Page One

Taking some time out from performing at the Victoria Fringe Festival in British Columbia, Western Canada, Charles Adrian is joined for the 129th Second-Hand Book Factory by mother, artist, performance artist, independent thinker, recovering academic, dog mother, cat mother, teacher and (in some ways) activist Tasha Diamant. They talk women living in brutal circumstances, what makes an artist an artist and Aboriginal Australians. You may notice some slightly strange background noise in this episode. I mean, quite apart from jingle jangling, mewing and sighing of cats and dogs. The strangeness is because of the way my noise-removal software interacts with the sound of cars going by outside the window. More information about Tasha is at http://www.humanbodyproject.org/. Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin, published in 1988 by Penguin Books; cover design by Melissa Jacoby; cover engraving by William Blake after a drawing by Philip Gidley King, third governor of New South Wa

Joining Charles Adrian for the 128th Second-Hand Book Factory is Lithuanian performer, teacher and, recently, yoga practitioner Judita Vivas. They talk trees, language and identity, and a desire for non-Anglo writing. Adventures In Black And White is a performance created by Judita Vivas and Miriam Gould on the subject of displacement and its aftermath: https://doubletroubletheatre.wordpress.com/adventures-in-black-and-white/. You can watch the video trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2nyXDn-gHc. Episode image is a detail from the cover of Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, published in 2019 by Fitzcarraldo Editions; design by Ray O’Meara. More info and a link to a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/   Book listing: The Overstory by Richard Powers In Other Words (In Altre Parole) by Jhumpa Lahiri (trans. Ann Goldstein) Flights by Olga Tokarczuk (trans. Jennifer Croft)

CN: poor health (coughing) - NB this episode was recorded on the 24th May, 2019, before Coronavirus began to spread. Joining a slightly poorly Charles Adrian in Acton for the 127th Second-Hand Book Factory is Mum and facilitator of creative practice Stephanie Arsoska. They talk about creativity as an act of devotion, something nasty in the woodshed and the first poet of love. Correction: Charles Adrian misses out the all-important word “nasty” in the Stella Gibbons quotation “Something nasty in the woodshed”. If you are interested in Anne Carson’s translations of Sappho, you can also find some of these on Twitter, tweeted out by @sapphobot (https://twitter.com/sapphobot?lang=en). Sappho Bot posts every 2 hours and uses translations that include liftings from Anne Carson’s If Not, Winter. The residency on Lesvos where Charles Adrian and Stephanie spent some time in the summer of 2016 was run by Duende, whose artistic director is John Britton. You can find out more about their work here (http://www.duende-ensem

Joining Charles Adrian in Old Amersham for the 126th Second Hand Book Factory is happy and enthusiastic Nursery Nurse, Forest School leader, Brown Owl, not to mention Charles Adrian’s older sister, Shanta Gillott. They talk about long-term singleness, really well-made rom coms and love languages. This episode was recorded in April 2019 in Old Amersham. In 2018, Old Amersham was a gold winner in the Britain In Bloom competition (https://www.amershamsociety.org/amersham-in-bloom-on-bbc-two/). You can find out more about Charles Adrian’s alter-ego Ms Samantha Mann, who is not based on Shanta, here (http://www.mssamanthamann.com/). You can also listen to Ms Samantha being interviewed for the podcast here (http://www.pageonepodcast.com/season4#/126-ms-samantha-mann/). This episode is marked as explicit on iTunes because of strong language. Episode image is a detail from the cover of The 5 Love Languages: The Secret To Love That Lasts by Gary Chapman, published in 2010 by Northfield Publishing; cover design : Smart

In honour of Krista Tippett, whose podcast On Being both Tim and Charles Adrian listen to and enjoy, this is an unedited recording of their conversation released in parallel with the edited version that appears in your feeds. Recorded on the 5th October, 2018. Speaking to Charles Adrian for a particularly dreamy 125th Second-Hand Book Factory in his own studio in Mile End is artist Tim Spooner. They talk some difficult poetry, the Berlin Wall and rule-bound beauty. Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, published by Penguin Modern Classics in 2010; cover image is a detail from The Last Judgement: The Stars Fall And Everything Is Turned Upside Down, Italian School, 15th century/Fol 149va Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy (Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library). Correction: Charles Adrian talks about the 29th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall, which he says happened on a Wednesday. In fact, he is thinking of the Tag der Deutschen Einheit, celebrated on the 3r

Recorded on the 5th October, 2018. Speaking to Charles Adrian for a particularly dreamy 125th Second-Hand Book Factory in his own studio in Mile End is artist Tim Spooner. They talk some difficult poetry, the Berlin Wall and rule-bound beauty. Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, published by Penguin Modern Classics in 2010; cover image is a detail from The Last Judgement: The Stars Fall And Everything Is Turned Upside Down, Italian School, 15th century/Fol 149va Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy (Alinari/The Bridgeman Art Library). (Correction: Charles Adrian talks about the 29th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall, which he says happened on a Wednesday. In fact, he is thinking of the Tag der Deutschen Einheit, celebrated on the 3rd of October, which was a Wednesday in 2018. The 29th anniversary of the falling of the Wall was the 9th of November 2018, which was a Friday. In any case, what is true is that, at the time of recording this episode, about 29

Joining Charles Adrian for the 124th Second-Hand Book Factory is Windrush scion, Black British Christian, storyteller and fellow Family Tree performer Azariah France-Williams. They talk a compassionate engagement with the world and a quest for silence. Azariah France-Williams and Charles Adrian are both featured on the magical realist podcast The Family Tree in which Azariah plays himself and Charles Adrian plays the Revd Philip Beech: http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/ You can learn more about the phrase “Water your herbs even if they are going to die tomorrow” and what it means to Charles Adrian by listening to the 8th episode of his Muselings podcast: http://muselings.uk/ Episode image is a detail from the cover of A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland, published by Granta Books in 2008; cover design by Dan Mogford.   More info and a link to a transcript of this episode is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/   Book listing: Nonviolence: The History Of A Dangerous Idea by Mark Kurlansky The Master by Colm Toibín

As is, by now, firmly traditional, the first episode of the new season of the podcast finds Charles Adrian chatting to Vera Chok, who is neither fancy nor a storyteller. They talk relatable self-help, a book to make you cry and an early Renaissance guide to health. Clarification 1: The audio version of Brené Brown’s Rising Strong that Vera mentions having listened to is, in fact, a recording of a talk given by Brené Brown called Rising Strong As A Spiritual Practice. There is also an audio version of the book, Rising Strong, read by Brené Brown. Clarification 2: “The Tacuinum Sanitatis is a richly illustrated guide to health. Made in Padua in the 1450s, it contains 130 miniatures illustrating substances and activities conducive to health and happiness, ranging from food and drink to singing, sleep and sex. Its scribe and artists enjoyed the patronage of a circle of humanists who flourished in the Veneto in the 1450s and 1460s, including the Venetian governer of Padua, Jacopo Antionio Marcello, and his great f

Season 6 of Page One is on its way. In fact, the first episode - Page One 149 featuring Vera Chok - will already be in your podcast feed by the time you finish listening to this. More information about the podcast and links to transcripts of all the season 6 episodes is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/.

This is a re-release of a conversation from May 2014 with Dave Pickering as a way of plugging his book, Mansplaining Masculinity, which is being crowd-funded through Unbound. Please check it out and consider supporting the project.   Mansplaining Masculinity: https://unbound.com/books/mansplaining-masculinity/   Dave’s Comment Is Free article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/01/tough-choice-cut-job-enfield-children-centres-austerity   Dave’s website: http://dave-pickering.squarespace.com/   Podcast website (for book listings and more info): http://www.pageonepodcast.com/     Episode image is a detail from the cover of No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July, published by Scribner in July 2008.

For the 122nd Second-Hand Book Factory, Charles Adrian is joined by podcaster and general audio-person Arlie Adlington. They talk mix-tapes and assumptions, and bring the current series of Page One to an end. The episode of Arlie’s podcast The Boy Who Hasn’t Lived that features Charles Adrian can be found here: http://www.theboywhohasntlived.com/episodes/2017/10/30/12-a-constant-stream-of-spiders-2nd-movie) Episode image is a detail from the cover of Pomosexuals, Challenging Assumptions About Gender And Sexuality edited by Carol Queen and Lawrence Shimel, published in 1997 by Cleis Press Inc; cover photo by Phyllis Christopher; cover design by Scott Idleman/Blink. Marked as explicit on iTunes because there are words used towards the end of the episode that, although largely reclaimed by the LGBTQIA community, are also still in use as slurs.   More information about the podcast is at http://pageonepodcast.com/

CN: discussion of sex Joining Charles Adrian for the 121st Second-Hand Book Factory is artist and performer Gareth Cutter. They talk the strange, the sexy, and the ironic. Some information about The Perfumed Garden is to be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perfumed_Garden When we spoke, Gareth was preparing his live-art performance party Haunted Butts: https://garethcutter.com/projects-2/haunted-butts/ Episode image is a detail from the cover of Maldoror and Poems by Lautréamont (trans. Paul Knight), published in 1978 by Penguin Classics; cover image is itself a detail from L’inhumation précipitée (Buried Alive) by Antoine Wiertz, in the Musée Wiertz, Brussels (Photo: Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique/photo Speltdoorn). More information, including book listing, is at: http://www.pageonepodcast.com/

Joining Charles Adrian for the 120th Second-Hand Book Factory writer, theatre-maker, freelance producer and perpetual interloper Jules Orcullo. They talk impressions of India’s sacred city, a snapshot of America and a retelling of Penelope’s story. Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, published in 2006 by Cannongate Books. More information, including book listing, is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/

Joining Charles Adrian for the 118th Second-Hand Book Factory is writer, director and composer (also statistician) George Lewkowicz. They talk patriotic cosmology, code-breaking and a brand-new podcasted tale of some awkward twins. George's podcasted novel is called The White Beyond The Wall and is available on itunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-white-beyond-the-wall/id1255240024?mt=2. It is available on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cgJN3ujv4g George has also been composing music for The Family Tree (which features Charles Adrian): http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/ Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle, published in 2010 by Penguin; cover illustration based on an original design by John Griffiths, 1960. More information, including book listings, is at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/

Joining Charles Adrian in Amersham for the 117th Second-Hand Book Factory is his mother Rae Bentley Jones (aka Rae Gillott). They talk a basketmaker’s life, detective fiction and some world history. Episode image is a detail from the cover of Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky, published in 1987 by Penguin Books; cover design: blacksheep. More information, including book listing, at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/

Joining Charles Adrian for the 116th Second-Hand Book Factory is technologist, writer and occasional musician Lucien Jones. They talk about the limitations of Sci-Fi, reality that comes with a touch of magic and a long-awaited second novel. Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Little Friend by Donna Tart, published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2003; cover photograph © Geoff Spear; cover design © William Webb. Oh, and the band that Lucien is in is called Dr Da Vinci & His Elephant. They played a gig in London on the 30th of September 2017 but I couldn’t face updating my apology to reflect the fact that, what with this episode being released on the 3rd of October, I had missed a proper chance of promoting the band by so very few days. More information, including book listings, at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/

Joining Charles Adrian for the 115th Second-Hand Book Factory is actor and theatre-maker Samuel Hopkins. They talk about books worth championing, sexual obsession and an artist Samuel hasn’t quite sussed out yet. Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Descent Of Man by Grayson Perry, published in 2017 by Penguin Books; cover image by Axel Hoedt. Charles Adrian talking more about Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line Of Beauty is here: http://readmesomethingyoulove.com/the-folding-star-by-alan-hollinghurst-read-by-charles-adrian-gillot/ More information about the podcast, including book listings, at http://pageonepodcast.com/

Joining Charles Adrian for the 114th Second-Hand Book Factory is academic Liz Bailey. They talk about the blending of voices, the ravages of the free market and the creation of a magical-realistic world. Stand-Up Tragedy, which is mentioned both here and in the previous episode, is a storytelling and performance night hosted by Dave Pickering. More information about the night is at http://www.standuptragedy.co.uk/ Episode image is a detail from the cover of Fool On The Hill by Matt Ruff, published in 2016 by dtv; cover design Balk & Brumshagen; cover image Dietrich Ebert. More information, including book listings, at http://pageonepodcast.com/

Joining Charles Adrian for the 113th Second-Hand Book Factory is writer, reader, traveller and compulsive singer Lisa Findley. They talk about the throw and catch of friendship, telling by not telling, and a runaway best-seller. There is also mention of a shower of related writers, including Ann Patchett, Alice Munro, Claire Messud and Hilary Mantell. Stand-Up Tragedy, which is mentioned towards the beginning of the episode, is a storytelling and performance night hosted by Dave Pickering. More information about the night is at http://www.standuptragedy.co.uk/ Episode image is a detail from the cover of Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, published in 2014 by Little And Brown; cover design and illustrations by Keith Hayes; cover © 2014 Hachette Book Group, Inc. More information about the podcast, including book listings, at http://www.pageonepodcast.com/

Joining Charles Adrian for the 112th Second-Hand Book Factory is writer and teaching assistant Jenny Adamthwaite. They talk about the possibilities afforded by magical realism, the joy and pain of nostalgia and the creeping horror of forced inactivity. The Family Tree, which is mentioned a few times during the episode, is a podcast written and produced by Jenny and her partner Dave Pickering in which Charles Adrian plays the Reverend Philip Beech. More information about it can be found here: http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/ Episode image is a detail from the cover of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, printed in Breinigsville, PA, on the 10th March, 2016 (tracking label: BVOW06s1428100316). More information about this podcast can be found at: http://www.pageonepodcast.com/