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The Read Smart Podcast is hosted by Razia Iqbal, John L. Weinberg Professor at Princeton University, produced by The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction and is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The new series builds on last year’s successful podcasts released to celebrate the prize’s 21st anniversary. Each month, Razia explores the increasingly popular world of non-fiction books. Expect to hear from prize winning authors, judges and publishing insiders. It also goes ...
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Baillie Gifford’s Short Briefings on Long Term Thinking bring valuable insights into the benefits of taking the long view. You’ll hear frank, thought-provoking opinions from our team in Edinburgh and experts around the world. These podcasts do not constitute an offer of or solicitation for purchase or sale of securities or provision of any investment services. They are provided for information only and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a p ...
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Join us for the next episode of The Read Smart podcast, where host Razia Iqbal joins writer, historian and former Baillie Gifford Prize judge, Ruth Scurr and Allan Jenkins, editor of Observer Food Monthly to discuss the cultural, historical and personal significance of gardens within the non-fiction landscape. Our guests explore how the action of g…
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Emerging markets have sometimes promised more than they have delivered, but circumstances may be tipping in growth investors’ favour. Will Sutcliffe, head of our Emerging Markets Team, explains why it’s an opportune time to invest in the asset class. Background: Will Sutcliffe is the head of Baillie Gifford’s Emerging Markets Team and co-manager of…
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Tune into the first Read Smart episode of 2024 - and what a year it's set to be. With more than two billion voters in 50 countries heading to the polls, 2024 is set to be the biggest election year in history. Join host Razia Iqbal, as she delves into the topic with author and journalist, Samanth Subramanian and Associate Editor of The Financial Tim…
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A new medicine that can help patients lose 15 per cent of their body weight could have far-reaching consequences for healthcare. Wegovy mimics a hormone the gut releases, reducing appetite and slowing digestion to delay hunger’s return. Research is also underway into other potential health benefits. In this podcast, Baillie Gifford investment manag…
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What distinguishes companies that will thrive from those that will perish? In this episode, we explore three traits that mark out the companies set to surge ahead from those more likely to struggle: 1. They solve real-world problems 2. They are financially strong and disciplined 3. They are highly adaptable Baillie Gifford partner Tim Garratt discu…
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Show notes Amazon and DoorDash take different approaches to bridging the physical and digital worlds. Amazon has built an extensive infrastructure of warehouses, logistics networks and data centres to directly control its operations. DoorDash instead relies on partnerships with restaurants and stores for deliveries, limiting its capital investment.…
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China became known as the world’s factory thanks to it offering companies a way to manufacture all kinds of goods at a high quality and relatively low cost. But in recent years, south-east Asian nations, including Vietnam and Indonesia, have begun challenging it for that status. Baillie Gifford investment manager Ben Durrant recently returned from …
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Tune into the final Read Smart episode of the year, where host Razia Iqbal will be speaking to the 2023 winner John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather, on how he feels following last Thursday’s announcement. Razia will also be joined by some students from the University of Birmingham, who have been following the Prize this term and share their though…
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Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, which is dedicated to Jennifer Homans and her #BGPrize2023 shortlisted work, Mr B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century. Recognised as the first major biography of the legendary choreographer and based on more than one hundred interviews, Jennifer’s work takes readers through the tumultuous life o…
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Tune into this special shortlist edition of the Read Smart podcast, where Toby Mundy speaks to #BGPrize2023 shortlisted author Tania Branigan about her book, Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China’s Cultural Revolution. Branigan’s book explores and uncovers forty years of rarely heard stories surrounding this Cultural Revolution, begg…
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Tune into this special shortlist edition of the Read Smart podcast, where Razia Iqbal speaks to #BGPrize2023 shortlisted author, Hannah Barnes about Time To Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children. Through unprecedented access to thousands of pages of documents, internal emails, unpublished reports and…
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Is the time ripe for Japanese growth stocks? Donald Farquharson is Baillie Gifford’s head of Japanese equities and knows the market better than most. In the latest episode of Short Briefings on Long Term Thinking he draws on a recent visit to the country to explain why conditions seem favourable for a cohort of domestic companies with long-term min…
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Tune into this episode of The Read Smart podcast, where host Toby Mundy speaks to 2023 shortlisted author Christopher Clark. Christopher’s book, Revolutionary Spring: Fighting for New World 1848-1849, details this extraordinary year in European history, where demonstrators rebelled against societal structures, governments and armies lost control an…
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Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, where Toby Mundy will be speaking to another one of this year’s shortlisted authors, John Vaillant. John’s work Fire Weather explores the apocalyptic wildfire that took place in Fort McMurray in 2016, as well as the past and future of our increasingly flammable world. The shortlisted book delv…
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Tune into the first of our Read Smart special shortlist episodes, where we will be chatting to all six of this year’s shortlisted authors in the run up to the winner announcement. First up, Prize Director Toby Mundy speaks to Jeremy Eichler, author of Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust and the Music of Remembrance about how music bear…
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Tune into the special shortlist episode of the Read Smart podcast, which features the Baillie Gifford Prize live event from Cheltenham Literature Festival last Sunday. Hear Chair of Judges Frederick Studemann speak to last year’s winner, Katherine Rundell, about her fascination for the electric life and work of poet John Donne, alongside the moment…
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Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, where two of our judges – Arifa Akbar and Ruth Scurr – will be delving into the 2023 longlist with our host, Razia Iqbal. Spanning the complex themes of war, memory, revolution and science, this year’s longlist illuminates a myriad of historical topics, bringing to life forgotten stories that …
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What counts as a growth stock is ever-changing. Mark Urquhart shares lessons from 27 years of investing to explain how he decides what to buy and how long to hold as he continues his hunt for outsized returns. Background: In 1996, our largest investments included oil and gas companies and high street banks. These days, our biggest holdings speciali…
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Stuart Dunbar explains why a long-term investment approach suits the new types of growth companies that are emerging. Background: It’s been five years since Baillie Gifford launched its ‘actual investors’ campaign. It focuses on the firm’s long-term, active approach to growth. In this episode, the effort’s mastermind Stuart Dunbar joins Malcolm Bor…
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To mark the pioneering Trust’s anniversary, James Dow delves into SAINTS’ origins and explains how he helped reinvigorate it for a new age. Background: The Scottish American Investment Company (SAINTS) made its debut in 1873, introducing the first trust to prevent shareholders from facing ruin if a business they backed failed. This groundbreaking a…
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The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast is dedicated to our Winner of Winners, James Shapiro, who won our 25th anniversary award two weeks ago today with 1599: A Year In the Life of William Shakespeare. Listen to Shapiro and Iqbal discuss the literary canon, the cultural significance of Shakespeare’s plays and the Bard’s influence on contempor…
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The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast features Prize Director Toby Mundy speaking to Patrick Radden Keefe, who won the prize in 2021 with Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. Radden Keefe and Mundy together explore the dark and murky methods of the Sackler family, as well as the consequences of the crisis that are still…
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The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast features Razia Iqbal speaking to Margaret MacMillan, author of Paris 1919, formerly titled Peacemakers, about how the book casts a new light on the negotiations that influenced the modern world. As the first woman to ever win the Baillie Gifford Prize in 2002, MacMillan explores the fascinating figures b…
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Keystone Positive Change’s Kate Fox on thinking about the world in 2050 to spot opportunities today. Background: Kate’s conversation with Malcolm Borthwick covers her work with the Deep Transitions Futures project, coordinated by the University of Sussex and Utrecht University and supported by Baillie Gifford. The project aims to identify patterns …
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The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast features host Razia Iqbal speaking to Wade Davis, 2012 winner of The Baillie Gifford Prize, about Into The Silence, a book delving into the psychological aftermath of the First World War and mountaineer George Mallory’s fatal expedition to Mount Everest. The Guardian has praised Davis’ work, highlighting…
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The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast continues our Winner of Winners series, where each of the shortlisted authors are interviewed. This week, host Razia Iqbal will be speaking to James Shapiro, who won the prize in 2006 with 1599: A Year In The Life of William Shakespeare. Iqbal and Shapiro explore life in Elizabethan England, how Shakespe…
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The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast features host Razia Iqbal speaking to Craig Brown about his book One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles in Time, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize in 2020. Brown’s book has been described by The Guardian as “not a biography so much as a group portrait in vignettes, a rearrangement of stories and legends wh…
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The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast kicks off the first of our special Winners of Winners episodes, in which each of the shortlisted authors will be interviewed. This week, host Razia Iqbal will be speaking to Barbara Demick, who won the Prize in 2010 with Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea. In the book, Demick weaves together the …
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On 9th March, the Baillie Gifford Prize announced the shortlist for its 25th anniversary Winner of Winners award, which will go to the book the judges think is the best of the previous winners of the Prize. Listen in as host Razia Iqbal talks to judges Jason Cowley and Sarah Churchwell about which books they chose, and what the process has been lik…
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Listen to the latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast to discover more about the Prize’s history, and how the wider world of non-fiction has changed in the 25 years since it was first established. In this episode, former Baillie Gifford judge Razia Iqbal talks to Caroline Sanderson and Andrew Holgate, both of whom have chaired judging panels for t…
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Meet the lesser-known niche players thriving in the shadow of the country’s big brands Think of Japanese companies and chances are giants such as Sony, Hitachi and Mitsubishi come to mind. You probably don't think of Shima Seiki - a maker of automated knitting machines, Descente, which owns licences to use brands such as Le Coq Sportif and Umbro, o…
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Make sure you tune into the latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast, which explores what life is like in dictatorships across the world and throughout history. Our host Razia Iqbal will be joined by three former winners of the prize; Historian Michael Burleigh, journalist Barbara Demick and historian Frank Dikötter. They delve into the fascinating…
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As many question the future of growth investing, the American Fund’s Dave Bujnowski explores the new engines powering progress.由Baillie Gifford
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Kirsty Gibson and Julia Angeles on how technology is changing the way we do business.由Baillie Gifford
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Tune into the final Read Smart podcast episode of the year, where 2022 prize winner Katherine Rundell discusses her book Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne and how she feels following the announcement. Our host Razia Iqbal also speaks to some of the other guests at the awards ceremony, including former judge Sara Collins, last year’s…
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Rose Nguyen on the companies seeking to overcome the scourge of heart disease.由Baillie Gifford
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Join Toby Mundy, director of the Baillie Gifford Prize and Caroline Elkins, author of the shortlisted book ‘Legacy of Violence’, for their discussion on how the British Empire used liberal rhetoric to justify repeated violence against its colonies.Listen in to Read Smart to hear all about how Caroline and a team of researchers uncovered this hidden…
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Discover the Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist Toby Mundy, the prize’s director and Jonathan Freedland, author of ‘The Escape Artist’, which tells the story of Rudolph Vrba, who escaped Auschwitz to warn the world about the horrors of the Holocaust, saving thousands of lives.Tune in to hear what drew Jonathan to Vrba’s story in the first place, and w…
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Find out more about the Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist with director of the prize Toby Mundy and Polly Morland, author of ‘A Fortunate Woman’, who talks about the importance of the doctor/patient relationship and how she reinterpreted John Berger’s medical classic A Fortunate Man.Tune in to hear how Polly was first inspired to write the book, and …
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Explore the Baillie Gifford Prize 2022 shortlist on Read Smart, as prize director Toby Mundy talks to Sally Hayden about her book ‘My Fourth Time, We Drowned’, and the role Europe plays in perpetuating the migrant crisis.Listen now to hear how migrants are ending up in refugee camps in Libya, and the importance of using the correct language when de…
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Today’s outsized growth rarely follows a steady or predictable path, according to Kirsty Gibson of Baillie Gifford’s US Equities Team.由Baillie Gifford
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Dive into the Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist with director of the prize Toby Mundy and Anna Keay, author of ‘The Restless Republic’, who talks about providing new perspectives on the English civil war and its aftermath. Listen now to hear all about the colourful cast of characters that populate the book, and why it’s so difficult to understand the…
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Tune into the latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast, where our host and director of the Baillie Gifford Prize Toby Mundy, will be joined by Katherine Rundell, author of ‘Super Infinite’ to discuss why you should read about the extraordinary and tempestuous life of John Donne. Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported b…
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Tune into the latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast, where our host Razia Iqbal will be joined by two members of our judging panel, Rachel Cooke and Georgina Godwin, to discuss the six books which have made the 2022 shortlist. The judges will give their reasons for why these six books stood out from the rest of the longlist, alongside how they c…
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The 2022 Longlist: Hear from judges Caroline Sanderson, Laura Spinney and Samanth Subramanian
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The latest episode of The Read Smart Podcast, is dedicated entirely to our much anticipated longlist. Host Razia Iqbal is joined by three members of our judging panel, Caroline Sanderson, Laura Spinney and Samanth Subramanian, to discuss all twelve longlisted books and why these have been chosen to be in the running for this year’s prize. Listen no…
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On 5th September, the Conservative Party will announce the next leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party and the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Ahead of this, tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, where Razia Iqbal, is joined by Sonia Purnell, who has written biographies on Boris Johnson and Clementine Churchill, …
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It’s a small country with a large number of businesses that can keep innovating and growing for decades. Stephen Paice explores what’s so great about Sweden.由Baillie Gifford
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Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, ‘George Floyd: Two Years On’ where writer and critic Tomiwa Owolade and Olivette Otele PhD, Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery at SOAS, discuss the widespread impact of George Floyd’s tragic death on both the cultural landscape and the publishing world. Our guests delve into the r…
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Apps and online courses have upended the economics of education, making learning more accessible, fun and relevant. Positive Change’s Thaiha Nguyen explains.由Baillie Gifford
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Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, ‘Money Talks’ where our host Shahidha Bari speaks to economist Vicky Pryce and legal scholar Joan C Williams about the turbulent world of economics, where it stands in the non-fictional sphere and the state of our economy today. Our guests explore the reputation economics has as a science, as …
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