The Writers’ Gym Podcast

• Tim Lebbon, New York Times-bestselling author joins Dr Rachel Knightley on the Writers' Gym

  Tim Lebbon is a New York Times-bestselling writer from South Wales. He’s written over fifty novels, as well as hundreds of novellas and short stories. His latest novel is Secret Lives of the Dead. He has won a World Fantasy Award, four British Fantasy Awards, a Dragon Award and a Scribe Award. His novel The Silence is a movie on Netflix starring Stanley Tucci and Kiernan Shipka. The movie of his novella Pay The Ghost stars Nicolas Cage.   Tim has written extensively in existing universes including Alien, Conan the Barbarian, Predator, Star Wars, Firefly and Hellboy novels. He also novelized the movies 30 Days of Night, The Cabin in the Woods, and Kong: Skull Island.   He has written computer games, comics, and audio dramas. He is currently developing more novels, and both original and adapted screen projects.   He loves the outdoors, and spends a lot of time walking, running, cycling and swimming around the Welsh countryside. He's competed in many Ironman and other triathlons. He's a huge music fan, and believes you're never too old to jump up and down in a mosh pit.   Find out more about Tim at www.timlebbon.net

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• Joanne Harris (OBE, FRSL) joins Dr Rachel Knightley at the Writers' Gym

  Joanne was born in Barnsley in 1964, of a French mother and an English father. She studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages at Cambridge and was a teacher for fifteen years, during which time she published three novels, including Chocolat (1999), which was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche . Since then, she has written over 20 more novels, plus novellas, short stories, game scripts, the libretti for two short operas, several screenplays, a stage musical (with Howard Goodall) and three cookbooks. Her books are now published in over 50 countries and have won a number of British and international awards. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, has honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of Sheffield and Huddersfield, and has been a judge for the Whitbread Prize, the Orange Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, the Betty Trask Award, the Prima Donna Prize  and the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science, as well as for the Fragrance Foundation awards for perfume and perfume journalism (for which she also received an award in 2017). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022. She is a passionate advocate for authors’ rights, and was the Chair of the Society of Authors (SOA) for four years. She was a member of the Board of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) between 2018 and 2024. Her hobbies are listed in Who’s Who as: “mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion of the system”, although she also enjoys obfuscation, sleaze, rebellion, witchcraft, armed robbery, tea and biscuits. She is not above bribery and would not necessarily refuse an offer involving perfume, diamonds,  foreign travel or pink champagne. She works from a shed in her garden, plays in the band she first joined when she was 16, and lives with her husband in a little wood in Yorkshire. Joanne's website: https://www.joanne-harris.co.uk The Society of Authors: https://societyofauthors.org ALCS: https://www.alcs.co.uk Vianne/Sarah McCartney scent collaboration: https://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/news/4690/

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• What makes you write

  Build confidence in writing through focus on the inspiration already in your writer's artist palette – with author and coach Dr Rachel Knightley.   This week, we're exploring what makes you write.

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• Plots and protagonists

  Build confidence in writing through focus on the inspiration already in your writer's artist palette – with author and coach Dr Rachel Knightley.   This week, we're exploring plots and protagonists.

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• Antagonist exercises

  Build confidence in writing through focus on the inspiration already in your writer's artist palette – with author and coach Dr Rachel Knightley.   This week, we're exploring antagonist exercises.

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