Not Too Busy To Write

Margaux Vialleron is a French born, London based writer. Her debut novel The Yellow Kitchen centres around the friendship of three very different women over the course of a year, with a kitchen and the food prepared within it at its heart.Margaux speaks about why she is drawn to writing about friendship and food, how she uses her sense to dive into the English language and why she has chosen to write in her second language. We also talk a bit about her day job as a translation rights literary agent.LinksThe Yellow Kitchen - Margaux VialleronThe Salmon Pink Kitchen PodcastThe Salmon Pink Kitchen NewsletterPenny's instagram @pennywincerContact Penny

Beth Kempton is a Japanologist, a best selling author and a writing mentor whose books have been translated into 24 languages. Her Latest book The Way of the Fearless Writer challenges the assumption that writing must be a struggle and filled with suffering. We talk about why it's important to know why we write, learning to let go in our writing, when to share our work (and when not to) and learning to trust in writing as a practice. LinksThe Way of the Fearless Writer - Beth KemptonFreedom Seeker - Beth KemptonWabi Sabi - Beth KemptonDo What You Love For Life - Writing classes with Beth KemptonThe Fearless Writer PodcastYou can sign up to Penny's weekly newsletter about all things writing and finding time to write here

Huma Qureshi is a former Guardian and Observer journalist and is the author of the memoir How We Met and her latest book Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love, is a short story collection about the distance between people - between mothers and daughters and between lovers. It includes the "The Jam Maker" which won the Harper's Bazaar Short Story Prize 2020. We talk about what drove Huma to set herself the challenge of writing 10 short stories in a fairly short period of time, the importance of short story prizes as a way of setting yourself deadlines and challenges, and how motherhood both affected her confidence as a writer but also gave her an urgency to get the words on to the page.LinksMiniature Worlds: Writing short stories with Huma QureshiThings We Do Not Tell The People We Love - Huma QureshiHow We Met - Huma QureshiSense and Sensibility - Jane Austen A Ghost in the Throat - Doireann Ni GhriofaYou can find Huma Qureshi on instagram @humaqureshiwriterSign up for Penny's newsletter hereYou can check out all the book recommendations from the podcast at our bookshop on bookshop.org which helps support independent booksellers

Cathy Rentzenbrink is a Sunday Times best selling author of The Last Act of Love, A Manual for Heartache, Dear Reader and Everyone is Still Alive. Her latest book, Write It All Down, is all about writing from life. Cathy talks about how her first memoir started because she need to write it out of her, how she's learned to trust the process of writing, even though she's still filled with self doubt and learning that external validation of our writing doesn't magically fix that doubt. LinksWrite It All Down - Cathy RentzenbrinkThe Last Act of Love - Cathy RentzenbrinkEveryone Is Still Alive - Cathy RentzenbrinkThe Virgin Suicides - Jeffery EugenidesWithout Warning And Only Sometimes - Kit De WaalYou can follow Cathy on Instagram @catrentzenbrink and twitter @catrentzenbrinkYou can follow Penny on Instagram @pennywincer and sign up for her newsletter here.

Julia Silk is a an agent with Greyhound Literary. Julia spent many years as an editor before becoming an agent who represents a wide range of fiction and non-fiction authors. We talk about what exactly an agent does, how agents find and nurture authors as well as how agents deal with rejection (yes they get rejected too!). She also talks about the common problems that she sees in manuscripts, including really figuring out what the point of your book is and the importance story and how to write a captivating cover letter. It is a packed epsiode full of gold for submitting writers.Julia Silk is currently open for submissions You can find Julia on twitter @juliasreadingBook Proposal Group Program with Penny Wincer LinksSisters - Daisy JohnsonNine Perfect Strangers - Liane MoriatyIf This Is a Man - Primo LeviEat Up - Ruby Tandoh You can find all the books recommended on the podcast at our Bookshop.org shop - Not Too Busy To Write Recommends - buying through our bookshop supports independent booksellers as well as supporting the podcast

REPLAY: This episode was originally released in April 2022Sophie Howarth has a varied and unique career spanning art, entrepreneurship, teaching, activism and writing. She has been Curator of Public Programs at Tate Modern, co-founded The School Of Life and Department Store for The Mind, has written several books on photography. Her latest book The Mindful Photographer is about slowing down and paying attention to what we see. Sophie is a big believer in the joy of being an amateur and the book is for anyone, regardless of equipment or expertise, to find a fresh way of paying attention in the world. We talk about 'beginning in the middle' - how in middle age, with our awareness of impermanence, we are somehow freed from constraints by being more aware of death. We also talk about the process of writing a photography book, of approaching the artists she wanted to use to illustrate the ideas in the book and the range of work including diversity of gender, race and genre.Our conversation spans so many areas - inspiration (and too much inspiration/input), work freedom, following joy and the idea of practise as a way of living.LinksBook Proposal Group Program with Penny Wincer The Mindful Photographer - Sophie HowarthStreet Photography Now - Sophie HowarthFamily Photography Now - Sophie Howarthsophiehowarth.comYou can find Penny on Instagram @pennywincer and you can sign up for her newsletter here

Lulah Ellender is an author, creative non-fiction writing teacher and writing coach based in Sussex. Her latest book Grounding: Finding home in a garden is about a single growing year in her garden after her mother died and her family was in danger of losing the home that they had lived in for 10 years. We talk about how Lulah weaves together the stories of many other gardens and the artists who created them into her own personal narrative alongside non-fiction elements of plant and garden history. She sees her role as taking the reader by the hand and leading them through, rather than memoir being particularly about her.Lulah also tells me about her flexible online courses in Life Writing, her favourite books about writing, the importance of close reading your favourite books and reading widely around your topics of interest.LinksGrounding - Lulah EllenderElizabeth's Lists - Lulah EllenderLulah's writing coursesMaggie Nelson - BluetsEveryBody - Olivia LaingThe Artists Way - Julia CameronThe Art of Memoir - Mary KarrBird By Bird - Anne Lamott

Angela Hui is an award winning food and lifestyle journalist whose first book Takeway: Stories from a childhood behind the counter is about growing up in a Chinese takeaway in rural Wales. We talk about how the memoir began life as an article she wrote for VICE on how Chinese takeaways are disappearing and the dual identities of her childhood - going from yearning to fit in to coming to love and appreciate both her Chinese and Welsh heritage. We also talk about just how important food is in Chinese culture, what it was like to put her formidable mother down on the page and how food has followed her from a childhood behind the counter, to her career as the food writer for Time Out London. LinksTakeaway - Angela Hui

Michelle Gallen is an Irish author raised in a border town in the north and now based in Dublin. Her first novel Big Girl, Small Town was short listed for the Costa First Novel Award, The Comedy Women in Print Award and An Irish Book Award. Her second novel Factory Girls, set in the summer of 1994 in a small town in Northern Ireland, as a group of friends await their A level results, wondering if they'll ever escape the deprived community they were born into. It's dark and incredibly funny.We talk about how growing up in a divided community where violence was normal and was dealt with by turning to dark humour and the differences between writing her first and second novel. We also talk about her recovery from a brain injury, the bursaries that allowed her to quit her day job in order to write and the importance of having people to champion and encourage your work.LinksFactory Girls - Michell GallenBig Girl, Small Town - Michelle GallenIrish Arts Council Literature Project AwardArts Council England - Develop Your Practice FundSociety of Authors Grants

Our very own Ali Millar is on the podcast today talking about her debut book The Last Days. We talk about how writing this memoir was a necessity in truth telling, obsessing over structure, talking books into life and redrafting - lots of redrafting. We also talk about some of the challenges of writing a memoir both emotionally and legally and vulnerability of exposure. The Last Days is out now.LinksThe Last Days - Ali MillarOriginal Sins - Matt Rowland HillIdol - Louise O'NeillThe Year of Miracles - Ella RisbridgerYou can find Ali on instagram @ali_millar_writes and Penny @pennywincer