Fantasy, World-building and Babble with Andrea Stewart

Rahul Raina’s debut novel How to Kidnap the Rich was published by Little Brown (UK) and Harper Collins (US) in 2021 after a six-way publishing auction - but he tells Babble that until he submitted it for publication, nobody had read it! Rahul spends his time between Oxford and Delhi. In England, he runs his own start-up for part of the year, and he works for charities for street children and teaches English in India for the rest. His experiences and the relationships he has formed during his time in India have informed the characters of How To Kidnap The Rich.  How to Kidnap the Rich has been reviewed and praised by The Times, The Economist, The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, The Independent, Sunday Times, The New York Times, The Guardian and more, and the TV rights have been sold to HBO.

Nadine Matheson practices as a criminal defence lawyer, and has an MA from City University London in Creative Writing in Crime/Thriller novels. Her writing isn’t limited to crime and she has also put pen to paper in genres such as Domestic Fiction and Sci-Fi. Her debut, “The Sisters”, was written/published in 2015 and her latest novel, “The Jigsaw Man” - her debut into the crime/thriller genre - was published by Harper Collins’ HQ in February 2021. Nadine also runs a scheme for underrepresented writers working on a crime novel, whereby she offers hour-long mentoring sessions for UK residents. Nadine shares more on her work in this field during her interview, as well as shares how it came about. The Sisters: https://amzn.to/3x2bWFD The Jigsaw Man: https://amzn.to/3xSYjJ8

Colum Sanson-Regan is an Irish-born author and musician whose early career involved busking on the streets of Cork and Dublin. Not to mention his regular stint on Doctor Who, as David Tennant's double… Colum has been making music professionally since he was 19. His first solo album, GO, enjoyed a spot in the top five download charts, and songs from it have been featured in documentaries, compilations, and educational materials. He regularly performs on the gig-scene in Cardiff, Wales. He wrote his first novel, The Fly Guy, 6 years ago and at the end of last year, his short story collection, The Tall Owl: And Other Stories, was published. The Fly Guy is a twisted thriller which explores the creative process and questions how much control artists have over their creations, while The Tall Owl is a selection of 10 stories, spanning different times and places, examining the bonds which build, influence and sometimes constrain our lives.

Madeline Dewhurst has a PhD in Research and an MA in Creative Writing. She is an academic in English and Creative Writing at the Open University, and her writing includes fiction, journalism and drama. Her debut novel Charity, which has been longlisted for the Bath Novel Award and is published 26 April 2021 by Eye Lightning Books, tells a story set between the present day in London, where a young woman called Lauren is working as a live-in carer for Edith, and 1950’s, where Edith is the child of British settles during the Mau Mau Uprising in British occupied Kenya. Her second novel, The Master of Measham Hall, is hot on Charity’s trail, published by Duckworth Books on 15 July 2021. Also a work of historical fiction, The Master of Measham Hall is set in 1655, five years after the return of King Charles II from exile. The novel explores the social and religious divides at the heart of the Restoration Period. Podcast edited and produced by Matt Janke https://www.mattjanke.co.uk/

Fantasy author Andrea Stewart shares her daily routine, her creative process, and what goes into being the custodian of a family of magical fictional characters When fantasy author Andrea Stewart found out that the worlds she adored in her favourite books weren’t real, and after she had accepted that she couldn’t slay actual dragons, she put pen to paper to make sure her life would be forever intertwined with the fantastical. Her debut novel, The Bone Shard Daughter, published by Orbit Books, is the first book in the Drowning Empire fantasy trilogy. The others are in the works, which she shares during her Babble interview. When Andrea isn’t writing epic fantasy novels, editing drafts of them, or babbling with Megan Thomas about them, she can be found reading, writing short stories and illustrating her characters.

British singer/songwriter Roman Scott, AKA KYOZO, started producing electronic music at a young age, drawing inspiration from his idols which include Chet Faker, Ry X, Elderbrook and Lauv. Inspired by these artists, Roman has become a self produced artist. He has recently worked with DJs Prok & Fitch, and their first release 'Crave The Rave' was signed to Relief Records and took the 11th spot on Beatport’s House Tech Chart. Their second release, 'Where's The Party', caught disc jockey Pete Tongs’ attention and was played on BBC Radio 1. Their latest release, ‘Tease’, was on Hot Creations and has received repeated support from Radio 1’s Danny Howard, Pete Tong and Joel Corey from KISS FM. Podcast edited and produced by Matt Janke https://www.mattjanke.co.uk/

Find out what you've missed and what's to come on the next episode. Stay Tuned!

Poet Abeer Ameer, debut author of Inhale/Exile, originally trained as a dentist in London and completed her Membership of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons in Edinburgh. You may wonder how the dots connect, but Abeer says she was pretty much writing poems for her assignments for her MSc dissertation at Cardiff University which investigated the potential use of mindfulness-based therapies in the management of dental anxiety. That said, Abeer’s poems don’t centre around dental anxiety, but rather stories of her Iraqi forebears and the experience of an often under-explored period in recent history. Her debut collection is out now with Seren Books. Abeer’s poems have appeared in both print and online journals and anthologies including: Acumen, Poetry Wales, Planet, Magma, Red Poets, New Welsh Reader, Prole, The High Window, Atrium, The Rialto and Long Poem Magazine. She is a recipient of the Literature Wales Mentoring Scheme for 2020. Above all, Abeer considers herself to be a shy introvert, so it was a real treat to have her come on Babble and chat with interviewer Megan Thomas.

Find out what you've missed and what's to come on the next episode. Stay Tuned!

The babble in this episode is a little different from usual. While we’ve previously had an interviewer-interviewee set-up in our virtual studio, this week we’ve got Monica Corcoran Harel and Suzanne Noble interviewing each other. Monica Corcoran Harel is a New York Times journalist and author, and the founder of the Pretty Ripe newsletter for women who, despite what people might try to tell them, are far from being past their sell-by date. Suzanne Noble is an award-winning social entrepreneur and networker who is the co-founder of Advantages of Age, a not for profit challenging the media narrative around ageing. So, as you can imagine, the two have plenty to babble about, including the changing face of ageism (which still very much exists), the art of starting a business in your 50’s, and how much fun getting older actually is, especially if you throw caution to the wind...