S17, Ep6 Diana Evans: the bestselling author on writing routines, dealing with her inner critic and living life to the fullest

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

TW: SuicideDiana Evans is the award-winning, bestselling author of A House for Alice, Ordinary People, The Wonder and 26a. Her third novel, Ordinary People, was one of my favourites of the year when it was published in 2018 - and it was shortlisted for the Women's Prize. Now, she's written a critically acclaimed follow-up, A House for Alice, set against the backdrop of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Diana joins me to discuss how she writes (and manages failure in her writing), the curse of perfectionism, the importance of tackling social justice in fiction and her abject inability to complete her list of '10 Things To Do Before I'm 50' in time. She also talks movingly about the death of her twin sister by suicide and how this forever shapes the life she now lives.Thank you Diana, for opening up to me and for the magical words you put on the page.--A House for Alice by Diana Evans is out now.--How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com--Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayHow To Fail @howtofailpodDiana Evans @dianaevansop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Channel 4 is the home of your next TV obsession.
0:04.6	As the UK's biggest free streaming service, they have it all, they really do, you know,
0:09.6	from classic comedy box sets to shocking reality, gripping drama and mind-bending documentaries.
0:16.9	They make content that's different from the rest, and which represents a broad cross-section of society.
0:23.1	Channel 4 is the home of unfiltered entertainment.
0:26.5	It's altogether different telly made for you.
0:30.3	And happily, for me, there's so much I always want to watch on Channel 4,
0:35.6	whether it be a bit of Made in Chelsea or the entire box set of Derry Girls,
0:40.4	which is one of my favourite programmes of all time.
0:42.8	Regular listeners will know that I grew up in Derry, and it totally reflects my experience,
0:47.5	albeit through an utterly hilarious lens.
0:50.0	And there's also a three-part series that I can't wait to feast my eyes on,
0:54.1	called Dep vs. Heard.
0:56.4	It unpicks the court case that so many of us watched online and saw being absolutely everywhere
1:04.2	in various comment sections, the trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
1:08.8	So this is the first place that collates all of that material in one simple format.
1:14.7	It allows you to see the story from all sides, a three-part series, Dep vs. Heard.
1:19.3	Can't wait to watch it.
1:20.7	And I highly recommend that you do too.
1:23.9	Stream now on Channel 4.
1:28.8	This episode is brought to you by Fever Tree.
1:32.4	Now regular listeners will know that I am passionate about a perfectly made margarita.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sony Music, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Sony Music and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.