Best Of: Novelist Douglas Stuart / ‘Half Man’ Actor Richard Gadd

Fresh Air

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Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.3 • 36.1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

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Summary

Like the main character in his Booker Prize-winning novel 'Shuggie Bain,' writer Douglas Stuart grew up in Glasgow, working class, queer, and with a mother addicted to alcohol. His first career was in fashion, designing underwear for Calvin Klein. “Sometimes when I’m in an audience now and I feel a little nervous, I have a joke to myself and think, how many people in this audience have worn the underwear that you designed?” He spoke with Terry Gross about his new novel, ‘John of John.’

Later, Richard Gadd, creator and star of the Netflix show ‘Baby Reindeer' talks with Tonya Mosley about his new series, ‘Half Man.' It's about two boys who become brothers when their mothers fall in love. They spend the next 30 years trying to survive each other.

David Bianculli reviews the latest adaptation of ‘Lord of the Flies.’

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From W.HYY in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air Weekend.
0:07.2	Today, writer Douglas Stewart, like the main character in his Booker Prize-winning novel called Shuggy Bain,
0:13.4	Stewart grew up in Glasgow, working class, queer, and with a mother addicted to alcohol.
0:18.9	His first career was designing for Calvin Klein and Banana Republic, from outerwear to underwear. Sometimes when I'm in an audience now and I sort of look out and I feel a little bit nervous, I have a joke to myself, I think, how many people in this audience have worn the underwear that you designed? Stuart has a new novel. Later, Richard Gad, creator and star of Baby Rainier.
0:40.5	His new series, Half Man, is about two boys who become brothers
0:43.9	when their mothers fall in love.
0:46.2	They spend the next 30 years trying to survive each other.
0:49.7	And David B. and Cooley reviews the latest adaptation of Lord of the Flies.
0:54.6	That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend.
0:58.4	This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Terry Gross. You may have read my guest books. You may have
1:04.1	worn the clothes he designed. Douglas Stewart's first novel, Shuggy Bain, won the Booker Prize,
1:09.5	which is one of the world's top literary awards.
1:12.2	Much of it was written when Stewart was working in the fashion industry, designing clothes for
1:17.3	popular brands like Calvin Klein and Banana Republic. Stuart wouldn't have predicted any of this from what
1:23.7	his life was like growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Glasgow, Scotland,
1:28.0	in the 80s. He was raised by a single mother who was addicted to alcohol. Things weren't much better
1:34.1	at school where he was relentlessly bullied. When he came to understand that he was gay, he didn't know
1:39.8	anyone else who was. The novel Shuggy Bain tells a story very similar to Stewart's own childhood.
1:46.7	Stewart has described his second novel, Young Mungo, as a story about the dangers of first love
1:52.6	between two young working class men in Glasgow and about masculinity, conformity, and falling in
1:59.7	love. In our book Critic Morureen's reviews, she wrote,
2:03.7	it's hard to imagine a more disquieting and powerful work of fiction will be published anytime soon
	...

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