74. Philip Larkin - A Girl in Winter

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For the third episode of Backlisted recorded at the 2018 Port Eliot Festival, Andy and John are joined by writer Nina Stibbe, author of the bestselling memoir Love, Nina and the novel Paradise Lodge (both published by Penguin) and Simon Garfield, the author of 18 books of non-fiction, including Just My Type, On the Map, and the classic account of a very British sport, The Wrestling. Simon also featured on a previous Backlisted discussing Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman. The book under discussion in this episode is A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin, first published by Faber in 1947. Make sure you listen to the end where Andy unveils his exclusive remixed version of Larkin's classic poem 'This Be the Verse'...

Books mentioned:

Philip Larkin - A Girl in Winter; Jill; The North ShipCollected Poems; Selected Letters
Nina Stibbe - Love, Nina; Paradise Lodge
Simon Garfield - Just My Type; On the MapThe Wrestling
Andrew Motion - Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life

Other links:

Simon Garfield's website
Litwitchure (tarot) on Instagram
Glow on Netflix
Philip Larkin - 'A Study of Reading Habits'
Jonathan Raban on Larkin in the New Republic (1993) 
Bessie Smith - 'I'm Down in the Dumps' (1933)
The Philip Larkin Quintet
Philip Larkin on Desert Island Discs
Philip Larkin - 'Days'
Philip Larkin - 'This Be The Verse'