Making Trouble with Molly Naylor

It's Benedict Lombe (Shifters! Lava!) day!
Bene is an award-winning Congolese British playwright and screenwriter. Her work includes the hit play Shifters, which transferred to the West End in Summer 2024, marking a ground-breaking moment as Benedict Lombe became the third Black British female playwright to have a play staged in the West End. Shifters went on to have another sell-out run at the Duke of York’s Theatre, earning two Olivier Award nominations in 2025, including an Olivier nomination for Best New Play - making Benedict Lombe the first Black British woman to be nominated in this category.
Join Bene and Molly for a chat about isolation. How we balance the time we need to spend alone as makers with no going stir-crazy or alienating ourselves from community. We talk about how to bounce back from rejection, the impact of getting to be in the room where it happens, white chocolate and much more.
Molly also reveals her biggest kink.

PLEASE RATE THIS PODCAST ON YOUR PODCAST APP, IT MAKES SO MUCH DIFFERENCE IN THIS OVERSATURATED, UNDERPAID FIELD! THANK YOU!

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Lizzy Stewart! Illustrator and writer! Molly's past collaborator!
Maybe you've seen her pictures in there's a Tiger in the Garden, or Lights, Planets, People!
Or perhaps you've read her book Alison? Her new book, The Wreck, is out NOW. It's a glorious genre-defying illustrated novel about the messy tangle of love, envy and desire that underpins our most precious relationships, and the difficult paths we must take to discover our true selves.
Join Lizzy and Molly for a chat about STRUCTURE. Mainly as it refers to the notion of building a fulfilling, successful, functioning life as a maker, but we also touch on structure and planning in relation to specific projects.
Learn about the magical joys of something called WEEKEND CLUB. Learn why Lizzy and Molly are terrified of group trips.
Is living a creative life just about running full pelt up hills, or can they learn to ride the worms? All this and more.

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It's Jessie Burton! is the multi-million best-selling author of four novels: The Miniaturist, The Muse, The Confession and The House of Fortune – all instant Sunday Times bestsellers. Her novels have been published in 40 languages.
The Miniaturist was adapted as a BBC One miniseries, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Romola Garai.
Join us for a chat about PERFECTIONISM. Where it comes from, what it feels like, how it helps and hinders our process and our lives. We also chat about ageing, mortality, Sylvanian Families and how writers are master manipulators (in a good way?).
The book Jessie recommended was The Maps We Carry by Rose Cartwright.
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Today we welcome the scriptwriter, comedian and journalist Athena Kugblenu for a chat about getting older. Which is good, because Molly needed to hear all this. We also talk about procrastination, what you get out of having a day job, industry rudeness and where Athena gets her ideas from.

You can buy Athena's latest children's history book History's Most Epic Fails here!

The book she recommended was Heiresses by Miranda Kauffman.
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This week I'm delighted to welcome Tim Clare, writer of fiction and non-fiction, for a chat about focus. We talk about planning, fractured focus & intense focus, confidence, editing and the theory that attention is the purest form of compassion.
Tim opens up about the specific pleasures and pitfalls of deep focus for neurodivergent people. We talk about experimental French literature group The Oulipo, we disappear up our own bumbles but we do come out again.
Tim's latest book is The Game Changers is published by Cannongate.
He also wrote Coward, in which he explores all possible cures for anxiety.
Check out his podcast Death of a 1000 Cuts, it's an amazing resource for writers!
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