In Writing with Hattie Crisell

Latest Episodes:

S1 Ep5: Holly Bourne, young-adult fiction writer Dec 20, 2019

Show notes

Holly Bourne invites me into her study/spare room to talk about her prolific career as a YA writer – and her recent novels for adults, including the bestselling How Do You Like Me Now?. She explains why her writing is a kind of activism, and why being honest about life – including all the sex and swearing – is the only way to get through to readers in the most vulnerable moments of their teenage years.

Logo design by Ben Neale

S1 Ep4: Sathnam Sanghera, journalist, memoirist and novelist Dec 13, 2019

Show notes

I sit down with The Times’ Sathnam Sanghera to talk about the three strands of his work – how a competition run by Michael Jackson propelled him into journalism; how he came to write an acclaimed family memoir in his twenties; the challenges of fiction; and why writers’ block is “something posh people have”.

Logo design by Ben Neale

S1 Ep3: Wendy Cope, poet Dec 01, 2019

Show notes

Wendy Cope invites me into her book-filled house in Ely, Cambridgeshire. Wendy started her career as a highly successful outsider to the poetry world – seen by some as an interloper – and is now one of its most respected talents. She tells me about the backlash to her first bestseller, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis; how she pushed through it, and what she’s learnt.

Logo design by Ben Neale

S1 Ep2: David Nicholls, screenwriter and novelist Dec 01, 2019

Show notes

David Nicholls – bestselling author of five novels including One Day and Sweet Sorrow, and BAFTA-winning screenwriter – has me over for a cup of tea at the surprisingly peaceful inner-city office where he does all his writing. He talks me through his process (and how it’s differed with every book); how he turned Edward St Aubyn’s five Patrick Melrose books into five perfect hours of television; and why it was letter writing that kicked off his career.
Logo design by Ben Neale

S1 Ep1: Elizabeth Day, novelist, memoirist and journalist Dec 01, 2019

Show notes

Host of the podcast How to Fail with Elizabeth Day; author of the memoir How to Fail; a novelist with four books under her belt, and a journalist and columnist too – talented Elizabeth Day is the perfect guest for the first episode of In Writing. I visit her “room of one’s own” to talk about how she moves between genres, how the discipline of journalism has honed her writing, and why learning to be herself has been the best professional lesson of her life.

With thanks to Laura Gallop for early editing (though any errors can be attributed to my own later edits...); to Maria Williams for invaluable advice, and to Ben Neale for logo design