A Room Of Your Own

Today’s guest is author Juliet Nicolson. I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Juliet in her Sussex home shortly after the release of her latest work - The Book of Revelations: Women and Their Secrets From the 1950s to the Present Day. As I’ve found with all of my favourite writers - from Edward St Aubyn to Joelle Taylor - Juliet has an incredible gift for balancing a sense of playfulness and wit while delving deep into the most serious topic with insight and sensitivity. We were so deep in conversation that we never got round to fully imagining her dream library space. Our conversation ranged from discussing her memories of exploring Sissinghurst Castle as a child, and going into her grandmother Vita Sackville-West’s private library for the first time, to her collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld, and to her latest work and the personal experiences that inspired The Book of Revelations.

Today’s guest is Karun Thakar - one of the world’s leading collectors of and experts on global textiles. Using his extraordinary collection of textiles, Karun tirelessly works to illuminate history through the lives and the hands of remarkable and often overlooked artists. As well as being a prolific writer, he is an active philanthropist, encouraging young people to learn about world history through textiles. I joined Karun in his London home to talk about his life as a collector and the importance of textile history to our understanding of the world.If you want to learn more about his work, you can visit his website www.karuncollection.com

Today’s guest is interior designer Andrew Torrey. Andrew recently published a book with Rizzoli celebrating his life and journey in design. I joined him in his design studio in Manhattan to talk about what it was like to put the book together, his influences in art and design, before moving on to imagine his dream library space.If you want to learn more about his work, you can find him on Instagram @torreyllc, or buy a copy of his book - Torrey: Private Spaces: Great American Design.

Today’s guest is Heide Hendricks - one half of the architecture and design studio Hendricks Churchill. I joined Heide in her beautiful renovated farmhouse which is the subject of a book published by Rizzoli in 2023 called ‘Our Way Home - Reimagining an American Farmhouse’. We talked about what goes into the Hendricks Churchill aesthetic, Rafe’s habit of turning sketches and renderings into works of art, before moving on to her own dream studio. If you want to learn more about the work of Hendricks Churchill, you can find them on Instagram @hendrickschurchill, or on their website at www.hendrickschurchill.com

Today’s guest is author Lucy Steeds. Lucy won the 2025 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize for her novel ’The Artist’. It’s a subtle and really atmospheric book that takes readers into the household of a great reclusive master - Tartuffe. The story unfolds through the eyes of Joseph - a young English journalist who has the unique opportunity to write about Tartuffe so long as he sits for him as a model, and through Ettie - Tartuffe’s shy, elusive niece - whose own character and brilliance slowly begin to reveal the true heart of the story. As well as a brilliant character portrait, it goes to the heart of the ‘great master’ myth, erasure, and the ways that creative genius finds a way to show itself under tyrranical suppression.Lucy and I jump straight into discussing the novel, and move on in the second half to discussing her own dream library hideaway. I hope you enjoy it.