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No Wands, Plenty of Dragons Carl Ashmore’s Magical World Takes Flight Carl Ashmore has been inventing stories for almost as long as he can remember. His first attempt, written at the age of 10, involved a group of sharks terrorising the coast of Llandudno. Why settle for one shark, he reasoned, when you could have…
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‘Bookselling is the job I didn’t know I wanted’ The owner of Scotland’s largest secondhand bookshop talks to The Late Late Book Show about accidental careers, eccentric customers, dead rats and his new book, Return of the Bookseller Diarist. Shaun Bythell’s life as a bookseller feels like a cross between Adrian Mole, Lovejoy and The…
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‘I began writing because I wanted to be heard’ The novelist, activist and founder of the Polari literary salon talks about finding a home inside the literary establishment, the mother who taught him resilience, championing queer writers and learning to live in the moment. When Paul Burston signed the Royal Society of Literature’s Roll Book…
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‘I still dream that I’m a copper and I’m late for shift’ The bestselling crime writer talks about learning his craft on The Bill, turning police memories into fiction, finding success with Heck and why even an established author can feel as though he is back at day one. Paul Finch left Greater Manchester Police…
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‘My head is probably niche’: Drew Gummerson on his funny, strange and tender worlds The author of The Lodger, Seven Nights at the Flamingo Hotel and Saltburn has stopped chasing literary approval and started writing exactly what he likes. With Gregor, his chapbook inspired by Kafka, he talks about precarious work, queer fiction, ruthless editing…
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‘I wanted to find the book that only I could write’ The actor-turned-novelist drew on the class tensions, exhausting schedules and fiercely competitive atmosphere of drama school for her dark debut, Fellow Creatures. She talks about ambition, rejection, “word soup” and why every story must entertain. Emma Lowther has recently moved to Liverpool, where one…
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The debut novelist talks about finding menace in the Mediterranean sun, writing seven books before publication, and why success has not cured her dislike of editing By Jonathan Welford Rebecca Taylor McKay is getting over a virus when we speak, although it has done little to dampen her cheerfulness. Before the interview has properly begun,…
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Heide Goody and Iain Grant on Creating Beck Lewis The independently published Midlands duo have produced more than 50 books together. Now operating as what they cheerfully accept is a “crime writing factory”, they talk about creative conflict, weaponised spreadsheets and inventing Beck Lewis, the imaginary author through whom they explore a broken world. When…
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‘If you’re writing something you don’t love, it’s not going to work’ The bestselling crime writer talks about leaving the Bar, the fragility of an author’s life, learning to abandon a bad draft and the characters who refuse to stay in their own books. Helen Fields came to crime writing with what she calls “all…
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‘I’ll scare you, then make you laugh while offering you tea and a biscuit’ The horror writer and film journalist talks about being raised by VHS, finding humour in darkness, writing the characters he once searched for and giving a talking cat the best lines I met Josh Winning on a video interview call, he…