大象传媒

Why did you respond to the brief in the way you did? What inspired you?

I've recently听been writing a lot of working class fiction - a novel, short听stories - so have been locked into听reflecting a听working class way of life for some time, more specifically, in听exploring听my听working class roots in Stoke-on-Trent and the impact of family and friends and their storytelling ways听upon my fiction.听So when asked to write a monologue for Radio 4, I immediately heard the voice of a working class matriarch who kept company听by feeding the street whilst her private life was in disarray: the idea being that there is a public persona seeking some sort of status in the community听as part of her veiling of听a personal grief.听

It was not a character based upon anyone I knew. Rather, Mrs Johnson was a resurrection of a character in a novel I wrote for my PhD back in 2010 and she'd been bugging me for a while to get back on a page. She was garrulous and full of scruffy wisdom, politically minded but a voice silenced by industrial decline, and I've long been writing about women like this - those that scramble about the edges for the titbits,听relatively听unnoticed but no less听full of life -听wanting to reflect their generosity of spirit and their desire to matter and go on mattering.

How, if at all, did you research your story?

I've been writing working class fiction for the past five years so have been doing a lot of research - academically, historically, socially - with a particular focus on the Potteries where I grew up: not because of nostalgia, but because Stoke intrigues me as a writer. It has such a history,听a wealth of characters and stories, and no-one听since Arnold Bennett has any writer really given it a voice.

听

What personal experience have you or people you know had of the recession?

What's the phrase? Professional poverty? Aren't we all living on the never-never someway or another? I think I'm more aware of how the cuts have created personal recessions, be it because of pensions, social housing reforms,听redundancy, zero-hours contracts,听hiked up听household bills &听university fees ... Peter robs Paul听to pay Peter听and the money has to come from somewhere... Though I do know people who have had their homes repossessed, had experience with bailiffs, been rehoused in a place run on meters, have gone to a food bank with a cap over their eyes.

听

Who are your favourite historical writers on this theme? Do you think it gets enough attention from contemporary writers?

I am a big fan of Alan Bennett, of Alan Sillitoe, of Nell Dunn, and have long attempted to channel their voices by updating their characters in contemporary situations. For me, they were writers writing about the state by focusing upon single households and the family dynamics within that household, of the wider politics affecting that household, of their class expectations听and听failed ambitions. Do we write enough about that now? I am certainly. Getting it out there is another thing entirely!

听

Are claimants of benefits are unfairly stereotyped?

I don't think certain newspapers help. A good proportion of benefit claimants are ashamed to be doing so.

听

What, if any, place should food banks have in society?

There have always been food banks. The church, charities, social services, soup kitchens... like everything on the margins of society, until it affects you directly you're not really aware of them or听how much they actually help people.

听

In some areas of the country economic decline has been the reality for generations. How does a person in a depressed area like Stoke relate to the global recession?

I wouldn't call Stoke depressed. I'd call it hanging in there and dusting itself down. It's just been a city that hasn't had the cash injections that the likes of听Manchester and Liverpool have enjoyed.听