Episodes
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This is an interview with John Niven about his writing career, particularly his latest book O Brother, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Gordon Burn Prize.
O Brother is about the suicide of his brother. While John was making his way in the music industry and then as a successful writer, starting with his novel Kill Your Friends, his brother remained in Scotland where his life was chaotic. He ultimately hanged himself in a hospital.
John tells the story of their lives, but also investigates why his brother was left alone to be able to kill himself despite being suicidal. In the interview we talk about his efforts to obtain a transcript of his brother's 999 call that led to his admission, as well as how it felt writing about it, the impact on living relatives, and the way writers become observers even at the most tragic moments.
We also talked about the nuts and bolts of any writing discussion, from his advance for Kill Your Friends, how he got his first book deals, how much he made from that first novel, his move into screenwriting, and the shift from fiction to nonfiction.
You can buy John's books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/john-niven
John recommended Street-Level Superstar by Will Hodgkinson which you can buy here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/street-level-superstar-a-year-with-lawrence-will-hodgkinson/7680905
And you can buy my books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
This is an interview with Chris Mullin about his 1986 book Error of Judgement, which was an investigation into the conviction of six innocent men for the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974. The book documents his efforts to find the truth, culminating in finding one of the real bombers.
We speak about his career in journalism before the book, when he went to Vietnam in the 1970s to cover the war there, his work for television, his political career, his novel A Very British Coup, and his series of diaries which started with his experiences as an MP during New Labour.
You can buy Chris's books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/chris-mullin
He recommended How They Broke Britain by James O'Brien which you can read here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/how-they-broke-britain-james-o-brien/7546135
And you can buy my books here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Could-Something-Amazing-Your-Raoul/dp/1911344323
https://www.amazon.co.uk/applaud-Either-laugh-Comedy-Cellar/dp/1911617680
Thanks for listening. -
Missing episodes?
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In this epsiode I interviewed Michael Holden, an exceptional writer who started his career at Loaded magazine in 1994. He ended up in a psychiatric hospital during that time, which we discuss. After that he wrote for The Guardian Guide before becoming a Hollywood writer. Then he ended up back living with his elderly parents, caring for them.
The result was a book called The Reluctant Carer, which was published in 2022. What is peculiar about it is he published it anonymously. We talk about the pros and cons of that, and why he has decided to finally put his name to it.
You can buy Michael’s book here at Bookshop.
His original article from The Guardian in 2019, which we discuss, is here.
He recommended Going Mad in Hollywood by David Sherwin, which is at Waterstones.
And you can buy my books here at Bookshop.
Thank you for listening.
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I spoke to Sally Hayden about her book My Fourth Time, We Drowned.
It's about people who tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Europe but ended up locked in detention centres in Libya. The book won the Orwell Prize and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize. She describes it as a 'book of evidence'.
We talked about:
her early reporting on the story while working for Vicethe role played by business cardsthe importance of making yourself contactable having to respond to sources at all hourshow the story took over her lifestruggling to get the story commissionedhow journalism awards helped change thatwarnings from MI6 that her life was in danger working out what the book would be finding an agent and publisher who believe in what you're doinggiving away her prize money
You can buy her book here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/my-fourth-time-we-drowned-seeking-refuge-on-the-world-s-deadliest-migration-route-sally-hayden/6026367
She recommended Against A Tide of Evil by Mukesh Kapila:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Against-Tide-Evil-Whistleblower-Twenty-First/dp/0991099338
And you can buy my books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
This episode features David Whitehouse discussing his Gordon Burn Prize-shortlisted nonfiction book About A Son. It's about Colin Hehir's battle to know the truth about his son's murderer.
The book is written in second-person, which we get into. We also discuss why David switched from novels to nonfiction, his start in men's magazines, how he got the material for this book, and finally ethics, including a decision by David which surprised me.
You can buy David's books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/about-a-son-a-murder-and-a-father-s-search-for-truth-david-whitehouse/7277920
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/bed-david-whitehouse/3460206
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/mobile-library-david-whitehouse/3501647
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-long-forgotten-david-whitehouse/165838
David recommended Stay True by Hua Hsu, which is here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/stay-true-winner-of-the-pulitzer-prize-in-memoir-hua-hsu/7512493
And you can buy my books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
In this episode I interviewed Keith Blackmore, who edited Philip Gould’s book When I Die, which was published after Philip had died.
Philip was one of the architects of New Labour, but in 2011 he had cancer. Keith, then the deputy editor at The Times, started serialising an essay Philip had written about his experience, which later formed part of the book. A few months later, Philip died, after which his family asked Keith to edit this book, When I Die.
In the interview we talk about how Keith became involved and the way newspaper editing can make for gripping narrative, but mostly we talked about how he gathered all the words Philip had left behind, Philip’s writing style, and how Philip documented his death so beautifully.
You can buy the book here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/when-i-die-lessons-from-the-death-zone-philip-gould/1858616?ean=9780349139111
Keith also recommended A Death in Malta by Paul Caruana Galizia . You can buy that here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/a-death-in-malta-an-assassination-and-a-family-s-quest-for-justice-paul-caruana-galizia/7419825?ean=9781529151558
If you want to have a look at Tortoise, go here:
https://www.tortoisemedia.com/
And finally, my books are here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thank you for listening. -
A slightly different episode, this time I spoke to David Wolf, editor of The Guardian Long Read, about their new magazine-format publication comprising some of their best pieces.
David previously worked for Prospect magazine, so we talked a bit about his road to becoming editor of Guardian Long Read, before getting into the mechanics of producing longform journalism, what can go wrong, and what the experience is at the editor's end of things.
You can buy the magazine here:
https://guardianbookshop.com/the-guardian-long-read-9781399968713
David recommended two books. which are here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crossing-Line-Year-Land-Apartheid/dp/0892553251
And here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/this-house-of-grief-helen-garner/482318?ean=9781399606806
And finally, you can buy my books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
I spoke to David James Smith about his book The Sleep of Reason, which is about the murder of James Bulger.
David is a tremendous journalist who has written features for places like The Sunday Times Magazine and Esquire. We talked about his early career in journalism and how he came to be commissioned to write a book about the murder of James Bulger weeks after it happened.
We spoke about the ethics of the book and how he wrote it, including ingratiating himself with the solicitor of one of the murderers, getting to know police and attending the trial.
You can buy the book here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-sleep-of-reason-the-james-bulger-case-david-james-smith/3222824?ean=9780571340569
He recommended The New Journalism by Tom Wolfe:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/new-journalism-tom-wolfe/121601?ean=9780330243155
And my books are here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
This is an interview with Will Storr about his book The Status Game, which was named a book of the year by The Times and was recently championed on Joe Rogan's podcast.
Will is my friend and former features editor. We started off talking about how he got into journalism, his early Gonzo-influenced magazine work at Loaded, and how he shifted into becoming an award-winning journalist for broadsheets.
We also talked about his other books, including The Science of Storytelling, which is about how and why people tell stories; we talked about when he went undercover with Nazis; about writing in the dark; and about working out how much he should be present in his books.
You can buy Will's books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/will-storr
Will recommended Tom Kizzia's Pilgrim's Wilderness:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/pilgrim-s-wilderness-a-true-story-of-faith-and-madness-on-the-alaska-frontier-tom-kizzia/4407020?ean=9780307587831
And my books are here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
This was a hugely revealing conversation with David Blum, who now works for Audible, but once wrote books.
We started off talking about David's early journalism career, including the famous 1985 New York Magazine article about the Brat Pack, a phrase he coined.
He then wrote the book Flash in the Pan which came out in 1992. It was about a New York restaurant, invested in by actor Matt Dillon. For 15 months David embedded himself at the restaurant as it was launched and slowly failed.
We talked about why the book didn't sell well, the impact on his career, the reaction of those he was writing about, and his career afterwards, including the book having a second life after being championed by Anthony Bourdain, who called the book "painfully hilarious".
We also talked about his techniques, how he got dialogue down, how he gained access not just at the restaurant but to the Brat Pack, and his use of raw material on the page.
You can buy Flash in the Pan here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/flash-in-the-pan-david-blum/3506245?ean=9781439193778
David recommended George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, which is here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/down-and-out-in-paris-and-london-george-orwell/4817584?ean=9780008442651
And finally, my books are here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
For this episode I spoke to American writer Jo Ann Beard about her latest collection Festival Days and her previous collection The Boys of My Youth.
We talked about fact, fiction, creative writing, journalism, how her experience of a workplace shooting in which people died changed her writing career, writing for the New Yorker, writing about death or proximity to death, how she feels about using people's stories, and how she constructs her work piece by piece, very, very slowly.
I found out about Jo Ann's work from William Fiennes, who told me about an essay called The Fourth State of Matter, which is included in The Boys of My Youth and was published by the New Yorker. Here is a link to that essay:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/06/24/the-fourth-state-of-matter
You can buy Festival Days here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/festival-days-jo-ann-beard/5000893?ean=9780316497220
You can buy The Boys of My Youth here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boys-My-Youth-Ann-Beard/dp/0316085251
She recommended Mothers of Sparta by Dawn Davies:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mothers-Sparta-Memoir-Dawn-Davies/dp/125013370X
The other book she recommended was The Tender Land by Kathleen Finneran:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tender-Land-Family-Love-Story/dp/0618340742
Finally, you can buy my books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thank you for listening. -
For this episode I spoke to Sam Knight about his book The Premonitions Bureau, published by Faber.
It's nonfiction, about a phsyciatrist, a journalist, and an experiment they ran for a while to see whether people could predict the future. I won't give the ending away.
You can buy Sam's book here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-premonitions-bureau-a-sunday-times-bestseller/9780571357567
The book he recommended is The Storm is Here by Luke Mogelson:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-storm-is-here-america-on-the-brink/9781529418712
And you can buy my books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
In this episode I interview Michela Wrong about her book Do Not Disturb, which is about the murder of Rwanda's former head of intelligence Patrick Karegeya.
We talked about her interviews with people who had been asked to murder Karegeya, what it was like to criticise Rwandan president Paul Kagame, and how it felt when he responded on national television. We also discussed her experience reporting on the genocide and how the book addressed journalism's ability to report on such events.
You can buy Michela's books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/michela-wrong
The book she recommended was Naples '44 by Norman Lewis:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/naples-44-an-intelligence-officer-in-the-italian-labyrinth/9780907871729
And finally is a link to my books:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
After a bit of a wait, finally this is the Adam Hochschild episode. Adam teaches journalism at Berkeley, which we talk a bit about as well as some of his other books.
The focus though was King Leopold's Ghost, published in 1998, which is about Belgian's use of slavery for their rubber and ivory trade in the Congo in the 19th and 20th centuries.
We focused on how he researched the book, including his finding of long-forgotten books in libraries.
We talked a bit about Russia, so worth noting that the conversation took place a year ago, before the invasion of Ukraine.
You can buy Adam's books here: https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/adam-hochschild
The book he recommended was Michael Kazin's War Against War: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/War-Against-War/Michael-Kazin/9781476705910
Finally, here is a link to my books: https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
In this episode I interviewed American journalist and lawyer Alia Malek, whose work has been published by the New York Times and New Yorker.
I spoke to her about her 2017 book The Home That Was Our Country, which is partly about moving to her grandmother's flat in Damascus from 2011 to 2013, but also about Syria.
We talked about the murder of one of her relatives when she was on a childhood visit to Syria, the disappearance of people in Damascus over the years, and the descent into war.
We also talked about how she wrote the book, not just the reportage, but also using material written by her family, interviewing her family, and researching the history of the country.
You can buy Alia's book here: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-home-that-was-our-country-a-memoir-of-syria/9781568588445
The article mentioned which she recently wrote for the New York Times is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/magazine/germany-trial-syria.html
She mentioned two nonfiction books. The first was Law Versus Power by Wolfgang Kaleck (with a forward by Edward Snowden), which is here: https://bit.ly/3QgBNni
The brilliantly titled Maeve Higgins book, Tell Everyone On This Train I Love Them, is here: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/tell-everyone-on-this-train-i-love-them/9780143135869
Finally, here is a link to my books: https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thank you for listening. -
In this episode I talked to Jon Ronson about his book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. We covered his career leading up to the book, how he nailed down the idea, how a book deal works for an author at his level, and what the impact of the book was.
You can buy all his books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/jon-ronson
Jon also recommended Craig Brown’s book about the Beatles which you can buy here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/one-two-three-four-the-beatles-in-time/9780008340032
And finally you can also buy my books here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thank you for listening! -
This episode I spoke to New York Times writer Jon Mooallem about his book This is Chance!
The book is about a huge but little-known earthquake in Alaska. I talked to Jon about why he chose the story, how he got so much rich material, and how people have responded to the book. We also spoke about his earlier work, including his first book, Wild Ones.
You can buy Jon's books here:
https://bookshop.org/contributors/jon-mooallem
He also recommended Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon, which you can buy here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/girl-in-a-band/9780571349661
And here’s a link to my books:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
In this episode of Logroll I spoke to Cathy Rentzenbrink about her book The Last Act of Love.
The book is about her brother, Matty, who was hit by a car, and what happened afterwards. We talked about her early attempts to write about it, her approach to memoir, and the difficulty of memory.
You can buy Cathy's books, including her new one, Write It All Down, here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/cathy-rentzenbrink
She also recommended Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel, which you can buy here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/giving-up-the-ghost-a-memoir/9780007142729
Finally, here’s a link to my books:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
In this episode of Logroll I spoke to Carl Anka, writer for the Athletic, about his book You Are A Champion, which he wrote with professional footballer Marcus Rashford. It is a book for children, so we talked about getting the tone right, as well as lots about how you get hired for a project like this, and how to balance the needs of the writer, famous co-author and publisher. It was recorded way back in summer of 2020, so some of the football references are dated.
You can buy Carl and Marcus’s book, You Are A Champion, here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/you-are-a-champion-how-to-be-the-best-you-can-be/9781529068177
He also recommended Stuff You Should Know by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, which you can buy here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/stuff-you-should-know-an-incomplete-compendium-of-mostly-interesting-things/9781409199380
Finally, here’s a link to my books:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. -
In this episode of Logroll I spoke to Suzy Hansen, contributing writer for New York Times Magazine, about her book, Notes on a Foreign Country. We talked about why she moved to Istanbul, how the idea for the book changed, and the things she included which might make us flinch but why it was important to include them.
You can buy Suzy’s book, Notes on a Foreign Country, here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/notes-on-a-foreign-country-an-american-abroad-in-a-post-american-world/9781472153883
She also recommended The Home That Was Our Country by Alia Malek, which you can buy here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-home-that-was-our-country-a-memoir-of-syria/9781568588445
Finally, here’s a link to my books:
https://uk.bookshop.org/contributors/andrew-hankinson
Thanks for listening. - Show more
