Page One - The Writer's Podcast

Jo Callaghan works full time as a senior strategist, carrying out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce. She was a student of the Writers’ Academy Course (Penguin Random House) and was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Writing Competition and Bath Novel Competition. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, she started writing In the Blin...

Barnaby Walter is (as B.P. Walter) the author of A Version of the Truth (published in the US as The Couple's Secret ), Hold Your Breath, The Dinner Guest and more. He was born and raised in Essex and after spending his childhood and teenage years reading compulsively, he worked in bookshops then went to the University of Southampton to study Film and English followed by an MA in Film & Cultura...

Adam Howorth was until recently Communications Director for Apple, helped launch the iPhone and once bought Steve Jobs a hot chocolate. Now he spends his time creating tense and otherworldly storylines such as with his debut novel FALLEN FEATHERS, which Stephen Fry has called "Enthralling." We had a good chat with Adam, hearing how he came to writing fiction late on, what he loves about it, and wh...

Genoveva Dimova is a Bulgarian fantasy author and archaeologist based in Scotland. Her debut novel inspired by Slavic folklore,  Foul Days , came out in June 2024, with the sequel,  Monstrous Nights , just out in October. When she’s not writing, she likes to explore old ruins, climb even older hills, and listen to practically ancient rock music. We had a great chat with Gen, hearing...

Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel! On this week's episode, we talk about that age-old writing divide - Planners v Pantsers! Some writers need to outline every plot detail before they start to write, while other like to, well, fly by the seat of their pants. Is one method better than the other - and are they as different as they first appear? Drafting Notes is a new series o...

CHLOE C. PEÑARANDA is the  USA Today  bestselling author of The Nytefall Trilogy and An Heir Comes to Rise Series. A lifelong avid reader and writer, Chloe discovered her passion for storytelling in her early teens. Her stories have been spun from years of building on fictional characters and exploring Tolkien-like quests in made up worlds. During her time at the University of...

Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel On this week's episode, we ask the question many writers face: how do we deal with all the waiting? Whether it's from agents, editors or others, much of publishing involves waiting hopefully for news. We discuss some of the ways we try and deal with that, and also suggest ways that others can try to minimise the anxiety! Drafting Notes is a...

Graham Bartlett is a former police officer, having risen to Chief Superintendent of Brighton and Hove before turning to writing when he left after 30 years in the police force. Working first with renowned crime author (and former Page One guest!) Peter James on two non-fiction books gave Graham the writing bug and he has now written three crime novels, with his latest, City on Fire, just out. In a...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube Channel The Andromeda Award was launched in 2024 by UTA and C&W to seek out and support the best new emerging science fiction and fantasy writers. Literary agents Clare Conville from C&W in the UK and Byrd Leavell from UTA join us to tell us why their agencies wanted to launch this new award for unpublished sci fi and fantasy auth...

Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel Welcome to the first episode in a new series of podcast episodes (which after this episode will be timed exclusives for our Patreon members!) in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them! This week, we are chatting about revisiting old ma...

Harry Fisher is a native of Leith (the port for Edinburgh) so that’s where his crime thrillers are set. Prior to his debut, Harry had never written a word of fiction, so he just launched in – cold turkey for authors. Now he has three books published, with his fourth, "48 Hours and Then She Dies" out now. ​We had a good chat with Harry, hearing how he only ever intended to write one novel, why he c...

John Connolly is a bestselling author of mystery and supernatural fiction. With over 30 published works, including the popular Charlie Parker series, his books have captivated readers around the world. He has won the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, and Macavity awards in the US, a CWA Dagger in the UK, and an Irish Book Award, as well as numerous international accolades, and has published more UK Sunday T...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel! Kate Mosse is the award-winning author of novels, short story collections, essays, non-fiction, and a much-loved playwright. Her books include the multimillion-selling Languedoc trilogy which begins with the unmissable Labyrinth, and the bestselling more recent series, The Joubert Family Chronicles. The final book in that series,...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel David Goodman is a novelist and short fiction writer of thrillers and science fiction. His debut novel, A Reluctant Spy, is out now from Headline Books in hardback, eBook and audiobook. We've known Dave for a while outside the podcast, and so it was brilliant having a chance to sit down with him and hear him tell us all about his...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel! Lee Child is the author of more than two dozen  New York Times  bestselling Jack Reacher thrillers, with most having reached the #1 position, and the #1 bestselling complete Jack Reacher story collection,  No Middle Name . Foreign rights in the Reacher series have sold in one hund...

Watch the full video on our YouTube channel! As we get ready to launch Episode 200, we wanted to do a short thank you video for sticking with us over the past five years - and to let you know of our exciting plans to come! Please check out our newly launched Patreon (you can join for free to get access to our Discord, plus great benefits for higher tiers!): https://www.patreon.com/ukpageone Hosted...

Deborah Harkness is the best-selling author of numerous novels. Her debut, A Discovery of Witches, was an immediate best-seller, hitting #2 on the New York Times list, and was also a bestseller in the UK, France and Germany. The initial trilogy in the All Souls series has been translated into 37 languages. Her latest book in the series, The Black Bird Oracle, is just out. We loved chatting with De...

Mark Lawrence is a best-selling fantasy author. His first trilogy, THE BROKEN EMPIRE, has been universally acclaimed as a ground-breaking work of fantasy. Following The Broken Empire is the related RED QUEEN’S WAR trilogy. THE BOOK OF THE ANCESTOR trilogy is set on a different world and is followed by the related BOOK OF THE ICE trilogy. There is also THE IMPOSSIBLE TIMES trilogy, a D&D/sci-fi...

Dan Malakin is a crime/thriller writer and data security consultant. His short stories have been widely published both in print and online, and he has twice been shortlisted for the Bridport prize. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from Brunel University, and his debut novel, THE REGRET, was published by Bloodhound Books in Summer 2019. His next thriller, THE BOX, was published by Viper Books in...

Conn Iggulden is one of the most successful authors of historical fiction writing today, with bestselling series on Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and the Wars of the Roses, as well as two stand-alone novels:  Dunstan , set in the red-blooded world of tenth-century England, and  The Falcon of Sparta , in which Iggulden returns to the Ancient World. Both instalments of his Athenian seri...

Ilaria Bernardini is one of Italy’s leading novelists, now writing novels in the English language, and an exciting emerging screenwriter. She has film and television projects in development and in production with Lorenzo Mieli's The Apartment, Andy Harries’ Left Bank Pictures, The Russo Brothers/Amazon Studios, Francesco Melzi D’Eril's (SUSPIRIA, BECKETT) MeMo Films. Ilaria helped adapt her own no...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel Bob McDevitt is festival director for Scotland's premier crime writing festival, Bloody Scotland, and programmer for Glasgow's Aye Write literature festival. He has also worked in both sales and commissioning roles at Headline. We had a fun chat with Bob, hearing about how he found himself organising two of Scotland's biggest lite...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel Gillian Redfearn is deputy publisher at Gollancz, publishing authors from Joe Abercrombie to Brandon Sanderson. We had a great chat with Gillian, hearing how she broke into the publishing industry, what. the day-to-day of an editor involves, and what sort of stories catch her eye when they are submitted by agents. Plus, we find ou...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel Becky Brown and Norah Perkins are both literary agents with a twist - they founded and head up Curtis Brown's Heritage section, meaning that they represent the estates of authors such as AA Milne, Iris Murdoch and many more. They also recently won Literary Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards 2024 for their pioneering work...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel Julie Crisp is a literary agent and editor with over fifteen years’ experience working for three major houses across a broad spectrum of commercial titles within fiction, non-fiction and children’s. This also included three years spent working in the Australian publishing industry. For nine years, she headed up the UK arm of one o...