The Penguin Podcast

The Penguin Podcast: Feel Good feat. Clare Balding, Albert Espinosa and Pu Pu Hot Pot!

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Our aim in this episode is to make you feel good, be it by improving your life or helping you to improve the lives of others. And as a result we have quite a diverse program for you!

You’ll learn why a book of restaurants, none of which A.A. Gill would want to eat in, is actually a good thing, in our coffee table favourite Pu Pu Hot Pot. You’ll also discover more about The Yellow World and the bravery of author Albert Espinosa, in an extract from his speech to the Teenage Cancer Trust. (We apologise for the background laughter, he really is very funny!) We’ve got an audiobook extract of Clare Balding’s heart warming memoir, My Animals and Other Family, as well as relationship advice from Meredith Goldstein, who writes a daily love advice column and is the author of The Wedding Guests. We know that there’s nothing like food to cheer the soul, so we’ll be having a chat with Catherine Hill of The Weekend Cookbook, who tells us how to prepare our cupboard for easy and delicious meals and guides us through her recipe for parma ham and mozzarella melts – yum! To finish us off, we have an interview with Ravina Bajwa, our Audiobooks Managing Editor , who'll be telling us all about the Turning 18 project, a series of audio stories written and read by refugees and published by Penguin to mark 18 years of The Refugee Council’s Children’s Section.

 

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The Penguin Podcast: War and Writing feat. Patrick Hennessey, Harry Sidebottom & Clive Aslet

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In today's podcast Patrick Hennessey, an ex-Grenadier Guards, takes over to talk about his experiences of being a soldier, which was the influence behind his two books The Junior Officers' Reading Club and KANDAK, and discusses the appeal of writing and reading about war.  Also featured in this podcast is A. L. Berridge talking about the Crimean War, which she used as the backdrop in her book Into the Valley of Death.  She is followed by a reading from Crusade, read by the author Stewart Binns before he discusses writing about the Crusades.  Next, Harry Sidebottom answers questions on his Warrior of Rome books including the latest and fifth book in the series The Wolves of the North.  Then, the author of War Memorial, Clive Aslet, discusses the importance of remembering the lives of soldiers who have fought and died for their country.

 

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The Penguin Podcast: Halloween Special feat. Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales

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It's Halloween and we’ve got a frightfully good podcast in store for you - with murder, intrigue, ghosts and death! And also some wonderful readings, the first of which is from Ferdinand von Schirach’s The Collini Case, a thrilling German court room drama. It’s quite a grizzly extract, so if you’re sensitive to gore we suggest you pop your headphones or speakers on silent for those few minutes!

Next we go all spooky fairy tale with a live recording from a Philip Pullman event, where he talked about his new book, Grimm Tales, in which he has chosen his fifty favourite stories from the Brothers Grimm and retold them in his own unique voice.  

Following that we have an interview with Tim Weaver, the master of psychological suspense, who talks to us about his latest book Vanished, part of the David Raker series.  

Finally, we have a reading from Christopher Coake’s You Came Back, a haunting modern day ghost story.

 

 

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The Penguin Podcast: Action & Adventure feat. Jacqueline Wilson, Karen Maitland and Michelle Paver

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Today’s podcast is all about adventure - from medieval crime and Bronze Age Gods to ancient fairies!

But what is it about action and adventure tales that readers and writers find so appealing?  Perhaps it’s the escape from reality and delving into the strange and unknown? Or maybe it’s joining the characters on journeys filled with intrigue suspense? 

Well we have three authors lined up to answer these questions.  First up there’s Karen Maitland, author of the historical thriller The Falcons of Fire of Ice, sharing her thoughts on medieval Europe.  She is followed by Jacqueline Wilson, who talks to us about her retelling of E Nesbit’s classic tale Five Children and It.  Next up is Michelle Paver, author of Gods and Warriors, telling us about the adventures she went on to research her book.  And finally we end with an extract from the audiobook edition of Gods and Warriors, read by the actor Toby Stephens.

 

 

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The Penguin Podcast: Crossover Fiction feat. Louisa Reid, Alex Scarrow and Eoin Colfer

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Today we’ve got a podcast devoted entirely to Crossover fiction, fiction that appeals to both teenagers and adults alike. You might consider it a guilty pleasure, something to read only on an ereader, but more adults are becoming loud and proud about their love of the genre and we’ve got three crossover authors in this podcast to tell you why! First up there’s Louisa Read, author of Black Heart Blue, reading a short extract and answering some questions. Next we have Alex Scarrow, author of the historical fiction series Time Riders, who will be talking to us about the appeal of YA novels. After that we have an extract from the audiobook edition of Eoin Colfer’s final instalment of the Artemis Fowl series, The Last Guardian, followed by a chat with the author himself.

 

 

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The Penguin Podcast: Working in the Media feat. Dillon Khan and A. L. Berridge

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With GCSEs, A-levels and university now out of the way and the long summer break ahead, we’re sure many of you are thinking about taking steps towards your career and finding a job.  So we thought we’d share tips and stories from some of our authors and some of the creative and smart people that work here at Penguin about working in the Media.  To kick things off we have an extract from The Intern written by Dillon Khan.  The Intern follows the story of a young man called Jay who begins working at a top music television company as an intern and faces the tough demands and challenges to fight his way into a job.  Next we have six Penguin employees, who were interviewed by Dillon Khan for his website - theintern.co.uk - imparting their top 5 tips about working in Publishing and other areas of the media.  They’re followed by A. L. Berridge, author of Into the Valley of Death, telling us her experiences of working in Television as a producer and how she made the change to write historical fiction books.  And finally, we have an interview with Dillon Khan himself talking to us about the realities of working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, which came to influence many of the episodes in his book.  We hope that by the end of the podcast you’ll feel confident and ready to throw yourself into the working world and spruce up that CV.

 

 

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 For more information about The Intern visit theintern.co.uk or follow Dillon Khan on Twitter @dillonkhan

 

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The Penguin Podcast: Urban Tales feat. Paul French, Dubliners and Greg Baxter

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We’ve travelled across the globe to famous cities for this Urban-themed podcast, from Beijing to Dublin, with some great writers talking about some great cities.

We have Paul French in conversation with his editor, talking about his book Midnight in Peking, which is set during the dying days of imperial Peking.  It tells the extraordinary true tale of the murder of an English school girl, and what makes this book even more remarkable is the fact that the author managed to solve the case over sixty years later!  We also have an extract from the audiobook edition of Dubliners - re-released on 27th July as part of the new Penguin English Library series - in which James Joyce paints a vivid picture of North Richmond Street in his story Araby.  And finally we have both a reading and an interview from the author Greg Baxter. His new book, The Apartment, is set over one day in “an old European capital” – a city that he describes so richly, but never names.

 

 

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The Penguin Podcast: WellPenguin prepares you for Summer featuring Venice A. Fulton, Danni Levy, Anna Hunt and Allen Carr

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This episode is devoted entirely to WellPenguin, our wonderful list of books that inspire healthy living - mentally, physically and spiritually. We've got brand new releases, such as St. John Greene’s heart-warming memoir, Mum’s List, as well a fantastic backlist of our favourite wellbeing titles, including A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.

The aim of this Podcast special is to get you ready for summer, so let WellPenguin give you a hand with some sound advice from a selection of our fantastic authors. If you're after that great bikini body, Danni Levy, author of The Pyramid Diet, and the author of Six Weeks to OMG, Venice A. Fulton, provide their top exercise and nutritional tips. We also have some spiritual help from Anna Hunt, author of The Shaman in Stilettos, telling us how we can use Shamanic wisdom to improve our emotional well being. Last, but not least, we’re targeting addictions with an extract from the audiobook edition of Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking.

Once we’re finished with you you’ll be toned, calm and cigarette free – and that’s before you've gone on holiday!

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The Penguin Podcast: Let's Celebrate the Jubilee! Featuring Kate Williams and Sarah Bradford

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Here at Penguin we're getting very excited about all the Jubilee celebrations that are coming up and so, in order to get you all in the mood to celebrate, we’ve got a very special Jubilee themed podcast! Not only have we got an interview with authority on all things royal, Sarah Bradford, but we’ve also had Kate Williams in to give us the lowdown on both Queen Elizabeth’s coming Diamond Jubilee and how Queen Victoria celebrated the same event. To shake things up a bit we’ve included a reading from Sue Townsend’s hilarious book The Queen and I… and, if that’s not enough for you, we’ve got an imaginary boxing match between the Queen and Henry VII. Who will win – our Diamond Queen or the Winter King?

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The Penguin Podcast: The Great British Podcast featuring The Penguin English Library and an EXCLUSIVE competition

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With the Diamond Jubilee right around the corner, everyone at Penguin is feeling very proud to be British so we've got a very British podcast for you all.  We've got an interview with Simon Winder, editor of The Penguin English Library series, the perfect recipe for British high tea and, if that's not enough, the chance to win FIVE titles from The Penguin English Library.

 

 

To enter the competition, please leave your answer in the comments below (as requested in the podcast).  

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For more information on The Penguin English Library click here. 

 

 

Terms & Conditions:

1. No purchase necessary to enter the prize draw.
2. This prize draw is open to UK residents aged 18 years or over, with the exception of employees of the Promoter, their families, agents and anyone else connected with this promotion.
3. Entries must be received by 25.05.12. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any entries that are incomplete, illegible, corrupted or fail to reach the Promoter by the relevant closing date for any reason. Entries via agents or third parties are invalid. Entries become the property of the Promoter and are not returned.
4. Only one entry per person. No entrant may win more than one prize.
5. To enter leave a comment with the correct answer
6. All correctly completed entries will be entered into a prize draw which will take place on 28.05.2012. The first three entries drawn will be the winners.
7. The prize for the winner is 5 titles as specified in the competition.
8. Prizes are subject to availability. In the event of unforeseen circumstances, the Promoter reserves the right (a) to substitute alternative prizes of equivalent or greater value and (b) in exceptional circumstances to amend or foreclose the promotion without notice. No correspondence will be entered into.Prizes are subject to availability. In the event of unforeseen circumstances, the Promoter reserves the right (a) to substitute alternative prizes of equivalent or greater value and (b) in exceptional circumstances to amend or foreclose the promotion without notice. No correspondence will be entered into.
9. The winner will be notified via email or post by 14 days after the closing date. The winner must claim their prize within 14 working days of the Promoter sending notification. If the prize is unclaimed after this time, it will lapse and the Promoter reserves the right to offer the unclaimed prize to a substitute winner selected in accordance with these rules.
10. To obtain details of the winner please email competitions@penguin.co.uk stating the name of the prize draw in the subject heading 4 weeks after the closing date.
11. The Promoter will use any data submitted by entrants only for the purposes of running the prize draw, unless otherwise stated in the entry details. By entering this prize draw, all entrants consent to the use of their personal data by the Promoter for the purposes of the administration of this prize draw and any other purposes to which the entrant has consented.
12. The winners agree to take part in reasonable post event publicity and to the use of their names and photographs in such publicity.
13. By entering the prize draw each entrant agrees to be bound by these terms and conditions.
14. The Promoter is Penguin Books Limited, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL.

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