OurShelves: Taking ownership with Cathy Thomas

<p>How does writing about your life change the way you see it? Cathy Thomas talks to Lucy Scholes about her first book, <em>Islanders, </em>interlocking short stories set on her childhood home, Guernsey – the &nbsp;pleasure of joining the dots and how playwriting informed her structure. Discovering a shared love of Annie Ernaux’s essays, they dive deeply into whether difficult experiences – from publisher rejections to trauma – may be reframed through the power of writing.</p><br><p><strong>On the nightstand: </strong><em>We Were Young&nbsp;</em>by Niamh Campbell</p><p><strong>On my mind: </strong>Olivia Fitzsimons' recent essay,&nbsp;<a href="https://stingingfly.org/2022/05/04/notes-on-resilience/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Notes on Resilience</em></a>, for <em>The Stinging Fly</em></p><p><strong>On the shelf: </strong>Annie Ernaux's&nbsp;<em>A Girl's Story</em>. </p><p><strong>On the pedestal: </strong>playwright Caryl Churchill&nbsp;</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>