Solid Gold Podcasts #BeHeard The Hidden Lives of Writers

S05 E10 John Boyne

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John Boyne is the internationally bestselling author of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS as well as 18 books for adults. This includes the ELEMENTS quartet, the final novella of which - FIRE - has recently been released.

John joins Fiona Snyckers and Gail Schimmel to talk about how he will never stop being grateful for having such a huge, breakout novel so early in his career, and why he likes to end each day knowing he has made some progress on his current book.

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Chapters
  • 00:01 Introduction and Festival Atmosphere
  • 02:01 Laptops and Writing Habits at the Festival
  • 03:12 Recommendations: TV Series and Books
  • 06:27 Introduction of John Boyne
  • 07:10 John Boyne's Writing Week
  • 08:06 Daily Writing Process
  • 09:38 Evolution of Writing Process
  • 12:04 Early Writing Days and Career
  • 14:16 Reception of Early Books and Breakthrough
  • 16:12 Branding and Genre Flexibility
  • 18:57 Success of The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas
  • 21:25 Criticisms and Defence of The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas
  • 25:31 Writing After a Massive Success
  • 26:57 Form of Ideas: Adult vs. Young Adult
  • 28:21 Relationship with Social Media
  • 30:32 Praise for The Echo Chamber
  • 32:47 Trust from Publishers and the Element Series
  • 35:50 Process of Writing the Element Series
  • 39:39 Responsibility and Darkness in Writing
  • 42:42 Mental Health and Writing Difficult Material
  • 43:53 Writing Style: Storytelling vs. Beautiful Sentences
  • 45:33 Radical Empathy and Writing about Abuse
  • 48:39 Fictional Islands
  • 49:56 Writing Advice
  • 51:06 Impressions of South Africa
  • 52:09 Recent Reading and Viewing
  • 54:25 Reflections
26 May 2025 English South Africa Books · Arts

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