The Sunday Salon with Alice-Azania Jarvis

Christina Patterson is a journalist and author, whose new book Outside The Sky Is Blue, is an absolutely beautiful reflection on family, illness, grief and love. I worked with Christina many years ago. In fact, she sat next to me when I was a very green reporter working on the gossip column of the Independent newspaper. She, in contrast, was an extremely erudite and glamorous columnist, writing about big issues like politics and literature - and she was absolutely lovely to me. What I hadn’t realised was that she’d had to deal with an enormous amount of grief and hardship in her life. Outside The Sky Is Blue recounts the story of her family - whom she calls, at one point, “the mad, sad Pattersons”, including her sister’s schizophrenia, the premature deaths of her mother, father and brother, and her own struggles with lupus and cancer. This might sound depressing, but in fact Outside The Sky Is Blue is very far from a misery memoir. What Christina has done so well is inject humour, nostalgia, and even glamour into her story, whether that’s in recounting her strange time as a member of an evangelical youth group and her exciting, action-packed rise through the world of publishing and the arts and into journalism; or relaying anecdotes about her love life. I absolutely adored the book, and I loved speaking to Christina about it. What a special interview to end on. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Buy the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/outside-the-sky-is-blue/christina-patterson/9781472282620

Twitter: @aliceazania / @queenchristina_

Instagram: @aliceazania / @queenchristinawriter

Edited by Chelsey Moore

Christina Patterson is a journalist and author, whose new book Outside The Sky Is Blue, is an absolutely beautiful reflection on family, illness, grief and love. I worked with Christina many years ago. In fact, she sat next to me when I was a very green reporter working on the gossip column of the Independent newspaper. She, in contrast, was an extremely erudite and glamorous columnist, writing about big issues like politics and literature - and she was absolutely lovely to me. What I hadn’t realised was that she’d had to deal with an enormous amount of grief and hardship in her life. Outside The Sky Is Blue recounts the story of her family - whom she calls, at one, point, “the mad, sad Pattersons”, including her sister’s Caroline’s schizophrenia, the premature deaths of her mother, father and brother, and her own struggles with lupus and cancer. This might sound depressing, but in fact Outside The Sky Is Blue is very far from a misery memoir. What Christina has done so well is inject humour, nostalgia, and even glamour into her story, whether that’s in recounting her strange time as a member of an evangelical youth group and her exciting, action-packed rise through the world of publishing and the arts and into journalism; or relaying anecdotes about her love life. I absolutely adored the book, and I loved speaking to Christina about it. What a special interview to end on. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Buy the book here:

Twitter: @aliceazania / @queenchristina_

Instagram: @aliceazania / @queenchristinawriter

Edited by Chelsey Moore

I adored this episode. Lily King is the author of five novels - including, most recently, the phenomenal best seller Writers and Lovers, which documents the creative and romantic travails of aspiring writer Casey Peabody. It's one of my favorite books of the year and so speaking to Lily felt like a fitting finale to this series. I loved hearing about everything from why she writes by hand to how she forces herself to work even when she's not feeling inspired and so much more. It was a gorgeous conversation and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Sarah Pearse on being fangirled by Reese Witherspoon and how to get published

Arifa Akbar is the Guardian's Chief Theatre Critic and the author of the phenomenally powerful Consumed: A Sister's Story. It's an astonishing read, which tells the story of Arifa's sister's death from tuberculosis, which was somehow missed by medics at a top London hospital. It delves into the aftermath - Arifa’s search for answers to questions such as whether her sister’s history of poor mental health meant she was taken less seriously, and spools back to their childhood, growing up in poverty in North London having moved to the UK from Lahore. It examines the complexities of sibling relationships, the bonds, shared behaviours, and the arguments, and looks at Arifa and her sister's struggle with binge eating. It's a brilliant, multilayered book - and I found speaking to Arifa about how she wrote it absolutely fascinating.

Buy the book:https://www.waterstones.com/book/consumed/arifa-akbar/9781529347524

Edited by Chelsey Moore

Tahmima Anam on satirising big tech - and the five years that her son wouldn't eat

Elif Shafak on postnatal depression and writing as 'animal instinct'

Emily Ratajkowski is a model, activist and actress - and now the author of My Body, a collection of essays reflecting on her position in the spotlight

Right, I'm off to enjoy my honeymoon (yes, all being well, by the time you read this I will be one day into married life). But I'm leaving you with a joy of an episode.

I loved this book. The Troubles with Us: One Belfast Girl on Boys, Bombs and Finding Her Way is a brilliant memoir by Alix O'Neill about her time growing up in Northern Ireland. Taking in everything from bomb threats to pop music and her (very) eccentric family, it's both hugely entertaining and enjoyable but also massively informative and interesting from a more historical point of view. As you can imagine, I had a LOT to ask Alix about - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-troubles-with-us/alix-oneill/9780008393700

Edited by Chelsey Moore

Today's episode was such a joy to record - Phoebe Luckhurst is an editor at the Evening Standard newspaper, and also the author of The Lock In, a totally fun indulgence of a book about what happens when three housemates (and a date) find themselves trapped in the attic of their house share. Phoebe is such a clever writer - she has managed to work in so many touchpoints of millennial culture and London life, from dating apps to public transport calculations to awful landlords and so much else. Fittingly, she wrote most of the book in lockdown - something I loved hearing about as I can remember having the opposite experience, and feeling totally uncreative and uninspired. I was also fascinated by her tales of student journalism (she was one of the founding staff members on the student tabloid The Tab). Anyway - I'll leave you to discover the rest. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Buy the book here:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-lock-in/phoebe-luckhurst/9780241508756

Edited by Chelsey Moore