London Writers' Salon #179: Moira Buffini — From Playwright to Novelist, Writing Dystopian YA, plus Creative Resilience and Sustaining a Long Creative Career
10 snips
Feb 1, 2026 Moira Buffini, Olivier Award–winning playwright and BAFTA-nominated screenwriter turned YA novelist (Songlight), talks about moving between theatre, film and fiction. She explains writing toward a feeling, using dramatist instincts to shape novels, and why “you are the audience” helps resist market pressure. She also reflects on balancing motherhood, routine, and sustaining a long creative career.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Childhood Loss Shaping Stories
- Moira's father died when she was four, which profoundly shaped her worldview and writing themes.
- She grew up in a house full of women and inherited a love of storytelling and theatre from her parents.
Rehearsing With A Newborn
- Moira rehearsed Dinner at the National Theatre seven months pregnant and returned to rehearsals six weeks after a cesarean.
- The theatre paid for a nanny so she could participate fully while caring for her newborn.
Constraints Drive Story Discipline
- Dramatic constraints (time, budget, cast) create discipline that sharpens storytelling.
- Novel writing removes those limits, so use constraints to avoid getting lost in possibilities.
