In this pod, author Piers Torday tells the extraordinary story of completing the book Death of an Owl that his father Paul had been writing when he died in Dec 2013. You can find some additional photos and info here. Everything published with kind permission of Piers... http://mattbrownwriter.com/death-of-an-owl/

When is a podcast not a podcast? When it's a highly sophisticated, strategic piece of pre-pod marketing, that's when! In the next Word Monkeys podcast Piers Torday tells the extraordinary story of the double-edged inheritance given to him by his father, Paul. For now though, here's the tease...

Word Monkeys ASSEMBLE! In this pod Matt Brown asks the same question to some amazing authors. The question..? What is the weirdest thing people say to you when they know you're an author? Featured wonders are Holly Bourne, Steve Cole, SF Said, Jo Nadin and Piers Torday. You can read the blog that Matt used/ripped off here... https://authorallsorts.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/what-not-to-say-to-authors-and-what-to-say-instead/

Phoenix and Varjak Paw author SF Said becomes the latest Word Monkey. Chat includes life, the universe and libraries. A couple of links to clips mentioned in the pod. Scroobius Pip's poem, Library can be found here...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXhh-DwQseg

Neil DeGrasse Tyson's eulogy to stars can be found here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YysIk3pzc2w

and Carl Sagan's breathtaking Pale Blue Dot can be found here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PN5JJDh78I

Enjoy!

Like Star Wars, TWM has reached episode 7. Only this episode 7 does NOT contain any massive plot holes. In this Christmassy pod, Matt chats to Farmer Bob about the joy of the village panto. *Oh no he doesn't* etc etc

Matt pumped Jo's brains into his recording device at the Bath Literary Festival 2015. Jo is an amazing writer and her book 'Joe All Alone' has just been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2016. Pre-book writing Jo was a speech writer and editor for the Labour party back when everyone thought they were great in the early 2000s.

Back in the autumn of 2015 everyone was going Bond-alicious. So, TWM went and grabbed young Bond author Steve Cole for a chit and a chat.

The Word Monkeys keeps the British end up with this Bond special. Matt Brown chats to Young Bond author Steve Cole and Last Wild scribe Piers Torday about their love of Bond, why Roger Moore is awesome and whether anyone really knows how to play Baccarat!

Brilliant author Piers Torday (The Last Wild) chats about creating worlds, maps in books and why he's "hope-a-tistic" about the future of humanity.

Matt Brown (the adult) rereads the Mr Men book series that Matt Brown (the kid) so loved. In doing so he asks the questions that no one else will ask. Such as "Mr Tickle - happy-go-lucky chancer or menace to society?" and "was there an ancient war between humans and Mr Men?" For more info check out Matt's website http://www.mattbrownwriter.com