Shahnaz Ahsan is Emma's guest to discuss her debut novel, Hashim & Family. They talk about Bangladesh, about the personal and the political, and about the classroom experience that has seared itself into her fiction.

Emma Smith interviews Shahnaz Ahsan

Dec 17th, 2021 29m 6s

Emma Smith interviews Alex Preston

Dec 17th, 2021 42m 26s

Emma Smith chats with Alex Preston about Hertford, his career in finance, bees, and his new historical novel Winchelsea - Emma also teases Alex about the label of Mr Nice Review in Private Eye.

Emma Smith interviews Louisa Reid

Nov 30th, 2021 39m 45s

Louisa Reid's Young Adult novels in verse have been widely praised: join Emma Smith for a discussion of the challenges and responsibilities of writing for teens, as well as Louisa's experience as a teacher.

Emma Smith interviews Claire McGowan

Nov 17th, 2021 28m 8s

Memories, genre fiction and writing under a different pen name are all on the agenda for this podcast with Northern Irish crime author Claire McGowan (and her alter ego Eva Woods). Intro/outro music: Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet, Danzi: Wind Quin

Emma Smith interviews Anya Glazer

Nov 4th, 2021 31m 35s

This week’s guest is children’s picture book author and illustrator Anya Glazer. We talk dinosaurs, sisters, merchandizing and how she riffed on her Modern Languages degree for her first book, Thesaurus has a Secret. Intro/outro music: Soni Ven

Emma Smith interviews James Hawes

Oct 21st, 2021 36m 39s

James Hawes, novelist and micro-historian of The Shortest History of England and The Shortest History of Germany, talks about agents and editors, his role in the worst film ever made, and playing the French horn on the roof of Hertford’s librar