Forthwrite

We talk to Gillian Harvey about how she writes around her five children. After graduating from university in 2000 with a degree in English literature, Gillian Harvey trained as a secondary school teacher. She worked in the profession until 2009, when she decided (on the spur of the moment) to move to France with husband Ray. It was there she began working as a freelance writer and has since built...

Anna and Sam talk to Kate Lee about what it is to write for different age ranges and how she finds inspiration for her novels.  Kate is the author of six books for children including the best-selling Santa's Suit which sold 291,000 copies in 7 languages and the popular Snappy pop-up series. Her short stories and poetry have won awards at Shoreham Litfest, the WRITE Festival and the Bath Flash Awar...

We chat to Lorraine about writing in lockdown and using your neighbours for inspiration. Lorraine lives in London with her partner and their 10-year-old son. She previously trained as an actress and has recently completed a postgraduate diploma in psychodynamic counselling. THE PARIS CONNECTION is her debut novel and was published in the UK by Orion Fiction in February 2021 and in the US by G.P. P...

Anna and Sam talk to novelist Laura Wilkinson about her process as well as hearing her read from her novel, Crossing the Line.  Laura Wilkinson is a feminist and lover of ginger hair. A resident of a shabby quarter of Brighton, she likes to write stories which entertain and provide food for thought. Her novels are Crossing the Line, The Family Line, Redemption Song and Skin Deep. Crossing the Line...

Catherine Cooper chats to Sam and Anna about her process and setting her books in glamorous places. Catherine Cooper is Sunday Times Bestseller of thrillers The Chalet and The Chateau, her new book The Cruise was published by Harper Collins this autumn and she is currently working on a fourth thriller set in the Maldives. Her children are aged 20 and 18 and they all live in the South of France.

Join Anna and Sam for this chat with Victoria Dowd, journey with us into Victoria's brilliant/bonkers writing process. Victoria is the award-winning author of the No.1 bestselling Smart Woman’s Mystery series. Her debut novel, The Smart Woman’s Guide to Murder , won The People’s Book Prize for fiction 2021 and was named In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel’s Book of the Year 2020. Victoria was a...

In the first episode of season two, Anna and Sam chat to Judith Bryan.  Judith Bryan’s short fiction, non-fiction and poetry appear in various magazines and anthologies including publications by Penguin, Bloomsbury and Peepal Tree. Her debut novel, Bernard and the Cloth Monkey, won the 1998 Saga Prize – republished in 2021 for Penguin’s inaugural Black Britain: Writing Back series, curated by...

Anna and Sam chat to Lou Tondeur about her process and inspiration, Lou shares some brilliant tips for writing including how traffic lights can help you manage your time. Lou reads from her book of short stories Unusual Places, the reading includes references to sex. After doing a Creative Writing MA at The University of East Anglia in the noughties, Lou Tondeur published The Water’s Edge and The...

In this episode Anna and Sam talk to Susan Allott about writing a thriller and how Australia has influenced her writing.  Susan Allott grew up on the south coast of England, then moved north to study English at Leeds University. In her late twenties she travelled to Australia, where she found work and settled for a while, despite her overwhelming homesickness. When she eventually returned to...

This week Anna & Sam chat to the lovely Victoria Scott Victoria has been a journalist for two decades, working for outlets including the BBC, Al Jazeera, Time Out and the Telegraph. She lives on a Thames island with her husband, two children and a cat called Alice, and when she's not writing she works as a university lecturer and copywriter. She has a degree in English from King's College Lond...

In this episode Anna and Sam talk to Holly Race . Holly reads from the first of her trilogy, Midnight's Twins.  Holly is an author and script editor, and has worked for companies including Working Title Films, Aardman Animations and Red Planet Pictures. She is a Faber Academy graduate, and her Young Adult trilogy, Midnight’s Twins, A Gathering Midnight and A Midnight Dark and Golden , is publ...

This week Anna and Sam are chatting with Nikki Smith. Nikki studied English Literature at Birmingham University, before pursuing a career in finance where she worked for companies including an investment bank and a trampoline park. Following a ‘now or never’ moment, she applied for a Curtis Brown Creative course where she started writing her debut novel All In Her Head which was pre-empted by Orio...

in this episode Anna and Sam talk to Rosie Walker about her process, writing with a young baby and what's on her bookshelf, as well as hear her read from her novel, The House Fire. 

In this episode Anna and Sam have all the writing chat with Zoë Sommerville, including a reading from her novel The Marsh House and some gentle advice about not being too hard on yourself when you've lost writing mojo. Zoë Somerville is a writer and English teacher. Her debut novel, The Night of the Flood, was published in September 2020 by Head of Zeus. It is inspired by her home county, Norfolk...

In this episode Anna and Sam talk to Kiley Dunbar . Kiley reads from her novel, The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday and we discuss her writing and the power of romantic fiction.  Kiley Dunbar had published 6 contemporary romantic comedies with her publisher Hera Canelo. She is Scottish and lives in the North of England with her partner and two children. Her debut, One Summer’s Night, was nominated...

This week Anna and Sam are chatting all things writing with Jo Clegg . Listen to hear Jo read an extract from her brand new book, as well as how writing is like decorating the kitchen and for a wonderful tip for getting yourself unstuck. Jo’s brief stint as a stand-up comic ended when a promoter told her she was really funny until she got on stage. After ten years as a producer in TV and radio com...

This week Anna and Sam chat to Rebecca Ley and she reads from her new novel The Trip, which is out now as an Ebook.  Rebecca has been a journalist for twenty years after starting her career at The Times Magazine and then moving to staff roles at other newspapers. Since going freelance in 2009 she’s written for a wide variety of outlets, including a column in The Guardian’s now-defunct Family...

Welcome to the very first episode of our podcast. In this episode we chat to Women's Prize for Fiction 2022 shortlisted author the very fabulous Lisa Allen Agostini .   Lisa Allen-Agostini is a writer, editor and stand-up comedian. Her books include The Bread the Devil Knead (Myriad Editions UK), Home Home (Delacorte Press), Swallowing the Sky (Cane Arrow Press) and Trinidad Noir (Akashi...

In this episode Anna and Sam chat to Eve Ainsworth . Eve reads chapter 1 of her latest book Duckling and we talk all things writing.  Eve Ainsworth is an award-winning and Carnegie nominated children’s author, for both middle grade and teen readers. She has vast experience working as a public speaker and creative workshop coordinator for schools, libraries and other events both nationally and...

In this episode Beth Miller reads an extract from 'The Woman Who Came Back to Life' and chats to Anna and Sam about the nuts and bolts of her writing process.  Beth  has published eight books with four different publishers: one of the Big Five, an indie, a digital first publisher, and a commercial non-fiction pile ’em high press. She has bumped across genres, from women’s commercial and...