Hay Essays - How To Write A Book

Editor and translator Daniel Hahn takes us on an entertaining journey round the art of translation. We discover that it's a rarefied experience to write a book that already exists, but also that writing other people's books makes you better at writing your own.

Daniel is the author of The Tower Menagerie and translator of Jos退 Eduardo Agualusa's The Book of Chameleons.

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the 2017 Hay Festival, five writers offer a personal guide to 'how to write a book'. Where do their ideas come from? Do they stick to a regular writing plan? Are there times when they just want to give up? Join them as they dispel some of the myths and share some of the secrets of getting to the final page.

The writers in the series include the new director of the Royal Institution and expert on ageing Sarah Harper, the international lawyer Philippe Sands, novelist Scarlett Thomas and historian Martin Johnes.

Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at Hay Festival, with Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and The Listening Service all broadcasting from the festival.

Daniel Hahn talks about translation and writing a book that has been written before.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

From the darkest chapters of European history to microcosmic relationships and personal discovery, professor of law at University College London Philippe Sands tells the story of writing a book which became not only a search for the human rights but a very personal human story too.

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the 2017 Hay Festival, five writers offer a personal guide to 'how to write a book'. Where do their ideas come from? Do they stick to a regular writing plan? Are there times when they just want to give up? Join them as they dispel some of the myths and share some of the secrets of getting to the final page.

The writers in the series include the new director of the Royal Institution and expert on ageing Sarah Harper, novelist Scarlett Thomas, translator Daniel Hahn and historian Martin Johnes.

Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 all broadcasting from the festival.

International lawyer and author Philippe Sands explains how he writes a book.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Sarah Harper is Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford and Co-Director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing and the newly appointed director of the Royal Institution, a post once held by Michael Faraday.

Here she shares her belief in the way in which science and discovery are integral to the development of written works and wrestles with the challenge of making complicated ideas accessible to the general reader.

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the 2017 Hay Festival, five writers offer a personal guide to 'how to write a book'. Where do their ideas come from? Do they stick to a regular writing plan? Are there times when they just want to give up? Join them as they dispel some of the myths and share some of the secrets of getting to the final page.

The writers in the series include the new director of the Royal Institution and expert on ageing Sarah Harper, the international lawyer Philippe Sands, novelist Scarlett Thomas, translator Daniel Hahn and historian Martin Johnes.

Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 all broadcasting from the festival.

Gerontologist and ageing expert Sarah Harper talks about the accessibility of academia.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Dr Martin Johnes is a historian of music, pop culture, personal politics and personal taste and has turned his pen to texts covering everything from this history of Wales to Christmas, football and baldness.

In his talk, the author of Wales Since 1939 sheds a light on the art of making statistics and figures worth reading and the rights and wrongs of historical perspective.

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the 2017 Hay Festival, five writers offer a personal guide to 'how to write a book'. Where do their ideas come from? Do they stick to a regular writing plan? Are there times when they just want to give up? Join them as they dispel some of the myths and share some of the secrets of getting to the final page.

The writers in the series include the new director of the Royal Institution and expert on ageing Sarah Harper, the international lawyer Philippe Sands, novelist Scarlett Thomas and translator Daniel Hahn.

Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 all broadcasting from the festival.

Dr Martin Johnes discusses the art of making statistics and figures worth reading.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Novelist Scarlett Thomas, argues that suffering is key to the process of writing a book - especially if you are dealing in the world of fiction.

The author, who also teaches Creative Writing at the University of Kent, notes that the process isn't it as simple as writing a few words, deleting a few words and sending it off to be published. Scarlett wishes it was - but sadly the art of suffering isn't on the agenda at your average creative writing course.

In this series of The Essay, recorded in front of an audience at the 2017 Hay Festival, five writers offer a personal guide to 'how to write a book'. Where do their ideas come from? Do they stick to a regular writing plan? Are there times when they just want to give up? Join them as they dispel some of the myths and share some of the secrets of getting to the final page.

The writers in the series include the new director of the Royal Institution and expert on ageing Sarah Harper, the international lawyer Philippe Sands, translator Daniel Hahn and historian Martin Johnes.

Part of Radio 3's week-long residency at the Hay Festival, with programmes CD Review, Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and World on 3 all broadcasting from the festival.

At 2017's Hay Festival, author Scarlett Thomas talks about how to write a book.

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.