The Sunday Salon with Alice-Azania Jarvis

My guest this week is the remarkable Lynn Enright, whose book Vagina: A Re-education is, well, exactly that. Taking in everything from biological myths, to the penis-centric bias of modern sex education, to reproductive rights, fertility, FGM, the orgasm gap, sexual health, periods and the period industry, it is utterly brilliant and essential reading whether you are in possession of a vagina or not. Lynn is also a successful journalist who was a vocal campaigner in Ireland’s Repeal the Eighth movement. I found our chat - which took in all of the above, as well as Lynn’s childhood in Ireland, her own experience of abortion and more - absolutely fascinating.

Buy Vagina at

https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/lgbt-gender-studies/vagina-a-reeducation,lynn-enright-9781911630012

Twitter: @aliceazania @lynnenright

Instagram: @aliceazania @lynnenright

Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest this week is Laura Freeman, author of The Reading Cure - an incredibly moving but also totally life-affirming memoir about how reading helped her enjoy food again after suffering anorexia. Last year the book saw her shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and it was named one of books of the year by the Times, the Telegraph and the Spectator – and it has just been released in paperback. As well as being an author, Laura is also a successful journalist and arts critic - and one of my best friends! In this episode, we talk about the dangers of the clean eating movement, the emotional challenge of writing (and talking) about mental health and anorexia, and why on earth she tried to real ALL of Charles Dickens’ work in 2012. She’s amazing. Totally amazing.

Buy The Reading Cure here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-reading-cure/laura-freeman/9781474604659

Twitter: @aliceazania @LauraSFreeman

Instagram: @aliceazania @laurasophiafreeman

Edited by Chelsey Moore

It’s my first ever bonus episode! To celebrate my birthday (narcissistic much?), I’m releasing this very special episode with Emily Hill, whose short story collection Bad Romance recently came out in paperback. She is ferociously clever, funny and creative and was totally fascinating to talk to. We talk about crap flatshares, our shared history as gossip columnists, why modern romance is rubbish - and how she came to crowdfund Bad Romance’s publication.

Buy Bad Romance at https://www.waterstones.com/book/bad-romance/emily-hill/9781783524969

Twitter: @aliceazania @3milyhill ‏

Instagram: @aliceazania @3milyhi11

Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest this week is the author and journalist Daisy Buchanan, whose brilliant second book, The Sisterhood, is a love letter to the women who have shaped her – including her five sisters. We talk about friendship and family, going on TV, how it feels to write about difficult subjects (such as her eating disorder and experience of abuse), the highs and lows of social media, trolling, comparison culture and more. She is so funny and clever and warm - a total joy to speak to. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Buy The Sisterhood at https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-sisterhood/daisy-buchanan/9781472238856

Twitter: @aliceazania @NotRollergirl

Instagram: @aliceazania @thedaisybee

Edited by Chelsey Moore

Ordinary People by Diana Evans is one of my favorite books about love and relationships ever. Newly available in paperback, it examines the gradually crumbling relationship of former golden couple Melissa and Michael and tackles big subjects such as the tension between motherhood and creativity.

I found talking to Diana totally fascinating. We spoke about how the terrible pain of her twin sister’s suicide prompted her to write her first book, 26a, why depicting middle-class black Londoners is a political act, the supernatural, whether awards matter (she has just been longlisted for The Women’s Prize for Fiction), why she never writes on the ground floor and her love of audiobooks. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Buy Ordinary People at: https://www.waterstones.com/book/ordinary-people/diana-evans/9781784707248

Twitter: @aliceazania @DianaEvansOP

Instagram: @aliceazania

Edited by Chelsey Moore

Rose McGowan is an actor, artist and activist, whose astonishing memoir Brave details her journey from growing up in the Children of God cult to Hollywood, where she became a film icon but also suffered the most appalling sexism and abuse. Rose, of course, has been one of the key voices in the #MeToo movement. Since speaking about her experiences, industries from fashion to politics have been convulsed by similar allegations in what has undoubtedly been, as she puts it in Brave, “a cataclysmic global reckoning”. In this exclusive interview, Rose opens up about her tumultuous childhood, how being homeless as teen impacted her career, the hell of the red carpet, finding love and happiness, her political ambitions, and her decision not to have children. And she offers her advice and words of support for anyone listening who is also experiencing, or has experienced, abuse.

Buy Brave at https://www.waterstones.com/book/brave/rose-mcgowan/9780008291129

Twitter: @aliceazania @rosemcgowan

Instagram: @aliceazania @rosemcgowan

Edited by Hannah Varrall

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Sophie Kinsella is a publishing legend, who has sold more than 40 million books worldwide, including the iconic Shopaholic series, which became a Hollywood film, Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher. As she publishes her new novel, I Owe You One, we discuss emotional labour, the controversial term "chick lit", how women's writing is undervalued, and why she buys her Christmas presents in Oxfam. She also tells me how CBT has helped her anxiety, why mobile phones have ruined romantic fiction, and the one piece of advice she'd give to any aspiring author. She is warm, brilliant and wise - I just loved talking to her.

Buy I Owe You One at https://www.waterstones.com/book/i-owe-you-one/sophie-kinsella/9780593079928

Twitter: @aliceazania @KinsellaSophie

Instagram: @aliceazania @sophiekinsellawriter

Edited by Chelsey Moore

Charly Cox is bringing poetry to a new generation. In her best-selling collection She Must Be Mad, she tackles mental illness, sex and body image. She was utterly fascinating to speak to – so incredibly warm and honest. We talk about her diagnosis, at 17, with bipolar II, society’s hierarchy of mental illnesses, why she hates the label “insta-poet”, writing as a form of therapy, why she reads aloud every day – and she reveals the details of her next project. She also tells me the one piece of advice she would give to any aspiring writer.

Buy She Must Be Mad at https://www.amazon.co.uk/She-Must-Be-Mad-bestselling/dp/0008291667

Twitter: @aliceazania @charlycox1

Instagram: @aliceazania @charlycox1

Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest this week is the phenomenal Olivia Sudjic, author of the 2017 hit Sympathy, a riveting tale of obsession described by The Observer as “Alice through the looking glass for the Instagram generation” as well as “inventive and highly charged” by the Telegraph and (my personal favourite) “an absolute fizz” by the Spectator. Last year, she followed it up with Exposure, a brilliant collection of essays about anxiety and female creativity.

We cover everything from online stalking and the dark side of the internet, to the benefits of procrastination, how she quit her job in branding to write, the horror that is public speaking, and how she needs two weeks of isolation to finish her books. She also reveals the one piece of advice she would give to any aspiring writer.

Buy Exposure at https://peninsulapress.co.uk/product/exposure

Twitter: @aliceazania

Instagram: @aliceazania @olivia.sudjic

Edited by Chelsey Moore

Warning: there is a LOT of laughter in this episode. In a Valentine’s Day special (or should that be an anti-Valentine’s Day special?), I’m joined by Lucy Vine, the bestselling author of Hot Mess, What Fresh Hell, and Are We Nearly There Yet?

We talk about how Lucy started writing novels because she was fed up with clichéd depictions of single women, as well as her childhood spent hiding in the loo reading books, the curse of Bridget Jones, finishing a book in eight weeks (yes, really), and the joy of not having to share a bed with another sweaty human. She also reveals the one piece of advice she would give to any aspiring writer.

Buy Lucy’s books at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hot-Mess-Lucy-Vine/dp/1409172201

Twitter: @aliceazania @Lecv

Instagram: @aliceazania @Lecv

Edited by Chelsey Moore