Meet Joanne Joseph, author of the historical fiction novel, Children of Sugarcane. Set against the backdrop of 19th century India and the British-owned sugarcane plantations of Natal, it paints an intimate and wrenching picture of indenture told from a woman’s perspective.

In this episode, Joanne explores how the story of her own great-grandmother inspired the novel. She shares the importance of highlighting intergenerational trauma through fiction, and how to approach writing the more harrowing aspects of history. We also talk about her advice and tips for other historical fiction writers—from creating meaningful connections with characters, all the way to the craft of plot twists!

To keep in touch with Joanne, you can follow her on Instagram and Twitter. 

Timestamps

(00:17) - Introduction to Joanne

(00:44) - What first inspired Joanne to write

(03:22) - Intersections between journalism and writing historical fiction

(04:08) - An introduction to Joanne’s novel, ‘Children of Sugarcane’

(04:48) - How the story of her great grandmother inspired Joanne’s novel

(07:40) - The character to whom Joanne feels most connected

(09:16) - The craft of creating meaningful, authentic connections between characters

(11:54) - Handling the emotion of writing difficult scenes

(15:06) - The art of writing plot twists

(19:34) - The underlying takeaways from ‘Children of Sugarcane’

(24:13) - Writers that have inspired Joanne

(27:01) - Joanne’s writing advice to her past self: “You can write.”

(29:33) - How to stay in touch with Joanne

(29:40) - Announcement: this is the last episode of this season of the Writing The Past podcast