In this episode of The Writing Life podcast, NCW Senior Communications and Marketing Manager Steph speaks with author Heather Parry about writing the grotesque body.

Heather Parry was born in Rotherham and lives in Glasgow. She has won the Bridge Award for an Emerging Writer, Cove Park's Emerging Writer Residency and the Laxfield Literary Launch Prize. In 2021 she was a Hawthornden Fellow and her first novel, Orpheus Builds a Girl, was released in 2022.

Heather discusses writing the grotesque body, which combines elements of comedy and horror. She explores reimagining gothic tropes, the impact of who gets a voice in your narrative, and the differences between long- and short-form writing.

Heather also mentions her experience on the writing residency and programme Here and Now 2023, bringing together established Scottish and West African writers, and how instrumental residencies are for writers.

In this episode of The Writing Life, NCW Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme Manager Annie speaks with author Polly Atkin about writing with a chronic illness.

Polly Atkin is a multi-award-winning writer, essayist and poet. She is the author of the poetry collections Basic Nest Architecture, which won a Northern Writers' Award, and Much With Body, which was longlisted for the Laurel Prize, as well as Recovering Dorothy, the first biography to focus on Dorothy Wordsworth's later life and illness.

In this episode, Polly and Annie discuss writing and navigating the publishing industry as a chronically ill person. The pair discuss Polly’s memoir Some of Us Just Fall, released in summer 2023, and explore how Polly imagined time as a chronically ill person, how to advocate for yourself as a disabled writer, and hopes for embedded accessibility in the future of the publishing industry.

They also look ahead to their exciting joint writing project on Dorothy Wordsworth and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, investigating their common identities and experiences.

In this episode of The Writing Life, NCW Programme Officer Ellie speaks with author and NCW mentor Chip Colquhoun about oral storytelling and writing for younger audiences.

An NCW Associate Artist, Chip is a storyteller and children’s author. He’s trained teachers through the Department for Education’s English Hub, young creatives through Rathbone College, vicars through Ridley Hall in Cambridge, and children’s writers with publisher Epic Tales.

Together, they discuss Chip’s journey into oral storytelling, and some of the distinctions between story writing and storytelling. They also explore the importance of understanding your reader, the key components needed for every story, and how to target your writing to different age groups.

Discover Chip’s mentoring offer here.

Chip is launching his educational handbook, All the Better to Read You With: Stories & Lessons to Inspire Reading for Pleasure at the London ExCel on Wednesday 24 January. Get your free ticket to the Bett Show where this will be launched here.

In this episode of The Writing Life podcast, NCW Programme Officer Ellie speaks with American author Margot Douaihy about the development of the noir genre in crime writing.

Margot Douaihy is the author of several noir titles including the mystery novel Scorched Grace, the inaugural title of Gillian Flynn Books. Douaihy is originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and now lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, in the US where she teaches popular fiction and literature with Emerson College. Margot stayed with us on a writing residency in September in the Dragon Hall Cottage.

Together, Ellie and Margot explore growth and changes in the noir genre, and how crime novels are well-equipped for generating social commentary. They also touch on alienation and the representation of queer identities in crime writing.

In this episode of The Writing Life podcast, Head of Programmes and Creative Engagement Holly speaks with novelist Hannah Vincent about point of view and different types of narration.

Hannah Vincent is a novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her first novel, Alarm Girl was published in 2014 and her second, The Weaning in 2018. Her 2020 short story collection, She-Clown and Other Stories was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. Her stage plays have been produced by among others, The Royal Court Theatre and The Royal National Theatre Studio and her radio play Come to Grief won a BBC Audio award.

Together, they discuss the specifics of different perspectives that writers can inhabit, and the effects perspectives and voices can have on readers. They also touch on why a writer’s choice of perspective is fundamental to the way a story is told, and whether any narrative voice can truly be reliable.

Hannah explores this topic in a free, self-paced course for NCW Academy entitled How to Write Unreliable Narrators. Find out more on our website!

In this episode of The Writing Life, NCW CEO Peggy Hughes speaks to four dazzling voices in contemporary poetry.

On Wednesday 22 November, Jay Bernard, Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Gail McConnell and Joelle Taylor gathered to celebrate the launch of exciting new poetry archive collection, ‘Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive'. This project, delivered by the British Archive for Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, is supported by the Mellon Foundation with partners the National Centre for Writing and Norfolk County Council Library and Information Service.

The project aims to promote and preserve the archives of contemporary poets of colour, LGBTQ+ poets and writers from other historically underrepresented backgrounds and practises in the UK and Ireland.

Together, they talk about the archival project, their individual contributions and creative processes. They discuss their understanding of their own work, and how poetry and spoken word can be archived. Visiting Poetry Fellow, Will Harris, joins them to explore the project.

In this episode of The Writing Life podcast, writer and theatre director Jen Dewsbury speaks with writer, performer and NCW Academy tutor Molly Naylor about the craft of scriptwriting.

Molly Naylor is the co-creator and writer of Sky One comedy After Hours. Her plays have been toured nationally and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She wrote and performed the acclaimed solo spoken-word shows Stop Trying To Be Fantastic, Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You and My Robot Heart.

Jen Dewsbury is an actress, theatre director, and voice and acting coach. She recently completed an MA in Writing for Script and Screen with Falmouth University.

Together, they discuss the process of developing a script, and their experiences teaching and studying on the NCW Academy online tutored scriptwriting course. They also discuss tools and techniques for developing an initial story idea into the first full draft of a script, and the benefits of investing time and energy into the planning stages, delving into phases such as the premise, steps outline and treatment.

In this episode of The Writing Life podcast, former NCW CEO Chris Gribble spoke to bestselling crime writer Ian Rankin about his new standalone short thriller The Rise.

Ian Rankin was born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960 and graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982. He is the internationally bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus and Detective Malcolm Fox novels, as well as a string of standalone thrillers. His books have been translated into thirty-six languages and are bestsellers on several continents.

Together, they discuss Ian’s much-loved series character Inspector Rebus and his return to the page in a new phase of life, in Ian’s new Amazon Original Story The Rise. Ian shares the challenges he experienced while writing the short story and considers how writers always find a way to tell the stories they need to tell. They chat about Ian’s thoughts on the upcoming TV adaptation Rebus, and the differences between novel writing and screenwriting.

In this episode of The Writing Life podcast, former NCW CEO Chris Gribble caught up with author Fiona Mason to discuss her memoir 36 Hours and the craft of life writing.

Originally from the Midlands, Fiona Mason now lives between the salt marshes of the east of England, and the Ariege Pyrenees in southwest France where she's renovating a house with her partner. She holds MAs in Philosophy and Creative and Life Writing, and combines her work as a writer with roles as a coach, mentor and creative writing tutor.

Together, they discuss how she was compelled to write her incredibly personal memoir. She explores her journey into writing, the stigma around talking and writing about death and how she makes a living from her writing.

Fiona also mentions that she received a Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England, which helped her to dedicate time and energy to writing this memoir. You can find out more about Arts Council funding on their website here.

In this episode of The Writing Life, NCW Programme Officer Vicki Maitland caught up with writer and NCW Academy tutor Yan Ge to discuss the process of writing short stories.

Yan is a fiction writer, writing in both Chinese and English, and is the author of thirteen books in Chinese, including five novels. She has received numerous awards and was named by People’s Literature magazine as one of twenty future literature masters in China. 

Together, they discuss Yan's experience writing her English language debut short story collection Elsewhere, and the unique challenges and opportunities that writing short stories can present to writers. Yan also provides personal insights on editing short form pieces of writing.