Back in early 2021 – January 28th to be exact – I had the pleasure of appearing on my friend’s literary podcast, Yorick Radio Productions. We had a brilliant time chatting and discussing the work of James Hogg. The previous episode had featured a reading of Hogg’s story, Mary Burnet, in which a young woman is forced to contend with the advances of a man who she has no interest in. When she meets an untimely end, strange and alarming things start happening to the gentleman that pursued her.
Though this story is a classic Hogg masterpiece, of course we had to discuss my adaptation of Confessions of a Justified Sinner as well. We talked about how the novel ‘got into my literary bloodstream’ through my days at university and my (fitting) confession that I almost didn’t read it at all! Now I have read it more times than I have fingers, and the host, Rosie, quite accurately pointed out that the story ‘had been chasing [me]’ ever since that first fateful reading.
Further highly appropriate confessions were made on the show as Rosie admitted to having a soft spot for Dr Grieve (the Darcy-esque ‘grumpy Regency man’, who is ‘the Editor’ in my adaptation), and as I recalled my fateful Sir Walter Scott related faux pas on a visit to Edinburgh.
The whole experience of appearing on the podcast was brilliant fun, and I want to say a big thank you to Yorick for having me on the show. As we pointed out in the making of the episode, it’s always wonderful when two artists (of any medium) can collaborate – even across time in the case of myself and Hogg – and so collaborating with Yorick was a real treat. If you want to check out the episode or the podcast itself, you can do so by following the links below. Yorick also has an open submission window running from now until the end of April! If you’d like to appear on this brilliant podcast, you can send in your work via their website.