Litopia All Shows

Tender Asher Lev has a gift – he can draw exceptionally well – and a drive to be an artist. Everyone around him has a drive to make him into a leader in the Ladover Hasidic community, spreading the word of Ladover Hasidism to the far corners of the world. Something has to give. It gives. A story that starts very well. 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. http://litopia.com/shows/burn/  

As the winter solstice passes, Litopia After Dark becomes Litopia After Darker. it's time for festive cheer, certainly. But it's also the moment when the fabric (sorry) between our nightmares and our waking world is at its thinnest. A time for cosy hibernation, yes-- but also fear, depression and real-life demons. Especially in the days of glowing rectangles when the lights never completely go out. Jessica’s extraordinary handiwork is on display at most Royal weddings To help navigate this darkest part of the Northern year, we're joined by ladies Light and Wilde-- Jessica Light, one of the last remaining trimming weavers in the UK, and former Cenobite, Barbie Wilde.  But which one really loves a rainbow and which one is afraid of the dark? (Hint: one of them's a real cut-up and the other will have you in stitches...) One is a horror writer who played a mutilating demon in Clive Barker's Hellraiser II. The other is a passementriere (pass-a-mon-tree-air

This year Colorado is expected to generate $125 million in tax revenue from legal marijuana sales.  In the first full year of legalization Colorado homicide rates have dropped by 24%. Medically, the (preliminary) research is in: while cannabis has been shown to have deleterious effects on developing minds, it has also been proven to treat a whole host of medical conditions. Dr. Adam Winstock Still, many people remain staunchly opposed to legalization. In the United States, where pot is still illegal federally, the main organizations lobbying to keep pot a Schedule 1 narcotic-- alongside heroin, crystal meth and cocaine-- are private prisons, the prison guard unions, law enforcement, the tobacco lobby and the pharmaceutical industry. (The alcohol industry has since backed off following an uptick in sales post-legalization in Colorado.) Following the election of Justin Trudeau, Canada, a G7 nation, is poised to legalize recreational marijuana across the boar

Monk on the run in 14th Century England has more to worry about than building himself a time machine to get out of 14th Century England. Obviously kidding about the sci-fi bit because this is Barry Unsworth. The book is the time machine. The moral of the story is less story, more moral. Photo Douglas R Witt 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. http://litopia.com/shows/burn/  

Hartmann and Fibitch arrived in England as refugees on the Kindertransport and then they had had wives and children and those children had families and – what was the point of this story again? Served (saved?) with a side of Sebald (how can you not) plus the flavour of Rushforth, which is the name of an author. 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. http://litopia.com/shows/burn/  

The BBC – the world’s oldest and biggest public service broadcaster – appears to have a serious ethics problem. That’s the devastating conclusion from this edition of The DEBRIEFER. How else could you explain the plight of bestselling author and screenwriter M.R. Hall, whose THE CORONER series of books bears a striking similarity to the BBC’s a new television series entitled – somewhat unimaginatively – THE CORONER. Listeners to THE DEBRIEFER will be familiar with horrific accounts of rapacious Hollywood studios “borrowing” ideas from defenceless authors. The twist, this time, is that the allegations concern a public service broadcaster… not a commercial entity, but an organisation that is supposed to serve the public good. Service, not profit, is the motivator… or is supposed to be. Troublingly, this case is not unique. One of our guests on Litopia After Dark, former British ambassador Craig Murray, believes his autobiography Murder in Samarkand was plagiarized for the BBC comedy The Ambassador. “The produc

To mark National Poetry Day, Garry’s guest tonight is one of the brightest and most brilliant of British poets – Salena Godden. Funny, poignant, outrageous and guileless, Salena is every inch a successful 21st century poet. Includes selections from her anthology Fishing In The Aftermath featuring the immortal My Tits Are More Feminist Than Your Tits ( the world premiere exclusive to GBH!), A Letter To An Air Stewardess Found In The Back Of Seat 67 as well as Salena reading from her autobiography, Springfield Road. Salena is a regular renaissance woman – savour! Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes The Garry Bushell Hour: A Talk Show The Way It Should Be Done: Raw, Honest And Very, Very Funny!  

Strong female artists have been a part of pop and rock since the beginning: incredible singers from Etta James and Janice Joplin to Adele and Paramore’s Hayley Williams have wowed the world with their talent. But for many it’s been an uphill battle, fighting exploitation and ingrained attitudes. Joining Garry tonight to discuss this fraught subject are three very different performers – Dominique Olliver, Danie Cox and Kristina Oberzan. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes The Garry Bushell Hour: A Talk Show The Way It Should Be Done: Raw, Honest And Very, Very Funny!  

Mancunian Steve Diggle is the guitarist and singer songwriter with the Buzzcocks… the seminal punk band who infiltrated the charts with brilliant, infectious songs such as ‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t)’, ‘Promises’ and ‘Harmony In My Head’ – back at a time when punk really did want to subvert mainstream music. Tonight’s show is a tour-de-force of punks on tour.  The Buzzcocks opened for the Sex Pistols at Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall, performed at the 100 Club punk festival in 1976 and toured with more recent household names Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Now clean, former Mod Steve speaks with devastating honesty about his experiences with hard drugs. As the Buzzcocks approach their 40th year, this complex and creative musician continues to perform both with them and as a solo artist. Why? It’s still a buzz, cock. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes The Garry Bushell Hour: A Talk Show The Way It Should Be Done: Raw, Honest And Very, Very Funny!  

The real life murder mystery of a CBS reporter is foreground and backdrop for a modern day high school student trying to figure out why the wrong man was put down. Also a love story. Salonic. Picture: George Laoutaris 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. http://litopia.com/shows/burn/  

"When more than 90% of ever-married women in Egypt -- including my mother and all but one of her six sisters -- have had their genitals cut in the name of modesty, then surely we must all blaspheme... to hell with political correctness." So wrote tonight's guest, Egyptian journalist and women's right's activist Mona Eltahawy in her explosive Foreign Policy magazine article Why Do They Hate Us?-- "us" being women and "they" being Arab men. Her rage was fueled by personal experience: in November 2011, just blocks from Tahrir Square, Mona was sexually assaulted, had both arms broken and came within a tweet of being gang-raped by Egyptian Armed Forces-- then headed by current Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el Sisi. Having written for the New York Times, the Guardian, the Observer as well as being featured on the BBC, CNN, Newsweek, PEN, Al Jazeera, NPR, the Atlantic, MSNBC-- Mona was saved by her profile. But how many others weren't so l

Pinneberg is the Little Man; What Now is what everyone is asking at the outset of the Depression, when this novel is set. Fallada’s novel is about the piece by piece destruction of a young man by forces that are both incomprehensibly great and pathetically familiar, from the collapse of the world economy to the failure of basic decency. I’m overwhelmed just writing this ditty. But that’s what you get when you read Hans Fallada. 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. http://litopia.com/shows/burn/  

Garry’s guest tonight Patti Boulaye shot to fame on ITV’s talent show New Faces. But hers is not a normal showbiz story.  Nigerian-born Patti lived through one of the worst genocides of the 20th century, growing up during the horrific Biafran civil war where one million people died either in fighting or from famine. Patti emigrated to London at 16, where she became an actress by accident… and a star through her pure talent. On tonight’s GBH, you’ll have an intimate encounter with a huge star… whose an heart is even bigger. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes The Garry Bushell Hour: A Talk Show The Way It Should Be Done: Raw, Honest And Very, Very Funny!  

Lawks a-mercy! Whatever would we do without Florida? Florida principal tries to quietly ban book to appease Christians -- sets off sh*tstorm instead The ‘Real’ Cookie Lyons Sues ‘Empire’ For $300 Million, Claiming Fox Series Is Based on Her Life Why do introverted writers have to schmooze? Alleged serial killer threatens to sue TV judge over book Follow ups: Millions for murder? Charlie Hebdo has an interesting problem Yahoo employee admits leak to author, settles suit Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes

Medical intern sent by boss to spy on a painter named of Strauch.  What the intern finds is the gaping wound of Lower Austria, which may or may not stand in for the entire world. Extremely bleak.  Extremely funny.  Basically, extreme in all senses. Photo: Florin Draghici 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. http://litopia.com/shows/burn/  

Some new research, anecdotal but telling, suggests that female writers have a much tougher time getting their book proposals into agents’ hands than male authors do. What’s the truth behind this? Plus all the latest news from the crazy/weird nexus where publishing meets the law… Homme de Plume: What I Learned Sending My Novel Out Under a Male Name Hamilton Ends Deal with SMP Claiming Lack of Support Florida Parents Try to Ban Books With Characters That Pray to Non-Christian God Freelancers of the World, Unite! A Publishing Contract Should Not Be Forever - The Authors Guild Georgia sues Carl Malamud group, calls publishing state's annotated code of laws online unlawful Online shopping startup ready to rival Amazon Follow ups: Judge Finds Hill's Book Infringed on TD Bank Copyright $60M Settlement Between NCAA and College Athletes Happy Birthday Copyright Bombshell: New Evidence Previously Hid Shows Song Is Public Domain  Photo: Ianqui Doodle Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes

How are you going to vote in the forthcoming Euro-referendum? Conventional wisdom says that if you’re on the political right wing, you’ll probably vote against staying in the EU, and if you’re to the left, you’ll probably vote in favour of staying. Well, Garry’s guest tonight, Brian Denny of the RMT Union, has got some mind-opening surprises in store for you. “The EU means fascism at home”, says Brian, “and war abroad.” So he’s in Nigel Farage’s camp, then? By no means. UKIP comes across as psychotic, he says – and in reality, UKIP agrees with many of the EU’s positions on nationalisation and labour. Seems like there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors involved in this whole EU debate. As always, Litopia concentrates on bringing you the raw, unvarnished voices of those who don’t normally get a fair crack of the whip from mainstream media. Tonight’s show will make you think long and hard about such things as corporatism and fascism; the Enlightenment and post-rationalism; and what may happen to the concept of democr

LITOPIA AFTER DARK is back! And in typical style, our first guest for the new season spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing none other than Osama bin Laden. How’s that for openers? But that’s far from Abdel Bari Atwan’s only claim to fame. Born in Gaza, he is one of the world’s leading authorities on al-Qa’ida. Indeed, he wrote the definite book on the subject – The Secret History of al-Qa’ida. At a moment when the West seems poised for yet more intervention in a deeply unstable Middle East, this is just the right time to hear from an author, editor and journalist who knows the region, and its peoples, intimately. Bari is a regular guest on the BBC, Dateline, CNN and Al Jazeera. He has 740,000 twitter followers. His Rai Al Youn digital newspaper-- often called the Huffington Post of the Arab World-- boasts a circulation of almost half a million. He also spent four nights in a freezing cave in Tora Bora interviewing Osama bin Laden. And yet,

If you can remember the nineteen eighties... you probably weren’t there. Barry Cain was – and he’s got 27 incredible issues of Flexipop magazine to prove it! It was a publishing phenomenon. Launched in 1980 by Barry and Tim Lott, every issue came with a flexible music disc. Flexipop was an overnight success rapidly reaching sales of more than 100,000... but it only lasted for 27 issues before it folded in 1983. Why? Get out your flares and big hair extensions... tonight, we’re gonna party like it’s 1980! Follow Flexipop on Facebook Buy 77 Sulphate Strip from Amazon Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes  

Spare parts make up the engine of this rickety ride from here to there. One solipsistic young man from England leads friends and acquaintances to Crimea, and for some reason they follow him. With allusions to Nicholson Baker and Peter Carey, this episode also features a drop from Masterchef Australia, which is what I’m into these days. The plating was not successful. 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. http://litopia.com/shows/burn/