Catherine Banner's Blog

Good afternoon from Torino!

It's been such a long time since I posted regularly on this blog, and I know quite a few readers are still following here for updates. Many of you have also been emailing me during this strange pandemic year, and it's such a joy and inspiration to read your words, so I just wanted to send you a heartfelt thank you for your huge support of me and my work, and to post a quick update here. The good news from my writing studio is that the new book is progressing well, and ...

Good morning from Turin! Today I wanted to write what I realise is a long overdue update. Quite a few readers have got in touch with me over the past few months to ask me about the progress of The Lit and Unlit World. Although I wrote back individually to those readers at the time, I also wanted to write a more general post with a few more details. I’m very grateful for your kind words, your messages, your encouragement, and above all your patience – and I’m sorry that I haven’t yet been able to...

On Friday I was invited to take part in a Facebook Live discussion for the excellent writing.ie, with Vanessa Fox O'Loughlin (a formidable champion of writers and a bestselling author in her own right) and Simon Trewin (my agent and dear friend, who is the one asking the questions). Each Friday lunchtime Vanessa and Simon invite a different writer to discuss elements of their craft and writing process with their community of listeners. Topics covered this time included how to find your wa...

This month's update comes to you, once again, a few days late. Things have been quite disrupted here in Italy - more about that later. In the meantime, I wanted to let you know that I've been working hard on the final draft of The Lit and Unlit World. There are two things about this part of the writing process that I always appreciate. First, the return to the real world after months immersed in the world of the book; the final part of finishing a book always involves getting in touch...

We're a few days into the second month of 2020 already, and so I wanted to post an update about what I've been working on in January, and to wish you all a very belated Happy New Year. I hope it has been a peaceful and positive one so far. I am very grateful for the kind messages I've received in January telling me that you are looking forward toThe Lit and Unlit World.Don't worry - it is almost finished! This past month has been mostly spent at my desk; it's been a month of hard work...

Greetings from Turin, where I've been spending these dark winter days immersed in the final draft ofThe Lit and Unlit World. The first part of the book is done, and there are a couple more parts to redraft, so the first thing I will be doing in the early months of 2020, I hope, will be sending the book to my editors to see what they think of it. And in the meantime, I just wanted to take this chance to post a quick update, and to wish all my readers who celebrate a very peaceful start...

Greetings from my desk, where I am currently in the process of finishing the final draft of my new book. It's been a very long time since I posted any news, and I'm grateful to those readers who have been waiting so patiently to hear an update. But several of you have also been asking where I am and whether I'm ever coming back! Just to reassure you, I'm still here, and still writing. In fact, I plan to have the final draft of my next book done by the end of this year.

So why...

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a not-for-profit project which I've been working with in my spare time as a writing advisor. The aim of that project, VOICE, is to provide a platform for people working for change in their own countries to tell their own stories, in their own words. Over the past year we've collected fifteen stories from around the world, which are soon going to be published. The book is called A Definition of Snow, it's being published with Unbound, and the exciting news...

So as my regular readers know, I haven't got a new book of my own out in 2017. But to say that I haven't got any book coming out this year isn't strictly true. Today, I have some incredibly exciting news to share with you all. In my spare time, I've been working on a project called VOICE, which aims to share the stories of those working for change in their own countries, in their own words. That project has now become a book, which has just launched here at the wonderful crowd-funding pu...

It's here: the final day of my #yearinthelifeofawriter project. It’s been quite a year (actually quite a seventeen months, because I took a break in the middle to finish Book Two!). Thank you so very much to everyone who has been following over on Instagram. For those of you following here, I thought I would share my final photo... How best to sum up a writer’s year? What do all those days amount to? Well, I've gone back through my notebooks and tried to add it up for you...

First, all t...