Not Too Busy To Write – Details, episodes & analysis

Kerri ni Dochartaigh is the award winning author of Thin Places and Cacophany of Bone. Kerri's work delves deep into home and belonging, from her childhood in Derry during the troubles, where her family were forced to leave their home, to an adulthood of wrestlessness, unable to find a feeling of home, until she returned to the Irish landscape of her early years.

We talk about intergenerational trauma, what it means to our sense of safety and belonging to have a home forcibly removed, as so many are facing in the world today, and finding home in the Irish landscape, in community, in our bodies and ritual.

We also talk about creativity and caregiving, and the joys of teaching and mentoring other writers.

Links

Thin Places - Kerri ni Dochartaigh

Cacophony of Bone - Kerri ni Dochartaigh

In The Garden: Essays on Nature and Growing (Daunt Books)

The Garden Against Time - Olivia Laing

Unearthed - Claire Ratinon

Uprooting - Marchelle Farrell

Home Matters - Penny Wincer

Kerri on Substack kerrindochartaigh.substack.com

Penny on Substack pennywincer.substack.com

The tables are turned for the first episode of series 9 - host Penny Wincer is being interviewed by author Caro Giles about her new book Home Matters.

We talk about what draws Penny to write about home, digging beneath the surface of homes to find meaning behind the choices we make and how objects become portraits and tell stories about our lives and identities.

We also talk about weaving memoir and non-fiction together, making choices about the personal and political aspects of the book and the challenges of writing and publishing a book that doesn't fit neatly into categories.

Links

Home Matters - Penny Wincer

Twelve Moons - Caro Giles

All The Houses I've Ever Lived In - Kieran Yates

The Lonely City - Olivia Laing

Monkey Grip - Helen Garner

Penny on Substack pennywincer.substack.com

Caro on Substack carogiles.substack.com

Marisa Bate is a freelance journalist, women's rights advocate and author of Wild Hope. Part memoir, part reportage and part social history, Wild Hope tells the story of expanding and contracting women's rights in America through two bus journey's across the mid west - one by Marisa's mother in the 70s and the other, by Marisa in 2021. In this episode Marisa talks about finding hope in dark times, keeping faith in action and writing your own story when it so intertwined with the stories of others.

Links

Wild Hope - Marisa Bate

Writing About Women - Marisa Bate's substack

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack

Non-fiction writing coaching with Penny - pennywincerwrites.com

Penny on instagram @pennywincer

Laura Bates is a Sunday Times Bestselling author, an activist and speaker. Laura founded the Everyday Sexism Project in 2012 and has gone on to write multiple best selling non-fiction books about gender equality. She has spoken in the United Nations, the Houses of Parliament, is regularly called on to provide evidence for parliamentary reports and has been awarded a British Empire Medal for her work on gender equality.

Laura also writes Young Adult fiction and today we are discussing her latest novel Sisters of Sword and Shadow and why she's so passionate about writing for young people, the incredible power of storytelling and why activism needs fiction as well as non-fiction.

Links

Sisters of Sword and Shadow - Laura Bates

Fix the System, Not the Women - Laura Bates

Men Who Hate Women - Laura Bates

Everyday Sexism - Laura Bates

The Burning - Laura Bates

Glitch Charity - Promoting Online Safety for women and girls

Not Too Busy To Write on Substack

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Award winning writer Huma Qureshi returns to the podcast to discuss her debut novel Playing Games, a story about two sisters, their very different ways of processing grief and the question over whether it's ok for a writer to take from real life. We talk about the challenges of moving from short to long form fiction, the pluses (and minuses) of having a two book deal and the pleasures of writing about a writer.

Huma is also a brilliant creative writing teacher and we discuss her style as a teacher and some of her favourite book recommendations for writers.

Playing Games is out Nov 9th

Links

Playing Games - Huma Qureshi

Things We Do Not Tell The People We Love - Huma Qureshi

How We Met - Huma Qureshi

Huma's creative writing classes

Sign Up to Dear Huma newsletter

Huma Qureshi on Not Too Busy To Write in 2021

Recommended Books

American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld

Help Yourself - Curtis Sittenfeld

Writers and Lovers - Lily King

Dear Life - Alice Monroe

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

What's it like to publish a book as an expert in your field? Karen Haller is a behavioural colour and design psychology expert and is the author of The Little Book of Colour. Karen and I talk about some of the highs and lows of traditional publishing, some of the particular challenges she faced, as well as the many opportunities it opened up for her when her book became a huge success and was published in 14 languages. We also dive into what colour psychology is and how the book fits into Karen's aim to help people be less afraid of using colour.

Links

The Little Book of Colour - Karen Haller

Karen Haller's website and newsletter

Download a free ebook on Colour Myths

Karen Haller on Instagram @karen_haller_colour

Penny's Cornish Writing Retreat Feb 2024 - pennywincerwrites.com/retreat

You can sign up to Penny's Substack Not Too Busy To Write

Kate Sawyer is novelist and podcaster with a background in theatre producing and acting. Her first novel The Stranding was shortlisted for the Costa first novel award in 2021 and today we are talking about her second novel This Family. We talk about how her career in theatre has fed into her work as a novelist, genre expectations and how being a solo mother by choice made her rethink how she was going to earn a living and flex her creative muscles.

Kate is the host of the wonderful podcast Novel Experience - if you are a fan of Not Too Busy To Write, then this is right up your street. Available on all your favourite podcast feeds.

links

This Family - Kate Sawyer

The Stranding - Kate Sawyer

Novel Experience podcast with Kate Sawyer

Follow Kate on Instagram - @mskatesawyer

Follow Penny on Instagram - @pennywincer

Sign up to Not Too Busy To Write on Substack

Marchelle Farrell's debut memoir Uprooting is about a year of tremendous upheaval and Marchelle's attempt to find home in a garden. In this conversation, we talk about vulnerability in the garden and on the page, identity in medicine and as a writer and how Marchelle's garden gave her a new perspective on colonialism. Uprooting is out now.

Links

Uprooting - Marchelle Farrell

Marchelle on Instagram @afroliage

Marchelle on Substack - Afroliage

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

Penny's Newsletter

Summer REPLAY series

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.

Links

The Way of the Fearless Writer - Beth Kempton

Freedom Seeker - Beth Kempton

Wabi Sabi - Beth Kempton

Do What You Love For Life - Writing classes with Beth Kempton

The Fearless Writer Podcast

Instagram @bethkempton

You can sign up to Penny's weekly newsletter about all things writing and finding time to write here

Instagram @pennywincer

You can sign up to the waitlist for Penny's next Non-Fiction Book Proposal Group at pennywincerwrites.com

Summer REPLAY series

Evie Wyld is an award winning author of three novels, the latest of which, The Bass Rock, won the Stella Prize 2021. We discuss writing a novel about male violence against a backdrop of #MeToo, and speaking about the subjects in the book in a year of highly publicised violence against women. We also talk about how motherhood, and the nature of writing with young children, led to some of the structural elements of The Bass Rock and how an award like the Stella Prize can create change in a writing career.

Links

The Bass Rock - Evie Wyld

Review Book Shop Peckham

Devotion - Hannah Kent

The Interestings - Meg Wolitzer

You can sign up to Penny's weekly newsletter at pennywincerwrites.com

Instagram @pennywincer