Xanthi Barker, author of 'Will This House Last Forever' - Memoir writer talks about poetry, art as a world view, and her father, Sebastian.
Writer's Routine
Dan Simpson
4.9 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2021
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Xanthi Barker has published novelettes and short stories, penned columns and articles, and has just released her debut book, 'Will This House Last Forever'.
It's a memoir of her time with her dying father, the poet Sebastian Barker. She is also the granddaughter of George Barker and the cult novelist, Elizabeth Smart. We discuss whether because of her highly and successfully creative family, she was destined to be a writer.
Her relationship with her father was troubled, and we talk about whether his view of the world passed down to her. Also, you can hear how she planned such a personal book, how her writing routine has changed dramatically in the last year, and why her flatmate is a hero.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome along, it's writers' routine. |
| 0:10.6 | This week, joined by Zanthi Barker. |
| 0:12.7 | She's been in magazines, won short story prizes, published novelettes, and her debut novel is out right now. |
| 0:18.9 | It's called Will This House Last Forever? |
| 0:26.6 | It's a memoir, all about her dad, the poet Sebastian Barker, dying. And we chat about how she expanded on that initial idea for what she wanted it to be. |
| 0:32.6 | Also, why for her being a writer is a way of existing almost rather than a practice and a craft. |
| 0:40.1 | And we also talk about how her dad's view of the world and words and how they entwine, how that |
| 0:46.8 | affected her own. |
| 0:47.7 | I suppose it seems like it's something about seeing kind of meaning in things and seeing everything as kind of metaphorical, |
| 0:55.8 | like seeing how symbols are objects in the world as well as objects being symbols. |
| 1:01.6 | So there's a kind of communication through objects and things and peoples and language, |
| 1:09.0 | which is you can be aware of what be open to or be receptive |
| 1:14.6 | to. |
| 1:16.3 | And I suppose, yeah, being receptive to things in a way without falling back on cliches. |
| 1:21.0 | Stick around. |
| 1:21.7 | It's a brand new episode of writer's routine. |
| 1:31.1 | Yes. routine. Yes, welcome along. |
| 1:32.9 | It's writer's routine. |
| 1:33.8 | My name's Dan Simpson. |
| 1:34.8 | This is where we take a look inside an author's working day to see how they take the idea, run it through their pen, through their fingertips and get it down on the page. |
| 1:45.0 | This week, we're with Zanthe Barker, who comes from high writing stock. She's the granddaughter of the poet George Barker |
| 1:52.0 | and Elizabeth Smart, who wrote, by Grand Central Station, I sat down and wept, which is inspired, |
... |
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