Event Details

Hear from three phenomenal emergent authors, who are making waves in the contemporary literary scene - Sophie Mackintosh, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan and Livia Francini.

They each give a reading from their work, and then answer questions about the development of their work, how they got published, and what they make of the current literary landscape in the UK.

Enjoy gaining an insight into the brilliant work, and wisdom, of these exciting and original voices.

The Emergent Writers podcasts are presented by The York Centre for Writing, York St John University and are hosted on SoundCloud.

Image credit: Sophie Mackintosh photo by Sophie Davidson

Listen to the podcast

About the speakers

Sophie Mackintosh’s debut novel The Water Cure was published by Hamish Hamilton in the UK in Spring 2018 and by Doubleday in the USA in early 2019 to critical acclaim, and was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Her second novel Blue Ticket will be published in Summer 2020. Her fiction, essays and poetry have been published by Granta, The White Review, The New York Times and The Stinging Fly, among others. Her short story ‘Grace’ was the winner of the 2016 White Review Short Story Prize, and her story ‘The Running Ones’ won the Virago/Stylist Short Story competition in 2016.

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is the author of Harmless Like You—the winner of The Authors’ Club First Novel Award and a Betty Trask Award. It was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and an NPR 2017 Great Read. Starling Days, her second novel, is out now in the UK and forthcoming in the USA. It was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award. The novel is about love, Ovid, mental illness, and Japanese beer. Her short work has appeared in several places including Granta, Guernica, The Guardian, The Harvard Review, and NPR’s Selected Shorts. She is the editor of the Go Home! anthology.

Livia Francini’s debut novel, Shelf Life, was published by Doubleday in the UK in August 2019. Livia is a writer and translator from Tuscany, Italy. Selected publications include The Quietus, 3:AM, The White Review, LESTE, Hotel, PEN Transmissions and the anthologies On Bodies (3 of Cups) and Wretched Strangers (Boiler House Press). She has translated Natalia Ginzburg, James Tiptree Jr. and Michael Donaghy among many others. Livia is one of the inaugural writers-in-residence of the Connecting Emerging Literary Artist project, funded by the European Union, which will see her work translated into six languages.

The York Centre for Writing

The York Centre for Writing, York St John University, is a hub for a number of exciting writing events, projects and publications in collaboration with Valley Press, York Literature Festival, and other community partners.

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