Read Smart: a year round podcast on non-fiction

The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction relaunched its podcast series as 'Read Smart’, with interviews with prize alumni David France and Ahmet Altan’s translator Yasemin Çongar. The podcast is hosted by the BBC’s Razia Iqbal and made possible by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.

The first episode includes a discussion with prize winner David France (How to Survive a Plague, 2017) and Hannah Trevarthen of English PEN. Yasemin Çongar, translator of 2019 longlisted book I Will Never See the World Again by Ahmet ​Altan also talks to the host, BBC News correspondent Razia Iqbal. The episode focuses on authors as activists and trouble makers and the dangers that they face if freedom of expression is curtailed.

The series, supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, will run monthly. Episode 2 aired in April and focuses on the inside story of non-fiction, with guests Georgina Laycock (publishing director, John Murray), Andrew Holgate (literary editor, Sunday Times) and Helen Conford (publishing director, Profile).

‘After the success of our 21^st anniversary podcast series, we’re delighted to launch Read Smart as a monthly discussion of all things non-fiction at a time when sales of non-fiction books have become the major contributor to the growth of the publishing and bookselling sector.’ comments Toby Mundy, director of the Baillie Gifford Prize.

The Baillie Gifford Prize podcast is available on Stitcher iTunes, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Entale.