GYLibrary Podcast

"To boldly go where no one has gone before..." Adam talks to historian and writer Duncan Barrett about his book Star Trek: The Human Frontier, which discusses what Star Trek in its many forms has to say about values, philosophy, and what it means to be human. Amongst other things, Duncan explains why Star Trek is essentially Hornblower in space, and the surprising connection between Deep Space Nine and the Occupation of the Channel Islands.

At the 2019 Guernsey Literary Festival Adam spoke to Anne Allen, author of a series of books called The Guernsey Novels. Anne describes her books as escapist, holiday reads - most feature romance, and mystery, and many have a historical angle. Her latest is The Inheritance, a dual time story featuring Victor Hugo. In this interview Anne explains her connection to Guernsey, why she always wanted to write about Victor Hugo, and how her previous career as a psychotherapist influences her writing.

At the 2019 Guernsey Literary Festival, Adam talks to journalist and broadcaster Lucy Siegle about her book 'Turning the Tide on Plastic: How Humanity (And You) Can Make the Globe Clean Again'. Lucy outlines some simple steps everyone can take to reduce their plastic footprint, ponders whether Guernsey could become a plastic free island, and explains why single use plastic is actually much less convenient than it seems.

Historian Duncan Barrett discusses his new book 'Hitler's British Isles', a new perspective on the occupied Channel Islands. He talks about his interviews with islanders who lived through the Occupation, his surprise at the continued depth of emotion around the 'jerry-bag' phenomenon, and how he feels the Occupation was represented in 'The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society'.

Author of the wildly successful 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry', Rachel Joyce is one of the biggest names in contemporary British fiction. Speaking at the 2018 Guernsey Literary Festival, she talks to us about the origins of Harold Fry, her new novel 'The Music Shop', her previous life as an actor, and the problem, for a writer, of doubt.

For his new book 'Islander', Guardian writer Patrick Barkham visited 11 small islands around Britain, from Rathlin to Barra to Alderney. Speaking at the Guernsey Literary Festival, he tells us more about his adventures, the literary feud that inspired the journey, and what remains so unusual, and so special, about island life in the 21st Century.

Ruth Hogan's debut novel, 'The Keeper of Lost Things', was one of the bestselling books of 2017. Speaking at the Guernsey Literary Festival, she tells us about her new novel 'The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes', the popular genre of Up Lit and why her books fit into it, and how a spell of ill health changed her life and got her writing.

Desmond Bagley was one of the most prominent thriller writers of the 1960s and 70s. He also had a strong connection to Guernsey, settling in the island towards the end of his life. Ahead of his appearance at the Guernsey Literary Festival, literary researcher Philip Eastwood talks about the impact Bagley's work has had on his own life, and why he's so keen to keep bringing his novels to new audiences.

The movie adaptation of 'The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society' is out now in cinemas. On this podcast the book's co-author Annie Barrows tells us what it was like seeing her beloved characters come to life, how she found her red carpet experience, and why she's more concerned about the reviews in Guernsey than anything else.

Guernsey girl Lara Dearman talks about her debut novel 'The Devil's Claw', set on the island she still thinks of as home. She explains why she always wanted to set the book in Guernsey, why the island makes the perfect location for a crime novel, and how difficult it was to explain 'euchre' and 'gâche' to her editor...