Writing

Biomedical scientist Dr Steve Hodgkinson has more than 180 scientific publications and patents to his name. Now, he also has a novel called Unearthed, whose hero is a scientist. Unearthed is part… Audio

Rejection makes you stop in your tracks. No sooner do your eyes trace over the words: I am writing to inform you… Then your heart sinks, your eyes well with tears, the piece of paper falls to the… Audio

Poet and biographer Stephanie de Montalk tells the story of the chronic pain that she has lived with for more than a decade in her new book How Does it Hurt. The book also investigates the lives and… Audio

Author Paul Ewen on his comical creation, the alcoholic, Booker prize-obsessed, wannabe writer Francis Plug who causes chaos when he meets prize-winning authors. In his book Francis Plug: How to be a… Audio

Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and author of ten books, most recently The Sense of Style: the Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.

Straddling the worlds of music, theatre and literary, British performance poet and rapper Kate Tempest chronicles the gritty underworld of her stomping ground, South East London. She's just released… Audio

Nick Bollinger talks to the self-proclaimed 'Dean of American Rock Critics' about modern pop, good writing and the changing role of the rock critic in age of the internet. Audio

Canadian group White Lung have a new album, Deep Fantasy. It's more melodic than their last album Sorry, and also much more metal. The group is fronted by Mish Way, a howling, take no prisoners front… Audio

Jaspreet Singh's novel 'Helium' addresses memories of the 1984 pogrom against the Sikhs following Indira Gandhi's assassination. He was a teenager in Delhi at the time, and writing the novel served to… Audio

Two health psychologists talk about the benefits of expressive writing for both mental and physical health. Audio

US Army veteran Mariette Kalinowski is adapting to civilian life after developing PTSD, with the assistance of a creative writing course. Audio

'The Golden Thread' by calligrapher and design professor Ewan Clayton traces the story of writing and the written word. Audio

Tennessee Williams, F Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Cheever, Carver, Berryman… Six giants of American literature - and all addicted to alcohol. In her new book 'The Trip to Echo Spring: Why Writers… Audio

The UK novelist Chris Cleave talks about his fiction with Kate de Goldi. Audio

In conversation with Ed Butler, Chris Turney, Rebecca Priestley and Veronika Meduna explore their different perspectives on writing about Antarctica. Audio

Professor in the faculty of education at the University of Auckland, and the author, with Kuni Jenkins, of He Korero - Words Between Us: First Maori-Pakeha Conversations on Paper. Audio

Three of New Zealand's most prominent crime writers - Paul Cleave, Vanda Symon and Paul Thomas - discuss how their stories are affected by their distinctly New Zealand setting. Audio

Denise Mina writes about the gritty streets of Glasgow and Ron Rash the remote Appalachian Mountains. They explore how location infuses their very different work. Audio

Two master storytellers with very different backgrounds talk with Kim Hill about the origins of their success, their shared passion for history, the joys of discovery, and the satisfaction that comes… Audio

Kamila Shamsie and Ilija Trojanow explore from their positions on the margins of their adopted cultures what it means to write for, and about, a globalised world. John Newton is in the chair. Audio