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The Hatchards Podcast

By: Ryan Edgington and Matt Hennessey
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  • Summary

  • The Hatchards Podcast is a conversation show about books brought to you by England’s oldest bookshop. Featuring interviews with some of our favourite authors, bookish waffle, and the occasional glass of wine. Hosted by Ryan Edgington and Matt Hennessey.
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Episodes
  • Rachel Khong on Real Americans: Mao, Memory, and Multigenerational Trauma

    Rachel Khong on Real Americans: Mao, Memory, and Multigenerational Trauma
    May 14 2024
    On this episode, we were joined by Rachel Khong, author of the New York Times bestseller Real Americans – a multigenerational story about a Chinese American family that is three great novels wrapped into one.

    The novel begins in New York City just before the attacks on September 11th when an unpaid intern with immigrant parents meets and falls in love with a blue-blooded stranger who is heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. As the story moves back and forth in time – from China’s cultural revolution of the 1960s to Silicon Valley in 2030 – our perspective shifts between the members of the family, with their stories exploring themes of race, class, and cultural identity.

    Rachel spoke with us about her journey towards writing this epic novel; Western ignorance towards the legacy of the Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, a literary phenomenon known as the 'The Gosling Effect'; and the differences in family relationships between the East and West.
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    35 mins
  • Percival Everett on James: Mark Twain, Tennis, and Nat Turner's Rebellion

    Percival Everett on James: Mark Twain, Tennis, and Nat Turner's Rebellion
    May 2 2024
    On this episode, we were joined by author Percival Everett — Booker Prize finalist and poet of “pathological irony,” — to discuss his landmark new book, James, a retelling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim.

    Following the retirement of his longtime editor in 2021, this novel casts Everett into the centre of the literary ‘moment’ with the book climbing the UK’s bestseller lists despite it sacrificing none of the madcap invention or gallows humour that has cemented his cult reputation.

    It also comes in the wake of his 2001 novel, Erasure, being adapted into the Oscar-winning film, American Fiction, itself a satire of a writer entering the literary mainstream.

    Percival spoke to us about why his book is neither homage nor take down of Twain’s iconic novel; why ‘distractions’ like fishing and tennis are essential to his process; and finally, that thorny American issue — in his view the only American issue — addressing the legacy of slavery.

    Hosted by Ryan Edgington and Lily Woods (Hatchards.co.uk manager).

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    https://uppbeat.io/t/the-wayward-hearts/how-come-that-blood
    License code: 85XNG3LATUC91LTM
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    32 mins
  • Andrew O'Hagan on Caledonian Road: Dickens, Drill Gangs, and the Dark Web

    Andrew O'Hagan on Caledonian Road: Dickens, Drill Gangs, and the Dark Web
    Apr 2 2024
    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 what it means to be a “good liberal” at a time where nothing is above scrutiny.

    Andrew spoke us to about taking inspiration from classic Victorian novels; how his time spent with figures like Julian Assange and South London gangs informs the book’s characters; why novelists should write without fear; and as Andrew is Glaswegian, we cover the city’s ill-fated “Willy Wonka Experience” that grabbed global headlines back in March.

    Signed copies of the book are now available to be purchased in-store or on our website.

    Hosted by Ryan Edgington and Matt Hennessey.

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    Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
    https://uppbeat.io/t/vocalista/in-the-hall-of-the-mountain-king-acapella
    License code: ARSRS82KANYK7CLW
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    53 mins
Art Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences
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