For the latest podcast Ali met up with Helen McClory (below) at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery to talk about her life as a writer to date – and a very interesting story it proved to be.
From studying literature and creative writing in St Andrews, Sydney and Glasgow, to winning awards for her debut short story collection On The Edges Of Vision, walking Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson’s dog, the difficult publication of her novel Flesh Of The Peach, writing about Jeff Goldblum, to her latest collection of short fiction Mayhem & Death, it is a fascinating tale, and one which will be of interest to anyone who loves reading and writing.
If you haven’t yet read Helen McClory, this is the podcast to persuade you to do just that, and you can find out more about her latest publications at 404 Ink.
Helen goes back to the very beginning in terms of her writing, talks in detail about the importance of place and the influence of travel, the need for stamina and fortitude, the challenges of writing in different formats, her love of literary fiction, why she feels that weirdness and experimentation are vital if fiction is to change and challenge, and much, much more.
Speaking as she writes, with honesty and insight, it’s a great opportunity to listen to one of Scotland’s most exciting emerging literary talents discussing her experiences – the good, bad, ugly and unforgettable.
If you are new round these parts there is quite a substantial back catalogue of podcasts for you to discover. If you aren’t yet a subscriber you can do so, (or simply listen) at iTunes or by RSS (but you’ll need to have an RSS reader to do so). You can also download the podcast by clicking on the relevant link to the right of this post, or, if you want it right here, right now, you can listen on SoundCloud…
…or on YouTube:
We’ll be back soon with something very special, if all goes to plan. See you then…