London Writers' Salon

Hosted by Parul Bavishi, Matthew Trinetti

Arts Books Education

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216

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Oct 2026

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About the show

A deep dive into the habits, mindsets, tools, craft secrets and creative practices bestselling writers use to write novels, plays, poetry, and articles. Hosted by the co-founders of the London Writers' Salon, Matt & Parul.

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60 recent

October 10, 202655 min

#215: How to Go Indie — Joanna Penn, Orna Ross, Eleanor Anstruther on Owning Your Rights, Paying Yourself First, and Serialising Your Novel on Substack | Compilation

Indie authors Joanna Penn, Orna Ross, and Eleanor Anstruther on going direct to readers and protecting your rights, the business and money side of self-publishing, and building an audience by serialising on Substack. You'll learn Why the writers you admire may not make their money the way you think. What separates an independent author from someone who simply self-publishes. When a traditional deal makes strategic sense, and why your book is an intellectual property asset. How a ten-poem experiment revealed what self-publishing really changes. The seven processes that make up the craft of publishing, and why production is only one of them. Where marketing connects to the book itself, and why outsourcing it too early rarely pays. A money principle every indie author should adopt from their very first sale. How years of rejection can become the foundation of an independent creative life. What a year of one-minute daily posts taught one writer about the fear of pressing publish. The non-negotiable rule for serialising a novel on Substack, and how to keep readers from losing their place. Episode Links #033: Joanna Penn — The Indie Writer Path, Web 3.0 & AI-Assisted Creativity #052: Orna Ross — How to Succeed as Indie Author, Marketing Essentials, Paying Yourself First #144: Eleanor Anstruther — The Book Industry Rejected Me. So I Built My Own Audience on Substack; Serialising Online, Writing Literary Fiction; Being an Independent Artist, Creating Your Artist DNA Resources & Links Eleanor Anstruther — website A Perfect Explanation by Eleanor Anstruther The Literary Obsessive on Substack Orna Ross — website Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) The Creative Penn Podcast Writing in Community — LWS Community Anthology About Lulu If you're self-publishing a book, Lulu now offers a Direct Buy Button that enables you to sell direct to your reader through a simple code. There's no cost to using it and it makes it easier to sell books directly from anywhere: your newsletter, social profile, website or podcast - and you don't have to worry about shipping or taxes. For more information head to lulu.com . About the Guests Joanna Penn is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn, as well as writing non-fiction for authors. She has sold over a million books across 176 countries and 5 languages. Her podcast, The Creative Penn , has been downloaded over 10 million times in 228 countries. Orna Ross is a bestselling and award-winning author of historical fiction and inspirational poetry. She is also a creativity facilitator and the founder-director of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). She has been named one of The Bookseller's Top 100 people in publishing and advocates for self-publishing as an artistic expression and viable business option for authors. Eleanor Anstruther was born in London, educated at Westminster School and studied History of Art at Manchester University where she was distracted from finishing her degree by a trip to India. She was lost and found for the next twelve years, starting a commune and travelling the world before finally settling down to write. Her acclaimed debut novel, A Perfect Explanation (Salt Books), was long listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the 2019 Not The Booker Prize. Since then Eleanor has grown a significant following on Substack, concentrating her new work there where she serialises her novels ahead of publication, as well as running a hugely successful interview project called 8 Questions. Her memoir, A Memoir in 65 Postcards & The Recovery Diaries , and her second novel, In Judgement of Others , were both serialised on Substack before publication, and her latest novel, Fallout , was published by Empress Editions in April 2026. If you'd like to connect directly with Eleanor, come on over to The Literary Obsessive on Substack , and get in touch. For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

October 3, 20261 hr 3 min

#214: Emma Gannon — Finding Your Creative Compass, Letting Go of People-Pleasing, Redefining Success, and Owning Your Work Through Self-Publishing

Sunday Times bestselling author Emma Gannon on healing burnout through play and joy, trusting your creative intuition over people-pleasing, and what she's learned from self-publishing alongside traditional publishing. You'll learn Why burnout might be healed through play and joy rather than by pushing harder. How some books arrive in a month while others take years, and why there's no single right way to write one. The case against selling a book before it's written. A squirrel-inspired method for gathering raw material and letting a book's themes reveal themselves. What to remember when you're tempted to talk yourself out of writing a book. When people-pleasing quietly drowns out your creative intuition, and how to hear it again. How small, everyday acts of creativity keep the spark alive between big projects. What to do on bleak days, and why your younger self might hold the answer. Self-publishing from the inside, including the numbers behind one book. How judging a major literary prize can stretch you as a reader. Resources & Links 📄 Interview Transcript (unedited) Emma's Substack, The Hyphen Emma Gannon's website Our previous podcast episode with Emma: #089: Emma Gannon — The Success Myth, Substack, Self-Publishing, Productivity Dysmorphia, The Arrival Fallacy, Being A Happy Creative A Creative Compass by Emma Gannon A Year of Nothing by Emma Gannon Table for One by Emma Gannon Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh How to be Hopeful by Caitlin Moran The Pound Project Writing in Community — LWS Community Anthology About Lulu If you're self-publishing a book, Lulu now offers a Direct Buy Button that enables you to sell direct to your reader through a simple code. There's no cost to using it and it makes it easier to sell books directly from anywhere: your newsletter, social profile, website or podcast - and you don't have to worry about shipping or taxes. For more information head to lulu.com . In Partnership with Discoveries 2027 This episode was recorded in partnership with Discoveries 2027, the Women's Prize Trust's writer development programme for unagented and unpublished women writers. Discoveries is designed to empower new voices, unlock potential, build confidence, and increase writers' skills and knowledge. Submissions for Discoveries 2027 opened Tuesday, September 15. Submit here . About Emma Gannon Emma Gannon is the Sunday Times bestselling author of nine books, including A Year of Nothing and OLIVE, which was nominated for the Dublin Literary Award. Her second novel, Table for One (2025), was selected as People magazine's 'Fiction of the Week.' Emma also writes one of the UK's most popular Substack newsletters, The Hyphen, which has thousands of paid subscribers. In addition to her writing, she hosts creativity retreats around the world and served as a judge for the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction. Her latest book is A Creative Compass: Finding Your Way to a Creative Life. For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

September 25, 202651 min

#213: Anthony Anaxagorou — Thinking Like a Poet, Pushing Past Self-Doubt, and Treating Rejection as Part of the Job (From The Vault)

Poet, publisher, and educator Anthony Anaxagorou on treating rejection as part of the job, pushing an idea to its edge without losing the reader, and ending a poem where it can keep travelling — a re-release of episode #012. You'll learn: Why walking away from writing for years doesn't necessarily mean you ever left it. How to treat rejection as part of the job rather than a verdict on your worth. What happens to your work when one stamp of validation starts to feel like an entitlement. How a restless, never-satisfied mind can become a creative engine. A morning listening exercise, borrowed from Lydia Davis, that can hand you the first line of a poem. What to do when you're stuck on a line and the answer is sitting on your bookshelf. Why “accessible” is one of the most loaded words in poetry. How far to push an idea before you lose the reader. Two ways to take a flat, literal line and make it tell the truth slant. Why your poem probably starts later and ends earlier than you think, and what the reader does with the space you leave. Resources & Links Original episode: #012 Anthony Anaxagorou — Push Past Self-Doubt and Think Like a Poet Anthony's website How to Write It After the Formalities Heritage Aesthetics Out-Spoken Out-Spoken Press “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” by Emily Dickinson About Anthony Anaxagorou Anthony Anaxagorou FRSL is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. His poetry has been published in POETRY, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, New Statesman, Granta, and elsewhere. His third collection, Heritage Aesthetics (Granta Poetry, 2022), won the 2023 RSL Ondaatje Prize. His second collection, After the Formalities, was shortlisted for the 2019 T.S. Eliot Prize and called a poetry book of the year by the Telegraph and Guardian. He was awarded the 2019 H-100 Award for writing and publishing, and the 2015 Groucho Maverick Award for his poetry and fiction, and in 2023 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2012 Anthony set up one of London's leading poetry nights, Out-Spoken, a monthly poetry and music night now held at London's Southbank Centre, and established Out-Spoken Press – a publishing house that looks to challenge the lack of diversity in British poetry publishing. His craft book, How to Write It, was published by Penguin's #Merky Books in 2020. For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

September 20, 202646 min

#212: Marti Leimbach — The Art of Writing a Novel, Why Self-Doubt Is a Good Sign, Revising Without Losing Heart, and Surviving the Highs and Lows of Publishing (From The Vault)

Bestselling novelist Marti Leimbach on the art of writing a novel, surviving early success and the long career that follows, and turning lived experience into fiction — a remastered version of episode #016. You'll learn Why your relationship to the page has to outrank every other voice in writing and publishing. How to tell apart the voice that says you're no good and the voice that says you're not finished. The case for admitting you're not up to the task before you sit down to write. What a genuinely good writing day looks like, and why a single sentence can count as one. Why no novel is ever perfect, and what Picasso understood about original work. How enormous early success actually lands on a writer, and what the morning after looks like. A way of finding the real story inside a draft that has grown far too big. When self-doubt is a sign of talent rather than a lack of it. Why some books have to be written as fiction rather than memoir. The trick of convincing yourself you have unlimited time when you clearly don't. Resources & Links Marti's Books on Amazon Marti's website Marti's Instagram Great On The Page — Marti's Substack Original episode: #016: Marti Leimbach — The Art of Writing a Novel About Marti Leimbach Marti Leimbach is known for her bestsellers, Dying Young, made into a film starring Julia Roberts, and Daniel Isn't Talking. She is interested in neurodiversity and has shared the stage with young inventors at the Human Genome Project (Toronto), the National Autistic Society, and the University of Oxford. Her interest in science influenced her YA thriller, Dragonfly Girl. She teaches on the Masters Programme in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford. Dragonfly Girl is her eighth novel, but her first for young adults. For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

September 12, 202650 min

#211: Laura Palmer & Jessie Sullivan — How to Market Your Book, from the Founders of Digital-First Publisher Pellerin Books, Finding the Readers Who Will Love Your Book, and Why the Best Book Still Wins

Pellerin Books founders Laura Palmer and Jessie Sullivan on how readers discover books now, where to put your marketing money, and why the quality of the book still decides everything. You'll learn The rule that quietly decides which authors get a publisher’s time, budget and attention. Why the first question about marketing a book is never “how?” How to research your readers and your market without paying for a single tool. The metric that makes an ad campaign look like it is working when nothing is. What a cover and a developmental edit should cost, and the one place never to skimp. Why raising your ad budget too fast makes it perform worse, not better. How subscription reading changed what a sagging middle chapter costs a writer. Whether a publisher actually cares how many followers you have. Three books on writing that between them cover almost everything, and the two-word rule that keeps readers turning pages. Why you cannot keyword your way into a reader’s life in the age of AI search. Resources & Links 📄 Interview Transcript Pellerin Books K-Lytics Publisher Rocket Kindlepreneur Pellerin Submissions Bookbub Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need by Jessica Brody On Writing by Stephen King A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders Pellerin Publishing Advice About Pellerin Books Pellerin Books is a new independent publisher of popular fiction, built for the way readers discover and fall in love with books today. It publishes immersive, emotionally engaging stories readers can’t put down – from thrillers to romance, historical fiction to science fiction, saga to fantasy and everything in between. It is a digital-focus publisher, which means ebooks and audiobooks are at the heart of what it does, although all its titles are available in paperback for readers who love to hold a book in their hands. At Pellerin, we believe deeply in good books and the difference they can make. We became publishers because we believe in the craft of storytelling, the power to create living worlds and characters that reach beyond the page. Making books, for us, is a way to be part of that strange magic that binds reader and author when the right book gets into the right hands. About Laura Palmer & Jessie Sullivan Laura’s love of storytelling drew her into the publishing industry in 2007 as an assistant at Quercus Books, where she was part of the team that discovered and published Stieg Larsson. In 2010, she joined Corvus, where she rode the ebook boom, delivering sales previously unheard of for new authors, and was shortlisted for the Kim Scott Walwyn prize for women in publishing. In 2012, she co-founded Head of Zeus, alongside publishing veterans Anthony and Nicolas Cheetham. As executive director and fiction publisher, Laura ran three imprints and published more than a hundred authors at Head of Zeus. Bestselling authors she has worked with include Dani Atkins, JP Delaney, Dan Jones, Graham Masterton and Amanda Prowse. Jessie Sullivan has spent her career at the intersection of publishing and performance-led marketing. She is one of the most commercially effective marketers in modern publishing, with over £8 million in directly attributed revenue and more than £10 million in total marketing impact. For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

September 6, 202656 min

#210: Lily King — Emotional Arc, Women and Literary Ambition, Silencing the Inner Critic, and Why Patience Is a Writer's Real Craft

Award-winning novelist Lily King on finding the emotional arc of a novel, writing the scene you keep avoiding, and making peace with ambition, self-criticism and the long road to a first book. You'll learn Why the scene you most want to avoid is usually the one your book needs. How a small change in the final pages of one section can rebuild an entire novel. What it means to think in emotional arc rather than theme. The difference between being hard on yourself about writing and being hard on yourself while you write. Why giving yourself permission to write about your own life can unlock everything that follows. When a middle section goes flat, and how to find the engine it's missing. How ambition shows up differently for women writers, and the shame that can come with it. A notebook method built on margins, timelines, and a daily writing log. Why a bad review can be more useful than praise. What nine years on a first novel teaches you about patience. Resources & Links 📄 Interview Transcript It's Not The End of the World by Judy Blume The Pleasing Hour by Lily King The English Teacher by Lily King Euphoria by Lily King Tom Lake by Ann Patchett Heart the Lover by Lily King Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell @lilykingbooks - Lily's Instagram The Correspondent by Virginia Evans About Lily King Lily King is the award-winning author of six novels. Her most recent novel, Heart the Lover, was published on September 30th, 2025. She has also published a collection of short stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter. Her 2020 novel, Writers & Lovers, won the New England Society Book Awards and was a New York Times Notable Book and chosen as a top-ten best book of 2020 by The Washington Post, NPR, People Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Prize, the New England Book Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Euphoria was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014, as well as on Amazon, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and Salon's Best Books of 2014. For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

August 30, 202650 min

#209: Literary Agent Rachel Mann — What Makes an Agent Say Yes, Navigating the Submissions Process, and the Tension Between Art and Commerce

CAA literary agent Rachel Mann on what makes her say yes to a manuscript, how to navigate the submissions process without losing control of your career, and why cutting is the work that makes prose land. You'll learn Why the recognition an agent needs is physical rather than analytical. What to do when you're not sure your manuscript is ready to send out. How to buy more time after a full manuscript request without killing the momentum. Why telling other agents about your requests works in your favour, even if it feels grubby. The realistic rhythm for chasing an agent who has gone quiet. Whether refusing to use social media can cost a writer representation. A question worth answering before you sign with anyone, and why the answer shapes the edit. The edit most manuscripts need before submission, and why it rarely means adding. How poetry's distillation applies to prose, whatever you write. What still gives an agent hope in a market where people are reading less. Resources & Links Rachel's Website Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr Waterstones Puffin Jo Unwin Literary Agency Karolina Sutton agent Harriet Poland agent Sarah Harvey agent John Ash agent Boy Parts by Eliza Clark Ottessa Moshfegh author Society of Authors The Arvon Foundation To Query CAA: Email ukbooksubmissions@caa.com . To submit, please send a cover email, one-page synopsis and the first three chapters of your work, or the rough equivalent. About Rachel Mann Rachel Mann is a Literary Agent at CAA and represents a broad range of work – largely fiction, with some non-fiction — from commercial to literary, in adult, young adult, and middle-grade markets. Her clients include Eliza Clark, Caleb Femi, Jade LB and Aisling Rawle, and have won and been listed for major prizes, including the Granta Best Young British Novelist, the Forward Prize for Poetry, the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, the YA Book Prize, The Bookseller Discover Prize, and the Carnegie Medal. She spent ten years editing and commissioning fiction for young people at houses including Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, and was global publishing director at the Roald Dahl Story Company. She became an agent in 2018 and joined CAA in 2023. For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

August 23, 202645 min

#208: What Keeps Us Writing? Memoirist Deepa Paul, Essayist Gina Beach, and Novelist Daisy Buchanan on Finishing a Book an Hour at a Time, Writing in Community, and Taking Yourself Less Seriously

In this special episode we go behind the scenes with memoirist Deepa Paul, essayist, cookbook author Gina Beach, and novelist Daisy Buchanan and talk about the two things that keep them going: the passion behind the work, and the practice that makes the work possible. From an essay that no editor wanted to a Women's Prize-longlisted memoir, a personal research rabbit hole that became a four-year book project, and the journey from idea to novel, this is a personal conversation with three writers about about why they write the things they write — and what kept them going. You'll learn Why an essay no editor wanted a decade ago turned out not to be an essay at all. How to break a book into tasks small enough to finish inside a single hour. The case for treating your own interior life as seriously as any grand subject. How a rabbit hole of personal research turned into a four-year book project. Why the hardest part of self-publishing has nothing to do with production. When procrastination is doing useful work, and when it's just filling the gaps. What changes in your writing once you stop trying to get it right. A reason to stop measuring a writing session by its word count. How sitting alongside other writers quietly rearranges your sense of your own work. The tidal metaphor that makes a bad writing day easier to let go of. Resources & Links Writers' Hour Ask Me: A Memoir of Daring to Love Differently by Deepa Paul Deepa Paul 'The power of an hour' — Deepa Paul interviewed by the Women's Prize Nurture: Oil-Free, Plant-Based Cooking for Health by Regina Beach Regina Beach All Grown Up: A hilarious and heartwarming new novel inspired by Little Women by Daisy Buchanan Daisy Buchanan — Creative Confidence Clinic About the Guests Deepa Paul is a Filipina-Indian author living in Amsterdam. Her writing explores the balance between being a mother, wife, girlfriend, daughter, adventurer, and herself – all at the same time. Her debut, Ask Me: A Memoir of Daring to Love Differently , was longlisted for the Women's Prize. Regina Beach is a disabled poet and essayist. Originally from the American midwest, she now calls the Welsh Valleys home. Her writing has appeared in Global Poemic, Boldly Mental, The Rail, Haiku by You, Five Minutes, Visual Verse, The Horror Tree, and Disoriented among others. She is the founder of the literary magazine Lesions | Art + Words, which features the work of people living with chronic health conditions. Her book is Nurture: Oil-Free, Plant-Based Cooking for Health . Daisy Buchanan is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author of Insatiable (longlisted for the CWIP prize), Careering (as heard on BBC Sounds), Limelight and Pity Party, and the non-fiction titles How to Be A Grown Up, The Sisterhood and Read Yourself Happy. She writes for major newspapers and magazines from the Guardian to Grazia, and is host of the chart-topping podcast You're Booked. Her latest book is All Grown Up: A hilarious and heartwarming new novel inspired by Little Women . For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

August 16, 202632 min

#207: Writing Bestselling Middle-Grade Fiction — Jasmine Richards (Storymix), Natalie Doherty (Puffin and HarperCollins), Soman Chainani (The School for Good and Evil) on Standing Out on the Shelf and Writing Unputdownable Voice | Compilation

Children’s fiction studio founder Jasmine Richards (Storymix), publisher Natalie Doherty (Puffin and HarperCollins Children’s Books), and bestselling author Soman Chainani (The School for Good and Evil) on shaping an idea commercial enough to sell, what makes a children’s book impossible to put down, and trusting the unconscious to write it. You’ll learn Why the most commercial idea is the one that centres its reader from the very first thought. How a single pithy log line can carry a book all the way from the slush pile to the playground. The counterintuitive trick of starting your story at chapter three. How to read what children are reading now so your pacing keeps up with theirs. What a publisher is really looking for when a manuscript lands on the desk — and why voice comes before plot. How the categories from early readers to YA actually break down on the bookshop shelf. The difference between weaving in a message and writing a book that feels worthy. The case for never self-censoring in a first draft, and saving the negotiation for later. How tiring out your conscious mind can unlock a freer, more instinctive way to draft. Why the goal of writing should be the writing itself, not the bestseller list. Episode Links #050: Jasmine Richards — How to Pitch Commercial Children’s Fiction & The Business of Children’s Publishing #081: Natalie Doherty — The Magic of Writing for Children, Market Trends & Behind the Scenes of Publishing Children’s Books #035: Soman Chainani — Writing Dark Tales for Children & Balancing Creative Work with Discipline About the Guests Jasmine Richards is the author of over a dozen children’s books, ranging from picture books to teen fiction. Her most recent novel, Keeper of Myths, was published by HarperCollins. She has over 15 years of experience as an editor, including roles at Hamish Hamilton, Puffin, and Dutton Books in New York. Jasmine is the founder of Storymix, a children’s fiction studio, where she uses her unique experiences to develop new voices and inclusive stories. Natalie Doherty is a Publisher at Puffin, although during this interview she was at HarperCollins Children’s Books. She’s worked with award-winning and bestselling authors, including Tom Fletcher, Robin Stevens, R. J. Palacio, Tamzin Merchant, and Nazneen Ahmed Pathak. Before moving into editorial in 2010, she worked in Contracts and Rights at Hachette and holds a BA in Modern European Languages and an MA in Translation. Her recent middle-grade acquisitions include Simon Stephenson’s The Snowman Code and Philippa Leathley’s Inkbound. Soman Chainani’s debut series, The School for Good and Evil, has sold more than 3 million copies, been translated into 30 languages across 6 continents, and became a major motion picture from Netflix starring Charlize Theron, Laurence Fishburne, Kerry Washington, and Michelle Yeoh, with Chainani as an executive producer. Each of the six books in the series — The School for Good and Evil, A World Without Princes, The Last Ever After, Quests for Glory, A Crystal of Time, and One True King — debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list. A graduate of Harvard University, Soman created his own fairy-tale major before going on to an MFA in film at Columbia University. He has made films that have played all over the world, and his writing awards include honors from Big Bear Lake, the CAPE Foundation, and the Sun Valley Writers’ Fellowship. In Beasts & Beauty: Dangerous Tales, Soman reimagines old stories into fresh fairy tales for a new era. For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

August 9, 20261 hr 14 min

#206: Maya C. Popa — Writing with Wonder, Surviving Rejection, and Building a Life in Poetry

Poet Maya C. Popa on writing with wonder, the ruthless craft of revision, and building a sustainable life in poetry. You’ll learn Why wonder has more in common with the sublime — the beautiful and the terrible — than with simple delight. How a poem loses its charge the moment its ending is visible from the opening line. What “negative capability” asks of a writer stuck in the dark middle of a draft. The question worth asking when the work feels uncomfortable and you’re certain something has gone wrong. A ruthless method for finding a poem’s true entry point — often buried three-quarters of the way down. When to cut the images you love most, even the ones that took hours to invent. How to write about longing and love without collapsing into confession. Why asking your writing to carry your finances can quietly poison your relationship with it. What to guard at all costs while holding space for other writers. The freedom that arrives once rejection stops meaning anything at all. Resources & Links 📄 Interview Transcript If You Love That Lady by Maya C. Popa Gerard Manley Hopkins - Poetry Foundation Wound is the Origin of Wonder by Maya C. Popa Paradise Lost by John Milton Maya’s Substack Conscious Writers Collective Poetry Society of America Awards Maya’s ‘Five Things I Have Learned’ class About Maya C. Popa Maya C. Popa is a Romanian American poet. She holds a PhD on the role of wonder in poetry from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she was a recipient of a department bursary for exceptional merit, and previous degrees from Oxford University, New York University, and Barnard College. Popa is the author of If You Love That Lady (W. W. Norton, 2026); Wound Is the Origin of Wonder (W. W. Norton, 2022), named one of the Guardian’s Best Books of Poetry; and American Faith (Sarabande, 2019), a runner-up for the Kathryn A. Morton Prize, judged by Ocean Vuong, and winner of the North American Book Prize in 2020. She has also received awards from the Poetry Foundation and the Oxford Poetry Society. Popa is the poetry reviews editor at Publishers Weekly and is the founder of Conscious Writers Collective, where she teaches and oversees all literary programming for poets and prose writers. She lives in New York City. For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com. For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com. * FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON Twitter: twitter.com/WritersSalon Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

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