Catch Up with Author and Journalist Jennifer Bray
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What is Jennifer Bray's background in journalism?
Hello, my friend, and welcome to Catch Up with Louise McSharry. This is the podcast where I try and keep you caught up with what's going on in the world, whether it's news on a Monday, entertainment on a Wednesday, or indeed a chat with someone interesting who has something interesting going on on a Friday. And this week's guest is Jennifer Bray. Jennifer Bray is the political editor at the Sunday Times. She has had an 18-year career in journalism, which has included work in the Irish Times, the Times, the Sunday Tribune, and the Irish Daily Mail. I've been very familiar with her work as a political writer for a long time, and we've met socially a couple of times, but I didn't know Jen well at all.
But I really enjoyed reading her debut novel, The Lies Between Us, which is out this week. And I kind of wanted to know more about her. And I have to say, I so enjoyed this conversation. And Sometimes you just sometimes the conversation is just easy. And that's how it was. And I think you'll hear that Jen is really brave and discussing some kind of personal experiences, which ended up feeding into her novel. And we discuss struggles with confidence. We talk about big sibling age gaps.
How does Jennifer Bray describe her experience with her debut novel?
And then we also talk about how sometimes you think you can maybe just push your way past a traumatic experience, but it will often come back to haunt you later. frequently when you least expect it. I know you're going to love this chat. Even if you've never heard of Jen before, even if you're not a reader, I just know that you'll enjoy this. It's Jennifer Bray. Jen Bray, it is so nice to have you here in my home and especially in this capacity because I've been familiar with your work for many years, obviously as a political journalist. But you're not here to talk about political journalism, although I will ask you a little bit about it. You are here to talk about your novel, The Lies Between Us, which is out now.
I think as this goes out, it'll be out in the world. And how does that feel?
Crazy. Yeah, it feels crazy because like there's such a long lead in to publication that.
actually sometimes it starts to feel like it's never going to happen yeah it feels like this thing that's just in the future yeah and everything else comes before it and then all of a sudden you're in launch week and it's you keep pinching yourself going oh it's happening yeah like you really need to get your shit together yeah and then I find or my experience I've only had one book but it then it goes by so quickly and then all of a sudden you're like wait what I spent so long writing that and like you know developing it and editing it and all the rest and then it kind of sometimes it feels like it goes in a flash
kind of like a wedding like that isn't it like you spend so long preparing for it and you're like overthinking every last detail and on the day like all the stuff you overthink probably just doesn't matter and then the day after you're like oh yeah it's done yeah exactly yeah so I'm trying to like any glimmers of joy or like
like emails with good news to like grab it and be like this is amazing rather than being like oh how cool yeah I'm trying to like maximize every last drop of fun out of this thing that sounds like a really good approach I think that's definitely the best way to go about it um I have a hundred million questions okay we'll not get to all of them but um the first thing I wanted to ask you obviously you are an interviewer often so how does it feel to be an interviewee oh man it is so weird like it I I
What personal experiences influenced Jennifer Bray's writing?
It feels like sandpaper grading or something because when someone asks me a question, my automatic reaction is, no, no, no, don't be so silly. I'm going to ask you a question now. And I found myself automatically doing that in interviews. If someone says, where did you grow up? I say, here is where I grew up. And what about you? And they're like, no, that's not about me. That's not the vibe. No, and it is strange. It's really, really odd. But it's lovely as well in some ways because...
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is Jennifer Bray's background in journalism?
0:22–1:28
2
How does Jennifer Bray describe her experience with her debut novel?
1:28–3:30
3
What personal experiences influenced Jennifer Bray's writing?
3:30–4:32
4
How does Jennifer Bray cope with anxiety surrounding her book launch?
4:32–5:55
5
What role does family play in Jennifer Bray's novel?
5:55–7:41
6
What themes of sisterhood are explored in 'The Lies Between Us'?
7:41–8:29
7
How does Jennifer Bray's real-life experience shape her characters?
8:29–8:58
8
What exciting developments are coming for Jennifer Bray's novel?
8:58–45:05
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Catch Up with Louise McSharry
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