The Conversation with Nadine Matheson

Author India-Rose Bower joins Nadine Matheson to discuss her debut novel We Call Them Witches , published by Penguin Michael Joseph. From growing up in a family of folk storytellers to navigating chronic illness, creative writing courses, and the publishing industry, India-Rose shares the persistence, spite, and surprising moments that led to her book deal. They also discuss zombie apocalypse plan...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube After a slightly longer than expected break between episodes, we are back to discuss - you guessed it - AI! First up, we are looking to France, where a prize for AI-written novels has been announced (), then we talk about bestselling authors teaming up with AI to make films and TV series…! Not great. Finally, we chat about Romantasy’s new entrant - a small...

Arvind Ethan David is a playwright, screenwriter, comic book writer, and novelist whose career has spanned theatre, film, television, and prose. In this wide-ranging conversation with Nadine Matheson, he traces his journey from a Malaysian childhood through UK boarding school, a strategic detour through law (to secure a work visa), and into a creative life that has included an Olivier nomination,...

Want to read books by guests of The Conversation? Find them all in my Bookshop.org shop Romance author Chelsea Curto joins Nadine Matheson to discuss her journey from flight attendant to hybrid author with 16+ books. Chelsea opens up about the lack of transparency in indie publishing, the full-time reality of self-publishing, almost quitting in 2023, and how a note scribbled during a hurricane bec...

Want to read books by guests of 'The Conversation'? Find them all in my Bookshop.org shop "I'd just finished my final draft and I was writing my letter and I'd planned who to send out to agents... and then Adolescence came on the TV. This is either gonna go one way or the other. It's either gonna be good or bad for me. I sent it out and I had three agents jump on it in 24...

"Black History Month is the perfect time to discover your next favourite Black author. Browse my picks on Bookshop.org - Celebrating Black Voices ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "I always looked at that relation...

"Black History Month is the perfect time to discover your next favourite Black author. Browse my picks on Bookshop.org - Celebrating Black Voices ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Everyone should be able to carry...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube On this week’s episode, we are talking about MrBeast & James Patterson’s apparent book flop, and wondering if publishers will learn that social media following doesn’t translate into book sales. Plus, we talk about the Self-Publishing Partnership’s collapse, and discuss how NOT to behave at conventions after stories of a very pushy author came out of Wo...

"You have to point out these are the things that people were willing to look past because he was so charismatic, because he gave people great opportunities..." Cheyenne Roundtree Investigative journalist Cheyenne Roundtree joins Nadine Matheson to discuss her debut book Bad Boy for Life , a comprehensive look at the rise and fall of Sean "Diddy" Combs. Drawing on three years of...

"It's old men thinking they can dictate to everybody else about what it is to be part of something. They want to dictate who is in the tent and who's outside the tent." Abir Mukherjee Abir Mukherjee sits down with Nadine Matheson for a candid, frequently hilarious conversation about his journey from a 20-year career in finance to becoming one of crime fiction's most distincti...

"You need to find it in yourself if you want to keep going." Ruth Dugdall Former probation officer and crime autho r Ruth Dugdall joins Nadine Matheson to discuss her journey from working inside prisons to writing the Kate Austin crime series. Ruth shares vivid stories from her probation career, including being handcuffed by a prison officer "for a laugh", and opens up about winning a major writin...

In this extended coffee break conversation, Nadine Matheson sits down with debut author NJ Hatton (Nick Jones) to discuss his psychological suspense thriller Truth Will Out . They explore the real-life hit-and-run that inspired the novel, the moral grey areas of fatherhood and justice, the transition from screenwriting to novels, and what's coming next, including teasers for books two and three. N...

"The art isn't created on the page or on the stage. It's created in the mind of the reader or the person watching the play. What you're trying to do is give the watcher or the reader the space to use their imagination and co-create what you've done with them." Ajay Chowdhury Nadine Matheson welcomes bestselling author, tech entrepreneur and theatre director, Ajay Chowdhury , for a wide-ranging con...

Welcome to Season 5 of 'The Conversation with Nadine Matheson' 🎉 "No one's asking for the work. No one was asking for Time Jump… but I still have the faith that it will pay off. And I love writing and I think it's the thing I'm best at. So to not do it is you're cheating yourself." Adam Simcox Author and filmmaker Adam Simcox joins Nadine to celebrate the publication of his new novel Time Jump, a...

Welcome to Season 5 of 'The Conversation with Nadine Matheson' 🎉 "Romance and crime are propping up the entire industry. It's billions of dollars and pounds a year. So if it wasn't for these books, good luck getting your breakout literary moment." Lindsey Kelk Bestselling author Lindsey Kelk joins Nadine to trace her journey from a South Yorkshire mining village to international publishing succes...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube On this week’s episode, we are talking about MrBeast & James Patterson’s apparent book flop, and wondering if publishers will learn that social media following doesn’t translate into book sales. Plus, we talk about the Self-Publishing Partnership’s collapse, and discuss how NOT to behave at conventions after stories of a very pushy author came out of Wo...

🌞  Summer Rewind:  While we count down to Season 5 (launching 8 September 2026), we're revisiting some of the best conversations and fan favourites from Season 4. "The more rejections you get, the less they matter because they become ordinary." Tayari Jones In this final summer rewind episode, we dive deep into the world of storytelling with the remarkable Tayari Jones , an acclaimed au...

🌞  Summer Rewind:  While we count down to Season 5 (launching 8 September 2026), we're revisiting some of the best conversations and fan favourites from Season 4. "I think you just have to keep at it. You cannot give up. You just cannot give up." Lily King In this episode, Nadine sits down with Lily King , best known for  Writers and Lovers,  to talk about her latest novel,&nb...

☀️This is a Summer Rewind. One of our favourite conversations, back in your feed while we get ready for Season 5. In this episode of  The Conversation with Nadine Matheson , we're joined by the insightful  Kasim Ali , author of the thought-provoking novel  Who Will Remain . Together we delve into the complexities of identity, family, and the struggles young men face in today's socie...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube We're back after a short break, but it appears nothing has changed in publishing as we are still talking about our (least) favourite subject: AI! We go through some listener mail and comments on the subject before diving into Jerry Falade's collapsed $2.4m book deal, wonder if AI detectors are reliable, and have a talk about different methods of book market...

This week on The Conversation, we're revisiting one of our favourite gothic conversations with bestselling author Laura Purcell. Laura is known for her atmospheric, unsettling fiction, and in this episode we talk about her novel House of Splinters , a prequel to her hit book The Silent Companions . Set in a haunted house in 1775, the story follows Belinda as she uncovers dark family secrets while...

We're taking a summer break here at  The Conversation , so we're bringing back one of your favourite episodes, my conversation with Sunday Times bestselling author Adele Parks. In this episode, Adele and I talk about her journey through the literary world and the release of her 25th novel,  Our Beautiful Mess . She shares her experience of storytelling from a young age, the challenges sh...

Bestselling thriller author Steve Cavanagh joins Nadine Matheson for a wide-ranging conversation about the reality of a writing career, from selling just 778 copies of his second novel to becoming a multi-million-copy bestseller with the Eddie Flynn series. They talk about the hard truth behind literary "overnight success," how Steve's career as a criminal and civil lawyer in Northern Ireland shap...

In our last Coffee Break episode before we break for the summer, Nadine sits down with poet Rishi Dastidar to talk about his path into poetry (starting cold at age 30 after discovering Durs Grünbein's Ashes for Breakfast) , the making of his new collection Cherry Blossom at Night Break , and how he's learned to let go of controlling what readers take from his work. They also get into his creative...

In this episode of The Conversation, Nadine Matheson sits down with the multi-talented author, screenwriter, and neuroscientist Temi Oh , whose latest novel, Not With a Bang , is out now. Temi shares her fascinating journey from the world of neuroscience to becoming a published author, discussing the unique perspectives she brings to her writing from her scientific background. The conversation del...