Litopia All Shows

So you’re minding your own business in the jungle one day, when suddenly - this monkey lurches out and grabs your camera. And shoots some selfies. So the question is – who owns the copyright? No, this isn’t the silly season (although it may sound like it). Join us to explore a fascinating legal issue. Links to other stories featured in this show: Wikipedia In Weird Monkey Selfie Battle Northestern Uni files suit against author for copyright infringement Senator Quits Montana Race After Charge Of Plagiarism Tennis Writer Suspended for Plagiarism Allegation Mob Kills Woman And 2 Girls Over 'Blasphemous' Facebook Post John Green books come under parental fire again Jesse Ventura wins $1.8 million in "American Sniper" defamation case Amazon Makes Plea to Authors to Quiet Down How Would Hachette Frame An Antitrust Suit Against Amazon? Photo by William Brawley Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes

Like a precocious fireballer at top of the prospect rankings … a kid who has shown so much promise and from whom so much is expected … who has three plus pitches and is working on a fourth … whose intangibles are as off the charts as his athleticism … who is putting it all together at AAA and knocking at the door … who will make men look like boys … and who ends up THE OPPOSITE OF ALL THOSE THINGS – that’s this book. Download the mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes From recent débuts to classics, fiction to non-fiction, memoirs, philosophy, science, history and journalism, Burning Books separates the smoking from the singeworthy, looking at the pleasures (and pains) of reading, the craft of writing, the ideas that are at the heart of great novels as well as novels that try to be great, but don’t quite make it. https://litopia.com/shows/burn/  

The Specials were one of the most important, vital and influential bands to come out of the post-punk explosion, the band who created the 2-Tone movement. The Coventry-based Ska combo had eight Top Ten hits including ‘A Message To You Rudy’, and the chart-toppers ‘Ghost Town’ and ‘Too Much Too Young.’ And right at the heart of them was Garry’s guest tonight Neville Staple, the roadie who became a star and then went on to have seven more hits with his next band The Fun Boy Three. Although badly hurt in a car crash a couple of years ago, the irrepressible Nev continues to work with his own Neville Staple Band. Tonight, he talks about his 2009 autobiography, Original Rude Boy, the Specials' reunion, the early days of 2-Tone and his dream of taking his brand of English Ska out to Jamaica... Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Be a wonderful human being and support us with a donation

Is the world getting weirder, or is it just us?  Listen and decide.  Links to stories mentioned in this show: Harper Lee says Marja Mills-penned bio was unauthorized Judge Says Selling Religious Books Doesn’t Affect The Job Jose Antonio Vargas detained in Texas Do you have a fair use right to publish World Cup goals? Scarlett Johansson Wins Defamation Suit Against French Author Allan Ahlberg turns down Amazon-sponsored award Author Wins Seinfeld Defamation Suit Brought by Real Life Kramer Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes

You may think you know about World War Two… but you don’t. Tonight you’ll find out why. Featuring blistering contributions from our special guests Peter Grose, author of The Greatest Escape, and journalist & WWII maven, Neill Denny. Scintillating conversation and scorching debate… from Boy Scouts to Gaza, from Obamacare to Style Nazis (what?). Provocative, informative, addictive. See you next week, Litopians! Download the show as an audio file Subscribe in iTunes If you enjoy Litopia's FREE shows, please help us to keep going by making a donation!

In a Rebellion-themed special edition, Garry is joined by punk ukulele-pluckers the Pukes, who have risen from London pub strummers to festival stalwarts. There are brand new songs from the Old Firm Casuals and The Boys, the new single from Louise Distras and quality tracks from Operation Two Fold, Infa-Riot, Madball, Section 60, Speakeasy and the Skoisters. Of course no show would be complete without some 2-Tone nostalgia, this time from The Selecter. Remember – we’re keen to discover, play and support new bands and new talent – send us a music submission via the link on the website! Download the show as mp3 file Show home page

St Matthew is going to poke out your eyes. Or some such. After what seemed like a millennium of exile from the Motherland, we go back to the heart (and other parts) of Russian literature with a Tolstoy short story. Brilliant.

Feel like making glove?? That's not a typo. This week we discuss perhaps the best passage in any of Philip Roth's novels, the 'glovemaking scene' (again, not a typo) in American Pastoral. And we do this with American lit scholar and Gloversville, NY native, Menachem Feuer. Also, we discuss the definition of a schlemiel, a person who could never make a glove. And Franz Kafka makes an appearance at the end – another person we can safely assume was not versed in the art of glovemaking, IN ANY SENSE OF THE WORD. Get that hand out of your pocket and put your headphones on. *heat*.

A novel that says it’s based on Wuthering Heights is taking a risk – because Wuthering Heights is a crazy effective soporific. But the further it strays from the original, the better A True Novel becomes. Don’t underestimate your originality, Minae Mizumura! You’ve produced an eminently entertaining read. In a nice turn, this very long book is actually quite short. Picture by Toshihiro Gamo

The Messiah is coming! His arrival is imminent! That’s the bad news... The good news is his arrival and social schedule are narrated with a combination of enthralled immediacy and distrustful distance by a Nobel Laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer. And yet, is it ‘all that’? Some readers will be super-pumped, others might not catch messiah fever. All the colours of the rainbow.

Did we like this novel? What does it mean to like? What is our past, really, if we continue to relive it? And relieve it? And relive it? And – you get the point, but I'll say it again. And again. And – you have just sampled the experience of reading Javier Marías' massively successful novel. Eat this book! It's good for you! Now, wasn't that satisfying?

'They believe what they say in the moment they say it.' And then the moment is gone, and someone's stuck with a desiccated horse's head or a painting of Jesus framed in piss. In this episode we learn about the high prices and low motives of the contemporary art world while schmoozing in Basel, getting lost in Venice, and, once or twice, encountering genius along the way. Going once, going twice, going three times . . . sold!

Edinburgh resident JK Rowling gives a million quid to campaign against Scottish independence from Britain. And is promptly labeled a specky bastard, a ginga and a squeaky wee bitch. Way to go, ScotsNats! In this episode, we cover some of the issues behind the forthcoming referendum on Scottish independence (not currently on the news agenda Stateside – you heard it here first). Also discussing these stories: Latter-day Saints claims IP rights to “Mormon” name “Amazon of Middle East” is launching “banned books” section to confound censors, good luck with that Author claims Chobani yogurt stole his ideas for ad campaign – How?!? Fifty Shades of Grey’s Australian publisher accused of scamming business partners Follow ups: $18 Million Settlement of Freelance Suit Against Electronic Databases Granted Final Approval Narrow Fair Use Ruling Permits Limited Library Uses, Shoots Down Replacement NCAA To Pay $20M To Exit Student-Athlete Publicity Suit Judge Ends Lawsuit by ‘Mockingbird’ Author Lee Our next Debriefer

Enter the eminently other world of Malte Laurids Brigge – and don't plan on coming back in one piece. The big window shatters and the little pieces giggle. What? You didn't hear that? We talk about Rainer Maria Rilke's one and only novel with literary critic Scott Esposito.

Tonight's guest on the Garry Bushell Talk Show is the legendary reggae star Roy Ellis, also known as Mr Symarip. Roy is one of the genuine icons of sixties reggae in the UK and his band Symarip were famously the first to target the emerging skinhead youth cult with their best-loved song, 1969’s Skinhead Moonstomp. The young skins were feared by the press and the establishment; but the Jamaican-born star found love and acceptance amongst all those cropped heads, braces and bovver boots. Roy grew up in Balham, south west London, where he boxed at welterweight before breaking into the music business. In this very special show, Roy frankly talks about his life in music, the giants of reggae, his home in Switzerland and the controversial working class cult who made him their very own. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Be a wonderful human being and support us with a donation

Things are not what they appear to be, and not even what they appear later to be. Foxes are animals that cannot be trusted, and sometimes they are not even animals. This is that in Sjón's slender novel. Intriguing.

Is there anything better than the story of a master forger? If there is, I don't know it. This time we take a trip to the realm of non-fiction, looking into the complex world of Han Van Meegeren, a forger working in the style of Frans Hals and, especially, Johannes Vermeer, who sold his work to Hermann Goering, then tried to convince the world it was in the name of patriotism.

An interview with author, professor and psychoanalyst Josh Cohen, spy of our inner selves, examiner of the lies we live, and creator of the smash new meme, '#pervingon'. No secrets, please – we're going English.

Hans Erich Nossack's rare first person account of the 1943 destruction of Hamburg is served with a side of WG Sebald, who employs the word 'should', with grave consequences. BFFs.

King Charles, Oliver Cromwell, a vagrant narrator, hedge mazes and dreaded puritans – Jeanette Winterson goes historical fiction on us again in her 1989 novel that is less than the sum of its parts. For a short book, it's quite long.