The Literary Sofa
Isabel Costello
Guest Author – Tor Udall on Writing about Grief and Transformation
Autumn has made an early appearance this year and many of us will be keen to seize any opportunity to revisit the summer, which is exactly what’s happening today on the Literary Sofa. Tor Udall’s season-spanning debut novel A Thousand Paper Birds was one of my Summer Reads 2017 but as there wasn’t time to … Continue reading
York Festival of Writing 2017 – From a different angle
When something inspires and motivates you, when it makes what you already love seem even more fun and worthwhile and connects you with lots of others who feel the same way, you want to be part of it. And last weekend I got to be part of the York Festival of Writing 2017 in a … Continue reading
The Verdict on my Summer Holiday Reading 2017
I love September – it’s the start of a new year for me in every sense, when I’m full of plans and energy (horrible depressing January, you can’t compete). It’s great to be back on the Sofa after my almost-month away from the blog and if you missed it last week, I started the new … Continue reading
Two Weeks in Northern Spain (Asturias/Cantabria/Galícia)
Hope you’ve had a good summer – it’s great to be back on the Sofa after the break and I’ve spent the last couple of days fine-tuning an autumn programme featuring brilliant authors and some really interesting and original books. But it’s not always just about books here, so the new season kicks off with … Continue reading
Guest Author – Annemarie Neary on Fictional Orphans
This wasn’t supposed to be the final blog post before the summer break but it is (see Postscript for my excuse), and I can’t think of a better way to round up the season’s coverage of new fiction than to welcome Annemarie Neary back to the Sofa. Annemarie first joined me last year with a … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Jenny Ashcroft on recreating a Vanished Egypt
Today’s guest Jenny Ashcroft is an author I’ve wanted to feature on the Literary Sofa for ages and it’s wonderful that the moment has now come… Jenny and I met online a few years ago, when we read each other’s manuscripts prior to publication and got to know each other in real life. All writers … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Vanessa Lafaye on Key West, Florida
There was a really enthusiastic response to last week’s showcase of new fiction by The Prime Writers so on behalf of us all, many thanks to everyone who has shared it and shown their appreciation. An extra title out later this month has since been added, so it’s worth taking another look… Today I am … Continue reading
The Prime Writers Showcase – Summer 2017
Today, as a supplement to my Summer Reads 2017 selection, it’s great to be bringing you something a bit different: a showcase of recent and ‘coming soon’ titles by members of The Prime Writers. I’m very lucky to be part of this fantastic community of novelists first published over the age of 40 and have … Continue reading
Bradford Literature Festival – July 2017
This is a daunting task. I was only at the Bradford Literature Festival for a day and a half and attended just two sessions in addition to the panel I was on, but I can only hope to share a few fleeting personal impressions of this vibrant and ambitious 10 day event. It’s making a … Continue reading
Guest Author – Kate Brown on Writing about Adolescence
After being acquainted on Twitter for some time, today’s guest Kate Brown and I first met last summer at the launch of our mutual friend Claire King’s novel Everything Love Is. The three of us have a lot in common, including close links with France which have led us to set novels there. Hearing film … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 