Frances Crawford - A Bad, Bad Place

Frances Crawford - A Bad, Bad Place

From Scots Whay Hae! by Alistair Braidwood

April 28, 2026 · 49 min

About this episode

Alistair Braidwood interviews Frances Crawford about her debut novel A Bad, Bad Place and her journey to publication.

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to writer Frances Crawford to talk all about her debut novel A Bad, Bad Place , which is published on the Bantam imprint of Penguin Books . Frances gives a brief description of the book (avoiding spoilers), before talking about why this was the story for her first novel, and the long and winding road to publication. The two then discuss the two central characters of 12-year-old schoolgirl Janey and her Nana Maggie and how the nature of their relationship drives events, how they have changed and developed through time, the challenge of populating the novel with secondary characters, the importance of place (in this case, Glasgow’s Possilpark in 1979), why representation is vital, and the terrible event which kick starts everything. The conversation also turns to the enduring appeal of Punk, creative writing courses, the value of constructive criticism and feedback, favourite authors, and the unexpected elements of getting published. Already considered one of the most exciting debuts of recent times, it was such a pleasure to be able to talk to Frances about A Bad, Bad Place, her journey to get to this point, and what’s coming next…

People in this episode

Host: Alistair Braidwood

Guest: Frances Crawford

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bantam, Penguin Books

Books & works: A Bad, Bad Place

Places: Glasgow’s Possilpark

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