The Writing Life

Shash Trevett & Geetha Sukumaran on translating Tamil poetry

Literary translators Shash Trevett and Geetha Sukumaran talk about their collaboration on the work of Tamil poet Nillanthan and Shash's involvement with our Visible Communities translator in residence programme. 

Geetha Sukumaran is a poet and a bilingual translator. She has published two books in Tamil: Tharkolaikku parakkum panithuli (a Tamil translation of Sylvia Plath’s poems, 2013), and her own poems, Otrai pakadaiyil enchum nampikkai in 2014. Her English translation of Ahilan’s poetry, Then There Were No Witnesses, was published by Mawenzi House, Toronto (2018). She is the recipient of the SPARROW R Thyagarajan award for her poetry in Tamil. She is a doctoral student in the Humanities at York University, Toronto.

Shash Trevett is a poet and a translator of Tamil poetry into English. She is a winner of a Northern Writers’ Award and her pamphlet From a Borrowed Land is published by Smith|Doorstop (2021). She is currently co-editing (with Vidyan Ravinthiran and Seni Seneviratne) an anthology of Tamil, English and Sinhala poetry from Sri Lanka and its diaspora communities. She is a 2021 Ledbury Critic and a Board Member of Modern Poetry in Translation.

Workshop details: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/whats-on/workshop-nillanthan/ 

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

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna.

Music by Bennet Maples.

Olivia Hellwell on translating from Slovene (+ the cultural importance of crisps)

On the podcast this week is Olivia Hellewell, a translator from Slovene to English of literary fiction, children's fiction, and non-fiction. Olivia is talking to Rebecca DeWald, our Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme Manager. They discuss Olivia's route into literary translation, the challenges of making a living from translation, and the importance of translating cultural references. This is a treasure trove for anyone interested in translation and also contains a surprising amount of discussion about Wotsits. Olivia was BCLT's translator in residence earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, Flo Reynolds is back on the pod to introduce the new NCW Book Club book - Sudden Traveller by Sarah Hall! Find out more and join up here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/the-ncw-book-club/

Here's the Meet the World video mentioned during the conversation: https://youtu.be/U_7niLTXT0g 
And the Mythical English Reader video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8oFttUu2bI 

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

We'd love your support. Find out more and donate here; https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/support-us/ 

Music by Bennet Maples.

Substack, the creator economy & serialised storytelling with Elle Griffin

"Books are dead," so declares Elle Griffin, a journalist and debut writer who is preparing to serialise her first novel via a Substack newsletter. Not sure what Substack is, or why you'd publish a book via a newsletter? Disagree (or agree!) about the fate of books? Curious about whether serialised storytelling and publishing might be for you? Simon chats with Elle about emerging new (and returning!) forms and how they relate to traditional and self-publishing.

Meanwhile, Steph and Simon discuss the new Creative Writing Online courses and the revealed 2021 line-up for the Noirwich Crime Writing Festival.

Lots of useful links this week:

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

Noirwich Crime Writing Festival: https://noirwich.co.uk/ 

Creative Writing Online courses: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/creative-writing-online/ 

Check out Elle's newsletter: https://ellegriffin.substack.com/

Simon's newsletter: https://simonkjones.substack.com/ 

This is Buttondown: https://buttondown.email/ 

Music by Bennet Maples.

Tommy Sissons on writing a prose polemic

Tommy Sissons chats to Sam Ruddock on the podcast about his book A Small Man's England, a prose-polemic exploration of white, working class masculinity. Under discussion are the techniques Tommy uses to explore his argument as well as the core themes at the heart of the book.

Meanwhile Simon and Steph talk about the newly announced Escalator talent development scheme for emerging writers, now open for applications to under-represented writers in the East of England: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator/

Continue the conversation on Discord: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW

Sign up to our newsletter: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/newsletters/ 

Music by Bennet Maples.

How to become a literary translator: deep dive

This week we have a special episode for anyone considering or embarking on a career as a literary translator. Sarah Ardizzone, translator and mentor, guides us through a detailed, nuts-and-bolts exploration of what it takes to be a literary translator. Sarah is joined by Rosie Eyre, a recent mentee on our Emerging Translator Mentorships programme, and Jamie Lee Searle, who was a mentee ten years ago. Together they explore the challenges of the industry and share tips on how to break in.

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna, who talk abut the upcoming Time To Write workshops for young writers. Find out more here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/working-with-schools/workshops-for-young-people/

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

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

Music by Bennet Maples.

Tsitsi Dangarembga on representation, feminism and Zimbabwean literature

Tsitsi Dangarembga is a novelist, playwright and filmmaker who joins us on the pod today to discuss her groundbreaking work and its influence on readers. Tsitsi is the author of Nervous Conditions, which in 1988 was the first book to be published in English by a black woman from Zimbabwe and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and its sequels The Book of Not (2006) and This Mournable Body (2018). She was shortlisted in 2020 for the Booker Prize. Tsitsi lives in Harare and is the director of the Institute of Creatve Arts for Progress in Africa Trust.

Asking the questions is Molly-Rose Medhurst, student writer and activist who worked with us as an intern earlier in 2021. Take a look at an article she wrote: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/must-reads-for-lgbt-history-month/

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna.

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

Music by Bennet Maples.

William Ryan's Guide to How to Write

William Ryan is the author of historical crime fiction novels, including the Captain Korolev series. William joins us on the pod to talk about his latest project, the Writers' & Artists' Guide To How To Write. It's a nuts-and-bolts framework for writing a book, avoiding common mistakes and asking yourself the right questions up front.

Meanwhile we talk about the Early Career Awards winner announcements. Find out about the winners of the 2021 Desmond Elliott Prize, UEA New Forms Award and Laura Kinsella Fellowship here: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/early-career-awards/

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna.

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/3G39dRW 

Music by Bennet Maples.

Jen Campbell on building your writer platform

Award-winning poet and short story writer Jen Campbell is on the pod to discuss her prolific work in children's fiction, non-fiction and poetry as well as how she built an online platform for her writing across YouTube, Patreon, a podcast and more. Jen's tips on being productive (and forgiving yourself when you're not) and how to make the internet work for you and invaluable.

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna, who look back at the week's International Literature Showcase and get giddy with excitement for the reveal of the Early Career Awards winners next week!

Check out the ILS commissions and videos: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ils/

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

Jen's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/jenvcampbell 

Music by Bennet Maples.

We pick our top episodes from lockdown

Something of a minisode this week, as Steph and Simon pick their favourite podcast episodes since lockdown began in the UK in March 2020. They also dive into the International Literature Showcase, which next week reveals its new list of unmissable writers courtesy of Kei Miller! Let's do some links:

Discover 50 umissable writers at the International Literature Showcase: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/international-literature-showcase-2021/

Book for Joy Francis' keynote: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/whats-on/recovery-reimagining-literature/

Book for Innovation & Enterprise in the Literature Sector: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/whats-on/innovation-enterprise/

Book for Kei Miller presents... https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/whats-on/kei-miller-presents/

And here are Steph and Simon's podcast picks:

J. Michael Straczynski on becoming a writer: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/j-michael-straczynski-on-becoming-a-writer-staying-a-writer/

Greg Kasavin on HADES: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/writing-hades-with-greg-kasavin/

Richard Lambert and Wolf Road: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/what-happens-when-covid-19-cancels-your-book-launch/

Sonia Faleiro's non-fiction: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/writing-creative-non-fiction-with-sonia-faleiro/

Crowdfunding with Tom Cox: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/crowdfunded-publishing-with-tom-cox/

A Delicate Sight with Max Porter and Sam Winston: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/podcast-reveal-a-delicate-sight/ 

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna.

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

Music by Bennet Maples.

J. Michael Straczynski on Becoming A Writer, Staying A Writer

Joe Michael Straczynski is the creator of influential science fiction classic Babylon 5; he has worked extensively for Marvel and DC comics, was nominated for a BAFTA for his screenplay Changeling, directed by Clint Eastwood; co-created Sense8 with the Wachowskis for Netflix; worked on the screenplay for the first Thor movie, helping to shape what is now the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and in the 80s worked on Murder, She Wrote, The Twilight Zone and animated shows such as He-Man and the Master of the Universe and The Real Ghostbusters. His novel Together We Will Go is out in 2021. He has won the Inkpot Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ray Bradbury Award, the Eisner Award, the Hugo Award (twice), the Saturn Award and many more. His bio also mentions that he is a terrible singer, an abysmal dancer and that he sucks at poetry.

Joe is on the show this week to talk about Becoming A Writer, Staying A Writer: The Artistry, Joy and Career of Storytelling, his new book on writing which is out now. Simon is very, very excited.

Hosted by Simon Jones and Vicki Maitland.

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

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

Listen to our episode with Thomas McMullan talking about The Last Good Man: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/ambiguity-and-metaphor-with-thomas-mcmullan/ 

Music by Bennet Maples.