Throwback to our sixth issue
Revisiting our 'non-fiction fiction' special - and spaces still available on our non-fiction workshop
Before we start, we just wanted to remind you that there are still a couple of places left on our next online non-fiction writers’ workshop, which starts in a couple of weeks. You can find out more and book on all of our courses here:
We went to see Tash Aw in conversation with Yan Ge at the University of East Anglia last night; a wide-ranging conversation that delved into the nuts and bolts of writing, the politics of novels and trying to create a new writing canon in Malaysia. One of the things he talked about was holding firm in the face of editorial feedback for his latest book, The South, and we were reminded of the time we featured him in our From the Archive feature back in Issue 6 discussing just that.
Issue 6 was what we half-jokingly describe as our ‘non-fiction fiction special’, which often raises a quizzical eyebrow in reply. What we mean, is that it contains not only authors writing (non-fictionally) about novelists, but also novelists writing non-fiction. Clear? Good.
Hence, Issue 6 was headlined by Heather Martin, writing about how she came to write a biography of the (very real) novelist Lee Child, author of the (very fictional) Jack Reacher. Like Tash Aw, Lee Child’s extensive archive is held at the University of East Anglia here in Norwich, and in both her article and her book Heather makes extensive use of it, uncovering photographs, letters, early drafts and scribbled notes.
Issue 6 also featured one of our favourite photo essays, courtesy of novelist Nick Bradley. During the decade he lived in Tokyo — the setting for his first novel, The Cat and the City — Nick documented his daily commute on his compact Fujifilm camera. In his essay Nick revisits this time — a time of great personal dissatisfaction and uncreativity — and contemplates the role it ultimately played in his writing life.
This was an issue of standout pieces, amongst which was a pocket biography of legendary Norwich City striker Ruel Fox by author Ashley Hickson-Lovence; regular contributor Susan K Burton’s interview with Helen Smith, biographer of one of the most influential men of twentieth century publishing, Edward Garnett; and novelist Alice Jolly’s story of a strange toy she found by the side of the road.
Of course that’s just a small taster of what you can find inside Issue 6: as you can see from the contents page the issue was packed full of fantastic articles.
Copies of Issue 6 are still on sale via our webstore, in both print and digital formats.