The Working Class Library
Episodes
This Sporting Life by David Storey
07 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Working Class Library, David Peace joins Claire Malcolm, Chief Executive of New Writing North, and Richard Benson, editor of Th...
Angelas Ashes by Frank McCourt
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the sixth episode of the Working Class Library, Kevin Barry joins Claire Malcolm, chief executive of New Writing North, and Richard Benson, editor ...
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the fifth episode of the Working Class Library, the novelist David Nicholls joins Claire Malcolm, CEO of New Writing North, and Richard Benson, ed...
Larkrise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For this episode, Richard and Claire are joined by novelist Sarah Hall to consider Flora Thompson’s memoir Lark Rise to Candleford. These days, Lar...
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For this episode of the Working Class Library, the writer Craig McLean joins Richard Benson, editor of The Bee, and Claire Malcolm, CEO of New Writing...
Giving up the Ghost - Hilary Mantel
04 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Readers who came to Hilary Mantel after her double-Booker-winning success with Wolf Hall made her a star of the literary world may not be aware that s...
New Grub Street by George Gissing
04 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gissing wrote New Grub Street to skewer the new literary crowd as books boomed with the arrival of mass education in Britain. What does it teach us ab...