The wonderful Elise Valmorbida joins me this week to talk all about her new book The Happy Writing Book and the positive power of creative writing for our mental wellbeing.

We chat Lord of the Rings, Flaubert, Shakespeare, philosophy and more in this fun and informative episode that winds its way through the worlds of creative writing.

Show notes

Elise’s website
The Happy Writing Book by Elise Valmorbida

Things mentioned in the episode:
Virginia Woolf
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Why I Write by George Orwell
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
The Madonna of the Mountains by Elise Valmorbida
The Happy Writing Book by Elise Valmorbida
Discourses of Epictetus by Epictetus
Epicurus
Joan Didion
The TV President by Elise Valmorbida
Shakespeare
Samuel Becket
TS Elliot
Toni Morrison
Michael Ondaatje
The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton
How to Change the World by John-Paul Flintoff

We welcome Gyles back to the Shelf Healing podcast, this time to talk all about his new Memoir Odd Boy Out and how he found writing memoir. We talk about how he chose what to write in his memoir, and how different it is to writing any other type of book, especially for someone who has written prolifically and many biographies.

Gyles also talks about the relationships between sons and fathers, why diary writing is important, and how he’s crammed as much wisdom and gossip as possible in his new book!

Also a big shoutout to libraries!

Show notes

Find Gyles on Twitter
Find Gyles’ new book Odd Boy Out here