The Writing Life

We talk to producer Tamsin Flower about Black Writers on Democracy, a project conceived following the Black Lives Matters protests in 2020. Funded rapidly via crowdfunding, a commissioning call was sent out to find writers from around the world to address the theme. The five written pieces have now been published and on the podcast today we talk to Olu Alakija, Nike Igbaroola, Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto and Tamsin about how it was put together. Read and watch the pieces on the StreamLyric website: https://streamlyric.co.uk/digital/ Our previous episode talking to Tamsin in 2018: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/the-importance-of-arts-funding/ Hosted by Simon Jones. Find out more about we do: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ Join our free Discord community: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW  Music by Bennet Maples & library sources.

Award-winning poet Will Harris, creator of RENDANG (Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection and a Guardian best poetry book of 2020), is our guest this week. Will discusses how he perceives his writing career and explores form and feeling with Flo Reynolds.  Meanwhile Simon and Steph talk about our fundraising campaign for the Escalator talent development scheme, our lovely 'All Shall Be Well' prints to cheer everyone up in this tail end of 2020 and whether it's OK to have your Christmas tree up already. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more at https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ Donate to the Escalator campaign: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator-donations-2020/ Get your 'All Shall Be Well' print: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/buy-a-julian-of-norwich-screen-print/ Music by Bennet Maples.

Think you know everything there is to know about Charles Dickens? Professor John Mullan is back with his new book The Artful Dickens to show us Dickens and his work in a completely new light, exploring the famous author's often overlooked experimental and ground-breaking techniques. John came on the show to talk everything Dickens, from the original serialisation of his novels (which gets Simon very excited) to his surviving manuscripts and why he was often dismissed in his time. Whether you're a fan of Dickens or not, this episode (and John's book!) will make you think again about one of Britain's best-loved authors. And, yes, we do discuss Muppet's Christmas Carol. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more about our Creative Writing Courses: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/creative-writing-online/  More info on why we're asking for donations to Escalator: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator-donations-2020/ Music by Bennet Maples.

Stuart Turton discusses the research, editing and planning process behind The Devil and the Dark Water, as well as his route into publishing his first novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Stuart's talking to Vicki Maitland and their conversation is packed full of practical tips, fascinating insights and historical stories you will feel compelled to immediately Google. Meanwhile, Simon talks to Peggy Hughes about Open Doors, the new fund of exciting commissions from the National Centre for Writing. Hosted by Simon Jones. Join our free Discord community: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW Full details about the Open Doors commissions: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/open-doors/  And to save you the need to manually search, a link to the astonishing true story of the Batavia shipwreck: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batavia_(1628_ship) Check out what we do: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/  Music by Bennet Maples.

Debut author Sally-Anne Lomas shares her route to being published, which resulted in Gatehouse Press picking up her book Live like Your Head’s on Fire. Sally-Anne talks about her experiences on our Escalator talent development scheme and the process of  reaching publication. We're also joined by Sam Ruddock of Gatehouse who talks about assessing manuscripts and why small presses are essential to the literary ecology and early career writers. Asking the questions is Sarah Bower. For more information on the Escalator talent development scheme: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator/ Can you donate to Escalator? http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator-donations-2020/ Listen to Michael Donkor on the pod: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/creating-characters-with-michael-donkor/ Join our Discord community! https://discord.gg/3G39dRW  Sign up to our newsletter: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/  Hosted by Simon Jones and Vicki 'Rock DJ' Maitland. Music by Bennet Maples.

Lockdown didn't stop us from putting on the Noirwich Crime Writing Festival this year in partnership with our friends at the University of East Anglia. One of the many highlights was this conversation between Oyinkan Braithwaite and Femi Kayode, discussing Oyinkan's My Sister, The Serial Killer. If you missed it during the festival, now's your chance to listen on the pod! Meanwhile, Steph and Simon are joined by Flo to introduce the latest NCW Book Club book: Our Place by Mark Cocker. Find out more here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/the-ncw-book-club/ You can watch the video version of Oyinkan's event here: https://youtu.be/aQx3AcmpW6Q Catch up on Noirwich 2020 here: https://noirwich.co.uk/   Find out more about what we do: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Music by Bennet Maples. Oyinkan photo by Amaal Said.

We spoke to Richard Lambert on the podcast in October 2019 about his debut novel The Wolf Road, which was to be published in early 2020. It never came out: instead, Covid-19 triggered global lockdowns, which forced bookshops and libraries to close, distributors shut down and Richard's dream of publication became another casualty of 2020.  Fast forward to October 2020 and not only is Richard back on the pod to talk about the challenges and difficulties of the year, but The Wolf Road has, at last, been released into the wild. We talk about why the book had to be delayed, what Richard's publisher did about it and how he coped with the turbulent year. You can listen to the 2019 podcast with Richard here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/preparing-for-publication/  Hosted by Steph McKenna and Simon Jones. Find out more about what we do: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ Information on the Escalator Talent Development programme: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator/  Music by Bennet Maples.

Kate Summerscale, the award-winning author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, joins the pod to talk to Chris about her new book, The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story. They discuss the origins of the book, Kate's approach to research and how she had to track down the facts, and how the book sets poltergeists and the increased interest in the supernatural in the 1930s with the rise of Hitler and looming war. Hosted by Steph McKenna and Simon Jones. Find out more about what we do: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW Join the Book Club: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/the-ncw-book-club/ Music by  Bennet Maples.

Emma Shercliff of Laxfield Literary Associates talks to us about being an agent outside of London and her efforts to better represent both regional writers and authors from Africa and the Middle East. Following a globe-trotting career with Macmillan, Hodder and Cassava Republic Press, encountering the Common People report prompted Emma to set up Laxfield Literary Associates with the aim of making agenting more transparent and representative of the population. We discuss the challenges of representation, the lack of childcare support for writers, how and when to contact an agent and lots more - including the two prizes being run by Laxfield Literary Associates which you can find out about on their website: https://laxfieldliterary.com/ Hosted by Simon Jones & Steph McKenna. Find out more about what we do: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ Check out our workshops and Agent Insights sessions: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/courses/ Join our (free!) Discord community and say hi: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW Music by Bennet Maples.

Want to be a more organised writer? On the pod this week we have Antony Johnston, prolific and bestselling creator of comics, novels, podcasts and more. He created the graphic novel that was turned into the movie Atomic Blonde, has worked extensively on his own comics as well as Marvel books, video games including Dead Space and Shadow of Mordor and numerous crime thrillers. His latest  book is The Organised Writer, a manual for professional writers based on Antony's own experiences and techniques. If you've struggled to stick to deadlines and carve out time for your writing, Antony is someone you need to pay attention to. The Organised Writer is published by Bloomsbury and is available from all good bookshops! Meanwhile Vicki jumps on the pod to discuss the challenges of our school work in Covid-19 times and our continuing efforts to keep delivering workshops to young people. Hosted by Simon Jones and Vicki Maitland. Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW FREE course: Supercharge your productivity: https://courses.nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/p/supercharge-your-productivity How to write more and stay happy: https://courses.nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/p/how-to-write-more Find out more about what we do: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ Check out Antony's website: https://antonyjohnston.com/ Watch Antony's film debut Crossover Point: https://bit.ly/crossoverpoint Music by Bennet Maples.