Klara And The Sun: Dua Lipa & Kazuo Ishiguro On Technology & Human Loneliness

For the Service95 Book Club this month, Dua is joined by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro to discuss Klara And The Sun, her October Monthly Read. As Taika Waititi’s film adaptation arrives in cinemas this month, they explore Ishiguro’s speculative novel and its questions around technology, loneliness, hope and what makes us uniquely human. At the heart of the novel is Klara, an artificial friend chosen to be a companion to 14-year-old Josie, a “lifted” teenager whose health is deteriorating. In this conversation, the pair discuss why Ishiguro chose Klara as the narrator, the ethical questions raised by a society where children can be genetically edited, and the novel’s central question: can our memories, behaviours and qualities be captured through data and what makes us human? The pair also explore the importance of hope, connection, and art, as well as Ishiguro’s thoughts on seeing his novel brought to the big screen and what his much anticipated upcoming novel is all about. Join the club: 📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected] 📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at Service95.com And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the Service95 Book Club archive this month, we’re bringing you Dua’s May 2025 interview with Mexican author Guadalupe Nettel, on her novel Still Born.  Set in Mexico City, friends Alina and Laura are united in their decision to be childfree, refusing to fall into a trap of the patriarchy. When Alina changes her mind, their friendship doesn’t fracture – it deepens, becoming more vital than ever.   Alina’s life is upended when she receives a devastating medical diagnosis for her baby daughter. This is a story that doesn’t shy away from the complexities of raising a child with profound disabilities. But it also celebrates the transformative experience of caregiving, including for chosen family like Laura.  In their conversation, Guadalupe and Dua discuss how giving birth is not the only way to be a mother, “you can also be an adoptive mother; you can also be a stepmother or a mother for a little while. Motherhood is also more like an attitude and not only a title that you get.”  If you are dealing with any of the issues tackled in the book, please explore this story at your own pace.  Join the club:   📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]   📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews   📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at Service95.com   And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the Service95 Book Club this month, Dua is joined by award-winning poet and novelist Kaveh Akbar to discuss his debut novel – and Dua’s Monthly Read for September – Martyr!, a poignant and generous exploration of addiction, identity, art and exile. At the heart of the novel is Cyrus Shams, a newly sober poet struggling to find his footing in life while reckoning with the loss of his mother decades earlier. Together, Dua and Kaveh explore Cyrus’ grief, addiction and search for a sense of place, as well as the real-life events woven into the novel and the power of fiction to bring the human consequences of history into focus. They also discuss Kaveh’s philosophy on art, his journey from poetry into fiction and his friendship with fellow author Tommy Orange, which shaped his writing rituals. Whether you’ve read Martyr!, plan to, or still need convincing, this is a conversation worth listening to. Rich, illuminating and deeply human, it’s a conversation about life, death and how we make sense of everything that happens in between. Join the club: 📩 Email us your thoughts –  📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at Service95.com And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the archives: Dua Lipa’s April 2025 conversation with author Max Porter on his novel Grief Is The Thing With Feathers.   In this lyrical, surreal meditation on loss – in which a crow guides a father and his sons through the grief of losing their wife and mother – Max Porter tears up the rule book of what a novel should be.      Throughout the episode, Dua and Max discuss his playful approach to novel writing – particularly its experimental form and the impact of Crow. “The thing about Crow is that he’s yours to make your own mind up about,” says Max. “Someone once said, ‘Oh, yeah, I get it, he’s a metaphor for grief.’ And that is one interpretation of him. He’s also real. He’s also a study of care. He’s also their babysitter. He’s also a study of domesticity. I hope he’s also a joke.”     Expect a conversation about grief, love and what it means to care. And look out for a very special cameo partway through…       Join the club:   📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]   📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews   📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at Service95.com   And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For her August Service95 Book Club interview, Dua Lipa is joined by author Madeline Cash to discuss her breakthrough debut novel, Lost Lambs.  Set in an unremarkable American suburb, the story follows the Flynn family, who are on the brink of unravelling: parents Bud and Catherine are trying to make an open marriage work while their three daughters each test the limits of adolescence. Holding a funhouse mirror up to contemporary America, the novel is at once laugh-out-loud funny, hyper-real and thought-provoking. Dua and Madeline’s conversation follows suit. Together, they explore the strange contradictions of modern life, from religion and conspiracy theories to beauty, identity and why so many of us continue searching for meaning even when our lives look exactly as we’re told they should. They also delve into Madeline’s meticulous world-building, the inspiration beneath her most eccentric characters and why the novel’s most absurd moments often feel closest to the truth. Watch (or listen to) the full conversation to discover why Lost Lambs is Dua’s August Monthly Read for the Service95 Book Club.  Join the club: 📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected] 📲 Follow @service95bookclub and @service95 on Instagram for more 📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at ⁠https://www.service95.com⁠ And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the Service95 Book Club archives, this episode from March 2025 sees Dua sit down with Tommy Orange to discuss There There – his powerful novel that follows 12 Native Americans whose lives converge at the Big Oakland Powwow.  Dua and Tommy trace the histories often omitted from America’s national story and talk about what fiction can do that history books alone cannot. Tommy reflects on the real-life events that inspired the novel, including the 1969 to 1971 occupation of Alcatraz and the Standing Rock protests, and how those moments found their way into his characters.  He describes personal experiences woven into the book through the character of Thomas Frank, and explains why he left the novels ending unresolved, handing the reader the job of imagining what comes next.  It’s a story of identity, belonging, inherited trauma and resilience – and a conversation you’ll think about long after hearing it.   Join the club:    📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]    📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews    📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com    And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For her July Service95 Book Club interview, Dua Lipa is joined by award-winning author and academic Lea Ypi to discuss Free, Lea’s internationally acclaimed memoir, which recounts her childhood in Albania during the collapse of communism.   From hidden family histories and state surveillance to protest and modern-day Albania, Dua and Lea explore how political systems continue to shape individual lives, collective memory and the country’s evolving identity, returning to the question at the heart of the book: what does it really mean to be free?   Watch (or listen to) the full conversation here to delve deeper into Free, Dua Lipa’s Monthly Read for the Service95 Book Club.   Join the club:   📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]   📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews   📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com   And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the archives this month: Dua’s February 2025 conversation with Irish author Paul Murray, on his novel The Bee Sting.  An epic family saga set in contemporary Ireland, the novel follows the Barnes family through financial collapse, fractured relationships and the secrets that have shaped their lives across generations.  Paul talks about growing up in 1990s Ireland, a country deeply influenced by the Catholic Church and its conservative values, and how that environment dictated what people could or couldn’t say about themselves.  He and Dua discuss the loneliness of adolescence, the ‘friendships’ that define those years and the difficulty of leaving behind relationships that no longer serve you.  They also get into the novel’s unforgettable ending and the case for ambiguity in storytelling. Paul draws on Twin Peaks and why David Lynch’s unanswered questions can sometimes be more compelling than definitive answers.  Expect a conversation about family, identity, secrecy and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.  Join the club:  📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]  📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews  📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at Service95.com  And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the Service95 Book Club this month, Dua is joined by writer, poet, playwright and musician Kae Tempest to discuss his latest novel, Having Spent Life Seeking, which is Dua’s Monthly Read for June.  Together, Dua and Kae explore the novel’s core themes: forgiveness and atonement, the instability of home when both the person and the place have changed, and the difficult process of becoming fully ‘alive’ again after years spent disconnected from the world. At the centre of their discussion is Rothko, a character Kae describes as “dislocated from life”, alongside the novel’s wider cast, each carrying their own desires, wounds and ways of surviving.  Kae also reflects on his immersive writing process, describing characters less as inventions than people he has spent years getting to know. The conversation moves through addiction, shame, creativity, identity and the role of art as a means of processing experience and remaining open to the world.  Watch (or listen to) the full conversation here to dive deeper into Having Spent Life Seeking, Dua Lipa’s Monthly Read for the Service95 Book Club.  Join the club:  📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]  📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews  📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com  And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the archives this month, we revisit Dua’s conversation with Malorie Blackman, the former Children’s Laureate and author of the groundbreaking young adult series Noughts & Crosses.   The novel follows Callum and Sephy, childhood friends growing up on opposite sides of a violently segregated society, where the ruling Crosses hold power over the oppressed Noughts.   More than 20 years after its release, Dua and Malorie discuss Noughts & Crosses’ lasting impact and why its themes of inequality, identity and division remain so relevant today. Together, they explore the lived experiences and inspirations behind the novel, as well as touching on the role of language, prejudice and storytelling, as well as how fiction can challenge the way we see one another.   Tune into the full conversation above.  Join the club:  📩 Email us your thoughts – [email protected]  📲 Follow @service95bookclub on Instagram for more author interviews  📚 Subscribe to the Service95 Book Club newsletter – and be the first to discover Dua’s next pick – at service95.com  And don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ wherever you get your podcasts  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices