Ian McEwan with Nihal Arthanayake
Ask Penguin
Penguin Books UK
4.1 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 16 November 2022
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on the Penguin Podcast, Nihal is joined by author, screenwriter, booker winner and one of Britain's best-loved writers, Ian McEwan.
He joins us to talk about his brand new novel, Lessons.
Ian also discusses the delight of discovery when writing, the experience of total emersion while creating, the challenge and bliss of writing a long novel like Lessons, why a larval rock is important to him, and the special relevance of a mountain goat.
Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode, and do leave us a review as it really does help. To find out more about the #PenguinPodcast, visit https://www.penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Brought to you by Penguin. |
| 0:06.0 | Hello and welcome to the Penguin podcast where we talk to writers about writing. |
| 0:21.3 | I'm Nihal Arthur Nica and today I'm speaking to a writer whose works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. |
| 0:28.3 | He is a winner of multiple awards spanning many decades, including the Somerset Mourn Award for his first collection of short stories, First Love, Last Right, |
| 0:38.3 | so that was back in 1976, the Whitbread Novel Award in 1987 for a Child in Time, |
| 0:44.8 | and the Booker Prize in 1998 for his novel, Amsterdam. And as if that wasn't enough, |
| 0:50.7 | he's also got a CBE and a Bodleian medal. Several of his books have been adapted for |
| 0:56.5 | the big screen, including the Children Act on Chasel Beach and of course the publishing phenomenon |
| 1:01.8 | atonement. His new novel, Lessons, was published in September and has been described as a powerful |
| 1:08.3 | meditation on history and humanity told through the prism of one man's lifetime. |
| 1:14.0 | He has been called Britain's greatest storyteller. |
| 1:17.3 | And I'm absolutely thrilled to say, welcome Ian McEwen to the Penguin podcast. |
| 1:23.7 | Hello, Ian. |
| 1:24.7 | Hi, thank you, but very nice welcome. |
| 1:27.1 | Well, we could go on and on and on and on with your |
| 1:30.4 | achievements. What do you think the greatest achievement is of your life thus far? I think building a |
| 1:38.1 | life around and making space for and devoting 52 years to writing actually and staying out of a job. I would say that |
| 1:48.3 | was my biggest single achievement was to live the life I dreamed for myself when I was |
| 1:54.1 | 21. You say it stopped you from getting a job but there would probably be some kind of |
| 2:00.0 | legal impediment to work in the |
| 2:01.9 | kind of hours that you work when you are fully involved in writing a novel, 16 hours a day, |
| 2:08.9 | seven days a week. I mean, this is Dickensian levels of labour. Yes, but when you're involved, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Penguin Books UK, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Penguin Books UK and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.