Episode 59: Pip Williams on her fascinating debut novel, “The Dictionary of Lost Words”

Photo Credit: Andre Goosen

Australian writer Pip Williams’ first novel has been a lockdown sensation, selling more that 150 000 copies and winning many prestigious literary awards. Set in the late eighteenth century, it is the story of a bright, motherless young girl’s journey to adulthood, set against the background of the creation of the first Oxford English Dictionary. Williams explores the inherent bias of the process, dominated as it was by ageing, white men and considers how different the dictionary might have looked if it had included the words and experience of women. A clever, joyful celebration of words and their power to shape the world.

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