{"podcast":{"title":"The Writing Life","slug":"the-writing-life-1076872","podcast_index_feed_id":1076872,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/writerscentre/feed.xml","website_url":"https://writerscentre.podbean.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/9244115/The_Writing_Life_icon_2023_yrya4h.png","author":"National Centre for Writing","episode_count":200,"summary":"We're a weekly podcast for anyone who writes. We talk to writers about their writing journeys and techniques, from early career debuts to self-publishers and narrative designers. We've featured Margaret Atwood, Jackie Kay, Sara Collins, Antti Tuomainen, Val McDermid, Sarah Perry, Elif Shafak and many more! The Writing Life is produced by the National Centre for Writing at Dragon Hall in Norwich.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-writing-life-1076872"},"episode":{"title":"Wonder and Loss: Writing Grief and Memoir with Sam Meekings","slug":"wonder-and-loss-writing-grief-and-memoir-with-sam-meekings","published_at":"2026-03-09T05:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-writing-life-1076872/wonder-and-loss-writing-grief-and-memoir-with-sam-meekings","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-writing-life-1076872","url":"https://writerscentre.podbean.com/e/wonder-and-loss-writing-grief-and-memoir-with-sam-meekings/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/9vcxf3atczvshur3/Sam_Meekings_Steph_Pod_Edited_Mixed_Mastered_8xte8.mp3","summary":"In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, novelist, poet and Associate Professor of Creative Writing Sam Meekings shares the process behind writing his latest book, Wonder and Loss: A Practical Memoir for Writing about Grief, which interweaves memoir and his personal journey through grief with practical guidance and insight on how to write about it. Sam Meekings is a British novelist and poet. He is the author of Under Fishbone Clouds (called 'a poetic evocation of the country and its people' by the New York Times) and The Afterlives of Doctor Gachet. He currently works as an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Northwestern University in Qatar, and has spent the last few years living and working in China and the Middle East. He balances his time between teaching, research, raising two kids as a single father, and drinking copious cups of tea. Sam sat down with Steph for a candid and insightful discussion about writing as therapy, the importance of intention and of setting boundaries, the role of vulnerability, and of embracing the unknown when undertaking a writing project which draws upon lived, painful experiences. There is also lots of room for wonder, magic and play!","meta_description":"In this episode of The Writing Life Podcast, novelist, poet and Associate Professor of Creative Writing Sam Meekings shares the process behind writing his…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3862,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-writing-life-1076872/episodes/wonder-and-loss-writing-grief-and-memoir-with-sam-meekings/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-writing-life-1076872/wonder-and-loss-writing-grief-and-memoir-with-sam-meekings.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}