Today on Ujima: Nene Ormes & Jon Courtenay Grimwood

The first half hour of today’s show was given over to an interview with Swedish fantasy writer, Nene Ormes, who is in the UK on vacation. I lured Nene over to Bristol and I’m delighted to say that she does great interviews. We discussed her books, and those of other Swedish writers (including Karin Tidbeck and Stieg Larsson). And we talked a lot about Sweden. There were also name checks for Lavie Tidhar and Charles A. Tan for being awesome.

I haven’t heard the second half hour yet. Nene and I were out in the Ujima offices talking to some kids on the National Citizenship Scheme. But it does feature Emily Williams, of who more later. You can find the whole hour here.

Hour two starts with a brief recorded interview that I did with Jonathan Grimwood (a.k.a. Jon Courtenay Grimwood) about his new book, The Last Banquet. The studio team then had a little chat about eating weird things. After 15 minutes we switch to me interviewing Emily Williams who is an amazing person. Her son, Eddie, was diagnosed with potentially life-threatening problems with his internal organs at age 6, and was given months to live. Thanks to Emily’s care, he’s just celebrated his 21st birthday and is living a very full life. Emily is the most positive person I’ve ever talked to. Take a listen and see.

I missed the last half hour as I had to get Nene and her husband back to Temple Meads. I, and you, can listen to the whole second hour here.