Steven Pinker speaks with his old friend and schoolmate, the RLF’s Marcy Kahan, about coming of age in Montreal’s Anglophone Jewish community, the nature of good writing and the 'classic style', and managing a dictionary by democratic processes.

The post Steven Pinker, part 1 appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

Nigel Cliff speaks with James McConnachie about the 19th century 'Shakespeare Riots' in New York, what might be driving his choice of subjects, and the differences between the US and UK publishing industries.

The post Nigel Cliff, part 2 appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

Anna Reynolds takes us to Weston-super-Mare, which she finds both grim and perversely inspiring.

Brian Keaney revisits childhood summer holidays in his ancestral home of Straduffy in Ireland.

Penny Hancock serenades the Thames, a river that often turns up in her books.

The post Location And The Writer, part 5 appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

Donny O'Rourke welcomes the tentative beginnings of spring, introducing us to the Gaelic festival of Imbolc and taking us on a whistlestop tour of the coastal East Neuk of Fife.

Mavis Cheek explains how writing always came easily to her, even when schoolwork didn’t.

Nigel Cliff speaks with James McConnachie about cold war concert pianist Van Cliburn and Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, and considers their roles at turning points in history and meetings of cultures.

Stephen Wyatt takes us to an unusual destination: the Gallifrey One convention, where participants are enthusiastic, oddly dressed, and gratifyingly appreciative of his own 30-year-old TV script.

Doug Johnstone reminds us that no completed novel lives up to what its creator initially imagined, and explains how a complete failure three books in led him to find his true writing voice.

Anita Mason takes us to a tiny house in the West of Ireland, where she went to escape the world and write.

Duncan Forbes shares his own small and expertly-gardened corner of the planet in 'Yew Tree House'.

Chris Arthur speaks with Cherise Saywell about the essay as a multifaceted and ‘heretical’ form, the notion of a ‘dangerously failed’ piece of work, and the encouraging fact that ‘If you can find the objects that speak to you, essays will follow’.

Jane Rogoyska speaks with Frances Byrnes about being drawn to her father’s homeland of Poland, telling hidden stories from that country’s brutal history, and how the frustrations of film production drove her to writing.

Jackie Wills joins host Julia Copus to discuss two favourite classic poems, ‘How do I love thee?’ and ‘Grief', both by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in our ongoing 'Poetry Break' series.