The Writing Life

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norfolk-based writer Laurence Mitchell reveals how he brought the spirit of landscape and place onto the page in his award-winning book, Flint Country: A Stone Journey.

 

Laurence Mitchell is a travel writer with a number of guidebooks and walking guides to his name. He also writes features for magazines like Geographical, Walk and Discovering Britain. He has contributed to Echtrai Journal, Elsewhere: a journal of place and several anthologies, and was a regular guest writer for the Berlin-based magazine hidden europe for many years. His first book for Saraband, Westering, was published in 2021 and his second, Flint Country, published in 2025. Flint Country won the General Non-Fiction category in the East Anglian Book Awards 2025.

 

He sat down with NCW’s Holly Ainley to discuss the ‘spirit of place’ and how writers can weave culture, folklore, and personal memory into their portrayal of landscape. They also explore his decision to write about Norfolk flint, how writers can bring their own personality to the narrative, and what it means to think about landscape as a character.

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, award-winning writer Sarah L. Kaufman discusses mastering the art of the verb and transforming your writing with language, grammar, and style.

 

Sarah L. Kaufman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, an award-winning author and a writing teacher. As the Washington Post’s chief dance critic she wrote about the arts, entertainment, and society for 27 years. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Review of Books and Boston Globe, among others. Sarah’s latest book, Verb Your Enthusiasm, is a clarion call for all of us to get back to basics: to mean what we say and say what we mean.

 

Sarah sat down with non-fiction writer Dan Richards to share her research and findings on how powerful verbs drive great storytelling. Their conversation explores the nine categories of language, why protecting human creativity matters in the age of AI, and how expressive language helps writers connect more deeply with readers.

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, award-winning writer Pip Landers-Letts discusses her experience self-publishing her action-packed novel Pyg – a queer retelling of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. 

 

Pip Landers-Letts is an emerging queer author of contemporary sapphic fiction. Her work explores themes of love, loss and transformation, by blending emotional honesty with warm, character-driven storytelling. Her published titles include The Weight of What Was (2024), Pyg (2025), and Chameleon (2026). In 2025, she won the Kindle Storyteller Award for Pyg.

 

Pip sat down with fellow writer Grace Murray to share her journey through self-publishing, offering advice and insights into the process, and reflecting on how winning the Kindle Storyteller Award helped her feel recognised as a writer. Their conversation also covers working with sensitivity readers, lesbian representation in literature, and the experience of writing multiple books set within the same fictional world. 

 

Self-published authors can enter a book of any genre into the Kindle Storyteller Award for the chance to win £20,000. To be eligible, simply publish your story via Kindle Direct Publishing by Monday 31 August 2026.

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, debut novelist Jem Calder shares insights into developing the complex central relationship in his novel, I Want You to Be Happy – a sharp-eyed tale of two people searching for meaning and connection in modern times, missing the mark maybe, but trying.

 

Jem Calder was born in Cambridge, and lives and works in London. His fiction has been published in The Stinging Fly and Granta, and his debut short story collection, Reward System, was published by Faber in 2022. I Want You to Be Happy is his debut novel.

 

He sat down with NCW’s Lucy May to discuss his approach to crafting the novel’s relationship, from shaping two distinct characters to exploring the dynamic that unfolds between them. Their conversation also covers writing with the reader in mind, the appeal of writing about writers, and his advice for creating convincing relationships in fiction.

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Singapore-based writer Sithuraj Ponraj shares how he balances his dual life as an international cyber-policy specialist and a multilingual writer.

 

Sithuraj Ponraj’s work includes novels, short stories, and poetry. He has won the Singapore Literature Prize for prose and poetry twice, in 2016 and 2020. His residency was supported by the National Arts Council of Singapore.

 

He sat down with novelist and mentor Andrew Cowan to discuss his journey into writing, the influence of Tamil and English on his work, and the challenges and opportunities that come with writing across different genres and for different audiences.

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norwich-based writer Anna Goldreich reflects on the personal and creative journey behind her debut novel, The Leveret – a bruisingly tender and lyrically haunting hymn to queer love and the power to rebuild from the wreckage of a relationship.

 

Anna Goldreich is a writer based in Norwich. She holds a Creative Writing Prose Fiction MA from the University of East Anglia and her writing has been shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize 2022 and was awarded the Mslexia Short Story Runner-up Prize 2025. She is the co-founder of Queer Birders Norfolk.

 

She sat down with NCW’s Lucy May, a friend and former classmate on UEA’s Creative Writing MA, for an open conversation about the excitement, uncertainty, and vulnerability that come with publishing a debut. Together, they discuss writing contrasting characters, expanding a short story into a full-length novel, and the advice she offers emerging writers.

On this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Hannah Murray shares the experience of writing her debut book, a memoir called The Make Believe: A memoir of magic and madness.

Hannah worked as an actor for over a decade, starring in E4’s Skins and HBO’s Game of Thrones. She studied English at Cambridge University and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. The Make Believe is a deeply intimate and honest memoir about acting, fame, mental illness and the struggle to leave a cult-like organisation whose belief in magic shattered Hannah’s reality.

Hannah met up with Steph just a few days before her book’s release to discuss her fascinating journey from acting into creative writing. together they dive into the unique structure and focus of her memoir, the creative challenges of portraying a fractured reality in a way that feels logical for the reader, and how the process of revisiting and reshaping difficult memories into a narrative ultimately helped her reclaim her personal story.

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norwich-based writer Ashley Hickson-Lovence discusses experimenting with narrative, form, and structure in his latest novel, About to Fall Apart – a thrilling kaleidoscope of thoughts, failures, disappointments and hope.

 

Ashley Hickson-Lovence earned his PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia. He has lectured English and Creative Writing at Brunel University, Arts University Bournemouth, University of East Anglia and the University of Suffolk. He is the author of the poetry collection Why I Am Not a Bus Driver, the acclaimed novels The 392 and Your Show, and the 2024 prize-winning YA novel in verse Wild East.

 

Set across one weekend, About to Fall Apart is the exhilarating story of a man of mixed heritage – living on the Irish border – as he tries to stay positive, reconnect with his children and maybe, even, find his own birth mother.

 

He sat down with fellow writer Sophie Yan Yee Lau, who he mentors through the Escalator New Writing Fellowships, for a candid conversation about the freedoms and constraints of setting a novel within a tight timeline. They also explore writing from personal experience, using poetic techniques in prose writing, and creating characters inspired by real-life people.

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norfolk-based writer Camilla Balshaw shares insights into exploring themes of identity and belonging in her memoir, Named – an engaging and intimate investigation of what makes us who we are.

 

Camilla Balshaw has written for the Guardian and the Observer. She holds an MA in Creative & Life Writing from Goldsmiths (Distinction) and is an Honorary Research Fellow in Name Studies at the University of Nottingham. Her memoir Named won the Biography & Memoir category winner in the East Anglian Book Awards 2025.

 

She sat down with NCW’s Holly Ainley for a candid conversation about the origins of her memoir, which intertwines an exploration of names, global naming conventions and identity politics within a moving, personal narrative about the finding of family and self. They also touch on her approach to writing about real people, the impact of names on our sense of self, and the vulnerability involved in sharing personal stories with readers.

In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, illustrator and writer Anna Trench shares the process of writing and illustrating her debut graphic novel, Florrie – a warm-hearted story about football, friendship and falling in love.

 

Anna Trench is an illustrator, cartoonist, writer and teacher based in London. Florrie is her first book. It won the 2025 East Anglian Book of the Year Award and was previously shortlisted for the First Graphic Novel Award and the LDComics Award.

 

She sat down with NCW’s Peggy Hughes to reflect on the inspiration and research behind the graphic novel, which explores self-discovery and queer love, alongside huge (and little known) historical moments for women’s football. They also touch on her analogue approach to graphic storytelling, her relationship with Norfolk, and her love for the women’s game.