Which book defined your generation? With Irvine Welsh and Derek Owusu
Ask Penguin
Penguin Books UK
4.1 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What would you recommend an inspiring writer to read? What is the best gateway book to get into reading? Who are the new and upcoming Scottish novelists working today to watch out for?
Recorded live at Latitude Festival, Irvine Welsh sits down with host Rhianna Dhillon to delve into his new novel Men in Love, the eagerly awaited sequel to Trainspotting, which explores the vibrant landscape of youth culture through the decades and the nuances of defining a generation through the arts. Plus, award-winning author and Penguin colleague Derek Owusu joins the panel, providing personalised book recommendations to audience members. We also speak to readers at the festival and ask them: what is the book that defined your youth?
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Irvine Welsh was born and raised in Edinburgh. His first novel, Trainspotting, has sold over one million copies in the UK and was adapted into an era-defining film. He has written fourteen further novels, including the number one Sunday Times bestseller Dead Men’s Trousers, four books of shorter fiction and numerous plays and screenplays. Irvine Welsh currently lives between London, Edinburgh and Miami.
Derek Owusu is a writer, poet and podcaster from north London. He discovered his passion for literature at the age of twenty-three while studying exercise science at university. Unable to afford a change of degree, Derek began reading voraciously and sneaking into English Literature lectures at the University of Manchester. Derek first book That Reminds Me, won the Desmond Elliott Prize 2020 and his new novel Recovery House will be published in 2026.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everybody. Hello. I'm Rihanna Dillon. Welcome to Ask Penguin. This is the podcast series from Penguin Books. This episode is coming to you from the glorious Latitude Festival. We're in their beautiful listening post tent. You can hear our wonderful |
| 0:22.7 | crowd in the background. Give us a cheer for the listeners at home. Thank you so much for coming |
| 0:29.4 | out. Welcome to all of you, whether you've never heard the podcast before, whether you're a |
| 0:35.8 | regular listener. We are so thrilled to have you with us. |
| 0:39.8 | You're in for such a treat today because the Penguin podcast is the show that takes you inside |
| 0:44.9 | books and inside publishing. So every episode, we sit down with a different author and find out |
| 0:50.9 | about their latest work, what or who inspires them, and what they love about books. |
| 0:56.6 | And we also put our listener questions and requests to those writers and some of our team |
| 1:02.6 | inside Penguin. So we're sort of like your go-to place for answers for all of your book-related |
| 1:08.8 | questions. Now, joining me on stage is a writer whose debut, |
| 1:13.4 | train-spotting, remains an absolute classic and defining cultural, seminal piece of work. It sold |
| 1:20.5 | over a million copies. It was adapted into an era-defining film. He's written 14 further novels, |
| 1:31.4 | many plays, screenplays. I mean, |
| 1:35.9 | just one of the most impressive people I think that I've spoken to yet on the podcast. And he remains the only writer to give us the most vivid description of losing suppositories down an Edinburgh toilet. |
| 1:43.8 | His latest novel, Men in Love, |
| 1:46.4 | he throws us back into the world |
| 1:48.3 | of Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begby. |
| 1:51.7 | Please join me in welcoming the legendary Irvin Welsh. |
| 2:05.3 | Thank you so much for being here with us, Irvin. |
| 2:05.9 | How's it going? |
| 2:07.8 | It's going very, very well. |
| 2:11.1 | It's been quite a full-on week. |
... |
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