Novelist and creative writing lecturer Ian Nettleton explains how to structure a novel - the devices and structural elements that can keep readers engaged, and how to ensure your story becomes a page-turner. The episode covers characters’ wants and needs, conflict, obstacles, narrative tension and building a compelling story scene by scene, chapter by chapter. We also discuss quests, commitments, reversals and resolutions. Ian has been shortlisted for a number of prestigious awards including tho...
Jun 24, 2022•31 min•Ep. 277
This is a special episode to celebrate our City of Literature programme at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival. As part of the festival, we organised, curated and hosted a series of events at the legendary spiegeltent as well as talks and our publishing fair, here at Dragon Hall. Called Wandering Words, we commissioned five poets and five sound designers to create an interactive digital experience. This episode hosts the poems and the soundscapes.
Jun 07, 2022•20 min•Ep. 276
What is translation and how is it experienced? In this episode, three translators explore their experiences of inhabiting multiple languages in a portrayal of life in translation, of translation as a part of everyday life, of translation as survival, and of people as translated beings. Interviews with Kavita Bhanot, Yovanka Paquete Perdigão and Nariman Youssef. Made by Gitanjali Patel and Miia Laine as part of the Visible Communities residency at the National Centre for Writing.
May 26, 2022•30 min•Ep. 275
Novelist Megan Bradbury and Sam Ruddock from Story Machine Productions discuss the role of research in writing. Megan describes how she went to New York to research the geniuses who lived there, to bring her novel to life. She also talks about working with Professor Pete Wilde on NCW’s Translating Science project. Megan explains how different types of research can become a regular part of your writing routine as well as helping to inspire stories and characters, while making worlds feel rich and...
Apr 21, 2022•43 min•Ep. 274
Khairani Barokka is an Indonesian writer and artist living in London. She is the co-editor of Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back , the author-illustrator of Indigenous Species , and author of debut poetry collection Rope . She was Modern Poetry in Translation’s Inaugural Poet-In-Residence, National Centre for Writing’s Associate Artist in 2020 and she has been a Researcher-in-Residence at UAL’s Decolonising the Arts Institute. Rishi Dastidar's debut collection Ticker-tape ...
Mar 21, 2022•54 min•Ep. 273
Mattho Mandersloot is a literary translator working from Korean into English and Dutch. He holds a degree in Classics from King’s College London and one in Translation from the School of Oriental and African Studies. He has won the Korea Times’ 51st Modern Korean Literature Translation Award, the World Literature Today Translation Prize and the Oxford Korean Poetry Translation Prize. In July 2021, we welcomed Mattho to Norwich for a month-long residency with support from the Literature Translati...
Feb 25, 2022•45 min•Ep. 272
Translator and editor Anam Zafar and poet, novelist and translator Meena Kandasamy discuss translation as activism and helping under-represented communities to tell their own stories. Anam was mentored by Meena on NCW's Emerging Translator Mentorship programme, supported by Visible Communities. We have a discount for Writing Life listeners, courtesy of our friends at Bloomsbury! Until 1 March 2022 anyone in the UK can get 25% off the workbook as long as you buy through the Bloomsbury website. Th...
Feb 07, 2022•33 min•Ep. 271
Lucy van Smit is an award-winning author, a screenwriter, and artist. She has worked internationally for NBC News, has made documentaries for Canadian TV on writers like John Le Carre and Ian McEwan and in 2018 her debut novel The Hurting won the inaugural Bath Children’s Novel Award. She's now put together A Writer's Journal Workbook , for Writers & Artists, which is jam packed with bite-sized exercises and tips for dismantling writer's block, improving observational skills, developing char...
Jan 18, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 178
We have a great translation double-bill today, with a conversation between Archana Madhavan and Sawad Hussain. Sawad was a virtual translator in residence in 2021 during our Visible Communities project, and this interview was arranged as part of that residency. https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/translation/visible-communities/ Sawad Hussain is an Arabic translator with a focus on bringing narratives from the African continent to wider audiences. She has contributed to journals such as Arab...
Jan 10, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 177
Andy Hamilton is a comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor and you have probably seen and/or heard him on Have I Got News For You , The News Quiz, QI or I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue . He's written for television shows including Drop the Dead Donkey and Outnumbered and is currently working on Kate & Koji for ITV with regular writing partner Guy Jenkin. Simon talks to Andy about his novels, specifically his latest Longhand , wh...
Dec 10, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 176
Today's episode mixes self-publishing and traditional publishing as we're talking with Nicola May, author of the Cockleberry Bay novels and the Ferry Lane Market series. After many years of highly successful self-publishing, in 2021 Nicola chose to sign with Hodder & Stoughton for her new trilogy. We find out why, and explore how she found success with her self-publishing business. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ Music by Benne...
Dec 03, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 175
On the show today we have Jarred McGinnis, talking about his debut 2021 novel ‘The Coward’. It's a fictional story with a protagonist also called Jarred, and in talking with Peggy Hughes on this podcast they unpick the curious boundary between fact and fiction in the book. Jarred is the co-founder of The Special Relationship , which was chosen for the International Literature Showcase in 2016. He was the creative director for ‘ Moby-Dick Unabridged ‘, a four-day immersive multimedia reading of H...
Nov 26, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 174
In June 2021 we were joined by Derek Barretto, who was the translator in residence at Dragon Hall. Encouraged by a succession of brilliant language teachers, Derek thrives on a literary reading diet of English, Lusophone and occasionally Francophone fiction and non-fiction. He is an aficionado of classical and contemporary literature and a voracious reader of ancient and modern poetry and practising poet. A would-be literary translator looking to specialize in translation of Lusophone fiction an...
Nov 19, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 173
Jennifer Anne Champion is on the podcast this week talking to Rosy Carrick about her mix of poetry and embroidery. Jennifer is a poet, writer and educator and is cat-positive and was one of our Singapore writers in residence earlier in the year. Find out more: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/residencies/former-residents/ Nuraliah's pod: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/writing-fantasy-nuraliah-norasid/ Nazry's pod: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/nazry-bahr...
Nov 12, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 172
Writer, performer, theatre maker and workshop leader Adam Z Robinson is on the podcast this week to discuss his work, how he's using Patreon and being forced to adapt to Covid-19 over the last 18 months. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more about what Adam's up to: https://adamzrobinson.com/ More on the East Anglian Book Awards announcement: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/eaba-category-winners-21/ Join our Discord: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/join-o...
Nov 05, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 171
Editor, translator and co-founder of Kurumuru Books, Ella Micheler, joins us on the podcast to discuss the editing process, why books in translation for young readers are still so rare in the English language, and how writers can get the most out of their editors. Our early career resource packs are made possible by support from Arts Council England. Hosted by Simon Jones. Get more free resources: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/free-resources/ Join our Discord: https://nationalcentrefor...
Oct 28, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 170
Nuraliah Norasid is on the podcast this week, talking with Sally-Anne Lomas. Nuraliah is a writer, researcher and educator with a PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Her debut novel, The Gatekeeper , won the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in 2016 and the Best Fiction Title for the Singapore Book Awards in 2018. Sally-Anne is a writer, artist and filmmaker whose first novel, Live Like Your Head's On Fire, came out earlier this year. They talk a...
Oct 22, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 169
AE Warren's science fiction books Subject Twenty One and The Hidden Base were released earlier this year by Del Rey but began life in self-published form several years earlier. On the podcast today, Amy traces her journey from new writer to self-publisher and now traditional publishing. Regardless of which form of publishing interests you, you'll find useful tips in Amy's detailed conversation with Simon. Meanwhile, Flo Reynolds joins us on the pod to introduce the brand new Book Club Book: The ...
Oct 15, 2021•57 min•Season 1Ep. 168
Jenn Ashworth is on the podcast this week to discuss her writing across fiction and non-fiction, taking in projects Ghosted: A Love Story and Notes Made While Falling . It's a detailed, honest conversation about Jenn's writing life. Flo Reynolds is asking the questions. Hosted by Simon Jones, Steph McKenna and Roisin Batty - who introduce the episodes by taking a look at their latest reads and how the pandemic is affecting fiction across books and TV. Check out our event with Sarah Hall AND Sara...
Oct 08, 2021•50 min•Ep. 270
In June 2021, we welcomed three writers and translators from Singapore in virtual residence in Norwich, with the support of the National Arts Council of Singapore. Nazry Bahrawi was one of them - a literary translator, critic and academic at Singapore University of Technology and Design. Vineet Lal is our fourth Visible Communities virtual translator in residence. Vineet is a literary translator from French to English, based in Scotland. In 2010 he was awarded one of the first-ever Mentorships i...
Sep 30, 2021•51 min•Season 1Ep. 166
W.G. Sebald wrote books including The Emigrants , Austerlitz and The Rings of Saturn , and mixed fiction, history, autobiography and photography . Carole Angier has now published the first biography of Sebald, Speak, Silence: In Search of W.G. Sebald, and is on the podcast today talking to Alice Kent. They go into fine detail about Carole's research, her methods for structuring a biography and the on-going ethical debates around writing about someone's life. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKen...
Sep 24, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 165
Fresh from the Noirwich Crime Writing Festival comes Megan Abbott's astonishing lecture about the power of crime fiction and true crime to influence and reflect society, and the ethics and responsibilities of being a crime writer. Why has so much crime writing focused on the perpetrator, not the victim? How can representation in the genre improve, and why does it matter? Megan is the award-winning author of nine crime novels, including the just published The Turnout, and the bestselling You Will...
Sep 17, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 164
We have a new Early Career Writers' Resource Pack, and it's all about STRUCTURE. On the podcast we're thrilled to have journalist Chitra Ramaswamy interviewing Rebecca Watson about her stunning debut Little Scratch , which was shortlisted earlier this year for the Desmond Elliott Prize. Rebecca details the book's unique design and how the story and its structure are inseparable. Find more resources on 'Structure' here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/pack-7-structure/ Our resouce packs a...
Sep 09, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 163
The inimitable Kate Mosse joins the podcast to talk about her work on The Women's Prize for Fiction and her career as an author of fiction and non-fiction. Talking with Sarah Bower, Kate discusses the Discoveries writer development programme (opening for applications this month!), how the context of the Women's Prize has changed over the years, why some people still expect the prize to justify its own existence, how she goes about the research for her historical fiction and the writing of her me...
Sep 03, 2021•58 min•Season 1Ep. 162
Simon is joined on the pod today by Tom Whyman, author of Infinitely Full of Hope: Fatherhood and the Future in an Age of Crisis and Disaster. Part philosophical theory and part memoir, Tom wrote the book while awaiting the birth of his child and deals with the challenge of maintaining hope in increasingly desperate times. Meanwhile, Steph and Simon take a look at our Creative Writing Online courses, get over-excited about the books they're currently reading ( Daisy Jones and the Six ! Lumberjan...
Aug 27, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 161
Lewis Buxton returns! Steph talks to Lewis about his new poetry collection Boy in Various Poses , which explores masculinity, mental health and sport. We're also very pleased to have The Writing Life's first references to Lizzo and The Meg . Lewis' poems have appeared in The Rialto, Ambit Magazine, Magma, Oxford Poetry and Ink, Sweat and Tears . In 2020 he won the Winchester Poetry Prize and has previously come third in the Magma Poetry Prize and been shortlisted for the Oxford Brookes Internati...
Aug 20, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 160
Literary translators Shash Trevett and Geetha Sukumaran talk about their collaboration on the work of Tamil poet Nillanthan and Shash's involvement with our Visible Communities translator in residence programme. Geetha Sukumaran is a poet and a bilingual translator. She has published two books in Tamil: Tharkolaikku parakkum panithuli (a Tamil translation of Sylvia Plath’s poems, 2013), and her own poems, Otrai pakadaiyil enchum nampikkai in 2014. Her English translation of Ahilan’s poetry, Then...
Aug 13, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 159
On the podcast this week is Olivia Hellewell, a translator from Slovene to English of literary fiction, children's fiction, and non-fiction. Olivia is talking to Rebecca DeWald, our Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme Manager. They discuss Olivia's route into literary translation, the challenges of making a living from translation, and the importance of translating cultural references. This is a treasure trove for anyone interested in translation and also contains a surprising amount of di...
Aug 06, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 158
"Books are dead," so declares Elle Griffin, a journalist and debut writer who is preparing to serialise her first novel via a Substack newsletter. Not sure what Substack is, or why you'd publish a book via a newsletter? Disagree (or agree!) about the fate of books? Curious about whether serialised storytelling and publishing might be for you? Simon chats with Elle about emerging new (and returning!) forms and how they relate to traditional and self-publishing. Meanwhile, Steph and Simon discuss ...
Jul 30, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 162
Tommy Sissons chats to Sam Ruddock on the podcast about his book A Small Man's England , a prose-polemic exploration of white, working class masculinity. Under discussion are the techniques Tommy uses to explore his argument as well as the core themes at the heart of the book. Meanwhile Simon and Steph talk about the newly announced Escalator talent development scheme for emerging writers, now open for applications to under-represented writers in the East of England: https://nationalcentreforwri...
Jul 23, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 156
