Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, Sunday Times bestselling author, inaugural Future Worlds Prize winner, and one of the most exciting young voices in British fantasy, has launched a new podcast. Book Club in the Pub dropped its first episode on 3 March, and it is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube.

The premise is exactly what it sounds like: conversations with authors about their books, held in the best possible setting for a proper chat, the classic British pub. Each episode dives into a different genre, from epic fantasy and romantasy to YA thrillers and myth-retellings, with guests ranging from New York Times bestsellers to breakout debuts. The conversations cover craft, ambition, rejection, success, and what actually goes on behind the scenes of the publishing world, the kind of candid talk that rarely makes it into polished interviews.

Ella McLeod, author of Andromeda, and Jikiemi-Pearson at Book Club in the Pub

For the first episode, Jikiemi-Pearson has gone straight for the top. Her guest is Chloe Gong, YA fantasy icon, and an author who debuted at number one on the New York Times Bestseller list with These Violent Delights at the age of twenty-one. Gong’s latest novel, Coldwire, marks a confident pivot into dystopian fiction, a move that feels almost prescient given how uncomfortably Orwellian real life has started to feel.

Of Nigerian, Jamaican, and British-Australian heritage, Jikiemi-Pearson brings a perspective that is both deeply embedded in the industry, her forthcoming novel Gutterwitch sold in a nine-way auction to Bloomsbury UK and Penguin Random House US, and genuinely curious about it. Whether you are an aspiring writer, a dedicated reader, or just someone who loves a five-star recommendation, pull up a chair. Book Club in the Pub has a seat for you.