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Forthwrite episodes
- ELIZABETH HAYNES
On our episode this week we chat with wonderful Elizabeth Haynes. Our chat takes in NaNoWriMo, writing across genres and the freedom that can be found writing without a plan. Plus a reading from her latest novel You Me And The Sea.
Elizabeth is a former police intelligence analyst who lives in Norfolk with her husband and son. Her first novel, Into the Darkest Corner, was Amazon’s Best Book of the Year 2011 and a New York Times bestseller. Now published in 37 countries, it was originally written as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an online challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.
She has written a further three psychological thrillers—Revenge of the Tide, Human Remains and Never Alone—and two novels in the DCI Louisa Smith series, Under a Silent Moon and Behind Closed Doors.
Next came her highly praised historical novel The Murder of Harriet Monckton (a Sunday Times Summer Read) which is based on the 1843 unsolved murder of a young school teacher in Bromley, Kent.
Elizabeth’s latest novel, You, Me and the Sea is a contemporary story of love and redemption set on a remote, windswept Scottish island.
35 min - NICOLA WILLIAMSIn this episode Anna and Sam chat to the brilliant Nicola Williams about writing in a busy schedule and serendipity, plus a reading from her novel Until Proven Innocent.Nicola is a part-time Crown Court Judge, author, and sits on numerous boards as a non executive director.She has been listed as one of the 100 most influential Black people in the UK.After a successful career at the Bar (including as a legal commentator on the OJ Simpson verdict) she served as an Ombudsman both in the UK and internationally, including as a Commissioner at the Independent Police Complaints Commission and as the Complaints Commissioner of the Cayman Islands. She was the first Service Complaints Ombudsman for the UK Armed Forces, one of the most senior women and the most senior Black person in UK Defence.She is the author of the legal thriller, Without Prejudice, describing the experiences of being a black female lawyer in Britain and is also an indictment of the legal system and privilege; screen rights have been optioned. Her second thriller, Until Proven Innocent, was published by Penguin on 16 March 2023.35 min
- ANNIE GARTHWAITEThis week Anna and Sam chat to wonderful Annie Garthwaite, about her long journey to writing, her process and whether she thinks its ok to make things up in historical fiction. Episode also includes reading from her book Cecily.Annie Garthwaite grew up in a working-class community in the north east of England. She studied English at the University of Wales before embarking on a thirty-year international business career working with multi-national companies and eventually establishing her own communications consultancy. In 2017 she studied for an MA in Creative Writing at Warwick University and, during two years of study, wrote her debut novel Cecily which was published by Penguin in 2021. Cecily was named a ‘top pick’ by The Times and Sunday Times and a ‘Best Book of 2021’ by independent bookshops and Waterstones. Her second novel, The King’s Mother, will publish in July 2024.34 min
- KIT DE WAALJoin us for this brand new series of Writing Around The Kids Podcast, to kick us off we chat with the ever so wonderful Kit de Waal. Listen for her reading from My Name Is Leon and a valuable insight into what makes her tick as a writer.Kit de Waal, born to an Irish mother and Caribbean father, was brought up among the Irish community of Birmingham in the ‘60s and ‘70s.Her debut novel My Name Is Leon was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for 2017. In 2022 it was adapted for television by the BBC.Her second novel, The Trick to Time, was longlisted for the Women's Prize and her young adult novel Becoming Dinah was shortlisted for the Carnegie CLIP Award 2020. A collection of short stories, Supporting Cast was published in 2020. An anthology of working-class memoir, Common People was crowdfunded and edited by Kit in 2019.Kit founded her own TV production company, Portopia Productions and the Big Book Weekend, a free digital literary festival in 2020 and was named the FutureBook Person of the Year 2019. Kit is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor and Writer in Residence at Leicester University.Her memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes was published in August 2022.31 min
- SHARON DUGGALThis week Anna and Sam chat to Sharon Duggal.Sharon writes novels and short stories. Her second novel, Should We Fall Behind (2020, Bluemoose Books) was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s 2021 Encore Award, selected for Between the Covers, BBC television’s flagship book show and chosen as a Prima Magazine Book of the Year. Her debut, The Handsworth Times was The Morning Star’s Fiction Book of the Year 2016 and selected as the Brighton City Reads in 2017. Her short fiction appears in various anthologies including The Book of Birmingham and Love Bites: Fiction Inspired by Pete Shelley and Buzzcocks.33 min
- JOSIE LLOYDAnna and Sam talk to Josie Lloyd about writing, sea swimming and landing a huge book deal for her debut novel.Josie Lloyd is the best selling author of over 20 novels and several parodies which she co-wrote with her husband, Emlyn Rees including 'We're Going On A Bar Hunt' and 'The Very Hungover Caterpillar'. Also with Emlyn she wrote the nineties rom-hit Come Together which was published in 26 languages and made into a Working Title Film. In 2018, after going through breast cancer, she wrote the novel 'The Cancer Ladies' Running Club' which is currently in development as a film with Lionsgate. Hoping to inspire others with her positivity, she's the patron of the charity Lobular Breast Cancer UK During the pandemic she discovered the joys of cold water swimming and wrote 'Lifesaving For Beginners', a novel about community and friendship. She lives in Brighton with Emlyn and their three daughters and sprollie, Ziggy.33 min
- LOUISE FEINThis week Anna and Sam chat to Louise Fein about writing historical fiction and where she finds her inspiration. Find her Tik Tok series on writing tips here https://www.tiktok.com/@louise.fein.authorLouise writes twentieth century historical fiction, based around unheard voices, or from unusual perspectives. Her debut novel, People Like Us (entitled Daughter of the Reich in the US/Canada edition) was first published in 2020 into 13 territories and is set in 1930’s Leipzig. The book was shortlisted for the RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2021 and the RNA Historical Novel of the Year Award, 2021.Louise's second novel, The Hidden Child, was first published in the UK in September 2021 and the US and Canada in October 2021 as well as other territories. This book is centred around the eugenics movement in 1920’s England and America. It is a Globe & Mail bestseller in Canada.Louise, previously a lawyer and banker, holds an MA in Creative Writing from St Mary’s University and now writes full time. Equally passionate about historical research and writing, she loves to look for themes which have resonance with today’s world. Louise lives in the Surrey countryside with her family, and is a slave to the daily demands of her pets. Her third novel will be published in early 2024.31 min
- JACQUELINE ROYJacqueline Roy was born and raised in London. Her father was Jamaican and her mother was English and she comes from a family of writers. She hated the pressure to conform at school and left early, so she did her degrees as a mature student and moved to Manchester to take up a full-time teaching post at Manchester Metropolitan University.She lectured in English for many years, specialising in postcolonial literatures. She also taught creative writing at MMU’s Writing School.She is particularly interested in exploring racial identities and the ways in which those who are marginalised find strategies for fighting back. She is now a full-time writer of fiction. She has written six books for children, published mainly by Penguin Children’s books, and Walker Books, and two novels for adults, The Fat Lady Sings (republished by Penguin, 2021) and The Gosling Girl (published by Simon & Schuster, 2022). A third novel for adults will be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2024.Follow Jacqueline on Twitter @jacquel2781547834 min
- LISA JEWELLOn this week's episode Anna and Sam chat to fabulous Lisa Jewell, about her amazing career, her creepy characters and writing by the seat of her pants. As well as a reading from her novel The Family Remains.Lisa Jewell is a New York Times and Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over twenty-five languages. Lisa has written a number of dark psychological thrillers, beginning with Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs, The Night She Disappeared and The Family Remains - all of which were No 1 Sunday Times bestsellers. She has been likened to Agatha Christie and Ruth Rendell and has been described as the British Liane Moriarty.She has sold 10 million copies worldwide. She lives in north London with her husband, two teenage daughters and the best dog in the world.Lisa has written a total of 21 novels with the latest, None of This is True, due to be published in July 2023.32 min
- ANDREINA CORDANIWriting chat with this week’s guest Andreina Cordani, about writing for young adults and her dubious browser history.Before writing her first novel, Andreina Cordani was a senior editor and writer for women’s magazines including Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan, where her assignments included interviewing gun-toting moms on the school run, ordering illegal DIY Botox online and learning to do the splits in eight weeks.She lives on the Dorset coast with her family where she reads voraciously, occasionally makes TikTok videos and swims in the sea. She is the author of two dark thrillers for young adults, The Girl Who… and Dead Lucky and is currently working on an adult crime story.32 min
About Forthwrite
From the publisher's feed
Welcome to Forthwrite, a podcast about creative writing with, for and by women. Formerly called Writing Around The Kids.
Hosts Anna and Sam chat to a variety of brilliant women authors about their creative process. How to write a novel, from finding inspiration to the nitty gritty of the writing/life balance.