So, yesterday I was interviewed (live – eek!) by the lovely Lynn Freeman on National Radio about The Year of Falling and The Glass Rooster and here is a podcast link in case you’d like to listen to it.
So, yesterday I was interviewed (live – eek!) by the lovely Lynn Freeman on National Radio about The Year of Falling and The Glass Rooster and here is a podcast link in case you’d like to listen to it.
Janis Freegard's Weblog 
Eek indeed, and well done. Do you find any difference talking about your novel and talking about your poems? I’m wondering if ‘speaking meta’ is any easier when you are talking about a prose piece with a narrative plot – concurrent levels, rather than different levels flipping in and out as they can do with poems.
Interesting question, Mary, and apologies for the belated reply! I think that because ‘The Glass Rooster’ has a definite structure (8 sections with 4 pairs of poems + a triolet in each), I find it relatively easy to talk about in terms of structure and major themes. With the novel, I’m always conscious of trying not to give too much of the plot away to people who haven’t read it (while trying to say enough about it in the hopes that they might!) whereas with poetry, it’s generally fine to talk about the middle or end of the book or to describe a whole poem, without worrying about spoiling the reader’s experience.