4.7 Benjamin Myers: Writing with the Land
Welcome to Series 4, episode 7 of Prompted by Nature.
This week I have the privilege of releasing my conversation with writer Benjamin Myers. Ben Myers is a writer and journalist from Durham in the north of England. I’ll let him introduce himself but his writing awards and accolades are intimidating - though well-deserved! - and his novel Gallow’s Pole is about to be released as a TV series directed by Shane Meadows.
We talked a lot about the novel The Perfect Golden Circle as well as Ben’s relationship with the land and I loved hearing about the ways in which he finds inspiration. I really urge you to get hold of a copy of the book, via the library, your local bookshop or via bookshop.org and then post a glowing review of it on Amazon. Time flew when I read the book and I think you’ll really love it. I’ve also started reading Under the Rock, which is a non-fiction piece and is just beautiful so I highly recommend having a look at that too!
We discussed:
His literary background
The experience of having a book turned into a TV series
The process of ‘letting go’ as a writer
How the idea for Perfect Golden Circle came about
Art as an egotistical practice
Crop circles as land art
Landscape as character
Land art and death of the author
Whether the novel could have been written now
His hope for the future
What he’s learnt
I am a bit gutted I didn’t ask him more about his own journey as a writer of a variety of genres but perhaps I’ll get to interview him again one day and ask him all the questions I didn’t get around to!
Before the conversation he told me that he’d listened to a couple of the other conversations on the podcast so I thought I’d recommend them as they both tie in nicely with this episode. They were my interview writer Nick Hayes, episode 2.5a and my interview with land artist Rosalind Lowry, episode 3.7a and I also thought I’d link to another artist episode, which was 3.6a with Jamie Redway, who is an illustrator of the natural world and we have conversations around mindfulness and being out in nature as a creative practice.
You can find Ben on Twitter @benmyers1 and on instagram @benmyers76 and over on his website www.benmyers.com
As always, I’m on Instagram @prompted.by.nature and now on Twitter (let’s see how it goes!) @promptedxnature and on my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can find all the link to all the things!
Remember to listen in to the writing prompt that follows this episode!
Happy listening and I’ll speak to you soon,
Helen x
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In this writing prompt, I read a short extract of Ben's latest novel, The Perfect Golden Circle (pg 28) to get our creative juices flowing. This prompt is all about seeing and feeling the heartbeat of the landscape around you - whether that's hills and mountains, the sea, or even a concrete jungle. Nature is everywhere, sometimes we just need to look a little harder to find it.
A few idea to get you started:
Choose one aspect of nature, find something seemingly unrelated and connect them - perhaps, as in the extract 'the outlying hills are charcoal smears,' as if blended by an artist's hand; perhaps the crest of that wave reminds you of the candy floss you ate at the fair when you were five. Maybe the bees don't buzz but hum a song to which only they know the tune. Find the pulse in what's around you and think about how this particulate landscape can play a part in your creative work, a part that is wise, joyful, or even mischievous.
Let me know how you get on if you use this one and enjoy!
Happy creating!
Helen x
