Something Good
“As much credit as I give the Von Trapp family and all their musical life-coaching, this notion, ‘Nothing comes from nothing’, was around long before Maria and the Captain were serenading each other on the subject.” Lindsey Grant on writing, and starting at the very beginning.
Autumn WriteCon: A round-up
“Have you thought about how suspense is created in a book? Or why you become engaged and care about the characters? These are things an author controls and creates quite intentionally.” Catherine Szentkuti and Meredith Wadley-Suter give a round-up of the Fiction and Memoir/Non-Fiction workshops from this Autumn’s WriteCon.
In Conversation: Padraig Rooney
Switzerland-based Irish poet Padraig Rooney expands on the themes behind The Gilded Chalet, talking con-men and le Carré and the coherence of disparate times.
Geneva Writers’ Conference
Short stories, snagging agents, indie publishing and marshmallows … novelist Olivia Wildenstein shares her learnings from this year’s Geneva Writers Conference.
In Conversation: Liam Klenk
Zürich-based writer Liam Klenk is in conversation with Susan Platt: his nomadic life, his journey over gender boundaries and the importance of fluidity to a Paralian.
In Conversation: Daniel Pieracci
Black comedy, LA-style: organised crime, enchiladas and fruit juice. Zürich-based Daniel Pieracci talks about how NanoWriMo led to his debut novel, Take Your Shot.
Explorations in a parallel cultural universe
In Explorations in a Parallel Cultural Universe, Berlin-based Chris Corbett digs down into the after-dark, dying art of book touring to promote his first novel.
SWAGLit
Jo Furniss, member of our writerly pack, is leaving prints of her own all over Singapore, as she co-founds SWAGLit, Singapore’s newest litmag for writers.
In Conversation: Jacquette M. Timmons
Author and Wall Street based financial behaviourist Jacquette M. Timmons talks about how our stories—our past, our context, our attitudes—affect our relationship and our actions with money.
In response: Money
Zürich-based poet and journalist Claire Doble wrestles with what it means to have money while living in one of the richest countries in the world …
In Conversation: Juliana Barbassa
Award-winning journalist and author Juliana Barbassa talks about writing to understand displacement, Joan Didion, and the experience of relocating to Rio, Brazil, a city in crisis.
It’s Much More Important Than That
In a short work of fiction, author Paul Knott contemplates the meaning of home through the eyes of an asylum-seeker.
Glass, Concrete and Stone
JJ Marsh ponders displacement, memory, and the emotional importance of place.
Writing at the Castle
Switzerland-based novelist Louise Mangos relives long, hot summer days in the south of France … and discusses the benefits of being displaced at a writing retreat.
Bringing Legend to Life
Historical fiction writer JD Smith on Tristan and Iseult, and the challenges and rewards of adapting myths and legends for the page;
In Conversation: Andrew Crofts
“Is this person interesting enough for me to want to spend several months inside their head?” Andrew Crofts talks about Ghostwriting, and the strange symbiosis of writing someone else’s story.
Creativity in Tandem: The Husband and Wife Team
Alison Ripley Cubitt and Sean Cubitt are a married couple who write as a team, under pseudonym Lambert Nagle.
Creativity in Tandem: How I Became a Co-author
Creativity in Tandem: Pete Morin and Susanne O’Leary are co-authors who’ve never met.
In Conversation: Sarah Wilson
“…Some of the big bombastic milestones were achieved during a time in which I felt very much out of alignment and so I almost dismiss them. When I do something and I feel in alignment, then I feel I’ve succeeded.” Bestselling Australian author, journalist, TV presenter, blogger and media consultant Sarah Wilson talks to The Woolf about the online gift economy, independent and partner publishing, and her writerly habits.
Writing (and Revising) Success
What does success mean to a writer? Do any of us write—or pursue other creative endeavours—without some notion of our effort being recognized, rewarded, lauded? And what sort of outcomes ought we to lust after? Kristen Coros investigates.
7 Tips for Starting a Critique Group
Behind every great writer you’ll find … other writers. Kelly Jarosz provides seven tips for forming a successful critique group and why you should.
Shamelessly serendipitous
Iida Ruishalme explains how the space between languages is full of serendipity, ripe for a wordsmith’s shameless plundering.
The literature of exploitation
by Johanna Sargeant Why is it that we love reading about exploitation? Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha sit stoically on my bookshelf next to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and Richard Overy’s The Dictators. For most of us, delving into these worlds of both the victim and the perpetrator is like reading any good fiction: It is escapism, it is voyeuristic, it gives us...
In Conversation: Chantal Panozzo
“Identity crisis. Check! Laundry lessons in two languages, neither of which I understood. Check! Phone phobia. Check!” Chantal Panozzo on being an American in Switzerland and her new book, Swiss Life.
A Fiction Workshop Experience
Meredith Suter-Wadley gives an overview of the Zurich Writers Workshop, held in May at the Volkshaus in Zurich. Meredith attended the fiction workshop run by Anne Korkeakivi. The weekend kicked off with a Friday evening reading at Orell Füssli’s English Book Store in Zurich. Anne Korkeakivi read from her novel An Unexpected Guest, and Chantal Panozzo, the non-fiction instructor, read from her collection of essays, Swiss Life: 30...
A Place for Persecuted Writers in Switzerland
Melinda Nadj Abonji, Adi Blum and Ulrike Ulrich are the initiators of a new writers-in-exile programme for Switzerland. The Woolf talked to Adi Blum, of the Swiss German PEN Centre to learn more.
Emily Bronte is Dead
“What is it that makes us love or hate a piece of literature? Do I love Ginsberg because he gives me a window in the zeitgeist of 1960s America: Sex, angst and drugs? Yes. Do I love Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein because she exposes me to a society where the wonder of electricity was something to be feared?” Johanna Sargeant on
Writing 4 Young People
What happens when 35 writers for young people, a children’s agent, and an editor gather in the centre of Zurich? You get a room that’s buzzing with hope, aspiration and imagination. HS Norup and Sherida Deeprose give a round-up from February’s workshop. On Saturday 25 January, Nuance Words presented Writing 4 Young People, a workshop featuring literary agent Julia Churchill (A. M. Heath) and editor Sara O’Connor (Hot Key Books)....
Strategic Engagement: Finding the best workshop for you
Chantal Panozzo and Kelly Jarosz talk about how the Zurich Writers’ Workshop got started, and how to choose a workshop to suit your writing needs.
Meet An Editor: Alison Lopez-Edge
“You have to be aware that you only play a secondary role as an editor. I read through the manuscript once first, as an outsider.” Editor Allison Lopez talks to the Woolf about editing.
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