In this episode of The Writing Life, NCW Emerging Translator Mentorships Programme Manager Annie speaks with author Polly Atkin about writing with a chronic illness.

Polly Atkin is a multi-award-winning writer, essayist and poet. She is the author of the poetry collections Basic Nest Architecture, which won a Northern Writers’ Award, and Much With Body, which was longlisted for the Laurel Prize, as well as Recovering Dorothy, the first biography to focus on Dorothy Wordsworth’s later life and illness.

In this episode, Polly and Annie discuss writing and navigating the publishing industry as a chronically ill person. The pair discuss Polly’s memoir Some of Us Just Fall, released in summer 2023, and explore how Polly imagined time as a chronically ill person, how to advocate for yourself as a disabled writer, and hopes for embedded accessibility in the future of the publishing industry.

They also look ahead to their exciting joint writing project on Dorothy Wordsworth and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, investigating their common identities and experiences.

Edited by Omni Mix

Image © Alex Muir Photography