Episode 132 – Merryn Glover – Literary Fiction about Place

 

Merryn Glover writes literary fiction from the Scottish Highlands, deep into the Cairngorm Mountains. Her lyrical prose invokes place and relationship in gorgeous ways, her words rising from the page to attach to the reader’s heart. Born in Kathmandu and raised in Nepal, Pakistan and India, Merryn is the daughter of Australian missionaries and moved to Scotland after she met the love of her life.

 

In the latest episode of the Make Meaning Podcast, host Lynne Golodner interviews Merryn Glover about how a sense of place shapes us, how we belong, and the shifting territories of culture. Writing since she was young, Merryn is the author of two literary novels and a forthcoming homage to philosophical nature writer Nan Shepherd, the author of The Living Mountain.

 

In this episode, Lynne and Merryn discuss: 

• “Hill walking,” hiking in the Cairngorms and the lust for the summit
• Serving as writer in residence for Cairngorms National Park
• The slog to find an agent and a publisher & make money as a writer
• Taking the “unpath”
• Not pinning hopes or a sense of self on external markers of success
• How to build an author platform
• The art of marketing your books
• The interweaving of culture, place and landscape

 

Links and Resources: 

• The Guardian’s Country Diary

• Highland LIT

• Helen Sedgwick

• XpoNorth Creative Industries Festival

• Northwoods Now

• Polygon

• Robert Macfarlane

• Nan Shepherd Prize

• Cathryn Summerhayes