I managed to sit down with Carys Bray recently to discuss her practice and craft. I have a confession, Carys and I have taught with each other for years, and we regularly talk about books and marking (hence she mentions in the interview about marking Creative Writing students).
However, Carys and I have never really sat down and discussed our practice and craft; we could have happily have done so for hours and shared writers, poets and films that we both admire but that wouldn’t have translated well to an audio interview. As part of my own practice development, and with an eye to my PhD, I am meeting with poets and writers, asking them or phrasing two very similar questions that may lead to a third depending on whether the subject really bites into the question: Why do you write? For those of you who have not read Carys Bray’s short fiction or the wonderful novel, A Song for Issy Bradley, I hope this interview convinces you to do so. Her debut novel is one of the most stunning novels of the last ten years, I don’t say this as a friend, colleague or a contemporary but as a lover of fiction. You can find her website here.
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Andrew Oldham's Boneyard 