On this episode, we were joined by author Andrew O’Hagan to discuss his truly exciting new novel, Caledonian Road, which has been selected as the Hatchards Fiction Book of the Month for April. Wedged between two epochal events that have shaped our age — the global pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the story follows Campbell Flynn, art historian, TV presenter, London resident, and man in free fall, as a web of crime and conspiracy eviscerates his sense of self-identity and redefines...

On this episode, we were joined by authors Robert P. Kolker and Nathan Abrams to discuss Kubrick: An Odyssey, their authoritative new biography on the life and work of the legendary filmmaker behind The Shining, Dr. Strangelove, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Robert and Nathan spoke to us about the process of rendering the mythology of Kubrick into flesh and blood; the rogues gallery of famous personalities that provided conflicting firsthand accounts; Kubrick's creative and personal life in...

On this episode, we were joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hisham Matar to discuss his brilliant new novel ‘My Friends,’ which tells the story of three exiled Libyan friends living in London over the course of four decades, each marked by an act of real political violence which occurred at the Libyan embassy in St. James’s Square in 1984. The author is himself an exile, having fled the country as a child due his father’s vocal criticism of the Qaddafi regime, ultimately settling in...

On this episode, we were joined by acclaimed journalist and writer Dolly Alderton, who's latest novel, Good Material, follows a standup comedian in his mid-30s navigating “The Madness” that follows an unexpected breakup with his longtime girlfriend, Jen. As Andy attempts to discover the flaw in himself that points to where it all went wrong, Dolly puts through him a series of alternatively hilarious and heartbreaking set pieces — a brief sojourn living on a houseboat; an album in his phone...

On this episode, we were joined by one of the most acclaimed writers of her generation, Zadie Smith, who's latest novel, The Fraud, tells the story of the most notorious English trial of the 19th century, and rightfully places slavery at the invisible centre of the traditional Victorian novel. In our conversation, Zadie explains how she brought this vivid world of real-life characters to being; among them a famous British novelist and a freed slave from a sugar plantation in Jamaica; and why...

On this episode, were were joined by celebrated British cultural biographer Roger Lewis, who's latest book, Erotic Vagrancy, is an extravagant, decade-in-the-making portrait of the ultimate love-hate relationship – the marriage of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. In our conversation, Roger lays bare everything that made these two such an endless subject of fascination for the public; their cinematic successes and more legendary flops; Burton's place in the West End firmament; and of...

On this episode, we were joined International Booker Prize shortlisted author Benjamín Labatut, who’s first novel written in English is The Maniac, a dark exploration of genius, telling three gripping stories about the consequences of scientific breakthroughs untethered by moral or ethical boundaries. Benjamín spoke with us about his interest in humanity’s search for new forms of consciousness, be it through modern computers or the centuries old use of psychoactive drugs by the indigenous...

On this episode, we were joined by Anna Funder, acclaimed author of "Stasiland', to discuss her new book 'Wifedom,' which invites us into the mind of George Orwell's first wife Eileen O'Shaughnessy, who's talent, creative intelligence, and fascinating personal history were essential to the creation of 'Animal Farm' and '1984' – all without credit in Orwell's previous biographies. In addition to discussing the marriage of Eileen and George Orwell, Anna also touches upon her own marriage; the...

On this episode of The Hatchards Podcast we were joined by writer/director Wes Anderson - Parisian, Texan, filmmaker and cinephile - who spoke to Ryan & Matt about his latest film, 'Asteroid City', and the accompanying book, 'Do Not Detonate Without Presidential Approval,' edited by Jake Perlin. A collection of essays, articles and stories that inspired the movie, Do Not Detonate features pieces from some of the twentieth century’s most revered journalists and critics (Lilian Ross,...

On this episode, we were joined by David Grann, author of the The Wager, the gripping story of a doomed 18th-century imperial expedition to South America which culminated in shipwreck, mutiny, and near-impossible survival. Grann is a New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author of the contemporary non-fiction classics The Lost City Z and Killers of the Flower Moon, now a major motion picture from Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio premiering this week at the Cannes Festival. He spoke...

On this episode, we were joined by Ian Dunt, political journalist and broadcaster, Twitter personality, and author of the new bestseller, "How Westminster Works... and Why It Doesn't." Breaking down Westminster institution-by-institution, Dunt's impressively detailed book is a marvel of non-fiction storytelling, filled with humour, righteous indignation, and an overwhelming desire to wrestle British politics back from the brink. Ian spoke to us about how exactly we got into this mess; the...

On this episode, we were joined by Alice Winn, author of the Hatchards Fiction Book of the Month, 'In Memoriam,' her highly-acclaimed debut. Beginning at the onset of WWI, Winn's novel follows lifelong friends Gaunt and Ellwood from the confines of their cloistered English boarding school to the horrors of trench warfare, as a forbidden romance of fits-and-stars slowly blossoms between them. Alice spoke to us about the parallels in attitude felt by young people during that time period and...

In the latest episode of the Hatchards podcast our guest was the historian Sarah Watling, author of Tomorrow Perhaps the Future, an enthralling group biography of a handful of female writers and rebels who aided the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War during the 1930s. Nancy Cunard, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Martha Gellhorn, Gerda Taro and Josephine Herbst – among others – all felt compelled, to varying degrees, to aid the spirited but ultimately doomed defence against Franco’s fascist...

Bret Easton Ellis – one time enfant terrible of American literature, a precociously talented writer who published his first novel when he was barely into his twenties, and author of the classic piece of provocation and perversion American Psycho – is now, at the age of 58, looking back on the era in which he came of age. Set in 1981, his new novel The Shards is a bravura work of auto-fiction steeped in the milieu of Ellis’ seminal early novels, and features many of the hallmarks that first...

For our final episode of 2022, one of our most loyal customers dropped in for a festive chat: the sharp-suited national treasure, bookshop-haunter, and newly-Golden Globe-nominated actor, Bill Nighy. Bill kindly took time out for a busy schedule promoting his new film, 'Living,' to talk to us about working with Kazuo Ishiguro; his teenage dreams of literary stardom; his feelings about being known as "Mr. Christmas" following the success of 'Love Actually'; and his enduring affection for...

According to former lorry driver turned Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic, Jerry Saltz, art represents "the greatest operating system our species has ever devised to explore consciousness." That is, of course, until they invented the podcast. On this episode, Ryan and Lydia Porter had the distinct pleasure of talking all things visual with America's most famous, and in some corners of the internet, infamous, art critic. In his new book, "Art Is Life", Saltz draws on two decades of work...

The Hatchards Podcast has always been about hard graft. In this episode, resident workaholics Ryan Edgington and Matt Hennessey discuss the life & times of two other (arguably less celebrated) grafters, Charles Dickens and Prince, alongside our special guest, the bestselling novelist and screenwriter, Nick Hornby. Hornby’s excellent new book – Dickens & Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius – uses the example of these two giants to explore the nature of creativity and asks what drove...

In this episode we spoke to Melissa Newman – daughter of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward – about her father’s posthumous memoir, 'Paul Newman: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man.' Created from transcripts of recordings originally made by Paul in the 1980s, these candid, reflective and deeply personal reminiscences are interspersed with excerpts of interviews from friends, family and colleagues – among them directors John Huston, Robert Altman and Elia Kazan; fellow actors Tom Cruise,...

On the latest episode of The Hatchards Podcast, Ryan and Matt make their (triumphant?) return to interview the illustrious music journalist David Hepworth on the occasion of the release of his new book, "Abbey Road: The Inside Story of the World's Most Famous Recording Studio." Many people will recognise the famous zebra crossing. Some visitors may have graffitied their name on its hallowed outer walls. Others might even have managed to penetrate the iron gates. But what draws in these...

On this special episode, male-identifying hosts Matt Hennessey and Ryan Edgington have been excommunicated from the programme in favour of guest hosts Lydia Porter and Alessia Arcuri who spoke to Katy Hessel about her new book, "The Story of Art Without Men." How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what is the Baroque anyway? Discover the glittering Sofonisba Anguissola of the Renaissance, the radical work...

The latest installment of the Hatchards Podcast is a global affair, recorded variously in Los Angeles, Paris, and North London and featuring our guest Tess Gunty, author of the phenomenal debut novel, The Rabbit Hutch. Set over three sweltering July days in the fictional town of Vacca Vale in the American rust belt, the novel revolves around the residents of ‘The Rabbit Hutch’, a dilapidated housing complex that is home to a motley mix of the Midwest's forgotten and forlorn: damaged teens...

In this episode, we spoke to the inimitable Geoff Dyer, author of books including Out of Sheer Rage, Zona, But Beautiful, The Ongoing Moment, and Broadsword Calling Danny Boy. His new book, The Last Days of Roger Federer and Other Endings, was published by Canongate earlier this month. Ingeniously structured – separated into three sections of sixty chapters, with its 86,400 words representing each second in a day – it is both witty and wise, and examines the late careers of artists as...

Dear listener, we strongly recommend that you pour yourself a tall glass of Bordeaux before you listen to the latest episode of The Hatchards Podcast, lest you want to feel like the only sober person in the room. As 'Waiter in Paris' memoirist Edward Chisholm is a trained expert in what he describes as the holy trinity of French cuisine - bread, cheese, and wine - Matt and Ryan considered it the perfect opportunity (nay, excuse) to try and impress their guest with an elaborate display of...

In this episode, 'This is Shakespeare' author Emma Smith joins us to discuss her latest book, 'Portable Magic,' an iconoclastic new story of the book in human hands, exploring when, why, and how it acquired its particular hold over us. Gathering together a millennium's worth of pivotal encounters with volumes big and small, Smith reveals that, as much as their contents, it is books' physical form - their 'bookhood' - that lends them their distinctive and sometimes dangerous magic. Emma...