The Writing Life

Tsitsi Dangarembga is a novelist, playwright and filmmaker who joins us on the pod today to discuss her groundbreaking work and its influence on readers. Tsitsi is the author of Nervous Conditions, which in 1988 was the first book to be published in English by a black woman from Zimbabwe and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and its sequels The Book of Not (2006) and This Mournable Body (2018)....

William Ryan is the author of historical crime fiction novels, including the Captain Korolev series. William joins us on the pod to talk about his latest project, the Writers' & Artists' Guide To How To Write. It's a nuts-and-bolts framework for writing a book, avoiding common mistakes and asking yourself the right questions up front. Meanwhile we talk about the Early Career Awards winner announce...

Award-winning poet and short story writer Jen Campbell is on the pod to discuss her prolific work in children's fiction, non-fiction and poetry as well as how she built an online platform for her writing across YouTube, Patreon, a podcast and more. Jen's tips on being productive (and forgiving yourself when you're not) and how to make the internet work for you and invaluable. Hosted by Simon Jones...

Something of a minisode this week, as Steph and Simon pick their favourite podcast episodes since lockdown began in the UK in March 2020. They also dive into the International Literature Showcase, which next week reveals its new list of unmissable writers courtesy of Kei Miller! Let's do some links: Discover 50 umissable writers at the International Literature Showcase: https://nationalcentreforwr...

Joe Michael Straczynski is the creator of influential science fiction classic Babylon 5; he has worked extensively for Marvel and DC comics, was nominated for a BAFTA for his screenplay Changeling, directed by Clint Eastwood; co-created Sense8 with the Wachowskis for Netflix; worked on the screenplay for the first Thor movie, helping to shape what is now the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and in the 8...

Jessie Greengrass is on the pod to discuss her latest novel The High House. Jessie is an award-winning writer and was selected by Elif Shafak for the 2019 International Literature Showcase. Asking the questions is Vicki Maitland. Meanwhile, Simon and Steph look back at the City of Literature festival (which you can catch up on here: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/cityoflit-21/ ) and look f...

In the final episode of our Imagining the City series, author and artist Lynn Buckle joins us from Dublin to talk to Flo Reynolds about writing her first book, feeling like a fraud and how to write positively about the climate crisis. Lynn's first novel, The Groundsmen, was published in 2018 by époque press. Nominated for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, it was listed as Easons Best of Irish L...

Three writers reflect on the atmospheric pressure of the year they’ve just had in Weather With You – a series of three written commissions and podcasts that address what it means to be a writer today, and why we write. Abir Mukherjee is the Times bestselling author of the Sam Wyndham series of crime novels set in Raj era India. His debut, A Rising Man, won the CWA Endeavour Dagger for best histori...

Three writers reflect on the atmospheric pressure of the year they’ve just had in Weather With You – a series of three written commissions and podcasts that address what it means to be a writer today, and why we write. Derek Owusu is a writer, poet and podcaster from north London. He discovered his passion for literature at the age of twenty-three while studying exercise science at university. Una...

Three writers reflect on the atmospheric pressure of the year they’ve just had in Weather With You – a series of three written commissions and podcasts that address what it means to be a writer today, and why we write. Kerri ní Dochartaigh was born in 1983, in Derry-Londonderry at the border between the North and South of Ireland. She read English Literature and Classical Civilisation at Trinity C...

Icelandic writer Valur Gunnarsson joins Sarah Bower to discuss his work, with a focus on alternate histories. He is best known as a writer of creative historical fiction; his first novel was a Viking fantasy and his third an alternative history where the Germans invade Iceland in World War II. Meanwhile, his second novel was a piece of autofiction set in the aftermath of the economic collapse of 2...

In the third of our Imagining the City podcasts, New Zealand writer Liz Breslin talks to British academic and poet Tiffany Atkinson about writing communities and how writing can help you discover yourself. Liz also reads two of her poems, including one from her new collection, In Bed with the Feminists. Flo Reynolds also jumps on the pod to introduce the next Book Club book, In Other Words by Jhum...

Our Imagining the City series continues with virtual writer in residence Marcin Wilk, at home in Krakow, talking to bookseller Joe Hedinger from Norwich's famous Book Hive bookshop. Marcin is a non-fiction writer and has written two biographies of famous Polish women and a history of Poland in the year before World War 2. They talk about writing in the pandemic, Polish culture and history, how to...

Writer Vahni Capildeo stayed with us in a virtual residency back in February and is joined in this week's episode by Jeremy Noel-Tod, editor, critic and Senior Lecturer in Literature at the University of East Anglia. Together they discuss Vahni's work, the inspiration found in places like Norwich and Edinburgh, the influence of Julian of Norwich and much more besides - all while enjoying an imagin...

Winner of the BBC Short Story Award in 2019, Jo Lloyd has now published her collection The Earth, Thy Great Exchequer, Ready Lies, and joins Chris Gribble on the pod to discuss her work, the challenges of going from one award-winning story to an entire collection, how the American short fiction market differs from the UK and why she prefers editing to writing. Meanwhile, NCW programme director Peg...

Writer and illustrator Neill Cameron is on the pod to talk about his debut novel Freddy Vs School, the long-running comic series MEGA ROBO BROS and contributing to fab weekly children's comic The Phoenix. Neill discusses how he got into comics and writing for younger readers, how he works complex themes into accessible stories, making the comics form easy for new readers and why fart jokes and pun...

What is The Last Good Man about? When Duncan Peck arrives at a remote village in Dartmoor, he immediately notices the wall towering over it and displaying messages written by the inhabitants. Simon read it as a metaphor for social media and online discourse, Thomas references anonymous, public writing in China, and the book remains resolutely ambiguous.  Thomas joins us on the pod to discuss the b...

BAFTA Award-winning writer and games designer Greg Kasavin joins the pod to talk about his work at Supergiant Games, focusing on the critically acclaimed smash hit HADES. The game won five BAFTA awards last week and we spoke to Greg about how he got into writing for games, his background in journalism and how Supergiant strive to merge narrative and gameplay mechanics. Essential listening for anyo...

Tom Cox is on the pod talking about his TWO new books out this year, Notebook (out now!) and Villager (out later!). Tom talks to Steph about the inspiration behind his books, including having his backpack stolen and finding himself stranded in Bristol, the importance of place in his writing (and life) and why he turned to Unbound to publish his most recent work. It's a funny, informative and hones...

Writer and actor Anni Domingo is on the pod to talk about her debut novel Breaking the Maafa Chain, the remarkable true story of Sara Forbes Bonetta. Anni discusses adapting historical research into a fictionalised retelling, how Covid-19 has disrupted her acting work and how being on our Escalator talent development scheme in 2019 helped develop her writing. Meanwhile, Simon and Steph talk about...

Author and journalist Sonia Faleiro joins us to discuss The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing, her new narrative non-fiction book which examines the killing of two teenage girls in India in 2014. Sonia talks to Steph about her route into journalism and how she researches complex topics and then translates them into engaging narratives. It's a conversation packed full of practical advice for non-fict...

Writer and broadcaster Horatio Clare is on the pod this week to talk to Peggy about his latest book, Heavy Light: A Journey Through Madness, Mania and Healing. It is the story of Horatio's own breakdown: a journey through mania, psychosis and treatment in a psychiatric hospital, and onwards to release, recovery and healing. On the podcast he discusses the writing of the book and how he approached...

Translator William Gregory joins us on the pod to discuss translating for the stage, how he started his professional career and the challenges of working on translated material in the UK. William was a (virtual) translator in residence at BCLT from October 2020 to January 2021, and ran the theatre translation workshop during 2020’s BCLT Summer School. On the other side of the conversation is speci...

We talk to author Stephen Michael Shearer and director John Hay about To Olivia, the film adaptation of Stephen's book An Unquiet Life. Focusing on the lives of Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl, the film stars Hugh Bonneville and Keeley Hawes and is available on Sky Cinema and Now TV from 19 February 2021. Stephen and John talk about the process of adapting the book and how the collaborative nature of...

Author Chris Beckett joins us this week to explore styles of dialogue in literature and how Chris uses it in his novel Two Tribes. Covering topics as wide-ranging as conversation-as-animal-grooming to Brexit, Chris shares his tips and insight into how humans interact and different ways of capturing that on the page. Asking the questions is Sam Ruddock of Gatehouse Press and Story Machines Producti...