S5 Ep. 35: The Fall of Boris Johnson: Margot Livesey on British Politics, the Brexit Blunder, and the Prime Minister’s Lies

fiction/non/fiction

Novelist Margot Livesey joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell from London to discuss the downfall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the legacy of his decision to “do Brexit.” Livesey, who grew up in Scotland, explains Johnson’s career of fabrications, talks about how Brexit looks now, and shares her experience of the recent heat wave in the U.K. Finally, she and the hosts analyze characters who resemble Johnson in literature–including the antagonist in Livesey’s novel The Missing World.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/.

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Margot Livesey

• The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing
• The Boy in the Field
• Mercury
• The Missing World
• The Flight of Gemma Hardy

Others:

• Protesters in UK decry climate change after record heat wave - ABC News
• Quentin Blake
• Roald Dahl
• Matilda by Roald Dahl
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
• Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
• The Guardian
• Martin Amis
• S5 Episode 6: Nadifa Mohamed on Writing the Convoluted Terrains of Immigration
• Howards End by E.M. Forster
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Barbara Kingsolver
• Venetia Welby
• J.G. Ballard
• Have I Got News for You

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