Page One - The Writer's Podcast

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On this week's Drafting Notes, inspired by the publication of Tariq's book, The Midnight King, we are talking book launches. How important are they? Do they make a difference to sales? And what happens for the author after the book has been launched?

Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-pub...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube

MK Hardy is the pen name for two geeky women living and writing together in Scotland. Their debut Sapphic Gothic Horror, The Needfire, comes from Solaris in the UK in July 2025. They were mentees in the Pitch Wars 2020-21 programme, and mentors for Queery Fest 2022. They are organisers and facilitators for Scotland’s Cymera Festival.

We...

It's one of the most common pieces of writing advice: Write what you know. But what does it really mean? Does it mean that if you're from a small village, you shouldn't write about people in big cities? If you're a man, you shouldn't write about women? We think it's a bit more nuanced than that, and that the phrase is often misunderstood. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Drafting Notes is a new series of podca...

M. H. Ayinde was born in London’s East End. She is a runner, a lapsed martial artist, and a screen time enthusiast. She is the Sunday Times bestselling author of epic fantasy novel A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST (Orbit UK/Saga Press). Her short fiction has appeared in FIYAH Literary Magazine, F&SF, Fantasy Magazine, and elsewhere, and she was the 2021 winner of the Future Worlds Prize. She lives in London with three generations of her ...

Intisar Khanani is an award‑nominated American fantasy author and former public‑health consultant. Born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, she spent her childhood moving around—living in five U.S. states and time in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia—before settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters. Her writing career began with the self‑published YA fantasy Thorn and has since expanded into acclaimed series such as The Dauntless P...

J.R. Dawson's debut, The First Bright Thing, is a Golden Crown award winner. Her shorter works are in places such as F&SF, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, and Lightspeed. Dawson lives on Dakota land in Minnesota with a loving spouse and three dogs. She is a professor at Drexel University's MFA program. Her second novel, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World, is a loose sapphic retelling of Orp...

Carlo Lucarelli is an acclaimed Italian crime writer, journalist, screenwriter, and television presenter. He is best known for his detective novels, including the De Luca Trilogy and the Inspector Grazia Negro series, which have been widely translated and adapted for screen. Alongside his fiction, Lucarelli has hosted popular true crime TV shows in Italy and remains a prominent voice in Italian cultural life. His latest English-tra...

Laura Shepherd-Robinson is the award-winning, Sunday Times and USA Today bestselling author of four historical novels. Her books have been featured on BBC 2’s Between the Covers and Radio 4’s Front Row and Open Book. Her fourth novel, The Art of a Lie, is out now.

We had great fun chatting with Laura and hearing how she decided to move from working in politics to writing, and learn about the research that goes into her novels. W...

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Sarah Pinborough is a New York Times bestselling and Sunday Times Number one and Internationally bestselling author who is published in over 25 territories worldwide. Having published more than 25 novels across various genres, her recent books include Behind Her Eyes and Insomnia, both of which have been adapted for TV. Her latest book, We Live Here Now, is out n...

Amelia Blackwell has a master’s degree in Creative Writing, a corn snake called Colin, and a deep love of the works of Jane Austen. Although the Boleyns appear in her family tree, it’s through marriage, not blood, which is probably just as well. Georgiana Darcy’s most persistent suitor in her novel A Crime Through Time, Baron John de Halighwell, takes his name from one of Amelia’s distant great-grandfathers, who lived in a man...

Novelist and TV showrunner Jonathan Lee is the author of four novels, including High Dive and The Great Mistake. He is creator, executive producer & lead writer of the BBC/ Netflix drama series “The Bombing of Pan Am 103”. Other TV projects include originating and executive producing the documentary series “Who Killed Jill Dando?” (Netflix, 2023), a Top 10 show on the streamer in 47 countries.

We enjoyed chatt...

Beth Lewis is the author of five novels so far, including her debut, THE WOLF ROAD. My latest novel, THE RUSH, came out in the UK on 10th June 2025 and is out in the US on the 7th October. It was July’s Goldsboro Books Prem1ere Book Club pick and a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick.

We had a great chat with Beth, hearing about the influences that went into writing The Rush, and how she researches her historical fiction. Plus, we talk a...

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D. V. BISHOP writes the award-winning Cesare Aldo historical thrillers, published by Pan Macmillan. A writer of many narrative forms, his love for Italy and the Renaissance meant there could only be one setting for his crime fiction. He has previously guested on the main podcast way back in Episode 69. His latest book in the Cesare Aldo series, Carnival of Lies, is out on 26 J...

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Welcome to the very first episode of Adventures in Publishing-land! Join us as we discuss some of the biggest (and strangest) stories in publishing over the past few weeks.

This week:

00:17 Intro

01:32 The Unbound Saga continues

15:19 Authors hounded off social media - is it worth it?

24:...

Fiona Cummins is an award-winning former journalist and a graduate of the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course. Rattle, her debut novel, was the subject of a huge international auction and has been translated into several languages. It received widespread critical acclaim from authors and reviewers. She has since written bestsellers The Collector, The Neighbour, When I Was Ten and Into the Dark in which she...

Jane Johnson is a novelist, historian, and publisher. She is the UK publisher of many bestselling authors, including George R.R. Martin. She has written for both adults and children, including the bestselling novels The Tenth Gift and The Salt Road. Her latest book is Secrets of the Bees.

We really enjoyed chatting with Jane and hearing how it was working with the Tolkien estate and bringing us the version of Lord of the Rings w...

Michael Cordy's debut novel,The Miracle Strain/Messiah Code, was published in over twenty-five languages and reached the top five in the Sunday Times Bestseller List.  Disney bought the film rights for $1.6 million. Another five novels followed: Crime Zero/The Crime Code, The Lucifer Code, The Venus Conspiracy, The Source and The Colour Of Death. All were published in the ...

Watch as a full video on our YouTube channel!

Networking. It's a word that is very corporate and as a result off-putting to a lot of writers, but can it help? What are the best ways to go about it, either in person or online? And what shouldn't you do (learn about Marco's "Don't Be A Dick" rule...)

Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-publish...

C.L. Taylor is the nine times Sunday Times bestselling author of eleven gripping stand-alone psychological thrillers: THE ACCIDENT, THE LIE, THE MISSING, THE ESCAPE, THE FEAR, SLEEP, STRANGERS, HER LAST HOLIDAY, THE GUILTY COUPLE, EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE and her newest book, IT’S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND, published on 5th June 2025.

We loved chatting with Cally and hearing perhaps the most unique story ever about how she got her agen...