Hello there, I'm Clara Ampho and welcome back to this city, a podcast dedicated to the stories, the places and the people of our wonderful capital city, London.

Now, each episode, I'll be talking to some of the city's most recognisable names, whether they were born here or have made it their second home to hear their very own love letter to London.

This week my guest is somebody who I've got a lot of time for and actually somebody who I'm a bit nervous about interviewing because look, she's really clever.

She knows things. I mean, I know some things, but I suspect

she knows a little bit more. She became the first black British woman to be number one in the

British book charts for her book, why I'm no longer talking to white people about race. She's

written for The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph and the New York Times to name but a few,

and she grew up in East

and North London. Today, I'm talking to writer, journalist and podcaster Reniero Lodge.

Reniero Lodge.

Hello, Kara. Hi.

Welcome to my podcast.

Thanks for doing it.

Thanks for having me.

I always wonder if I should ask friends or friends I'm developing friendships with further

if they should do my podcast because you're just like, well, you know, we chat casually.

It's very flattering to say that we're developing our friendship. We've engaged in internet banter with each other for a good few years now, haven't we? We had a Wagamama together once in the South Bank. We did indeed, we did indeed. Yeah, that was a funny time for me. I'm not going to go into long detail, that's for therapy, but it was a funny

time for me adjusting to, you know, my newfound recognition. And I had a good restoring conversation

with you. So I appreciated that. You know, I remember that moment very well. Yeah, because we're at the,

yeah, we're at the Wagmamas on the South Bank. And I think as we were about to tuck into our respective katsu's and yakisobas, I think someone, I think, interrupts

a conversation like, really? You know, just what to say. And I remember observing that moment

thinking, oh, fuck. No, and I say this, and I say it's with absolutely love and respect thinking,

...