The King of Helsinki Crime and the 'funniest writer in Europe' Antti Tuomainen joins us on the pod to talk about his books including The Man Who Died and Little Siberia, plus how the crime fiction genre is the perfect engine for telling stories.

Many thanks to the Finnish Literature Exchange (FILI) for supporting Antti's visit to the UK.

Meanwhile, Steph and Simon introduce the Early Career Awards, launched TODAY, including the news that we are now running the Desmond Elliott Prize.

We also share the writing prompt from our first drop-in writing session; "Out of the ashes rose..." Fill in the rest by sending us your microfiction responses on Twitter @writerscentre!

Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna.

Find out more: nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk

Early Career Awards: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/early-career-awards/

Noirwich: noirwich.co.uk