Liam Bishop curating the best writers to help you with your writing
Episodes
Thursday May 14, 2026
Thursday May 14, 2026
Amber Medland is here to tell us about what it’s like to be in an anthology with George Saunders, overcoming writers block, and telling us whether it’s magic or mechanics that makes a story.
Amber has been collated in one of the most select short story anthologies likely to hit the shelves this year. Magic and Mechanics (Scratch Books) features some of the most talented short story writers short stories alongside interviews about those stories.
The anthology about the art and craft of the short story features writers such as George Saunders, Claire-Louise Bennett, Mark Haddon, Camilla Grudova, and Colin Barrett.
Amber tells me about her story, Mr Blythe Esq.
Amber’s debut novel, WILD PETS, was published by Faber and Faber, and her book of non-fiction, ATTENTION SEEKER:THE TRUTH ABOUT ADHD, her exploration of the history of ADHD, was published by Dialogue Books. She has an MFA from Columbia University.
Links to heighting your Rippling Pages Experience
Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick.
https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/
Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.
https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi
Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod
Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:
https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages
2.20 - what's it like being in the anthology with George Saunders
4.05 - is writing magic more mechanics?
6.10 - what is Amber's story about?
8.30 - the relationship between the two
10.00 - what is left out of a story?
12.50 - who is Mr Blythe?
14.15 - Power dynamics and musicality
17.30 - sentences on the ear
20.10 - taking creative writing MFAs
21.55 - writer's block
26.00 - Taking the weight from writing.
27.38 - Rippling Pages Bookshop
28.40 - what does it mean to have confidence as a writer.
33.00 - food in Amber's writing.
35.00 - Amber writing about ADHD
39.55 - writing about attentiveness
Referenc Points
Writers
Claire-Louise Bennett
Lucy Caldwell
George Saunders
Joy Williams
Films
Fantasia
Musicians
Harry Styles
Sunday May 03, 2026
Sunday May 03, 2026
Let’s dust off the archives and celebrate some of the guests we’ve had on the Rippling Pages.
This is a re-release of a previous episode with Polly Barton.
Over the years, we’ve been proud to feature emergent writers on the Rippling Pages and speak to them in the early stages of their careers.
One of those writers is Polly Barton, who’s just released her debut novel, WHAT AM I, A DEER? with Fitzcarraldo Editions.
I spoke to Polly five years ago about her Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize winning, FIFTY SOUNDS.
Polly is a writer and translator from Japanese. Translations include Butter by Asako Yuzuki, Hunchback by Saul Ichikawa, and Where the Where the Wild Ladies Are by Akko Matsuda. Her essay, Porn: An Oral History was also published by Fitzcarraldo Editons.
In our conversation, we picked out knotty debates about language, her time in Japan, and what it means to love and love in language
Enjoy!
If you fancy hearing another Fitzcarraldo essayist, why not buy tickets for my event with Alice Hattrick at Leeds Lit Fest:
https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/
Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.
https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi
Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod
Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:
https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages
Chapters
3.00 - What are the Fifty Sounds
5.40 - what is the philosophy behind the bok
10.00 - Wittgenstein
14.30 - Embarrasment, error and comedy
16.15 - Binaries
20.15 - Outsiders and immersion
21.45 - Language games
24.14 - Structuring the book
28.00 - Japan as a man
31.45 - Loving language and people
Reference Points
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Thursday Apr 30, 2026
Thursday Apr 30, 2026
Camille Bordas likes miniature objects.
It’s how they remind her of her childhood in Mexico and show off little details.
In fairness, it might once have been a lighter for Camille, but she still has them all.
This is bonus content on the Rippling Pages where we ask a writer to provide us with an object that has been with them during their writing process.
You’re also going to hear a snippet of the Patreon close-reads podcast for subscribers. If you like the sound of it, you can sign up for exclusive member benefits, including the full close read podcast for Patreon subscribers.
Do that here:
https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi
You’ll also hear a little more about Camille’s experience of writing in French and English.
Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod
Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:
https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages
Tickets for live in conversation with Alice Hattrick at Leeds Lit Fest:
https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/
Chapters
2.20 - Objects of influence; miniature objects
7.50 - Patreon preview
9.25 - Camille writing in French and English
Thursday Apr 16, 2026
Thursday Apr 16, 2026
Camille Bordas is one heck of an exciting literary talent, and she’s joining me on the Rippling Pages to discuss her story collection, ONE SUN ONLY (Serpent’s Tail).
What I loved about these stories is their wonderfully dry humour, empathetic narratives of flawed characters, and deeply woven observations, within the stories, about how fiction works.
Plaudits for Camille have come from George Saunders, Zadie Smith, and Percival Everett. She’s a regular contributor to the New Yorker.
Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience
Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.
https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi
Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod
Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:
https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages
1.30 - bad backs and teaching
4.00 - writing and talking about death
8.45 - creating character dynamics
11.10 - camille’s sociology background
12.45 - experimenting in stories and novels
15.10 - writing in French and English
17.40 - Rippling pages Patreon
19.55 - animation and jokes
22.15 - what animates a language
24.30 - writing dialogue
26.30 - misunderstanding ourselves
28.45 - illness and self growth
30.15 - plotting
33.30 - how sopranos helps with plotting
36.35 - recreating scenes from the sopranos
39.00 - acting and writing
Reference Points
Donald Barthelme
Delphine Horvilleur
Karl Ove Knausgård
Gwendoline Riley
Katharina Volckmer
TV
The Sopranos
Thursday Apr 02, 2026
Thursday Apr 02, 2026
It's Easter - and it's easter egg time.
In this bonus content, you're going to hear a lot about Easter Eggs, but not the chocolate kind. Instead, we’re talking those little secret insights to Lucy's work, both past, present and future.
This is bonus content and our objects of influence segment where we ask a writer to provide us with an object that has been with them during the writing of the book.
It's also a little Easter Egg from the Rippling Pages too. You're going to hear a snippet of the Patreon close-reads podcast for subscribers. If you like the sound of it, you can sign up for exclusive member benefits, including the full close read podcast exclusive to subscribers.
Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.
https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi
Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience:
Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod
Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:
https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages
Chapters
- Close Read Patreon Preview 1.45
- Objects of Influence - 3.55
Reference Points
Anton Chekhov
Hamlet
Taylor Swift
Thursday Mar 19, 2026
Thursday Mar 19, 2026
Oh wow! It was my pleasure to have a coffee with and speak to the writer Lucy Caldwell about her new short story collection, DEVOTIONS (published by Faber and Faber).
That's right, we were live and in person having a coffee talking about Lucy's new collection
I revelled in a theatre troupe performing a choose your own version of Hamlet; I had a wry smile watching Christopher Plummer ponder on whether he really did love Julie Andrews, and among the many other stories, continued to marvel at Lucy's capacity to meditate on death, existence, light and love.
Lucy is from Belfast. She lives in Kent, but we had our conversation in London.
Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience
Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.
https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi
Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod
Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how:
https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages
Chapters
2.00 - is 'master' the right word?
7.15 - Devotions forming a single whole
9.15 Lucy's relationship with her editor
12.50 - writing in real-time
16.50 - Choose your own adventure stories.
18.10 - Hamlet.
21.10 - Writing about love
26.05 - Devotions easter egg!
28.35 finding meaning in the here and the now.
32.20 - Patreon shoutouts!
33.50 - inspired by James Joyce
37.26 - writing great psychic movements.
42.00 - Special writing from Lucy.
46.45 - Finding meaning in the darkness
51.25 - Suffering as a portal.
Reference Points
Sebastian Barry
Elizabeth Bowen
Willa Cather
Anton Chekhov
Dante
Ram Dass
John Donne
T.S. Eliot
Anne Enright
Wendy Erskine
bell hooks
Kazuo Ishiguro
James Joyce
Claire Kilroy
Rosamond Lehman
Louis MacNeice
Alice Munro
Cardinal Newman
Edna O’Brien
Frank O’Hara
Rumi
Helen Simpson
John Updike
Sylvia Townsend Warner
Virginia Woolf
W.B. Yeats
Lucy’s Work
Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (edited by Lucy, Faber, 2021)
Multitudes (Faber, 2016)
Intimacies (Faber, 2021)
Leaves (Faber: 2007)
Where They Were Missed (Faber: 2005)
Plays
Hamlet
Music
Ludwig van Beethoven
Van Morrison
Taylor Swift
Films
The Sound of Music (1965: Robert Wise)