London Writers' Salon

Bestselling fantasy authors Holly Black and Samantha Shannon on building believable magic systems, researching and constructing immersive worlds, and why the right book often only emerges once you’ve written the wrong one.   You’ll learn Why the most convincing magic on the page often starts with something you once half-believed was real. How writing the wrong version of a book can be the only rou...

Award-winning novelist and founder of The Novelry Louise Dean on what separates storytelling from beautiful prose, planning a novel without killing the joy, and how to edit your own first draft. You'll learn Why learning to craft perfect sentences can quietly delay your path to publication. How a single shift from style to storytelling turns a promising writer into a published one. What treating e...

Writer Katie da Cunha Lewin on how physical spaces shape creative work, why the perfect writing room is a myth, and the rituals and routines that sustain a writing life. You'll learn Why the perfect writing space is largely a myth (and why that can set you free). How physical environments quietly shape creative practice and identity. What our fascination with visiting writers' houses reveals. The...

YA masters Krystal Sutherland (The Invocations), Joanna Nadin (author of 90+ books for children and adults) and Moira Buffini (Songlight) on hooking teen readers from the very first page, plotting methods that tame a whole novel, and why stories matter so much to young people. You'll learn What sparks the magic system of a supernatural thriller. What it means to find your writing home, and how to...

Edgar Award–winning novelist Chris Pavone on creating tension that never lets up, editing a book to make it bigger rather than just better, and turning a single apartment building into a portrait of a whole city. You'll learn Why every book has to be one clear thing before it can be anything else. How two decades of editing other people’s books prepares you to write your own. The offhand note from...

Award-winning novelist Missouri Williams on writing strange and ambitious fiction, treating doubt as a generative force, and why idleness is essential to creative work. You'll learn How a destabilising illness and a new language can reshape a writer’s whole relationship to words. Why style isn’t something you construct so much as a way of seeing you’re partly stuck with. The case for drafting with...

Bestselling novelist Holly Ringland on writing from joy instead of fear, the toolkit she built to meet the inner critic with self-compassion, and finding the first true sentence of her debut after decades of silence.   You'll learn Why the pain of not writing eventually outweighs the pain of writing. What grief and loss can crack open in a writer that nothing else can. How the first true line of a...

Attention researcher Dr Gloria Mark (Attention Span), bestselling author Oliver Burkeman (Meditations for Mortals) and book strategist Charlie Hoehn (Play It Away) on designing your day around peak focus, embracing imperfection in creative work and bringing play back to the page. You'll learn The four states of attention every writer should know. Two daily peak focus windows, and a simple method t...

Debut novelist Rebecca Fallon on ambition, motherhood, crafting dual timelines, and writing a novel built around the person who isn't there. We discuss Why quitting a stable job to write a novel can be framed as a calculated bet rather than a leap of faith. How to prototype the writer's life before fully committing to it. What genre fiction can teach a literary novelist about plotting and structur...

Bestselling author Steven Pressfield on what it means to have a creative calling, battling resistance, the role of faith in writing, and his memoir Govt Cheese. A remastered version of episode #058. You'll learn: Why a typewriter sat untouched in the back of a van for seven years before becoming a career. How self-sabotage shows up at the finish line, not just at the start. A rule of thumb for tel...

Debut novelist Debra Curtis on teaching herself to write by copying poems by hand as a dyslexic child, using contemporary novels as craft manuals to learn structure, meeting the Dalai Lama, the importance of radical forgiveness & publishing her first novel in her sixties after years of rejection.  You'll learn: Why copying poems by hand into a composition notebook secretly teaches a dyslexic child...

Screenwriters Hannah Bos (HBO’s Somebody Somewhere), Kim Krizan (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset) and Selina Lim (Sex Education, Hanna) on building writing partnerships, developing characters from the inside out, and finding your way into a writers’ room.   You'll learn Why a writing partnership only works when you can separate your ego from your ideas. How seven years of making weird theatre in Bro...

Literary agent Juliet Mushens on what makes her offer representation, how she builds bestselling careers from debut to long-term success, and why writers need a life outside of publishing. We discuss Why tension is the single most important quality an agent looks for in any genre of fiction. How personalized feedback from an agent signals you’re closer than you think. The editorial conversation th...

Singer-songwriter and author Josh Ritter on writing songs for the muse instead of waiting for it, letting creative ideas find their shape across songwriting, painting, and fiction, and building a sustainable creative life over more than two decades. We discuss: Writing for the muse instead of waiting for it. Why working across multiple art forms keeps each one alive. The craft behind a single narr...

Novelist, memoirist, and Corporeal Writing founder Lidia Yuknavitch on writing from the body, finding form in the natural world, and why the stories we need most come from the places we’ve been afraid to go. We discuss: Why the element that makes you vibrate — water, forest, rock, wind — might be the key to unlocking your creative access path. How to find your core metaphors through a body-based m...

Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Jennifer Breheny Wallace on mattering, resilience through relationships, and the writing practices behind two New York Times bestselling nonfiction books. You’ll learn Why resilience as a writer has far less to do with self-care routines and far more to do with the people you surround yourself with. How to tell whether your idea is a series of articl...

Description: Neuroscientist and bestselling author David Eagleman on the brain science behind creativity, what actually causes writer's block, and how pre-commitment strategies like the Ulysses contract can help writers finish what they start.   You'll learn: Why creativity isn't a rare gift, and what's actually happening in every brain when it absorbs and remixes the world around it. The three co...

Acclaimed short fiction writers Sarah Hall, Jonathan Escoffery, and Niamh Mulvey on building immersive worlds in compressed spaces, grounding stories in real human stakes, and writing openings and endings that transform both character and reader.   Timestamps: (00:01:06) Sarah Hall, from Episode 161 (00:14:43) Jonathan Escoffery, from Episode 56 (00:26:40) Niamh Mulvey, previously unreleased conve...

Memoirist and filmmaker Curtis Chin on pitching for national press, booking venues through cold emails, and making a high-volume book events strategy financially sustainable.    You’ll learn: Why Curtis booked readings before his memoir released to drive pre-orders, and what that early push unlocked.  How he found venues by researching programs and series online, then sending cold outreach without...

Writer and director Morgan Cooper on turning a self-funded Bel-Air short into a series, building creative audacity before opportunity arrives, and staying resourceful across drafts, collaboration, and a children’s picture book. You'll learn: Why “imperfect action” can be a practical antidote to creative paralysis, especially early in your craft. How he found a compelling dramatic lens by stripping...

Essayist and fiction writer Erica Stern on writing hybrid nonfiction, weaving memoir with research and a ghost-story thread, and finding a publishing home for genre-defying work.    You'll learn: What “hybrid nonfiction” can look like when memoir, research, and a fictional thread are all working toward one emotional truth. Ways to make a genre-bending draft feel cohesive, even when it’s built from...

Novelists Maggie O’Farrell, Stacey Halls, and Ruta Sepetys on turning research into living scenes, building non-linear structure that still feels clear, and writing voice and dialogue that make the past feel immediate.   Timestamps: 00:01:30 Maggie O’Farrell 00:26:14 Stacey Halls 00:49:33 Ruta Sepetys  You’ll learn: The importance of "reading like a writer" to reverse-engineer time, tense, and tec...

Playwright and BAFTA-nominated screenwriter Moira Buffini on moving between theatre, film, and fiction, writing for yourself instead of the market, and shaping structure by rewriting toward the ending you want readers to feel.      You’ll learn: Why “you are the audience” can be a practical rule for cutting through market noise and writing with conviction.  A useful way to handle reviews and outsi...

London Writers’ Salon co-founder Matt Trinetti and Head of Writer Experience Lindsey Trout Hughes share prompts from our Dreaming Big in 2026: Creative Goal Setting for Writers workshop – designed to help writers get clear on what they actually want from their writing life in 2026, and translate that desire into a plan that can survive reality in the first 1-3 months of the year. Through 8 steps –...

Translator, performance artist, writer, and educator Haleh Liza Gafori on translating Rumi with fidelity and music, and what his poetry can teach us about liberation, attention, and love. You’ll learn: Habits Haleh uses to re-centre and get quiet enough to work. How she learned to trust sound and rhythm first, and let meaning arrive through the ear. The moment she realised she needed to make her o...