Caoilinn Hughes Master Class Recording

Caoilinn Hughes Master Class Recording

From International Writers' Collective by International Writers' Collective

July 28, 2019

About this episode

Caoilinn Hughes discusses her novel and various aspects of the writing process in this master class.

Irish writer Caoilinn Hughes, author of the novel Orchid & the Wasp and the award-winning poetry collection Gathering Evidence, gave a special master class for us on Sunday, 28 July 2019 at Boekhandel van Rossum in Amsterdam. You can listen to a recording of the class below, or it is also available as a podcast from the services listed and from our own feed. The class focused primarily on Hughes’s novel and dipped briefly into her poetry, as well as addressing issues of craft, process and publishing. Specific topics covered by Hughes in conversation with our instructor Karen Kao included: figuring out form, why short stories are a good way to learn, crafting a complex female protagonist, writing in the past tense versus writing in the present, how publishing can kind of mess with your head and how to protect yourself, how to get yourself to sit down and write even when you don’t feel like it or you have limited time, and much more. Hughes holds a PhD in English Literature from Victoria University, New Zealand and a masters in 20th Century Irish Theatre and Culture from Queens University in Belfast. Anthony Doerr described Orchid & the Wasp as a “gorgeous novel told in an…

People in this episode

Guest: Caoilinn Hughes

Topics covered

  • writing
  • female protagonists
  • publishing
  • creative process
  • time management

Keywords

  • Caoilinn Hughes
  • Orchid & the Wasp
  • writing tips
  • female protagonist
  • publishing challenges

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Orchid & the Wasp

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