Welcome to literary friction. I'm Carrie Platt here as always with my co-host Octavia Bright,

who has very kindly dragged herself from her sick bag to be with us today. I have. It's so boring. I've been in bed for days.

Bored out of my brains, but it's wonderful to see you. you yeah it's great to see you too and you don't

look sick at all I you look very well thank you beautiful I'm sorry to everyone listening if I

sound a little bit flemy and delightful just makes you more um sexy oh stop it anyway hi octavia um our theme today is one of my favorite literary My name. Anyway, hi, Octavia.

Hi, babe.

Our theme today is one of my favorite literary forms, the novella.

A book that you can read in a day or even one sitting.

The novella is somewhat feared in contemporary publishing.

I should know I work in it.

But some of the most enduring works of literature from death in Venice to Mrs. Dalloway to The Stranger can be included in this category.

Our theme as usual is inspired by our guest.

And the author we are interviewing today, I think, is a writer of very good, very short books.

Octavia, can you introduce him for us?

With pleasure, Cunnan Jones is the author of The Long Dry, Everything I Found

on the Beach, Blood, Bird, Snow and The Dig, which won the Wales Book of the Year Fiction

Prize and the Gerwood Uncovered Fiction Prize. His latest novel is Cove, an extract of which

recently won the 2017 BBC National Short Story Award. The Independent called him one of the most talented writers in Britain.

He's fabulous and he lives in Wales.

And we're really grateful that he came to see us.

Yes, thank you, Cunnan.

So we will be interviewing Cunnan on the show today.

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