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We’re a podcast for anyone who writes. Every week we talk to writers about their writing journeys and techniques, from early career debuts to self-publishers and narrative designers. We’ve featured Margaret Atwood, Jackie Kay, Sara Collins, Antti Tuomainen, Val McDermid, Sarah Perry, Elif Shafak and many more! The Writing Life is produced by the National Centre for Writing at Dragon Hall in Norwich.
Episodes
Thursday Nov 26, 2020
The Artful Dickens, literary conjuror - with John Mullan
Thursday Nov 26, 2020
Thursday Nov 26, 2020
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.
Friday Nov 20, 2020
Research, editing & planning novels with Stuart Turton
Friday Nov 20, 2020
Friday Nov 20, 2020
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.
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
Publishing with a small press - with Sally-Anne Lomas & Sam Ruddock
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
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.
Friday Nov 06, 2020
Oyinkan Braithwaite on My Sister, The Serial Killer - Noirwich 2020
Friday Nov 06, 2020
Friday Nov 06, 2020
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.