I’m just back from five glorious days in Syracuse, the ancient Mediterranean city in the south western corner of Sicily. And to extend my trip, at least virtually, I spoke to the young Irish novelist, Ferdia Lennon, author of the very unusual and much acclaimed Glorious Exploits, a tragicomic novel set in the Syracuse of the Peloponnesian War. We talked the Syracuse of antiquity, of course, but also Lennon discussed the long process of writing Glorious Exploits and gave valuable advice to other first-time novelists working on stories that incorporate their own unique interests, sensibilities and eccentricities.
FERDIA LENNON was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Libyan father. He holds a BA in History and Classics from University College Dublin and an MA in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia. His short stories have appeared in publications such as the Irish Times and the Stinging Fly. In 2019 and 2021, he received Literature Bursary Awards from the Arts Council of Ireland. After spending many years in Paris, he now lives in Norwich with his wife and son. Glorious Exploits is his debut novel.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
The Shame of America's Six Million Homeless People: Kevin F. Adler on the forgotten humanity and broken systems causing today's American homelessness crisis
Why only humans can imagine the future: Margaret Heffernan on art, creative uncertainty and the insatiability of AI moguls like Sam Altman
How to protect our all-too-human superpower of creative thinking: Viktor Mayer-Schonberger on the guardrails needed to regulate big data companies like OpenAI
A Uniquely Glittering Literary Club: Christopher De Hamel on the remarkable people behind a thousand years of medieval manuscripts
So what, exactly, is "equality"? Darrin McMahon on the history, from antiquity to today, of this most elusive idea
Why women might make better spies than men: Anna Pitoniak on the art of espionage and the tradecraft of the spy novelist
How the October 7 tragedy might turn out to be a game changer in a good way: Israeli writer Assaf Gavron on why we must "try again" to make peace in the Middle East
Six all-too-human books about AI: Bethane Patrick on the mavens, mavericks and mythology writing our smart machine future
This was the week that the world dramatically changed: Keith Teare celebrates the beginning of the end of the pre AI age
A classic novel that not only shaped America but also captured the authentic voice of the African-American South: Peter Slen on Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God", an anthropological
Why genuine neutrality was mostly a myth in the Second World War: Neill Lochery on the flight of Nazi treasure through "neutral" countries after the war
How to write poetry on a smartphone: Best-selling poet and TikTok sensation Whitney Hanson on the anxiety of her generation and why social media makes physical events more "real"
The dark truth of Mexico as a mostly truant state terrorized by subsistence gangsters and haunted by hollow people: Azam Ahmed on the story of a missing daughter, a violent Cartel and a mother's quest
Do great leaders make history or does history make great leaders? Moshik Temkin on the art of leadership from FDR, Malcolm X and MLK to Trump and Biden
How to accurately reconstruct the entire 13.9 billion year history of the universe: David Helfand on the power of atomic science to unveil the mysteries of unreachably remote time and space
Turning Mrs Dalloway into a novel set in the New York City of April 2017: Lisa Gornick on writing a New York story in the philistine age of the Taliban and Donald Trump
An Unprincipled Man for our Unprincipled Times: Rob Copeland on Ray Dalio, the billionaire Big Brother of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund on the planet
How early 21st century America resembles late 19th century Russia: John Gray on our post-liberal future
The double life of America's most notorious agent of betrayal: Major Garrett on Robert Hanssen, the FBI spy and weaver of a web of lies, both outrageously large and pathetically small
How to make the most of college: Ben Wildavsky on the art of using college to build a career
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Pharmacy Podcast Network
Aktörspodden
The Power of Storytelling
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money