Novelist Julius Taranto discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Julius Taranto is the author of a novel, How I Won a Nobel Prize. His other writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Phoebe. He attended Yale Law School and Pomona College. He lives in New York.
Faye Begeti discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Dr Faye Begetiis a practising neurology doctor and neuroscientist at Oxford University Hospitals. She completed her medical degree and PhD at Cambridge, and currently conducts research into Parkinson’s disease alongside seeing her neurology patients. Her Instagram account @the_brain_doctor was started to share her knowledge more widely and has since amassed a community of over 134K followers. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two young daughters. Her new book is The Phone Fix.
Kelly Link discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Kelly Link is the author of White Cat, Black Dog; Get in Trouble, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction; Magic for Beginners; Stranger Things Happen; and Pretty Monsters. Her short stories have been published in The Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. She is a MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellow and has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the co- founder of Small Beer Press and co-edits the occasional zine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. She is also the co-owner of Book Moon, an independent bookstore in Easthampton, Massachusetts. The Book of Love is her debut novel. You can buy it through Bloomsbury, Amazon, Bookshop.organd Waterstones.
Alice Kinsella discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Alice Kinsella is a poet from Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland. She is the author of Sexy Fruit(Broken Sleep, 2018) and editor of Empty House: poetry and prose on the climate crisis(Doire Press, 2021). Milk(Picador, 2023) is her debut book of prose. She is an Arts Council of Ireland Next Generation Artist.
Observer byline headshot Robert McCrum 19/08/09 (photo by Karen Robinson)
Robert McCrum discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Robert McCrum is a writer and editor whose most recent book Shakespearean was published to great acclaim in 2021. Formerly the editor-in-chief of Faber & Faber, and literary editor of the Observer, he is also the author of Wodehouse: A Life (2004), and a classic memoir, My Year Off (1998).
From 1980 to 1996, McCrum was editor-in-chief of Faber & Faber, where he published Kazuo Ishiguro, Hanif Kureishi, Milan Kundera, Peter Carey, Danilo Kis, Paul Auster, Marilynne Robinson, Lorrie Moore, Adam Phillips, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jayne Anne Phillips, Orhan Pamuk, and Adam Mars-Jones, among many others. At the same time, he wrote seven novels, and co-authored the BBC TV series, The Story Of English, for which he was awarded an Emmy in 1986, followed by a Peabody Prize in 1987.
In July 1995, McCrum suffered a serious stroke, a personal crisis he described in My Year Off, a book now regarded as an essential study in the understanding of the condition.
He was literary editor of the Observer from 1996 to 2010, and published his award-winning biography P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in 2004. Globish (2010) was an international bestseller. My Year Off (1998), is now in its third edition as a Picador Classic.
McCrum joined The Observer in 1996-2010, and ultimately became Associate Editor. He left the Guardian Media Group in January 2018 to pursue his own literary interests. In 2024, he will publish The Penalty Kick: The Story of A Game-changer with Notting Hill Editions.
Ivan looks back at previous discussions with a variety of guests and picks out the things which they think should be less well known. Foregoing the normal positivity, guests rant, complain and moan about famous people, books, television shows, sports, ideas and 90s dances which they find deeply tiresome. The guests and topics are:
Matthew Rice discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Matthew Rice paints, writes and runs courses in the summer which utilise his garden, which is the focus of the rest of his time. Over his career he has published 11 books on architecture, designed many millions of mugs for the business he ran with his then wife Emma Bridgewater, and illustrated for Country Life magazine. His interests in architecture have led to a series of charity roles in that area. Matthew grew up in a household of designers and now lives in Oxfordshire where he paints and writes.
Matthew Rice, educated at Bedales, studied painting and theatre design at Chelsea and Central Schools of Art, is an honorary doctor of Keele and Staffordshire Universities and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Matthew has four children and one grandson.
During the summer, Matthew runs a variety of painting and gardening courses in addition to opening his garden at his home in west Oxfordshire. Further details are available at www.matthewricewatercolours.co.uk.
His 2024 courses include:
Tuesday 30th April – Vegetable & Cut Flower Growing Course
Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th May – Botanical Drawing Course
Wednesday 29th & Thursday 30th May – Sketchbook Course
Wednesday 5th & Thursday 6th June – Sketchbook Course
Wednesday 19th & Thursday 20th June – Botanical Drawing Curse
Wednesday 10th & Thursday 11th July – Architectural Drawing Course
His 2024 Open Garden dates are: Sunday 2nd June, Sunday 21st July an Sunday 8th September.
Richard Mills discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Dr Richard Mills is Associate Professor in English Literature and Popular Culture at St Mary’s University, London. He has been programme director for the Film and Popular Culture, Cultural Studies and Irish Studies degrees. He has published extensively on popular music, Irish literature and culture, film, fashion and British television. Mills is the author of The Beatles and Fandom: Sex, Death and Progressive Nostalgia (Bloomsbury 2019). He is co-editor of Mad Dogs and Englishness (Bloomsbury 2017) and The Beatles and Humour (Bloomsbury 2023). He is author of the forthcoming The Beatles and Black Music: Post-colonial Theory, Musicology and Remix Culture (Bloomsbury 2024) Richard is a regular contributor to BBC4’s Last Word, Sky News, RTE, Portobello Radio and BBC Live and serves on the editorial board of The Journal of Beatles Studies.
Noreen Masud discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Noreen Masud is a Lecturer in Twentieth Century Literature at the University of Bristol, and an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker 2020. Her first book for non-academic audiences is A Flat Place (2023): a memoir-travelogue about the beauty of flat places, and how they might help us relate to each other.
Bob Cryer discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.
Bob Cryer is an actor and writer best known for Coronation Street and Hollyoakes. He is the youngest child of Barry Cryer. He collaborated with his father on Barry’s book of anecdotes, Butterfly Brain, in 2010. Shortly afterwards, they created the book series Mrs Hudson’s Diaries, which was adapted into a play for Wilton’s Music Hall. Mrs Hudson’s Radio Show soon followed for Radio 4 in 2018. Their joint podcast, Now Where Were We?, launched just before Barry’s death in January 2022. Bob’s new book is Barry Cryer: Same Time Tomorrow?: The Life and Laughs of a Comedy Legend.
Better Known 