EP.263 - ZADIE SMITH
THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST
Adam Buxton
4.8 • 21.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 November 2025
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Adam talks with author Zadie Smith about fun, trivial things like Wordle start words, men who dress as if they're still young, and the sadness of podcasts becoming TV shows, and then not trivial things like the problems associated with empathy when it comes to politics, war and fiction writing. Plus, what is Zadie's problem with Generation X?
Conversation recorded face-to-face in London on 7 October 2025
Thanks to Séamus Murphy-Mitchell for production support
Podcast illustration by Helen Green
Listen to Adam's album 'Buckle Up'
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RELATED LINKS
DEAD AND ALIVE by Zadie Smith - 2025 (PENGUIN)
ZADIE SMITH ON FASHION NEUROSIS PODCAST WITH BELLA FREUD - 2025 (YOUTUBE)
ZADIE AND DEVONTÉ HYNES ON 'HOLDING UP THE LADDER' PODCAST - 2025 (ACAST)
ZADIE SMITH ON WILD CARD - 2025 (NPR)
LISA THATCHER - THE BRILLIANCE OF WHITE TEETH - 2012
CHARLIE KIRK WAS PRACTICING POLITICS THE RIGHT WAY by Ezra Klein - 11 September, 2025 (NY TIMES)
CHARLIE KIRK REDEEMED, A POLITICAL CLASS FINDS ITS LOST CAUSE by Ta-Nehisi Coates - 2025 (VANITY FAIR)
EZRA KLEIN AND TA-NEHISI COATES HASH OUT THEIR CHARLIE KIRK DISAGREEMENT - 2025 (YOUTUBE)
PHILOSOPHERS DESCRIBED BY PEEP SHOW - 2025 (YOUTUBE)
ZADIE SMITH ON HOW LANGUAGE UPSETS THE RIGHT - 2025 (YOUTUBE)
THANK YOU VERY MUCH - ANDY KAUFMAN DOC (OFFICIAL TRAILER) - 2023 (YOUTUBE)
CHRIS SMITH ON JIM CAREY AND ANDY KAUFMAN (ADAM BUXTON PODCAST BONUS) - 2017 (ADAM'S WEBSITE/SOUNDCLOUD)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I added one more podcast to the giant podcast bin. |
| 0:05.0 | Now you have plucked that podcast out and started listening. |
| 0:09.0 | I took my microphone and found some human folk. |
| 0:14.0 | Then I recorded all the noises while we spoke. |
| 0:18.0 | My name is Adam Buxton I'm a man I want you to enjoy this that's the plan |
| 0:30.8 | Hey how you doing podcats it's Adam Buxton here I'm on a Norfolk farm track with my best dog friend Rosie. |
| 0:40.6 | And we are having a nice afternoon walk. The sun is nearly below the horizon, even though it's not yet 4pm. |
| 0:50.2 | Yuck. That's because the clocks went back last weekend, of course. Just in case anyone missed that, |
| 0:56.0 | I'm here to keep you up to speed with all the latest. It's nice to get an extra hour in bed, sure, |
| 1:02.0 | but then you've got to deal with the gloom. Anyway, so myself and Rosie are out here, |
| 1:08.4 | grabbing a bit of daylight while we can. |
| 1:12.0 | Oh, stopping for a wee-week. |
| 1:14.6 | Rosie, that is, not me. |
| 1:16.2 | I went before we left. |
| 1:18.3 | How are you doing anyway, Podcats? |
| 1:20.2 | I hope you're well. |
| 1:21.9 | Hey, thank you very much to those of you who came out to the Royal Festival Hall last weekend for my book chat with Miranda |
| 1:31.5 | Sawyer. That was a fun night. I hope you agree if you were there. I really enjoyed that evening. |
| 1:39.2 | Sang a couple of songs as well with Michael Lovett from Metronomy and the Adam Buxton band. |
| 1:47.2 | And if I say so myself, the version of tea towel we did was pretty good. |
| 1:55.4 | And it was nice to meet some of you afterwards, signing books. |
| 2:00.1 | Okay, let me tell you a bit about podcast number 263, which features |
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