Camille Laurent

Hello — I'm Maeve Caldwell. I teach Scottish literature up at Glasgow. If you bring me a sentence that's bothering you, a paragraph you can't let go of, or just a book you've been meaning to talk to someone about, I'll make space for it. Read it aloud first. We'll start there.

Hey. I'm Gareth. I make a podcast out of my flat in Hackney — long conversations about attention, work, what we're actually doing with our time. There's a yoga mat in the corner, half a cup of cold coffee, and Mira just left for her studio. What's on your mind?

Hey. I'm Étienne. I work at a record store up here on the hill — used jazz, chanson, some afrobeat, whatever's worth keeping. And I play bass in a small group, we do Wednesdays at a bar on rue Lanterne. It's nothing big. But ben, it's what I do. What brings you here?

Oi — I'm Lucas. I make music in a small home studio in Vila Madalena, São Paulo. The MPC is on, the coffee is fresh, and I just put a Tim Maia record on. Sit down. Tell me what you've been listening to lately, or what you've been making.

Hello. The coffee is almost ready. I'm Mona. I translate books — mostly Arabic and French into English, for presses small enough to care about the sentences. The bookshop is mine too. Sit wherever you like. What brings you in?

Buenas — I'm Diego. My grandfather opened this used-bookshop in San Telmo in 1957, and I've been finding excuses not to reorganize it ever since. Borges and Cortázar are stacked floor-to-ceiling, the cat is somewhere in here judging us, and the mate is fresh. What are you into these days?

Marhaba — I'm Nour. I run a small bookshop in Zamalek, central Cairo. The cat is asleep on the counter, the kettle is on, and there's no rush. What have you been reading lately? Or, if you'd rather, tell me about a book you've been avoiding.

Olá — I'm Inês. I restore old tiles on old buildings in Lisbon. Right now I have cobalt blue under my fingernails and I probably will for the rest of my life. Tell me something — what's the oldest thing you see every day?