We'd Like A Word

38. Patricia Cornwell talks to We'd Like A Word co-hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan about her new thriller Sharp Force , plus how she writes, advice for new writers, the extreme lengths she goes to for research, & what she's working on next. She compares police hats with Steve & makes Paul an offer he does not refuse. We also discuss AI, DNA. identity theft, authors Ernest Hem...

37. Paul Waters talks to and hears about the winner and runners-up of the 2025 India Global Forum Archer Amish Award for Storytellers - including Jeffrey Archer, Amish Tripathi, Shalini Mullick, Nitya Neelakantan, Yogesh Pandey, & Amit Roy - the editor of the Eastern Eye newspaper. Dr Shalini Mullick is the author of The Way Home . Nitya Neelakantan is the author of Navapashanam - The Quest fo...

36. International Booker prize winners, author Banu Mushtaq & translator Deepa Bhashti talk to co-hosts Paul Waters & Jonathan Kennedy on the We'd Like A Word books & authors podcast at the 2025 Jaipur Literature Festival at the British Library in London. We talk about Banu's short story collection Heart Lamp; whether foreign language words should be italicised - Deepa says no;...

35. Indian & Pakistani authors & poets talk to co-hosts Paul Waters & Jonathan Kennedy on the We'd Like A Word books & authors podcast at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival London 2025 (which Paul also co-organises). We hear from Devike Rege on Indian politics, whether "home is a place where you can be comfortably racist" & her book Quarterlife; from Shueyb Gan...

​ Catalan Crime in translation : We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan hear from Barcelona-born author Teresa Solana ; Peter Bush the translator of her crime thriller Black Storms - he's also Teresa's husband; and Marina Sofia the co-founder of Corylus publishers, which publishes crime fiction in translation from Catalan, Spanish, Romanian, Icelandic, Argentinian Spanish, and German....

33. Sherlock Holmes in Turkey (part 1): Author & foreign correspondent Andrew Finkel talks to We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan , about his book The Adventure of the Second Wife - The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and the Ottoman Sultan. We also talk about how to decide where to start a complex, multi-layered novel (& if it really matters), Arthur Conan Doyle, th...

32. Sherlock Holmes in Turkey (part 2): Author & foreign correspondent Andrew Finkel talks to We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan , about his book The Adventure of the Second Wife - The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and the Ottoman Sultan. We also talk about how to decide where to start a complex, multi-layered novel (& if it really matters), Arthur Conan Doyle, th...

31. Sherlock Holmes in Turkey (part 3): Author & foreign correspondent Andrew Finkel talks to We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan , about his book The Adventure of the Second Wife - The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and the Ottoman Sultan. We also talk about how to decide where to start a complex, multi-layered novel (& if it really matters), Arthur Conan Doyle, th...

30. How to write & perform stand up comedy (part 1): Comedians Ian Stone & Phoebe Haywood talk to We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan , about Ian's new book To Be Someone about his love affair with The Jam & surviving the 1970s. We also talk about comic timing, how to write a joke, taboo topics, physical comedy, making it personal, Mods, racists, Nazis, Sham...

29. How to write & perform stand up comedy (part 2): Comedians Ian Stone & Phoebe Haywood talk to We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan , about Ian's new book To Be Someone about his love affair with The Jam & surviving the 1970s. We also talk about comic timing, how to write a joke, taboo topics, physical comedy, making it personal, Mods, racists, Nazis, Sham...

28. How to write & perform stand up comedy (part 3): Comedians Ian Stone & Phoebe Haywood talk to We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan , about Ian's new book To Be Someone about his love affair with The Jam & surviving the 1970s. We also talk about comic timing, how to write a joke, taboo topics, physical comedy, making it personal, Mods, racists, Nazis, Sham...

27. Peter James & Tina Payne at the Chiltern Kills crime writing festival 2024 : We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan hear from Peter James , the bestselling author of the Roy Grace detective series, and also from new crime fiction sensation Tina Payne aka TM Payne . And lots more from the 2024 Chiltern Kills festival in Gerrards Cross, just 20 minutes from London Marylebone....

26. History & lies (part 1): We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan chat & laugh with Subhadra Das, writer, historian, broadcaster, comedian & curator, about her book, Uncivilised: Ten Lies That Made The West . Subhadra looks at the relationship between science & society. She specialises in the history & philosophy of science, particularly the history of sci...

25. History & lies (part 2): We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan chat & laugh with Subhadra Das, writer, historian, broadcaster, comedian & curator, about her book, Uncivilised: Ten Lies That Made The West . Subhadra looks at the relationship between science & society. She specialises in the history & philosophy of science, particularly the history of sci...

24. History & lies (part 3): We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan chat & laugh with Subhadra Das, writer, historian, broadcaster, comedian & curator, about her book, Uncivilised: Ten Lies That Made The West . Subhadra looks at the relationship between science & society. She specialises in the history & philosophy of science, particularly the history of sci...

23. Announcing the new IGF Archer-Amish Award for Literature: We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan hear from bestselling authors and prize judges Jeffrey Archer & Amish Tripathi about the new IGF (India Global Forum) Archer-Amish Award for Literature . The prize is $25,000 & it's not just for Indians - but listen carefully to hear the rules & entry criteria! T...

22. We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Jonathan Kennedy interview stars of Indian & Irish literature and film making at the 2024 Jaipur Literature Festival at the British Library in London. (It's possible that Paul repeatedly referred to it as the Jaipur Literary Festival, but let's not quibble.) We hear from the man who is at every Indian gathering worth attending, JLF organ...

21. Khushwant Singh Lit Fest: Indian, Pakistani & Bangladeshi authors - In this special We'd Like A Word India episode at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival, co-hosts Paul Waters & Jonathan Kennedy (standing in for Stevyn Colgan) hear ideas from top authors of fiction, non-fiction, memoir & poetry & other experts. WARNING - one of our interviewees (Farrukh Dhondy) gets a bit...

20. John Hegley at Milton's Cottage: The BBC radio & Edinburgh Fringe favourite, British national treasure, poet, musician & comedian, John Hegley joins We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan to perform & chat in front of an intimate live audience inside Milton's Cottage in Chalfont St Giles, where John Milton wrote his epic poem Paradise Lost, published in...

19. Mark Ecob on book cover design (part 1): The award-winning book cover designer, Mark Ecob, aka Mecob, tells We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan how he does it. We also talk about in this 3 part episode: Ben Okri & Tiger Work, Alexander McCall Smith, Piers Torday, sustainable publishing & the Society of Authors, Roald Dahl, Amazon thumbnails, Will Dean & his b...

18. Mark Ecob on book cover design (part 2): The award-winning book cover designer, Mark Ecob, aka Mecob, tells We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan how he does it. We also talk about in this 3 part episode: Ben Okri & Tiger Work, Alexander McCall Smith, Piers Torday, sustainable publishing & the Society of Authors, Roald Dahl, Amazon thumbnails, Will Dean & his b...

17. Mark Ecob on book cover design (part 3): The award-winning book cover designer, Mark Ecob, aka Mecob, tells We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan how he does it. We also talk about in this 3 part episode: Ben Okri & Tiger Work, Alexander McCall Smith, Piers Torday, sustainable publishing & the Society of Authors, Roald Dahl, Amazon thumbnails, Will Dean & his b...

16. Chiltern Kills crime writing festival with Frederick Forsyth & many more top authors: Thriller writing icon Frederick Forsyth tells We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan about his legacy & his first ever appearance at a literary festival in this one-part episode. It was recorded (mostly) live at the Chiltern Kills festival in Gerrards Cross in October 2023. All tic...

Jeffrey Archer on storytelling (part 1): The globally bestselling (more than 300m books sold) storyteller Jeffrey Archer tells  We'd Like A Word  hosts  Paul Waters  &  Stevyn Colgan  how he does it. Jeffrey takes research to extremes - he been to prison, been an MP and is now in the House of Lords. He reads from his latest rip roaring thriller is Traitors Gate - all about how to steal the...

Jeffrey Archer on storytelling (part 2): The globally bestselling (more than 300m books sold) storyteller Jeffrey Archer tells  We'd Like A Word  hosts  Paul Waters  &  Stevyn Colgan  how he does it. Jeffrey takes research to extremes - he been to prison, been an MP and is now in the House of Lords. He reads from his latest rip roaring thriller is Traitors Gate - all about how to steal the...