By Emma Lindsey

If you accept as I do, that ‘being a writer’ is akin to a form of mental illness, whose symptoms include (but aren’t restricted to): inventing places and people, spending such long periods in isolation that, ideally, you are able to draw maps, form relationships and hear their voices –  then the London Book Fair, (LBF), the largest spring book trade and publishing event in the world, offers a mix of immersion therapy and respite from the confines of your own head.

A newbie, I have few expectations of LBF23, beyond imagining that it will offer the chance to meet famous authors,  hunt down hungry agents and publishers,  to whom I can pitch my novel, hand over my synopsis and maybe even get an on-the spot, international publishing deal – or at least secure a date for a meeting.

Day one. Armed with a pass and lanyard, I follow the smart but casually dressed herd from Baron’s Court tube, then enter, blinking into the bright lights, where I quickly feel as if I’ve gained access to a literary banquet. Thousands (25,000 over the three days), have converged, from 135 countries, across Europe (Ukraine is in the spotlight this year); the US, South America, Africa, UAE, China and India.

If you’ve never been to Kensington Olympia – which I hadn’t before – imagine Kings Cross station, but crammed with stalls from not only every component of publishing, but variety of publisher. Lots of purple, blues and reds, along with vast, technicolour hoardings promoting best-selling and soon-to-be, book covers, from just about every genre.

Hungry agents and publishers there are aplenty, albeit safely roped off from the public, and with an extra layer of security thrown in.  From afar, we’re able to look but not touch the inner sanctum, where behind Perspex screens and hunched over laptops, they negotiate rights deals.  From the harried body language and the buzz, big numbers are being crunched.

For once, I’ve been super-organised, put together an itinerary of seminars, and despite the surging hoards, manage to find Making my WiP stand out, then a group of friends, who’ve also noticed how strangely lacking in diversity the event seems to be. Then onto  Keeping up with social media , which I leave early to listen to Author of the Day, Colson Whitehead and then need to refuel with extortionately priced coffee and a thin sandwich. Our group splits up, some to find out How to get a Badass Book Deal, another to chat to TikTok about reaching ‘hard to reach’ readers, and others to Creating a writing community. I do manage to meet a couple of agents and editors at a pop-up networking session, organised by a kind author and inclusivity champion.  Duly I reel off my pitch and am asked to submit my proposal. Feels like a gazillion bees buzzing in my head by the time I get home.

Day two. Today I’ve brought my own snacks and head to Chelsea, for a one-day writer’s summit only to discover it’s not included, will cost £199, so it’s back to Olympia where I catch Leone Ross and Irenosen Okojie in conversation. They’re amazing on making magical realism and speculative fiction; refreshingly honest and upbeat about the rollercoaster ride to publication, the obstacles and ways to get past them. Writing in ferocity (aka ignoring the urge for coffee to get that next sentence down), is Ross’s tip – that and stubbornness in the face of rejection. British black publishing pioneer and now President of PEN, Margaret Busby is in the audience, along with a raft of independent booksellers, publishers, screenwriters and poets, all sharing stories  which show that the  industry is moving, albeit like an oil tanker, very slowly, towards diverse stories. It’s an oasis in the desert which no-one seems keen to leave, but socials are swiftly swapped before the next session starts. Then it’s onto a panel chaired by Dialogue Books’ director, Sharmaine Lovegrove, about celebrating inclusivity and representation in the book and publishing world, with the caveat, “It’s really hard to keep having to explain why our stories matter”.

There is a day three but I can’t take in another thing so give it a miss. Sensory overload aside, (there are no quiet spaces, nor a crèche, interestingly), it’s been fascinating to not only see all the components of the publishing business under one roof and how they fit together, but also to be there and feel part of it. Seeing the major and minor players; who’s talking to whom and about what, is a protein-shake boost to my sense of, ‘being a writer’ and an author.  Now I understand what I’m up against, I have more tools at my disposal, including the most important: hope tempered with ferocity.

A former journalist and digital producer, Emma Lindsey is in the final stretch of a part-time MA in Creative Writing at Brunel University London.

An interview with Mariana Sancliment

Source: Mariana Sancliment

In February, Creative Writing at Brunel announced The Creative Writing Prize in partnership with The Good Literary Agency for our MA students. The winner of 2022’s prize is Mariana Sancliment for her story Untitled. As the winner, she will receive:

· A full manuscript read (should she decide to complete the book)

· A comprehensive set of editorial notes

· A 1 on 1 meeting with an agent at TGLA

· The potential to be offered representation by TGLA once the manuscript is completed

Brunel Writer editor, Josh Harland, caught up with Mariana to ask how she feels to have won the prize, the topics and challenges of Untitled, and her influences and aspirations as a writer. Congratulations, Mariana!

JOSH: Hello Mariana. How are you doing today?

MARIANA: Hi Josh, I’m doing great! How about you?

J: I’m wonderful, thank you. Let’s start with The Good Literary Agency. How does it feel to win the prize and potentially secure representation with TGLA?

M: I think I feel two really big things at the same time. The first thing is that I am incredibly excited. When I read the email, I was literally jumping with joy. I guess the second feeling is that I can’t quite believe it and I worry that they’re going to email me and say, “Hey, we made a mistake, it wasn’t you…” So, I feel both of those things at the same time.

J: I think we should bring everyone up to speed. Can you give us a summary of Untitled? Your blurb, as it were?

M: Yes! So, Untitled is the story of an indigenous, domestic worker living in a town called San Pedro El Alto very close to Mexico City, and it is the story of Faustina, who’s the main character, who works for this well-off family and then goes missing.

At the moment, there’s an incredibly violent landscape in Mexico where every day ten women are killed because they are women, so the femicide wave is at a historical level. Untitled is the story of someone who’s life is invisible, because in Mexico some lives matter more than others, sadly, and it is an effort to bring to light the life of a wonderful person whose accomplishments will go unnoticed if nobody writes about them.

J: What were some of the challenges you faced writing the opening of Untitled?

M: There were a couple of challenges. The first one was getting the balance right between everything that’s happening at the same time, making sure that I provide a good, accurate description of the social landscape, which includes colourism, social indifference, an incredible amount of violence, inequality, oppression, denigration, love, complex working relationships, lack of education, early pregnancies… there’s just a lot of stuff in the background to unpack, and getting the balance right between the action of the characters and just making sure that the reader understands the setting is definitely a challenge for me.

Also, writing in English is a challenge. English is not my first language, and there’s a lot of nuance in language and things that can only be explained in Spanish. For example, in Spanish we have the word feminicida, a murderer who commits femicide, and that word doesn’t exist in English. It hasn’t been translated; there’s no way I can use words like this, so language is definitely the second challenge.

The biggest challenge for me is trying to write the voice of Faustina accurately, ethically and honestly, doing service to her life and story. I think those would be my top three challenges.

J: What were some of the influences for Untitled, as well as some overall inspirations, authors or music and so on, that help you with the writing?

M: Oh, wow. I’m very easily influenced because I’m a romantic, and I am inspired by so many great writers. Some lecturers at Brunel have been incredibly inspirational in different ways. Professor Bernardine Evaristo is the reason I joined the MA at Brunel and I’m just so inspired by the way she tells women’s stories. The way she writes and her experimental writing techniques are a great inspiration for me. Then, Dr Emma Filtness’s creativity module was incredibly inspiring as well to consider alternative ways of storytelling. And then Helen Cullen, my supervisor, was also incredibly inspiring in how thorough and how seriously she takes the craft of storytelling. So, I think I’ve been very lucky with the lecturers that I’ve encountered at Brunel.

In the process of writing, I read tons and tons of books. I wanted to explore Magic Realism, so I read all these Latin American writers who are incredibly inspiring. I don’t know if you know Clarice Lispector, she’s a Brazilian author and… wow. I was just blown away by her way of telling a story.

In the end, I guess the biggest inspiration is Faustina herself. That’s not her real name, but the person that this story is inspired by… I have never met someone so resilient and brave. Yeah, she’s definitely the biggest inspiration for the story.

J: Just one more question. It’s quite an open one, though: What now? In the future, what kind of fiction – or non-fiction – do you hope to publish? Do you want to write more in the same kind of genre or do you want to explore different things? Do you already have other stories in your head?

M: The first thing is to complete this story, which is super important to me. I have applied to study for a PhD at Brunel so I can continue to write about Faustina and also do some critical research on how to use experimental writing to tell ethically and authentically the stories of domestic workers, which tend to be misrepresented, either romanticised or oversimplified. So the first thing is to finish what I started and get it out there, so more people can learn about the lives of domestic workers.

The second thing is to find a way to change the ratio of the time I dedicate to writing versus the time I have to be working full-time. In that regard, I do have definitely more ideas that I want to materialise, and they’re all related to the whole aspect of the women who raise us, the women who clean the world, the women who look after the world… I’m really interested in exploring those kinds of stories, and from a Latin American perspective which I think is not so surfaced in the UK. I’d like to have more of a balance there, more writing and less working.

And the third step would be to be able to fully transition to a more creative life and either teach or just find a way to write and consume literature nonstop. I’m also interested in other types of projects, like for example, exploring the topic of femicide, I was also hoping to create a piece with a piñata where the names of victims of femicide are inside. Going beyond writing and just exploring forms of activism to raise awareness of this other pandemic of gender violence that so many women in Latin America and other parts of the world are experiencing.

J: Thank you very much for coming to this interview over Zoom. Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to add?

M: I think one final thing, is the untitled side of things. The reason why my story is still untitled is related to one of the things I mentioned earlier… that there are so many things that are part of the story that I still don’t know what the most compelling angle is to drive the title. I am waiting for it to come to me. Hopefully it won’t be untitled for long.

J: So, it’s a temporary thing?

M: It’s a temporary thing while I figure out… you know, should it be Faustina? Should it be Who Cleans the World? Should it be Where’s Faustina? I don’t know.

J: Titles are often the last thing to come together.

M: Exactly.

J: Thank you again Mariana.

M: Thank you!

Check out TGLA:

Join author and academic Gavin McCrea in conversation with Prof Claire Lynch to kick off the first Brunel Writers Talk event of this year. They will discuss the upcoming launch of Gavin’s new memoir, Cells, and how the crafts of fiction and memoir intersect in his writing practice.

Gavin McCrea has published two successful novels to date. His first, Mrs Engels (2015), was shortlisted for both the Desmond Elliot Prize and the Walter Scott Prize, as well as longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His second novel, The Sisters Mao (2021), has received great critical acclaim.

Gavin’s memoir is his first non-fiction work which centres around his relationship with his mother. Gavin shares an intimate tale of adulthood, addressing topics of homophobia, mental health and drug addiction that he grew up around in his youth. In the face of his father’s sudden death, a devastating diagnosis of his own and the struggles of being a writer, it is his connection with his mother that provides him solace during this time. However, after years of resentment from her betrayal of his teenage self, Gavin expresses his desire to reconcile before it becomes too late.

Hungry for more? Then register HERE… to join us on 1st December at 6pm to hear from the man himself.

A conversation with Shehan Karunatilaka and Damon Galgut

Well, it’s already that time of year where literature’s leading fiction award, The Booker Prize, rolls around. And it’s Sri-Lankan writer, Shehan Karunatilaka, who lifted the prize as the 2022 winner with his second novel: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.

Set within the chaos of war-torn Sri-Lanka in the midst of the civil war, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida centres around Maali, a war photographer, who has woken up dead in a waiting room for the afterlife. With time running out, he has seven moons/one week to lead his friend and cousin to a series of hidden photographs beneath his bed, which expose the brutal truth about Sri-Lanka’s ongoing conflict.

To kick off the beginning of the Southbank Literary Festival, the 2022 Booker winner sat down for his first public event, joined by last year’s winner, Damon Galgut, and author Sara Collins for a live Q+A session.

The night began by Sara asking both authors to read an extract from their award-winning novels, to provide those who had not yet had chance to read their work a flavour of what was to come.

Karunatilaka then spoke about his novel, describing it as belonging to the “murder mystery genre but grounded in eastern mythology”, as he explored death as a beginning, rather than an end. Galgut, who sat alongside him, expanded on this concept, asking if “maybe you wake up [from death] with more confusion?” as opposed to initially having all the answers.

For those of you curious about what could inspire such an award-winning masterpiece, Karunatilaka revealed to the audience how his novel had originally been planned to be a ghost story. As such, in preparation for his writing, he spoke about how he had initially visited a variety of haunted houses, as well as listening to “horror movie soundtracks”, but had to stop, stating that “[he] was writing at 3 in the morning so it can get quite creepy”.

As his concept changed so did his music, switching up his horror beats for a playlist he named ‘Choons with the Dead’, featuring a variety of 80’s classics to get him into the right headspace. He ended by advising the audience that when using music, remember to choose “nothing with lyrics that distracts you”.

However, not all of his inspiration comes from music, as Karunatilaka listed his top three authors: Kurt Vonnegut (Galapagos), George Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo), and Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide), who all had had a literary influence on him for this novel.

Galgut, on the other hand, expressed how normality was key for him, writing his award-winning novel, The Promise, explaining; “it’s quite important to keep your life in the same tracks it runs on when you are working and to not divert yourself too much”.

After an evening of questions on different countries publishing scenes and Karunatilak’s lack of tweeting, the night closed with both authors being asked: is there anything you would change about your respective novels? Karunatilaka replied speedily, “I would not go back to it, even though it’s far from flawless. It’s done.” Galgut seconded his response adding, “it’s part of the process of a novel that you exhaust all of those possibilities in the writing, that by the end there is nothing that you feel can or should be changed”. The night was a huge success with both authors putting on a great show and celebrating two amazing books. So, if you need something to read, why not give The Seven Moons of Maali a try.

By Felicity Phillips

by Adam Conway

Last week the university had the pleasure of welcoming guest speaker Frederick Forsyth as part of the Writing in British Intelligence events. I was initially unfamiliar with most of his work, having read only Dogs of War years ago and, at the behest of my grandfather, watched the film based on his most popular novel The Day of the Jackal.

Of course, this writer wasn’t always a typical novelist, having worked as a pilot and then for MI6, attempting to save lives and even prevent nuclear weapons from falling into enemy hands. In his talk, Forsyth recounted how he’d started off as a pilot, before going on to work in journalism for Reuters and the BBC, where he was recruited by MI6. “Spy work isn’t like Ian’s Fleming’s novels,” according to Forsyth. “Spies are often people travelling, missionaries and journalists, who are asked if they can report back to the agency.”

Forsyth said there are three types of spies: those who travel carrying packages, those who handle agents and those who are recruited to betray their own countries. The final category he called ‘real spies’; he himself had never been one but he had handled a few in his day and on rare occasions they would actually provide information useful to the protection of our borders. Often, we think of people being sent into organisations and countries working their way up the ladder for their country, but according to Forsyth, it just didn’t work like that. It was easier to find someone and turn him with a handler to get information than plant someone just for a chance of information. Most information the handlers collected was rather useless, he said, but occasionally it would be something that saved lives.

Forsyth said that spy work happened in strange places, such as bumping into people in a public toilet; MI6 had even managed to persuade a U.S.S.R foreign affairs agent to feed them information, just because a journalist had overheard him having an argument with his boss whilst going to relieve himself. The agent hadn’t provided anything useful after ten years of working with MI6, but that particular information proved invaluable.

What made Forsyth quit spy work, however, was working for MI6 in Nigeria during the Biafra crisis. When he returned to the UK, he discovered that he had no job and no money, so he decided to become a writer. His friends told him it would’ve been easier to rob a bank, but he planned his first novel, The Day of the Jackal, based on an assassination he had planned for real. It went on to sell twelve million copies.

One of the things that inspired him to write was that being a writer was a great cover story for a spy. Often, he would say he was writing a book or an article and this allowed him to ask questions and see things that the enemies of Britain didn’t want him to see, from strikes in the U.S.S.R to the locations of certain government officials. Forsyth’s work was inspired by his life as an MI6 agent.

As a fellow writer, I found what he had to say interesting. All the skills required to be a spy are skills needed to be a writer, from research to finding a powerful story amongst the little details. Even skills such as sitting quietly were important to be a writer as well as a spy. His wife would ask him what he was doing as he stared at walls trying to think about his stories. When he told her he was working, she’d get annoyed and tell him he wasn’t doing anything. It was a great relief to hear that the hours I’ve spent staring into space, trying to decipher how to write my own stories, have not been wasted. Forsyth is, after all, a man, who has written twenty-four books and worked on five movies based on his books.

Forsyth taught me skills such as being patient and waiting for a story, how to gather information and most importantly being willing to stand up for my principles both as a writer and as a human being. So, I ask you fellow writers out there: do you feel the same way? Do you, like Frederick Forsyth, feel that you have the skills of a writer, handler, soldier, spy?

Frederick Forsyth was in conversation with Paul Lashmar as part of the Writing in British Intelligence series of talks. Click HERE to find out more. Frederick Forsyth’s latest novel, The Fox, came out in 2018 and can be bought HERE.

Adam Conway has done over forty jobs including butcher, baker and missionary, so he figured he could add writer to the mix and write about his and others’ experiences. He is currently writing his third novel and is the editor of the Brunel Anthology 2023.