The Waterstones Podcast
Waterstones
206 episodes
Going beyond the book with a wide range of authors to discover the story behind the books we love.
Episodes page 1 of 5
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Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle MacLachlan is an actor with such range that everyone seems to know him from a different piece of work. From his debut in Dune, to iconic roles in Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives,…
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Judi Dench: an encore!
The only thing better than talking to Judi Dench about her career in acting is to talk to her a SECOND time! We were delighted to be invited back to her home for a conversation alongside Brendan O'Hea about her work on…
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Elif Shafak
Taking inspiration from the life of Gustave Flaubert, the new novel from Elif Shafak flips expectations by giving voice to the women who shaped him. In an inspiring conversation about creativity in times of crisis and…
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Louise Kennedy
Louise Kennedy has followed her Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize-nominated Trespasses with another brilliant novel, Stations, which follows the trajectories of two teenage friends as they leave '80s Ireland for London.…
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Ann Patchett
After losing her best friend, Ann Patchett poured all that love into her new novel, Whistler. Bringing platonic love to the fore, alongside the unearthing of the past and a reckoning with our own mortality; we sat down…
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Xand van Tulleken
50% of people in the UK take supplements and the consumer blood-testing industry is now a $128 billion business. But does any of it work? In an increasingly confusing world Xand van Tulleken wanted to cut through the…
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Rebecca F. Kuang returns!
In her most personal novel yet, Rebecca F. Kuang transports readers to Taipei, where Yale student Lily is working on her Chinese language to better connect with her Chinese family, only for loss to appear suddenly and…
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Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson's latest novel beautifully combines her skills in historical detail and crime caper plotting for a story which assembles a motley crew of misfits attempting to curate 1951's Festival of Britain. We sat…
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Rebecca Perry
Join us as we celebrate Rebecca Perry as the author of this year's Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize-winner, May We Feed The King. Over a glass of bubbly, we discuss the connections between her curator character and the…
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Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson's latest journalistic adventure begins with a series of text messages from his son which then leads to an odyssey from reality TV, to influencers, to America's disenfranchised men to paint a portrait of…
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Alice Oseman
When Alice Oseman created the first volume of Heartstopper on her own, she couldn’t have foreseen what a phenomenon it would become. As the final volume hits shelves and the Netflix adaptation concludes with the film…
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Andrew Sean Greer
Andrew Sean Greer writes the kind of novels that you want to press into others' hands when what they need is a book filled with charm, comedy and a sense of romance. After the trials of his hapless author Arthur Less…
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Meet the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2026 Shortlist Authors
The Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize Shortlist is here and it's time to meet the class of 2026. With books that take us from modern America to medieval Europe, from magical realism to modern satire, from private lives…
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Lily King
Through her writing about love, Lily King has made readers care deeply about her characters and what life does to them. A year on from Heart The Lover's publication and after a month as our fiction pick, we finally got…
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Elizabeth Strout
Having captivated readers with the eponymous Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton , Elizabeth Strout has moved down the coast from Maine to Massachusetts for her latest novel, and a new character for readers to meet. We…
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Sathnam Sanghera
George Michael managed to be both enigmatic and to share some of the most personal details about his life but superfan Sathnam Sanghera has looked a little closer to really appreciate the artistry and importance of one…
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Maggie O'Farrell
Following the phenomenal success of Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell returns with Land, an epic novel of upheaval and loss beginning in 19th century Ireland, with its roots in Maggie's own family. We sat down to speak with her…
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Siri Hustvedt
When Siri Hustvedt lost her husband, Paul Auster, to cancer, her immediate instinct was to write. This, in fact, has always been her instinct and the resulting book, Ghost Stories, is an elegant patchwork of memories,…
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Douglas Stuart
When Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize with his debut, Shuggie Bain, it announced the arrival of a distinctive new voice in fiction. Now, after two novels set in his native Glasgow, his third takes us to the Isle of…
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Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane
Artist Jackie Morris and writer Robert Macfarlane have already blessed us with The Lost Words and The Lost Spells and their third project together is a field guide like no other. The Book of Birds asks us to really…
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Patrick Radden Keefe
The investigative reporting of Patrick Radden Keefe has already given us non-fiction classics like Say Nothing and Empire of Pain. In London Falling, he turns his eye to the story of Zac Brettler, who plunged to his…
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Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2026
For the first time ever, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize assembles our shortlisted authors and illustrators for a special interview in which we discover more about the joy of picture books, the nature of world…
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Antony Beevor
The legends surrounding the figure of Rasputin are so well-trodden we may think we know the story, but how did a man born as a peasant come to find himself within the Tsar’s inner circle and how instrumental was he in…
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George Saunders
Booker Prize-winner George Saunders takes us back to that space between life and death in his new novel, Vigil, leading to a fruitful conversation about providing comfort at the end of life, why repentance at the end…
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Julian Barnes
Booker Prize-winner Julian Barnes has a bibliography that would keep a reader happy for many months, even years, but with mention that his latest book, Departure(s), might be his last, we were determined to speak with…
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Gareth Southgate
From the discipline he learnt from his grandfather and the integrity from his parents, to the lessons learned from everything from inflatable unicorns to crucial penalties, Gareth Southgate's approach to management has…
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Val McDermid
Continuing the seasonal series after Michael Morpurgo’s Spring, Val McDermid turns from crime to Winter, with its festivals, rituals and new year drive to achieve. We sat down with her to talk about the ghosts of…
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Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie’s return to fiction sees him sharing a collection of stories which look at the questions that await us all at the end of our lives. We spoke with him about mortality, looking back and what the future…
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RF Kuang in conversation with Samantha Shannon
Join us for what promises to be an unmissable evening with bestselling author R.F. Kuang, as we celebrate the publication of her much-anticipated new novel, Katabasis.The internationally bestselling author of Babel and…
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Philip Pullman
30 years after he introduced the world to Lyra Belacqua, Philip Pullman launched the final volume in his Book of Dust series: The Rose Field. Just ahead of that event we sat down to speak with him about his feelings on…
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Malala Yousafzai
From the moment she began her education at Oxford University, Malala Yousafzai was aware how hard it would be for her to enjoy a normal student experience. But as we discover from her new memoir and from our…
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Kathy Burke
From her childhood in Islington to the red carpet at Cannes, Kathy Burke has always spoken her mind, and that strength and independence of thought is on every page of her memoir, A Mind of My Own. We sat down to speak…
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Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan's masterful new novel is a piece of speculative fiction that shows a radically altered UK on the other side of climate catastrophe and global warfare. But it centres on two academics reaching back into the…
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Samantha Shannon
With the arrival of Among the Burning Flowers, the majestic prequel to her classic fantasy, The Priory of the Orange Tree, we sat down with Samantha Shannon to talk about prequels, sequels, reading order, star signs,…
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Mick Herron
Back in 2017, we made Slow Horses by Mick Herron our Thriller of the Month in August and a whole host of readers found their new obsession. Now, 15 years on from its first publication, we sat down with the author of 9…
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A. F. Steadman The Waterstones Interview
We sat down with the phenomenal A. F. Steadman to discuss all things Skandar, including emergency sandwiches, superfan events and reading for pleasure as we celebrate the heart-pounding conclusion to the iconic…
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Holly Jackson
Already the best selling YA thriller writer, thanks to series like A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, Holly Jackson is back with Not Quite Dead Yet, her first novel for adult readers. We sat down with her to find out about…
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Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2025 Shortlist Interview
The Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2025 shortlisted authors are here! Meet Catherine Airey (Confessions), Gurnaik Johal (Saraswati), Niamh Ní Mhaolieoin (Ordinary Saints), William Rayfet Hunter (Sunstruck) Lisa Ridzén…
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Terry Deary
What do you do when you've already sold over 36 million copies of your Horrible Histories books? You write the kind of book that you, as a reader, would kill to read. And Terry Deary's first love was always murder…
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Ita O'Brien
Known for her pioneering work as an intimacy co-ordinator on shows such as Normal People and I May Destroy You, Ita O'Brien has distilled her practice into a book that has something to say to anyone about the role of…
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Frank Cottrell-Boyce
We sat down with our beloved Waterstones Children's Laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce to discuss the magic of movie sets, the power of Shakespeare, the importance of reading for children and much more as we celebrate his…
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Ocean Vuong
Continuing a conversation begun with his first novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, we sat down with Ocean Vuong to discuss his new book, The Emperor of Gladness, which sees a wayward young man unexpectedly caring…
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Naga Munchetty
From dismissal of symptoms to one-size-fits-all surgical solutions, women's healthcare comes under the spotlight in Naga Munchetty's important new book, It's Probably Nothing. We spoke with her about her own personal…
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Robert Macfarlane
Robert Macfarlane's latest book is his most personal and political yet, asking a question which may sound simple, but which forces the reader to look at rivers in a profoundly different way to simply being matter for…
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Jack Fairweather
Jack Fairweather brings the same rigour and narrative flair that won him the Costa Book of the Year award for The Volunteer, to his new book, The Prosecutor, which tells the story of Fritz Bauer, a gay German Jew, who…
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Philippe Sands
Completing a trilogy of outstanding books that examine the efforts to bring Nazi war criminals to account, Philippe Sands blends memoir, travelogue, detective story, and courtroom drama to stunning effect again with 38…
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Hallie Rubenhold
Hallie Rubenhold helped readers to see the Ripper murders from an entirely new perspective with The Five, which assiduously assembled the lives of his victims. With The Story of a Murder, she does the same again with…
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Michael Morpurgo
Spring is Michael Morpurgo’s first non-fiction book for adults in almost 40 years and the book itself is a portrait of waiting for the seasons to change. In a fascinating conversation he expertly leads us through the…
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Jessie Burton
Jessie Burton uses her literary skills to enchant and entertain younger readers in her new novel, Hidden Treasure, which is a luminous tale of fortune and loss set on the banks of the River Thames. We sat down to speak…
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Natasha Brown
Natasha Brown’s Assembly was a debut that announced the arrival of a fresh new voice in fiction and her latest, Universality, shows her wielding words as weapons in a tale of power, privilege and taking control of the…
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