Series 3, Episode 10: Carys Bray

The Lonely Arts Club

Carys Bray is an author from Southport, Merseyside and she really does have quite a story to share with us.

Carys’ story begins in Southport, where she still resides with her family. However, the life Carys leads now looks slightly different to when she was a child. We hear Carys’ memories of growing up as part of a strict Mormon family and how this became the inspiration for her first novel A Song for Issy Bradley. The novel was serialised on BBC Radio Four’s Book at Bedtime and was shortlisted for several awards including the Costa Book Awards and the Desmond Elliott Prize. It won the Utah Book Award and the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and was selected for the 2015 Richard and Judy Summer Book Club.

Carys’ debut collection Sweet Home won the Scott prize and selected stories were broadcast on BBC Radio Four Extra. Her second novel The Museum of Youwas published in 2016 and her third novel When the Lights Go Out was published in 2020.

We hear about Carys’ experience of going back to university as a mature student and how studying a Masters and PhD at Edge Hill gave her the confidence to become a writer herself.

Available to download from Tuesday 8 December, hear Carys’ unique tales of navigating challenges of the Mormon community, where her drive came from to be a writer and what’s next for this talented author.

This podcast is brought to you by the Institute for Creative Enterprise at Edge Hill University.
Making connections through culture.
The podcast is edited by Roz DiCaprio who is the producer alongside Karen Appleton and Carl Hunter.
Audio production is by Sam Auguste of Onomatopoeia Studios in Liverpool.
Music is by Joseph McDade.
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