S6 Ep25: Bookshelfie: Monica Ali

Award-winning British-Turkish novelist and 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlisted author Elif Shafak reveals the five books that have shaped her life and career. Elif has published 19 books, 12 of which are novels, including The Island of Missing Trees, shortlisted for the Costa Award, British Book Awards, RSL Ondaatje Prize and 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction.  Elif holds a PhD in political science and she has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne's College, Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow. She also holds a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College and is a Fellow and a Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature and has done two Global TED talks, gaining millions of views. Elif has been chosen as one of the BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women and in 2016 she was a judge for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is an advocate for women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression and her new book There are Rivers in the Sky is out in August.  Elif’s book choices are: ** Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier ** Orlando by Virginia Woolf ** A Gate At the Stairs by Lorrie Moore ** Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi ** A Woman Looking At Men Looking At Women by Siri Hustvedt Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season seven of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Best-selling food writer, stylist, and author, Anna Jones explains how Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess gave her the confidence to just be herself in the kitchen.   Anna is the voice of modern vegetarian cooking and the author of the bestselling One: Pot, Pan, Planet, A Modern Way to Eat, A Modern Way to Cook and The Modern Cook’s Year. She’s a Sunday Times bestseller and the winner and nominee for multiple accolades for her work. A believer that vegetables should be put at the centre of every table along with the joy of food and its ability to affect change in our daily lives. Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season seven of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Historian, author and broadcaster Suzannah Lipscomb shines the spotlight on women throughout history who are too often missed from books.  A distinguished historian, Suzannah is Professor Emerita at the University of Roehampton, Senior Member at St Cross College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries.  She has written and edited seven books, most recently, What is History, Now? with Helen Carr, and The Voices of Nîmes: Women, Sex, and Marriage in Reformation Languedoc. She has presents history programmes on the BBC, ITV, More4 and Channel 5, and she hosts the popular Not Just the Tudors podcast from History Hit.  A close friend of the Women’s Prize Trust, Suzannah is the chair of judges for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. Suzannah’s book choices are: ** Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild ** The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom ** The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri ** The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zemon Davis ** Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season seven of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

A New York Times bestselling author, Kristin Hannah’s books are beloved the world over and read by millions. Listen as she discusses the art of creating empathy with readers and the importance of putting women at the centre of stories.  Kristin is the author of 25 novels, including historical fiction masterpiece The Nightingale, which has now sold millions of copies worldwide and has been translated into 45 languages.  Kristin started her working life as a lawyer but decided to take writing seriously when she was bedridden in pregnancy and needed something to do. The decision totally changed her life.  Her books often focus on the stories of women in history and her new title The Women - is no different. It  follows a young Army nurse during the Vietnam War whose world is turned upside down by the conflict and its legacy, and is out now. Kristin’s book choices are: ** Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder ** To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee ** The Witching Hour by Anne Rice ** Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver ** Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke  Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season seven of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Bestselling author Kiley Reid delves into her favourite books with Vick and discusses motherhood, morals and money. Kiley’s debut novel Such A Fun Age was an instant hit making the New York Times Best Seller list, and probably more excitingly, Reece Witherspoon’s book club reading list.   Despite this success, in her 20s Kiley had always thought of writing as just a hobby turning to other jobs such as nannying and sales. It wasn’t until she was accepted onto the Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop that she began to give her writing her full attention. It was here she discovered how uncomfortable writing about money made other people feel, a topic that comes up in both Such a Fun Age and her new book Come and Get It. Come and Get It is out now in hardback and follows the lives of three women on a college campus and discusses topics such as class, race, age and money. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Playboy, The Guardian, and others. In addition to writing Kiley teaches at the University of Michigan. Kiley’s book choices are: ** The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada ** The Walmart Book of the Dead by Lucy Biederman ** The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison ** Either/Or by Elif Bautman ** Sleepy Time by Gyo Fujikawa  Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season seven of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Award-winning writer, poet and performer Hollie McNish chats about becoming a feminist, swearing in french and why she’s bored of taboos. Hollie is the author of five poetry collections, a new adaptation of the Greek tragedy Antigone, and the co-writer of Offside, a play about the history of women’s football. She was the first poet ever to record an album at Abbey Road studios and she regularly tours the UK and Europe with sold out performances of her work, many of which have gone viral online.  Holly’s raw voice, which won her the Ted Hughes award for new work in poetry in 2016,  often tackles subjects and language considered taboo, and she’s never shied away from topics it’s not easy to write - or talk about.  Her last collection, Slug (and other things I’ve been told to hate) explored subjects women are conditioned to feel shame about - from periods to masturbation, and her new book, Lobster (and other things I’m Learning to Love), shows how we can change that narrative.  Hollie’s book choices are: ** Alfie Gets in First by Shirley Hughes ** The Madwomen's Ball by Victoria Mas ** Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden ** Say Hello! by Rachel Isadora ** The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak  Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season seven of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Iconic, beloved children’s author and national treasure Dame Jacqueline Wilson kicks off series 7 of Bookshelfie with Vick Hope.  In her long and illustrious career Jacqueline has written over 100 books,  sold over 40 million copies in the UK alone and been translated into 34 languages. She has been the children’s laureate, winner of many awards and for years was the most borrowed author from British libraries.  Her work - including The Story of Tracy Beaker, which catapulted her to fame in 1991 - is known for tackling challenging issues, from being in care and adoption to mental illness and divorce but never at the expense of alienating her readers.  Jacqueline’s book choices are: ** Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild ** Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte ** The Bell Jar by Syliva Plath ** Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny ** Clock Dance by Anne Tyler  Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season seven of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Bestselling writer Monica Ali, finishes off this season with an in-depth chat about the books that she loves, the responsibility she takes on as a writer and how she overcame a shattered self confidence. Monica Ali shot to fame with her literary phenomenon Brick Lane 20 years ago. She has since written four other books, Alentejo Blue, In the Kitchen, Untold Story and Love Marriage. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been nominated for a long list of accolades including the Booker Prize and the George Orwell Prize. She is also the Chair of Judges for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Monica is Patron of Hopscotch Women’s Centre, a charity that was originally set up by Save the Children to support ethnic minority families who had come to join their partners in the UK.  Monica’s book choices are: ** Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lingren ** Emma by Jane Austen ** Middlemarch by George Eliot ** The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge ** The Group by Mary McCarthy Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season six of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Designer Kit Kemp MBE takes Vick on a literary journey from 1490 to 2022 and explains how she’s built her signature style, and her confidence.  Kit is a British interior designer and Founder and Creative Director of Firmdale Hotels and the Kit Kemp Design Studio. Kit’s signature style combines traditional elements with contemporary flair, resulting in spaces that are both inviting and visually striking. She is known for her blend of bold patterns, vibrant colours and carefully curated artwork and textiles; and for being a highly-respected champion of British art, craft and sculpture. Kit has won many awards including House & Garden's Hotel Designer of the Year and CN Traveller's Best Hotel in the World for Design.She’s also a published author of four books, including A Living Space and her latest book Design Secrets, which offers readers valuable inspiration and practical tips for bringing their own distinctive style into their spaces. Kit’s book choices are:  ** Precious Bane by Mary Webb ** The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier ** Wayward (Just Another Life to Live) by Vashti Bunyan ** Restoration by Rose Tremain ** The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season six of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.

Award-winning broadcaster Anita Rani tells Vick about finding a new confidence in her 40s, taking Woman's Hour to Glastonbury and why she needed to write her own story.  Well known as one of the lead presenters on BBC One’s Countryfile, and a range of shows for both Channel 4 and the BBC, Anita has covered topics from family budgets and waste plastic, to Bollywood and the Partition of India. Anita is also a familiar voice on radio, having worked for the BBC Asian Network and Radio 6 Music and is now the host of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour alongside Emma Barnett. Alongside her broadcasting work, Anita is a successful writer, publishing her Sunday Times bestselling memoir The Right Sort of Girl back in 2021 - and has recently branched out into fiction, with her first novel Baby Does a Runner now out. Anita’s book choices are: ** Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary by Anita Anand  ** Somebody Loves You by Mona Arshi ** Pessimism is for Lightweights by Salena Godden  ** How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran ** Wahala by Nikki May Vick Hope, multi-award winning TV and BBC Radio 1 presenter, author and journalist, is the host of season six of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Podcast. Every week, Vick will be joined by another inspirational woman to discuss the work of incredible female authors. The Women’s Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world, and they continue to champion the very best books written by women. Don’t want to miss the rest of season six? Listen and subscribe now! This podcast is sponsored by Baileys and produced by Bird Lime Media.