Best With AliceAzania Jarvis Podcasts (2024)

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Family, grief and finding love late with Christina Patterson 57:50

2y ago57:50

57:50

Christina Patterson is a journalist and author, whose new book Outside The Sky Is Blue, is an absolutely beautiful reflection on family, illness, grief and love. I worked with Christina many years ago. In fact, she sat next to me when I was a very green reporter working on the gossip column of the Independent newspaper. She, in contrast, was an ext…

1
Series finale! Lily King on Writers and Lovers 33:14

2+ y ago33:14

33:14

I adored this episode. Lily King is the author of five novels - including, most recently, the phenomenal best seller Writers and Lovers, which documents the creative and romantic travails of aspiring writer Casey Peabody. It's one of my favourite books of the year and so speaking to Lily felt like a fitting finale to this series. I loved hearing ab…

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Sarah Pearse on being fangirled by Reese Witherspoon and how to get published 23:47

2+ y ago23:47

23:47

If you're after an eerie thriller to curl up with over Christmas, the New York Times Bestseller The Sanatorium would be pretty perfect - and I loved interviewing its author Sarah Pearse. She was full of practical advice for getting published, having started by writing short stories for magazines before attempting novels. And I loved her down-to-ear…

1
Arifa Akbar on her sister's death and the medical failures around it 55:31

2+ y ago55:31

55:31

Arifa Akbar is the Guardian's Chief Theatre Critic and the author of the phenomenally powerful Consumed: A Sister's Story. It's an astonishing read, which tells the story of Arifa's sister's death from tuberculosis, which was somehow missed by medics at a top London hospital. It delves into the aftermath - Arifa’s search for answers to questions su…

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Tahmima Anam on satirising big tech - and the five years that her son wouldn't eat 31:20

2+ y ago31:20

31:20

Tahmima Anam has had a fascinating life. Born in Bangladesh, she has lived in Paris, New York and Bangkok - and is now based in the UK. Her first novel, A Golden Age (2007), won the Commonwealth Writers Prizes' Best First Book award and launched a highly acclaimed trilogy concerned with telling the history of Bangladesh as an independent nation. He…

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Elif Shafak on postnatal depression and writing as 'animal instinct' 36:24

2+ y ago36:24

36:24

Elif Shafak is - among other things - an activist, public speaker and academic with a PhD in political science who teaches at universities in Turkey, the US and the UK. She is also the author of an incredible 12 novels which have been translated into 55 languages. Her most recent novel, The Island of Missing Trees, is a sweeping story of intergener…

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Emily Ratajkowski on fame, trauma and the male gaze 45:38

2+ y ago45:38

45:38

Hello and welcome to a new series of the Sunday Salon! I've got so many fantastic guests coming up - and today's episode is particularly special. Emily Ratajkowski is a model, activist and actress - and now the author of My Body, a collection of essays reflecting on her position in the spotlight and how her appearance has shaped people's behaviours…

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Season finale! Alix O'Neill on growing up in the shadow of The Troubles 32:47

2+ y ago32:47

32:47

Right, I'm off to enjoy my honeymoon (yes, all being well, by the time you read this I will be one day into married life). But I'm leaving you with a joy of an episode. I loved this book. The Troubles with Us: One Belfast Girl on Boys, Bombs and Finding Her Way is a brilliant memoir by Alix O'Neill about her time growing up in Northern Ireland. Tak…

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Phoebe Luckhurst on fitting a novel around a full-time job and launching The Tab 33:29

2+ y ago33:29

33:29

Today's episode was such a joy to record - Phoebe Luckhurst is an editor at the Evening Standard newspaper, and also the author of The Lock In, a totally fun indulgence of a book about what happens when three housemates (and a date) find themselves trapped in the attic of their house share. Phoebe is such a clever writer - she has managed to work i…

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Olivia Petter on love and relationships in the internet age 40:27

2+ y ago40:27

40:27

This was such a fun interview! Olivia Petter is a podcasting phenomenon and the author of Millennial Love, a kind of modern anthropological anthology of what dating and relationships are like now. From apps to ghosting and how social media can affect both the beginning - and end - of relationships, to how the MeToo movement changed ordinary women's…

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Nadifa Mohamed on turning real-life into fiction and why 'fallow time' is key 39:33

2+ y ago39:33

39:33

I loved this conversation: Nadifa Mohamed is an award-winning novelist whose most recent book The Fortune Men is a dazzling account of the real-life events surrounding the wrongful imprisonment and execution of a Somali seaman and father, who was the last man to be hanged in Cardiff prison. Set in Tiger Bay in the 1950s and fusing historical report…

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Bella Mackie 38:54

2+ y ago38:54

38:54

Today's guest is the absolutely brilliant Bella Mackie, author of the fabulous and funny new novel How To Kill Your Family. You may also know her non-fiction work, particularly her phenomenally successful memoir Jog On, which chronicled how taking up running after her first marriage collapsed helped manage her anxiety. It was a bestseller, and she …

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Lisa Taddeo on Three Women, grief and exploring darkness in fiction 34:59

2+ y ago34:59

34:59

I'm so, so excited for you to hear today's episode. Lisa Taddeo is a phenomenon. She shot to fame as the author of Three Women, which covers the sexual and emotional lives of three women from different backgrounds and regions of the United States. It was described as 'groundbreaking', 'seminal' and having created a whole new genre. N…

1
Natasha Lunn on lessons in love, hope and grief 50:15

2+ y ago50:15

50:15

I'm so happy to be back - and I'm so excited about today's guest. Natasha Lunn is a journalist and the author of Conversations On Love, an absolutely gorgeous book in which she interviews authors and experts, while also drawing on her own experience in a series of riveting personal essays. She asks three key questions: how do we find love? How do w…

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Season finale: Taylor Jenkins Reid on Hollywood, nostalgia and how motherhood changed her writing 44:05

3y ago44:05

44:05

Where to start with this? I absolutely loved Malibu Rising. A heady mix of 80s Malibu and 60s Hollywood, it’s an absolute blast to read. But then I shouldn’t be surprised - after all, it was written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of 2019’s smash-hit Daisy Jones and the six. I just adored speaking to her about it, as well as hearing about her unconv…

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Kat Arney on women in science and the future of cancer treatment 32:12

3y ago32:12

32:12

I’m not sure you could have come up with a more ambitious task than Kat Arney set herself when she decided to write her most recent book Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution and the Science of Life, in which she looks at the history of cancer in the human race, as well as how we tend to view, prevent and treat it today. It’s not her first massive challeng…

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Dima Alzayat on writing and mother hood - and the problem with how we talk about books 35:13

3y ago35:13

35:13

Dima Alzayat has had a fascinating life. Born in Damascus, Syria, she grew up in California before moving to the UK to study creative writing. Her collection of short stories Alligator and Other Stories is a riveting read, in which she ranges across genres and formats in a way I’ve not seen before. I loved talking to her about this - hearing about …

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Katie Service on BTS as a makeup artist and what she's learned about skincare 32:17

3y ago32:17

32:17

This was such a fun episode to record. Katie Service is a former makeup artist and beauty editor who is now Editorial Beauty Director at Harrods - and the author of The Beauty Brief: An Insider's Guide to Skincare. She’s also an old colleague of mine - we worked together on ES magazine, where she became my go-to guru for anything vaguely beauty rel…

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Hydra in the 60s, the muse's curse and writing lyrics with Polly Samson 34:09

3y ago34:09

34:09

This was such a fun conversation. After becoming fascinated by an old photo taken on the island of Hydra in Greece, Polly Samson set about researching the lives of the musicians, writers and artists who settled there in the 1960s, from Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen to the writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston. Her novel, A Theatre For Dream…

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Jenny Kleeman on tech evangelism and making documentaries 49:40

3y ago49:40

49:40

I absolutely loved interviewing today's guest. Jenny Kleeman is a journalist and broadcaster and the author of Sex Robots & Vegan Meat: Adventures at the frontier of Birth, Food, Sex, and Death, which has just come out in paperback. The book is utterly riveting - Jenny travels all over the place talking to those at the forefront of some of the worl…

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Natalie Morris on identity, race and the mixed experience in modern Britain 48:16

3y ago48:16

48:16

This was such an interesting conversation. Natalie Morris is a journalist and the author of Mixed/Other: Explorations of Multiraciality in Modern Britain, which draws on her own life experience as well as dozens of interviews to examine the mixed experience. From why she uses the term mixed, rather than mixed race, to the problem with brands' curre…

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Katherine Faulkner on undercover reporting and the rise of 'mum noir' 45:29

3y ago45:29

45:29

Katherine Faulkner has had such a fascinating career. A former investigative journalist at the Daily Mail, she used to go undercover to get to the heart of her stories. Then she went on to become joint head of news at The Times - and while on maternity leave wrote her first book, Greenwich Park, an absolutely gripping thriller about toxic relations…

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Kate Wills on solo travel and baring her soul in print 36:51

3y ago36:51

36:51

If you’re feeling a little cooped up after a year in lockdown, then this is the episode for you. Kate Wills is a travel writer and columnist and the author of A Trip of One's Own: Hope, heartbreak and why travelling solo could change your life. I absolutely gobbled up this book - not just because Kate has such a warm, easygoing writing style but al…

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Gaby Hinsliff on getting a work life balance without losing ambition and why we need to talk about Betty Friedan 38:18

3y ago38:18

38:18

This week's guest is the journalist Gaby Hinsliff, former political editor of the Observer and now a columnist and writer for the Guardian and others. This was such a dream interview in so many ways - I've admired Gaby's journalism for years, and I loved her book Half a Wife: The Working Family's Guide to Getting a Life Back when it came out nine y…

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Catherine Cho on postpartum psychosis and why we need to talk about maternal mental health 32:16

3y ago32:16

32:16

One day, when her son Cato was three months old, Catherine Cho looked at him and, instead of his eyes, she saw devil eyes. She and her husband James had taken Cato to the US from their home in London to introduce him to relatives. She grew gradually more anxious as the trip went on, before being hit by a tidal wave of postpartum psychosis, becoming…

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Nell Frizzell on her 'panic years', writing as a trade not an art and opening up conversations about fertility 47:14

3y ago47:14

47:14

We have a term for our teenage years - ‘adolescence’ - and we are all familiar with the ‘menopause’ - but there’s no word for the decade or so in which, arguably, women navigate more life-altering decisions than any other - their late 20s and 30s. Or at least there wasn’t, until Nell Frizzell came along and coined one: ‘the flux’, aka The Panic Yea…

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Rebecca Seal on WFH and how the pros do dinner parties 39:30

3y ago39:30

39:30

Still WFH? The food writer Rebecca Seal has been doing it for more than a decade. Six years ago, however, she reached something close to breaking point: working until eight or nine at night, six days a week (plus Sunday mornings, when she’s a regular on brunch TV). So she and her partner decided to change things. They set rules: no working or talki…

1
Sarah Sands on her incredible career - and asking monks how they stay so cal‪m‬ 45:54

3y ago45:54

45:54

Sarah Sands is a media industry legend. A trailblazer for women in journalism, she has had one of the most glittering careers it’s possible to have - editing two newspapers before going on to head up BBC Radio 4’s flagship current affairs programme, Today. Having left that role last year, she’d be forgiven for putting her feet up. But no - she has …

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Sarra Manning on J-17, the pomodoro method and her incredible career 52:09

3y ago52:09

52:09

I’ve wanted to interview Sarra Manning since I started this podcast - for many reasons. She’s a fab writer, a huge supporter of other authors, has tonnes of brilliant writing and publishing advice (seriously, this episode features some of the most original, no-nonsense and practical tips I’ve ever had). But also: she was the brains behind J-17’s le…

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Millie Gooch on quitting drinking and lockdown coping 32:41

3y ago32:41

32:41

Lockdown and drinking go together like wine and cheese...or do they? Given the unusual situation we find ourselves in, perhaps it’s not surprising that booze sales have rocketed. However Millie Gooch knows the problems with using alcohol as a coping mechanism only too well. After finding that her binge drinking was leaving her poleaxed by anxiety s…

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Special episode: Women for Women International's Brita Fernandez Schmidt 46:16

3y ago46:16

46:16

Brita Fernandez Schmidt is a phenomenon. The Executive Director of Women for Women International UK, she has spent her adult life fighting for women’s rights around the world. The charity specialises in working with women in conflict zones, offering a year-long training programme to build support networks and develop skills that will help earn mone…

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Megan Phelps-Roper on leaving the Westboro Baptist Church 50:24

3y ago50:24

50:24

This is not a Valentine's special - but it is a love story, in its own way. Or at least, a story of how someone left behind the hate they'd grown up with. Ok, this is all getting a bit cryptic, so let me explain: Megan Phelps-Roper is a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church. Growing up in Kansas, she lived in a compound with other members an…

1
Abigail Dean on quitting the day job, writer’s block and going from page to screen 35:39

3y ago35:39

35:39

A bidding war, a screen adaptation by the director who made “Chernobyl” - and now, a place on the bestseller lists. What a whirlwind few months it has been for Abigail Dean and her debut novel, Girl A, which documents the aftermath of the horrific abuse the narrator, Lex (aka ‘Girl A’) endured at the hand of her father. Obviously, I was thrilled to…

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Carys Bray on walking away from her Mormon faith and (sort of) predicting the pandemic 44:29

3y ago44:29

44:29

What a fascinating life Carys has led. Brought up in a strict Mormon family in Southport, she was married by 20, and had five children within seven years before deciding to leave behind her faith and study creative writing. Her first novel, 2014’s A Song for Issy Bradley, won widespread acclaim and was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel. Since t…

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Jessica Fellowes on writing when deaf, Downton superfans and blending fact and fiction 50:10

3y ago50:10

50:10

This was SUCH a fun, funny and fascinating conversation. Jessica Fellowes is a journalist and the author of books ranging from Mud and the City: Dos and Don'ts for Townies in the Country to her wildly successful series of Mitford Murders books, which fuse historical fact and fiction. Our conversation was as varied and quirky as that output suggests…

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Cecily von Ziegesar on Gossip Girl, New York social tribes and her new novel 41:38

3+ y ago41:38

41:38

I absolutely loved Cecily von Ziegesar’s Cobble Hill. It’s really funny and quirky and smart without being heavy-going; full of subtle social satire and astute observation. It was particularly pleasing as Cecily is best known for writing the Gossip Girl books, which in turn launched the hugely successful TV show - and I was a mega Gossip Girl fan w…

1
Rosie Nixon on life as editor-in-chief of Hello!, attending Robbie Williams' wedding and her solo writing mini-breaks 40:47

3+ y ago40:47

40:47

There was no way I could turn down the chance to interview the editor in chief of Hello! - apart from anything else, I knew she’d have brilliant anecdotes. And Rosie Nixon didn’t disappoint - I loved hearing how she and her staff put together their iconic Royal Wedding issues, as well as what it was like to attend Robbie Williams’ wedding to Ayda F…

1
Emma Rowley on life as a ghostwriter - and her move into fiction 36:27

3+ y ago36:27

36:27

I took Emma Rowley’s You Can Trust Me away on holiday to Wales and I gulped it down in one sitting. It’s a really smart, grabby thriller about a ghostwriter who spends a week at the luxurious home of an influencer whose autobiography she is meant to be writing - only for things to take a very dark turn. It’s a great read, and I knew I had to speak …

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Mia Levitin on sex in the time of Covid (and the problem with dating today) 37:45

3+ y ago37:45

37:45

Was 2020 the least sexy year ever? Quite possibly - thanks to casual sex bans and social distancing. But was it on track to be that way anyway? These are questions examined in Mia Levitin’s The Future of Seduction, which looks at the multifaceted ways in which phones and tech have changed romance, the effect of MeToo on flirting and courtship, and …

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CHRISTMAS BONUS EPISODE: Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott on writer’s block and epic research 39:55

3+ y ago39:55

39:55

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, I wanted to hear how the pandemic experience had affected her life and her writing style. As a US …

1
Sarah Perry on why Essex girls rule the world 40:12

3+ y ago40:12

40:12

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 convention-defying radicalism). Perry - the author of three wildly successful novels, After Me Comes …

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Otegha Uwagba on black lives matter and the burden of white guilt 39:08

3+ y ago39:08

39:08

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 Women. After a sell-out print run, it was snapped up by a publisher and became a Sunday Times best-s…

1
Kenya Hunt on black womanhood, the fashion industry, and the US election 49:45

3+ y ago49:45

49:45

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 rich personal anecdotes to examine different elements of black womanhood and the black experience…

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Grace Dent on food, class, ambition and coping with her father’s dementia 51:01

3+ y ago51:01

51:01

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 memoir of wanting more is undoubtedly one of my reads of the year. Taking in Grace’s childhood in Ca…

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Isolationcast #24: Rebecca Ley on writing about death, recovering from anorexia and finding her voice 40:05

3+ y ago40:05

40:05

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 hugely moving and yet also uplifting look at family, motherhood, grief and love. Rebecca was such…

1
Isolationcast #23: The Luminary Bakery on keeping a social enterprise afloat in lockdown and that surprise visit from Meghan Markle 39:46

3+ y ago39:46

39:46

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 published a brilliant new cookbook, Rising Hope: Recipes and Stories from Luminary Bakery. If you aren't f…

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Isolationcast #22: Xiaolu Guo 39:28

3+ y ago39:28

39:28

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 in Beijing, then moved London in 2002. Five years later her first English Language novel A Concis…

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Isolationcast #21: Kit de Waal on literary snobbery and why coming to writing late made her a better author 35:44

3+ y ago35:44

35:44

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 and edited an anthology of working class memoir, Common People, she has spoken frequently of the ne…

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Isolationcast #20: Frances Cha on quarantine in Korea, how teaching has made her a better writer, and taking 10 years to write a novel 38:30

3+ y ago38:30

38:30

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 has moved to South Korea, where she always spends the summer, and had a very different experience…

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