Meet Insomnia writer and screenwriter Sarah Pinborough on Booky podcast

News & opportunities including early journalism career mentoring, a new way of submitting stories to local news brands, author Trisha Ashley scoops a coveted award and a lucky charity shop find.

My dear wordsmiths,

It’s rare to find an author who writes for screen just as well as they write novels. But Sarah Pinborough is that unicorn - and she’s a triple threat as she’s genuinely lovely as well. I was absolutely delighted to chat to her on the Booky podcast which is out now. It’s not our first conversation as I chatted to her on air via the BBC back in the day. But she is very much the woman as the moment as her TV adaptation of her novel Insomnia is hitting screens today (May 23) and starring the amazing Vicky McClure who also produces.

A Sunday Times number 1 bestselling and New York Times bestselling author, Sarah’s intense thriller Behind your eyes was a Netflix smash hit. Now her chilling psychological novel Insomnia has been adapted into a TV series for Paramount Plus. In the podcast she talks about her time on set and writing all six episodes - plus the difference writing for screen rather than the page.

And her time as a writer had not all been plain sailing. She tells Booky: “I went from going Oh My God my career is over - to a six figure deal in America.”

“No-one will die if you write a bad novel.”

Sarah Pinborough

And she has some sage advice for writers: “You have to keep going. No-one will die if you write a bad novel. Leave your ego at the door.”

In case you’ve missed it - in this series I’ve spoken to some of the most fabulous and friendliest writers I know including Danielle Owen-Jones, Dorothy Koomson, Katie Fforde, Brian Groom, Will Carver, Joanna Nadin and Milly Johnson. Not forgetting Sarah Pinborough!

Updates

I know you all like to know about the lambs - for the record they are still in their naughty phase and squeezing through the fence and nibbling anything in sight. The pheasants have gone off sulking as we no longer feed them (my husband saw a large rat eating from their bowl.) The moles are still focused on destroying the lawn and it’s not having positive impact on the aforementioned husband who has taken it personally. And ah yes, a UK General Election.

It’s not exactly a surprise but at the same time did they have to ruin summer? That is not wind outside, it’s the sound of a million sighing journalists cancelling early summer plans and risking household disharmony. Yes, we all like something to get our teeth into, but the reality is election content is not easy content - and also it’s not content that will set the world alight easily. That clicking noise is the sound of a thousand meetings being scheduled to brainstorm ideas that will engage rather than turn off our audience. News avoidance is a real thing these days and with so much everywhere the battle is on. Let’s hope politicians are listening to what people actually want and need because it’s not just journalists who struggle to get their attention.

I’m particularly fond of a video I spotted today of a journalists vox-popping about the election announcement. One passing elderly man shouted: “They’re all prats,” and hustled off. The voice of the people.

News, events & opportunities

Journalism

The John Schofield Trust early career and apprentice mentoring: This face-to-face mentoring scheme matches apprentice and early career journalists with experienced mentors from a different organisation to develop their professional skills. It offers access into the industry when it can be of most help – within the first five years of a news career. Applications for the 2025 scheme are now open.

Submit a story to your local National World news brand: National World’s network of more than 100 local newspaper brands and websites (for example The Scotsman, Yorkshire Post and London World) has launched Your World - meaning you can submit your own story or press release directly for publication on the website and potentially in the local newspaper. Pictures and videos can be submitted alongside and stories will be published under your own byline. Great for journalism students, local groups and organisations plus PR companies AND AUTHORS. Just register and select your local website from the menu.

Books & writing

International Booker Prize winners announced: Jenny Erpenbeck has become the first German writer to win the International Booker Prize and won jointly with translator Michael Hofmanne. Their novel Kairos follows the destructive love affair between a 19-year-old student and a married man in his 50s who meet on a bus in East Berlin around 1986. Their relationship comes to embody the German Democratic Republic's "crushed idealism" and eventual "dissolution of a whole political system". They will split the £50,000 prize.

Beer festival doubles up as book festival (via Derby World): If you’ve never been to a book and beer festival, 2024 is the year to smash this goal when you can visit The Pharmacie Arms from August 5 August 18. Camra approved.

Romantic Novelist Association (RNA) awards: Write Reject Repeat alum Trisha Ashley is the winner of the Popular Romantic Fiction Category at the RNA’s 2024 annual awards for The Wedding Dress Repair Shop. The awards, which have been held since their inception in 1960, are highly respected in the UK publishing industry. Jean Fullerton, the RNA Chair, commented, “Once again the winners in our prestigious Romantic Novel of the Year Awards are an outstanding example of the much loved romantic genre.”

Rare book snapped up for a four figure sum (via The News, Portsmouth): An extremely rare lead-lined naval signal book from the First World War has been snapped up by The National Museum for the Royal Navy in Portsmouth for an undisclosed four figure sum. Simon Berry, the manager of the Bath Oxfam bookshop, realised he had found something ‘quite obscure’ when he came across the book and he said that ‘it felt like you were holding a piece of history in your hands.’ The General Signals Book, which is filled with confidential signals, was found with a box of donations at the back of the shop.

Thanks so much for reading! Please spread the word, share and subscribe if not already. It means the world. Have a great week, N