Displaying episodes 1 - 30 of 39 in total
#37 Talking about the story that haunts you with Justine Picardie
Justine Picardie is a journalist, novelist and memoirist and fashion biographer. Until recently she was editor of Harpers Bazaar magazine. I first encountered her thro...
#36 Talking about writing and illustrating with Thomas Taylor
Thomas Taylor started out in the 1990s, aged 23, by creating some of the most famous cover art in the world - more of that later. Lately, thanks to his Eerie-on-Sea mi...
#35 Talking about writing Christie and page-turnability with Sophie Hannah, Part Two
In part 2 of my conversation with Sophie Hannah we talk about her invitation to write for the Agatha Christie estate, picking up the career of Hercule Poirot. I love S...
#34 Talking about comic fiction and sci fi with Jenny Colgan
Jenny Colgan is the Scottish-based, bestselling author of sci-fi and romantic fiction, from Doctor Who stories to novels including Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe and her ...
#33 Talking about writing contemporary novels with Amanda Craig
Amanda Craig is a novelist and journalist whose ninth novel, The Golden Rule, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021. She was for many years the childre...
#32 Talking about the writing coach with Sophie Hannah
Sophie Hannah is an international bestselling thriller writer, author coach and poet. In part 1 of this conversation about her writing life and work, we discuss writin...
#31 Talking about crime writing and PhDs with Luke Deckard and Alex Reeve
Luke Deckard and Alex Reeve are both crime writers studying for a PhD in creative writing. What does it take? How do you do a creative writing PhD? And does it help in...
#30 Talking about the habit of writing with Joanna Nadin
Jo is a multitasker. She has written for prime ministers and celebrities, published her own novels for children and adults, and teaches creative writing, first at Bath...
#29 Talking about a sense of place with Michelle Lovric
Michelle Lovric has written books for adults and children, with publishers such as Virago, Bloomsbury and Orion. As well as the setting of Venice, which she brings int...
#28 Talking about foreign rights with Natasha Farrant
Natasha is the recent winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award, for her middle grade novel, Voyage of the Sparrowhawk. As a longstanding book scout for foreign publis...
#27 Talking about the Carnegie medal with Anthony McGowan
In this episode we talk about libraries, writing for boys and prizes. Anthony McGowan is a children’s author and until this week the holder (although, as we’ll hear, t...
#26 Talking about writing and marketing with Phil Earle
Phil Earle is the author of twenty books for children and young adults, including Being Billy, Bubble Wrap Boy and Demolition Dad. His latest novel is the Waterstones ...
#25 Talking about acting and a sense of place with Carol Drinkwater
This episode features the actress, film maker and author Carol Drinkwater. You may know her as the original Helen in the iconic 1970s production of All Creatures Great...
#24 Talking about writing and teaching with Julia Green
Have you ever wondered if you should do a creative writing course? Until recently, Julia Green was the long-running director of the MA in Writing for Young People at B...
Season 3 intro
After two dozen episodes of Prepublished, who's next? Sophia introduces some of her guests in the upcoming weeks and the topics they talk about, including creative wri...
#23 Talking about The Windsor Knot with Caroline Green and Sophia Bennett
In this episode, Caroline Green returns to Prepublished to interview Sophia about switching genres. The sale of The Windsor Knot and its sequels in the Her Majesty the...
#22 Talking about under-represented voices with Abiola Bello and Attiya Khan
It’s no secret that the publishing industry is predominantly white and middle class, and still struggles to represent diverse voices. I talk about what needs to change...
#21 Talking about understanding the market with Holly Tonks
In this podcast, I try to reveal as much about the publishing process as I can to new writers. Holly Tonks has seen it all. She has worked in a literary agency, edited...
#20 Talking about rethinking your story with Sheena Wilkinson
Sheena Wilkinson has been described in the Irish Times as ‘one of our foremost writers for young people’. From her home in Belfast, she talks to me about her writing p...
#19 Talking about poetry in lockdown with Fraser Grace
I talk to Fraser Grace about making plays, writing poetry, and the website he built in lockdown called The Word Cage, where he shares his own poems and those of his sp...
#18 Talking about writing for radio with Sarah Wooley
In this episode I talk to Sarah Wooley about writing for radio. Sarah’s plays about real characters and moments in history are regulars on Radio 3 and Radio 4 on the B...
#17 Talking about writing crime with Ruth Ware
Ruth Ware is the author of several stand-alone crime novels. Her adult debut, In a Dark Dark Wood, was a Richard and Judy book club choice that went on to top the char...
#16 Talking about writing for different age groups with Adele Geras
(Apologies if you downloaded an earlier version.) Adele Geras has been published since 1976. Like me, she didn’t find it easy to get a publisher at first, but she’s lo...
#15 Talking about self editing with Emma Darwin
Emma Darwin is the author of two historical novels and a guide to writing historical fiction. Her latest book, intriguingly, is the story of not being able to write a ...
#14 Talking about getting the first deal with James Nicol
James took various writing courses while he honed his craft, and I wanted to discuss the value of these with him. Is it worth it? Should one do it? What do you get out...
A Safe Space to Fail - talking about writing groups with the Masterminds
The Masterminds were a writing group formed out of a course Sophia ran with Keren David at City Lit in 2016. They have been meeting ever since, occasionally mentored b...
Where Do You Belong? Talking about writing to be seen, with Catherine Johnson
Sophia talked to Catherine in Hastings via the Cleanfeed app. The topics ranged from Catherine's time as a screenwriting student at St Martin's art college in London, ...
It Takes a Lot of Knocks - talking about first novels with Jasbinder Bilan
Jasbinder and Sophia both got their publishing break by winning the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition. Jasbinder went on to win the Costa Children’s B...
Funny and Dark - talking about being an agent with Stephanie Thwaites
Stephanie tells Sophia what she’s looking for in children’s fiction at the moment, and why the covering letter is so important. If you’ve ever wondered who is reading ...
The Bridget Jones Method - talking about writing YA fiction with Keren David
Keren and Sophia talk about writing fiction for the first time, what you can learn about structure from writing a musical, writing for dyslexic readers with publishers...
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