We got there! Join Lottie, Nic and Jess as they look back on the experiment that was #MrBsJusticeSeason, our very first themes season of the podcast. Never letting go of the book recommendations, this episode also touches on raising daughters, global injustice and dam-building in Brazil as well as Bruce Springsteen. We also talk about whether themes are a good idea in the first place, concluding that the Justice Season may be over but we'll never stop talking about justice.
As this season draws to a close, we'd love to hear what you thought about it. Join the conversation online using #MrBsJusticeSeason and let us know what you'd love us to talk about when the Mr B's Podcast comes back in the spring!
Music from the Bookshop Band.
Browse through the books mentioned in this episode HERE.
We've arrived at episode 5 of #MrBsJusticeSeason. Join us as we talk to journalist Maeve McClenaghan about her experience of a year investigating the homelessness crisis in the UK, and the book which emerged from this journey.
'No Fixed Abode' is a revealing and moving exploration of how very far the tragedy of homelessness has been allowed to develop, but also about the solutions which already exist. It began with one question, which Maeve asked after coming across a few news stories in 2018: how many people die in the UK while homeless? As it turned out, this piece of statistic just didn't exist.
Hosted by Jessica Gaitan Johannesson. Music by The Bookshop Band.
Have a look at our list of some good books on homelessness HERE.
The Justice Season of the podcast continues through the autumn 2020, a fortnight and many books at a time. For episode four, we're delighted to share a conversation with Zimbabwean writer Petina Gappah about her latest novel 'Out of Darkness, Shining Light'. It's a story twenty years in the making which follows the last journey of David Livingstone in 1873, as he was carried by his African companions toward the coast, so that he could be buried in England.
Petina Gappah is the author of two short story collections, starting with 'Elegy for Easterley' which won the the Guardian First Book Award, and the novel 'The Book of Memory', which has been a firm favourite on the Mr B's shelves since its publication in in 2015. She's also an international-trade lawyer. Join Petina and Jess as they talk about choosing two characters out of almost a hundred, justice versus equity, and the teaching of colonial history in UK schools.
Hosted by Jessica Gaitan Johannesson. Music by the Bookshop Band.
Have a look at a reading list of all the books mentioned in this episode HERE.
In the third episode of our Justice Season, we talk to writer, poet, editor and all-round fantastic word- person John Freeman. Editor of the biannual Freemans, and former editor of Granta magazine, John is the author of books of nonfiction such as 'Dictionary of the Undoing', as well as two collections of poems: 'Maps' and 'The Park'. Since 2014 he's edited three anthologies of writing about inequality: 'Tales of Two Cities', focusing on New York, 'Tales of Two Americas', and this year, 'Tales of Two Planets'. The latter brings a plethora of climate-crisis realities, in essays, fiction and poems, to the reader, carried through by voices which are intimate, visionary, varied and essential.
In this episode, Jess talks to John about what the much used term climate justice means, the challenges of addressing the climate crisis in fiction, and what kind of writing moves us to take action.
Hosted by Jessica Gaitan Johannesson
Explore the books mentioned in this episode HERE.
Join us as we plunge deeper into versions and stories of justice in the second episode of our autumn 2020 season.</p>
Niven Govinden is the author of five novels, most recently 'This Brutal House', which was published in 2019. In this episode, Jess chats to Niven about the vogue culture of New York City, chosen families, community, and 'eco-systems of protest'. Niven also reads some mesmerising experts from 'This brutal House' throughout the episode.
This is such a special one. We hope you enjoy it!</p>
For more reading exploration, you can find a book list curated by Niven Govinden HERE.
Welcome back to the Mr B's podcast!
After a long break, we're re-launching our mix of bookseller-chats and author interviews, but this time with a particular focus. Enter: the Justice Season.
Throughout 2020 so far, it's been brought home to many of us how crises such as the pandemic lay bare the deep injustices around us, and how interlaced these issues are, yet a word such as 'justice' risks being watered down if we don't specify what we mean. In the first episode, Sam, Callum, Tom M and Jess talk about books they've come across recently which explore ideas of justice, on a small or large scale. They're a varied bunch to say the least - from the murders of women in Argentina to Cambridge Analytica and the extraction, culture and capitalism surrounding one rare type of mushroom.
We've loved working on this new series of the podcast and hope you enjoy it. Make sure not to miss coming episodes of the Justice Season throughout the autumn by subscribing to the Mr B's Podcast wherever you get your podcasts from.
Hosted by Jessica Gaitán Johannesson
Music by The Bookshop Band
Browse through the books discussed in this episode HERE.