The TLS Podcast

This week, Margaret Drabble explores how Dickens drew on his love of the macabre and grotesque to create literary magic; and Norma Clarke takes a tour around the British coast.'Dickens the enchanter: Inside the explosive imagination of the great storyteller', by Peter Conrad'The restless coast: A journey around the edge of Britain', by Roger Morgan-Grenville'Seascape: Notes from a changing coastline', by Matthew Yeomans'The Shetland Way: Community and climate crisis on my father’s islands', by Marianne BrownProduced by Charlotte Pardy

Caroline Moorehead salutes the energetic brilliance of singer Josephine Baker; and Aaron Peck on the past, present and future of the avant-garde.'Fearless and free: A memoir', by Josephine Baker, translated by Anam Zafar and Sophie Lewis'Josephine Baker's secret war: The African American star who fought for France and freedom', by Hanna Diamond'What art does: An unfinished theory', by Brian Eno and Bette A.'How to be avant-garde: Modern artists and the quest to end art', by Morgan Falconer'The uncanny muse: Music, art, and machines from automata to AI', by David HajduProduced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, we're joined by Harriet Baker, winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award; and Helen Scales tunes into the sonic marvels beneath the surface of the sea.'Rural Hours: The country lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann', by Harriet Baker'Sing Like a Fish: How sound rules life under water', by Amorina KingdonProduced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, novelist Damon Galgut remembers the ground-breaking South African playwright Athol Fugard; and Michael Caines on two very different approaches to the Danish prince.'Grand Theft Hamlet', on Mubi'Hamlet', by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon- Avon, until March 29 Produced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, Larry Wolff immerses himself in a bold operatic vision of Melville's classic; and Travis Elborough on a boosterish attempt to rescue Croydon from its knockers.'Moby-Dick', composed by Jake Heggie, Metropolitan Opera House, New York, until March 29'Croydonopolis: A Journey to the Greatest City that Never Was', by Will NobleProduced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, Toby Lichtig chats to Sam Leith about formative literature at Jewish Book Week; and David Horspool meets Sue Prideaux, winner of this year's Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize.'The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading', by Sam Leith'Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin', by Sue PrideauxProduced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, Michael Caines interviews the men behind the Royal Shakespeare Company's thrilling new production of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II; and Nat Segnit finds Pico Iyer's journeys to a Californian monastery a welcome retreat from the world.'Edward II', by Christopher Marlowe, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until April 5 2025'Learning from Silence: Lessons from More Than 100 Retreats', by Pico IyerProduced by Charlotte Pardy

This week, Edith Hall finds herself mesmerised, entranced and perplexed by Sophocles; and Barnaby Phillips on a bizarre imperial incursion in 19th-century Africa.'Oedipus', by Sophocles, Old Vic until March 29'Electra', by Sophocles, Duke of York's Theatre until April 12'A Training School for Elephants', by Sophy Roberts

This week, we're joined by Eimear McBride as she publishes a compelling new novel; and Anne Fuchs celebrates WG Sebald's illuminating and idiosyncratic essays.'The City Changes Its Face', by Eimear McBride'Silent Catastrophes: Essays in Austrian Literature', by WG Sebald, translated by Jo CatlingProduced by Charlotte Pardy