Leonora Carrington's charming and surreal novel The Hearing Trumpet (1976, probably) is the subject of this episode. Joining Una, Andy and Nicky is author and lecturer Dr Paul March-Russell, who offers insights into all aspects of Carrington's career. Leonora Carrington lived a long and extraordinary life; we discuss the ways in which her biography intersects not just with her books, but her remarkable paintings and sculptures, which at auction now fetch tens of millions of dollars. How did the daughter of a Lancashire industrialist become first a muse to the Surrealists, and then an artist in her own right, whose visionary work will probably outlast theirs? How did the many challenges she faced - institutional, sexist, financial and health - shape her writing? And why, as Paul suggests, is Leonora Carrington so relevant to young artists today? Point your hearing trumpets at wherever you get your podcasts.

On Mon 27th Oct 2025, Backlisted is recording a show at 92NY in New York, on William Maxwell at the New Yorker. Tickets are available now from https://www.92ny.org.

On Wed 29th Oct 2025, we are recording a second show at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, NYC, a special episode on books by Bob Dylan, including Tarantula and Chronicles Vol. 1. Tickets are available now from https://bitterend.com.

Books mentioned
Leonora Carrington - The Hearing Trumpet; The Debutante and Other Stories; The Milk of Dreams
Gabriel Weisz Carrington - The Invisible Painting: My Memoir of Leonora Carrington
Joanna Moorheard: The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington
Dr Paul March-Russell - The Short Story: An Introduction; Modernism and Science Fiction; J.G. Ballard’s “Crash”

Other links
Goldsmiths Press / Gold SF - https://mitpress.mit.edu/series/goldsmiths-press-gold-sf/