Today's podcast comes at the end of a big week in literature: Hilary Mantel's Booker-win on Tuesday was followed by the announcement of the Forward prizes for poetry on Wednesday and the crowning of the 2009 Nobel laureate on Thursday. Claire Armitstead talks to Robert McCrum about the rise of the "good read" on the Booker shortlist, and why Nobel week is an opportunity for literary editors across the land to make fools of themselves in public.

This week's interview, meanwhile, is with Michael Palin - comedian, actor, author, presenter and John Cleese's Desert Island luxury - who has just published his diaries for the years from 1980-88, moving from Monty Python via a prolific film career into his eventual role as a professional traveller for the BBC.