Showing results by author "Holly Newson" in All Categories

You might think that a discipline as serious and complex as psychiatry has no place for humour, but Waterhouse has proven with his sell-out shows at the Edinburgh and Brighton Fringe festivals that they actually go hand in hand! His memoir, You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here looks at his struggles as a frontline NHS doctor in an underfunded sector, and navigates how he ended up in the profession in the first place.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo tells the story of Nuri, a beekeeper, and Afra an artist, who are warmly surrounded by friends and family in the beautiful city of Aleppo in Syria. Their world changes in an instant when war destroys everything they've known and loved and serves them unendurable heartbreak. In this interview we spoke about Lefteri's experiences in refugee camps in Athens, how these weighed on her, and thus her motivations for writing The Beekeeper of Aleppo. We also spoke about learning about beekeeping, PTSD and asylum.

Joining us at Audible Studios is sleep expert and Professor of Circadian Neuroscience Russell Foster. He’s created a book called Life Time which looks in detail at how sleep and our body clocks are essential in building optimum routines for a healthy body and mind, and why we need to escape the trappings of the 21st century such as high-level stress and artificial light. And there’s no better person to have written it....

One of Britain’s greatest lyricists, George the Poet was born in London to Ugandan parents, and regularly performs about diversity, inclusion, equality and discrimination. We’ll be speaking with George the Poet to find out more about Track Record, his memoir which delves into community, colonialism and how these things shape the world around us. We’ll be asking what George learnt about the music industry from having a record deal, how his community growing up shaped him, and why colonialism still persists.

Following the success of his debut thriller, Lies, TM Logan has hit the top 10 Kindle Best Seller Charts, sold over 250,000 copies and become a household name in crime fiction. In this exclusive interview, he brings us his new audiobook, 29 Seconds, a compelling, tense and gripping story. We talk to Logan about the writing process behind it, the source of his ideas and future series in the works alongside his stand-alone novels.

Starting out as a double act with Stewart Lee, Herring appeared in This Morning with Richard Not Judy, and Fist of Fun, and became known for his comedy drama You Can Choose Your Friends. His podcasts and interview style have wonderful charm, and his Richard Herring Leicester Square Theatre Podcast (or RHLSTP as it is affectionately known) gives insight into celebs such as Stephen Fry and Jeremy Paxman.

Doctor, journalist and author Rachel Clarke joins Audible Studios to discuss her semiautobiographical audiobook, Your Life in My Hands. A poignant and honest depiction of the daily challenges faced by junior doctors on the NHS front line, the audiobook has been praised and applauded by the likes of Jon Snow, Alastair Campbell and Professor Neena Modi. In this interview, Rachel addresses the difficult working conditions she’s had to endure as an NHS doctor, the overcrowding and underfunding of the institution she dedicates her life to and her hopes for a future in which the National Health Service stands strong once again.

Gray has written for many major publications, such as The Guardian, The Telegraph, Grazia, BBC Earth and Marie Claire. During her 20s, Gray worked for Glamour and Cosmopolitan. As you might have read in her debut book, The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober, Gray battled addiction to alcohol during her 20s and early 30s but managed to keep holding down her job. We spoke to Catherine Gray about what counts as ‘fun gratitude’, what the significance is of the Hedonic Treadmill and why ordinary things are so great.

Ruth Ware visits the Audible studio to talk about her latest thriller, The Lying Game. Both Ware’s debut thriller, In a Dark, Dark Wood, and the follow-up, The Woman in Cabin 10, were Sunday Times top 10 best sellers in the UK and New York Times top 10 best sellers in the US. Here she talks about writing female friendships; her protagonist, Isa; and her fascination with boarding schools.

Page has always had a passion for writing and began at an early age. She studied fashion journalism and began work at The Guardian. As her career focused on writing, Page found little time to pursue her own writing and so made a career switch to marketing in order to make space for her own books. Page's second novel, The 24-Hour Cafe, has just published, and we chatted to her about the human tales she tells, her determination to write and why she loves having a pen pal.

Joining us at Audible Studios is performance artist, writer and theatre maker, Travis Alabanza. Following the incredible success of their award-winning debut work, Burgerz, Alabanza has continued to create performance and discourse about trans and black identities. Their theatre show Overflow, which premiered at The Bush theatre, was shortlisted for the George Devine Award, and has been met with critical acclaim. Their writing appears in The Guardian and Vice, and has been published in anthologies such as Black and Gay in the UK.

Joining us in the Audible Studios to talk about his latest novel, Salvation, is best-selling science-fiction author Peter F. Hamilton. Coined the king of space opera, Peter F. Hamilton has created some of science fiction’s most vast and extensive universes, making him one of Britain’s biggest selling sci-fi authors. Known for The Night’s Dawn trilogy and the Commonwealth Saga in particular, Hamilton embarks on a new universe, publishing Salvation, the first book in a brand-new trilogy, in 2018.

Joining us at Audible Studios is former SAS sergeant Chris Ryan. Ryan enrolled in the British Army at the age of 16, where he then passed selection to join the 22 SAS Regiment under ‘B’ squadron. Ryan spent the next seven years of his life serving around the world on covert and overt operations. Ryan was a key member of the infamous Bravo Two Zero SAS patrol in Iraq during the Gulf War. The patrol was compromised and was forced to head towards Syria on foot. Ryan was the only one of the eight-man team to not be captured or killed.

Joining us at Audible Studios is Dan Abnett, British comic book writer and novelist, who has contributed to series for Marvel, DC Comics and Games Workshop's Black Library. Abnett is one of the Black Library's main authors, and certainly one of their best sellers. Writing within the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Abnett has authored infamous series such as Horus Heresy, Gaunt's Ghosts and Eisenhorn. Abnett has also written prolifically for Marvel and DC, as well as 2000 AD.

Gaining international recognition for her role as Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter series, Wright has gone on to star on stage, as well as found her own production company, BonBonLumiere, and direct critically acclaimed short films. Wright is now using her platform to inspire and motivate others to reduce waste, change habits, and become more environmentally friendly. She is an ambassador for the charities Greenpeace and Lumos, and has written her own guide on becoming more sustainable titled Go Gently.

Known for hosting live TV coverage of international events such as the Six Nations rugby, the World Cup and the Olympic Games, Logan is one of Britain's best loved broadcasters. Starting out on Sky Sports, then working for BBC and ITV, as well as hosting shows on BBC Radio, Logan's career has been illustrious. Being a woman in the arena of sports broadcasting hasn't always been an easy ride, but Logan has not let it hold her back, and has changed the face of women in sport, receiving an MBE for her Services to Sports Broadcasting and the Promotion of Women in Sport.

Joining us at Audible Studios is high profile human rights and civil liberties barrister Leslie Thomas QC. Thomas was called to the bar in 1988 and has represented some very high-profile cases, including families of the Hillsborough disaster, the family of Mark Duggan, whose death sparked the 2011 London riots, and more recently, the families of the victims of Grenfell Tower. It's clear that Thomas has a passion for supporting the voiceless and vulnerable, and is an expert in claims against the police and other public authorities.

With a multichampionship-winning career in motorcycle racing, team management and truck racing, Steve Parrish, who is also renowned for his practical jokes, published his autobiography, Parrish Times: My Life as a Racer in May 2018. Steve Parrish talks to us about writing his autobiography and his motorcycle career, driving a truck without a license and what he gets up to with his collection of emergency service vehicles.

Picoult, born in New York, has published more than 26 novels and short stories, not including the several issues of Wonder Woman she wrote for DC Comics. Picoult has 40 million copies of her books in print, and they have been translated into 34 languages - to say she is a prolific writer would be an understatement, and she was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for fiction in 2003.

After beginning a career in psychiatric nursing, Jo Brand moved to the alternative comedy stand-up scene with early performances on Saturday Live and later appearing in the likes of The Brain Drain and Jo Brand Through the Cakehole. Brand is the author of four novels and is currently the presenter of The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice, and her latest book, Born Lippy, was published in October 2018.