4th Estate Books

Welcome to NEW VOICES, a three-part podcast series from 4th Estate Books and a happy offshoot from the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize. Each podcast will address a step in a writer's journey; from the writing process, to getting and agent, and getting published, and will be available on SoundCloud and iTunes on Thursdays. This second episode tackles the challenges and process of getting an agent with Emma Paterson(agent at Rogers, Coleridge & White) and shortlisted authors Avani Shah and Kit Fan. The audio collection of all six shortlisted author’s work, entitled ‘New Voices’ and read by the writers, will be available for free from Audible, iTunes, or wherever you get your audiobooks, from the day the winner is announced: 13th July.

Welcome to NEW VOICES, a three-part podcast series from 4th Estate Books and a happy offshoot from the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize. Each podcast will address a step in a writer's journey; from the writing process, to getting and agent, and getting published, and will be available on SoundCloud and iTunes on Thursdays. This first episode tackles the excitement, challenges, and daily process of being a writer, with the acclaimed novelist and short story writer, Niven Govinden, and shortlisted authors Arun Das and Jimi Famurewa. The audio collection of all six shortlisted author’s work, entitled ‘New Voices’ and read by the writers, will be available for free from Audible, iTunes, or wherever you get your audiobooks, from the day the winner is announced: 13th July.

In 4 Books, we ask an author to answer 4 questions on the books that made them — on those books that made a significant impact at distinct junctures of their lives. It might be the book that guided them through a break up, the one that they press urgently into a friends’ hand, the book that best articulates love, or the book that opened up the world in a startling new way. Reading has a unique power to universalise the most private of experiences, and the books we turn to can reveal more about ourselves than we think. In 4 Books, we use literature to glimpse the inner life of our authors. Our guest today is Lauren Collins, who began working at the New Yorker in 2003 and became a staff writer in 2008. Since 2010, she has been based in Europe, covering stories from London, Paris, Copenhagen, and beyond. Her funny and thoughtful memoir, 'When in French' considers how language shapes our lives, from how we think, to how we fall in love, and what happens when two languages, and two very different cultures, collide. Lauren is interviewed by Tara Al Azzawi.

In 4 Books, we ask an author to answer 4 questions on the books that made them — on those books that made a significant impact at distinct junctures of their lives. It might be the book that guided them through a break up, the one that they press urgently into a friends’ hand, the book that best articulates love, or the book that opened up the world in a startling new way. Reading has a unique power to universalise the most private of experiences, and the books we turn to can reveal more about ourselves than we think. In 4 Books, we use literature to glimpse the inner life of our authors. Our guest today is Elizabeth McKenzie, author of the Baileys shortlisted The Portable Veblen. Elizabeth is interviewed by Tara Al Azzawi.