Marian Keyes on writing

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The writer Marian Keyes was cast away by Kirsty Young in 2017.

It’s thirty years since she published her first novel, Watermelon. Her books have sold in their millions, and many of her bestsellers have been adapted for the screen.

She spoke to Kirsty about how she feels when she’s finished writing a book.

You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:06.1	Can I just say?
0:07.6	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.
0:10.0	It's such a wonderful listen.
0:11.7	So nice.
0:12.5	There are loads more like it on BBC Sounds.
0:14.8	Different paces, different heights, the roof is buckling.
0:17.9	Where you can also listen to live sports commentary.
0:20.2	It's right foot goes for goal.
0:21.6	Oh!
0:22.7	And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories.
0:27.7	The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession.
0:31.2	And she's had to live with that.
0:32.8	So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion.
0:35.8	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:37.8	Sort of expecting that every week now.
0:58.5	Hello, I'm Laura Leverne and and this is Desert Island Discs Postcards,
1:04.1	where we share a selection of some of our favourite moments from some of our most memorable castaways.
1:09.0	It's 30 years since the writer Marion Keys published her first novel, Watermelon.
1:16.1	Here she is talking to Kirsty Young in 2017 about how she feels when she's just finished writing a book.
1:23.8	I always think I am spent, I am used up, I feel like it's nuclear winter. I have to kind of go off and live my life a bit.
1:28.9	And eventually it's like the daffodils in the spring, like pushing through the frozen ground. Like it eventually comes back, but it takes a while. What is the sensation that is so
	...

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