Showing titles in Art & Literature

Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom was the runaway most-discussed novel of 2010, an ambitious and searching engagement with life in America in the 21st century. Now, a new collection of Franzen’s non-fiction brings fresh demonstrations of his vivid, moral intelligence, confirming his status not only as a great American novelist but also as a master noticer, social critic, and self-investigator. In Farther Away, which gathers together essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years, the writer returns with renewed vigour....

Dame Zandra Rhodes has spent her life rallying against what was expected of her, both as a designer and a woman. Often perceived as too bold for the mainstream, she fought for creativity and individuality, and continues to achieve both in everything she does. In this insightful memoir, Zandra shares her life story for the first time. Told through a variety of mementos and curiosities collected over the course of her eight decades, it is a vibrant account.

Fox News war correspondent Trey Yingst shares his gripping, firsthand account of the events of October 7, 2023, and the ensuing war, offering riveting insight and fresh facts that clarify the scope and magnitude of this latest and most dramatic outbreak in one of the bloodiest, most nuanced, and longest-standing conflicts in modern history.

When Susan Richards adopted an abused horse rescued by the local SPCA, she didn't know that the memoir she would write about the experience would become a best seller - or that she would fall in love.

Bernardine Evaristo's 2019 Booker win - the first by a Black woman - was a revolutionary moment both for British culture and for her. After three decades as a trailblazing writer, teacher and activist, she moved from the margins to centre stage, taking her place in the spotlight at last. Her journey was a long one, but she made it, and she made history. Manifesto is Bernardine Evaristo's intimate and inspirational no-holds-barred account of how she did it, refusing to let any barriers stand in her way.

Celebrated for being the ‘Nora Ephron’ of the millennial generation, Dolly Alderton joined us for a chat about female friendships, recording her audiobook, and revealed who she’d like to play her in a film.

Dolly Alderton is an award-winning journalist, writer and director, known for her podcast The High Low, as well as her honest and relatable writing. She brings us her debut audiobook, Everything I Know about Love, a spot-on, wildly funny and sometimes heartbreaking book about growing up, growing older and navigating all kinds of love along the way.

Rose Tremain grew up in postwar London, a city of grey austerity, still partly in ruins, where both food and affection were fiercely rationed. The girl known then as ‘Rosie’ and her sister, Jo, spent their days longing for their grandparents' farm, buried deep in the Hampshire countryside, a green paradise of feasts and freedom, where they could at last roam and dream.

Sarah Winman is the internationally best-selling author of When God Was a Rabbit and A Year of Marvellous Ways. Her latest novel, Tin Man, is described as 'unforgettable and achingly tender'. Sarah visits the Audible Studios to tell us more about her writing process, her characters and much more.

Joining us in the Audible Studios to talk about her autobiography, In Pieces, is two-time Academy Award and three-time Emmy Award-winning actress Sally Field. One of the most enduring actors of our time, Sally Field has portrayed a variety of iconic roles on both the large and small screen. From her early roles in sitcoms and films such as Sybil and Gidget to her award-winning performances in Lincoln, Hello, My Name Is Doris and ER, Field has remained a celebrated figure and activist. Her new memoir, In Pieces, was published in September 2018.

Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy- winning actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson chats to Audible's Robin Morgan about her part in an exclusive dramatisation of Northanger Abbey.

Murray's son Mason Ball shares all the hits and misses and long years of hard graft that went into what would become the wildly successful creative enterprise: Footrot Flats. From his unique viewpoint and with candid honesty, Mason reveals the real-life backstory to Murray's most iconic characters and themes, telling the story of the man—and father—who could see the quirks of human nature and capture them with the stroke of a pen.

Douglas Adams was a passionate technology enthusiast. His best-selling The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is full of futuristic tech, and in 1990 he predicted something very like the World Wide Web in the BBC2 film Hyperland. So in 1999, he was the natural choice to present Radio 4’s The Internet: The Last 20th Century Battleground. In it, he looked at the explosion in online communication, the evolution of cyberspace, and the risks and opportunities of the new virtual world.

Here is one of the great autobiographies of the English language - exuberant, wonderfully contemporary in spirit, by a man twice as large as life who—he said so himself—had no trouble remembering everything that had ever happened to him and a lot of things besides.

An Italian Mannerist architect and painter, Giorgio Vasari was acquainted with many of the most famous artists of his day. He is best-known today for his biographies of artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian and Giotto. This recording is read with clarity and authority by Neville Jason.

Stephen Fry joins Robin Morgan in the Audible Studios to discuss his recording of Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection. From his childhood days as a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society to his performance as Mycroft Holmes, Stephen shares anecdotes relating to his lifelong passion for Sherlock Holmes. He also discusses his experience recording the Harry Potter audiobooks, his own penchant for audiobooks, and his plans for the future.

Scott Lynch burst onto the fantasy scene in 2004 with his first novel The Lies of Locke Lamora. This novel, the first in the Gentleman Bastard sequence, set Lynch on the road to international success, and today he has legions of fans all around the world The latest in the series, The Thorn of Emberlain, is due for release in the coming months.

Au début des années soixante, Thompson, alors journaliste à San Francisco, est fasciné par les Hell's Angels. Son article sur ces seigneurs de la route fait sensation, il se lance dans la version longue : un an passé à rouler et à écrire à leurs côtés. Mais l'équipée se termine sauvagement : parce qu'il refuse de partager ses royalties, les Angels abandonnent l'homme de lettres sur une route, à moitié mort et le crâne défoncé à coups de pierres.

Known for his journalism, biographies and novels, A. N. Wilson turns a merciless searchlight on his own early life, his experience of sexual abuse, his catastrophic mistakes in love (sacred and profane) and his life in Grub Street—as a prolific writer. The audiobook begins with his heart-torn present-day visits to Katherine, now for decades his ex-wife, who has slithered into the torments of dementia. At every turn of this reminiscence, Wilson is baffled by his earlier self—whether he is flirting with unsuitable lovers or with the idea of the priesthood.

Joining us for a chat is the people's poet laureate, the punk performance poet, John Cooper Clarke, who is releasing his memoir I Wanna Be Yours. Clarke, born in Salford, is well known for his classic look of drainpipe jeans, wild black hair and sunglasses, whatever the weather, something which hasn't changed since the 1970s. Being inspired and encouraged by an English teacher at school, Clarke decided that he would make a living from poetry. He performed with many hugely successful bands, such as The Sex Pistols, Joy Division and New Order.

Inventory of a Life Mislaid follows Marina Warner’s beautiful, penniless young mother Ilia as she leaves southern Italy in 1945 to travel alone to London. Her husband, an English colonel, is still away in the war in the East as she begins to learn how to be Mrs Esmond Warner, an Englishwoman.