MLF25: The Working Class Library Live Podcast

Writer and editor Richard Benson (The Farm, The Valley) and Claire Malcolm, CEO of New Writing North, present a live edition of The Working Class Library podcast. Together, they explore and reclaim the contributions of working-class writers to English literature, aiming to establish a new canon that challenges the traditional literary hierarchy.

For this special session, they are joined by poet and writer Helen Mort (Ethel, The Illustrated Woman) to discuss Jeanette Winterson’s seminal novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, celebrating its 40th anniversary. The discussion offers fresh perspectives on working-class voices and their place in British literary history.

The Working Class Library podcast is a project of The Bee, a magazine of writing by working-class authors published by New Writing North.