Books Up Close: The Podcast

Books Up Close - Chris Lloyd

Books Up Close is a show for writers, readers, and anyone who wants to know how texts get made. Listen as writer and academic Chris Lloyd performs a 'close reading' of some writing with the author themselves.

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October 30 · 50 min
Ep. 44. Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Tell-Tale Heart' - with Emily Ogden (Pacing, Knowability)
In today's Halloween episode I talk to Emily Ogden about Edgar Allan Poe's short story, 'The Tell-Tale Heart' from 1843. We also discuss Emily's new book on Poe, Darkness Becomes Bright: The Haunted Life (and Afterlife) of Edgar Allan Poe. We talk horror, terror, confession, and why we are fascinated by murderers. Emily Ogden is the author of On Not Knowing: How to Love and Other Essays and Credulity: A Cultural History of US Mesmerism. The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant, and a Mellon Fellowship in the Columbia Society of Fellows, she is a professor of English at the University of Virginia. Reading recs: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment Amy Leach, Things That Are Brian Blanchfield, Proxies Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
October 26 · 16 min
Where to Start With... Stephen King
This is the first episode in a series of reading guides: Where to start with... These guides give you a starting point to get into reading a particular author, genre or form. First up, given it's spooky season, is Where to start with Stephen King! We've got 'starter books', classic horror, nonfiction and more. Take a listen and let me know what you think. Follow @booksupclose on Instagram for the visual post to go alongside this overview, check out the Substack and leave a five star review now. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
October 16 · 46 min
Ep. 43. Eve Esfandiari-Denney, 'No Ecclesial Song, No Clapping' (Flow, Quality of Attention)
In today's episode I talk to Eve Esfandiari-Denney about her poem 'No Ecclesial Song, No Clapping' from the collection Girling (2026). Eve Esfandiari-Denney’s debut poetry pamphlet, My Bodies This Morning This Evening, was published by Bad Betty Press in 2022. She has been shortlisted for the White Review Poet’s Prize, Aesthetica’s Creative Writing Award, the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (Performed) and longlisted for the National Poetry Competition. Her work has appeared in The Poetry Review, Granta, BBC Radio 4 and Prototypes Annual Anthology, among others. Girling is her first collection. Episode notes: CAConrad, Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return Reading recs: Jessie Greengrass, An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It Hélène Bessette, Lili is Crying (trans. Kate Briggs) Matthew Rice, Plastic Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf, Love Letters The Tibetan Book of the Dead James Vincent, Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
October 9 · 1 hr
Ep. 42. Tice Cin, SAFE SPACES (Perspective, Sideways)
In today's episode I talk to Tice Cin about her new novel SAFE SPACES, now out from Granta. Tice Cin is an interdisciplinary artist and author from North London. Her debut novel Keeping the House (2021) received a Somerset Maugham Award and a London Writers Award, was a Guardian Book of the Year and was shortlisted for a British Book Award and the Desmond Elliot Prize among other accolades. Its accompanying mixtape having her named as one of Notion Magazines Ones to Watch. Her BBC Radio 4 documentary How Much Can You Say? (2024) won an Audio Production Award. Her work has been published and commissioned by Granta Magazine, London Magazine, Somerset House, Montblanc, Cartier and more. She is the founder of the interdisciplinary production company Neoprene Genie which has had sold out shows at the Southbank Centre, produced films, put on bloc parties outside Edmonton Green Train Station. Cin’s sophomore novel SAFE SPACES was just published by Granta in September 2026, with the Guardian calling it “a kaleidoscopic vision of precarity, music and grief”. Cin lives between North London and North Cyprus. Episode notes: Noreen Masud, A Flat Place; Mona Arshi, 'Coming to Terms'; Sema Kaygusuz (trans. Nicholas Glastonbury), 'A Language of Figs'; Marguerite Duras, Writing. Reading recs: Mandisa Apena, The World's Darling William Keohane, Out There Hwang Jungeun (trans. r. yaewon), (이예원) I'll Go On Ralph Webb, Two Lovers Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
August 19 · 1 min
Books Up Close: The Podcast (TRAILER)
This is Books Up Close: The Podcast. It's a show for readers, writers and anyone interested in how texts get made. Chris Lloyd - poet, scholar, critic - interviews authors about an excerpt of their work and they closely read it together. This is the kind of literary chat you won't hear elsewhere Guests include: Torrey Peters, Garth Greenwell, Lola Olufemi, Abigail Bergstrom, Kieran Yates, Carys Davies, Fatima Bhutto, Oluwaseun Olayiwola, Sara Ahmed, Saleem Haddad, Elaine Castillo, Richard Scott, and many more.
August 19 · 1 hr
Ep. 41. Wayne Holloway-Smith, RABBITBOX (Repetition, Shadows)
In today's episode I talk to Wayne Holloway-Smith's new book RABBITBOX. Wayne Holloway-Smith is the author of three books, Alarum and Love Minus Love, both published by Bloodaxe Books, and RABBITBOX, recently published by Scribner UK. He’s been shortlisted for the TS Eliot prize, won the National Poetry Competition and the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize. He teaches and lives in London. Book recs: Denise Riley, A Chorus of Ears: On 'The Voice of the Poem' Mary Ruefle, Madness, Rack and Honey Nuar Alsadir, Animal Joy Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Find Wayne at Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
August 11 · 53 min
Ep. 40. Remi Kalir, Re/Marks on Power: How Annotation Inscribes History, Literacy, and Justice (Attention, Time-Travel)
In today's episode I talk to Remi Kalir about his book Re/Marks on Power: How Annotation Inscribes History, Literacy, and Justice Remi Kalir is a scholar and practitioner of annotation. He studies how annotation facilitates social, collaborative, and justice-directed learning. Remi is the author of two books published by MIT Press–Re/Marks on Power: How Annotation Inscribes History, Literacy, and Justice (2025) and Annotation (2021). He has also authored and contributed to over 50 peer-reviewed publications about literacy, learning, and technology. Remi currently serves as Associate Director of Faculty Development and Applied Research at Duke University. He began his career teaching literacy at Middle School 22 in the South Bronx and earned his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Notes: James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room; bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress Book recs: Christina Sharpe, Ordinary Notes Nicholas Thompson, The Running Ground Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Follow Remi on Bluesky at remikalir.bsky.social or find him at https://remikalir.com Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
August 3 · 50 min
Ep. 39. Kieran Yates, All the Houses I've Ever Lived In: Finding Home in a System that Fails Us (Objects, Material Conditions)
In today's episode I talk to Kieran Yates about her nonfiction book All the Houses I've Ever Lived In (2023). Kieran Yates is a London based journalist and author who has written everywhere from The Guardian and The Independent to Dazed and Vice. Her debut book, all the houses ive ever lived in is a meditation on home and the politics of the housing crisis. Book recs: Eula Biss, Having and Being Had Sam Johnson-Schlee, Living Rooms Kyle Chayka, The Longing for Less: What's Missing from Minimalism Toni Morrison, 'The Site of Memory' Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing Hanif Abdurraqib, A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Follow Kieran on Instagram @Kierany8s or find her at kieranyates.co.uk Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
July 22 · 1 hr 12 min
Ep. 38. Ashley Clark, The World of Black Film / Daughters of the Dust (Temporality, Crossfades)
In today's episode I talk to Ashley Clark about his new book The World of Black Film: A Journey Through Cinematic Blackness in 100 Films (2026) as well as Julie Dash's canonical film Daughters of the Dust. Ashley Clark is a writer, broadcaster, and film programmer. He has organized numerous film seasons at international venues including London's BFI Southbank, New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Toronto's TIFF Lightbox. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Reverse Shot, Sight & Sound, and Film Comment, and he is the author of two books: Facing Blackness: Media and Minstrelsy in Spike Lee's Bamboozled (2015); and The World of Black Film: A Journey Through Cinematic Blackness in 100 Films (2026). Ashley was born in London, lives in Jersey City, and works in New York City, where he has been the curatorial director of the Criterion Collection since 2020.Episode notes: Julie Dash, Illusions (1982) Book recs: Keith Ridgway, A Shock Amy Sall, The African Gaze: Photography, Cinema, and Power Patrick Radden Keefe, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Follow Ashley on Instagram @_Ash_Clark Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
July 10 · 49 min
Ep. 37. Garth Greenwell, Small Rain (Long Sentences, Being Human)
In today's episode I talk to Garth Greenwell about his novel Small Rain (2024) Garth Greenwell is the author of three books, most recently Small Rain, which won the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award. A Guggenheim Fellow, his writing on culture appears widely, including in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Harper’s, and elsewhere; he also writes the Substack newsletter To a Green Thought. He is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. Episode notes: Close reading of Raven Leilani's Luster George Oppen, 'Stranger's Child' T.J. Clark, The Sight of Death: An Experiment in Art Writing Book recs: Ivana Sajko, Every Time We Say Goodbye Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Follow Garth @ggreenwell on Bluesky, Instagram, X and Threads; or @garthgreenwell on Substack and Facebook. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
July 3 · 48 min
Ep. 36. Ann Morgan, Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not Knowing (Reading the World, Unknowing)
In today's episode I talk to Ann Morgan about her book Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not Knowing (2025) Ann Morgan is an author and speaker based in Folkestone. Her first book, Reading the World, came out of a 2012 project to read a book from every country in a year (ayearofreadingtheworld.com). This sees Ann continuing to blog about international literature, and corresponding and collaborating with writers, readers and literary organisations around the world to champion the sharing of stories underrepresented in mainstream anglophone publishing. Ann is also the author of two novels, international bestseller Beside Myself and Crossing Over. Her latest non-fiction book, Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing (Renard Press, 2025), explores the unlearning that armchair travel requires, and celebrates how embracing incomprehension can help us read ourselves and our world better. Book recs: Tété-Michel Kpomassie, Michel the Giant: An African in Greenland (trans. James Kirkup and Ross Schwartz) Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume (trans. Barbara J. Haveland) Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Follow Ann on Instagram (@ayearofreadingtheworld), bluesky (@annmorgan.bsky.social) or at https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
June 26 · 53 min
Ep. 35. Ashton Politanoff, Dad Had a Bad Day (Volleys, Reticence)
In today's episode I talk to Ashton Politanoff about his 2026 novel, Dad Had a Bad Day. Ashton Politanoff is a frequent contributor to NOON, edited by Diane Williams. His writing has also appeared or is forthcoming in McSweeney’s, Southwest Review, Conjunctions, New York Tyrant, Egress, and elsewhere. He is a former division I tennis player and his childhood coach was Robert Lansdorp, who is credited with coaching Pete Sampras, Tracy Austin, and Maria Sharapova. His novel Dad Had a Bad Day is forthcoming Spring/Summer 2026 from Astra House (US) and Daunt Books (UK). Politanoff’s first novel, You’ll Like It Here, was published by Dalkey Archive in 2022. He is an English Professor at Cypress College. Book recs: Damon Galgut, The Promise Tana French, The Searcher Follow the show on Instagramand subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
June 19 · 49 min
Ep. 34. Carys Davies, Clear (Intimacies, Raising the Music)
In today's episode I talk to Carys Davies about her novel Clear. Carys Davies is the author of three novels and two collections of short stories. Her debut novel West was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, runner-up for the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize, and winner of the Wales Book of the Year for Fiction. Her second novel The Mission House was The Sunday Times 2020 Novel Of The Year. Her latest novel Clear won the 2025 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, the 2025 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and the 2025 Wales Book of the Year, and has been nominated for many others, including the Walter Scott Prize, Scotland’s National Book Award, the Prix Femina, the Prix Médicis, and the Europese Literatuurprijs. Her short story collection The Redemption of Galen Pike won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. She is also the recipient of the Royal Society of Literature's V.S. Pritchett Prize, the Society of Authors' Olive Cook Short Story Award and a Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a 2025/26 Fellow at Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris. Born in Wales, she grew up there and in the Midlands, lived and worked for twelve years in New York and Chicago, and now lives in Edinburgh. Episode notes: Elizabeth McCracken, A Long Game Book recs: Sylvia Townsend Warner, Mr Fortune's Maggot Jessica Francis Kane, Fonseca Follow the show on Instagramand subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
June 13 · 1 hr 1 min
Ep. 33. Oluwaseun Olayiwola, 'Strange Beach' (Fragmentation, Em-Dashes)
In today's episode I walk to Oluwaseun Olayiwola about his poem 'Strange Beach' (the first one) from the book of the same name. Oluwaseun (Seun) Olayiwola is a poet, critic, choreographer and performer based in London. His creative and critical work has been published in The Poetry Review, PN Review, The Telegraph, the TLS and elsewhere. His choreographic work has been presented at the V&A, The Place, The Central School of Ballet, and Studio Voltaire. He’s been commissioned by RSL, Ledbury Poetry Festival, Southwark Council, and Studio 3 Arts. Seun has an MFA in Choreography from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he was a Fulbright Scholar in 2018-2019. His debut collection was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK) and Soft Skull Press (US). Since publication, Strange Beach has won an Eric Gregory Award and was Poetry Book Society Winter 2025 Special Commendation. Seun is an inaugural member of the Rose Choreographic School at Sadlers Wells East. He is a lecturer in dance in the Kingston School of Art and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Episode notes: Jorie Graham, 'Le Manteau De Pascal' Negative Capability (Keats) Claudia Rankine, Citizen Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Spill Christina Sharpe, In the Wake Victoria Adukwei Bulley, 'The Ultra-Black Fish' Louise Glück Robin Coste Lewis, Voyage of the Sable Venus Maggie Nelson, Bluets Adam Phillips, The Life You Want Book recs: Claudia Rankine, Triage Christina Sharpe, Ordinary Notes Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House Leo Bersani and Adam Phillips, Intimacies Follow the show on Instagramand subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Follow Seun on Instagram. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
June 5 · 57 min
Ep. 32. Kai Spellmeier, Boy Friends (Romance, Messy Feelings)
In today's episode I talk to Kai Spellmeier about his new novel Boy Friends (Bloomsbury 2026). Kai Spellmeier is a German author currently living in England. He has published several books in Germany, including YA novels and non-fiction, and he has been blogging about books on Instagram for many years. Boy Friends is his English language debut. Book Recs: Nina LaCour, Everything Leads to You Cameron Sullivan, The Red Winter Douglas Stewart, John of John Follow the show on Instagramand subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Get more from Kai at his Instagram. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
May 29 · 51 min
Ep. 31. Madeleine Dunnigan, Jean (Perspective, Power Plays)
In this episode I talk to Madeleine Dunnigan about her novel Jean (2026) from Daunt. Madeleine Dunnigan is a writer and screenwriter from London. She was a Jill Davis Fellow on the MFA at New York University. While there she was awarded a Global Research Initiative Fellowship in Paris. Her first novel, Jean, was published by Daunt Books (UK) and W.W. Norton (US) in 2026 and will be translated into Spanish, German and Italian. Episode Notes: Seán Hewitt, Open, Heaven (listen to my ep with him); Philippe Besson, Lie With Me; Justin Torres, We the Animals Book Recs: John McGahern, That They May Face the Rising Sun Louise Kennedy, Trespasses Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing Susanna Moore, In the Cut Virginia Woolf, The Years Octavia Butler's short stories and manifesto Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Yoko Ogawa, Hotel Iris Follow the show on Instagramand subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Get more from Madeleine on Instagram and at her website madeleinedunnigan.com. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
May 22 · 53 min
Ep. 30. Fatima Bhutto, The Hour of the Wolf (Present Tense, Dread)
In this episode I talk to Fatima Bhutto about her book The Hour of the Wolf (2026) from Daunt Books. Fatima Bhutto is the author of the novels The Runaways and the Women’s Prize for Fiction-longlisted The Shadow of the Crescent Moon, and the non-fiction New Kings of the World and Songs of Blood and Sword, which deals with her father’s murder and the Bhutto family’s history in Pakistani politics. Bhutto’s journalism and essays have appeared in the New Statesman, New York Times and Guardian, and elsewhere. Episode Notes: Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House; Annie Ernaux, Simple Passion; Jill Ciment, Half a Life and Consent; Melissa Febos, 'In Defense of Navel Gazing'; Julie Myerson, The Lost Child. Book Recs: Tareq Baconi, Fire in Every Direction and Hamas Contained Helen Garner, This House of Grief Mary Gaitskill, Veronica Hiba Abu Nada, 'I Grant You Refuge' Follow the show on Instagramand subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Follow Fatima on Instagram too. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
May 15 · 50 min
Ep. 29. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Look Closer: How to Get More Out of Reading (Zoom, Empathy)
In this episode I talk to Robert Douglas-Fairhurst about his nonfiction book Look Closer: How to Get More Out of Reading (2025). Robert Douglas-Fairhurst was born in 1968 and lives in Oxford, where he is a Professor of English Literature and a Fellow of Magdalen College. His most recent books are Look Closer: How to Get More Out of Reading (2025) and Metamorphosis: a Life in Pieces (2023). Previous books include The Turning Point: A Year that Changed Dickens and the World (2021) The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland (2015) and Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist (2011). His other publications include Victorian Afterlives (2002), and editions of A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, London Labour and the London Poor, The Water-Babies, and The Collected Peter Pan for Oxford World’s Classics, and A Tale of Two Cities for Norton. He is a regular reviewer and features writer for publications including the Times, Spectator, and Literary Review. He has worked as a historical consultant on BBC adaptations of Jane Eyre (2006), Emma (2009), and Great Expectations (2011), the 20-part BBC1/Red Planet series Dickensian (2015-16) and the Netflix feature films Enola Holmes (2019) and Enola Holmes 2 (2022). In 2015 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
April 24 · 49 min
Ep. 28. Seth Insua, Human, Animal (Introspection, First-Person)
In this episode I talk to Seth Insua about his novel Human, Animal (2025) Seth Insua is an Anglo-Spanish writer and artist. He was born in Kent in 1989. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a First in English Language and Literature. His debut novel, Human, Animal, was published by VERVE Books in 2025 and Letras de Plata in Spanish the following year. It was selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club with Sara Cox, and shortlisted for both the inaugural New Adult Book Prize and the Book of the Year: Discover by the British Book Awards. He lives with his husband, David, between Newcastle upon Tyne and Madrid. Episode notes: Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, 'Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading...' Roland Barthes, S/Z (the proairetic code) Book recs: Saleem Haddad, Floodlines (go back and listen to my interview with Saleem!) Josh Silver, Fruit Fly Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Find Seth at sethinsua.com or @sethinsua on Instagram. Please leave feedback here. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.
April 10 · 59 min
Ep. 27. Torrey Peters, 'Stag Dance' (Logger Slang, Overwhelm)
In this episode, I talk to Torrey Peters about her story 'Stag Dance' from the collection of the same name. Torrey Peters’ first novel, Detransition, Baby won the PEN/ Hemingway Award 2022 and was shortlisted for the 2022 National Book Critics’ Circle John Leonard Prize for best first book. A Times Top Ten bestseller, it was longlisted for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her follow-up Stag Dance is a quartet of short stories that explore trans life past, present and future. Episode notes: William Empson, Seven Types of Ambiguity Strunck and White, The Elements of Style Book recs: Halldor Laxness, Independent People (trans. J. A. Thompson) Juan Gabriel Vásquez, The Sound of Things Falling (trans. Anne McLean) João Guimarães Rosa, Vastlands: The Crossing (Alison Entreckin) Follow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Find Sasha on IG @sashajdm. Please leave feedback here. Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.

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