Lit with Charles

Welcome to Lit With Charles, a podcast on all things literary! I'm Charles Pignal, and every fortnight I’m asking guests about the four books which have made the biggest impact on their lives and work. If you're like me, you love literature – but maybe aren't always sure what you should be reading. The aim of this podcast is to make literature exciting and accessible; in each episode writers, artists, and other interesting people are giving real recommendations, to help you discover new books and authors off the beaten track. Here at Lit With Charles, every book has a story to tell.

Lit with Charles is a arts podcast hosted by Charles Pignal, with 116 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Charles Pignal hosts Lit with Charles, a arts show with 116 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #2

  Santanu Bhattacharya, author of "Deviants"

  Jul 24, 202649 minS4

  This week, Charles is joined by acclaimed novelist Santanu Bhattacharya. Santanu is one of the most exciting emerging voices in contemporary British fiction. Raised in India and now based in London, with eight cities across three countries in between, he is the author of the acclaimed novels One Small Voice and Deviants (2025). His writing explores identity, belonging, family, masculinity, and queer experience with remarkable warmth, intelligence, and emotional depth. Together, they explore queer literature and LGBTQ+ life in India, the impact of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, and the relationship between politics, identity and fiction. Santanu also shares his journey to becoming a novelist, the books and writers who shaped him, and what Pride means to him today. A fascinating conversation about writing, queer history, Indian literature and the stories that help us understand a changing world.

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  Lit with Charles

  Sir Ben Okri, author of “The Famished Road” and “Waking the Warriors”

  Jul 15, 202649 min

  Today, Charles speaks with one of Britain’s most esteemed authors, the novelist and poet Sir Ben Okri. Sir Ben first shot to international fame in 1991 with The Famished Road , which won the Booker Prize that same year, making him the youngest-ever winner at the time, at just 32. Since then, he has published more than twenty books spanning novels, poetry, short stories, essays and plays, including Songs of Enchantment , Astonishing the Gods , Dangerous Love , The Age of Magic and The Freedom Artist . In 2023, he was knighted for services to literature. In this episode, Charles speaks with Sir Ben about his life and remarkable literary career, as well as his newest novel, Waking the Warriors . The book follows three unlikely heroes – Mel, Rosa and Apibus – as they set out to find a witch who can wake a group of sleeping warriors and save their city from a foreign invasion. Waking the Warriors is out now, available online and from bookstores. Lit with Charles loves reviews. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review of your own, and follow me on Instagram at @litwithcharles. Let’s get more people listening – and reading!

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  Lit with Charles

  Season 3 Finale: Charles & Olivia Reflect on the Highlights

  Mar 23, 202643 minS0

  <p>It was such a pleasure today to be joined by Olivia Kate Menzies - aka Liv - for this Season 3 finale, as we looked back on what has been a rich and varied run of conversations on Lit With Charles. Liv has played a key role behind the scenes this year – researching, preparing, and occasionally conducting interviews – so it felt only right to bring her in for a proper recap.</p><p>In this episode, we revisit some of our standout moments: the interviews that stayed with us, the books by our guests that we most admired, and the reco...

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  Lit with Charles

  Andrew Miller, author of "The Land in Winter"

  Mar 16, 202647 minS0

  <p>It was such a pleasure today to speak with the novelist Andrew Miller, one of Britain’s most accomplished contemporary writers, whose career now spans more than three decades and ten novels. Andrew joined me from South Somerset in the west of England to discuss his latest book, The Land in Winter, recently shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Set during the brutal winter of 1962–63, the novel explores the emotional tensions within two marriages as a great freeze isolates a small community and forces its characters to confront truths about their relationships and themselves. It is also fair to say that...

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  Lit with Charles

  Sarvat Hasin, author of "Strange Girls"

  Mar 9, 202639 minS0

  <p>This week on Lit With Charles, Liv — who has worked on the podcast for quite a while now — steps in to interview novelist and dramaturg Sarvat Hasin, author of the new novel Strange Girls. Sarvat is a British-Pakistani writer based in London. She studied Politics at Royal Holloway before completing a Master’s in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford. Prior to Strange Girls, she published This Wide Night (longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature), You Can’t Go Home Again, and The Giant Dark, which won the inaugural Mo Siewcharran Prize.</p><p>Strange Girls fo...

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