Hello Friend

Will has been one of my favourite Twitter friends for a few years now, and we've recently become real life friends. I wanted to talk to him about writing, getting published, the stuff he likes to read, and his wild life in the swamp in Sweden. Will tweets at @willrdean, and his novel, Dark Pines, will be published in January 2018.

Ahead of the final episode of season 1 of Hello Friend, I compile my top 5 favourite podcasts that you might enjoy while I'm away.

In this episode I talk to Grace Barber-Plentie about all things film, from all-time faves to trailer crimes to trying to carve her own space in the film world as a young woman of colour with Reel Good Film Club. Grace tweets at @gracesimone and you can find Reel Good Film Club at @gottobereel.

In this episode I catch up with Fil, someone I had a very pleasant fling with circa 2014-2015, and his current babe Brad, who together run Sorry Not Sorry, a business serving food from the Italian Alps. We discuss setting up a food business, bumps in the road, our varied experiences of dating apps, fetishisation of fat bodies and the weird position of being a bi dude. You can follow Fil on Instagram at www.instagram.com/filmarra, Brad on Instagram at www.instagram.com/bradclarkuk and you can see what Sorry Not Sorry is up to at www.instagram.com/sorrynotsorrylondon

In this episode I talk to Jazmin Lee, queen of groundbreaking indie plus size brand Plus Equals (http://www.plusequals.co.uk). I wanted to hear about her fashion inspirations, what it's like being a one-woman operation and what it takes to get something like that off the ground. We discuss making people feel good via compliments, living in the golden age of fashion exhibitions, and always keeping Liberace in mind.

In this episode, I talk to my old friend Dominic about our shared experiences of homophobia at secondary school, the world of drag and how badly work can affect your mental health. Dominic performs as Cola Phalquero and can often be found at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. He tweets at @errorfied.

In this episode I talk to comedian Sofie Hagen because she's someone I like a lot, and appearing on her podcast was at least partly the inspiration behind starting a podcast of my own. We discuss her past misdeeds, and misdeeds done against her by people in the standup world, bad fatphobic jokes, people she thinks are funny and her passion for Cujo the dog.

In this episode, I talk to Jools Walker, aka VeloCity Girl. She blogs at velocitygirl.co.uk and describes herself as a cycle-style blogger, and while I thought I wanted to talk to her about cycling (because it terrifies me), what I really wanted to hear about was making your way in an industry that doesn't represent you. Here, Jools talks often about how she still suffers from impostor syndrome as a black woman in the cycling world, even though she's considered an expert in her field. We also discuss her other great love: the jewellery brand Tatty Devine.

In addition to the usual weekly episode of chat between a friend and I, this week I'm bringing you a shorter, special episode with four guests. In this episode, I talk to four amazing female authors ahead of the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. You can see the full list of 6 shortlisted authors at www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk. Those authors are: Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing Linda Grant, author of The Dark Circle Ayobami Adebayo, author of Stay With Me Naomi Alderman, author of The Power

In this episode, I talk to my longtime friend Alice Slater about two great things: LiveJournal and books. She's a bookseller at Waterstones Gower Street and has flawless literary taste. We talk you through the appeal of now-dead journalling platform LiveJournal, go deep on thrillers, talk about Erin Kelly too much and Alice confesses a book-related crime she committed that endured for many years. Alice blogs at https://smokintofu.com She tweets and Instagrams at @smokintofu Books we talked about: Exquisite by Sarah Stovell I Love Dick by Chris Kraus Carol by Patricia Highsmith Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney Paulina & Fran by Rachel B. Glaser Marlena by Julie Buntin The books of Margaret Atwood The End We Start From by Megan Hunter Diary of An Oxygen Thief by anonymous Milk & Honey by Rupi Kaur The Poison Tree // The Burning Air // He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

In this episode, I talk to moneysaving genius Lotty Burns about her best-ever deals, buying up all the cheese in Tesco, getting depressed and reading Twilight, and her attempt to kick her Diet Coke habit. We also talk about the years of her life that Lotty has wasted at Slimming World/Weight Watchers, and how the diet industry creates a disconnect between your brain and your body. Lotty's website is www.lottyearns.co.uk She tweets at @lottyburns Who (and what) we talked about: @CallieThorpe @VanierDanielle www.becleverwithyourcash.com www.quidco.com holiday.holidaypirates.com/holidays

In this episode, I talk to my friend, photographer Michael Chapman. We talk about knowing when to make the leap to a creative freelance career from a stable office job, how to make people feel chilled when you're taking their photos, meeting people off of Twitter, trying to convince people your work is worth paying for, turning down jobs with the 'alt-right', the branch of Leon where the servers sing, and what emoji Michael would be if he was an emoji. Michael's website is www.mjchapman.co.uk He tweets at @mjc_photography Who we talked about: Leah Vernon - www.beautyandthemuse.net - @leahjvernon Jennifer Tighe - @tighe_er Martin Chivers - @Finnbarm Travis Alabanza - @travisalabanza Dom Falquero - @errorfied

A two-minute introduction to Hello Friend. What it is, and why I'm doing it.