Meet the Writers
Georgina Godwin in conversation with top authors.Explore their inspirations, writing processes, and the stories behind their books.
Please note that any official contact from Monocle Radio will be from a Monocle email address – never from Gmail or any other domain. Monocle will never ask for money from any contributor.
Latest Episodes
Carlo Pizzati and Tishani Doshi
This husband and wife are both award winners: he’s a journalist and author from Italy, she’s an Indian poet, dancer and novelist. Both have new books out, centred around their home on the coast at Tamil Nadu – but the themes couldn’t be more different: from a light romp through…
Zawe Ashton
Ashton is an actor best known for her role in ‘Fresh Meat’; she’s also a director, producer, screenwriter, playwright, editor, presenter and, now, a published author. Her debut book, ‘Character Breakdown’, is described as a work of fiction – but mostly fact. It provides an insight into red-carpet appearances, race…
Ben Elton
Ben Elton defined alternative comedy for a generation. He is a stand-up comedian, multi-award-winning novelist, playwright, screenwriter and lyricist. He is also a theatre, screen and television director and, very occasionally, an actor. Some of his most notable work is as a writer on ‘The Young Ones’, ‘Blackadder’ and the…
Sir Tim Waterstone
Waterstone utterly changed the cultural landscape in Britain by opening bookshops staffed by book lovers on most major high streets in the country. Knighted for his contribution to charity as well as publishing, he’s also written four novels, a business book and has now produced a memoir.
James Runcie
Son of a former archbishop of Canterbury, Runcie is author of 11 books including ‘The Grantchester Mysteries,’ a series of crime-fiction stories that are now a major television series. We ask him if he believes in God.
Live edition: Elif Shafak and Fatima Bhutto
For a special airing of the show we are live from Marylebone’s Daunt Books, in conversation with two inspiring novelists.
Zelda la Grange
La Grange is a white South African who grew up supporting apartheid. But, a few years after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, she was travelling the world at his side. She talks about Mandela the man.
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Reid began her career in film production, switching to writing after being influenced by the actress Jennifer Aniston. For the past six years she’s produced a book a year: her latest, ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’, is based on Fleetwood Mac and is a wild story of the highs and…
Michael Angele
Angele is the Swiss-German author behind ‘The Last Newspaper Reader,’ which was serialised in our seasonal newspaper. He’s also the editor of ‘Der Freitag’, European Newspaper of the Year in 2018. We talk about the importance of print as well as the ideal newspaper reader.
Niklas Natt Och Dag
A member of Sweden’s oldest surviving noble family, Och Dag is one of Scandinavia’s hottest new novelists. We talk about his journey into writing and debut novel ‘The Wolf and the Watchman’.
