For listeners, I can only say, you can’t fail to miss this podcast. Guests are confronting their shadows on air, the sort of stuff you put in a box and ignore, and the unveiling is both courageous and inspiring. Day is also well researched and prepared for each podcast, clearly spending time building relationships pre-interview and the result of her genuine emotional investment in each guest is expressed in their easy rapport.ĭay deserves much credit for pursuing a challenging concept. Day has produced a slick and uncomplicated podcast, with a consistent season advertiser featured at the beginning and end of each episode. A consistent feature in the Top 3 Arts podcasts on the leading platforms it’s been described by Katie Glass in The Sunday Times as “a fascinating, thoughtful, honest, often moving series of interviews with successful people about the moments when their lives went wrong.” This month Day launches her new book, Failosophy: A Handbook For When Things Go Wrong, and is adapting How to Fail for television.įor this listener, How to Fail has been a comforting and life affirming listening experience, akin to sharing a comforting cup of tea on a rainy day while meeting a new confidant. How to Fail has been well received by critics and listeners alike. And Andy McNab of Bravo Two Zero fame discusses the perception of being a war hero and a survivor of conflict. The interview with Shirlie Kemp is sweet and reveals her struggles with dyslexia, an eating disorder and acceptance of self. The episode with Lily Allen is charming and honest discussing miscarriage and confronting the public perception of ‘cartoon Lily’ featured in the media. Faulks finishes a near hour long chat by acknowledging “you’re flawed by own limitations.” Twenty minutes in, Faulks relaxes disclosing in failing to write his conception of a full book, he succeeded in writing his novel Engleby in 2007. Faulks initially dances around the topic until Day deftly encourages him to share his life experiences. In a first season chat with Author Sebastian Faulks you can feel Day’s nervousness as she broaches the topic of failure.

The content, the conversations, are the pearls of this podcast.

In the book, Day confesses her difficulties with conception and carrying a child to full term. How to Fail’s success led to the publication of non-fiction book, How to Fail: Everything I’ve Ever Learned From Things Going Wrong in 2019. In 2018, Day launched her interview series asking guests about their failures and exploring how to succeed better.

“Being honest and publicly vulnerable is not the only way to be, but it’s certainly a brave and deeply humane way to be,” so says, Elizabeth Day, Author, Journalist and host of How to Fail podcast.

How to fail elizabeth