Show notes
Sexy frogmen are sneaking around and clowns are being run over in Belfast.What’s going on?Well, you’re about to find out.Welcome to Episode Two of The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast, with me, your host, Glenn Fisher.In each episode, I'm joined by a guest from the world of books to talk about a specific book they'd like to put in the library.There's no plan and no agenda, just two people lazily thinking about literature.If you enjoy the show and would like to help us (and get your hands on a coveted Library of Lazy Thinking Bookmark), you can become a supporter of the library by upgrading your subscription.But either way, please do like and share the show—it all helps.In this episode, my very special guest is the wonderful Wendy Erskine discussing her pick for the library: Mrs Caliban by Rachel Ingalls.It was such a pleasure talking to Wendy and I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation as much as I enjoyed recording it.About WendyWendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her debut collection, Sweet Home, was published by The Stinging Fly Press in Sept 2018 and Picador in 2019, and has been translated into Italian and Arabic and optioned for TV. It won the 2020 Butler Literary Award, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize 2019, and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2019. The story 'Inakeen' was longlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Prize 2019. Sweet Home was Book of the Year in the Guardian, The White Review, Observer, New Statesman, and TLS. Wendy's second collection of stories, Dance Move, was published in February 2022. Her work has been published in The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Female Lines: New Writing from Northern Ireland, and Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber) and read on BBC Radio 4.About RachelRachel Ingalls was born in Boston in 1940. She spent time in Germany before studying at Radcliffe College and moved to England in 1965, where she lived for the rest of her life. Her debut novel, Theft (1970), won the Authors’ Club First Novel Award, and her novella Mrs Caliban (1982) was named one of the 20 best American novels since World War Two by the British Book Marketing Council. Over half a century, Ingalls wrote 11 story collections and novellas—all published by Faber—to great acclaim but remains relatively unknown. She died in 2019 after a revival of interest in her work.Links to obscure (and not so obscure) things mentioned in this episode* Order Mrs Caliban and Wendy’s book Dance Move from my local independent bookshop in Sheffield here.* Read about and see images from a play that imagined what Larry might look like here.* Watch the OG “frogman” perform Needle in the Hay by Elliot Smith here.* Find Wendy Erskine on Instagram here.* Find Glenn Fisher on Instagram here.About the LibraryThe Library of Lazy Thinking is a place to hang out and learn more about books. The library is free—like all libraries should be. But if you’d like to support the library, you can make a small monthly donation by becoming a paid member (and get an exclusive The Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark). All donations go back into the library, helping to organize live events, exclusive merchandise, and more podcasts.About GlennGlenn Fisher is a writer—wait, Glenn Fisher is me. I’m the one writing this. Let’s drop the third-person act. My fiction has been published in Lunate, The Paris Bitter Hearts Pit, 3am Magazine, Dogmatika, and Litro Magazine. I write about books and interview other writers and creatives here in The Library of Lazy Thinking. I live in Sheffield and work as a freelance copywriter. I have had a best-selling non-fiction book published on the subject called The Art of the Click. It was published by Harriman House and shortlisted for Business Book of the Year. It has been translated into Simplified Chinese and Korean. I also have a dog called Pablo. He is harder to translate. Indeed, most of my life revolves around trying to understand his often unreasonable demands. Get full access to The Library of Lazy Thinking at lazythinking.substack.com/subscribe