Service95 Book Club With Dua Lipa

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

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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 – books@service95.com 

📲 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 – books@service95.com
📲 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.
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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 – books@service95.com  

📲 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 – books@service95.com 

📲 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