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In the Studio: Madeleine Thien: The first draft

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Madeleine Thien: The First Draft

03/03/2020 GMT

Madeleine Thien: The first draft

BBC World Service - In the Studio, Madeleine Thien: The first draft

Paul Kobrak follows the writer Madeleine Thien’s process as she works on her next novel

Rewrites, research and overcoming anxiety about its completion- the Canadian writer Madeleine Thien works on the first draft of her next novel, followed by Paul Kobrak.

The Canadian writer Madeleine Thien is working on her next novel, the follow-up to her prizewinning 2016 book Do Not Say We Have Nothing. But she’s finding that it’s difficult to find the internal peace and privacy to begin again, especially after having being catapulted into the public eye after the previous novel’s success.

As the narrative and characters shift and evolve in the author’s mind, there’s much painstaking research and many rewrites to be done. How can Madeleine blend the aspects of past and present which are pre-occupying her at the moment? And will she ever be satisfied enough with the novel to allow it to see the light of day?

Paul Kobrak follows her over several months as she creates different versions of the first draft of the new novel. It’s a process which moves from Berlin in Germany (and a coffee shop which is central to Madeleine’s writing process) to Brooklyn USA (where she teaches Creative Writing to University students) and finally to Portugal's capital city Lisbon, where she hopes to complete it.
 
Presented by Paul Kobrak

Produced by Emma Kingsley for the BBC World Service

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