authors – We'd Like a Word

Announcing the India Global Forum Archer-Amish Award for Literature

We’d Like A Word hosts Paul Waters and Stevyn Colgan hear from bestselling authors and prize judges Jeffrey Archer and Amish Tripathi about the new IGF (India Global Forum) Archer-Amish Award for Literature. The prize is $25,000 and it’s not just for Indians – but listen carefully to hear the rules & entry criteria! This prize is for books excelling in storytelling rather than writing. Want to know what that means? Listen to Jeffrey and Amish explain here – or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode also welcomes new listeners on the Jiosaavn podcast platform and congratulates India on winning the T20 Cricket World Cup. What a final innings! And we’ll also tell you about some of the fabulous guests from around the world who we’ve had on past episodes. We hope you’ll be tempted to try some earlier episodes after you hear this one – some of them are 3-parters. Both Amish & Jeffrey have their own episodes – highly recommended listening.

And we update you a little on what co-hosts and authors Paul and Stevyn are up to. Some of Steve’s stuff is really strange.

Thank you to the India Global Forum 2024 for welcoming We’d Like A Word to their very enlightening, eclectic and cutting edge gathering in London & Windsor. You too, dear listener, might also enjoy their future events.

Also – you’ll notice that Stevyn is back. Thank you to Jonathan Kennedy for co-hosting in Steve’s absence. (Jonathan was Director of Arts in India for 5 years for the British Council and has been everywhere in India & knows everyone there involved in culture.) Jonathan will be back-ack-ack. We hope. Apologies for the dip in sophistication until then.

Jaipur Literature Festival 2024

We’d Like A Word hosts Paul Waters and Jonathan Kennedy interview stars of Indian and Irish literature and film making at the 2024 Jaipur Literature Festival at the British Library in London. (It’s possible that Paul repeatedly refers to it as the Jaipur Literary Festival, but let’s not quibble.) Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

We hear from:

The man who is at every Indian gathering worth attending, JLF organiser Sanjoy Roy.

Nazia Erum, author of Mothering A Muslim.

Dr Sunny Singh and Yasser Usman on the captivating appeal of Bollywood and Hindi films.

Diplomat Vikas Swarup, author of Q & A – which became the movie Slumdog Millionaire – and other novels.

Irish author Liz Nugent, whose novel Strange Sally Diamond has been topping book charts.

ndian film director Shekhar Kapoor, whose movies include Elizabeth, Bandit Queen and the iconic Mr India. Brace yourself for startling revelations.

WHO IS JONATHAN KENNEDY? WHY IS HE STILL HERE? AND WHERE IS STEVYN COLGAN? Jonathan was Director of Arts in India for 5 years for the British Council. He’s been everywhere in India and knows everyone there involved in culture. He was also for 12 years the Executive Director of Tara Arts, looking at the world through a South Asian lens. Jonathan does some India and South Asian episodes of We’d Like A Word with us. We’ll drop them in every now and then. Steve will be back soon.

Frederick Forsyth and friends at the Chiltern Kills crime and thriller festival

Thriller writing icon Frederick Forsyth talks about his legacy and his first ever appearance at a literary festival in this one-part episode. It was recorded (mostly) live at the Chiltern Kills festival in Gerrards Cross in October 2023. All ticket sales went to the Centrepoint charity combating youth homelessness. If you want to attend the next Chiltern Kills – and you should! – tickets are via www.ChilternKills.com

There’s also a one-to-one option with a literary agent looking to expand their list. That costs a ridiculously small amount extra.

The Chiltern Kills festival is organised by We’d Like A Word co-host Paul Waters and fellow author Tony Kent – who also features in this episode. Tony’s latest thriller, The Shadow Network, is out now.

We also hear from crime authors Rachel Ward, Derek Farrell, SJ Bennett, JL Blackhurst, Laura Marshall, Leye Adenle (twice), Cate Quinn, Susi Holliday & BBC and Bestsellers Pod presenters Phil Williams & Natalie Jamieson. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Plus Sue Dorman, Marguerite Fletcher, Laurie Stone and others. And with thanks to Centrepoint, Sacla UK, Cipriani Bellinis, Chorleywood and Gerrards Cross Bookshops, the Milton’s Cottage Museum in Chalfont St Giles and Vision Care for Homeless People.

David Bramwell’s Odditorium, weird bum reading and Jacob Rees Mogg

‘A small Odditorium’ featuring Dr David Bramwell. In this episode author, musician, truth-seeker, Utopian and all round oddfellow Dr David Bramwell discusses bum readers, the world’s largest underground temple, a haunted moustache, Jacob Rees Mogg and singalonga Wicker Man. And we’ll be asking … is Milton Keynes the new Stonehenge?

Our competition question is: What is the official term for a bum reader? Listen to the podcast and email your answer to [email protected]

Anthony Horowitz on James Bond & giving life after death

Anthony Horowitz looking like he’s up in front of a firing squad. Picture taken at the wonderful Noireland international crime fiction festival in Belfast.

Anthony Horowitz admits he’s a killer. Dozens of times over. The thing is, we’re not just talking about the dozens and dozens he’s dispatched in the pages of his many books or TV shows like Midsommer Murders and Foyle’s War. But that’s all I’m saying here. You can hear his startling revelations from his own mouth on the latest episode of We’d Like A Word.

Our official topic is life after death – whether it’s right for new authors to give extended life to characters after their original authors have died. Anthony Horowitz does it – and does it well – with Sherlock Holmes and most recently with James Bond in Forever and A Day. (You can win a copy of that in the competition – details on the podcast.)

But we talk about a lot else and a lot of other authors, in particular Sophie Hannah, who has brought Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot back to life.

You’ll also hear Anthony Horowitz read from his James Bond book, let slip his views on Brexit, villains and where he writes.

Graham Norton – can celebs write good fiction?

Graham Norton and Stevyn Colgan on We’d Like A Word

It’s Graham Norton! Yes, that Graham Norton on We’d Like A Word. Talking about his own writing and whether celebrities can ever be good authors? It’s on the radio at 7pm UK time tonight (Wednesday 8th May 2019) Wycombe Sound 106.6 FM. And then via the podcast afterwards.

Graham Norton – comedian, TV star and Father Ted legend – tells us about his other life as an author. He’s written two novels – Holding and now A Keeper. But are they any good? Are they funny? Are they even supposed to be? Do celebrities famous for something entirely different make good writers? Graham Norton may be hilARious (he is), but can he write? You’ll have to listen to this episode of We’d Like A Word to find out. He reads from his second novel A Keeper, talks about how he writes, how he gathers material and about Ireland. There’s also a competition to win one of Graham’s books – but you’ll have to listen to find out.

Writing advice from Will Dean

Some of our We’d Like A Word guests have been kind enough (and sometimes we’ve been organised enough) to provide their writing tips for other authors and aspiring authors.

This one comes from Will Dean, the author of Dark Pines and Red Snow– who you can also hear at fascinating length on our podcast which asks – Is Scandi Noir still Sandi Noir if it’s written by a Brit?

Our first episode – with Will Dean

Our first podcast episode of We’d Like A Word is now live around the world – well, online anyway. Our first guest is Will Dean, the author of Dark Pines and Red Snow – two dark thrillers set in the claustrophobic Swedish forest featuring newspaper reporter Tuva Moodyson. The topic for this episode is: Is Scandi Noir still Scandi Noir if it’s written by a Brit?

On this episode Will reveals his writing secrets, his creep book and the title of his third book (not out yet). And the answer to the competition. (So listen in.)

The picture is a teaser for an exclusive video from Will Dean just for you, dear listener. Coming soon.

The We’d Like A Word podcast is available on seven or so platforms, including Anchor, Google, Spotify, iTunes / Apple Music and others. Just search for it by name in the usual place you find your podcasts. Or click on the link below. And you can contact us via [email protected]

On the radio (with Will Dean) …

The first episode of We’d Like A Word is broadcast at 7pm tonight (UK time) on Wycombe Sound 106.6 FM. If you’re one of the 50,000 #Wycso listeners in the south Buckinghamshire region of England, I hope you can join us. (If you’re not in that patch, don’t worry, the podcast will be released tomorrow.) We’re kicking off with Will Dean, the author of Dark Pines and Red Snow – two thrillers set in the Swedish forest featuring newspaper reporter Tuva Moodyson. The topic for tonight’s show is – Is Scandi Noir still Scandi Noir if it’s written by a Brit? Will lives in a Swedish forest himself – he built a cabin there – and writes surrounded by moose, trees, snow, more trees and more snow. If you want to know what his third book will be called – listen in. There’ll also be a competition. Again, you’ll have to listen. (That’s Will with Paul (eek! where’s his beard gone?- half of We’d Like A Word – below, at Will’s Red Snow book launch in the excellent Goldsboro Books. Goldsboro is well worth a visit if you’re near Leicester Square or Charing Cross Road in London.)