This week I'm joined by Wendy Erskine, author of the remarkable Sweet Home, an award-winning short story collection set in modern Belfast. I have a personal connection to Wendy – she was my English teacher in the mid-nineties, and is still a teacher today. She talks about how she found her way to publishing an acclaimed collection in 2018; how her 'imagination headphones' allow her to work at the kitchen table with family life unfolding around her; and how drafting and redrafting leads to her stark, fearless prose.

Wendy's second collection will be published by Stinging Fly and Picador in February 2022. In the meantime, read her latest short story Gloria and Max here: https://stingingfly.org/2021/03/03/gloria-and-max/

Buy Sweet Home and other books by guests of the podcast here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-writing

And let me know what you think of this episode on Twitter (@hattiehattie) or Instagram (@hattiecrisell), or share your thoughts with the hashtag #InWriting.