The Writing Life: Authors Speak (audio CD)

British Authors on Writing

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British authors as you've never heard them before feature in this widely acclaimed set of two CDs. Offering inspiring insights alongside practical advice, 'The Writing Life' gathers together some of Britain's leading contemporary authors to share how they have experienced the highs and lows of the writing life.

Selected from interviews gathered by the National Life Stories' Authors' Lives project and archived at the British Library, it features previously unheard recordings of poets, novelists, children's writers, historians and biographers speaking candidly about all aspects of the writing process. Why do writers write? What influences their work? Where do they find inspiration? British authors answer these burning questions and more in this unique set of recordings.

This is essential listening for aspiring writers and anyone interested in contemporary authorship.

‘When I write a novel I’m writing about my own life, I’m writing a biography almost always. And to make it look like a novel I either have a murder or a death at the end.’
Beryl Bainbridge

‘… the life of the author is the place of total and complete solitude.’
Linda Grant

Contributors

Paul Bailey, Beryl Bainbridge, Simon Brett, Wendy Cope, Maureen Duffy, UA Fanthorpe, Anne Fine, Allen Fisher, Michael Frayn, John Fuller, Victoria Glendinning, Linda Grant, Philip Hensher, Michael Holroyd, Howard Jacobson, PD James, Penelope Lively, Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan, Michael Morpurgo, Peter Porter, Ian Rankin, Hilary Spurling, Anthony Thwaite and Philip Ziegler.

`The Writing Life contains extracts from conversations with twenty-five writers, most of whom are still alive.` Times Literary Supplement
`Insights in 155 wide-ranging and revealing extracts into what it's really like to be a writer. Hilary Mantel wonders "Is writing a way of life or a way of not living?"... Michael Holroyd struggles to "escape from the prison of chronology" in his biographies; Michael Frayn remembers a life changing teacher.` Rachel Redford, The Observer
`...each subject talks candidly about the terrors and the joys of their chosen profession`. Elizabeth Bentley, Word of Mouth
`a cleverly constructed collection of insights into the writing process taken form the interviews with contemporary authors that the library is systematically putting on record.` Christina Hardyment, The Times
`It is utterly marvellous... Anyone interested in writing, and especially anyone interested in being a writer, will find this collection a treasure trove.` Stephen Romei, The Australian