Dave Emmerson
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This month CM Lowry is talking to his childhood hero Elizabeth Laird – globetrotter, adventurer and author. They talk all about her life and how it has influenced the many books she has written in ‘This Book I Read…’
Topics covered include:
- Elizabeth’s 1989 children’s book, Crackers, and the important role in played in CM Lowry’s journey into writing and publishing
- Becoming an author, and career changes in general, later in life and how it’s never too late to try something new
- Using life experiences as inspiration for writing
- Befriending the street children of Addis Ababa and taking them for road trips in her car on Saturdays
- Haile Selassie’s pet Lion
- Living in places where cataclysmic things are happening & how that influences the creative process
- Dodging bullets in Lebanon and getting a seat on the last plane out at the civil war kicked off
- How our childhood reading stays with us for life & meeting her hero Geoffrey Trease.
- Letting the characters come to life and dictate how you write the story
- Elizabeth also left us with some wonderful life advice
- Read: Everything you can get your hands on
- Listen: To everything and make notes. The best writers listen to conversation in order to learn how to write dialogue
- Write: Everyday. Keep a journal
- Live: Do things, take risks, don’t be afraid to really live
Links to things we discussed:
- Elizabeth’s first novel Red Sky in the Morning
- Elizabeth Laird – The Garbage King
- Roald Dahl – Boy & Going Solo
- Home TV Series
- Geoffrey Trease – No Boats on Bannermere
- C.S. Lewis – The Silver Chair
- Find our more about Elizbeth here – www.elizabethlaird.co.uk
Music by CM Lowry
Editing by Dave Emmerson
