The Sunday Salon with Alice-Azania Jarvis

My guest this week is Juno Dawson, the bestselling novelist, screenwriter, and columnist. Juno has won acclaim for her young adult novels, which include her debut, Hollow Pike and last year’s hit Clean about a young woman struggling with addiction. Her most recent book, Meat Market, tells the story of a young woman who goes into the modelling industry to discover an unexpectedly dark side of it. I loved hearing how she was inspired to begin writing after coming across the Twilight books while working as a teacher, how being bullied at school made her more determined to succeed - and why daytime trips to the cinema fuel her creativity.

Buy Meat Market here: https://tinyurl.com/y5ff9au5

Twitter: @aliceazania @junodawson

Instagram: @aliceazania @junodawson

Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest this week is Rachel DeLoache Williams, whose recently-released book My Friend Anna: the True Story of the Fake Heiress of New York City, offers a riveting account of her friendship with Anna Sorokin. Anna, also known as the “Soho grifter,” was originally from Russia but posed as a German heiress who wanted to open a private club and spent months living in $400-a-night hotel rooms. While doing so, she befriended Rachel, who loaned her thousands of dollars.

Anna was not found criminally guilty in her actions towards Rachel - but was convicted earlier this year of defrauding banks and hotels of up to $250,000, and of trying to lie her way into securing a $22 million loan. She was sentenced to between four and twelve years in prison.

Her trial, at with Rachel testified, captivated the world’s press - and not just because of the outrageous nature of Anna’s crimes. She became known for her high-fashion court attire too.

The book makes for gripping reading, and I found our interview, which took place in the office of her publisher Quercus, utterly fascinating.

Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/My-Friend-Anna-Story-Heiress/dp/1982114096

Twitter: @aliceazania @racheldeloache

Instagram: @aliceazania @rdwilliams

Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest this week is the food writer Olivia Potts. Olivia spent five years working as a criminal barrister before giving it all up to train as a party chef. Her recently released memoir, A Half-Baked Idea: How Grief, Love and Cake Took Me from the Courtroom to Le Cordon Bleu, is an incredibly moving and beautifully-written account of coping with grief following the death of her mother - and finding comfort in the kitchen . It’s clever and warm and wise - I loved it - and I’m so grateful to Olivia for being so forthcoming in this interview.

Buy the book here: https://tinyurl.com/yxmf36pz

Twitter: @aliceazania @Poots

Instagram: @aliceazania @ahalfbakedidea

Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest this week is Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of the acclaimed 2016 novel Harmless Like You as well as this year’s Starling Days. One of the most exciting young voices in fiction today, she is the winner of The Authors’ Club First Novel Award as well as a Betty Trask Award. I love her writing - it’s poetic and lyrical but also incredibly readable, all while tackling big themes such as identity, and mental health. I found it totally fascinating talking to her and hearing about everything from writing with dyslexia to feeling like an outsider.

Buy the book here: https://tinyurl.com/y6meusqr

Twitter: @aliceazania @RowanHLB

Instagram: @aliceazania @rowanhisa

Edited by Chelsey Moore

Already a successful journalist, Charlotte Philby has just published her debut novel, the psychological thriller The Most Difficult Thing. It should come with a warning sticker: you won’t be able to put it down. I absolutely loved it and devoured it in one sitting. It’s set between London and Greece, and combines suspense with loads of family drama and a dash of glamour. We talk about this - as well as how she feels like her career has been a series of failures, the messy truth behind external “success”, and what it is like growing up when your grandfather is Kim Philby, one of the most significant double agents in modern history.

Buy the book here: https://tinyurl.com/y3v278v7

Twitter: @aliceazania @philbycharlotte

Instagram: @aliceazania @charlotte_philby

Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guests this week are the hugely inspiring Anna Jones and Debbie Wosskow. Both successful business women in their own right - Anna was the CEO of Hearst for three years and Debbie was a serial entrepreneur who sold her home-swapping business LoveHomeSwap for nearly £41 million - they set up the AllBright Club in September 2017. A members club for business women it has two spaces in London and is soon to open in LA. If that wasn’t enough, they’ve also just published their first book, Believe. Build. Become: How to Supercharge Your Career.

In this episode, we talk about confidence, resilience and the power of super-preparation. They were both so refreshingly honest about sharing their experiences and advice - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Buy the book here: https://tinyurl.com/y584z62e

Twitter: @aliceazania @MrsAnnaKJones @DebbieWossk

Instagram: @aliceazania @allbright

Edited by Chelsey Moore

Nell Stevens is remarkable. Her 2017 book, Bleaker House, detailed her decision to move to an empty island in the Falklands in order to try and write a novel. She failed – but the memoir she wrote instead went on to become a critical and commercial hit, described by Lena Dunham as her favourite book that year. She has followed it with Mrs Gaskell and me, another (sort-of) memoir, detailing a doomed love affair and Nell’s growing obsession with Elizabeth Gaskell, which has just come out in paperback. I love Nell’s books, they’re really funny and totally strange and brilliant. Here we chat about baring her soul in print, surviving on just 1,085-calories when on the island, her friendship with Lena Dunham, and why she is drawn to surreal situations. She also reveals the one piece of advice she’d give to any aspiring writer.

Buy Mrs Gaskell & Me here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/mrs-gaskell-and-me/nell-stevens/9781509868186

Twitter: @aliceazania @Nell Stevens

Instagram: @aliceazania @nellstevens

Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest this week is Nimco Ali, activist, anti-FGM campaigner and author of What We’re Told Not to Talk About (But We’re Going to Anyway): Women’s Voices from East London to Ethiopia. A hugely important piece of writing, it contains interviews with women from across the world on their experience of periods, sex, menopause and more. Nimko has been a hero of mine for some time - she’s a fiercely independent thinker and a passionate advocate for women’s rights. We talk about her own experience of FGM, the failure of adults around her to help, lobbying politicians for change and more. I hope you find her as inspiring as I did.

Edited by Chelsey Moore

With thanks to Nimco Ali

Buy What We’re Told Not to Talk About (But We’re Going to Anyway) here:

https://tinyurl.com/y3dlh9km

Twitter: @aliceazania @NimkoAli

Instagram: @aliceazania @nimkoali

My guest this week is Amelia Abraham, journalist, TED speaker and author of Queer Intentions: A (personal) Journey Through LGBTQ+ culture. I’ve known Amelia for years, and she is one of the most interesting and original thinkers I’ve encountered. Queer Intentions is totally fascinating - she travelled all over the world researching it, from the world's biggest drag convention in L.A, to the nightclubs of Istanbul. Here we talk about how it all started with an ill-fated attempt to move to Iceland for love, how her attitude towards marriage changed while researching it, and why having LGBTQ+ spaces matters.

But the Queer Intentions here: https://tinyurl.com/y3v5x9eb

Twitter: @aliceazania @MillyAbraham

Instagram: @aliceazania @amelia_abraham

Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest this week is Jessica Andrews, whose novel Saltwater has been one of the most talked-about debuts of the year. It tells the tale of Lucy who moves to London from Sunderland to go to university. Once there she grapples with feeling like an outsider among her middle-class peers. The book is based on Jessica’s own experience - something I knew, although it was only as we spoke that I realised quite how true it was. Jessica is also a journalist and poet, whose writing often explores the nuances of class and identity. I loved talking to her.

Buy Saltwater here: https://tinyurl.com/yxfgbjeu

Twitter: @aliceazania @jessicacandrews

Instagram: @aliceazania @itbeginswiththebody

Edited by Chelsey Moore