.Hisham Matar was writing his first novel, doing odd jobs and struggling for money when he agreed to star in a one-man play, despite having no previous acting experience.

Little did he know, it would lead him on the path to being published.

buff.ly/44Fki7U

This Always Take Notes interview with the supreme master of perfect prose, Hisham Matar himself, is brilliant. ⬇️

#FromTheArchive : Magazines have been a lifelong passion for Ed Needham who now single-handedly writes and edits @strongwordsmag. He told us how he manages this labour of love, as well as his time editing FHM during its million-selling heyday in the 90s.

buff.ly/3QrRauT

Been working my way through the archives of two more brilliant writing podcasts. Always Take Notes is full of fascinating interviews with authors and industry figures, while The Stinging Fly podcast is like doing an MFA in Close Reading from home - required listening for all writers!

Historian Bettany Hughes💙 has written and hosted more than 50 TV and radio documentaries so she understands the relationship between words and images better than most. In our latest episode she tells us about her approach.

buff.ly/3xUUvfz

When Bettany Hughes💙 started out as a historian, many people didn’t seem to see the point in studying ancient societies and languages – it only made her more determined to prove them wrong.

buff.ly/3xUUvfz

I just finished listening to the audiobook of Always Take Notes by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd via BorrowBox

Wonderful production of a book, and it was free to listen to thanks to Libraries Ireland

NEW EPISODE: Historian Bettany Hughes💙 speaks to Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd about her new book 'The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World', the relationship between her writing and TV work and coming face to face with history inside the Great Pyramid.

buff.ly/3xUUvfz

I'm always fashionably late to the party (!). This must be why I've only just discovered Always Take Notes. Immediately up there with my favourite podcasts about writers and writing. What are your favourites?

#FromTheArchive : Award-winning journalist and author Sally Hayden (Sally Hayden) shares her experience reporting on humanitarian crises and reflects on the ethics of accepting prize money as a Western journalist covering migrants and refugees.

buff.ly/40G6PtC

As a young man, George Orwell worked as a police officer in Burma (now Myanmar). It’s a period of his life that the writer Paul Theroux was always drawn to, and it now forms the basis of his latest novel 'Burma Sahib'.

buff.ly/4axbfYM

“I was writing the anti-travel book.”

In 1975 Paul Theroux published “The Great Railway Bazaar” and in our latest episode he tells us the philosophy at the heart of this classic of travel writing.

buff.ly/4axbfYM

In this extract from Always Take Notes, writers Tessa Hadley and David Mitchell share their thoughts on failure and rejection.

Read: bit.ly/45XRxm5

Always Take Notes The Frame Blog When I discovered it a couple of years ago I thought; ‘ooo, I’ll listen to couple of these.’ And have ended up working my way through the entire back catalogue! Great stuff. Much enjoyed 🙂

The Frame Blog Always Take Notes And for the podcast-averse they recently did a book, which I gave to my literary agent Better Half and which she says is full of useful things. Just in case it’s helpful to any new writers out there 🙂

The Frame Blog BTW, these people do an interesting podcast (not just on Apple 🙂) which, cumulatively, reveals a good deal of the realities of writing and publishing. New authors in particular could do well to listen to many episodes:
Always Take Notes

#FromTheArchive : Business journalist and author James Ashton tells us what he learnt working at the biggest national newspapers, his book “The Nine Types of Leader” and why CEOs can make difficult but fascinating interviewees. ⠀

buff.ly/4cEAn1i