Show Notes
Content warning: Mentions of rape, sexual assault, and war.
In this episode of The Writing Life, bestselling author Pat Barker shares insights about the art of retellings, and the craftsmanship and research needed to write reimaginings of classic literature.
Pat Barker was born in Yorkshire and began her literary career in her late thirties, when she took a short writing course taught by Angela Carter. She has published sixteen novels, including her masterful Regeneration Trilogy which includes the Booker Prize-winning The Ghost Road. The Silence of the Girls was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and won an Independent Bookshop Award 2019. The Women of Troy was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. The Voyage Home continues the series.
She sits down with NCW’s Holly Ainley to discuss her Regeneration Trilogy, and how retellings can bring stories to new audiences. They touch on offering fresh perspectives to Greek mythology, finding inspiration in unexpected places, and how reimaginings can make stories accessible to readers through contemporary language and references.
More from The Writing Life
In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Belgian author Dieter Rogiers explores how place shapes his writing, discussing both the locations where he writes and the international settings of his novels.
In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, bestselling novelist Isabel Allende shares insights into her creative process and craft, as outlined in her latest book Storytelling – a profound exploration of the art and magic of writing.
In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, debut novelist Ruthy Mason shares how she explores the creative possibilities of liminality and transformation in Death Do Us – a haunting story that peels back the veil from the institution of marriage and exposes the rot underneath.
In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Polly Barton andCharlotte Goff discuss their paths into literary translation and their experience translating Nao-Cola Yamazaki’s novels from Japanese into English.
In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norfolk-based writer Laurence Mitchell reveals how he brought the spirit of landscape and place onto the page in his award-winning book, Flint Country: A Stone Journey.