Being an "unsuccessful" writer doesn't bother me. I realise it's a hard job getting published. It's always been about doing the work and writing somethng that actually achieves what I set out to do.
Good writers have a paradox. For example, Bruce Chatwin's paradox was being a static travel writer. My paradox is that I'm a dilettante. I write poetry, ficiton and music. I write different things because I enjoy process, or is it that they're not that different, just versions of each other?
Part of my continued motivation for writing is to discover what kind of writer I am. I’ve never been any sort of specialist, either in my work or my art, and my wide-ranging interest in the world comes across, I hope, in my work. I’ve rarely written about the past, and one of my strengths has to be my deep engagement with the contemporary world. I’ve always considered everything I write to have a certain political or moral dimension, but one of things I like about fiction is that allows you to write about issues, without being polemical. If my work has an overwhelming theme, I think it would probably be “redemption”.
Biography
Adrian Slatcher was born in Walsall in 1967, studied English at Lancaster University, and has spent the last fifteen years living in Manchester after periods in York and London.
He has written poetry and fiction for many years, he also writes non-fiction, and works with music and digital formats. In 1999 he completed an M.A. in novel writing at Manchester University, and since then has continued to write subsequent novels, short stories and poetry. He currently advises arts organisations about digital development, and he has a longstanding blog on literary matters The Art of Fiction.
Publication history
Adrian has been published profusely online. His most recent publications are
Because the Beach Needs Sweeping, Poem, (The Rialto)
He's also had work published in City Life Manchester Stories, Reactions 3, Fire, PROP, Main Street Journal, Scarecrow, Other Poetry and others.
He was twice shortlisted for the Lichfield Prize in 1995 and 1999 for my novels “Lineage” and “In Search of Sally Johnson.” He most recent “long piece” of fiction is a novella “For the Want of a Gas Barbecue” which can be downloaded free
He established and co-edited the now-deceased Manchester-based poetry magazine Lamport Court for its first 6 issues. He has also been blogger in residence at New Writing Worlds in Norwich in 2008 and 2009.
Listen to Adrian read from Birds and Fish from Mostly Truthful
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