The Writing Life

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Belgian author Dieter Rogiers explores how place shapes his writing, discussing both the locations where he writes and the international settings of his novels.   Dieter Rogiers is a Belgian author, film critic and copywriter from Brussels. Selected in 2004 as one of ten promising young Flemish writers, Dieter has written several award-winning short sto...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, bestselling novelist Isabel Allende shares insights into her creative process and craft, as outlined in her latest book Storytelling  – a profound exploration of the art and magic of writing.   Isabel Allende, born in Peru and raised in Chile, is a novelist, feminist, and philanthropist. She is one of the most widely read authors in the world, having so...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, debut novelist Ruthy Mason shares how she explores the creative possibilities of liminality and transformation in Death Do Us – a haunting story that peels back the veil from the institution of marriage and exposes the rot underneath.   Ruthy Mason is a writer based in North London. After studying archaeology and anthropology at University College Londo...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Polly Barton andCharlotte Goff discuss their paths into literary translation and their experience translating Nao-Cola Yamazaki’s novels from Japanese into English.   Polly Barton is a writer and literary translator from Japanese into English. Her translations include Butter by Asako Yuzuki, Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norfolk-based writer Laurence Mitchell reveals how he brought the spirit of landscape and place onto the page in his award-winning book, Flint Country: A Stone Journey.   Laurence Mitchell is a travel writer with a number of guidebooks and walking guides to his name. He also writes features for magazines like Geographical, Walk and Discovering Britain....

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, award-winning writer Sarah L. Kaufman discusses mastering the art of the verb and transforming your writing with language, grammar, and style.   Sarah L. Kaufman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, an award-winning author and a writing teacher. As the Washington Post’s chief dance critic she wrote about the arts, entertainment, and society for 27 years....

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, award-winning writer Pip Landers-Letts discusses her experience self-publishing her action-packed novel Pyg – a queer retelling of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion.    Pip Landers-Letts is an emerging queer author of contemporary sapphic fiction. Her work explores themes of love, loss and transformation, by blending emotional honesty with warm, char...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, debut novelist Jem Calder shares insights into developing the complex central relationship in his novel, I Want You to Be Happy – a sharp-eyed tale of two people searching for meaning and connection in modern times, missing the mark maybe, but trying.   Jem Calder was born in Cambridge, and lives and works in London. His fiction has been published in Th...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Singapore-based writer Sithuraj Ponraj shares how he balances his dual life as an international cyber-policy specialist and a multilingual writer.   Sithuraj Ponraj’s work includes novels, short stories, and poetry. He has won the Singapore Literature Prize for prose and poetry twice, in 2016 and 2020. His residency was supported by the National Arts Co...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norwich-based writer Anna Goldreich reflects on the personal and creative journey behind her debut novel, The Leveret – a bruisingly tender and lyrically haunting hymn to queer love and the power to rebuild from the wreckage of a relationship.   Anna Goldreich is a writer based in Norwich. She holds a Creative Writing Prose Fiction MA from the Universit...

On this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Hannah Murray shares the experience of writing her debut book, a memoir called The Make Believe: A memoir of magic and madness. Hannah worked as an actor for over a decade, starring in E4’s Skins and HBO’s Game of Thrones. She studied English at Cambridge University and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. The Make Believe is a deeply inti...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norwich-based writer Ashley Hickson-Lovence discusses experimenting with narrative, form, and structure in his latest novel, About to Fall Apart – a thrilling kaleidoscope of thoughts, failures, disappointments and hope.   Ashley Hickson-Lovence earned his PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia. He has lectured English and...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norfolk-based writer Camilla Balshaw shares insights into exploring themes of identity and belonging in her memoir, Named – an engaging and intimate investigation of what makes us who we are.   Camilla Balshaw has written for the Guardian and the Observer. She holds an MA in Creative & Life Writing from Goldsmiths (Distinction) and is an Honorary Re...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, illustrator and writer Anna Trench shares the process of writing and illustrating her debut graphic novel, Florrie – a warm-hearted story about football, friendship and falling in love.   Anna Trench is an illustrator, cartoonist, writer and teacher based in London. Florrie is her first book. It won the 2025 East Anglian Book of the Year Award and was p...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, award-winning writer Jenni Fagan shares the process of writing her latest novel, The Delusions – a story of profound human connection, on an unprecedented scale.   Jenni Fagan won the Gordon Burn Prize for her memoir, Ootlin, which was also longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction. Her debut novel, The Panopticon, saw her selected as a Granta Be...

In this episode of The Writing Life, literary newcomer Grace Murray shares the process from mentorship to the publication of her debut novel Blank Canvas – a work of literary fiction about grief, reinvention and the ripple effects of telling lies.   Grace Murray was born in 2003 and grew up in Norwich. She has recently graduated from Edinburgh University, where she read English Literature and foun...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, novelist, poet and Associate Professor of Creative Writing Sam Meekings shares the process behind writing his latest book, Wonder and Loss: A Practical Memoir for Writing about Grief, which interweaves memoir and his personal journey through grief with practical guidance and insight on how to write about it.   Sam Meekings is a British novelist and poet...

In this episode of The Writing Life, Trinidadian writer Celeste Mohammed reflects on the role of family, mythology, and Caribbean folklore in her writing.   Celeste has been a lawyer since 2001 but she has been telling stories all her life. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, in 2016, she graduated from Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, with an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction). Her debut...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, novelist and essayist Matt Greene shares the process of writing his latest novel, The Definitions – a work of dystopian fiction which interrogates and plays with the relationship between language, memory and the self.   Matt is a novelist and essayist. His first novel, Ostrich, published in 2013, won a Betty Trask Award and was a Daily Telegraph book of...

In this episode of The Writing Life, Singapore-based writer Choo Yi Feng shares his approach to writing speculative fiction.   Choo Yi Feng is an intertidal explorer, climate activist, ecologist and fiction writer. The Waiting Room is his debut short story collection. Elsewhere, his short stories have previously been published in Foglifter Journal, Anathema: Spec from the Margins, Queer Southeast...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, writers and performers John Osborne and Lewis Buxton share insights on writing poetry for page and performance, and reflect on their lives as poets living and working in Norwich City of Literature.   John Osborne is a poet, scriptwriter, broadcaster and theatre-maker. He began writing whilst studying at the University of East Anglia and has never stoppe...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, crime writer and NCW tutor Julia Crouch welcomes the New Year with us and shares her advice and encouragement for the writing year ahead.   Julia is the author of ten internationally published crime novels, including Cuckoo, Tarnished, The Long Fall, and Her Husband’s Lover. Unable to find a sub-genre of crime writing that neatly described her work, she...

In this festive episode of The Writing Life Podcast, crime writer Nicola Upson delves into the themes and appeal of crime novels set at Christmas.   Nicola Upson’s debut, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels to feature Josephine Tey — one of Britain’s finest Golden Age crime writers – and was dramatised for BBC Radio 4. Several of Nicola’s novels have been listed for the...

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast , Singapore-based writer Clara Chow delves into the world of 'experimental fiction' and why she takes on projects that push against the grain.   Clara Chow works across genres of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her strange experiments under Hermit Press include obscure prose chapbooks such as The Melancholy of Broken Bollards. She has been a resident at...

In this Halloween-flavoured episode of The Writing Life Podcast , we’re resharing an illuminating discussion between writers Lisabelle Tay and Heather Parry on writing grief and the monstrous body.   Heather Parry is a Glasgow-based writer and editor, originally from South Yorkshire. Her debut novel, Orpheus Builds a Girl, was shortlisted for the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award and...