All Media
Featured
As Jewish Book Week comes to an end, novelists Charlotte Mendelson and Nathan Englander reflect on what makes a Jewish book, and whether the experience of being a Jewish writer differs between the US and UK.
Poor Jenni Murray. There she was, waiting for a calm chat about gardening on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour, and then I rush in
I may not know much about classical music, but I know what I like. And, unlike most radio appearances, when there's always the risk of having spent been forced to spend the previous night sleeping in a small car on Dartmoor in January, leading to both sleep-deprived hysteria and a nasty chest infection, talking to Michael Berkeley on Private Passions was nothing but a pleasure.
Sometimes one develops a new interest, a passing fancy: breadmaking, say, or salsa dancing, or writing novels. And, like most lovely things in life, soon the urge passes, and calmness reigns once more.
I have recently spent even more time than usual talking about myself. And, hard as I try to be serious, silly things keep creeping in. Or is it the other way round? Writers who take themselves seriously enough not to do amusing accents or talk about hair during interviews and readings - largely male writers - are in turn taken seriously; oughtn't I to try that too?
It's never a hardship talking about my novels; if I wasn't such a show-off I wouldn't have written them in the first place. But I've rarely enjoyed an interview as much as I did this Fiction Uncovered chat on Foyles Radio - a lo-res celebration of all that's great in independent bookselling.
A video has been made of me reading the Prologue of Almost English. Would you like to hear and see it? Are you sure? Here it is:
Sometimes one develops a new interest, a passing fancy: breadmaking, say, or salsa dancing, or writing novels. And, like most lovely things in life, soon the urge passes, and calmness reigns once more.