Pen to Print - Podcasts for Aspiring Writers

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Our writing tips for December come from writers Christine Penhall and Lizzie Chantree talking about the benefits of ‘buddy writing’

Chris and Lizzie both write uplifting romantic fiction and they formed a buddy-writing group in Essex to help fellow writers to inspire each other and avoid the feeling of isolation that many writers experience.  In these tips they share the benefits of this approach to writing and how it can work for writers at all stages of their writing journey.

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This months' interview is with novelist and life coach Elen Sentier.   The best-selling author of 12 books, Elen describes herself as an author of "magical-realism and British cunning folk.” Her writing draws on shamanism, paganism, folklore and magic.  She is also known for her paranormal mystery suspense novels.

The interviewer is Eithne Cullen who is alongside Write On! Editor Madeleine White

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

This month’s showcase is selected by Afsana Elanko  

Artist and writer Dr Afsana Elanko is also an award-winning doctor, with a special interest in oncology, educationalist, leader, policy maker  and innovator. Part of the Write On! team for the last couple of years, she combines a passion for promoting advances in medicine with a love of the arts.  Other than writing for Write On! Dr Afsana’s work has appeared in the Guardian as well as other main stream publications and medical journals. 

In the showcase you can hear the following pieces  

Realities and Perceptions of the World by Sebastian Elanko  

A.I by Nayesh Radia  

To Retire or Not to Retire?  That is the Question by Tony Dileen 

Here You Are by Ladyray 

The readers in this showcase were Sally Walker-Taylor and Chris Gregory 

 Join us next week for an interview with novelist Elen Sentier  

We’re always delighted to read your contributions so if you’d like to see your words in Write on! or hear them on this podcast please get in touch. Please submit to: 

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print   

This month’s listener contribution is an original monologue written and performed by Jeff Tullin.    Jeff lives in the East Midlands and is a member of the Derbyshire Script Writers group, and the Hasland Theatre Company Chesterfield. He retired from a lifetime career in IT a few years ago, and took the opportunity to return to amateur dramatics and writing - short scripts, stories, and poems. Previously performed pieces include 'Unspoken Words' in the Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield. This is the first time he's tried recording a spoken word piece, but he's hoping to get further into audio works in the future. 

“The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Death” is written, performed and recorded by Jeff Tullin   

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Our November writing tips are from Merle R Saferstein  An educator, speaker, author and a pioneer in the field of legacy journaling, Merle has been journaling for 48 years and has amassed a huge archive of journals over this time.  Merle spent many years working with holocaust survivors helping them to leave their legacy through journaling. Her short story collection Room 732 pays homage to the historic Hollywood Beach Hotel. Merle lives in Miami, Florida.    

If you’d like to find out more about Merle Saferstein you can connect with her via the following links  

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Our October interview is with Rouhi Shafii

 Rouhi Shafii is a sociologist, author, translator and women and human rights activist. She has published a number of books in both English and Persian.

Since the early nineties, she has presented papers on Iran in various venues including universities, amnesty international UK and side events at the Human Rights Commission in Geneva.  In 2010, she and a number of women activists set up International Coalition Against Violence in Iran.

Rouhi is currently chair of Exiled Writers Ink, a British literary charity dedicated to promoting the work of exile and refugee writers and poets.

The interviewer is Farzana Hakim who was alongside Writer On! Editor, Madeleine White

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This month’s showcase is selected by Charlotte Maddox.  Charlotte is the Prize Manager at The Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation,  a literature and literacy charity, championing “adventure” as a genre. The foundation runs the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, and supports new writers as well as offering opportunities for children and young people.

For this showcase Charlotte has curated a selection of stories and poems that explore reality and perceptions, and the blurred lines in between. The first piece is a short story from Matthew Di Paoli, the author of Killstanbul and Holliday, winner of the Foundation’s 2017 New Voices Award.   The reader is Chris Gregory

Charlotte’s next selection is a poem by Latha Rajasekar which highlights the contrast between the external and internal.  Sally Walker-Taylor is the reader of this piece.

Charlotte’s  final selection is by Joe Totten, who was one of the winners of the 2022 New Voices Award, which supports emerging writers, offering a year of mentorship and editorial guidance from an industry expert. This extract is the opening to the novel Joe has been working on this last year, called ‘Utopia, Texas’. Chris Gregory is the reader.

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Our listener contribution this month is from Millie Murray.  Born in 1958 to Jamaican parents. Millie has lived all of her life in the east of London.  She writes fiction and non-fiction for both young people and adults. Her first attempt at short story writing, ‘The Escape’, was published in the 1986 anthology Watchers and Seekers. Many other short stories followed, including ‘A Passage of Time’ for Radio Four’s Caribbean Drift.  Millie;s career has spanned, acting, dance and theatre production.  She works with Community and Youth Services in the London Boroughs of Newham, Barking and Dagenham offering creative writing and motivational development workshops in schools.  

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print.

Our interview this month is with novelist Lavie Tidhar.  Working across several genres including science fiction and fantasy, Tidhar won the 2012 World Fantasy Award for his novel “Osama” and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize for “A Man Lies Dreaming.”  Born in Israel, he has lived in the UK and South Africa. 

The interviewer is Palak Tewary who was alongside Write On! Editor Madeleine White.

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Our showcase this month is selected and introduced by Thomas Nixon.    Thomas is a writer from the North of England, specialising in Flash Fiction storytelling.  His work is regularly featured in Write On Magazine, while he has written scripts for several stories in Jay Sykes' “Summer Stories showcase” . Thomas regularly hosts creative writing sessions at the Holmside Writers club, in Sunderland. 

The readers in this showcase are Chris Gregory and Sally Walker Taylor.  

Thomas’s selections are as follows

‘Calling Home’ by Hongwei

“Long Distance Relationship’ by Thomas Nixon

‘Once Upon a Time, A Girl Was Foolish’ by Elizabeth Keohane

‘Within’ by Elaine Hickman-Luter

The bonus piece was ‘A Doctor’s Secret’ by Sam Shakes

You can follow Thomas on Twitter where he posts as @Tnixon98 and on Facebook where you’ll find him by searching Thomas Nixon.

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Content Warning : This podcast contains descriptions of violence as depicted in Matthew Di Paoli's novel "Holliday"

Our September listener contribution is from Mathew Di Paoli.  Matthew’s novel “Holliday” follows the life of the legendary 1880s gambler and gunslinger, Doc Holliday and it won the Wilbur and Niso Smith Adventure Writing Prize.  A prolific writer, Di Paoli’s other novels include “quicksand” and “Other Forms of Life”.

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

Priscilla is a British author and teacher of creative writing who lives between Ireland and Spain. Born to a Yugoslav mother and English father, she was 19 when war broke out in her mother’s country. She wrote her Sarajevo-set debut novel Black Butterflies (Duckworth, 2022) to understand the events that turned many of her relatives into refugees. Priscilla is one of six authors shortlisted for the annual £10,000 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for Best Published Novel. The prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English, and seeks to “support and celebrate adventure fiction in all its forms”. The shortlist is chosen by a team of librarians and library staff from across the UK.

Black Butterflies was also shortlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction and several other notable prizes. 

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

This month's interview is with playwright, actor, comedian and scriptwriter Gill Adams.  In a highly successful career Gill has had numerous stage and radio plays produced.  She has been writer in residence at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and at the University of Hull and won a Fringe First Award.  For television Gill has written for Emmerdale and Doctors and appeared in the mockumentary, Meet the Richardsons’, in which she plays the mother of her real-life daughter, the comedian Lucy Beaumont.

The interviewer is Lucy Kaufman who was alongside Write on editor Madeleine White

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

In this special Showcase edition, we feature work by the winners of three Pen to Print writing competitions.  The winners were announced at our awards evening in July with audio recordings made to share with the audience on the evening.

The first piece is the winning poem which is by Julie Dexter , called Sakura it’s read by Sally Walker Taylor.

Our short story prize was won by Linda Hibbin with a story called ‘Treading On Freckled, Speckled Eggshells’. The reader is Sally Walker Taylor

The final piece is a short extract of the winning entry in our audio play competition.  The winning script is called Ark and it’s by Stephanie Weston.

This extract features the voices of Charlie Richards, Chris Gregory, Emily Inkpen and first, Write On! Audio presenter Tiffany Clare. 

You’ll be able to hear the full production of Ark by Stephanie Weston in an upcoming edition of the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast and here on Write On Audio.

Our next podcast features an interview with Gill Adams

We’re always delighted to read your contributions so if you’d like to see your words in Write on! or hear them on this podcast please get in touch. Please submit to: 

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

If you enjoyed our July interview with poet and novelist Brian Bilston here’s a chance to listen to Brian perform some of his poems.  Brian has been described as the Banksy of poetry and Twitter’s unofficial Poet Laureate. He won the 2015 Great British Write Off poetry prize for a poem disguised in a Venn diagram. ‘You Took The Last Bus Home’ was published by Unbound and shortlisted for the Cost First Novel Award.  His novel ‘Diary Of A Somebody’ was published to much critical acclaim in 2020.

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

Our August writing tips come from our producer Chris Gregory.  As well as producing the Write On! Audio podcast each week, Chris runs the spoken word production company Alternative Stories which makes drama, poetry and fiction podcasts.  As some listeners may be aware, Chris also teaches various aspects of writing for audio at universities and to writing groups including Pen to Print and London Lit Lab.  Here's Chris with some tips on improving your dialogue skills by having a go at writing audio drama!

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

Our July interview is with poet and novelist Brian Bilston.  Brian has been described as the Banksy of poetry and Twitter’s unofficial Poet Laureate. He won the 2015 Great British Write Off poetry prize for a poem disguised in a Venn diagram. His first published work, ‘You Took The Last Bus Home’ was published by Unbound and shortlisted for the Cost First Novel Award.  His novel ‘Diary Of A Somebody’ was published to much critical acclaim in 2020.

The interviewer is Eithne Cullen, with some input from Write On! Editor Madeleine White.

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

Our July showcase is selected by Dr Afsana Elanko

Artist and writer Dr Afsana Elanko is also an award-winning doctor, with a special interest in oncology, she is an educationalist, leader and innovator. Part of the Write On! team for the last couple of years, she combines a passion for promoting advances in medicine with a love of the arts.  Other than writing for Write On! Dr Afsana’s work has appeared in the Guardian as well as other main stream publications and numerous medical journals.

Afsana’s selections for this showcase are:

The Storm Blew by Akshitha Ramalingham

Posthumous Literary Surprise by Sebastian Elanko

Our Match – a collaborative piece by the group A4A at Aphasia Reconnect

A Tree Falls in a Silent Forest by John Holmes

Guilty Pleasures by Mary Walsh

The readers are Sally Walker-Taylor and Chris Gregory

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

Our July listener contribution is by poet Gertcha Cowson.  Gertcha, also known as Gertcha the Disabled Poet, is a working-class writer whose work deals with topics such as mental health, his own disabilities, the environment and social issues.  In his own words, his work: “Belongs to no single genre, yet has a hand in many.”

Gertcha’s piece in this podcast is called ‘A Poet’s Tit-For-Tat’ and it features the poem ‘Naked Trees Against A Cotton Wool Sky’

You can find out more about Gertcha by reading his Pen to Print Writer of the Month here:

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print

Our July writing tips are from poet and write on contributor Mary Walsh.  Mary's poems have been published in collections such as The Great British Write Off, and a Gardening Anthology for Forward Press as well as being featured in the Royal Society of Literature newspaper.  

Our June interview is with children and young adults author Sita Brahmachari .

Sita's debut novel ‘Artichoke Hearts’ won the Waterstones's Children's Book Prize and her latest novel ‘When Shadows Fall’ was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Award. 

The interviewer was Amber Hall who was alongside Write On! Editor Madeleine White

You can find out much more about Sita and order her books by visiting her website

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

In this edition we share a showcase selected by Write On’s Mirabel Lavelle.  Originally from Malta, but now living in the north east of England, Mirabel is a writer, teacher and mentor.  This is her second Write On! Showcase. 

Mirabel’s selections for this Showcase were:

‘Sight and Sound’ by June Gowland

‘Island Nation’ by Thomas Nixon

‘Shatterproof’ by Haley Pittman

‘Our Future’ by Nicole Piscopo

The readers were Sally Walker-Taylor and Chris Gregory

We’re always delighted to read your contributions, so if you’d like to see your words in Write On! or hear them on this podcast please get in touch. Please submit to: 

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print.  

In this week’s podcast we bring you writing tips from Helen Aitchison.  Hailing from the north-east of England, Helen combines writing with her work as the director of a Community Interest Company, ‘Write On The Tyne,’ which provides creative writing courses and mentoring with a focus on engaging marginalised people in the area.   Helen also teaches for her local council, is a freelance writer for Story Terrace and an on-line journalist for Radio Gateshead.

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print.  

In this special edition of the podcast we are at the Hay Festival where we hosted a live panel discussion on co-creation.  The panel members are Ian Ayris, Eithne Cullen and Mirabel Lavelle and the panel chair is Write On! Editor, Madeleine White.

Thank you to the Hay Festival for allowing us to host this panel and for recording the session for us.

Our panel members were

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This month’s interview is with Julie Finch, Chief Executive Officer of the Hay Festival.  Hay is one of the world’s biggest annual literary and book festivals taking place at Hay-on-Wye in Wales.  With a wide range of events and guests from the world of books and writing, it is an important annual touchstone for the worlds of publishing and literature. 

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Our May showcase is selected by Amelia Cave and Haley Pittman, creative writing students from the University of Sunderland introduced to us by Write On!’s Mirabelle Lavelle.

The pieces selected for the showcase were as follows

‘Saying Farewell’ by Jess Webb

‘The Questioner’ by Ange Wilson

‘American Cement’ by Katelyn Bowers

‘Nature Strikes Back’ by Priyanka Nawathe

The readers were Haley Pittman and Sally Walker-Taylor

You can read more about the Creative Writing programme at the University of Sunderland of which Amelia and Haley are part here

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This month’s Listener Contribution is from novelist Pamela R Haynes and is an extract from her novel “Loving The Brothers.”  Pamela has many years of experience working in the criminal justice system and, as part of this role, she works as a university lecturer. Pamela also fosters her writing career which has also produced the second part of her series, “Loving The Sisters.”

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print.  

 In this edition we bring you writing tips from writing coach, author and podcaster Alexa Whitten.  Alexa has been coaching authors for ten years and her business, The Book Refinery, has worked with hundreds of authors to get their books out of their heads and into print. 

 Alexa’s writing tips are introduced by Write On! Editor Madeleine White.  

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In this edition we have an interview with writer and political activist John O’Farrell. John has written for "Spitting Image" and "Have I Got News For You?" as well as authoring several successful novels and memoirs.  He wrote the screenplay for the film "Chicken Run" and the musicals "Something Rotten" and "Mrs Doubtfire".  John stood for parliament as the Labour Party candidate in the “no hope” seat of Maidenhead at the 2001 general election.

The interviewer is Lucy Kaufman.

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In this edition we have a showcase selected by Claire Buckle. Claire’s short stories have appeared in a variety of magazines, including Woman’s Weekly, My Weekly and The People’s Friend. They have also been published in small press journals such as Scribble and in anthologies, including Spread the Word’s City of Stories. After completing a course of Pen to Print playwriting workshops, she wrote a ten-minute play, which was performed at Barking’s Broadway Theatre as part of a competition and, to her delight, was awarded first place in an audience vote.

Our listener contribution this month is from Write On’s Eithne Cullen  

Eithne Cullen was born in Dublin and moved to London when she was six. She has had poems published in anthologies and magazines. She has published two novels: The Ogress of Reading and Never not in my Thoughts and a volume of short stories called Pencils and other Stories. She has had some success as a poet, was Hysteria Poet in residence in 2020 and published a pamphlet in 2021, called The Smell of Dust and was crowned Poet Laureate of Plumstead in 2022. She’s recently written some poetry which was used in the creation of a musical piece, A Better World is Possible. 

Eithne is a page editor for Write On! Magazine’s Thoughtful Tuesday page. She’s had stories, poems, interviews and articles in the magazine. She’s also delivered creative writing classes online for Pen to Print.  She lives with her husband in East London. She is unashamedly proud of her three grown up children and endeavours to embarrass them as often as she can. 

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print  

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print   

In this edition of Write On! Audio we have an interview with writer and academic Lisa McKenzie 

 Lisa was born and grew up in Nottingham before becoming an academic at Durham University.  She is a working class writer and during the pandemic she co-founded the Working Class Collective, a group of writers and artists setting out to tell stories about the lives of working class people during the Covid lockdowns.  She is the author of “The Estate we’re in : how working class people became the problem”    

Content warning : Please note that there is some swearing in this interview. 

The interviewer is Amber Hall and parts of this interview originally ran as part of Amber’s edition about working class writers on the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast (Listen here - https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/12124929) 

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In this edition of Write On! Audio we have an interview with Palak Tewary 

Palak Tewary is a management and finance professional who combines her business life with a second career as an avid and skilled writer.  As a regular contributor to Write On! she is a popular and valued member of the Pen to Print team.  In our interview Palak discusses her recent nomination as one of  the top 50 women in accounting and her creative work as a poet and writer.   

The interviewer is Write On! Deputy Editor Claire Buss who spoke to Palak alongside Write On! Editor Madeleine White  

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Our listener contribution for March is from Lucy Kaufman.   Lucy is a playwright and novelist.  She has had over 30 of her plays produced at theatres around the UK garnering many glowing reviews from critics and audiences.  She teaches play writing and screen writing for Pen to Print.   Lucy has written and performed an original monologue “The Black Coat” which we’re sharing with you in this podcast.

Music, soundscape and additional voices are by Chris Gregory.

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Our March writing tips are from Claire Buckle.   Claire’s short stories have appeared in a variety of magazines, including Woman’s Weekly, My Weekly and The People’s Friend.  They have also been published in small press journals such as Scribble and in anthologies, including Spread The Word’s City Of Stories.

After completing a course of Pen to Print playwriting workshops, she wrote a ten-minute play, which was performed at Barking’s Broadway Theatre as part of a competition and, to her delight, was awarded first place in an audience vote.

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen to Print

Our February interview is with novelist and audio drama writer Cailean Steed.  Cailean’s debut novel “Home” was published by Raven Bloomsbury in January and their audio drama “Real Boy” won the 2021 Pen to Print Audio Play Competition.  The interviewer is Chris Gregory and this interview was originally broadcast on the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast in the week of publication.

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This month's showcase is selected and introduced by Zara Relphman.  Zara is a writer of blogs, short fiction and non-fiction.  She is a member of the Write On! editorial team and is currently studying creative and professional writing at Christ Church University in Canterbury.

The pieces you can hear in the showcase are

• “And I cried” by Patsy Middleton
• “Pound Hugs” by Amber Hall
• “Petals” by Akshitha Ramalingam  all read by Sally Walker Taylor
• “Where are you from?”  by Hong Wei read by Chris Gregory

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For our February Listener Contribution, which is being published on Saint Valentine’s Day, novelist and Write On! contributor Farzana Hakim explores love stories featuring diverse characters including the story at the heart of her novel “Sweethearts of Ilford Lane”.

You can find out more about Farzana and follow her Thursday Connectors page here

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Our writing tips for February are from Historical Fiction and Romance author Jean Fullerton.

Known as "The Queen of the East End Saga", Jean's novels reflect life in the East End through the years including the "Ration Book" series set during the second world war.   Jean's own life in east London is described in her memoir "A Child of the East End."

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In this bonus edition we are sharing the audio drama Postcards From Another World by Frasier Armitage which was the winner of the 2022 Pen to Print Audio Play Competition

In Postcards from Another World by Frasier Armitage you heard  
           Sarah Golding as Lyra
           Marie-Claire Wood as Neeva
           Warren Graham as Zabo
           Emily Inkpen as the computer
           Rhiannon Armitage as the Lunasetti spaceport announcer
          Chris Gregory as Privik.

Production, sound design and editing were by Chris Gregory for Alternative Stories
The original score was composed and performed by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from Freesound.org
Casting advice, actor coaching and beta listening were by Frasier Armitage.

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Our January interview is with novelist, essayist, podcaster, teacher and short story writer Jessica Andrews.Jessica's debut novel Saltwater was published by Sceptre in 2019 and won the Portico Prize in 2020.  Her second novel Milk Teeth was published last year.  Jessica is a contributing editor at Elle Magazine and she writes for The Guardian and for BBC Radio 4 .  She teaches creative writing at City University London and co-presents the literary podcast Tender Buttons.

The interviewer is Pen to Print team member and Write On! Book Challenger,  Rebecca Seaton and she was speaking to Jessica alongside Write On! editor Madeleine White

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Today’s showcase is selected by historical novelist, Dan Cross.   Dan's first novel "Caesar of Mercenaries" was shortlisted for the 2018 Wilbur Smith adventure Writing Award and his second, "The Lioness of the Flame" was shortlisted for the same award in 2020.

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In this edition we once again feature novelist  Louis de Bernières. If you enjoyed our interview with Louis back in September you 'll recall that he talked about the importance of music in his life.  With this in mind we asked Louis if he would be willing to share some of his songs with us and the podcast you're about to hear features three songs and some thoughts from Louis on the song writing process

The songs you can hear in this podcast are

River Water, Your Little Paradise and Foxes in the Park all written and performed by Louis de Bernières

You can find out more about Louis’s writing and music and buy a copy of his latest album “Dispatches” via his website

Our first writing tips of 2023 are by novelist Janet Skeslien Charles.  Janet became an author at the age of 38 when her novel Moonlight in Odessa was published. It sold in a dozen languages and won a few prizes. A decade later, her next book The Paris Library was published in 36 languages. It was a New York Times bestseller as well as a Richard and Judy selection.

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Today’s showcase is selected by Julie Dexter.   Julie is a writer and specialist teacher from London and Kent. She has recently had a poetry Pamphlet published with Arts Council funding through attending workshops with Pen to Print. 

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In this special festive podcast you can hear the write on team performing their version of Benjamin Zephaniah’s poem “Talking Turkeys”

In “Talking Turkeys” by Benjamin Zephaniah you heard the voices (in order of appearance) of:

Eithne Cullen

Ellie Blake

Madeleine White

Palak Tewary

Amber Hall

Holly King

Farzana Hakim

Esther Ogunbajo

Diya Padiyar

Julie Dexter

Allan Lochead

Lili Hristova

Chris Gregory

Lisa Roullier

Lena Smith

Juneha Chowdhury

Mirabel Lavelle

Mohammed Rahman

Irina Goncherenko

And Claire Buss

The poem was reproduced with the kind permission of Benjamin Zephaniah and publishers Puffin.

The audio poem was mixed and edited by Palak Tewary and you can see a video version of the poem on our website, pentoprint.org.

We’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of our listeners who celebrate it a very merry Christmas and a happy 2023.  Join us next week for the final showcase of the year which is selected by Julie Dexter.  The podcast will be available on 27th December.

We’re always delighted to read your contributions so if you’d like to see your words in Write on! or hear them on this podcast please get in touch. Please submit to:

Thank you for listening to this edition of Write On! Audio Weekly. 

Today’s listener contribution is from Tony Ballantyne. Tony is the author of Dream London,  The Penrose Series and The Recursion Series.  He has also written many short stories and non-fiction pieces.  Tony grew up in County Durham in the North East of England. He studied Maths at Manchester University before moving to London where he taught Maths and IT.

The piece featured in this podcast is called  “Annabel” and it is read by Madeleine White with Chris Gregory

Thank you for listening to Write On! Audio, the podcast for writers everywhere brought to you by Pen To Print

Today’s writing tips come from novelist and audio drama writer Cailean Steed

Cailean is the author of “Home”,  their debut novel which will be out with Raven / Bloomsbury in January. They were also the winner of the 2021 Pen to Print Audio Play Competition with “Real Boy”