I first interviewed Kelleigh back in February 2020 - and then the pandemic hit in earnest. We weren’t sure what to do: whether to ignore the fact that half of her answers now felt out of date, or to do it all again. I’m so glad we went for the latter,...

When Sarah Perry would tell people she was an Essex Girl, her remarks would be met with a knowing smirk. Why? That question is at the heart of this book, which pinpoints what it is that makes an Essex girl (not white high-heels - but a chutzpah and con...

Otegha Uwagba is an inspiration. Aged 25, fed up with her job in advertising, she quit and decided to establish herself as a freelance writer, setting up the networking platform Women Who, and self-publishing Little Black Book: A Toolkit For Working Wo...

On a chilly autumn afternoon, I picked up Kenya Hunt’s Girl: Essays on Black Womanhood - and didn’t put it down until it was way past my bedtime. It’s a totally compelling and gripping read, combining social observation, cultural criticism, history and...

We are back! Welcome to series three of the Sunday Salon - and I’m kicking the new season off with a really special guest: the one and only Grace Dent, restaurant critic, columnist, novelist, TV personality and now, memoirist. Her new book Hungry: A me...

So - it's the final episode of season two, my 76th episode - and my 24th lockdown isolationcast! Thank you so much for bearing with me as I've done the podcast remotely in this way. My guest today is Rebcca Ley, whose debut novel For When I'm Gone is a...

As some of you know, I was meant to be getting married next weekend. I'm not anymore - we've postponed - but as it happens this episode has a bit of wedding theme, since Luminary Bakery are making my cake! More importantly, they have also just publishe...

My guest today has had the most phenomenal life. Xiaolu Guo was born in a fishing village in the south of China. She grew up with her grandparents, until she was seven when she went to live with her parents in a communist-era compound. She studied film...

My guest this week is someone I have wanted to interview for absolutely ages. Ever since her debut novel My Name is Leon was published in 2016, Kit de Waal has been one of the most thoughtful and interesting voices in the industry. Having crowdfunded a...

This conversation was utterly fascinating. As you know, I've been asking all my guests for a few of their isolation stories. Well, today's guest has a particularly interesting tale. After going through New York's long and grueling lockdown, Frances Cha...