The Wandering Book Collector - Mona Arshi on transitioning from lawyer to poet to novelist; on silence; on the energy of adolescence; on not wanting to be persuasive; on listening to birdsong and hearing Punjabi; on writing on trains; on “tornado poems” — with TWBC

Mona Arshi on transitioning from lawyer to poet to novelist; on silence; on the energy of adolescence; on not wanting to be persuasive; on listening to birdsong and hearing Punjabi; on writing on trains; on “tornado poems” — with TWBC

09/03/22 • 37 min

Welcome to the travel/literary podcast The Wandering Book Collector with host Michelle Jana Chan. This is a series of conversations with writers exploring what's informed their books and their lives around themes of movement, memory, sense of place, borders, identity, belonging and home.

In this edition, I speak with the writer Mona Arshi to discuss her debut novel: Somebody Loves You, a coming-of-age story about a British girl, born to Indian parents, growing up in the suburbs of London. Mona’s novel follows a body of work in poetry, including Dear Big Gods, and before that Small Hands, which won the Forward Prize for best first collection.

Please consider supporting your local bookshop.

The Wandering Book Collector would like to thank the supporter of this podcast:

Abercrombie & Kent — Creating unique, meticulously planned journeys into hard-to-reach wildernesses and cultures.

If you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d love you to leave a rating or a review. To learn about future editions, please subscribe or hit “follow” on your podcast app of choice. Thank you for listening! For more on the podcast, book recs, what books to pack for where’s next, and who’s up next, I’m across socials @michellejchan. I’d love to hear from you.

And if you’ve missed any, do catch up. From Janine di Giovanni to Bernardine Evaristo to Afua Hirsch to Carla Power to Maaza Mengiste to Kapka Kassabova to Sara Wheeler to Brigid Delaney to Horatio Clare to Rebecca Mead to Preti Taneja to Kathryn D. Sullivan to Emmanuel Jal to Jennifer Steil to Winnie M Li.

All credit for sound effects goes to the artists and founders of Freesound.org and Zapsplat.com. All credit for music goes to the artists and founders of Soundstripe.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please consider supporting your local bookshop.

The Wandering Book Collector would like to thank the supporter of this podcast:

Abercrombie & Kent — Creating unique, meticulously planned journeys into hard-to-reach wildernesses and cultures.

All credit for sound effects goes to the artists and founders of Freesound.org and Zapsplat.com. All credit for music goes to the artists and founders of Soundstripe.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

undefined - Winnie M Li on the author as activist; on sexual assault and consent and #metoo; on writing both perspectives — of perpetrator and victim; on the memories we can choose, and those foisted upon us; and on getting back on the road — with TWBC

Winnie M Li on the author as activist; on sexual assault and consent and #metoo; on writing both perspectives — of perpetrator and victim; on the memories we can choose, and those foisted upon us; and on getting back on the road — with TWBC

In this edition, I speak with the writer Winnie M Li to discuss her books: Complicit, a novel exploring sexual assault and consent in the US filmmaking industry, at the time of the #MeToo movement. It follows her first novel, Dark Chapter, a fictionalised retelling of her own experience of rape.

Please consider supporting your local bookshop.

The Wandering Book Collector would like to thank the supporter of this podcast:

Abercrombie & Kent — Creating unique, meticulously planned journeys into hard-to-reach wildernesses and cultures.

All credit for sound effects goes to the artists and founders of Freesound.org and Zapsplat.com. All credit for music goes to the artists and founders of Soundstripe.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

undefined - Tim Mackintosh-Smith on the settled v the wanderer; on capital letters and capital cities; on his hometown San’a; on mesmerising language, the heft of translation and sonorous tripe; on libraries, scud missiles and alabaster window panes — with TWBC

Tim Mackintosh-Smith on the settled v the wanderer; on capital letters and capital cities; on his hometown San’a; on mesmerising language, the heft of translation and sonorous tripe; on libraries, scud missiles and alabaster window panes — with TWBC

In this edition, I speak with the writer Tim Mackintosh-Smith to discuss his latest book, Arabs: A 3,000-year history of peoples, tribes and empires.

His body of work includes: Yemen, Travels in Dictionary Land; a trilogy on the 14th-century traveller Ibn Baṭṭūṭah who, in his words, may well be the most widely travelled human before the age of steam; as well as completed translations, and a work of fiction Bloodstone set in the year 1368, as the Alhambra in Granada was being completed.

Please consider supporting your local bookshop.

The Wandering Book Collector would like to thank the supporter of this podcast:

Abercrombie & Kent — Creating unique, meticulously planned journeys into hard-to-reach wildernesses and cultures.

All credit for sound effects goes to the artists and founders of Freesound.org and Zapsplat.com. All credit for music goes to the artists and founders of Soundstripe.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.