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This Writing Life

The Book Festival You Can Enjoy In Your Bath: Interviews, Readings, Rambling Chat

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Episodes

These Our Monsters LIVE: Sarah Moss reads from ’Breakynecky’

Monday Apr 13, 2020

These Our Monsters LIVE: Sarah Moss reads from ’Breakynecky’

Monday Apr 13, 2020

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. 

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Graeme Macrae Burnet reads from ’The Dark Thread’ (These Our Monsters)

Saturday Mar 28, 2020

Graeme Macrae Burnet reads from ’The Dark Thread’ (These Our Monsters)

Saturday Mar 28, 2020

Last year I was asked to write an introduction for a collection of modern folktales to be published by English Heritage. 

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Fiona Mozley reads from ’The Loathly Lady’ (These Our Monsters)

Wednesday Mar 18, 2020

Fiona Mozley reads from ’The Loathly Lady’ (These Our Monsters)

Wednesday Mar 18, 2020

Last year I was asked to write an introduction for a collection of modern folktales to be published by English Heritage. 

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Edward Carey reads from ’These Our Monsters’

Thursday Mar 12, 2020

Edward Carey reads from ’These Our Monsters’

Thursday Mar 12, 2020

Last year I was asked to write an introduction for a collection of modern folktales, myths and legends to be published by English Heritage. 

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Simon Barnes Reading: on closely-observed gannets

Saturday Dec 21, 2019

Simon Barnes Reading: on closely-observed gannets

Saturday Dec 21, 2019

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. 

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A Conversation with Simon Barnes - Part 2

Saturday Dec 21, 2019

A Conversation with Simon Barnes - Part 2

Saturday Dec 21, 2019

Part two of our conversation with Simon Barnes, the award-winning sportswriter, revered birdlover and Chair of 2020's Keats-Shelley Prizes. 

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A Conversation with Simon Barnes - Part 1

Saturday Dec 14, 2019

A Conversation with Simon Barnes - Part 1

Saturday Dec 14, 2019

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. 

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Simon Barnes reads from The Meaning of Birds

Saturday Dec 14, 2019

Simon Barnes reads from The Meaning of Birds

Saturday Dec 14, 2019

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. 

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Episode 142 - Amanda Coe: Part 1

Friday Jun 08, 2018

Episode 142 - Amanda Coe: Part 1

Friday Jun 08, 2018

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.

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Episode 141 - Leila Slimani - Lullaby: Part 4

Sunday Mar 18, 2018

Episode 141 - Leila Slimani - Lullaby: Part 4

Sunday Mar 18, 2018

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.

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Episode 140 - Leila Slimani - Lullaby: Part 3

Tuesday Mar 13, 2018

Episode 140 - Leila Slimani - Lullaby: Part 3

Tuesday Mar 13, 2018

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.

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Episode 139 - Leila Slimani - Lullaby: Part 2

Friday Feb 23, 2018

Episode 139 - Leila Slimani - Lullaby: Part 2

Friday Feb 23, 2018

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.

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Episode 138 - Leila Slimani - Lullaby: Part 1

Thursday Feb 15, 2018

Episode 138 - Leila Slimani - Lullaby: Part 1

Thursday Feb 15, 2018

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.

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Episode 137 - Lynn Shepherd: Part 4

Wednesday Feb 07, 2018

Episode 137 - Lynn Shepherd: Part 4

Wednesday Feb 07, 2018

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.

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Episode 136 - Lynn Shepherd's Advice to Budding Writers

Saturday Feb 03, 2018

Episode 136 - Lynn Shepherd's Advice to Budding Writers

Saturday Feb 03, 2018

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...

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This Writing Life

Conversations with writers about writing.  

About James Kidd

James Kidd is a freelance writer based in Oxford. His journalism has appeared in The Independent and Independent on Sunday, Literary Review, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, Esquire Weekly, Time Out, South China Morning Post, and The Jerusalem Post among others. As well as hosting This Writing Life, he co-hosts Lit Bits with Adam Smyth and runs The Keats-Shelley Podcast.

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