Rippling Pages: Interviews with Writers

The return of a potentially holy river in the Indian mountains - is it a sign of a new age, a divine intervention, or simply the workings of nature? These are the questions at the heart of Gurnaik Johal’s novel, SARASWATI, published by Serpent’s Tail. Frauds, politicians, mystics, writers, and the family who own the farm in which the river exists, are caught up in trying to determine what the return of the SARASWATI river means. It is a novel that is truly global in its scope, set in Canada, India, the Chagos Islands, and Wolverhampton. It was named as a Guardian newspaper selection for 2025, and shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. Gurnaik was a winner of the Galley Beggar short story prize. 

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

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1.55 - what is the SARASWATI?

“I think when you’re young you really allow yourself to be stupid.”

Welcome to part 2 of my conversation with Yan Ge.

Yan Ge is here to discuss her life and writing. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province People’s Republic of China. Emerging as a prodigious writer in Chinese and Sichuanese, she was named as one of China’s twenty future literary masters by People Magazine. In 2012, she was chosen as Best New Writer by the Prestigious Chinese Literature Media Prize. For English language readers, Nicky Harman first translated her novella, White Horse, for Hope Road publishing in 2014, a story about young girls negotiating adolescence in the presence of a mysterious white horse. Then, four years later, Nicky translated The Chilli Bean Paste Clan in 2018, published by Balestier. Elsewhere arrived in 2023 (Faber), and Yan Ge treated us to a new dimension of her work entirely: short fiction and, for the first time, written in English.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon

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Chapters 

- 3.30 - writing parts of ourselves that are distinct 

Reference Points

Nicky Harman

Jeremy Tiang

”If I enter a project knowing what I’m going to do, confidently, I wouldn’t do it.”

It’s Women in Translation Month!

Yan Ge is here to discuss her life and writing. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province People’s Republic of China. Emerging as a prodigious writer in Chinese and Sichuanese, she was named as one of China’s twenty future literary masters by People Magazine. In 2012, she was chosen as Best New Writer by the Prestigious Chinese Literature Media Prize. For English language readers, Nicky Harman first translated her novella, White Horse, for Hope Road publishing in 2014, a story about young girls negotiating adolescence in the presence of a mysterious white horse. Then, four years later, Nicky translated The Chilli Bean Paste Clan in 2018, published by Balestier. Elsewhere arrived in 2023 (Faber), and Yan Ge treated us to a new dimension of her work entirely: short fiction and, for the first time, written in English.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon

 Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

Reference Points

George Saunders

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Chapters

“She starts having an experience to see her own life as a more shifting sands that isn’t to be fear but in fact to be enjoyed.”

Kimberly Campanello is here to talk about her novel, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE (Somesuch Editions). It’s a sweltering summer in Bretagne, France. K, an American exchange student, is navigating more than just unfamiliar streets. She’s finding a new language. This is bonus content from the previous episode. 

In this bonus content, I’ve asked Kimberly to provide me with some objects that Kimberly associated with writing the book, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE. It’s an interesting and new way to think about influence, and a way to understand both the book and the writer a bit more. 

We talk about a flag, a musician, Alan Stivell, and something called a ‘Fest Noz’, all of them relating to the culture of Brittany where the novel is set.

Rippling Points

1.54 - Proust and Memory

04.01 - Objects of influence

06.21 - Fest Noz

07.01 - Alan Stivell

08.29 - The Brittany Flag, the Blanche Ermine

Reference Point

Jonathan Culler

Arthur Rimbaud

“How do you sound like you know what you’re doing when you don’t have the words”

Kimberly’s work moves between forms, genres, and histories. She’s the author of MOTHERBABYHOME (zimZALLA), a harrowing and formally innovative response to Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes, is held in the national poetry special collections across the U.K and Ireland. Her poetry has appeared in publications like Granta, The White Review, and The Poetry Review, and essays in Tolka. And, this year, her poetry collection, AN INTERESTING DETAIL was released by Bloomsbury. 

“I found myself writing an apology letter…and I didn’t know what I was apologising for.”

In Uttama Kirit Patel’s novel, The Shape of an Apostrophe (Serpent’s Tail), Lina is pregnant, and she’s finding that this seemingly salubrious society is not congenial and accommodating to the difficult challenges of an unplanned pregnancy.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Helen Phillips - The Need

Rippling Points

.30 - Uttama's life living around the world.

32.45 - Uttama's writing journey

“When I set out to plan the business, I wrote ten words - the world I always kept coming to was community.”

The personal journey to opening a bookshop in Leeds

Why she focusses women’s writing

Balancing commercial and personal interests

Creating a safe space and sense of community for readers

What she’s got planned for next week and the rest of the year.

Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Check out Next Chapter Books website: https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/

"It is also difficult to imbue the people and the movements of the past with the complexities we offer ourselves." 

If you were to meet a time traveller from the future, what would you ask them? This is the question Roisin Dunnett asks in her novel, A LINE YOU HAVE TRACED (Magpie Books/Oneworld Publications). Spanning over three centuries, three women are connected by forces they, at first, don’t understand. From post-WWI Britain, to East End London’s modern queer scene, to a portentous dystopian future, Roisin’s novel is coded with messages between the past, present and future. It's published by Magpie Books, an imprint of Oneworld.  

You can buy A LINE YOU HAVE TRACED from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

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2.01 - the past, present and future.

Reference Points

“They got fired for that!”

Katharina’s first novel, THE APPOINTMENT, was translated into over fifteen languages, it was adapted for the stage starring Camille Cottin and was nominated for several prizes. Katharina is in ribald mode in this funny, outlandish, and yet, very melancholic novel about a man called Jimmie who works in a call centre. Jimmie helps holiday makers.  He placates their fears about sharks in the waters of Mykonos, Greece, among many other strange and wonderful challenges.  He also manages a complicated relationship with his mother and has a traumatic memory of an electric carving knife that threatens to burst to the surface. The Irish writer, Colm Tóibín, said the book is ‘filled with brilliant dialogue, unexpected turns, some very dirty talk with sudden bursts of hilarity, and then fierce sadness.’

A special treat here - Leeds based poet Kirsty Went gave a reading for, some of her work to open the event. We’ve re-recorded for the purposes of the podcast.

You can buy CALLS MAY BE RECORDED FOR TRAINING AND MONITORING PURPOSES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Where to find Next Chapter Books:  https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/ 

Rippling Points 

1.35 - writing about mothers and fathers

Thomas Bernhard 

Katharina Volckmer is here to discuss her second novel, Calls May Be Recorded for Training and Monitoring Purposes (Indigo Press) and it was live at the Hyde Park Book Club! Thank you to the Hyde Park Book Club for hosting us and Next Chapter Books for supporting the event.

Katharina’s first novel, THE APPOINTMENT, was translated into over fifteen languages, it was adapted for the stage starring Camille Cottin and was nominated for several prizes. Katharina is in ribald mode in this funny, outlandish, and yet, very melancholic novel about a man called Jimmie who works in a call centre. Jimmie helps holiday makers.  He placates their fears about sharks in the waters of Mykonos, Greece, among many other strange and wonderful challenges.  He also manages a complicated relationship with his mother and has a traumatic memory of an electric carving knife that threatens to burst to the surface. The Irish writer, Colm Tóibín, said the book is ‘filled with brilliant dialogue, unexpected turns, some very dirty talk with sudden bursts of hilarity, and then fierce sadness.’

You can buy CALLS MAY BE RECORDED FOR TRAINING AND MONITORING PURPOSES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod

Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops!

Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:

https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Rippling Points

05.07 - Katharina's tour of Leeds.