Fictionable
Episodes
Bruna Martini: 'I have spent too many months without drawing'
24 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This Spring series of podcasts began with Diana Evans, who took us back to the 1990s. We'll be hearing from Takiguchi Yūshō and the translator Jesse...
Diana Evans: 'Writing is an act of hope'
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Spring is here so is Fictionable, with another set of exclusive short stories and another series of podcasts where we meet our fantastic authors. Duri...
Cynthia Banham: 'Writing is a dangerous act'
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this Winter series we've already welcomed Cynthia Zarin, Rodrigo Urquiola Flores and the translator Shaina Brassard, Tim Conley and Samuel Rigg. We...
Samuel Rigg: 'Often I find I'm writing about people who are not me'
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
After hearing from Cynthia Zarin, Rodrigo Urquiola Flores and the translator Shaina Brassard, and Tim Conley, this Winter series of podcasts enters th...
Tim Conley: 'Short fiction is a lot more liberating'
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We've already heard from Cynthia Zarin, Rodrigo Urquiola Flores and the translator Shaina Brassard in this Winter series – we'll be welcoming Cynthi...
Rodrigo Urquiola Flores: 'Everything in this short story is true'
30 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We began this Winter series of podcasts with Cynthia Zarin, who suggested that every single one of us is torn in different ways. We'll be examining th...
Cynthia Zarin: 'You write out of the world that you're living in'
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It's cold, it's wet, it's January. Time for another series of exclusive short stories and another series of podcasts. Over the next few weeks, we’ll...
Ephameron: 'My work is always at the crossroads between literature, graphic arts, painting, comics'
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This Autumn series of podcasts has already brought us Helon Habila, Caroline Clark and Kasimma. We round it off with Ephameron and her graphic short s...
Kasimma: 'Because I’m writing fiction, I can get away with anything'
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've already heard from Helon Habila and Caroline Clark in this Autumn series of podcasts, and we'll be rounding out the set with Ephameron in the ne...
Caroline Clark: 'This story completely surprised me'
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This Autumn series of podcasts started with Helon Habila confronting the difficult legacy of slavery in the US. Over the next few weeks, we'll be talk...
Helon Habila: 'What fiction does is make you live the life of the other'
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Here in the northern hemisphere it's getting misty and mellow all over again. Time for Autumn 2025 and another fruitful harvest of podcasts, ripened t...
Sheyla Smanioto: 'It's a haunted story, where you know something is going to happen'
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This summer series of podcasts has taken us from the snow and ice of AL Kennedy's Expedition Skills to the blunt heat of Ali McClary's Proper Magic, a...
Dafydd McKimm: 'I write this kind of story in a bit of a fever'
24 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This summer, we've heard from AL Kennedy, Pete Segall and Ali McClary. We'll be bringing this series to a close with Sheyla Smanioto, but this time Da...
Ali McClary: 'This story started as a conversation between two young women'
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've already heard from AL Kennedy and Pete Segall in this summer series of podcasts, and we’ll be hearing from Sheyla Smanioto and Dafydd McKimm o...
Pete Segall: 'I don’t feel like it’s my job as a writer to answer questions'
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We began this Summer series of podcasts with AL Kennedy arguing that the empathy which powers fiction makes writing it a political act. We'll be talki...
AL Kennedy: 'It's all political, if you're writing fiction'
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's raining in London, but it's time for another issue – and another series of Fictionable podcasts. Over the next few weeks we'll be hearing from ...
Susanna Clarke: 'You’ve got to play with things being very fantastical and also slightly humdrum'
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This spring we've heard from Fríða Ísberg, Bronia Flett, Jeremy Wikeley and PR Woods already. But we bring this series to a close with Susanna Clar...
Jeremy Wikeley: 'I would always defend the notion of being able to write about a place called England'
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've already welcomed Fríða Ísberg, Bronia Flett and PR Woods in this Spring series, and Susanna Clarke will be joining us next time. But now we'r...
PR Woods: 'I would never write anything against Wolf Hall'
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've already heard from Fríða Ísberg and Bronia Flett in this Spring series, and we'll be welcoming Susanna Clarke and Jeremy Wikeley on to the Fi...
Bronia Flett: 'This is obviously all fiction'
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fríða Ísberg got this Spring series of podcasts started, with a dialogue on monologues and a reading from her short story Fingers, translated by La...
Fríða Ísberg: 'We are always just looking for simple stories'
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Everything is changing, but one thing you can rely on is a new set of stories and a new series of podcasts from Fictionable. Spring 2025 brings us sto...
Joanna Kavenna: 'We all make fictions about the future'
23 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After hearing from Helga Schubert, Ben Sorgiovanni, Julian George and Rachida Lamrabet, we bring this Winter series of podcasts to a close with Joanna...
Rachida Lamrabet: 'Fiction gives me the opportunity to introduce another perspective'
15 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this Winter season we've already heard from Helga Schubert, Ben Sorgiovanni and Julian George. Joanna Kavenna will be rounding off the series next ...
Julian George: 'Any word out of place, the whole thing is worthless'
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So far we've heard from Helga Schubert and Ben Sorgiovanni in this Winter season. We'll be welcoming Joanna Kavenna and Rachida Lamrabet over the next...
Ben Sorgiovanni: 'What fiction does really well is capture the nuance of human experience'
25 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This Winter series of podcasts got underway with Helga Schubert, who told us how she put together her short story On Getting Up from pieces of her pas...
Helga Schubert: 'There's got to be distance between the writer and their story'
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As the world lurches into 2025 we launch into another series of Fictionable podcasts. We'll be hearing from Joanna Kavenna, Rachida Lamrabet, Ben Sorg...
Esther Karin Mngodo: 'I am more myself when I write in Swahili'
11 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last year we heard from Daisy Johnson, Judith Vanistendael, Scott Jacobs and Hannah Webb. We bring our Autumn series to a close – just in time for W...
Hannah Webb: 'I always seem to end up writing at the extremes'
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We opened this Autumn season with Daisy Johnson and followed up with Judith Vanistendael and Scott Jacobs. We'll be sitting down with Esther Karin Mng...
Scott Jacobs: 'I made a few things up along the way'
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This season we've already heard from Daisy Johnson and Judith Vanistendael. Over the next few weeks we'll be sitting down with Esther Karin Mngodo and...
Judith Vanistendael: 'This first love has defined my storytelling'
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of our Autumn podcasts, Daisy Johnson told us how she was living on the edge when she was writing her collection The Hotel, and read from...
Daisy Johnson: 'Most of the things I write do have a twist'
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The leaves are swirling, there's a nip in the air, so it's time for a whole new bunch of Fictionable podcasts. Over the next few weeks we'll be hearin...
Susan Muaddi Darraj: 'My writing has changed forever by what's happening in Gaza'
17 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This Summer podcast series has brought us Samantha Harvey, Patrick Cash, Carolina Bruck – translated by Ellen Jones – and Jack Klausner. We bring ...
Jack Klausner: 'I write more on the darker end of the spectrum'
10 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Already this summer we've heard from Samantha Harvey, Patrick Cash, Carolina Bruck and her translator Ellen Jones. This time we're getting under the s...
Carolina Bruck: 'Fiction can transform the way we understand the world'
03 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This summer series has already brought us Samantha Harvey and Patrick Cash. Now it's time for Carolina Bruck and her translator Ellen Jones, with Bruc...
Patrick Cash: 'The coming out story has been told so many times'
27 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last time Samantha Harvey let the cat out of the bag, diving straight into the heart of her story Bona Fide Nihon-kitsch. This time Patrick Cash is a ...
Samantha Harvey: 'This is what fiction can do'
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The weather may be up the spout but it's still summer, so it's time for another batch of Fictionable podcasts. We'll be hearing from Susan Muaddi Darr...
Jakub Żulczyk: 'We're all two inches tall'
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this Spring series of podcasts we've heard from Jenny Erpenbeck, Grahame Williams, Lauren Caroline Smith and Rose Rahtz. We bring it to a close wit...
Rose Rahtz: 'What if you did have magical powers in a toddler?'
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This spring we've already heard from Jenny Erpenbeck, Grahame Williams and Lauren Caroline Smith. This time we welcome Rose Rahtz and her short story ...
Lauren Caroline Smith: 'There is something countercultural in Christianity'
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this Spring series of podcasts we've already heard from Jenny Erpenbeck and Grahame Williams. Now it's time for Lauren Caroline Smith and her short...
Grahame Williams: 'Random acts of violence could happen at any time'
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last time we heard from Jenny Erpenbeck, who told us that before her latest novel Kairos she'd "never written a love story". This time we welcome Grah...
Jenny Erpenbeck: 'What you write down can be made to hide something'
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Spring has finally sprung and with it another series of Fictionable podcasts. Over the next few weeks we'll be hearing from Jakub Żulczyk, Grahame Wi...
Liam Hogan: 'I want to be entertained'
09 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We've already heard from Linda Mannheim, Richard Smyth, Ariel Marken Jack. and Robert Neuwirth in this Winter series of podcasts. Now we bring it to a...
Robert Neuwirth: 'I wanted it to be plausible as a machine thinking'
02 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this Winter series of podcasts we've heard from Linda Mannheim, Richard Smyth and Ariel Marken Jack. This time we welcome Robert Neuwirth and his s...
Ariel Marken Jack: 'The way I fight back is through my writing'
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We've already heard from Linda Mannheim and Richard Smyth in this Winter series, and now it's time for Ariel Marken Jack and their story The Bread Boy...
Richard Smyth: 'We all need an Otherland'
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last week we heard from Linda Mannheim, who told us that the only way she can go back to the neighbourhood where she grew up is in fiction. This time ...
Linda Mannheim: 'What is a happy ending?'
10 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this Winter series of podcasts, we'll be hearing from Richard Smyth, Ariel Marken Jack, Robert Neuwirth and Liam Hogan. We start off with Linda Man...
Catriona Bolt: 'Everyone in the story associates mushrooms with death'
28 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We've already heard from M John Harrison, Irena Karpa, Seán Padraic Birnie and Shauna Mackay on the Fictionable podcast. Now we bring this autumn ser...
Shauna Mackay: 'It's listening to the characters and letting them take the lead'
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this autumn series of podcasts we've heard from M John Harrison, Irena Karpa and Seán Padraic Birnie. This week we welcome Shauna Mackay to discus...
Seán Padraic Birnie: 'I was quite depressed and pissed off with work'
14 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This autumn we've already heard from M John Harrison, Irena Karpa and her band, Qarpa. This week we have an appointment with Seán Padraic Birnie and ...
Irena Karpa: 'Literature must entertain, especially in dark times'
08 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After hearing last week from M John Harrison, who discussed how he makes fiction from fragments of reality, this week we turn it up to eleven as we we...
M John Harrison: 'How do you know who’s alive and who’s the ghost?'
29 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the next few weeks, we'll be hearing from Irena Karpa, Seán Padraic Birnie, Shauna Mackay and Catriona Bolt. But we launch this autumn podcast s...
Sabba Khan: 'The terraced house is a big character in this story'
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This summer we've been hearing a little more from our amazing authors in an expanded series of podcasts. Joyce Carol Oates confessed she feels "like a...
Donal McLaughlin: 'I've got that Derry voice in my head'
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this summer's new, expanded podcast we've already heard from Joyce Carol Oates, Fiona Mozley and José Falero – translated and interpreted by Mar...
José Falero: 'If people started robbing cars en masse, that would be a political event'
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We've heard already this summer from Joyce Carol Oates and Fiona Mozley, but now the translator Maria Jacqueline Evans turns interpreter as we talk –...
Fiona Mozley: 'Fiction really is a conversation'
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After hearing last week how Joyce Carol Oates is firmly focused on the future, this week we’re focusing on Fiona Mozley and her mighty story Cadair ...
Joyce Carol Oates: 'With prose fiction you can go beneath the surface'
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's revolution on the Fictionable podcast, where we've evolved again to hear more from our fabulous contributors.We're devoting an entire programme t...
Etgar Keret: 'When I write a story I also live it'
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Fictionable podcast heads for Tel Aviv, where Etgar Keret talks about the mystery of translation, the surrealism of technology and surprising hims...
Diana Evans: 'You can actually go quite far with very little'
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this edition of the Fictionable podcast, Diana Evans tells us how she started cooking up her short story Broth. She talks about minimalism in ficti...
Evie Wyld: 'I feel much more able to do wilder things in the present tense'
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Evie Wyld joins us for the second edition of the Fictionable podcast to spill the beans about the inspiration for her short story The Land. She tells ...
Sarah Hall: 'At what point would you take grand steps?'
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For the first edition of the Fictionable podcast, we welcome Sarah Hall, who reveals the inspirations for her story Be Good. She also explains why she...