We'd Like A Word

Alan Drew, the author of Gardens of Water (set in Istanbul during an earthquake) and Shadow Man (a California prowler murder thriller), chats with presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan about censorship (he’s been a victim in Turkey), authors’ responsibility (if any) to foreign cultures they write about and how to cope with writer’s block. We also discuss the censorship of literature and journal...

Alison Finch is the book planning producer (aka “books bitch” says she) for an array of BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3 and BBC World Service programmes. Which ones? She reveals all to presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan. And you, dear listener. So listen and find out. She’s the gatekeeper, the first filter for every book sent in by publishers, agents, publicists and writers. If you fail to impress...

Matt Wesolowski author of Changeling & Adrian McKinty author of The Chain - two innovative kidnapping stories - discuss plot twists, saving stories till the time is right, unconventional storytelling techniques and authenticity with Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan. We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  ...

Angela McMahon of Flow Communications, organiser of the Noireland crime fiction festival in Belfast and book publicist to the stars. In this episode she tells Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan how to get attention for your book; why podcasts like this one (yay!) are useful (because they’re shareable; about the first rule of book publicity; about how an author should handle a publicist; about the best...

Helen Cullen’s book The Lost Letters of William Woolf is charming, moving, quirky & possessed of great lists. It’s been described as “up lit”, but does that trivialise writing which has the power move or even upset the reader? In this episode Stevyn Colgan and Paul Waters chat with Irish author Helen Cullen about how she writes, why girls may be more reluctant than boys to give writing a go, lost...

Dr Erica McAlister on how to make science writing accessible and engaging without dumbing down. In this episode Stevyn Colgan and Paul Waters chat with Erica McAlister, the author of the award-winning book, The Secret Life of Flies. Erica is the Senior Curator for Diptera and Siphonaptera at the Natural History Museum in London. In other words, she’s the Lord of the Flies. She loves flies - she go...

Aidan Conway on writing about Italy - with fellow Italophile author Richard Walmsley chipping in. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan Chat with Rome-based thriller writer Aidan Conway about how well outsiders can get under the skin of Italian life, culture, attitudes and politics. Aidan Conway is the author of A Known Evil and A Cold Flame - which slice straight through to the dark passi...

Denise Mina on high art versus low art. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan Chat with Scottish crime fiction royalty Denise Mina about novels and graphic novels, true crime and why the truth about the existence of serial killers is much worse than you’d imagined. Also - why are men so creepy? Seriously, what’s going on with that? Denise Mina is the award-winning author of so much, includ...

Jamie Cawley on history and belief. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan Chat with historian and philosopher Jamie Cawley about his new and iconoclastic take on history and religion. Jamie Cawley is the author of The Birth of Now: The Cause and Effect of the Greatest Change in History - and also - Beliefs and the world they have created. Jamie is also the inventor of the Boost chocolate b...

Writers and Rioters. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan hear from authors Gerard Brennan and Adrian McKinty about the art of writing violence. And they discuss their own experiences - as a reporter and as a police officer - when placed in dangerous and explosive situations. You’ll never think of a frying pan the same way again. We also hear riotous extracts from Invisible Man by Ralph E...

Belinda Bauer says victims are more interesting than murderers on We’d Like A Word. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan meet award winning author Belinda Bauer who says the voices of victims are more interesting than the supposed magnetism of killers. We also talk humour, cultural appropriation and hear from Irish band Runabay in a collaboration with Irish poet Stephen James Smith. We'd...

‘A small Odditorium’ feat. Dr David Bramwell. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan meet author, musician, truth-seeker, Utopian and all round oddfellow Dr David Bramwell. Among the topics under discussion are bum readers, the world’s largest underground temple, a haunted moustache, Jacob Rees-Mogg and the Wicker Man. And we’ll be asking ... is Milton Keynes the new Stonehenge? We'd Like A...

Anthony Horowitz talks about giving new life to characters after their original authors have died. He does it with Ian Fleming’s James Bond - 2 continuation novels Trigger Mortis & now in paperback Forever and A Day. He’s also done it with Sherlock Holmes. And he’s a hugely successful writer of young adult books and TV - Foyle’s War and Midsomer Murders, to name but a few. But should popular chara...

Graham Norton - comedian, TV star and Father Ted legend - talks to us about his other life as an author. But do celebrities famous for something entirely different make good writers? Are their books actually any good? Graham Norton may be hilARious (he is), but can he write? You'll have to listen to this episode of We'd Like A Word to find out. He reads from his second novel A Keeper, talks about...

 Is Scandi Noir still Scandi Noir if a British author is  writing it? Will Dean has gone a long way to immerse himself in Nordic  Noir culture, even building a house in the middle of a Swedish forest.  It's the setting for his edgy thrillers Dark Pines and Red Show,  featuring the deaf journalist and investigator Tuva Moodyson. Will reads  from his latest book, Red Snow, and tells us about life in...

This is a brief introduction to the We'd Like A Word podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers, poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches, scripts, fiction and non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com - which is where you'll find...