Inklings Book Club

One of the most enduring, perennial and important plays ever written, and Shakespeare’s longest, Hamlet tells the story of a man torn by internal conflict after his uncle murders his father, the king of Denmark, and marries his mother, the queen. Many actors have dreamed of taking on this role, and Riz Ahmed is the latest to do so in his new adaptation of Hamlet in cinemas now. Riz Ahmed is an Oscar-nominated British-Pakistani actor, who you’ll know from Sound of Metal, Rogue One, Nightcrawler, and The Night Of. This adaptation is refracted through a South Asian lens in contemporary London. It proves how timeless Shakespeare’s lines are that they can be so deeply felt in this modern context, and Riz speaks with such passion about the revolutionary qualities of the play.
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Today I’m joined by Jente Posthuma whose novel What I’d Rather Not Think About was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2024. Ironically, is something I ALWAYS THINK ABOUT!!! The novel is fertile ground for rumination and thought-provoking conversation. It’s told in a series of vignettes, as a woman contemplates the suicide of her twin brother. It’s a deeply felt meditation on grief, translated into English from the original Dutch by Sarah Timmer Harvey

I wanted to ask Jente about the process of crafting this gorgeous little book, and I hope you enjoy this conversation. Welcome to the Inklings Book Club, Jente Posthuma.
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Today I’m excited to be sharing an interview with one of my favourite short story writers, Bora Chung. Bora is a South Korean writer, as well as a translator. She has a pHD in Slavic literature. I first encountered her work when her short story collection Cursed Bunny was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022, translated from the original Korean into English by Anton Hur – straight out of the gate, from the opening line, it’s unlike anything else I’ve ever read. The first line is “She was about to flush the toilet” – and you’ll hear Bora explain this story later in the interview.

This was her debut collection in English, but this first story was actually first published in 1998. She has since published another short story collection titled Your Utopia, as well as novels Midnight Timetable and Red Sword.

Bora joined me backstage at the Gothenburg Book Festival in Sweden to discuss her work. Please welcome to the Inklings Book Club, Bora Chung!
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A debut novel being shortlisted for The Booker Prize and WINNING the Women's Prize -- yeah, it doesn't get much bigger than that. Yael Van Der Wouden's The Safekeep totally floored me. It considers ownership, property, lust, yearning, repression, and the echoes of war that richochet long after the final bullet is fired. It’s historical fiction set in 1961, and writes hatred and love with the same passion and intensity. This was one of my favourite conversations I’ve had for the podcast, and I’m so happy to be sharing it with you today. I asked Yael a tonne of questions from our Fable Book Club chat and Instagram account – search Inklings Book Club if you’d like to join. For now, please welcome to the Inklings Book Club, Yael Van Der Wouden.
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Caroline O'Donoghue is a New York Times bestselling author and podcaster. Her podcast Sentimental Garbage has been streamed 12 million times. Her book The Rachel Incident has sold over 250,000 copies and is currently being adapted for the screen. Meanwhile, her young adult debut was All Our Hidden Gifts which became a much loved trilogy. Today we’re also going to be discussing her new book, the first in a duology, titled Skipshock! We discussed Irish literature, being described as Sally Rooney-esque, and the difference between YA and adult fiction.

Thanks to Hay Festival for hosting us :)
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