Alumni library
Podcasts
John Helmer (English 1974), The Learning Hack and Great Minds on Learning. John runs two podcasts focused on learning. In The Learning Hack, John, along with guests, explores the significant innovations shaping the future of learning and how digital technology and scientific discovery are changing the way we learn, train, teach and educate. In Great Minds on Learning, John is joined by internationally respected author, blogger and learning expert, Donald Clark to discuss the history of thought and theorising about learning.
Listen to The Learning Hack now via Apple | Spotify
Listen to Great Minds on Learning now via Apple | Spotify
Jolyon Rubenstein (Politics and North American Studies 2000), The New Conspiracist. With conspiracy theories being discussed now more than ever, BAFTA award-winning comedian Jolyon Rubinstein and Pulitzer prize-winning investigative journalist James Ball are deliberating what makes conspiracy theories believable or rejectable.
Listen now via Apple | Spotify
Jessica Grace Coleman (American Studies and Film 2005), Travel Transformation Podcast. The podcast explores the life-changing potential of solo travel, intentional travel and location-independent working.
Listen now via Apple | Spotify
Progress Oberiko (Media Practice for Development and Social Change 2020), The International Students Podcast. The podcast highlights how to navigate life in the UK as an international student. It does this by centring the experiences of international students; sharing stories, opportunities, relevant information, culture shocks; and supports prospective international students (and migrants) as they move abroad.
Listen now via Apple | Spotify
Louisa Searle (English 2006), The Spark. The mini podcast series focuses on the moments that sparked social conscience in its four guests, and how this has shaped the lives they lead today as well as the choices they have made along the way.
Listen now via Apple | Spotify
The Rez. The exciting sci-fi podcast adventure co-created by Professor Martin Spinelli debuted its second season with an all-female writing team. The Rez was the first podcast to be accredited for teaching in schools.
Listen now via Apple | Spotify
Persephone Deacon (English And Film Studies 2016) and Erin Emirali (Anthropology And History 2016), Goes Without Saying. This podcast focuses on those conversations that are often left unsaid from societal expectations, the politics of TikTok trends and mental health.
Listen now via Apple | Spotify
Jen Offord (Contemporary History 2001), Standard Issue Podcast. A smart, funny magazine-style podcast for women, by women.
People & Forests with Helen Dancer, The Academic Podcast Agency. Senior Lecturer in Law and Anthropology Dr Helen Dancer (Law 2008) writes and presents this podcast for anyone who wants to learn more about our relationships with forests, why forests matter to us and how new ways of thinking about nature and rights could help us protect forests for present and future generations.
KickBack – The Global AntiCorruption Podcast. Housed in The Centre for the Study of Corruption, this podcast series features guests ranging from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists to former FBI agents.
Listen now via Apple | Spotify
Sara Pascoe (English 2001) and Cariad Lloyd (English 2001), Sara & Cariad’s Weirdos Book Club. Sara and Cariad met studying English at Sussex and developed a mutual love of talking about books. Each week on their podcast they are joined by guests from the comedy and literary world to discuss a book that is special, stimulating and – weird!
Listen now via Apple | Spotify
Kamilah McInnis (Sociology 2013), If You Don’t Know. Kamilah produces, edits and mixes this podcast, which brings you the black voices, stories and biggest laughs that you don't always hear in mainstream news. BBC news presenter and fellow Sussex alumnus Clive Myrie (Law 1982) also joined presenter De-Graft Mensah for a chat following the publication of his brand new memoir.
Listen now via BBC Sounds | Apple
Jack Sinclair (History 2018), Student Hours. This podcast series follows Jack interviewing academics about their work, with the hope of making the world of academia more accessible to anyone and everyone who is interested.
Listen now via YouTube | Spotify
Linsay McCulloch (Film Studies 2018), What's Wrong With This Picture. Linsay and her podcast partner Garry Mulholland explore the joy of strange cinema, analysing the best weird and wonderful films of the last century, from Britain, Hollywood and beyond.
Listen now via Spotify
Books
Marina Mahathir (International Relations 1976), The Apple and the Tree: Life as Dr Mahathir's Daughter, Penguin Books. Marina is a Malaysian political activist and writer. Named 2010 UN Person of the Year, she is an AIDS advocacy worker, and was President of the Malaysian AIDS Council for 12 years. In this book she details how she navigated her life as the daughter of the man who governed Malaysia for almost twenty-four years and how she struggled at times to find her own identity.
Find out more about The Apple and the Tree: Life as Dr Mahathir's Daughter
Clive Myrie (Law 1982), Everything is Everything, Hodder & Stoughton. In his deeply personal memoir, Clive reflects on how being black has affected his perspective on issues he's encountered in thirty years reporting some of the biggest stories of our time.
Find out more about Everything is Everything
Lena Marie Glaser (Contemporary European Studies 2013), Arbeit auf Augenhöhe - New Work Revolution, Kremayr und Scheriau. In her first book, Lena advocates for working environments that promote empathy, trust and openness. She discusses how we can shape our jobs and the way we want to work.
Find out more about Arbeit auf Augenhöhe - New Work Revolution
Carolina Doriti (Media Studies 1997), Salt of the Earth: Secrets and Stories From a Greek Kitchen, Quadrille Publishing Ltd. In her first book, Carolina champions Greek food and shines a spotlight on local produce and traditional techniques.
Find out more about Salt of the Earth: Secrets and Stories From a Greek Kitchen
Benjy Kusi (Philosophy and English 2013), Hope this Helps: How to be Kinder to Yourself and Others, Headline Publishing Group. Benjy is known for sharing short, easy to digest videos on TikTok on topics that can appear difficult to navigate. His debut book offers a guide to how you can feel and do better, and how we can all have a positive impact on the world.
Find out more about Hope this Helps: How to be Kinder to Yourself and Others
Sheela Banerjee (AFRAS 1986), What’s in a Name?, Sceptre. In her first book, Sheela blends history, memoir and politics, as she unravels the personal histories of friends and family through their names. And while tracing their heritage across centuries and continents – from west London to British India, and from 1960s Jamaica to pre-Revolutionary Russia – Sheela also tells the story of twentieth-century immigration to the UK.
Find out more about What’s in a Name?
Jenny Mitchell (American Studies and Literature 1983), Resurrection of a Black Man, Indigo Dreams Publishing. In her third poetry collection, Jenny offers contemporary poems about male family dynamics – the peace, the violence, the fault lines.
Find out more about Resurrection of a Black Man
Simon Fanshawe OBE (Law 1975), The Power of Difference: Where the Complexities of Diversity and Inclusion Meet Practical Solutions, Kogan Page Ltd. Bringing together the author’s own experiences and research, The Power of Difference illustrates why diversity should be part of the overall business strategy, not separate from it, and offers insight, analysis and practical solutions.
Visiting Professor Claudia Hammond (Psychology 1990), The Keys to Kindness: How to be Kinder to Yourself, Others and the World, Canongate Books. Drawing on the latest research from psychology and neuroscience, as well as her work in collaboration with the University of Sussex and the BBC (including The Kindness Test – the world’s largest global survey ever taken into attitudes to kindness), the book is structured around the seven keys to kindness. Through these keys Claudia explains the benefits kindness can have for our personal health and wellbeing.
Find out more about The Keys to Kindness: How to be Kinder to Yourself, Others and the World
Su’ur Su’eddie V. Agema (International Education and Development 2018), Memory and the Call of Waters, Sevhage Publishers, Nigeria. Written in mixed styles, this poetry collection includes poems that were inspired and written during Su’ur’s time in Brighton. The collection was shortlisted for the $100,000 2022 NLNG Prize for Literature.
Find out more about Memory and the Call of Waters
Connie Glynn (Film Studies 2013), The Rosewood Chronicles: Princess Ever After, Penguin. The fifth and final instalment in the magical world of The Rosewood Chronicles series – will the series’ protagonists, Ellie, Lottie and Jamie, be reunited?
Find out more about The Rosewood Chronicles: Princess Ever After
T R Todd (Twentieth Century Literature 2004), Running Sideways: The Olympic Champion Who Made Track and Field History, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Written with Pauline Davis, this memoir shares Pauline’s inspiring story of how she beat the odds to become a two-time Olympic gold medallist, the first individual gold medallist in sprinting from the Caribbean and the first Black woman on the World Athletics council.
Find out more about Running Sideways: The Olympic Champion Who Made Track and Field History
Avri Klemer (Philosophy 1992), Playing Games, Subterranean Press. Avri Klemer's short story, A Crokinole Tale, is included in a powerful new anthology assembled by Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster, Lawrence Block.
Find out more about Playing Games
Jen Offord (Contemporary History 2001), The Year of the Robin: Watching It All Go Wrong for Charlton Athletic and the World, Icon Books. In 2019, Jen’s beloved football club, Charleton Athletic were promoted to The Championship. What follows is a season full of trials, with everything from coronavirus to a billionaire takeover gone wrong.
Lucy Goacher (English 2008), The Edge, Thomas & Mercer. Lucy’s debut novel follows the mystery of how Clem’s happy-go-lucky sister Poppy died. Did she in fact take her own life, or was there someone else with her at the cliff edge?
Tanya Sarne OBE (History 1964), Free Spirit, Hachette UK. Known for her global fashion success as the founder of cult 90s label, Ghost, Tanya’s memoir tells her extraordinary life story.
Find about more about Free Spirit
Ros Barber (BIOLS 1982), Nothing Becoming, Phoebus Books. Ros’s new book tells the origin story of the infamous 18th century pirate, Mary Read. The novel is the first in a trilogy, which is due to be published over the next year.
Find about more about Nothing Becoming
Maria Jastrzębska (CCS 1973), Small Odysseys, Waterloo Press. Maria is an Anglo-Polish and European poet who often explores heritage and archetypal figures of family within her work. In her latest poetry collection, Maria widens her gaze across borders, queering or reimagining histories, to create poems that urgently question the present, startle and illuminate.
Find about more about Small Odysseys
Jad Adams (English 1973), Decadent Women: Yellow Book Lives, Reaktion Books. During the 1890s the innovative art and literary journal The Yellow Book was published. Decadent Women is the previously untold story of these vibrant and passionate women who ranged from aristocrats to the desperately poor, and the challenges they faced in a society and literary marketplace that overwhelmingly favoured men.
Find out more about Decadent Women: Yellow Book Lives
Ife Thomson (Law and Politics 2013), Global Black Narratives for the Classroom: Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean: Practical Lesson Plans, Worksheets and Activities for Ages 7-11 and Global Black Narratives for the Classroom: Britain and Europe Practical Lesson Plans, Worksheets and Activities for Ages 7-11, Routledge. Ife founded the non-profit BLAM UK in 2017, whose work revolves around learning and mental health awareness for the Black community. The two Global Black Narratives books are the first books created by BLAM UK, which provide primary teachers with a global outline of Black history, culture and life within the framework of the UK’s National Curriculum.
Lisa Fransson (Russian and Linguistics 1995), The Shape of Guilt, Epoque Press. In her native Swedish, Lisa is an award-winning children’s author. The Shape of Guilt is her first novel in English and explores the story of Robert Bunny, a toy bunny rabbit, as he observes the decline of a family he wants to become a part of.
Find out more about The Shape of Guilt
Dr Sophie Harrison (BM BS 2003), The Cure for Good Intentions, Fleet. The Cure for Good Intentions is about Sophie’s life-changing decision to give up her career as an editor at a prestigious literary magazine to put herself through medical school and hospital training before eventually becoming a GP. The Cure provides an inside look about what makes a doctor.
Find out more about The Cure for Good Intentions
Julian Sayarer (International Relations and Development Studies 2004), Türkiye - Cycling through a country's first century, Arcardia Books. Julian’s latest book covers his journey through the Turkish roadside, where he met Turkish farmers and workers as well as Syrian refugees and Russians avoiding conscription. Through his journey he brings to life a living, breathing, cultural tapestry of the place where Asia, Africa and Europe converge.
Find out more about Türkiye - Cycling through a country's first century
Recommend a book:
If you have had your book published in the last year, or would like to recommend an alumni-authored book, please get in touch either via the Send us your news page or by emailing alumni@sussex.ac.uk. Sorry, but due to space restrictions, this doesn't apply to self-published books.