In this episode, I talk to Dan Sinykin [https://english.emory.edu/people/bios/sinykin-dan.html] and Johanna Winant [https://www.reed.edu/faculty-profiles/profiles/winant-johanna.html]about their edited book Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/close-reading-for-the-twenty-first-century-dan-sinykin/7839992?ean=9780691265704&next=t] (2025).

Dan Sinykin is Winship Distinguished Research Professor at Emory University and Johanna Winant is an Associate Professor of English and Humanities at Reed College.

Episode notes

 * William Carlos Williams, 'The Red Wheelbarrow' [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45502/the-red-wheelbarrow]
 * Winant, 'The Claims of Close Reading' [https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-claims-of-close-reading/]
 * 'No Crisis' [https://lareviewofbooks.org/feature/no-crisis/], LARB
 * 'Close Reading is a Conversation' [https://theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/collarbone], The American Vandal 
 * Morten Høi Jensen, The Master of Contradictions: Thomas Mann and the Making of The Magic Mountain

Book recs: 

 * Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa, The Leopard [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-leopard-giuseppe-tomasi-di-lampedusa/302598?ean=9780099512158&next=t]
 * Solvej Balle, On The Calculation of Volume, Vol III [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/on-the-calculation-of-volume-iii/7963536?ean=9780571383429&next=t]
 * Lisa Robertson, The Baudelaire Fractal [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/baudelaire-fractal-lisa-robertson/7448005?ean=9781913512354&next=t]
 * Mark Haber, Lesser Ruins [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/lesser-ruins-mark-haber/7650813?ean=9781566897198&next=t]
 * Mircea Cartarescu, Solenoid [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/solenoid-mircea-cartarescu/7058870?ean=9781805333197&next=t]

Follow the show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/booksupclose] and subscribe to the Substack [https://booksupclose.substack.com/] for transcripts and more links. Find Johanna on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/johannawinant.bsky.social] and Dan on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/dan-sinnamon.bsky.social] or Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/dannieatsdoughnuts/]. Please leave feedback here [https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ur7mk6rEMUevXdc1sJfq2-MtVOsMawJDpBA3aJ944dVUMkI4OTA3N0dBMUE2SDVJWlpaOE8zNlo4NC4u].

Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9].

Ep. 25. Dan Sinykin and Johanna Winant, Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century

In this episode, I talk to Sara Ahmed about her book No is Not a Lonely Utterance: the Art and Activism of Complaining [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/a-complainer-s-handbook-a-guide-to-building-less-hostile-institutions-sara-ahmed/7792119?ean=9780241759271&next=t] (2025).

Sara Ahmed is an independent queer feminist scholar of colour. Her work is concerned with how power is experienced and challenged in everyday life and institutional cultures. Her most recent book is No is Not a Lonely Utterance: the Art and Activism of Complaining, which was published by Allen Lane in September 2025, and which follows on from The Feminist Killjoy Handbook [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-feminist-killjoy-handbook-sara-ahmed/7218445?ean=9781802061895&next=t]also published by Allen Lane in 2023. Previous books include Complaint! [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/complaint-sara-ahmed/6082880?ean=9781478017714&next=t] (2021), What's The Use? On the Uses of Use (2019),  Living a Feminist Life (2017), Willful Subjects (201$), On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life (2012), The Promise of Happiness (2010) and Queer Phenomenology: Orientations Objects, Others all published by Duke University Press. She blogs at feministkilljoys.com [https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeministkilljoys.com%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cj.harvie%40qmul.ac.uk%7Cbccafe0b76a04526a26008dd5a430c04%7C569df091b01340e386eebd9cb9e25814%7C0%7C0%7C638765966301171954%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=XwUA%2FZEdPcxdb5OGU9425%2FkRa3XL01%2FbEjwpx37AeRg%3D&reserved=0] and has a newsletter https://feministkilljoys.substack.com/ [https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffeministkilljoys.substack.com%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cj.harvie%40qmul.ac.uk%7Cbccafe0b76a04526a26008dd5a430c04%7C569df091b01340e386eebd9cb9e25814%7C0%7C0%7C638765966301195732%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=aSsO%2F9jUqpnpXP5UaDR7eillJG%2F4MkbyXk2LspFbQhs%3D&reserved=0].

Sara's book recs: 

 * Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Survival is a Promise [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/survival-is-a-promise-the-eternal-life-of-audre-lorde-alexis-pauline-gumbs/7613814?ean=9780141996202&next=t]; Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/sister-outsider-audre-lorde/3874432?ean=9780241410509&next=t], The Cancer Journals [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-cancer-journals-audre-lorde/299596?ean=9780241453506&next=t], The Black Unicorn [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-black-unicorn-audre-lorde/5257914?ean=9780241396865&next=t], A Burst of Light [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/a-burst-of-light-and-other-essays-audre-lorde/2270240?ean=9780486818993&next=t]

Follow the show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/booksupclose] and subscribe to the Substack [https://booksupclose.substack.com/] for transcripts and more links. Follow Sara on Bluesky (@saranahmed) or Instagram (@feministkilljoyatwork). Please leave feedback here [https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ur7mk6rEMUevXdc1sJfq2-MtVOsMawJDpBA3aJ944dVUMkI4OTA3N0dBMUE2SDVJWlpaOE8zNlo4NC4u]. 

Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9].

Ep. 24. Sara Ahmed, No is Not a Lonely Utterance: the Art and Activism of Complaining

In this new episode, I talk to Saleem Haddad about his novel Floodlines [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/floodlines-saleem-haddad/aea1107c861fc684?ean=9781787706132&next=t](2026), which came out yesterday, Feb 12.

Saleem Haddad was born to an Iraqi-German mother and a Palestinian-Lebanese father. His writing spans novels, short stories, essays, and film and television. His debut novel, Guapa [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/guapa-saleem-haddad/1961961?ean=9781787702059&next=t] (2016), won the Polari Prize and was awarded a Stonewall Honour. His second novel, Floodlines, is published by Europa Editions.

Episode references:

 * Matthew Salesses, Craft in the Real World [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/craft-in-the-real-world-rethinking-fiction-writing-and-workshopping-matthew-salesses/4848272?ean=9781948226806&next=t]
 * Stephen King, On Writing [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/on-writing-a-memoir-of-the-craft-twentieth-anniversary-edition-with-contributions-from-joe-hill-and-owen-king-stephen-king/3771290?ean=9781444723250&next=t]
 * Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird  [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/bird-by-bird-instructions-on-writing-and-life-anne-lamott/028583b6112aa658?ean=9781786898555&next=t]
 * Clarice Lispector

Saleem's Book recs:

 * Fernando Pessoa (trans. Richard Zenith), The Book of Disquiet [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-book-of-disquiet-fernando-pessoa/5257528?ean=9780241200131&next=t]
 * Yasmin Zaher, The Coin [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-coin-a-filthy-elegant-book-raven-leilani-yasmin-zaher/7808546?ean=9781804441893&next=t]
 * Maya Abu Al-Hayyat (trans. Hazem Jamjoum), No One Knows Their Blood Type [https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9798989708413.html]

Find Saleem on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/salhad/?hl=en] and at his website [https://www.saleemhaddad.com/].

Follow the show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/booksupclose] and subscribe to the Substack [https://booksupclose.substack.com/] for transcripts and more links. Please leave feedback here [https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ur7mk6rEMUevXdc1sJfq2-MtVOsMawJDpBA3aJ944dVUMkI4OTA3N0dBMUE2SDVJWlpaOE8zNlo4NC4u].

Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9].

Ep. 23. Saleem Haddad, Floodlines

In this new episode - the start of season 2!!!! - I talk to the amazing Elaine Castillo about her novel Moderation [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/moderation-elaine-castillo/a794be4947bc7d62?ean=9781838954963&next=t] (2025).

(Also I said Dostoyevsky in the episode but obviously meant Tolstoy, so sorry).

Named one of “30 of the Planet’s Most Exciting Young People” by the Financial Times, Elaine Castillo is the author of the debut novel America is Not the Heart [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/america-is-not-the-heart-elaine-castillo/6c8a44ac1c8f6904?ean=9781786491350&next=t], the book of literary criticism How to Read Now [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-read-now-elaine-castillo/6895992?ean=9781838954956&next=t], and her most recent novel, Moderation, recently named a New Yorker Best Book of 2025,  a TIME Must Read Book of 2025, and a Best Book of 2025 by Kirkus Reviews. She works so her rescue German shepherd Vincent can live a better life.

Episode references:

 * George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-mill-on-the-floss-a-norton-critical-edition-george-eliot/4c07145284c489ae?ean=9780393963328&next=t]
 * Jane Austen, Persuasion [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/persuasion-jane-austen/91909?ean=9780099511175&next=t]
 * Toni Morrison, Paradise [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/paradise-toni-morrison/863733?ean=9781784877255&next=t]
 * J.R.R. Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/lord-rings-single-v-p-aa-vv/6952052?ean=9780008537760&next=t] and 'On Fairy Stories' [https://coolcalvary.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/on-fairy-stories1.pdf]
 * Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/war-and-peace-leo-tolstoy/d76bb0c644becac5?ean=9781454959885&next=t]
 * Émile Zola, Germinal [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/germinal-emile-zola/c2ccb97c27e31144?ean=9780486822419&next=t]
 * Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/theatre-of-the-oppressed-augusto-boal/1843470?ean=9780745339290&next=t]
 * Karen Hao, Empire of AI [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/empire-of-ai-inside-the-race-for-total-domination-karen-hao/7764628?ean=9781802064650&next=t]

Follow the show (and Elaine [https://www.instagram.com/_elainecastillo/?hl=en]) on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/booksupclose].  Please leave feedback here [https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ur7mk6rEMUevXdc1sJfq2-MtVOsMawJDpBA3aJ944dVUMkI4OTA3N0dBMUE2SDVJWlpaOE8zNlo4NC4u].

Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9].

Ep. 22. Elaine Castillo, Moderation 

In this festive holiday special, I talk with Prof. Holly Furneaux about Charles Dickens' classic 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46] 

Professor Holly Furneaux [https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/furneauxh] teaches and researches Victorian literature and culture at Cardiff University. Her work focuses on the cultural history of war, gender, the history of sexuality, and the history of emotions. Following her first book Queer Dickens [https://bookshop.org/p/books/queer-dickens-erotics-families-masculinities-professor-of-english-literature-holly-furneaux-ph-d/7c388dd3a2fda563?ean=9780199566099&next=t&next=t&source=IndieBound](2009) she has continued her fascination with Dickens. She was adviser on the BBC series Dickensian and an organiser of the annual Dickens Day for over a decade. Holly's latest book is Enemy Intimacies and Strange Meetings in Writings of Conflict (2025), which develops her interests in war and emotion, explored in Military Men of Feeling (2016). She is now working on a cultural history of international adoption in the Victorian period.

Episode references:

 * Dickens, Household Words [https://www.djo.org.uk/household-words.html]
 * Preface to Bleak House [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1023/1023-h/1023-h.htm#cP]
 * Michael Slater, Charles Dickens [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/charles-dickens-michael-slater/3603864?ean=9780300170931]
 * Paul Davis, 'Retelling A Christmas Carol: Text and Culture-Text' [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41211762]
 * Charles Dickens, 'Somebody's Luggage' [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1414/1414-h/1414-h.htm]

Follow the show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/booksupclose].  Please leave feedback here [https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ur7mk6rEMUevXdc1sJfq2-MtVOsMawJDpBA3aJ944dVUMkI4OTA3N0dBMUE2SDVJWlpaOE8zNlo4NC4u].

Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9].

Ep. 21. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (with Holly Furneaux)

In today's episode I talk to Michael Donkor about his novel Grow Where They Fall [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/grow-where-they-fall-michael-donkor/7517884?ean=9780241656860&next=t] (2023); we talk about a passage from p.83 of the paperback edition.

Michael Donkor studied English at Wadham College, Oxford and then undertook a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway,  London. The Observer named him as one of 2018's best debut authors for his first novel Hold (4th Estate) and in 2019, he was longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize. His second novel Grow Where They Fall was published by Penguin in 2024. He has judged the Betty Trask Prize, the BBC's National Short Story Award and he regularly reviews for the Guardian.

Episode references:

 * Isabella Hammad, Enter Ghost [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/enter-ghost-from-one-of-granta-s-best-young-british-novelists-isabella-hammad/7523127?ean=9781529919998&next=t]

Follow the show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/booksupclose]. Find Michael on Instagram (@m_donks) and X (@MichaelDonkor).

Please leave feedback here [https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ur7mk6rEMUevXdc1sJfq2-MtVOsMawJDpBA3aJ944dVUMkI4OTA3N0dBMUE2SDVJWlpaOE8zNlo4NC4u].

Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9]. 

Ep. 20. Michael Donkor, Grow Where They Fall 

In this episode I talk to Victoria Adukwei Bulley's poem 'The Ultra-Black Fish' from her collection Quiet [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/quiet-victoria-adukwei-bulley/6754129?ean=9780571370337&next=t] (2022). You can also read the poem at Granta [https://granta.com/three-poems-victoria-adukwei-bulley/].

Victoria Adukwei Bulley is a poet, writer and artist whose work has appeared widely in publications including the London Review of Books, LitHub, and The Atlantic. She is the winner of an Eric Gregory Award, and her critically acclaimed debut poetry book, QUIET, won the Folio Prize for Poetry, the John Pollard Poetry Prize, and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. QUIET is published by Faber & Faber in the UK and in North America by Knopf, Penguin Random House.

Episode references:

 * Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/undrowned-black-feminist-lessons-from-marine-mammals-emergent-strategy-series-alexis-pauline-gumbs/4938231?ean=9781849353977&next=t]
 * Saidiya Hartman, Waywards Lives, Beautiful Experiments  [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/wayward-lives-beautiful-experiments-intimate-histories-of-riotous-black-girls-troublesome-women-and-queer-radicals-saidiya-hartman/4819349?ean=9781788163248&next=t]
 * Kevin Quashie, The Sovereignty of Quiet [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-sovereignty-of-quiet-beyond-resistance-in-black-culture-kevin-quashie/2416993?ean=9780813553108&next=t]and Black Aliveness, or A Poetics of Being [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/black-aliveness-or-a-poetics-of-being-kevin-quashie/19c96f4c91e8d09c?ean=9781478014010&next=t]
 * Layli Long Solider, Whereas [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/whereas-layli-long-soldier/3477782?ean=9781529012804&next=t]
 * Rickey Laurentiis, Death of the First Idea [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/753987/death-of-the-first-idea-by-rickey-laurentiis/]

Follow the show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/booksupclose]. Find Victoria on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/victoriaadukweibulley/?hl=en]. Please leave feedback here [https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ur7mk6rEMUevXdc1sJfq2-MtVOsMawJDpBA3aJ944dVUMkI4OTA3N0dBMUE2SDVJWlpaOE8zNlo4NC4u].

Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9].

Ep. 19. Victoria Adukwei Bulley, 'The Ultra-Black Fish'

In this SPOOKY Halloween special, we do things a little differently. I talk to Dr Kaja Franck about a section from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/345].

Dr Kaja Franck is a Lecturer in English Literature and Programme Lead for the online MA: Literature & Culture  at the University of Hertfordshire. Her research centres on monsters and monstrous animals. She has previously published on the depiction of werewolves in Dracula (1897), the Canadian Gothic and YA fiction, alongside organising international conferences on werewolves, vampires and faeries in literature and popular culture. Her monograph, The Ecogothic Werewolf in Literature: Wolves, Woods and Wilderness, emerged panting into the wild this year. More recent publications include chapters on troll horror, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series (2005-8) and John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819). She has a soft spot for terrible shark horror.

Episode references:

 * E. Gerard, The Land Beyond the Forest [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57168]
 * Sabine Baring-Gould, The Book of Were-Wolves [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5324]
 * John Polidori, The Vampyre [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6087]
 * Clemence Housman, The Werewolf [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-werewolf-fantasy-and-horror-classics-clemence-housman/96a39a42bb2cc794?ean=9781447499954&next=t]
 * Emily Habeck, Shark Heart [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/shark-heart-a-love-story-emily-habeck/7422751?ean=9781529432237&next=t]
 * Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/nightbitch-rachel-yoder/7dcbfb3b0b36bee3?ean=9781529113990&next=t]

Follow the show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/booksupclose]. Find Kaja on twitter (@kajafranck). Please leave feedback here [https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ur7mk6rEMUevXdc1sJfq2-MtVOsMawJDpBA3aJ944dVUMkI4OTA3N0dBMUE2SDVJWlpaOE8zNlo4NC4u].

Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9].

Ep. 18. Bram Stoker, Dracula (with Kaja Franck)

In this episode, we do things a little differently. I talk to Dr Danielle Cameron about the opening paragraphs of Joan Didion's essay 'Goodbye to All That' from her collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/slouching-towards-bethlehem-joan-didion/6691583?ean=9780008284640&next=t](1968). 

Danielle is a British Mauritian writer and academic based in London. She holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of East Anglia, and her interdisciplinary research focuses upon interrelationships between the writing of age in literature and sociological developments. Danielle is currently writing her first book, which explores how adulthood (as defined by marriage, mortgage and career) is a neoliberal construct, and the ways in which novels both reproduce and resist this norm. From the 2024/25 academic year, Danielle will be working as a Fellow in Interdisciplinary Social Science at the London School of Economics, where she will be teaching on the School’s flagship interdisciplinary course LSE100 [https://www.instagram.com/lse_100/].

Episode references:

 * Elaine Castillo, How to Read Now [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-read-now-elaine-castillo/6895992?ean=9781838954956&next=t]
 * Danielle's book recs: Elaine Castillo, Moderation [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/moderation-elaine-castillo/7838540?ean=9781838954963&next=t]; Colson Whitehead, The Colossus of New York [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-colossus-of-new-york-colson-whitehead/555746?ean=9780708898765&next=t] and The Intuitionist [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-intuitionist-colson-whitehead/2522422?ean=9780708898475&next=t]; Christine Smallwood, The Life of the Mind [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-life-of-the-mind-sharp-and-funny-daily-mail-christine-smallwood/6162179?ean=9781787704268&next=t]; Vauhini Vara, Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/searches-vauhini-vara/7815223?ean=9781804710685&next=t]; Ariel Saramandi, Portrait of an Island on Fire [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/portrait-of-an-island-on-fire-ariel-saramandi/7824478?ean=9781804271612&next=t]

Follow the show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/booksupclose] and subscribe to the Substack [https://booksupclose.substack.com/] for transcripts and more links. Find Danielle [https://www.instagram.com/daniellereadsandwrites/] and LSE100 [https://www.instagram.com/lse_100/] on Instagram. Please leave feedback here [https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ur7mk6rEMUevXdc1sJfq2-MtVOsMawJDpBA3aJ944dVUMkI4OTA3N0dBMUE2SDVJWlpaOE8zNlo4NC4u].

Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9].

Ep. 17. Joan Didion, 'Goodbye to All That' (with Danielle Cameron)

In this episode, we read a section from Harry Nicholas' memoir A Trans Man Walks into a Gay Bar : A Journal of Self (and Sexual) Discovery (2023) - it's on p.103 of the UK paperback. You can buy Harry's book from bookshop.org or your local indy store.

Harry Nicholas is a writer, campaigner and gay trans man living in London. He has written for The Guardian, GQ and Dazed. A Trans Man Walks into a Gay Bar is his first book.

Episode references:

 * Travis Alabanza, None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/none-of-the-above-reflections-on-life-beyond-the-binary-travis-alabanza/9770e4fcbf2aeb44?ean=9781838854331&next=t&next=t]; Jack Parlett, Fire Island: A Queer History [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/fire-island-a-queer-history-jack-parlett/f549be1ca367a432?ean=9781783787029&next=t&next=t]; Lou Sullivan, Youngman: Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/youngman-lou-sullivan/6290471?ean=9781784877347&next=t]; Matthew Todd, Straight Jacket: Overcoming Society's Legacy of Gay Shame [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/straight-jacket-matthew-todd/3823263?ean=9780552778404&next=t].
 * Nicola Dinan, Bellies [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/bellies-a-beautiful-love-story-irish-times-nicola-dinan/7546075?ean=9781804991237&next=t]; Andrew McMillan, Physical [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/physical-andrew-mcmillan/1473242?ean=9780224102131&next=t]; Joelle Taylor, The Night Alphabet [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-night-alphabet-the-electrifying-debut-novel-from-the-award-winning-poet-joelle-taylor/8184e3e7616e2e5e?ean=9781529430974&next=t&next=t]; Shon Faye, Love in Exile [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/love-in-exile-shon-faye/7685433?ean=9780241605981&next=t]; Hugo Greenhalgh, The Diaries of Mr Lucas [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-diaries-of-mr-lucas-notes-from-a-lost-gay-life-hugo-greenhalgh/7013de67c20d921d?ean=9781838958121&next=t&next=t].

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Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd [https://www.instagram.com/chrisllloyd9].

Ep. 16. Harry Nicholas, A Trans Man Walks into a Gay Bar

Books Up Close is a show for writers, readers, and anyone who wants to know how texts get made. Listen as writer and academic Chris Lloyd performs a 'close reading' of some writing with the author themselves.

Books Up Close: The Podcast