This Writing Life

On 11th March, Hatchards hosted a live event bringing together four of the authors who contributed stories to These Our Monsters : Sarah, Moss, Fiona Mozley, Edward Carey and Graeme Mcrae Burnet. I chaired the event, and recorded it for posterity. ----more---- Posterity has arrived now. The event began with readings by each writer. Here, Sarah Moss reads from her story, 'Breakyneck'. Having chosen Berwick Castle as her English Heritage location, Sarah tells a ghost story that excavates the site's violent past - above all, the pitiless exploitation of Irish workers drafted to build the 19th century railway line. These Our Monsters is a collection of modern folktales to be published by English Heritage, and featuring work by Edward Carey, Graeme Mcrae Burnet, Fiona Mozley, Sarah Hall and many others - including an introduction written by me.  Sarah Moss's website is: https: sarahmoss.org For more information on These Our Monsters, visit the English Heritage website, where you can also buy a copy. The music on the podcast is Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie. 

Last year I was asked to write an introduction for a collection of modern folktales to be published by English Heritage. ----more---- The result was These Our Monsters, featuring work by Edward Carey, Graeme Mcrae Burnet, Fiona Mozley, Sarah Hall and many others.  I talked to three of the authors for This Writing Life podcast. The third is Graeme Macrae Burnet, whose brilliant His Bloody Project was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.  Graeme's 'The Dark Thread' tackled the most infamous, and perhaps the trickiest story in the book - Bram Stoker's visit to Whitby in 1890, which is often thought to have been a turning point in the composition of Dracula.  Graeme reads an early passage in the story, which shuttles fluently between the atmospheric setting of Whitby Abbey and Stoker's inner turmoil - his exhaustion, strained marriage, and tortured relationship with the actor Henry Irving.  Our interview will follow, as will readings by and conversations with Graeme Macrae Burnet and Edward Carey.  Graeme's website is: graememacraeburnet.com For more information on These Our Monsters, visit the English Heritage website, where you can also buy a copy. The music on the podcast is Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie. 

Last year I was asked to write an introduction for a collection of modern folktales to be published by English Heritage. ----more---- The result was These Our Monsters, featuring work by Edward Carey, Graeme Mcrae Burnet, Fiona Mozley, Sarah Hall and many others.  I talked to three of the authors for This Writing Life podcast. The second is Fiona Mozley, whose debut novel Elmet was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.  Fiona's story in 'The Loathly Lady' was inspired by the Arthurian legend of Dame Ragnelle, supposedly the most hideous woman in the world who makes a trial of Sir Gawain's chivalry. The plot is a quest to find a different sort of holy grail: the answer to the question, 'What do women want?' Fiona reads an early passage full of puns and plays on words that establish Arthur's legendary status. Our interview will follow, as will readings by and conversations with Graeme Macrae Burnet and Edward Carey.  For more information on These Our Monsters, visit the English Heritage website, where you can also buy a copy. The music on the podcast is Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie. 

Last year I was asked to write an introduction for a collection of modern folktales, myths and legends to be published by English Heritage. ----more---- The result was These Our Monsters, featuring work by Edward Carey, Graeme Mcrae Burnet, Fiona Mozley, Sarah Hall and many others.  I talked to three of the authors for This Writing Life podcast. The first is Edward Carey, the novelist and illustrator whose works include the 'Iremonger Trilogy' and his fabulous novel about Madame Tussaud, Little. Edward's story 'These Our Monsters', which gives the book its title, is inspired by the legend of the Green Children of Woolpit, in Suffolk. Its extraordinary narrator is one of the villagers, whom I described (if memory serves) as two parts Gollum to one part Alf Garnet, as he attempts to make sense of this universe-altering visitation.  Edward's reading more than lives up to his prose. Our interview will follow, as will readings by and conversations with Graeme Macrae Burnet and Fiona Mozley.  Edward's website is: edwardcareyauthor.com For more information on These Our Monsters, visit the English Heritage website, where you can also buy a copy. The music on the podcast is Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie. 

Reading from the blog on his own website, Simon Barnes describes the close attention required and inspired by bird-watching, and the almost poetic empathy that can result. ----more---- Part two of our interview with Simon will follow.  Read more about 2020’s Keats-Shelley Prizes here. For 2020’s Keats-Shelley Prize, click here. For information on 2020’s Young Romantics Prize click here. The music on the podcast is Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie. 

Part two of our conversation with Simon Barnes, the award-winning sportswriter, revered birdlover and Chair of 2020's Keats-Shelley Prizes.  ----more---- Our annual theme is 'Songbirds', to mark the composition 200 years ago of PB Shelley’s To a Skylark and the publication in book form of John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale, which made Simon the perfect choice as Chair.  In which Simon discusses the repertory singers that are skylarks and nightingales, how and why they sing (and does this make them sexy), whether Keats' nightingale could sing and fly - and does that spoil the poem?  After this, we move onto the extinction threats looming over both birds - not to mention the planet as a whole - and whether poetry can help sharpen our awareness of humankind's mortality?  Simon Barnes is unique in the world of literature. How many revered sports writers are also revered nature writers too? Off the top of my head I can think of one: Simon Barnes himself.  For many years the chief sports of the Times, he covered seven Olympics, five World Cups, a Superbowl and the World Chess Championship. His profiles included everyone from David Beckham to Red Rum, his publications range from novels about Hong Kong to a biography about England off-spinner Phil Edmunds. What elevated Barnes above his peers was prose that could pithily encapsulate the drama simmering underneath the surface action: ‘With Sampras the beauty was subtle, the tactics and execution obvious. With Federer, it was exactly the other way around,’ as he wrote in his 2018 career-spanning retrospective, Epic. As this reading from his excellent The Meaning of Birds, Barnes has brought similarly acute sensitivity to his accounts of the natural work - and of birds and birdsong above all.  This is one reason I approached Simon (in my other work for the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association) to be the Chair of 2020's Keats-Shelley and Young Romantics Prizes - for poetry and essays. Our annual theme is 'Songbirds', to mark the composition 200 years ago of PB Shelley’s To a Skylark and the publication in book form of John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale. I recently met Simon in London to talk to him about his love of nature, poetry, sport and writing - not to mention how this feeds into Romanticism, Keats and Shelley. Part one of that conversation is posted on this very website.  Read more about 2020’s Keats-Shelley Prizes here. For 2020’s Keats-Shelley Prize, click here. For information on 2020’s Young Romantics Prize click here. The music on the podcast is Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie. 

In this first of two episodes, I talk to Simon Barnes, the award-winning sportswriter, revered birdlover and Chair of 2020's Keats-Shelley Prizes.  Our annual theme is 'Songbirds', to mark the composition 200 years ago of PB Shelley’s To a Skylark and the publication in book form of John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale, which made Simon the perfect choice as Chair.  We talked, among other things, about his own changing relationship with nature, how he fell in love with birds and birding, what birding means in the 21st century and its relationship with writing in general, and Romantic poetry in particular. We even address the question of John Keats' wonky nightingale. ----more---- Simon Barnes is unique in the world of literature. How many revered sports writers are also revered nature writers too? Off the top of my head I can think of one: Simon Barnes himself.  For many years the chief sports of the Times, he covered seven Olympics, five World Cups, a Superbowl and the World Chess Championship. His profiles included everyone from David Beckham to Red Rum, his publications range from novels about Hong Kong to a biography about England off-spinner Phil Edmunds. What elevated Barnes above his peers was prose that could pithily encapsulate the drama simmering underneath the surface action: ‘With Sampras the beauty was subtle, the tactics and execution obvious. With Federer, it was exactly the other way around,’ as he wrote in his 2018 career-spanning retrospective, Epic. As this reading from his excellent The Meaning of Birds, Barnes has brought similarly acute sensitivity to his accounts of the natural work - and of birds and birdsong above all.  This is one reason I approached Simon (in my other work for the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association) to be the Chair of 2020's Keats-Shelley and Young Romantics Prizes - for poetry and essays. Our annual theme is 'Songbirds', to mark the composition 200 years ago of PB Shelley’s To a Skylark and the publication in book form of John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale. I recently met Simon in London to talk to him about his love of nature, poetry, sport and writing - not to mention how this feeds into Romanticism, Keats and Shelley. Part one of that conversation is posted on this very website.  Read more about 2020’s Keats-Shelley Prizes here. For 2020’s Keats-Shelley Prize, click here. For information on 2020’s Young Romantics Prize click here. The music on the podcast is Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie. 

Simon Barnes is unique in the world of literature. How many revered sports writers are also revered nature writers too? Off the top of my head I can think of one: Simon Barnes himself. ----more---- For many years the chief sports of the Times, he covered seven Olympics, five World Cups, a Superbowl and the World Chess Championship. His profiles included everyone from David Beckham to Red Rum, his publications range from novels about Hong Kong to a biography about England off-spinner Phil Edmunds. What elevated Barnes above his peers was prose that could pithily encapsulate the drama simmering underneath the surface action: ‘With Sampras the beauty was subtle, the tactics and execution obvious. With Federer, it was exactly the other way around,’ as he wrote in his 2018 career-spanning retrospective, Epic. As this reading from his excellent The Meaning of Birds, Barnes has brought similarly acute sensitivity to his accounts of the natural work - and of birds and birdsong above all.  This is one reason I approached Simon (in my other work for the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association) to be the Chair of 2020's Keats-Shelley and Young Romantics Prizes - for poetry and essays. Our theme is 'Songbirds', to mark the composition 200 years ago of PB Shelley’s To a Skylark and the publication in book form of John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale. I recently met Simon in London to talk to him about his love of nature, poetry, sport and writing - not to mention how this feeds into Romanticism, Keats and Shelley. Part one of that conversation is posted on this very website.  Read more about 2020’s Keats-Shelley Prizes here. For 2020’s Keats-Shelley Prize, click here. For information on 2020’s Young Romantics Prize click here. The music on the podcast is Androids Always Escape by Chris Zabriskie. 

Amanda Coe is an English novelist and screenwriter, whose credits include the BAFTA-winning adaptation of John Braine's Room at the Top, and her highly-praised thrillers What They Do in the Dark and Getting Colder. This Writing Life met her at Waterstones Piccadilly to talk about everything from her excellent new novel Everything You Do is Wrong to her childhood in Canada and Doncaster, her student days at Oxford, her formative love of George Eliot and PG Wodehouse and the challenge of being busy. Part 2 to follow.

The final part of This Writing Life podcast's chat with Leila Slimani begins with a question about racisial abuse of Muslims in France. From here we discuss her relationship with Morrocco, with sexual politics in that country, between her fiction and her activism, and finally about the future: movie adaptations of her global smash-hit Lullaby and that next novel.

Part three of This Writing Life's podcast with Leila Slimani, author of global smash-hit Lullaby, moves towards more personal territory. We talk about her family, her background and her views on everything from the French language to women wearing the veil. Along the way, Leila discusses her role for President Macron promoting the French language and ponders whether whether it is courageous to speak out on issues like Islamic fundamentalism that might put her in danger. During this, I accidentally stumble into terrain explored by her current work-in-progress. The final part to follow.

Part two of Leila Slimani's conversation with This Writing Life podcast about her new novel Lullaby begins with a discussion of objectification: in this case, of the nanny who cares for the children of the Masse family. Slimani talks about her own vexed relationship with the woman who cares for her own children, about the power struggles in that interaction and finally about the idea of tragedy in the novel. We talk Mary Poppins, Mrs Doubtfire, and why Lullaby refuses both visions of modern childcare. Part three to follow.

Leila Slimani's second novel Lullaby is a phenomenon. Having sold over 600,000 copies and won the Prix Goncourt in her adopted homeland of France, the book is now spreading around the world in various translations. A movie has begun filming in France and there are rumours of a Hollywood adaptation as well. The reason for the fuss is a plot that grips like a thriller and prose that dissects contemporary life like the most acute literary novel. The nanny of the well-to-do Masse family murders the two children in her care. From this terse, shocking opening, Slimani rewinds to examine the pressures that led up to the tragedy. In Part One of our conversation at her London publishers, Slimani talks about titles, tragedy, modern parenting, the challenges of being a nanny and how families rely on women from across the world to facilitate their lives. Part two to follow.

Lynn Shepherd was the first ever This Writing Life recorded. The final part of our conversation begins with a discussion of social media and publicity, and the part both play in her writing life. From here we zoom through the joys and trials of writing novels: bad days, bad reviews, and how her close friends and confidents help her through. We end by looking to the future, and by asking: what has Lynn learned from her writing life so far. Lynn's website can be found: here.

As a trailer ahead of part four of This Writing Life podcast's conversation with novelist Lynn Shepherd, she offers some advice to budding writers...

Part three of Lynn Shepherd's This Writing Life podcast mixes business and pleasure: how did a successful city worker become a successful writer? Doctorates on Samuel Richardson, freelance copywriting, and publishing novels all flash past in quick succession. We talk unpublished novels, the challenges of finishing a book and writing for writing's sake. Lynn discusses where her own voice lies in the novels she produces, discusses how to information dump, and how much license to take with historical fact. We end by discussing the complex subject of her latest historical book, A Treacherous Likeness, the Romantic poet Percy Shelley. Part 4 of 4 to follow.

Part two of This Writing Life's conversation with Oxford-based novelist Lynn Shepherd begins with some chat about her love of 'clever crime', and how it shapes her novels like Murder in Mansfield Park and Tom All-Alones. We end this edition by discussing the other prime influence on these early historical novels: her love of classic literature, above all Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. But where does Dickens end and Lynn Shepherd begin? In between we talk novel endings, books series, Shepherd's student days (and those of Percy Shelley), and that old work-life balance.

The latest episode of This Writing Life podcast is particularly special in that it was the first ever recorded. The subject is Lynn Shepherd, a crime writer, critic, journalist, and copy writer who lives and works in Oxford. Her speciality is literary mystery fiction: each of her novels, Murder in Mansfield Park, Tom All-Alone's, A Treacherous and The Pierced Heart insert an ingenious crime into a well-known story or writer's life. Before we talk about re-mixing Austen, Dickens, Shelley and Bram Stoker, we discuss her life, career, day jobs and love of literature. We even intrigue a little, in the style of Jane Austen. More information can be found at: lynn-shepherd.com

In the final part of This Writing Life podcast's conversation with Neel Mukherjee, we begin with Donald Trump before floating in a liberal bubble towards Neel's decision to stop listening to the news. We talk about the novel might cope with a 24 hour news cycle and Neel's own creative method - taking in his daily grind and his experience of studying creative writing courses. Neel's excellent new novel A State of Freedom is out now.

In the second part of Neel Mukherjee's chat with This Writing Life podcast, he talks the influence of ghost stories on his excellent new novel A State of Freedom, about returning to India (as a visitor and writer), about the short story-novel, about surviving the Man Booker Prize shortlist for The Lives of Others, about the international trends of English literature, and finally about researching and writing about Indian bear-dancing. Part 3 to follow.

In the opening instalment of This Writing Life podcast's interview with Neel Mukherjee, Man Booker shortlisted author of The Lives of Others, we discuss his excellent new novel A State of Freedom. After admitting a little pre-publication anxiety, Mukherjee moves onto his new book and its various debts to VS Naipaul's In a Free State and Jawaharlal Nehru's 'Tryst with Destiny' speech, not to mention the parallels with recent interlinked narratives by Davids Mitchell and Szalay. Having slalomed around Mukherjee's relationship with Modernism and his portrait of Indian inequality, we end by discussing food and whether A State of Freedom is happy novel. Part two of three to follow.

In the final part of This Writing Life podcast's conversation with Meena Kandasamy, she discusses India as a modern superpower, the place of violence in the lives of women, the poor and everyday society, shifts smartly to talk about her first (and possibly only) venture into acting, before turning to the future. We end by wondering whether the appaling events depicted in her debut novel, The Gipsy Goddess, could ever happen again.

In the third part of This Writing Life podcast's chat with the Indian poet, novelist and activist Meena Kandasamy, we begin with some chatter about the title of her debut novel, The Gipsy Goddess, before exploring her fraught relationship with social media - its pros and cons for political engagement, literary creativity, feminism and all-round mental health. Part four to follow.

In the second part of This Writing Life podcast's interview with Meena Kandasamy, we discuss how fiction mixes with historical truth, women in The Gipsy Goddess, language to shock and illuminate. And more on Nicki Minaj of course. Part three to follow.

In this new mini-podlet, Meena Kandasamy reads from chapter 4 of her first novel, The Gipsy Goddess. For those of a nervous disposition, the passage does contain a little strong language, and a reference to Nicki Minaj. But surely those are good things?

This Writing Life podcast extracts an interview from its vaults. Back when we had the energy to attempt an actual introduction, even when we mispronounce the author's name, we talked to the extraordinary Meena Kandasamy about her extraordinary debut novel, The Gypsy Goddess. Part 2 to follow.

The final part of This Writing Life's conversation with Rick Bass, award winning writer and respected environmental activist, begins where the last podlet ended. 'Obey little, resist much.' From there, we consider time and how art can help breed a sense of empathy. Bass bashes the de-humanising effects of corporate existence, the apathy and 'altered truths' that make up contemporary life. The pod ends with more Trump, some lighter discussion of Bass's writing day, his family, and finally - with one eye on the audio-audience, so to speak - some chat about Montana. For a little more about Bass' superb collection For a Little While, visit. You can listen to Rick read The Hermit's Story here. Thank you for listening.    

In this short but inspiring podlet, This Writing Life attempts its best impersonation of Pod Save America and asks: what can we do to organise resistance against Donald Trump, destroyer of worlds, ruiner of all things good and wholesome and green and free? Where does Bass draw the line when resisting: the picket line, the jail cell? What would he say to anyone tempted to welcome the frackers? Part five of five to follow.

In part four of This Writing Life's conversation with Rick Bass, whose new book For a Little While (Pushkin) on 2017's Story Prize, we talk about his love of the short story, and why it is the most human of literary forms. We return to the relationship between Bass's environmentalism and his writing, before skipping off again onto nature writing and finally the difference between optimism and hope in Bass's conception of humankind. Buried somewhere in all this, Bass refuses to talk about his new novel. 'It's an old writer's taboo...' The fifth and final part to follow next week.  

A short trailer for part 4 of This Writing Life's conversation with Rick Bass. In which Rick answers the question: are you optimisitic about human nature?

Part three of This Writing Life's transatlantic chat with a Montana-bound Rick Bass takes in the material in Episode 119: in which Rick reviews his short story career in For a Little While (Pushkin), and attempting to describe what it feels like to be lost in a story. In between he discusses the connections between writing and geology, about following his imaginative nose through a story. To finish, we talk about his story 'Elk', which first appeared in the New Yorker, images of substrata and blue in his work, and the mysteriousness of his own characters. Part 4 to follow.

'You are a stranger inhabiting this blazing dream and you barely get out with your life...yeah, and then you go to the bar for a drink.' A Writing Life podlet, in which Rick Bass recalls what's like to review your career (to date) in his superb collection of stories, For a Little While (Pushkin Press), which won 2017's Story Prize. From here Bass tries to explain what it feels like when inspiration strikes and fades.

Part two of This Writing Life's transatlantic conversation with Rick Bass, novelist, activist, award-winning short story writer, begins with a question referencing Philip Larkin, Romanticism and Transcendentalism and continues with an answer discussing fiction, geology, humans and time: 'We are new to this world. We don't know how to be in this old world.' ----more----From here we moved towards some if not all the following: Bass, religion and nature 'fostered alike by beauty and by fear': nature as teacher? autobiography, family and discovering nature nature as idea or reality? Annie Gillard, Peter Matheson, Edward Abbey: Bass and nature writing 'I like people. I just don't like being around them': Bass as misanthropist? bookshops, Russians, Flannery O'Connor, Jim Harrison: how did Bass start writing? Part 3 to follow.

'I am working on a new novel...and an op-ed for the Los Angeles paper about Trump and his reign of terror.' Here in one line is This Writing Life's lengthy podcast conversation with Rick Bass - novelist, award-winning short story writer, and environmental activist. In future episodes we discuss For a Little While, a collection of his best short fiction, which a week after we spoke won the prestigious Story Prize. We began however with Rick Bass the Environmental Activist - in his home state of Montana and elsewhere across the United States and disunited world. You can read more about his work to save the natural world and fight the powers that seek to denude it at his excellent website: rickbass.net/projects.  ----more---- We spoke over the magic of Skype. This not only allowed us to talk from different locations (TWL at home in Oxford; Bass from his writing office near Montana State University), it inspired new, if temporary theme music. Other sounds are provided by the TWL daughter: 'It's good music,' Bass said kindly as she chatters in the background. In this opening instalment, our focus was on the election of Donald Trump and what it might mean for the environment and environmental politics in the United States. Bass is unequivocal: 'In the worst nightmare horror movie you would not have such goings on'. From this low point we skate upwards to: Bass on the 2016 Presidential race 'Everybody's in mourning and is searching for a centre current of resistance': the response to Trump's ascension 'I for one am glad I have guns': Bass on protest and a 'terrifying' America would Hilary Clinton have been a greener President? Trump, the Keystone Pipeline, Scott Pruitt - reasons not to be cheerful the state of writing and journalism under Trump 'cultural clamour': the changing, angry face of public politics in America Rick Bass: writing or activism; writing and activism? science, art, politics Part two to follow.

'I quite liked it.' So says Gary Younge about America in the final part of This Writing Life podcast's conversation about his  wonderful new book, Another Day in the Death of America. We began by asking asking Younge about his decision to leave the country and return to his home in Hackney, east London. A description of his feelings on departing the United States leads into a meditation on his Barbadian family background, and what it means to grow up black in Britain. 'There is an element of outsiderness here that I carry with me.' ----more---- From here, he talked about what politicians in America (this was pre-Trump, mind you) are doing to confront the problems Younge's book raises: gun control, racism, the gap between rich and poor, healthcare are there causes for hope Younge on Trump and Clinton on returning to London - and how his family are adapting what toll did researching and writing the book take on Younge? Our next guest on This Writing Life is the American novelist, short story writer and activist, Rick Bass.  

In part three of Gary Younge's conversation with This Writing Life podcast, we continue our discussion of his extraordinary book A Day in the Death of America. We begin by discussing the idea of choice in the lives of the teenagers Younge writes about - all of whom are either the victims of gun violence, or the perpetrator. Younge weighs up role of personal responsibility against a culture and society in which gun violence is simply more likely. He recalls the tragic example of Justin, who was shot in a case of mistaken identity whilst driving on the streets of Goldsboro, North Carolina. ----more----Younge then considers: the challenge of writing Justin's story place, theme, character: how did Younge 'put a human face' on gun violence 'How do we avoid turning this into a tale of unrelenting woe? Who wants to read a book that just says death?' how Younge wrote about his own part in the story Part 4 of 4 to follow.

In part two of This Writing Life's conversation with Gary Younge about his powerful book Another Day in the Death of America, we begin by discussing the place of guns in the stories he tells: the deaths by gun-shots on one random day of teenagers across the United States. What makes America different with regards gun-crime? Do guns kill people, or is it the people themselves? ----more----Having addressed this, we moved onto: Younge's own encounters with guns living in Chicago 'Why would I want a gun?': what Younge learned when covering NRA conventions why your wife is more likely to shoot you than anyone else? did Younge understand the attraction of guns for teenagers killers and victims: how guns change lives in an instant the path towards violence: culture and personal responsibility Younge's childhood and future opportunities death or jail: teenagers, risks and the margins for error Part 3 of 4 to follow.

Gary Younge is an acclaimed writer and journalist, best known for his reporting on the United States for the Guardian in the United Kingdom. The author of several books, he spoke to This Writing Life podcast about his most recent: Another Day in the Death in America (Faber & Faber). As he explains in the introduction, its premise is tragically simple: every day on average seven children and teens are shot dead by guns in America. Younge decided to tell the story of one day, 23rd November 2013, selected at random, on which 10 young people were killed. ----more---- We spoke at the offices of Faber & Faber in the autumn of 2016: hence the red hot topical reference to the imminent debate between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton (them were the days). Younge begins by describing the background and thesis of the book, how the stories themselves suggested themes, rather than the other way around, how the demographics of the day differed from the average. From there we moved through: the role of mental health in one of the shootings myths about parenting and African-American fathers fatalism and the poignant refrain of 'If only'... Part 2 to follow. Read Gillian Slovo's review of Another Day in the Death of America: here.

The final part of Kevin Sullivan's conversation with This Writing Life podcast arrives after a slight delay for a summer holiday. We begin by asking whether Kevin has a typical writing day - a pressing matter given his long career as a foreign correspondent. From here we move through his creative process as a novelist (editing and re-writing) to the challenges of writing from the middle of a war zone. We also discuss his human rights work with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), above all in identifying those murdered at Srebrenica. ----more---- The remainder of our chat includes: did Kevin hesitate to return to Sarajevo after being blown-up by a landmine? Kevin discusses his work with ICMP, and the challenge of identifying the victims of the Srebrenica genocide what is the situation in Bosnia right now? where does Sullivan call home? Visit the ICMP here. Read more about Kevin's novel, The Longest Winter here.

In the fourth part of This Writing Life's conversation with journalist and novelist Kevin Sullivan, we move away from his experiences reporting on the siege of Sarajevo to his writing career more generally. Sullivan discussed his formative literary loves, his romantic ideas of the foreign correspondent, before delving into the reality of writing about conflict from across the world. He recalls riots in Korea and finding himself in the middle of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Part 5 of 5 to follow.

'It was the loudest explosion I’ve ever heard.' Kevin Sullivan begins part three of his conversation with This Writing Life podcast by remembering the landmine explosion that almost killed him while he was reporting in Gornji Vakuf, in the early days of the Bosnian war. Having described his dramatic rescue, Sullivan recalls the revelation that occurred as he lay in a nearby basement with two broken legs: 'I was very conscious then that however dramatic this experience is for me these [Bosnian] people lying on the same concrete floor are not going to get taken away and given morphine and the latest medical treatment.' ----more---- From here we discussed: how did Sullivan adapt to working in a warzone? the teror and strange beauty of conflict 'They were desperate for the war to stop': how did the Bosnian war and siege of Sarajevo change the people? Sullivan and PTSD? Sullivan the war correspondent did writing his novel The Longest Winter help Sullivan make sense of the Bosnian war? what experiences can fiction describe that reporting cannot? 'I hope their mothers find them in a pie' Part 4 to follow.

In part two of This Writing Life's conversation with the journalist and novelist Kevin Sullivan, we begin by asking why he travelled from Tokyo to Sarajevo in 1991 on the brink of the Bosnian War. Sullivan offers his first impressions and a brief comparison of the city before the siege began, 25 years ago. 'It was such a great place to live.' ----more---- From here, we moved to: 'It is a little bit like a drug': the attraction and terror of war reporting the landmine explosion that almost killed Sullivan 'Whatever my experience, it really was nothing compared to someone who did not choose to go there.' big picture vs up close and personal: the pros and cons of war reporting was Sullivan frightened? how does war reporting help? the day-to-day practicalities (and challenges) of war reporting For more on Kevin Sullivan, and his excellent novel about the siege of Sarajevo The Longest Winter, click this link: http://sullivan.ba/

Our next guest on This Writing Life podcast is the journalist and novelist Kevin Sullivan. His latest novel, The Longest Winter, is set during the siege of Sarajevo, which began almost twenty-five-years ago to the day in April 1992. Sullivan covered the conflict as a journalist, and almost lost his life in the nearby town of Gornji Vakuf, when the Land Rover he was travelling in hit a landmine. Sullivan began The Longest Winter shortly after, whilst recuperating in Glasgow, but it would take many more years for the final story to be completed. ----more----In Part 1 of our conversation, Sullivan describes the liberal, tolerant Sarajevo that existed before the conflict broke out: '[It] has had a long tradition of creative co-existence among different cultures. Bosnia was in many ways a model for the rest of Europe. They were practicing multi-culturalism long before the rest of Europe.' From here, we moved between The Longest Winter and the political back-drop to the Bosnian war - how Serbian, Croat and Bosniak politicians exploited nationalism to create emnities  Sullivan begins by discussing his work for the International Commission for Missing Persons, that has worked tirelessly to find the thousands murdered during the Srebrenica genocide, for example. Read more about their work: https://www.icmp.int/ Part 2 to follow.

There's only so much a nice podcast can take. In part two of This Writing Life's chat with LS Hilton, we dive into Maestra, the global blockbuster that made its author's name (albeit with initials replacing Lisa). We begin by asking how much of a departure its compostion was for LSH, as are calling her these days. ----more----After some chatter about comparisons to 50 Sh&^des of Gr&y, we turn to: the reaction (or not) of her agent Maestra's pitch and publication some more 50 Shades criticism reading the naughty bits LSH on Maestra: reviews, jokes, meritocracy & glamour 'I wanted to write something that was sparkly' 'Which one of you bitches is my influence?': Lace etc Maestra's audience (take that Mark Lawson) designer labels and American Psycho? Maestra, Judith and the body (disgust thereof) feminism, humiliation and revenge? is anyone nice in Maestra? LSH and publicity? Domina and what's next?

In a new two-part episode, This Writing Life meets Lisa Hilton: journalist, historian and novelist. Her 15 year-career has produced five works of non-fiction, and three of fiction. Yet it took just one book to make her name, albeit under the thin veil of LS Hilton. Published in 2016, Maestra was a marmite erotic thriller, that provoked controversy, accalaim and headlines across the world. Rejected by Hilton's own agent who found it 'disgusting', and then by almost every English publisher, it found a home first with a film agent, and then with the up and coming Zaffre Press. 50 Shades of Grey, but cut with American Psycho and Patricia Highsmith, it told the coming-of-rage tale of Judith, an ammoral art historian-turned-call-girl -turned-international-swindler-murderer-sex-kitten. It is unnerving, gripping and darkly funny in equal measure. The challenge facing This Writing Life: how long can we talk to Lisa Hilton about her career without mentioning her succès de scandale? Find out by listening below. 

The final part of our epic chat with Richard Russo asks an epic question: what has it been like to write novels for 30 years? Having chewed over that question we move onto some other big topics, including posterity, death and what comes next (not the afterlife, just what is Russo's next project).  Finally, we ask: will there be another chapter to Donald Sullivan's adventures? Everybody's Fool is available everywhere right now. We urge you to read it at once.

'This is not an attempt on my part to portray myself as anything like a prophet. I simply was born somewhere...I got to bear witness to something that was tremendously important to me and my family.' In this fourth and penultimate This Writing Life interview with Richard Russo, we begin with the fictional small-town of Bath that is found in both Nobody's Fool and its sequel Everybody's Fool. Russo discusses his own personal and artistic relationship with small-town life, taking in his childhood in Gloversville and how it has informed much of his work. From here we meander towards death, in fiction and life, with a cheerier side-track marked: how to begin a novel?----more----Other subjects include: Russo and religion Russo's childhood in Gloversville, New York the toxic effects of small-town industry on Russo's family is small-town life dying out in America? 'As a younger man I thought of [being born in a small-town] as something I would have to overcome in life...Only to come to learn that it is what has propelled my life forward...' Trump, Clinton, Sanders: 'who's to blame for the loss of American productivity, who's to blame for the loss of jobs?' who would Russo's characters have voted for in the 2016 election? Raymer and Sully: the 'fool' in Russo's work? Part 5 of 5 to follow.

'I have always been a meanderer. I have always loved digression.' So says Richard Russo in part three of This Writing Life's conversation with the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. We approach the subject of comic meandering, initially as a way to explore through narrative ideas of luck, fate and free will. We digress through a peroration about self-made men, including President Donald Trump, and Brexit towards a deeper consideration of digression in Russo's new novel, Everybody's Fool, and his work as a whole. (A small warning: the final four minutes of this interview contain a spoiler alert about the end of Everybody's Fool). ----more---- From here we wander backwards towards: ideas of artistic control and chaos what is so disturbing about parenthetical fiction? Tarantino, film editing and the joy of chatter: Russo on film writing vs fiction writing 'With every book there is a point at which getting lost becomes genuinely scary': the joy and panic of getting lost creatively the temptation and challenge of comic invention the problem of page 175: Ann Patchett on the panic of novel writing the problem of Everybody's Fool: Richard Russo on the panic of novel writing SPOILER ALERT!!!! Russo discusses the end of Everybody's Fool Part 4 of 5 to follow.

Part two of This Writing Life's conversation with Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo begins with the idea of sequels: his new novel, Everybody's Fool is a follow-up to Russo's masterpiece, Nobody's Fool. What are the risks of continuing a story that is not just admired but loved? Did Russo intend to write a sequel to Donald 'Sully' Sullivan's adventures. What made him return in the first place? What was it like to revisit characters who were created over 20 years before? ----more---- From here we moved onto: Russo's relationship with his father: 'It shouldn't have been surprising that he had more to say' Russo's relationship with Paul Newman, who played Sully in Robert Benton's film adaptation of Nobody's Fool what did Newman see in the character of Sully? 'I think Paul became a different actor after his son died' age and destiny: Russo and Sully 'At 67, I am trying to understand what has happened to me...I am beginning to see the shape of my life...How the fuck did that happen?' the comedy of life-changing moments: 'All the things in my life that have worked out for the very best...are the results of the stupidest things I could have conceivably done' Russo and his mother: success, failure and American road trips Part 3 to follow.

Part 1 of This Writing Life's interview with the great American comic writer begins in media res. Russo is telling me about signing 9000 copies of his new novel, Everybody's Fool, in a warehouse in Maryland. Russo has recovered enough to discuss the idea of signed copies and what to do with his own personal archive. ----more----This idea of looking back leads us, neatly enough to, Everbody's Fool and the challenge of sequels: the book continues the story of Russo's masterpiece (to my mind) Nobody's Fool from 1993. From here we talked: what had Russo forgotten about his charaters, and what he hadn't what had changed since 1993? timing, iPhones and when is Everybody's Fool set? time and writing: what's the deal? Part 2 of several to follow.

For the 100th episode of This Writing Life, we celebrate with a very special instalment. Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Richard Russo reads from his wonderful, warm, funny and mordant new book Everybody's Fool. A sequel to one of our favourite novels - 1993's Nobody's Fool - it returns the reader to the life, opinions and travails of Donald 'Sully' Sullivan in the small upstate New York town of North Bath. In this scene from the distant past (the character Wirf Saks has died by Everybody's Fool), Sully and Wirf settle down in the local bar to discuss the sex addiction of the irrepressible Carl Roebuck. Enjoy.