Let Them Eat Books

Let Them Eat Books is a podcast hosted by Claire Reynolds and Colin Herd about all the food you have and haven’t tried in all the books you have and haven’t read. Leaving jammy fingerprints on book jackets, reading every last word on the back of packets, we combine the two things that make us who we are: a shared passion for the culinary and the literary! We also visit food and book locations around Scotland and further afield.

Episodes

Jun 4, 2026

56 min

Claire and Colin whisk you away to a world of Vegan Baking this week as they feature poems by Amy Gerstler, Sappho translated by Anne Carson and celebrate the launch of Colin's new collection Aquafaba out now from Spite Press. 

May 21, 2026

28 min

Kathleen Jamie and Liz Lochhead are the poets whose work we discuss in this episode of Let Them Eat Books, host by Claire and Colin, well oiled by The Water of Life!

May 12, 2026

50 min

Claire and Colin’s Let Them Eat Books trawler lands a bumper catch including W.N. Herbert reading a brand new poem, and featuring discussion of Elizabeth Campbell, Norman Buick, George Mackay Brown and Francis Buchanan of Perth. 

Apr 30, 2026

24 min

Just popping in to the studio for our Popcorn Episode! Colin and Claire offer up a snack size treat focusing on the poem Popcorn by Lucy Heuschen. 

Apr 22, 2026

39 min

Sweeter than sweet as always, Claire and Colin talk about Marmalade, with reference to poems by Dorothea Grossman and Roddy Lumsden and the Antarctic Expedition diary by William Gordon Murdoch. 

Apr 17, 2026

58 min

Colin and Claire relive recent and not so recent road trips through the lens of car snacks. They discuss writing by Zain Rishi, Jayne Cortez Bertolt Brecht and Claire Reynolds. 

Apr 9, 2026

44 min

It’s our birthdays and we’ll podcast if we want to!!! Colin and Claire celebrate Birthday Cake with featured poems by Meg Bateman, Bill Berkson, Eunice De Sousa and Karólína Rós Ólafsdóttir, as well as A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams.  At the end of the show, Colin shares a poem - Birthday Kale - from his new collection Aquafaba! 

Mar 31, 2026

54 min

Colin and Claire wake up and smell the coffee discussing a poem by Ron Padgett and the novels Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad. 

Mar 13, 2026

48 min

Claire Reynolds and Colin Herd talk about the multi-layered and surprisingly dramatic history of the croissant, and discuss writing by Camilla Grudova, Natascha Ewert and Eva Baltazar. 

Mar 4, 2026

42 min

A couple of nerds (Colin and Claire) discuss meatballs through texts by Selima Hill, Roberto Bolaño, Ty Raso and Chris Newens. Thinking about meatballs from world cuisine including Koofteh Tabrisi, Kofta, Polpette, Frikadeller and Palotte. We also go to Eusebi’s deli in Glasgow’s west end to check out their Polpette! 

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