Writer's Routine

Emma Cowell wrote her debut novel, 'One Last Letter from Greece', through the pandemic to come to terms with losing her mother. Since then, she's published more novels and been translated into 9 languages. They're inspired by Greece and its islands. We discuss how she gets the places right. Who does she speak to? How does she learn? Where does she travel to tell the island's story authentically?

The new novel is 'Under the Lemon...

Claire Douglas is a bestselling thriller author. Her work has been published across the world, sold many copies everywhere, and she's been a Richard and Judy Book Club Pick. She's just published her 11th novel in 10 years, 'The New Neighbours'.

It's about Lena who overhears a conversation between her kind, retired neighbours... that must be a mistake. It sounded like they were planning something awful. Lena can't stop thinking ...

Guy Jenkin is a multi Emmy and Bafta winning writer. Along with Andy Hamilton, he co-wrote the sitcoms 'Drop the Dead Donkey' and 'Outnumbered'. He also worked on the films 'What We Did On Our Holiday', and 'The Sleeping Dictionary'.

His new novel is called 'Murder Most Foul', a witty and fast-paced Tudor detective novel that plays with fact and fiction. In the middle of a deadly plague outbreak in 1593, William Shakespeare is i...

Lucy Foley is a mystery behemoth. She's sold 5 million copies of her novels which have been translated in over 40 countries. All of them are currently being made for film and TV right now. Following the success of 'The Hunting Party', 'The Guest List', and 'The Paris Apartment', 'The Midnight Feast' is out now in paperback, and focuses on the opening weekend of a luxury countryside retreat. Only, under the burning midsummer sun, da...

Frances Quinn is a journalist, copywriter and bestselling author. Her new novel, 'The Lost Passenger', tells the story of Elinor Coombes, who boards the Titanic trapped in an unhappy marriage to a controlling husband. When it starts to go down, she sees an opportunity to escape for a new life.

Frances began writing after winning a place on the Curtis Brown Creative Novel Writing Course, which led through a meandering path toward...

Mike Gayle is a prolific author. He's published 20 novels, many of which land on the Sunday Times Bestseller List, and has been translated in over 30 countries. He was the first male writer, and writer of colour, to win the Romantic Novelist Association's Outstanding Achievement Award. He's back with a new novella called 'The One That Got Away'.

It tells the story of Reuben and the love of his life who is getting married... only...

Barnaby Martin is a busy man. He works as a teacher, runs a successful YouTube channel with over 10 million views, as a composer he's had pieces performed across the world, and now he's released his first novel, 'The Quiet.

It tells the story of a dystopian world covered by the Soundfield. A domer which surrounds the Earth and changes everyone's life. It brings deadly heat, ravages food and water supplies, and everyone lives wit...

Caitlin Davies has always wanted to be a writer. It took her a long time to admit it to herself, let alone voice it aloud. She started writing as a journalist, covering stories across Europe and Africa, and now, finally, is a published author. She writes widely, switching genres and styles, releasing 6 novels and 8 narrative nonfiction books along the way. Caitlin tends to be inspired by forgotten women from history, and water.

Heidi Perks is the bestselling author of 7 novels, 'Now You See Her', 'Come Back for Me', 'Three Perfect Liars', 'The Whispers', 'The Other Guest', 'The Next Girl', and her new one, 'Someone is Lying'

It tells the story of Jess and her daughter, Issie. They have an unbreakable bond and for years it's just been the two of them. However, when a new boyfriend, Dylan, takes Issie travelling... and contact dries up, Jess needs to fig...

This week's guest is the phenomenally bestselling author, Simon Scarrow. He mainly writes historical fiction, best known for his 'Eagles of the Empire' series, and has written about Ancient Rome and Nazi Germany too. He's also published futuristic sci-fi, and began writing dystopian fiction and comedy, before realising he should write what he wants to read, not what he thought might sell.

Simon has sold more than 6 million books...

Chris Bridges has worked as an NHS Nurse, a theatre reviewer, a columnist and now is a published author. It was his work as a nurse, coupled with his Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis, that gave him the inspiration and experience to get the novel done.

The novel is 'Sick to Death', it tells the story of Emma who can't go to work because of a neurological condition. When her boyfriend won't finally leave his wife, she takes matters i...

M.G. Leonard is the author of 16 children's books, which have won heaps of awards. She was awarded Sainsbury's Childen's Book of the Year, and the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year 2021. Meanwhile, as a child at school, she was told she'd never become a published author - that she simply wasn't smart enough.

Before becoming a writer, she managed bands, ran an indie record label, and worked as a professional actor w...

This week, we're taking a look inside the writing life of Hanna Thomas Uose, author of 'Who Whats to Live Forever'.

Hanna won the Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour, was shortlisted for Orion and DHA's Space to Write project, selected for the Asian Women Writers Mentorship Programme, and went back to study for an MA in Prose Fiction.

Her new novel is 'Who Wants to Live Forever', and it comes from the simple questi...

This week, we're chatting to Robert Whitlow, prolific writer of over 20 bestselling novels. His new one is 'Guilty Until Innocent', a legal thriller that looks an an old case being reopened, and the two lawyers who have to prove the convicted's innocence against the odds.

His debut novel, 'The List', was adapted into a successful movie starring Malcolm McDowell. In fact, four of Robert's novels have been adapted for the big scr...

Jennifer Saint worked as an English teacher in a secondary school for thirteen years, when all of a sudden, with an unexpected confidence, she felt the urge to write a novel. It wasn't just the confidence she could do it that surprised her, but the belief that it would do well.

She was inspired by Greek mythology, and wanted to emphasise their relevance for the 21st Century. Her debut was 'Ariadne', which tells the legend of Th...

Paul S. Edwards is a lawyer, a family man with two children, and has just published his first sci-fi novel, 'The Triton Run'. He found time to write it... anywhere. If he was early at a football game, he'd get words down. If he was at a gig with a few minutes to spare, he'd write. On the sofa with his family watching TV, he will get down it it.

His new novel is 'The Triton Run', the start of a new sci-fi series which spans plan...

Julia Raeside is a journalist and broadcaster, who has written for The Times, The Guardian, The Big Issue and many others, and appeared across the BBC.

Her new novel is 'Don't Make Me Laugh', which looks at the culture within the world of comedy... an industry which is rapidly approaching a #MeToo moment. It tells the story of Ali Lauder, a radio producer enlisted to hire Paul Bonatti to host a show. It could be her career brea...

This week, we chat to Rosaria Girorgi, a mystery writer whose life has been as busy as one of her plots. Whilst studying in Denmark, she got a job working for who she thought was an antique dealer. He turned out to be 'The Umbrella Assassin', a cold war legend, who assassinated the Bulgarian dissident journalist Georgi Markov, with a poison pellet discharged from an umbrella.

It's inspired her novel,'The Less Unkind', which tell...

James Alistair Henry has had a hand in writing some seismic shows across T.V. He is a BAFTA award winning writer for the comedy, 'Green Wing', worked on the sketch show, 'Smack the Pony', and his diverse career has seen him write for 'Bob the Builder', 'Hey Duggee', and 'Shaun the Sheep'.

He's just published his debut novel, 'Pagans', which has already been optioned for Apple TV. It's set in an alternative Britain, threatened w...