INTERVIEW Gary Kaill INTERVIEW Gary Kaill

Amy Twigg’s Shelf Life

‘I try my best not to read reviews - people can be cruel and I am a fragile thing. But there’s one review that always makes me laugh, which said, “‘Spoilt Creatures’ is not a novel that I particularly admire.” Speak your truth.’

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INTERVIEW Gary Kaill INTERVIEW Gary Kaill

Sophie Parkes’ Shelf Life

'I’ve heard a few writers say - Zadie Smith being one of them - that the novel, short story, whatever it might be, is representative of the writer at that particular time. You will never think in exactly the same way and therefore you will never write the same again. A comfort, I think.'

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INTERVIEW Gary Kaill INTERVIEW Gary Kaill

Niamh Campbell’s Shelf Life

'Looking back, I really thought of the written world as a built, existing world - a discourse, to use the adult term - and my intention was not to make value judgements but orient myself within it.'

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REVIEW by Kate Vine Gary Kaill REVIEW by Kate Vine Gary Kaill

Liars by Sarah Manguso

‘I could tell you this is an angry book; I still doubt you’d be prepared. In Sarah Manguso’s latest novel, Liars, rage is the main character — sharper and more accented than any of its actual cast. More specifically, women’s rage.’

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INTERVIEW Gary Kaill INTERVIEW Gary Kaill

Noreen Masud’s Shelf Life

‘It is very hard to feel that those around you value book festivals more than doing anything possible to put a spanner in this poisoned system that kills and maims racialised children every single day. Most people want a quiet life. That’s hard, because if you’re marginalised that's not an option for you; you’re right up against the world’s clamour every single moment.’

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INTERVIEW Gary Kaill INTERVIEW Gary Kaill

Anne de Marcken’s Shelf Life

‘I have two primary ways of writing: 1) slowly and deliberately, and 2) accidentally. In the first case, a project usually starts with an idea that is persistent enough to grow more clear rather than dimmer in the time it takes me to attend to it. Once I am writing, the idea eventually yields a feeling—some line or passage reveals the heart of the piece.’

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INTERVIEW Gary Kaill INTERVIEW Gary Kaill

Claire Carroll’s Shelf Life

‘I am working on a new collection. It's set in Jersey, in the channel islands, where I spent exactly half of my childhood. It's a strange place, in lots of ways, but very beautiful too. Politically it's like Nigel Farage fell asleep watching The Truman Show, but the coastlines are breathtaking.’

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INTERVIEW Gary Kaill INTERVIEW Gary Kaill

Karen Powell’s Shelf Life

‘I need to reach a certain point in a novel’s development where I feel it has acquired the necessary heft, before I can begin to discuss or share it with anyone else. Before that point, everything feels too fragile and tentative to expose to the air.’

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