The Writing Life

Theatre in translation with William Gregory & Sue Healy

Translator William Gregory joins us on the pod to discuss translating for the stage, how he started his professional career and the challenges of working on translated material in the UK. William was a (virtual) translator in residence at BCLT from October 2020 to January 2021, and ran the theatre translation workshop during 2020’s BCLT Summer School. On the other side of the conversation is special guest interviewer Sue Healy, Literary Manager at the Finborough Theatre in London. It's a wide-ranging conversation full of practical tips for early career translators and fascinating insights for anyone who enjoys a diverse mix of entertainment.

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna, who tease upcoming episodes, talk about their current reads and reminisce about people bringing cakes into the office.

Find out more: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/

BCLT: http://www.bclt.org.uk/ 

Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW 

Music by Bennet Maples.

Thumbnail photo by Felix Mooneeram on Unsplash

To Olivia - film adaptation with Stephen Michael Shearer & John Hay

We talk to author Stephen Michael Shearer and director John Hay about To Olivia, the film adaptation of Stephen's book An Unquiet Life. Focusing on the lives of Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl, the film stars Hugh Bonneville and Keeley Hawes and is available on Sky Cinema and Now TV from 19 February 2021. Stephen and John talk about the process of adapting the book and how the collaborative nature of filmmaking influences and changes the source material. Peggy Hughes is asking the questions.

Meanwhile Steph and Simon take another look at the new Early Career Writer's Resource Pack, 'Dialogue' and, inevitably, complain about the weather.

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW

Find out more about what we do: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/

Check out the free Dialogue pack: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/pack-6-dialogue/

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna.

Produced and edited by Simon Jones.

Music by Bennet Maples.

To Olivia, a Sky Original film, available on Sky Cinema and Now TV from 19th February.

Styles of dialogue with Chris Beckett

Author Chris Beckett joins us this week to explore styles of dialogue in literature and how Chris uses it in his novel Two Tribes. Covering topics as wide-ranging as conversation-as-animal-grooming to Brexit, Chris shares his tips and insight into how humans interact and different ways of capturing that on the page. Asking the questions is Sam Ruddock of Gatehouse Press and Story Machines Productions.

This episode is part of our Early Career Writer's Resource Pack focusing on dialogue in prose fiction, scriptwriting and comics. Find more from Hannah Berry, Femi Kayode, Carys Davies and Taylor Beidler at https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/pack-6-dialogue/ 

Made possible by support from Arts Council England.

Hosted by Steph McKenna and Simon Jones.

Find out more about what we do: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/

More on our Early Career Awards: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/early-career-awards/

Music by Bennet Maples.

Writing a novel on a phone - with Jon Ransom

Debut author Jon Ransom shares his tips for avoiding writer's block, the importance of deadlines, why he avoids using word counts to judge progress, securing an agent during Covid-19 lockdown and how the Escalator talent development programme helped him complete his first novel The Whale Tattoo, which is due to be published by Muswell Press in 2022. If you'd like to support new voices you can donate to this year's Escalator here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator-donations-2020/ 

MEANWHILE! Simon and Steph are joined by Flo Reynolds to introduce the new Book Club book. Listen to find out what we're reading and then join in the chatter on Discord at https://discord.gg/3G39dRW

Also under discussion are the daily writing prompts we're publishing through February, courtesy of our amazing UNESCO writers in residence. Find out more and get involved here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/imagining-the-city/

Hosted by Steph McKenna and Simon Jones.

Music by Bennet Maples.