(This podcast contains explicit content.) “Feisty, funky, rude, unpretentious and great fun” (Time Out), prolific novelist, dramatist, children’s author, and screenwriter Roddy Doyle writes fiction rooted in the vibrant colloquialisms and tight relationships of the Irish working class. His novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha won the Man Booker Prize. The Guts is the latest chapter in the Barrytown series. The first three novels—The Commitments, The Snapper, and The Van—were critical darlings and adapted into successful movies.

Under the name John Wesley Harding, novelist, singer, and songwriter Wesley Stace has released 15 albums in genres ranging from folk to pop music. His Cabinet of Wonders variety show, recently launched on NPR, has featured performances by countless rock luminaries. “The poignant and mordantly funny” (The Village Voice) Stace’s new novel, Wonderkid, follows the commercial and critical success of his previous books, Misfortune, by George, and Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer.