Jun 2, 2026 · 42 min · 16 segments
This week on *The Write Club*, Mary and Beth chat with **Simon Mason**, a writer whose career has spanned every corner of the book world - from Managing Director at David Fickling Books to Fellow of…
Simon MasonGuestBethHostMaryHostWould you be able to give our listeners a book recommendation?
Um, oh, well, so many, right? That's one of the wonderful things about literature.
Okay, I'm, I'm gonna give you a recommendation of, um, a book I'm reading at the moment that I haven't even finished, uh, because I'm just so struck by it.
So I was asked by my publisher to champion a young foreign novelist at the Oxford Literary Festival that's coming up, and I said yes without knowing anything about the author or the book, just hoping that I might like it.
He's only 22 years old, Nelio Biedermann, and he's written a novel called Lazar.
And it's a family saga of Hungarians, um, in the 20th century, really before, during, and after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
That's just the background of, of what's happening in, in that part of the world.
It, it reads like someone who's been writing for dozens of years and is absolutely at the top of his game.
Thank you.
Well, uh, I'll look out for that.
Sounds great.
Would you be able to give our listeners a book recommendation?
Um, oh, well, so many, right? That's one of the wonderful things about literature.
Okay, I'm, I'm gonna give you a recommendation of, um, a book I'm reading at the moment that I haven't even finished, uh, because I'm just so struck by it.
So I was asked by my publisher to champion a young foreign novelist at the Oxford Literary Festival that's coming up, and I said yes without knowing anything about the author or the book, just hoping that I might like it.
He's only 22 years old, Nelio Biedermann, and he's written a novel called Lazar.
And it's a family saga of Hungarians, um, in the 20th century, really before, during, and after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
That's just the background of, of what's happening in, in that part of the world.
It, it reads like someone who's been writing for dozens of years and is absolutely at the top of his game.
Thank you.
Well, uh, I'll look out for that.
Sounds great.
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