Conversations with Writers

Rachel Trezise was born in the Rhondda Valley in south Wales in 1978. She studied Journalism and English at Glamorgan University, and, Geography and History at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Her books have won two major awards and have been translated into Italian and Danish. Her autobigraphical novel, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl (Parthian, 2000) won a place on the Orange Futures List in 2002. And her collection of short stories, Fresh Apples (Parthian Books, 2006) won the 2006 EDS Dylan Thomas Prize . Trezise is also the author of a documentary about Welsh rock music, Dial M for Merthyr (Parthian, 2007), and a second novel, Sixteen Shades of Crazy , which is due out from HarperCollins in 2010. In this interview, Rachel Trezise talks about her writing: When did you start writing? I started writing at the age of sixteen. I thought I wanted to be a music journalist so I started a fanzine called Smack Rupunzel , interviewing and writing about local bands. Soon aft...

Sandra Lester ’s first poetry collection, Candy Cotton Kid and the Faustian Wolf (Q.Q. Press, 2001) was nominated for the Callum MacDonald Memorial Award for poetry in 2002. Four more poetry collections followed: Tlazolteotl Poems and Illustrations (Q.Q. Press; 2004); Helkappe Poems (Q.Q. Press, 2005) and The Panjandrum of Quondam: The Epic Grenade (Samzidat Press, 2005). In addition to this, she recorded some of her poems and released them as Selected Poems CD (Samzidat Recordings, 2006). She has also written and published, The Ripper Unmasked: Confessions from Sutcliffe to a Hypnotist (Samzidat Press, 2006), which presents an account of her relationship with Peter Sutcliffe , the Yorkshire Ripper. In a recent interview, Sandra Lester spoke about her writing and the direction it is taking. Your most recent book, The Ripper Unmasked: Confessions from Sutcliffe to a Hypnotist has been described as a true-crime, historical document. How did the book come about? I became...

In addition to writing short stories, John Eppel is also an award-winning poet and novelist . His list of achievements is impressive. His first novel, D.G.G. Berry’s The Great North Road (1992), won the M-Net Prize in South Africa. His second novel, Hatchings (1993), was short-listed for the M-Net Prize and his third novel, The Giraffe Man (1994), has been translated into French. His first poetry collection, Spoils of War (1989), won the Ingrid Jonker Prize. Other poems have been featured in anthologies that include The Heart in Exile South African Poetry in English 1990-1995 (1996) while his short stories have appeared in anthologies that include Writing Now: More Stories from Zimbabwe (2005). In a recent email interview, John Eppel spoke about his writing. When did you decide you wanted to be a writer? About age 12. Around that time I stopped believing in God, I became consciously aware of my mortality, I began to feel uneasy about my privileged status as a white b...

Lynn Emery is the author of twelve African-American romance novels which include Good Woman Blues (2005); Kiss Lonely Goodbye (2003) and All I Want Is Forever (2002). One of her stories, “Tumbling Down”, has also been featured in The Lipstick Chronicles , a collection of four novellas from different authors. Another of her novels, After All (1996) was produced as a made-for-television movie by Black Entertainment Television in 1999. She has also won several awards for her writing. In 1995, she received the Excellence in Romance Fiction Award for her first novel, Night Music Magic (1995) and in 2000, she was nominated the Lifetime Achievement Award in Multicultural Romance Fiction from the Romantic Times Magazine. In 2004, she went on to win three Emma Awards, including Author of the Year. Her latest books include: Endless Passion (2006) — a collector’s edition of three earlier novels, Night Magic (1995); Tender Touch (1997) and Sweet Mystery (1998) — and Soulfu...

Allen Ashley has worked as a performance poet, a singer/songwriter, music critic, football journalist and book editor. In addition to this, he is the author of two non-fiction books: The Golden Void -- Hawkwind 1970-1975 (Hawkfrendz, 1991), a chapbook of music criticism, and The Days of the Dodo (Dodo London Press, 2006), a collection of cultural commentary articles that first appeared in The Third Alternative between 1999 and 2005. His short stories have been published in over 40 literary magazines, among them Interzone , The Third Alternative, Postscripts and Prism . They have also been featured in around 10 anthologies that include Triquorum One (Pendragon Press, 2006); Poe’s Progeny (Gray Friar Press, 2005) and New Wave of Speculative Fiction (Crowswing Books, 2005). His debut novel, The Planet Suite (TTA Press, 1997) was followed by two collections of short stories, Somnambulists (Elastic Press, 2004) and Urban Fantastic (Crowswing Books, 2006). In a recent interv...

Lawyer and award-winning author, Caridad Pineiro Scordato was born in Havana, Cuba before moving and settling in the New York Metropolitan area in the 1960s. She attended Villanova University on a Presidential Scholarship and graduated Magna cum laude. She subsequently earned her Juris Doctor from St. John's University and became the first female and Latino partner of Abelman, Frayne & Schwab, an Intellectual Property firm in Midtown Manhattan. Caridad Pineiro made her debut as an author in 1999 with the publication of Now and Always by Kensington 's Latina romance imprint, Encanto. Her fifteenth novel, Blood Calls , was released in May 2007 by Silhouette Nocturne . In a recent interview, she spoke about her writing. What are your main concerns as a writer? I have two concerns as a writer. The first is to entertain my readers by writing a really good book. The second is to make them think about something they might not have considered before. For example, in Dev...

M.J. Pearson is the author of two highly commended gay historical romance novels. Her debut novel, The Price of Temptation , came out in 2005 and was a finalist in the Romance category of the Lambda Literary Awards . Discreet Young Gentleman , her second novel, was declared a winner in the Published category of the Great Beginnings contest that is sponsored by the Utah chapter of the Romance Writers of America . In an interview which took place on November 12, M. J. Pearson spoke about her concerns as a writer. When did you decide you wanted to be a writer? I've wanted to be a writer my entire life. For years I just thought I didn't have anything important to say -- at the same time, I always told myself stories to get to sleep at night -- serials that might run for months before they either hit a logical ending, or just faded away. Finally, as I approached my forties, it occurred to me that the stories that entertained me might entertain other people, so I started w...

Haroon Moghul graduated from New York University with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies and Philosophy and is currently pursuing a Ph.D at Columbia University. He sits on the editorial board of Islamica Magazine and is a regular contributor to Eteraz.org . In 2004, his blog, Avari-Nameh won the Brass Crescent Awards for Best Writing, Best Post and Best Overall Blog. The blog is concerned with issues of Muslim identity, politics and society. Moghul went on to receive the Brass Crescent Award for Best Thinker in 2005, for his contribution to the discourse on Islam. In addition to writing essays, short stories and poems, Haroon Moghul is the author of two novels: My First Police State (2003), a self-published travelogue; and The Order of Light (Penguin India, 2005). In a recent interview, he spoke about his writing and his concerns as a writer. What is your latest novel, The Order of Light about? What sets it apart from the other things you have written? The book is ab...