The Writing Life

The King of Helsinki Crime and the 'funniest writer in Europe' Antti Tuomainen joins us on the pod to talk about his books including The Man Who Died and Little Siberia, plus how the crime fiction genre is the perfect engine for telling stories. Many thanks to the Finnish Literature Exchange (FILI) for supporting Antti's visit to the UK. Meanwhile, Steph and Simon introduce the Early Career Awards, launched TODAY, including the news that we are now running the Desmond Elliott Prize. We also share the writing prompt from our first drop-in writing session; "Out of the ashes rose..." Fill in the rest by sending us your microfiction responses on Twitter @writerscentre! Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna. Find out more: nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk Early Career Awards: http://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/early-career-awards/ Noirwich: noirwich.co.uk

Prominent BookTuber Leena Norms joins us to talk about developing and maintaining an online profile, handling abuse and her parallel careers on YouTube and in the publishing industry. Also, she politely explains to Simon what BookTube actually means. Hosted by Simon Jones and Steph McKenna, who are joined by special guest - and BookTube afficionado - Vicki Maitland. Find out more about what we do: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk Leena's website: https://www.leenanorms.com/ Leena on Twitter: https://twitter.com/leenanorms

"If you write, you're a writer." This week we talk to Ashley Hickson-Lovence about the creation of his debut novel The 392, and how he had to fit writing time in and around his job of being a teacher. Ashley shares his journey from poet to teacher to novelist and talks about his next project. Interview by Florence Reynolds. Meanwhile, Simon and Steph introduce the Norfolk & Norwich Festival's City of Literature strand which was announced last week. Hosted by Steph McKenna and Simon Jones. More about our work: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/ City of Literature events: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/city-of-literature-at-norfolk-norwich-festival/ NNF: https://nnfestival.org.uk/ Music by Bennet Maples.

"Do not be limited by the things that surround you." That's the advice from Nuril Basri, who joins us on the podcast this week to talk about his journey from a rural village in Indonesia to leaving his job to become a writer. Nuril is talking with Kate Griffin. Hosted by Steph McKenna and Simon Jones, who also talk about the newly announced Early Career Awards judges and other exciting upcoming events. Nuril Basri was born in a village in West Java, Indonesia, and raised in a staunchly Islamic community. Nuril has worked in a variety of positions—cashier, tutor, accounts manager, waiter, etc.—the combined experience of which has served to enrich his characters and settings. Nuril is the author of six novels. Find out more about what we do: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk Music by Bennet Maples.