Yvonne Battle-Felton’s Shelf Life
Yvonne Battle-Felton is an author, academic, host, creative producer, and writer. Remembered was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (2019) and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize (2020). Yvonne has nonfiction children’s titles in Penguin Random House’s Ladybird series. Curdle Creek (Henry Holt/Dialogue Books) published October 2024. Yvonne is the Academic Director of Creative Writing at Cambridge University Institute of Continuing Education and a Senior Commissioning Editor at John Murray.
How and where are you?
There’s a crisp chill in the air. The moon is half (or a quarter) full. The sky is peppered with stars. Autumn is such a lovely time of year. It’s a time of change and endings. I’m sitting near my window watching day turn to night sky.
What are you reading at the moment?
I’m reading Tananarive Due’s Ghost Summer and Out There Screaming, an anthology edited by Jordan Peele
And, of course, watching or listening to, or otherwise consuming?
My youngest and I just finished watching Moonflower Murders. My oldest son and I are watching MasterChef Australia. I’d love to see something that combined my interest in murder mystery with a competitive cooking show.
What did you read as a child?
I remember reading a lot of Nancy Drew because my sister liked the Hardy Boys. I might have liked the Hardy Boys too if I had read them but as the little sister I sort of took a vow to always like the opposite of what my sister liked. I also read and loved A Swiftly Tiling Planet and A Wrinkle in Time. I may have even read A Wind in the Door. I loved a good mystery and a bit of mayhem, especially if I could imagine myself as the main character—and I always could.
Which books and/or writers have inspired and influenced you, and what have you learnt from them?
That’s a great question. Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison wrote books that I found when I needed to find them. They showed me that sometimes characters (like people) that you love, can do things that you don’t like. And that sometimes characters (and people) can do things that hurt you, but that aren’t about you. They taught me a lot about forgiveness and about letting go.
What’s the worst review you’ve ever received?
Ha. Not to name names, but one of my worst reviews didn’t get an important character’s name right. Another one was from someone I knew. I don’t know why she wouldn’t just tell me personally. But, it’s fine. I never let on that I read the review. In the end,
Tell us a little about your creative process.
I try to write each morning from 5:55-6:55. It’s important that I start my day doing what I love. So, I start it with words It’s probably a good time of day for my family too because I write out loud. In order to connect with what I’m writing, I read it out loud in character. It lets me feel the way the character might say something, listen to the rhythms, find the silences. So I’m either speaking and typing at the same time or typing it as I speak it. It’s not the same as dictation though. It’s more of a performance than that. At heart, I’m a would-be-actress. So it’s me, the page, and the sound of the page. It’s super fun to do it on the train. My favorite piece to write while I’m travelling is Murder on the LNER. I don’t know if I’ll ever finish it but it’s fun to write it out loud when I’m on an LNER train.
How has your experience of the publishing industry been?
It’s been an interesting experience so far. I’m often surprised at how much there is to learn. Nothing about it is intuitive. But, I’m learning more about my values and what’s important to me; the sort of writer I am and how to balance that with the sort of advocate I aim to be. I have to be the biggest advocate for my book. I’m enjoying the marketing side more than I thought I would. I try to create events to do more of the things I love like readings, recording audio, writing. All of that ties into publishing in some way or the other. I’m also working in publishing. So, I’m constantly learning. The more you learn about the publishing industry, the easier it is to see what you might create.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
I was at University trying to figure out how I was going to create a living with my words. The best advice was to believe I can achieve anything.
What are you working on right now?
I’ve been writing about feeding birds, squirrels, and furry animals in the back garden. There’s so much life back there. I’m enjoying getting to know it more each day and sort of rewilding the garden (and myself) with words and stories. I’m writing personal essays about it and I’d like to turn it into a children’s book for my grandson. I feel like this is the calming that I need right now. I’ve been thinking a lot about Mae and what her side of the story might be. There’s something deliciously tempting about finding out what she will say, the truths she might spill, the secrets she keeps. I can think about it for only so long before I write it (and speak it) to find out. So I might be going back to Curdle Creek to see what other stories linger there.