London Writers' Salon

Poet, publisher, and educator Anthony Anaxagorou on treating rejection as part of the job, pushing an idea to its edge without losing the reader, and ending a poem where it can keep travelling — a re-release of episode #012.
You'll learn:
Why walking away from writing for years doesn't necessarily mean you ever left it.
How to treat rejection as part of the job rather than a verdict on your worth.
What happens to your work when one stamp of validation starts to feel like an entitlement.
How a restless, never-satisfied mind can become a creative engine.
A morning listening exercise, borrowed from Lydia Davis, that can hand you the first line of a poem.
What to do when you're stuck on a line and the answer is sitting on your bookshelf.
Why “accessible” is one of the most loaded words in poetry.
How far to push an idea before you lose the reader.
Two ways to take a flat, literal line and make it tell the truth slant.
Why your poem probably starts later and ends earlier than you think, and what the reader does with the space you leave.
Resources & Links
Original episode: #012 Anthony Anaxagorou — Push Past Self-Doubt and Think Like a Poet
Anthony's website
How to Write It
After the Formalities
Heritage Aesthetics
Out-Spoken
Out-Spoken Press
“Tell all the truth but tell it slant” by Emily Dickinson
About Anthony Anaxagorou
Anthony Anaxagorou FRSL is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. His poetry has been published in POETRY, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, New Statesman, Granta, and elsewhere.
His third collection, Heritage Aesthetics (Granta Poetry, 2022), won the 2023 RSL Ondaatje Prize. His second collection, After the Formalities, was shortlisted for the 2019 T.S. Eliot Prize and called a poetry book of the year by the Telegraph and Guardian. He was awarded the 2019 H-100 Award for writing and publishing, and the 2015 Groucho Maverick Award for his poetry and fiction, and in 2023 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2012 Anthony set up one of London's leading poetry nights, Out-Spoken, a monthly poetry and music night now held at London's Southbank Centre, and established Out-Spoken Press – a publishing house that looks to challenge the lack of diversity in British poetry publishing.
His craft book, How to Write It, was published by Penguin's #Merky Books in 2020.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
*
FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
Twitter: twitter.com/​​WritersSalon
Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon
Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon
If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

Bestselling novelist Marti Leimbach on the art of writing a novel, surviving early success and the long career that follows, and turning lived experience into fiction — a remastered version of episode #016.
You'll learn
Why your relationship to the page has to outrank every other voice in writing and publishing.
How to tell apart the voice that says you're no good and the voice that says you're not finished.
The case for admitting you're not up to the task before you sit down to write.
What a genuinely good writing day looks like, and why a single sentence can count as one.
Why no novel is ever perfect, and what Picasso understood about original work.
How enormous early success actually lands on a writer, and what the morning after looks like.
A way of finding the real story inside a draft that has grown far too big.
When self-doubt is a sign of talent rather than a lack of it.
Why some books have to be written as fiction rather than memoir.
The trick of convincing yourself you have unlimited time when you clearly don't.
Resources & Links
Marti's Books on Amazon
Marti's website
Marti's Instagram
Great On The Page — Marti's Substack
Original episode: #016: Marti Leimbach — The Art of Writing a Novel
About Marti Leimbach
Marti Leimbach is known for her bestsellers, Dying Young, made into a film starring Julia Roberts, and Daniel Isn't Talking. She is interested in neurodiversity and has shared the stage with young inventors at the Human Genome Project (Toronto), the National Autistic Society, and the University of Oxford. Her interest in science influenced her YA thriller, Dragonfly Girl.
She teaches on the Masters Programme in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford. Dragonfly Girl is her eighth novel, but her first for young adults.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
*
FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
Twitter: twitter.com/​​WritersSalon
Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon
Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon
If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

Pellerin Books founders Laura Palmer and Jessie Sullivan on how readers discover books now, where to put your marketing money, and why the quality of the book still decides everything.
You'll learn
The rule that quietly decides which authors get a publisher’s time, budget and attention.
Why the first question about marketing a book is never “how?”
How to research your readers and your market without paying for a single tool.
The metric that makes an ad campaign look like it is working when nothing is.
What a cover and a developmental edit should cost, and the one place never to skimp.
Why raising your ad budget too fast makes it perform worse, not better.
How subscription reading changed what a sagging middle chapter costs a writer.
Whether a publisher actually cares how many followers you have.
Three books on writing that between them cover almost everything, and the two-word rule that keeps readers turning pages.
Why you cannot keyword your way into a reader’s life in the age of AI search.
Resources & Links
📄 Interview Transcript
Pellerin Books
K-Lytics
Publisher Rocket
Kindlepreneur
Pellerin Submissions
Bookbub
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need by Jessica Brody
On Writing by Stephen King
A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
Pellerin Publishing Advice
About Pellerin Books
Pellerin Books is a new independent publisher of popular fiction, built for the way readers discover and fall in love with books today. It publishes immersive, emotionally engaging stories readers can’t put down – from thrillers to romance, historical fiction to science fiction, saga to fantasy and everything in between. It is a digital-focus publisher, which means ebooks and audiobooks are at the heart of what it does, although all its titles are available in paperback for readers who love to hold a book in their hands.
At Pellerin, we believe deeply in good books and the difference they can make. We became publishers because we believe in the craft of storytelling, the power to create living worlds and characters that reach beyond the page. Making books, for us, is a way to be part of that strange magic that binds reader and author when the right book gets into the right hands.
About Laura Palmer & Jessie Sullivan
Laura’s love of storytelling drew her into the publishing industry in 2007 as an assistant at Quercus Books, where she was part of the team that discovered and published Stieg Larsson. In 2010, she joined Corvus, where she rode the ebook boom, delivering sales previously unheard of for new authors, and was shortlisted for the Kim Scott Walwyn prize for women in publishing. In 2012, she co-founded Head of Zeus, alongside publishing veterans Anthony and Nicolas Cheetham. As executive director and fiction publisher, Laura ran three imprints and published more than a hundred authors at Head of Zeus. Bestselling authors she has worked with include Dani Atkins, JP Delaney, Dan Jones, Graham Masterton and Amanda Prowse.
Jessie Sullivan has spent her career at the intersection of publishing and performance-led marketing. She is one of the most commercially effective marketers in modern publishing, with over £8 million in directly attributed revenue and more than £10 million in total marketing impact.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
*
FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
Twitter: twitter.com/​​WritersSalon
Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon
Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon
If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

Award-winning novelist Lily King on finding the emotional arc of a novel, writing the scene you keep avoiding, and making peace with ambition, self-criticism and the long road to a first book.
You'll learn
Why the scene you most want to avoid is usually the one your book needs.
How a small change in the final pages of one section can rebuild an entire novel.
What it means to think in emotional arc rather than theme.
The difference between being hard on yourself about writing and being hard on yourself while you write.
Why giving yourself permission to write about your own life can unlock everything that follows.
When a middle section goes flat, and how to find the engine it's missing.
How ambition shows up differently for women writers, and the shame that can come with it.
A notebook method built on margins, timelines, and a daily writing log.
Why a bad review can be more useful than praise.
What nine years on a first novel teaches you about patience.
Resources & Links
📄 Interview Transcript
It's Not The End of the World by Judy Blume
The Pleasing Hour by Lily King
The English Teacher by Lily King
Euphoria by Lily King
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Heart the Lover by Lily King
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
@lilykingbooks - Lily's Instagram
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
About Lily King
Lily King is the award-winning author of six novels. Her most recent novel, Heart the Lover, was published on September 30th, 2025. She has also published a collection of short stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter. Her 2020 novel, Writers & Lovers, won the New England Society Book Awards and was a New York Times Notable Book and chosen as a top-ten best book of 2020 by The Washington Post, NPR, People Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Prize, the New England Book Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Euphoria was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014, as well as on Amazon, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and Salon's Best Books of 2014.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
*
FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
Twitter: twitter.com/​​WritersSalon
Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon
Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon
If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!

CAA literary agent Rachel Mann on what makes her say yes to a manuscript, how to navigate the submissions process without losing control of your career, and why cutting is the work that makes prose land.

You'll learn

Why the recognition an agent needs is physical rather than analytical.

What to do when you're not sure your manuscript is ready to send out.

How to buy more time after a full manuscript request without killing the momentum.

Why telling other agents about your requests works in your favour, even if it feels grubby.

The realistic rhythm for chasing an agent who has gone quiet.

Whether refusing to use social media can cost a writer representation.

A question worth answering before you sign with anyone, and why the answer shapes the edit.

The edit most manuscripts need before submission, and why it rarely means adding.

How poetry's distillation applies to prose, whatever you write.

What still gives an agent hope in a market where people are reading less.

Resources & Links

Rachel's Website

Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr

Waterstones

Puffin

Jo Unwin Literary Agency

Karolina Sutton agent

Harriet Poland agent

Sarah Harvey agent

John Ash agent

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

Ottessa Moshfegh author

Society of Authors

The Arvon Foundation

To Query CAA: Email ukbooksubmissions@caa.com. To submit, please send a cover email, one-page synopsis and the first three chapters of your work, or the rough equivalent.

About Rachel Mann

Rachel Mann is a Literary Agent at CAA and represents a broad range of work – largely fiction, with some non-fiction — from commercial to literary, in adult, young adult, and middle-grade markets.

Her clients include Eliza Clark, Caleb Femi, Jade LB and Aisling Rawle, and have won and been listed for major prizes, including the Granta Best Young British Novelist, the Forward Prize for Poetry, the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, the YA Book Prize, The Bookseller Discover Prize, and the Carnegie Medal.

She spent ten years editing and commissioning fiction for young people at houses including Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, and was global publishing director at the Roald Dahl Story Company. She became an agent in 2018 and joined CAA in 2023.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.
For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.
*
FOLLOW LONDON WRITERS’ SALON
Twitter: twitter.com/​​WritersSalon
Instagram: instagram.com/londonwriterssalon
Facebook: facebook.com/LondonWritersSalon
If you’re enjoying this show, please rate and review this show!