We'd Like A Word

Alan Drew, the author of Gardens of Water (set in Istanbul during an earthquake) and Shadow Man (a California prowler murder thriller), chats with presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan about censorship (he’s been a victim in Turkey), authors’ responsibility (if any) to foreign cultures they write about and how to cope with writer’s block. We also discuss the censorship of literature and journalism around the world, including some unexpected books that have been banned. Including one banned simply for being bad - badly written, that is. This episode is based on a chance meeting in No Alibis bookshop on Botanic Avenue in Belfast, N. Ireland. Yet another reason you - yes, you - should drop in there for a book, a chat and a cup of tea.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out on various radio platforms at least once a fortnight and every other Thursday on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.

Alison Finch is the book planning producer (aka “books bitch” says she) for an array of BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3 and BBC World Service programmes. Which ones? She reveals all to presenters Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan. And you, dear listener. So listen and find out. She’s the gatekeeper, the first filter for every book sent in by publishers, agents, publicists and writers. If you fail to impress her, then you’re out. So what does impress her? Which programmes like which sort of books? What do Alison and other show producers look for when considering which books and writers to give much coveted airtime to? Which are the best programmes to be featured on? How do they deal with awkward customers? What do they hate? This information is gold - and it’s all here for you to hear.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.

Matt Wesolowski author of Changeling & Adrian McKinty author of The Chain - two innovative kidnapping stories - discuss plot twists, saving stories till the time is right, unconventional storytelling techniques and authenticity with Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.

Angela McMahon of Flow Communications, organiser of the Noireland crime fiction festival in Belfast and book publicist to the stars. In this episode she tells Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan how to get attention for your book; why podcasts like this one (yay!) are useful (because they’re shareable; about the first rule of book publicity; about how an author should handle a publicist; about the best media platforms to hook the book-buying public; who is the best author interviewer; about running a festival; how introverts can handle the media; and about her famous clients - Mark Dawson, Tony Kent, Ann Cleeves, MJ Arlidge, Iain Rankin, Denise Mina, Harlan Coben and Anthony Horowitz. Also featuring Samuel Dodson and Philosophers’ Dogs, Karin Abdul Jabbar, Kim Newman, Alan Drew, Brian McGilloway, Diarmaid Ferriter, Dr Erica McAlister, Molly Jacobs, Will Dean, Graham Norton, Nicola May, No Alibis, Stefanie Bretherton, Unbound, Duncan Jones, Liberty Films and an acapella rendition of the theme from the A-team.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.

Helen Cullen’s book The Lost Letters of William Woolf is charming, moving, quirky & possessed of great lists. It’s been described as “up lit”, but does that trivialise writing which has the power move or even upset the reader? In this episode Stevyn Colgan and Paul Waters chat with Irish author Helen Cullen about how she writes, why girls may be more reluctant than boys to give writing a go, lost letters, love and fear of clowns.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.

Dr Erica McAlister on how to make science writing accessible and engaging without dumbing down. In this episode Stevyn Colgan and Paul Waters chat with Erica McAlister, the author of the award-winning book, The Secret Life of Flies. Erica is the Senior Curator for Diptera and Siphonaptera at the Natural History Museum in London. In other words, she’s the Lord of the Flies. She loves flies - she goes syrupy thinking of them - and they sometimes seem to quite fancy her. She’s also very very funny. No, really. Who knew flies were so hilarious? Listen in for all about flies and why they’re saving the world and just so downright beautiful.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.

Aidan Conway on writing about Italy - with fellow Italophile author Richard Walmsley chipping in. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan Chat with Rome-based thriller writer Aidan Conway about how well outsiders can get under the skin of Italian life, culture, attitudes and politics. Aidan Conway is the author of A Known Evil and A Cold Flame - which slice straight through to the dark passionate heart of Italy, his home for 20 years. Also - fellow writer Richard Walmsley, author of a string of novels beginning with Dancing To The Pizzica, set mainly in his spiritual home of Puglia in the south of the country - reviews A Cold Flame for us and gives his own outsider/insider view of Italy. Warning: this podcast was recorded under the influence of grappa, red wine and Jammie Dodgers.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.

Denise Mina on high art versus low art. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan Chat with Scottish crime fiction royalty Denise Mina about novels and graphic novels, true crime and why the truth about the existence of serial killers is much worse than you’d imagined. Also - why are men so creepy? Seriously, what’s going on with that? Denise Mina is the award-winning author of so much, including the Garnethill trilogy, the Patricia “Paddy” Meehan series, the Alex Morrow series, Sanctum, The Long Drop, Conviction, plays, graphic novels/comics including, Hellblazer and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. She also has great hair.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.

Jamie Cawley on history and belief. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan Chat with historian and philosopher Jamie Cawley about his new and iconoclastic take on history and religion. Jamie Cawley is the author of The Birth of Now: The Cause and Effect of the Greatest Change in History - and also - Beliefs and the world they have created. Jamie is also the inventor of the Boost chocolate bar.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.

Writers and Rioters. In this episode Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan hear from authors Gerard Brennan and Adrian McKinty about the art of writing violence. And they discuss their own experiences - as a reporter and as a police officer - when placed in dangerous and explosive situations. You’ll never think of a frying pan the same way again. We also hear riotous extracts from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The Fire Starters by Jan Carson and Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast and radio show from Paul Waters and  Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, celebrities, talkers,  poets about books, songs, lyrics, speeches,  scripts, fiction and  non-fiction. We go out once a fortnight on Wednesday evening on radio and on Thursday morning on podcast. Our website is www.wedlikeaword.com -  which is where you'll find information about Paul and Steve and our  guests - and details of the radio stations that carry We'd Like A Word.  We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword and Facebook @wedlikeaword and our email is [email protected] - and yes,  we are slightly embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear  from you - your thoughts,  ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word in person, to chat, review, meet writers or read out passages from books.