The TLS Podcast

This week, Margaret Drabble explores how Dickens drew on his love of the macabre and grotesque to create literary magic; and Norma Clarke takes a tour around the British coast. 'Dickens the enchanter: Inside the explosive imagination of the great storyteller', by Peter Conrad 'The restless coast: A journey around the e

Caroline Moorehead salutes the energetic brilliance of singer Josephine Baker; and Aaron Peck on the past, present and future of the avant-garde. 'Fearless and free: A memoir', by Josephine Baker, translated by Anam Zafar and Sophie Lewis 'Josephine Baker's secret war: The African American star who fought for France an

This week, we're joined by Harriet Baker, winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award; and Helen Scales tunes into the sonic marvels beneath the surface of the sea. 'Rural Hours: The country lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann', by Harriet Baker 'Sing Like a Fish: How soun

This week, novelist Damon Galgut remembers the ground-breaking South African playwright Athol Fugard; and Michael Caines on two very different approaches to the Danish prince. 'Grand Theft Hamlet', on Mubi 'Hamlet', by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon- Avon, until March 29  Produced by Cha

This week, Larry Wolff immerses himself in a bold operatic vision of Melville's classic; and Travis Elborough on a boosterish attempt to rescue Croydon from its knockers. 'Moby-Dick', composed by Jake Heggie, Metropolitan Opera House, New York, until March 29 'Croydonopolis: A Journey to the Greatest City that Never Wa

This week, Toby Lichtig chats to Sam Leith about formative literature at Jewish Book Week; and David Horspool meets Sue Prideaux, winner of this year's Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize. 'The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading', by Sam Leith 'Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin', by Sue Prideaux Produced by Charlott