The Literary Salon

Sep 12 2023 280 ep. 25 mins 5.2k
The Literary Salon Podcast artwork

From the freshest debuts to the biggest bestsellers, this is where the world’s best writers read for the first time from their latest greatest books and share their own personal stories. Recent world premieres include ‘Hamnet’, ‘Again, Rachel’ and ‘Shuggie Bain’.

Enjoy our Book of the Week strand (formerly named Salon Exclusives), where each bite-size episode offers an exclusive taster of a new book. Or relax into an in-depth interview with one of your very favourite writers. Warm your heart with Armstead Maupin. Or hang on every word with Yaa Gyasi.

Hosted by writer and broadcaster, Damian Barr, and handpicked Guest Hosts, the Literary Salon live events and recordings celebrate storytelling and invite you to be part of it.

Produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman. Programmed by Matt Casbourne. 

  Arts  Society & Culture  Comedy
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A special announcement: it's The End...

Sep 12 2023 16 mins  
Our dearest podcast listeners - we have a special, important message for you from our founder Damian Barr, as we say a very fond but sad farewell to the Literary Salon... Some of you have come along in person or online or listened to our podcast for years. Thank you for being there—readers bring a book to life, and that’s what you’ve done for Salon. It’s been fifteen years

BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau

Aug 29 2023 15 mins  
Before the summer is out we wanted to share a page-turning holiday read on the podcast. The Orchid Hour takes us back to New York City, 1923, when Zia De Luca’s life is about to be shattered. She lives with her in-laws in Little Italy and works at the public library, but when an unassuming patron is murdered, the police investigation focuses on Zia... After another tragedy strike

BOOK OF THE WEEK: At the Edge of the Woods by Kathryn Bromwich

Aug 22 2023 14 mins  
Our Book of the Week is a spellbinding debut novel by writer and commissioning editor on The Observer newspaper, Kathryn Bromwich. In At the Edge of the Woods, Laura lives alone in a cabin deep in the Italian Alps. When she isn’t translating documents, she spends her days climbing the mountains exploring the woods. But while she reconnects with nature, Laura is hiding from the vi

BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Funny Thing About Death by Jo Caulfield

Aug 15 2023 14 mins  
Our Book of the Week will have you laughing and crying in equal measure! Stand-up comedian Jo Caulfield’s hilarious memoir, The Funny Thing About Death, is about two unconventional girls growing up in the 1970s. Six years ago, Jo was about to go on stage when she found out that her big sister Annie had cancer. Not the best way to start a nationwide comedy tour. But the tour turns

BOOK OF THE WEEK: A Country of Eternal Light by Paul Dalgarno

Aug 08 2023 14 mins  
This week we’re joined by Paul Dalgarno reading from his thoughtful, existential novel, A Country of Eternal Light. Margaret Bryce has been having a hard time since dying in 2014. In a liminal place, we join Margaret as she revisits her life, from her Aberdeen prefab childhood to the birth of her twin girls, through Thatcher’s Britain, the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster, Australi

BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Stirrings: A Memoir in Northern Time by Catherine Taylor

Aug 01 2023 12 mins  
In this week's episode, Catherine Taylor reads from her new book The Stirrings: A Memoir in Northern Time, a story about coming of age in the north of England during the 1970s and 80s. Historical events were happening all around her: from the pursuit and capture of the Yorkshire Ripper, to the anti-nuclear protests and Miners’ Strike. But there were also pressing concerns at home

BOOK OF THE WEEK: Tiger Work by Ben Okri

Jul 26 2023 15 mins  
In this week’s episode, Booker award-winning author Ben Okri combines fiction, essay and poetry in Tiger Work. This incredible collection, inspired by environmental activism, displays his classic blend of storytelling, fantasy and magic in tales that imagine messages sent to us from beyond the end, from those who saw it coming - exhorting us to change now. 'Both a work of lyrica

BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan

Jul 18 2023 11 mins  
From the Booker longlisted author, and an Irish Times No.1 bestseller - Donal Ryan’s The Queen of Dirt Island is a searing, jubilant novel about four generations of women and the stories that bind them. On a council estate in County Tipperary, Ireland, the Aylward women stick with each other through thick and thin, and always with a wicked sense of humour. The head of the family,

BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Fascination by Essie Fox

Jul 11 2023 17 mins  
Our next guest on the podcast is Essie Fox, reading from her instant Sunday Times bestseller, The Fascination. It’s a Victorian story about the estranged grandson of a wealthy collector of human curiosities, who becomes fascinated with teenage twin sisters, leading them into a web of dark obsessions... And we love this dazzlingly gothic novel from the bestselling author of The So

BOOK OF THE WEEK: Kala by Colin Walsh

Jul 04 2023 14 mins  
We’ve got a literary thriller in store for you this week! In the seaside town of Kinlough, Ireland, three old friends are thrown together for the first time since the disappearance of their friend Kala... Fifteen years later Helen has reluctantly returned for her father's wedding; Joe is a world-famous musician back in town for a gig; and Mush has never left, too scared to ventur