked as an investigative reporter for The Sunday Times and data reporter at the Telegraph before turning to literary non-fiction. Her first book Thicker Than Water, which dealt with colonialism in Australia and intergenerational guilt, was published in 2016 and selected by The Times as one of the best books of the year. Her second book, Islands of Abandonment, is expected in 2021.
We spoke to Cal about breaking into, and breaking out of, newspaper journalism, about the complexities of writing about her own family, and the art of...2018-09-2556 min
Always Take Notes#38: Rory Stewart, authorKassia and Simon speak to Rory Stewart, the MP for Penrith and the Border and the author of Occupational Hazards and The Places in Between, a New York Times bestseller.
We spoke to him about his influences and how his feelings about walking memoirs and travel literature have evolved. He also spoke in greater depth about how he came to write The Places in Between and how his relationship with his father was pivotal to his most recent book, The Marches.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our...2018-09-1152 min
Always Take Notes#37: Clare Conville, literary agent, C+WSimon speaks to Clare Conville, the co-founder of literary agency C+W (formerly Conville and Walsh). Listed by the Observer as one of “Our top 50 players in the world of books”, Clare previously worked as an editor at Random House, before co-founding Conville & Walsh in 2000. Between them Clare’s clients have won or been nominated for nearly every major literary prize in the UK, including the Man Booker Prize, the Orwell Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction.
We discussed the development of Clare's career, her long standing interest in children's writing, the art of selling a book...2018-08-2846 min
Always Take Notes#36: Lionel Barber, editor, the Financial TimesKassia and Simon chat to Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times since 2005. We discussed his early career in journalism, which included stints at The Scotsman and a fellowship at the Washington Post, before his move to the Financial Times. He also spoke about his plans for the newspaper, both when he first took over as editor in 2005 and how these may have changed more recently as the idea of globalism has become more fraught. We also discussed some recent pieces he's been involved with, including the controversial interview with Steve Bannon.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com...2018-08-1453 min
Always Take Notes#35: Joanne Harris, novelistSimon and Kassia speak to Joanne Harris, author of the 1999 novel Chocolat, which was filmed a year later starring Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and Johnny Depp, as well as numerous other best sellers including Gentleman and Players, Runelight and Peaches For Monsieur le Curé. Joanne talked about her early career as a teacher, dealing with unhelpful advice, the experience of writing a huge best-seller and subsequent movie adaptation, and her prolific, and occasionally acerbic, presence on social media.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is p...2018-07-3151 min
Always Take Notes#34: Niall Ferguson, historianSimon and Kassia speak to Niall Ferguson, conservative historian and author of The Ascent of Money and The Pity of War. He talked about his career, financial pressures and the dynamics of writing as a popular historian in the world of academia.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair and Simon Akam, and produced by Olivia Crellin, Ed Kiernan and Elizabeth Davies. Ed Kiernan edited this episode. Zahra Hankir is our communities editor...2018-07-1746 min
Always Take Notes#33: Louisa Joyner, editorial director, Faber & FaberSimon and Kassia speak to Louisa Joyner, editorial director at publisher Faber & Faber. Louisa moved to Faber in 2016 from Canongate, and previously worked at HarperCollins, where she published Costa Book of the Year winner Nathan Filer’s The Shock of the Fall and commissioned Curtis Sittenfeld's re-write of Pride and Prejudice - Eligible. Louisa spoke to us about entering publishing from academia, her approach to the editorial process, where Faber fits in today's market, and where she sees the industry going in future.
https://twitter.com/louisajoyner
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Fa...2018-07-0358 min
Always Take Notes#31: Lucy Hughes-Hallett, authorKassia and Simon speak to Lucy Hughes-Hallett, author of The Pike, a biography of Italian rake Gabriele d'Annunzio, which won all three of the UK's most prestigious prizes for non-fiction for 2013 - The Duff Cooper Prize, the Samuel Johnson Prize, and the Costa Biography of the Year award.
Lucy spoke to us about the rhythms of her work, her relationship with agents and publishers, and her literary treatment of heroism.
https://lucyhugheshallett.com/
https://twitter.com/lucyhh
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon...2018-06-0553 min
Always Take Notes#30: Jonathan Shainin, editor, Guardian Long ReadKassia and Simon speak to Jonathan Shainin, who runs the Long Read section of the Guardian. He spoke to us about his nomadic career, which took him from New York (and the New Yorker), to Abu Dhabi, India, and back to New York, before coming to London to set up the Long Read in 2014.
Jonathan discusses the differences between US and UK editing styles, where the Long Read fits into the wider Guardian ecosystem, and how venturing abroad can fit into the career of an editor as well as a writer.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read
https://twitter...2018-05-221h 10
Always Take Notes#29: Julia Kelly, romance novelistKassia and Simon speak to romance novelist Julia Kelly about her portion of the literary universe - romance fiction is a billion-dollar industry.
Julia talked to us about how she came to write her first books, the importance of marketing and social media for romance writers, the pros and cons of self-publishing in this genre, and why the happy ending remains non-negotiable. She also discussed the impact of the #metoo movement on the world of romance.
http://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/authors/Julia-Kelly/575597749
https://www.juliakellywrites.com/
http://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/The-Light-Over-London/Julia-Kelly/The-Matchmaker-of-Edinburgh-Series/9781501172922
You can find us...2018-05-0858 min
Always Take Notes#28: Peter Moffat, BAFTA-winning screenwriterKassia and Simon interview screenwriter and playwright Peter Moffat, whose work includes the series Cambridge Spies, Criminal Justice - later the basis of HBO's The Night of - and Silk, as well as the TV films Hawking and Einstein & Eddington. Peter spoke about moving from his early career as a lawyer into writing, the distinctions between British and American approaches to producing TV drama, and the role of both intensive research and muzak-free coffee shops in his writing routine.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0595584/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hbos-night-how-peter-moffat-who-wrote-bbcs-original-version-inspired-story-915914
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on...2018-04-241h 04
Always Take Notes#27: Helen Lewis, deputy editor, the New StatesmanKassia and Simon interview Helen Lewis, deputy editor of the New Statesman. She spoke to us about what her current role entails, the training she received as a sub-editor at the Daily Mail (and what it was like to work there). Helen candidly discussed the importance of networking, feminism, sub-editing and longform journalism. She also revealed a brilliant tip for powering through writers' block.
https://www.newstatesman.com/2016/01/where-bodies-are-buried-0
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/27/hot-feminist-by-polly-vernon-reducing-revolution-to-sloppy-self-help
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by...2018-04-101h 05
Always Take Notes#26: Max Hastings, military historianSimon speaks to Max Hastings, the best-selling military historian and erstwhile foreign correspondent and newspaper editor. They discussed Max's early career - how 1960s and 70s Fleet Street really was, without the benefit of rose-tinted spectacles - his experiences in the Falklands in 1982, the development of his book writing, from early ventures to his doorstopper World War Two histories, and the evolution of military history as a genre.
http://www.maxhastings.com/
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair and...2018-03-271h 03
Always Take Notes#25: Hannah Westland, publisher, Serpent's TailKassia and Simon speak to Hannah Westland, the publisher at Serpent's Tail, an independent imprint that published Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin and Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent. She spoke to us about her early career — she started out as a literary agent — some of the projects she's currently working on and the role of independent firms in the publishing marketplace.
https://serpentstail.com/
https://twitter.com/hannahwestland?lang=en
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook atfacebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair and Simo...2018-03-1358 min
Always Take Notes#24: Laura Palmer, publishing director, Head of ZeusSimon speaks to Laura Palmer, publishing director for fiction at Head of Zeus, an independent publishing house in London. Laura co-founded Head of Zeus in 2012, having started her career at Quercus Books, and she also worked at Corvus, the commercial fiction imprint of Atlantic Books. We spoke about what 'commercial fiction' precisely means, whether 'women's fiction' is still a useful label, best practice for aspirant writers and editors, and whether the Kindle has boosted public appetite for erotica.
http://headofzeus.com/
Sophie Hannah - Why and How I Plan My Novels
https://sophiehannah.com/why-and-how-i-plan-my-novels/
Save the Cat! - A...2018-02-2756 min
Always Take Notes#23: Ben Judah, journalist and author of This is LondonKassia and Simon chat to Ben Judah, the journalist and author of This is London and Fragile Empire. He told us about how he got into writing, the influence on his work of Polish reportage styles and why he's decided to take a little break from Twitter. (We were on Skype, so please excuse the odd rough patch.)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-London-Life-Death-World/dp/1447274792
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fragile-Empire-Russia-Vladimir-Putin/dp/0300205228
http://standpointmag.co.uk/dispatches-jan-10-ben-judah-siberia-gulag-stalin
http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/dispatches-january-february-2014-hunting-lynx-with-the-old-believers-ben-judah-tuva-siberia
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at...2018-02-1358 min
Always Take Notes#22: Patrick Kingsley, New York Times correspondentKassia and Simon interview Patrick Kingsley, a correspondent with the New York Times.
Patrick previously covered migration and the Middle East for The Guardian, based in Cairo and Istanbul. His first book, How To Be Danish (2012), was an exploration of contemporary Danish society. His second book, The New Odyssey (2016), chronicled the European refugee crisis, and was one of NPR's books of the year. Now based in London, Patrick is also a past winner of the annual foreign reporting award at the British Journalism Awards.
We spoke about how foreign correspondency works — the intricacies of fixers, bureau chiefs and deadlines, Patrick's mo...2018-01-3051 min
Always Take Notes#20: Antony Beevor, military historianKassia and Simon interview Antony Beevor, the celebrated military historian. Best known as author of Stalingrad, the runaway success which on publication in 1998 transformed military history as a genre, Antony has also written on the Spanish Civil War, the battles of Crete and Berlin, and D-Day. His latest book Arnhem – The Last German Victory, will be published in May 2018. Antony, who is also a former chairman of the Society of Authors, has sold more than seven million books in 32 languages.
They discussed Antony's early move from serving as an army officer to writing, the experience of an unexpected smash with St...2018-01-021h 14
Always Take Notes#19: Sam Knight, magazine writerSimon interviews Sam Knight, a British writer who works mainly for the Guardian and the New Yorker and specialises in longform pieces on unusual topics, such as the UK sandwich industry and the psychology of a stalker. They discuss his entry into journalism, his love of classic American nonfiction and how he puts features together.
https://harpers.org/archive/2014/02/a-god-more-powerful-than-i/
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/24/how-the-sandwich-consumed-britain
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/30/follow-the-white-ball
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair...2017-12-1955 min
Always Take Notes#17: Candice Carty-Williams, senior marketing executive, Vintage BooksKassia and Simon interview Candice Carty-Williams, senior marketing executive at Vintage Books. She spoke to us about the nuts and bolts of marketing a book and the role data play. She also discussed how she wrote her debut novel "Queenie", which was acquired by Orion earlier this year for a six-figure sum and will be published in 2019.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair and Simon Akam, and produced by Olivia Crellin, Ed Kiernan and Elizabeth Davies. Olivia Crellin edited...2017-11-2151 min
Always Take Notes#16: Nick Summers, features editor, Bloomberg BusinessweekKassia and Simon spoke to Nick Summers, a features editor for Bloomberg Businessweek who at time of recording was based in London but is now in New York. Nick talked us through his commissioning and editing process and spoke about some fascinating pieces he's worked on recently including one on an Wall Street informant who double-crossed the FBI and another that looked into exactly what it is that IBM does (and whether it's any good at it).
Stories discussed:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-03-23/-bro-i-m-going-rogue-the-wall-street-informant-who-double-crossed-the-fbi
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-22/ibms-eps-target-unhelpful-amid-cloud-computing-challenges
You can find...2017-11-0743 min
Always Take Notes#15: Oliver Franklin-Wallis, commissioning editor, British WiredSimon interviews Oliver Franklin-Wallis, commissioning editor at British Wired. Oliver edits — and writes — longform features for the magazine. He discusses his background and entry to journalism, dos and don'ts of the pitching process and stories about the future of death, the Ebola crisis and the 'Hyperloop.'
Stories discussed:
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/alkaline-hydrolysis-biocremation-resomation-water-cremation-dissolving-bodies
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/post-ebola-syndrome
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/hyperloop-hype-machine
Books discussed:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountains-Mind-Fascination-Robert-Macfarlane/dp/1847080391
https://www.amazon.co.uk/H-Hawk-Helen-Macdonald/dp/0099575450
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at f...2017-10-2455 min
Always Take Notes#14: Kiran Millwood Hargrave, winner, Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2017Kassia and Simon interview Kiran Millwood Hargrave, an award-winning children's novelist as well as a poet and playwright. She revealed what motivates her to write, her previous struggles with her mental health, and how she manages her finances.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Stars-Kiran-Millwood-Hargrave/dp/1910002747
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-at-End-Everything/dp/1910002763/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=P971NT2SPAQHBKY75N6Y
https://www.chickenhousebooks.com/authors/kiran-millwood-hargrave/
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair and Simon...2017-10-0547 min
Always Take Notes#13: Tom Standage, deputy editor, The EconomistKassia and Simon interview Tom Standage, deputy editor of The Economist. They spoke about Tom's long career at the publication, why there is a no-bylines policy and some of The Economist's newer projects, such as a virtual-reality reconstruction of the Mosul Museum in Iraq, containing artefacts destroyed by Islamic State in 2015.
More information on this project can be found below:
https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/05/virtual-reality
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair and Simon Akam, and produced by...2017-09-2653 min
Always Take Notes#12: Patrick Walsh, literary agent, PEW LiterarySimon and Kassia interview literary agent Patrick Walsh, who runs PEW Literary in London and formerly co-founded Conville & Walsh. They discuss the complexities journalists can face moving into book writing, the art of the nonfiction proposal, the expansion of the Chinese market and the thrill of the deal.
http://www.pewliterary.com/
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair and Simon Akam, and produced by Olivia Crellin, Ed Kiernan and Elizabeth Davies. Elizabeth Davies edited this episode. Zahra Hankir is...2017-09-1244 min
Always Take Notes#11: Tom Jennings, director, Logan Nonfiction ProgrammeSimon interviews Tom Jennings, director of the Logan Nonfiction Programme at the Carey Institute for Global Good in upstate New York in the US, where Simon stayed earlier this year. They spoke about Tom's career and the importance for writers of grants and fellowships like the one organised by the Carey Institute. If you're fascinated — or slightly intimidated — by residencies and grants, this episode is for you.
More information on the Logan Programme and the Carey Institute is available at the links below:
http://careyinstitute.org/programs/nonfiction/
http://careyinstitute.org/
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twit...2017-08-2937 min
Always Take Notes#10: Alice Fishburn, editor, FT Weekend MagazineKassia and Simon interview Alice Fishburn, editor of the Financial Times Weekend Magazine. They discuss how she got her start in journalism, where the magazine sits within the rest of the FT’s offerings, and why longform journalism seems to be valued less in the UK than the US.
Some of the FT Weekend Magazine pieces mentioned in the interview are:
‘Has science cracked the peanut allergy?’: https://www.ft.com/content/682bb942-4583-11e7-8d27-59b4dd6296b8
‘Out of road: driverless vehicles and the end of the trucker’: https://www.ft.com/content/2d70469c-140a-11e7-b0c...2017-08-1437 min
Always Take Notes#8: Stig Abell, editor, Times Literary Supplement (TLS)Simon and Kassia interview Stig Abell, editor of the Times Literary Supplement and former managing editor of the Sun. Stig has also reviewed books for the Spectator and ran the Press Complaints Commission. We discussed his career, his plans for the TLS, the impact of Facebook on print media and why he remains optimistic about its future.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook at facebook.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair and Simon Akam, and produced by Olivia Crellin, Ed Kiernan and Elizabeth Davies. Zahra Hankir is...2017-07-1840 min
Always Take Notes#7: Sharmaine Lovegrove, publisher, Dialogue BooksSimon and Kassia interview Sharmaine Lovegrove, who is the publisher at Dialogue Books – a new Little, Brown imprint that aims to showcase work by writers neglected by traditional British publishing. Sharmaine has previously run a bookshop in Berlin, been literary editor of ELLE Magazine and co-founded Dialogue Scouts, a consulting company that looks for books to be adapted for film and television. Sharmaine talks about the importance of bringing new voices into the often cliquey world of British publishing, how she got her start in the industry, and what she aims to achieve at Dialogue.
You can find us online at...2017-07-0344 min
Always Take Notes#5: Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk RoadsSimon and Kassia interview Peter Frankopan, a historian at Oxford University and director of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research. His latest book 'The Silk Roads : A New History of the World' proved a No 1 bestseller all over the world, topping the nonfiction charts in India, Pakistan, China and the UK, where it remained in the Top 10 for 10 months. Peter discusses what it feels like to be at the centre of a publishing whirlwind, the unlikely circumstances in which he first got his literary agent, and his views on the current political scene.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes...2017-06-0634 min
Always Take Notes#4: Giles Wilson, founding editor, BBC News MagazineIn this episode, Simon interviews Giles Wilson, the founding editor of the BBC News Magazine and now creative director at Harpoon Productions. Giles discusses how and why the BBC started commissioning longer written pieces online, and the future of longform journalism in the UK and beyond.
The three stories Giles mentions are:
* Reykjavik Confessions
www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/…ec_7617/index.html
* The Village and the Girl
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt…-a0eb-4ef064900f92
* The Uncatchable
www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/…ec_8700/index.html
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takeno...2017-05-2227 min
Always Take Notes#3: Laura Barber, publishing director and editorial director, Portobello Books and GrantaIn the third episode of Always Take Notes, Simon and Kassia interview Laura Barber, publishing director at Portobello Books and editorial director at Granta. Laura discusses the differences between the two imprints she works on; how books can be both bought off-proposal from agents or — less often — commissioned by publishers; and the kinds of writing that she finds exciting.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways, and on Facebook atfacebook.com/alwaystakenotes.
Always Take Notes is presented by Kassia St Clair and Simon Akam, and produced by Olivia Crellin, Ed Kiernan and Elizabeth Davies. This episode was...2017-05-0934 min
Always Take Notes#2: Imogen Pelham, literary agent, MarjacqIn the second episode of Always Take Notes, Simon and Kassia talk to Imogen Pelham. Imogen is a literary agent at Marjacq, an agency based in London, where she represents both literary fiction and non-fiction authors. She explains the mysteries of book advances and the different ways she sells novels and non-fiction to publishers. Imogen also spoke about how to get into the industry, and gives tips to aspiring authors and agents.
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, @takenotesalways on Twitter, and facebook.com/alwaystakenotes.
Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Kassia St Clair and...2017-04-2537 min
Always Take Notes#1: Jonathan Beckman, deputy editor, 1843In the first episode of the Always Take Notes podcast Simon and Kassia interview Jonathan Beckman, the deputy editor of 1843 (the lifestyle and culture magazine from The Economist) and author of the award-winning 'How to Ruin a Queen.' Jonathan previously worked at the Literary Review, where he ran the Bad Sex Awards – indeed that's how Kassia first met him…
You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, @takenotesalways on Twitter, and facebook.com/alwaystakenotes.
Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Kassia St Clair and produced by Olivia Crellin, Ed Kiernan and Elizabeth Davies. This episode was edit...2017-04-0226 min