Why is it that young Irish writers are everywhere, while the Welsh dragon of literary fiction is sitting quietly in a corner? Francesca Reece thinks that the Scottish and Irish simply have better PR — but she also says that the profile of Welsh writing is in ascendancy.

Francesca’s latest book, Glass Houses, is a plot-driven tale about sex, magic mushrooms, and nationalism. She talks to Patrick Galbraith about forestry, second homes, and the Gavin and Stacey effect. 

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Last summer, outside a pub in Soho, Patrick Galbraith met Hannah Hayden, a librettist who also writes erotic novels about men who fall into fantasy worlds and end up having a wild time with dinosaurs and elves. Hannah has never met the people she works for and she has no idea really who the readership is.

What is clear, though, is that the novels sell remarkably well; Hannah often writes a novel a month. Can she tell Patrick exactly what it is that male readers really want?

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In 1974, the artist Philippe Petit embarked on an illegal high-wire walk across the Twin Towers, which resulted in a great degree of notoriety that has followed him ever since.

Philippe talks to Erica Wagner about his struggle to break free of that fame and his desire to be recognised for his many creative endeavours, rather than just being the ‘man on wire’.

Erica also talks to bestselling novelist Nathan Hill about living in face of extreme weather, and the uncanny commodification of relaxation.

Philippe's To Reach the Clouds was published by Orion in 2022

Nathan Hill’s Wellness, was published by Picador in September 2024

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While researching her bestselling novel The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley became obsessed with the life of Robert McClure. She has spent the past few years trying to piece together the details of his existence from fragments in the archives — though he died well over a century before Kaliane began to write, she tells Erica Wagner that she knows him well.

She also discusses her novel and the enduring appeal of great failures.

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In 2019, having almost no experience of journalism whatsoever, Charlie Baker decided to launch a print magazine. In a world where print readership is in dire decline, people thought he was completely nuts — but over five years on, The Fence is flying.

Marina Hyde and Richard Osman recently toasted the magazine on their podcast The Rest is Entertainment, and Patrick Radden Keefe says it is the only place he gets his news. Keefe probably wasn’t being entirely serious when he said that but he has written for The Fence, along with people like John Banville, Roísín Lanigan, Fergus Butler-Gallie, and our own Patrick Galbraith. Charlie talks to Patrick about why he thinks that reading print is preferable to reading digitally, what makes a great story, and the future of magazines in a rapidly-changing media landscape.

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When she was in her 20s, Katrina Porteous moved to a cottage on the Northumberland Coast. It was immensely beautiful but it was a place that was changing fast – every year the number of fishing boats in the harbour declined and many of the fishermen themselves were getting on. Katrina has spent the past few decades, as a poet, documenting the loss of their way of life and the inshore sea fishing culture. Katrina talks to Erica Wagner about capturing a sense of place in her writing and about the importance of spending a time simply listening and watching.

Erica also talks to the young London-based Turkish Cypriot writer, Tice Cin, about her piece for Boundless on the challenge of writing a second novel, in the wake of the first, and the importance of finding other artists to run with as a pack.

Tice Cin's Keeping the House

Katrina Porteous' Rhizodont

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In 1992, Pat McCabe was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his haunting novel, The Butcher Boy. Shortly afterwards, Hollywood came calling and his dark and bleakly funny yarn about small town Ireland was turned into a big film. Pat talks to the Editor of Boundless, Patrick Galbraith, about what it was like to see his words realised on the screen. Most of the team at Warner Bros., Pat explains, couldn't understand half of the dialogue he'd written or 'the everyday talk of rural Ireland'. A novelist might write the words but when big directors, producers, and money men come to town, that doesn't count for much.

Read Pat's Boundless feature: https://boundlesslit.substack.com/

Pre-order Goldengrove, publishing with Unbound in 2025

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