The Writing Life

Translators Jeremy Tiang & Anton Hur

Jeremy Tiang returns to the pod, this time accompanied by fellow translator Anton Hur and Kate Griffin. In this wide-ranging chat they take in their inaugural Dragon Hall translator residencies, the BCLT summer school, how mentorships can help people getting into translation, the work of Tilted Axis, the history of Singapore and queer Korean literature. The residencies were supported by the National Arts Council of Singapore and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more about our work at https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk Get your Noirwich tickets: https://noirwich.co.uk http://www.jeremytiang.com/ https://antonhur.com/ http://www.bclt.org.uk/summer-school https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/emerging-translator-mentorships/ https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/erasing-histories/ https://www.tiltedaxispress.com/ https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/june-2019-korean-queer-korean-litearture-is-stepping-outanton-hur http://www.cedilla.company/ https://smokingtigers.com/ https://literarytranslators.wordpress.com/2019/02/07/focus-on-literary-translation-collectives-an-interview-with-the-smoking-tigers/ Music by Bennet Maples.

Starting an indie bookshop + Primadonna Festival

How do you start a new bookshop in 2019? Leanne Fridd from Bookbugs & Dragon Tales tells us about her new children's bookshop and why she left a comfortable job to start a new business. Meanwhile, Steph and Simon catch up about the first Primadonna Festival, which took place last weekend in Suffolk. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Sign up to our newsletter: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ https://bookbugsanddragontales.com/ https://primadonnafestival.com Music by Bennet Maples.

Writing crime fiction protagonists with Claire McGowan

Claire McGowan is the prolific writer of crime fiction including the Paula MacGuire series and the recently release What You Did. Ahead of her workshop during the Noirwich Crime Writing Festival we got her on the pod to discuss techniques for crafting characters for crime fiction. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more about Noirwich: https://noirwich.co.uk Book onto Claire's workshop: https://noirwich.co.uk/the-line-up/#event-200-details Claire's website: https://www.ink-stains.co.uk/ Primadonna Festival: https://www.primadonnafestival.com/ Noirwich is a partnership project between the National Centre for Writing and the University of East Anglia. Music by Bennet Maples.

The Golden Hare And Lighthouse Bookshops

Earlier this month our intrepid explorers Steph McKenna and Roisin Batty ventured up to Edinburgh for the festival. While there they had the opportunity to visit two independent bookshops and speak to the people who work there: Julia Danskin of The Golden Hare and Mairi Oliver from Lighthouse Books. Apologies for some of the audio quality in the first interview: due to being on location we didn't have access to our usual equipment! Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Golden Hare Books: https://goldenharebooks.com/ Lighthouse Books: https://www.lighthousebookshop.com/ The International Literature Showcase: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ils Find out more about what we do: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ Music by Bennet Maples

Val McDermid's 10 compelling LGBTQI+ writers in the UK

"I think words change the world, reader by reader." Val McDermid joins us on this very special episode, talking with Guardian Books Online editor Sian Cain about her newly revealed International Literature Showcase selection of UK-based LGBTQI+ writers. The International Literature Showcase is produced in partnership with the British Council. Find out more at https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ils/ Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Music by Bennet Maples.

Alicia Morgan in a Room of Her Own

90 years ago, Virginia Woolf published her ground-breaking essay 'A Room of One's Own', which posited that to be a writer, a woman needed money and a room of her own. We joined forces with the Royal Society of Literature to offer a week-long residency at Dragon Hall to address this: giving a female-identifying writer the time, space and support to write whatever they wanted. Alicia Morgan was selected from many amazing submissions. She is a poet, playwright, performer and culture maker now based here in Norwich. She talks with Steph about being an active part of the underground New York punk scene in the 80s and 90s, working as a journalist and her move into fiction. Follow her on Instagram @alicia13morgan Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out about writer opportunities at https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk Music by Bennet Maples.

Jeremy Tiang, Writer And Translator

Today we have NCW chief exec Chris Gribble talking with Jeremy Tiang, New York-based writer and translator who was the Inaugural Literary Translator of the Fair at London Book Fair earlier this year. Today's interview is timed to coincide with the release of issue 53 of In Other Words, the literary translation journal. You can find out more about it on our website. Chris interviewed Jeremy on a panel in the Literary Translation Centre at LBF. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more: Primadonna Festival - https://www.primadonnafestival.com/ Noirwich - https://noirwich.co.uk/ Val McDermid's International Literature Showcase - https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ils/ In Other Words - https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ncw-publications/in-other-words/ Creative Writing Online - https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/online-courses/ Jeremy Tiang photo by Edward Hill. Music by Bennet Maples.

Henry Sutton On Noirwich 2019

Henry Sutton, co-director of the Noirwich Crime Writing Festival, joins us on the pod to discuss this year's amazing festival line-up and dive into the themes being explored this September. Tickets for Noirwich are available now at https://noirwich.co.uk Hosted by Simon Jones. Find out more about our work at https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk Music by Bennet Maples.

Writing for children with Debby Lukito Goeyardi & Mitch Johnson

"You have to be alive to the possibility that there is a story waiting to be told or discovered all around you." So says Mitch Johnson on today's episode, in which he talks with visiting Indonesian author Debby Lukito Goeyardi and Vicki Maitland about writing children's literature. Hosted by Simon Jones, who claims at the start that this is episode 52 despite it evidently being episode 53. It was going to happen eventually. Find out more about our projects and writing opportunities at https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk Music by Bennet Maples.

Fantasy world building with Neon Yang

Fantasy writer Neon Yang joins us on the pod to discuss their Tensorate series of silkpunk novels. Neon was our writer in residence at Dragon Hall in June and it was the perfect opportunity to explore their approach to world building, the origins of the series and what is coming next. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more about our work at https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk Music by Bennet Maples.