Joanna Nadin

My guest this week is Dr Joanna Nadin. Starting out as a journalist, she soon entered the world of politics, working in Downing Street helping craft Blair’s speeches. She then turned to novel writing and has since become a hugely prolific, multi-award-winning author. Predominantly writing books for children and young adults, she's been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Prize, the Carnegie Medal, and the Queen of Teen award along with winning many more. One of her novels, Joe All Alone, was recently adapted for the screen by the BBC and has subsequently won a BAFTA and been nominated for an Emmy. On campus at Bath Spa University, where she also works as a lecturer in Creative Writing, our conversation covered how writing a speech is like writing a novel, how you turn dry subject matter into a compelling narrative, what Roald Dahl was like to meet in person, the other side of spin, and how good rhetoric can alter neurological chemistry.