This the podcast where writers get real about writing, but today, we’re getting real about podcasting!

In today’s episode of Ask the Host, we’re finding out:

- What’s the difference between the live coffee conversations and remote interviews>

Enjoy and let me know if you’ve got any questions when you leave a review of my show!

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Books

Let’s dust off the archives again and celebrate some of the guests we’ve had on the Rippling Pages

This time, we’re going back to a conversation that was had in 2022 with the writer, editor, and all around bookish good guy, Nicholas Royle.

I spoke to Nicholas about his wonderful book about book collecting, WHITE SPINES:THE CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK COLLECTOR

Chances are, if you’ve a penchant for second-hand books, you’ll have been or known about one of the many bookshops Nicholas visited to find the Picador books that he coveted.

We’re also celebrating Leeds Literature Festival. The book features Leeds bookshops, and Nicholas is in Leeds talking about the art of the short story with Alice Jolly and Naomi Booth. 

Get your tickets below

Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick. 

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Writers and Books

AJ Ashworth

Artists

Paul Delvaux

Chapters

The podcast for the world’s most interesting writers is going a little closer to home; we’re visiting Leeds and the North of England for a conversation about with Stu Hennigan about his novel, KESHED. 

Not only is it lovely to speak about some of the places I know really well, but also a bittersweet too, as Stu’s novel reminds of me of the people and places I’ve moved away from. 

What I loved about Stu’s novel, is its sheer vividness of its writing, combining, artfully, the vernacular and the obscene. It’s evocations of northern town and cities that are close to me, but also its unflinching approach to troubling subject matter.

Stu Hennigan is a writer, poet, editor, and musician based in Leeds, UK. His acclaimed book, Ghost Signs: Poverty and the Pandemic, became notable for its powerful documentary fo the  city's most deprived communities during COVID-19 lockdown. KESHED, published by Ortac Press, is his first novel. 

*this episode features strong language and discussion of sensitive themes!*

Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick. 

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Stu’s Substack:

References

1.45 - Uncategorising KESHED

Amber Medland is here to tell us about what it’s like to be in an anthology with George Saunders, overcoming writers block, and telling us whether it’s magic or mechanics that makes a story.

Amber has been collated in one of the most select short story anthologies likely to hit the shelves this year. Magic and Mechanics (Scratch Books) features some of the most talented short story writers short stories alongside interviews about those stories.

The anthology about the art and craft of the short story features writers such as George Saunders, Claire-Louise Bennett, Mark Haddon, Camilla Grudova, and Colin Barrett. 

Amber tells me about her story, Mr Blythe Esq. 

Amber’s debut novel, WILD PETS, was published by Faber and Faber, and her book of non-fiction, ATTENTION SEEKER:THE TRUTH ABOUT ADHD, her exploration of the history of ADHD, was published by Dialogue Books. She has an MFA from Columbia University. 

Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick. 

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Referenc Points

Writers

Films

Musicians

Let’s dust off the archives and celebrate some of the guests we’ve had on the Rippling Pages.

Over the years, we’ve been proud to feature emergent writers on the Rippling Pages and speak to them in the early stages of their careers.

One of those writers is Polly Barton, who’s just released her debut novel, WHAT AM I, A DEER? with Fitzcarraldo Editions.

I spoke to Polly five years ago about her Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize winning, FIFTY SOUNDS. 

Polly is a writer and translator from Japanese. Translations include Butter by Asako Yuzuki, Hunchback by Saul Ichikawa, and Where the Where the Wild Ladies Are by Akko Matsuda. Her essay, Porn: An Oral History was also published by Fitzcarraldo Editons. 

In our conversation, we picked out knotty debates about language, her time in Japan, and what it means to love and love in language

Enjoy!

If you fancy hearing another Fitzcarraldo essayist, why not buy tickets for my event with Alice Hattrick at Leeds Lit Fest:

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Camille Bordas likes miniature objects. 

It’s how they remind her of her childhood in Mexico and show off little details.

In fairness, it might once have been a lighter for Camille, but she still has them all. 

This is bonus content on the Rippling Pages where we ask a writer to provide us with an object that has been with them during their writing process.

You’re also going to hear a snippet of the Patreon close-reads podcast for subscribers. If you like the sound of it, you can sign up for exclusive member benefits, including the full close read podcast for Patreon subscribers.

Do that here:

You’ll also hear a little more about Camille’s experience of writing in French and English. 

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https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/

Chapters

Camille Bordas is one heck of an exciting literary talent, and she’s joining me on the Rippling Pages to discuss her story collection, ONE SUN ONLY (Serpent’s Tail).

What I loved about these stories is their wonderfully dry humour, empathetic narratives of flawed characters, and deeply woven observations, within the stories, about how fiction works. 

Plaudits for Camille have come from George Saunders, Zadie Smith, and Percival Everett. She’s a regular contributor to the New Yorker.

Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience

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1.30 - bad backs and teaching

Reference Points

Donald Barthelme 

TV

It's Easter - and it's easter egg time.

In this bonus content, you're going to hear a lot about Easter Eggs, but not the chocolate kind. Instead, we’re talking those little secret insights to Lucy's work, both past, present and future.

This is bonus content and our objects of influence segment where we ask a writer to provide us with an object that has been with them during the writing of the book.

It's also a little Easter Egg from the Rippling Pages too. You're going to hear a snippet of the Patreon close-reads podcast for subscribers. If you like the sound of it, you can sign up for exclusive member benefits, including the full close read podcast exclusive to subscribers.

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.

https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi 

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Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:

Chapters

Reference Points

Oh wow! It was my pleasure to have a coffee with and speak to the writer Lucy Caldwell about her new short story collection, DEVOTIONS (published by Faber and Faber).

That's right, we were live and in person having a coffee talking about Lucy's new collection

I revelled in a theatre troupe performing a choose your own version of Hamlet; I had a wry smile watching Christopher Plummer ponder on whether he really did love Julie Andrews, and among the many other stories, continued to marvel at Lucy's capacity to meditate on death, existence, light and love.

Lucy is from Belfast. She lives in Kent, but we had our conversation in London. 

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Reference Points

Sebastian Barry

Elizabeth Bowen

Willa Cather

Anton Chekhov

Dante

Ram Dass

John Donne

T.S. Eliot

Anne Enright

Wendy Erskine

bell hooks

Kazuo Ishiguro

James Joyce

Claire Kilroy

Rosamond Lehman

Louis MacNeice

Alice Munro

Cardinal Newman

Edna O’Brien

Frank O’Hara

Rumi

Helen Simpson

John Updike

Sylvia Townsend Warner

Virginia Woolf

W.B. Yeats

Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (edited by Lucy, Faber, 2021)

Multitudes (Faber, 2016)

Intimacies (Faber, 2021)

Leaves (Faber: 2007)

Where They Were Missed (Faber: 2005)

Hamlet

Music

Van Morrison

Taylor Swift

The Sound of Music (1965: Robert Wise)

Welcome to this bonus content with Leon Craig. We’re talking about how Leon found an old letter knife in a shop which helped her understand her characters desires. PLUS! You’ll hear Leon talking about plagues, the pandemic, and why she left the UK to write her novel about the UK.

Leon was here to discuss THE DECADENCE (Sceptre), a novel about a group of friends who find shelter in an old abandoned home, but encounter more than they bargained for. Leon Craig, whose previous collection of short stories, PARALLEL HELLS, was also published by Sceptre, is a graduate of the Birkbeck MFA Creative Writing course. Her work has been published by Hazlitt, the Sunday Times, the London Magazine and others and is forthcoming in Nulla magazine and Berlin Babel anthology.

Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages. 

Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

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