The Writing Life

Owen Nicholls on his first novel & the Escalator scheme

Escalator needs your help! Our talent development scheme has helped 10 writers every year since 2004 but austerity and funding challenges means we can only fund 6 places in 2021. If you'd like to donate to help us help more writers, visit https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/escalator-donations-2020/ 

On the podcast is previous Escalator participant Owen Nicholls, whose debut novel was published in 2019. Owen talks about shifting from screenwriting to novels, how he completed his first book and how Escalator helped him on the road to creating Love, Unscripted. Simon also talks to Owen about surreptitiously enjoying the film Garden State.

Meanwhile, Steph and Simon are joined by the inimitable Vicki Maitland to talk about Chrysalis, a fantastic mini-festival created by the Lit from the Inside group of young arts professionals. Find out more: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/chrysalis/ 

More on what we do: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ 

Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe!

Music by Bennet Maples.

World building using narrative voice - with Abi Daré

Happy New Year! We begin 2021 with a conversation with Desmond Elliott Prize shortlisted Abi Daré, whose debut The Girl With The Louding Voice caught everyone's attention last year. Abi talks about her approach to world building and how she used the narrative voice in the book to explore its setting. Asking the questions is novelist Sarah Bower.

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna, who start the episode by celebrating that it's not 2020 anymore.

If you like this episode don't forget to subscribe!

Get more free resources on world building: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/5-world-building/ 

Find out about our Early Career Awards, including the Desmond Elliott Prize: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/early-career-awards/ 

Check out our online courses: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/creative-writing-online/ 

More on what we do: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ 

Made possible with support from Arts Council England.

Music by Bennet Maples.

Characters in translation - with Thomas Heerma van Voss

We're joined on the pod by Dutch writer Thomas Heerma van Voss, who is talking about his new chapbook, Thank You For Being With Us. We're also very pleased to have editor, writer and lecturer Andrew McDonnell asking the questions. They discuss the translation of Thomas' work, how lockdown has affected his writing in 2020 and how he crafted his short stories.

Thomas' residency was made possible by support from the Dutch Foundation for Literature and New Dutch Writing.

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna.

Find out more at https://nationalcentrefowriting.org.uk

More info on our residency programmes: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/residencies/ 

Music by Bennet Maples.

The Black Writers on Democracy Project

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.

Form & feeling with poet Will Harris

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.

The Artful Dickens, literary conjuror - with John Mullan

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.

Research, editing & planning novels with Stuart Turton

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.

Publishing with a small press - with Sally-Anne Lomas & Sam Ruddock

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.

Oyinkan Braithwaite on My Sister, The Serial Killer - Noirwich 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.

What happens when Covid-19 cancels your book launch? - Richard Lambert returns!

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.