The Writing Life
by National Centre for Writing
Is this your podcast?Insights from recent episode analysis
Audience Interest
Podcast Focus
Publishing Consistency
Platform Reach
Insights are generated by CastFox AI using publicly available data, episode content, and proprietary models.
Most discussed topics
Brands & references
Total monthly reach
Estimated from 4 chart positions in 4 markets.
By chart position
- 🇬🇧GB · Books#46100K to 300K
- 🇦🇺AU · Books#1335K to 30K
- 🇮🇪IE · Books#5010K to 30K
- 🇲🇾MY · Books#116500 to 3K
- Per-Episode Audience
Est. listeners per new episode within ~30 days
58K to 182K🎙 ~2x weekly·200 episodes·Last published 1w ago - Monthly Reach
Unique listeners across all episodes (30 days)
116K to 363K🇬🇧83%🇦🇺8%🇮🇪8%+1 more - Active Followers
Loyal subscribers who consistently listen
35K to 109K
Market Insights
Platform Distribution
Reach across major podcast platforms, updated hourly
Total Followers
—
Total Plays
—
Total Reviews
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* Data sourced directly from platform APIs and aggregated hourly across all major podcast directories.
On the show
From 16 epsHosts
Recent guests
Recent episodes
The spirit of place: Laurence Mitchell on Flint Country
Aug 24, 2026
45m 35s
Back to basics: Sarah L. Kaufman on Verb Your Enthusiasm
Aug 10, 2026
59m 41s
The world of self-publishing: Pip Landers-Letts on Pyg
Jul 27, 2026
52m 00s
Writing relationships: Jem Calder on I Want You to Be Happy
Jul 13, 2026
41m 57s
Finding balance in writing: Sithuraj Ponraj on working across languages, jobs, and genres
Jun 29, 2026
46m 12s
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| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/24/26 | The spirit of place: Laurence Mitchell on Flint Country | In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Norfolk-based writer Laurence Mitchell reveals how he brought the spirit of landscape and place onto the page in his award-winning book, Flint Country: A Stone Journey. Laurence Mitchell is a travel writer with a number of guidebooks and walking guides to his name. He also writes features for magazines like Geographical, Walk and Discovering Britain. He has contributed to Echtrai Journal, Elsewhere: a journal of place and several anthologies, and was a regular guest writer for the Berlin-based magazine hidden europe for many years. His first book for Saraband, Westering, was published in 2021 and his second, Flint Country, published in 2025. Flint Country won the General Non-Fiction category in the East Anglian Book Awards 2025. He sat down with NCW’s Holly Ainley to discuss the ‘spirit of place’ and how writers can weave culture, folklore, and personal memory into their portrayal of landscape. They also explore his decision to write about Norfolk flint, how writers can bring their own personality to the narrative, and what it means to think about landscape as a character. | 45m 35s | ||||||
| 8/10/26 | Back to basics: Sarah L. Kaufman on Verb Your Enthusiasm | In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, award-winning writer Sarah L. Kaufman discusses mastering the art of the verb and transforming your writing with language, grammar, and style. Sarah L. Kaufman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, an award-winning author and a writing teacher. As the Washington Post’s chief dance critic she wrote about the arts, entertainment, and society for 27 years. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Review of Books and Boston Globe, among others. Sarah’s latest book, Verb Your Enthusiasm, is a clarion call for all of us to get back to basics: to mean what we say and say what we mean. Sarah sat down with non-fiction writer Dan Richards to share her research and findings on how powerful verbs drive great storytelling. Their conversation explores the nine categories of language, why protecting human creativity matters in the age of AI, and how expressive language helps writers connect more deeply with readers. | 59m 41s | ||||||
| 7/27/26 | The world of self-publishing: Pip Landers-Letts on Pyg | In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, award-winning writer Pip Landers-Letts discusses her experience self-publishing her action-packed novel Pyg – a queer retelling of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. Pip Landers-Letts is an emerging queer author of contemporary sapphic fiction. Her work explores themes of love, loss and transformation, by blending emotional honesty with warm, character-driven storytelling. Her published titles include The Weight of What Was (2024), Pyg (2025), and Chameleon (2026). In 2025, she won the Kindle Storyteller Award for Pyg. Pip sat down with fellow writer Grace Murray to share her journey through self-publishing, offering advice and insights into the process, and reflecting on how winning the Kindle Storyteller Award helped her feel recognised as a writer. Their conversation also covers working with sensitivity readers, lesbian representation in literature, and the experience of writing multiple books set within the same fictional world. Self-published authors can enter a book of any genre into the Kindle Storyteller Award for the chance to win £20,000. To be eligible, simply publish your story via Kindle Direct Publishing by Monday 31 August 2026. | 52m 00s | ||||||
| 7/13/26 | writing relationshipscharacter development+3 | Jem Calder | National Centre for WritingThe Stinging Fly+3 | CambridgeLondon | Jem CalderI Want You to Be Happy+3 | — | 41m 57s | ||
| 6/29/26 | writingmultilingualism+3 | Sithuraj Ponraj | National Arts Council of SingaporeNational Centre for Writing | — | Sithuraj Ponrajwriting+6 | — | 46m 12s | ||
| 6/15/26 | debut novelqueer love+3 | Anna Goldreich | National Centre for WritingUniversity of East Anglia+2 | Norwich | Anna GoldreichThe Leveret+5 | — | 38m 03s | ||
| 6/1/26 | memoirwriting process+3 | Hannah Murray | The Make Believe | — | Hannah MurrayThe Make Believe+4 | — | 57m 11s | ||
| 5/18/26 | narrative experimentationcreative writing+4 | Ashley Hickson-Lovence | University of East AngliaBrunel University+7 | — | Ashley Hickson-LovenceAbout to Fall Apart+5 | — | 50m 52s | ||
| 5/4/26 | memoiridentity+3 | Camilla Balshaw | National Centre for WritingGoldsmiths+2 | — | memoiridentity+6 | — | 45m 39s | ||
| 4/20/26 | graphic novelsstorytelling+5 | Anna Trench | National Centre for WritingFlorrie | LondonNorfolk | graphic novelAnna Trench+5 | — | 42m 34s | ||
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| 4/6/26 | human connectionwriting process+5 | Jenni Fagan | National Centre for WritingThe Delusions+3 | — | Jenni FaganThe Delusions+5 | — | 42m 58s | ||
| 3/23/26 | publication processmentorship+4 | Grace Murray | National Literacy TrustPenguin Random House+1 | NorwichEdinburgh | Grace MurrayBlank Canvas+5 | — | 34m 32s | ||
| 3/9/26 | griefmemoir+4 | Sam Meekings | Northwestern UniversityWonder and Loss: A Practical Memoir for Writing about Grief+2 | — | griefmemoir+5 | — | 1h 04m 22s | ||
| 2/23/26 | Caribbean folklorefamily+4 | Celeste Mohammed | Lesley UniversityPleasantview+1 | Trinidad and Tobago | Caribbean literatureCeleste Mohammed+5 | — | 52m 43s | ||
| 2/9/26 | dystopian fictionlanguage+3 | Matt Greene | National Centre for WritingThe Definitions+3 | London | dystopiannovel+5 | — | 52m 36s | ||
| 1/26/26 | speculative fictionworld building+3 | Choo Yi Feng | National Arts Council of SingaporeThe Waiting Room+4 | Norwich UNESCO City of Literature | speculative fictionworld building+7 | — | 43m 38s | ||
| 1/12/26 | poetryperformance+4 | John OsborneLewis Buxton | University of East AngliaTo Make People Happy+2 | Norwich City of Literature | poetryperformance+5 | — | 55m 23s | ||
| 12/29/25 | writing goalsinspiration+3 | Julia Crouch | National Centre for WritingFaber Academy+5 | UEA | writinggoals+5 | — | 43m 08s | ||
| 12/15/25 | festive thrillerscrime novels+4 | Nicola Upson | BBC Radio 4CWA+3 | — | festive thrillerscrime writing+5 | — | 42m 04s | ||
| 11/17/25 | What is ‘experimental fiction’?: Clara Chow on travelling, writing about taboo subjects, and having fun | In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, Singapore-based writer Clara Chow delves into the world of 'experimental fiction' and why she takes on projects that push against the grain. Clara Chow works across genres of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her strange experiments under Hermit Press include obscure prose chapbooks such as The Melancholy of Broken Bollards. She has been a resident at the University of Iowa, Toji Cultural Center, Asean Literary Festival and Shanghai Writers’ Programme. Her residency in the Dragon Hall Cottage was supported by the National Arts Council of Singapore. She sits down with writer and mentor Megan Bradbury to discuss how she defines ‘experimental fiction’, and the importance of prioritising fun with your creative writing. Together, they touch on her month-long residency in Norwich UNESCO City of Literature, writing as a collaborative project, and the role bilingualism plays in her creative work. | 55m 54s | ||||||
| 11/3/25 | Writing grief and the body: Lisabelle Tay & Heather Parry in conversation with Yan Ge | In this Halloween-flavoured episode of The Writing Life Podcast, we’re resharing an illuminating discussion between writers Lisabelle Tay and Heather Parry on writing grief and the monstrous body. Heather Parry is a Glasgow-based writer and editor, originally from South Yorkshire. Her debut novel, Orpheus Builds a Girl, was shortlisted for the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award and longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. She is also the author of a short story collection, This Is My Body, Given For You, and her first nonfiction book, Electric Dreams: On Sex Robots and the Failed Promises of Capitalism, was released in 2024 as part of 404 Ink’s Inklings series. Lisabelle Tay is the author of Pilgrim (The Emma Press, 2021). She writes poetry, fiction, and screenplays. Her work appears in Bad Lilies, Sine Theta Magazine, and elsewhere, and she was part of the 2023 Black List Feature Lab. They sit down with Yan Ge, author of Strange Beasts of China, to explore how the body and the bodily serve as powerful lenses for examining trauma, grief, and the experience of inhabiting perspectives and bodies beyond our own. This event, supported by the National Arts Council of Singapore, was recorded in May 2025 for The Global Page. The Global Page is a unique series of online global conversations featuring internationally acclaimed and emerging writers and translators. You can find more conversations like this on our website at nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk | 54m 04s | ||||||
| 10/20/25 | Writing flawed characters: Sarah Moss on Ripeness | In this episode of The Writing Life, acclaimed British author and academic Sarah Moss (known for Ghost Wall and Summerwater) joins us to discuss her latest novel, Ripeness, ‘a breathtaking story of love and the search for belonging, from 1960s Italy to present-day Ireland.’ Sarah reflects on the novel’s dual structure, which follows Edith both as a young girl and as an older woman, and explores how dance, movement, and the body shape the story’s emotional core. She also talks about her fascination with flawed characters and considers what it means (or doesn’t mean!) to be a ‘political’ writer. Sarah Moss has written several novels including the Sunday Times top ten bestseller Summerwater (being adapted for television by Channel 4) and Ghost Wall, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize. She has also written two works of memoir, Names for the Sea, an account of her year living in Iceland, and My Good Bright Wolf which will also be published in Spring 2025. Sarah Moss was born in Glasgow and grew up in the north of England. After moving between Oxford, Canterbury, Reykjavik, west Cornwall and the Midlands, she now lives in Dublin. | 42m 00s | ||||||
| 10/6/25 | The poetry of motherhood: Erica Hesketh and Jenny Pagdin on language, recovery, and balance | In this episode of The Writing Life, poets Erica Hesketh and Jenny Pagdin share insights into the poetry of motherhood, and how they each share their ‘emotional truth’ in their writing. Erica Hesketh is a poet and editor, originally from Japan and Denmark, now based in London. Her poetry has been commissioned by the Royal Festival Hall, Spread the Word and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2016 to 2024 she was Director of the Poetry Translation Centre. Her debut collection, In the Lily Room, is published by Nine Arches Press and explores early motherhood. Her poem ‘Night feed’ was highly commended in the 2025 Forward Prizes. Jenny Pagdin wrote The Snow Globe (Nine Arches 2024) and Caldbeck (Eyewear, 2017), about postpartum psychosis. The Snow Globe won the East Anglian Book Awards poetry category in 2024, and her work has been shortlisted for the Mslexia pamphlet competition, highly commended and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, and longlisted for the Rebecca Swift Foundation's 2018 Women's Poetry Prize. Together, they reflect on how their experiences of motherhood have shaped their poetry and the creation of their debut collections. Touching on everything from how poetry fits into their lives as working mothers to the power of connecting with others by giving voice to experiences of illness and mental health, this is an honest and insightful conversation about recovery, language, and craft. | 38m 28s | ||||||
| 9/22/25 | A writer’s journey: Vanessa Bell on book tours, friendship, and revisiting old projects | In this episode of The Writing Life, poet, editor, and literary activist Vanessa Bell discusses the journeys she has taken as a writer, both literally and figuratively, and her recent book tour around the UK. Based in Quebec City of Literature, Vanessa Bell is co-director of CONTOURS and director of the poetry collection at Éditions du Quartz. Her debut collection of poetry, De rivières, was published by La Peuplade in 2019. She co-edited Anthology of contemporary poetry by women in Quebec 2000-2020 (Anthologie de la poésie actuelle des femmes au Québec 2000-2020) and MONUMENTS and won the 2021 Félix-Antoine-Savard Prize. She was selected as a 2022 Writers’ Trust Rising Star by Nicole Brossard. She sits down with NCW’s Chief Executive Peggy Hughes to discuss how her travels have transformed her as a writer and as a person. Together, they touch on her work in Quebec, the many ways a project can evolve and change over time, and how professional mentoring has uplifted her work. | 54m 40s | ||||||
| 9/8/25 | Representation in children’s literature: Hayley Wells on The Spectacular Suit | In this episode of The Writing Life, illustrator Hayley Wells delves into the importance of representation in children’s books. Hayley Wells is an Essex-based illustrator with an MA in Children’s Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art. Their work has been shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards, featured on television, and published worldwide. They sit down with NCW’s Ellie Reeves to discuss The Spectacular Suit, a picture book which celebrates individuality, identity and self-expression. Together they touch on the relationship between writer and illustrator, their advice for people wanting to develop ideas for a children’s book, and the value of representing yourself and your experiences in your art. | 29m 29s | ||||||
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Chart history for The Writing Life
Peaked at #46 in United Kingdom, currently #46 in United Kingdom.
| Market | Genre | Peak | Current | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | — | #46 | #46 | — |
| Ireland | — | #50 | #50 | — |
| Ireland | — | #113 | #113 | — |
| United Kingdom | — | #115 | #115 | — |
| MY | — | #116 | #116 | — |
| Australia | — | #133 | #133 | — |
Chart Positions
6 placements across 4 markets.
Chart Positions
6 placements across 4 markets.