Holly Bourne invites me into her study/spare room to talk about her prolific career as a YA writer – and her recent novels for adults, including the bestselling How Do You Like Me Now?. She explains why her writing is a kind of activism, and why being honest about life – including all the sex and swearing – is the only way to get through to readers in the most vulnerable moments of their teenage years. Logo design by Ben Neale

I sit down with The Times’ Sathnam Sanghera to talk about the three strands of his work – how a competition run by Michael Jackson propelled him into journalism; how he came to write an acclaimed family memoir in his twenties; the challenges of fiction; and why writers’ block is “something posh people have”. Logo design by Ben Neale

Wendy Cope invites me into her book-filled house in Ely, Cambridgeshire. Wendy started her career as a highly successful outsider to the poetry world – seen by some as an interloper – and is now one of its most respected talents. She tells me about the backlash to her first bestseller, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis; how she pushed through it, and what she’s learnt. Logo design by Ben Neale

Bestselling author and screenwriter David Nicholls discusses his writing process, turning novels into television shows, and the role of letter writing in his career. He shares insights on creating the ideal writing space, transitioning from letters to scripts, navigating challenges in television writing, and the transition to novel writing. Nicholls reflects on collaboration, work ethic, and professionalism in his creative endeavors.

Host of the podcast How to Fail with Elizabeth Day; author of the memoir How to Fail; a novelist with four books under her belt, and a journalist and columnist too – talented Elizabeth Day is the perfect guest for the first episode of In Writing. I visit her “room of one’s own” to talk about how she moves between genres, how the discipline of journalism has honed her writing, and why learning to be herself has been the best professional lesson of her life. With thanks to Laura Gallop for early editing (though any errors can be attributed to my own later edits...); to Maria Williams for invaluable advice, and to Ben Neale for logo design