For this final episode of the sixth season of In Writing, I sat down with Jesse Armstrong, creator of Succession, and writer/co-writer of numerous other brilliant shows and movies including Peep Show, Fresh Meat, The Thick of It, In The Loop and Four Lions. At his London office he told me about some of his projects that didn't work out (and why); t…

Fresh from judging the Booker Prize, novelist Sara Collins joins us this week. Her debut The Confessions of Frannie Langton won the First Novel prize in the 2019 Costa Book Awards, and having adapted it into a TV series, she's now working on her second book. In this episode, she talks about the careful rhythms of her writing routine; the value of p…

This week I'm talking to Tom Crewe, author of 2023's The New Life, contributing editor of the London Review of Books and winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. I visited Tom in September at his London office, which is really more of a nest of books, and we talked about the strange emotional journey of publication; the wrangling …

This week I'm in the London home of artist and writer Posy Simmonds. From the 1970s onwards, Posy had a regular comic strip in The Guardian, where she wrote Mrs Weber's Diary and later serialised the graphic novel Tamara Drewe. She went on to publish two more graphic novels, Gemma Bovery and Cassandra Darke. Earlier this year, she had a major exhib…

Nathan Silver, director and co-writer of Between the Temples (and many other movies) joins me from New York today to talk about his 'scriptment' approach to screenwriting, in which scripts read more like novellas. Nathan and I have a great chat about how he collaborates with cast and uses improvisation to tell a story; how comedy helps him to 'Troj…

This slightly silly bonus episode marks the launch today of In Writing: Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation, published in the UK by Granta Books. Friend of the podcast and former guest Sathnam Sanghera came to visit the room where I write, for a conversation about the writing life – touching on elaborate procrastinat…

Yomi Adegoke, bestselling author of The List and co-author of Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible, spoke to me in August for this episode. We discussed the stellar career she's established in her twenties and early thirties – from launching a self-made magazine, to producing an acclaimed book on the experience of black British women, to writing…

I had a great chat this week with Craig Brown, parody writer and columnist for Private Eye and the Daily Mail, and author of offbeat biographies including A Voyage Around the Queen; One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time; and Ma'am Darling (about Princess Margaret). Craig takes iconic cultural figures and writes around them, exploring how they wer…

The very funny and frank Bella Mackie is with me today. We met in August to talk about the writing of her three bestselling books: the nonfiction hit Jog On: How Running Saved My Life, and the witty murder novels How to Kill Your Family and What a Way to Go – a new genre that we dub 'sarcastic crime'. Bella opens up about accepting defeat on a fail…

This week, meet Donal Ryan, who has since 2012 published seven bestselling novels and a collection of short stories. Based in County Limerick, Ireland – where he teaches creative writing at the University of Limerick – he writes heartfelt stories inspired by the kinds of people he's lived among all his life. His latest novel, Heart, Be At Peace, is…

We're back! And I'm sitting down with influential Canadian writer and thinker Naomi Klein, author of Doppelganger, No Logo, The Shock Doctrine and many more. Naomi studies and writes about corporate globalisation and the climate emergency, but today we're talking about the challenges of hiding from a child in order to get some work done, and not be…

In this final episode of the season, recorded in February 2023, I'm joined by the beloved poet and author Michael Rosen. Known equally for humorous children's verse and his poetry and prose for adults, Michael's books for kids include We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake, Michael Rosen's Sad Book and Jelly Boots, Smelly Boots. He's also writt…

This week's guest is the beloved novelist Barbara Trapido, who I met at her home in Oxford in March 2023. Barbara's first novel was 1982's Brother of the More Famous Jack, which was published when she was 41; she followed it with Noah's Ark (1984), Temples of Delight (1990), Juggling (1994), The Travelling Hornplayer (1998), Frankie & Stankie (2003…

A little detour into death this week – or life, depending on how you look at it. Nigel Williamson, obituary writer for The Times newspaper, joins me to talk about the art of summing up a person one final time, over 1600 words or so, for the permanent record. I met Nigel in March at the News Building in London to talk about researching a biography, …

This week's guest is my friend Tor Freeman, who writes and illustrates comics and children's picture books. Tor is a hugely imaginative person, a smart observer of human nature, and a very funny writer. Her comics include Sister Clawdetta: Murder at the Monastery and Welcome to Oddleigh, while her children's books include The Toucan Brothers and Ol…

Geoff 'genre-defying' Dyer, whose career moves between fiction, non-fiction and a grey area in between, joins me this week from California. Geoff published his first book in 1986 and is highly prolific. Some of his best-known works include Out of Sheer Rage; Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi; and Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It. Last…

This week, the Guardian journalist Zoe Williams joins me on In Writing. I recorded with Zoe at her home in London just before Christmas. She's well-known in the UK as a prolific writer of features, confessional columns and political opinion, and she was as outspoken and entertaining in person as she is in print. She talked me through her ability to…

Hallå! My guest this week is Swedish screenwriter and director Ruben Östlund, who I met in London in December. Ruben's feature films include 2014's Force Majeure, 2017's The Square, and 2022's Triangle of Sadness, which is nominated for three Oscars including Best Original Screenplay. He has a unique way of writing, doing a lot of talking before he…

This week's guest is Sophie Mackintosh, author of books including the Booker Prize-longlisted The Water Cure, and new novel Cursed Bread. Sophie talks to me about the optimum balance of social life and writing life; how playlists help her get into the worlds of her novels; and how she powers her work with 'little treats'. Browse Sophie's books in t…

The fifth season of In Writing continues with Vogue columnist Raven Smith, who's known for his witty takes on pop culture, modern life and masculinity. Raven is the author of two collections of personal essays: Raven Smith's Trivial Pursuits and Raven Smith's Men, which has just come out in paperback (buy it here https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/in-wri…

I'm back! And very happy about it. This week, Nigerian novelist Ayobami Adebayo speaks to me from her home in Lagos. Ayobami is the author of 2017's Stay With Me, and A Spell of Good Things, which was published in the UK last week. Stay With Me was a hugely successful debut; it won the 9mobile Prize for Literature, and was shortlisted for the Baile…

Introducing the In Writing newsletter, a life raft for writers at sea. Sign up at https://inwriting.substack.comAutor: Hattie Crisell

For the last episode of the fourth series of In Writing, Rumaan Alam joins me remotely from his house in Brooklyn, New York. Rumaan is the author of Rich and Pretty, That Kind of Mother, and most recently Leave the World Behind – a literary thriller about a family holiday that takes a sinister twist. (Leave the World Behind is set to become a Netfl…

Georgia Pritchett is my very funny guest this week. She's been writing for TV since the early Nineties and has worked on Smack the Pony, The Thick of It, Veep, Succession and, importantly, Spice World. She's also the creator of the new Apple TV series The Shrink Next Door, starring Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and Kathryn Hahn – and she has recently pub…

The 40th episode of In Writing focuses on the art of letter-writing. Shaun Usher, who spoke to me last week from his home in Manchester, is the founder of Letters of Note, a blog that led to several very successful books and a star-studded live event (Letters Live). He has dedicated his career to finding the most brilliant, funny, insightful or poi…