We'd Like A Word

02/12/2024

New episode of We’d Like A Word - recorded on location at the Chiltern Kills crime and thriller writing festival - featuring loads of very big author names - and starring TM Payne and Peter James in conversation with your hosts paul_waters_writer and Stevyn Colgan… listen wherever you get your podcasts, or here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/wed-like-a-word/id1458233596?i=1000678839611

30/10/2024

Happy Chhoti Diwali

02/10/2024

Khushkhabri! Hurrah - I have a new 2-book deal with Bedford Square Publishers for my Irish-Indian cosy crime crossover series set in the historic Chandni Chowk district of contemporary Delhi. Book One, Murder in Moonlit Square, coming your way in 2025. Cover image to follow - some pics of the setting in the meantime. Thanks to Broo Doherty at D H H Literary Agency Ltd and Carolyn Mays at Bedford Square. (Meanwhile - still some tickets left for the most intense singe day of crime and thrillers at Chiltern Kills Crime-Writing Festival in Gerrards Cross this Saturday, just 20 mins from London Marylebone, with all tickets via www.ChilternKills.com in aid of the Centrepoint charity combatting youth homelessness. And you could also enter the raffle to name and describe a character in the next Frederick Forsyth thriller - via galabid.com/ck24raffle - again all money raised will go to Centrepoint.)

24/09/2024

Ever wanted to see yourself as a character in a book? And not just any book, but the legendary Frederick Forsyth's next thriller? (Which, let's face it, is bound to become a movie.) Freddie is the patron of the Chiltern Kills Crime-Writing Festival and as part of our fundraising for the Centrepoint youth homelessness charity, he's offering you the chance of literary immortality.
You choose the name. You choose the description, and whether it's a goodie or a baddie. And Frederick Forsyth does the rest!!
Click the link below and buy as many raffle tickets as you like, £5 per ticket.
The winner will be picked electronically and announced online and live at on the evening of October 5th.
All tickets are sold in aid of Centrepointuk.
I'd call it the chance of a lifetime, but your character will likely live far longer than that.

06/09/2024

I’ve loved the Detective John Rebus books for a long time, so I’m very pleased we’re bringing Ian Rankin to the Chiltern Kills Crime-Writing Festival on 5th October in Gerrards Cross (just 20 mins from London Marylebone). He’ll be on stage with Phil Williams from BBC Radio 2 and the Bestsellers Podcast. All tickets via www.ChilternKills.com in aid of the Centrepoint charity combatting youth homelessness. There’ll be 60 other top authors there too. And we have a few meet-an-agent left too. It would be a crime to miss it.

GX CommAssoc Gerrards Cross Bookshop Chorleywood Bookshop Gerrards Cross Chalfont St Giles Parish Council Chalfont St. Peter & surrounding Village's Bucks Free Press Seer Green Village Tony Kent - Author Tony Kent Writes paul_waters_writer We'd Like A Word Little Blue Book House

26/08/2024

Look, don't blame me. It's in the papers, so I have to share it. No idea why the Bucks Free Press chose THAT picture (paul_waters_writer & Tony Kent - Author) instead of one with Louise Minchin....One and Only Jeffrey Archer Ian Rankin Peter James The Secret Barrister or Dempsey and Makepeace. But you should buy your ticket to in Gerrards Cross on Saturday 5th October, today - all in aid of the Centrepoint charity combatting youth homelessness. NB: I cannot promise that you'll meet Prince William even if he is the patron of Centrepoint and lives nearby. But I hear he's partial to a bit of singing - and we do end the night with our Murder A Song karaoke...

Best-selling authors and TV detectives will be converging on Gerrards Cross for the Chiltern Kills 2024 crime and thriller writing festival on…

24/08/2024

You know I dabble in a bit of festival organising... This year we're not doing badly on booking big names for the Chiltern Kills Crime-Writing Festival in Gerrards Cross (only 20 mins from London Marylebone) on Saturday 5th October. 60 authors on our Marple and Poirot stages, including Ian Rankin Jeffrey Archer Peter James Louise Minchin and The Secret Barrister - not to mention Dempsey and Makepeace, and many more. All tickets go to support Centrepoint combatting youth homelessness, and this year we have special Meet-An-Agent tickets so you can hone your book pitches and put your work-in-progress in front of an agent who is looking to add to their list. Tickets via www.ChilternKills.com We'd love to see you there - and you'll love Ian Rankin's Murder A Song karaoke performance...

22/07/2024

It’s here! Chiltern Kills Crime-Writing Festival 2024 is officially launched! Happening on Saturday 5th October in Gerrards Cross, only 20 mins from London Marylebone. All tickets via www.ChilternKills.com in aid of Centrepoint charity combatting youth homelessness. Featuring Ian Rankin, Jeffrey Archer, Peter James, Louise Minchin, Abir Mukherjee, Dempsey and Makepeace, the Secret Barrister, Harriet Tyce and many more. (You’ll also see me & Tony Kent Writes running around.) You should come. Last year was epic.

13/07/2024

Bienvenue baby! Celebrate Bastille Day at 6pm tomorrow (July 14th) at the Milton’s Cottage Pimms Party. And then watch England winning Euro 2024 afterwards. We’ll hear from Mirabeau, Chateaubriand, Voltaire, Lamartine and the Marseillaise. Tickets from here

The Friends of Milton's Cottage invite you to their annual Pimms party in the Garden of Milton's Cottage. Being the 14th July,...

03/07/2024

We have a new We’d Like A Word episode especially for listeners on JioSaavn in India. Contains hot news about the new IGF Archer-Amish Award for Literature. Bestselling authors Jeffrey Archer and Amish Tripathi tell co-hosts paul_waters_writer and Stevyn Colgan how to enter and what makes this $25,000 writing prize different. Of course you can hear We'd Like A Word on Spotify Apple Podcasts and the usual platforms, but on Jiosaavn it’s here https://www.saavn.com/s/show/wed-like-a-word/1/23.-igf-archer-amish-award-for-literature/cXmxVj3VdD8_?referrer=utm_medium=more&utm_source=more Thanks to the India Global Forum for launching this award.

21/06/2024

Good news! A new episode from the Jaipur Literature Festival at the British Library in London. paul_waters_writer & visiting co-host Jonathan Kennedy go behind the scenes with Mr India movie director Shekhar Kapur, Slumdog Millionaire author Vikas Swarup, JLF International organiser Sanjoy Roy of Teamwork Arts, Nazia Erum who wrote Mothering a Muslim, Irish crime fiction bestselling author Liz Nugent, & Bollywood experts Dr Sunny Singh & Yasser Usman. Lots of insight. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts or here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/wed-like-a-word/id1458233596?i=1000658752136 (Soon also to be on Jiosaavn.)

British Library Ultra Bollywood MBC BOLLYWOOD Jaipur Literature Festival Jaipur Literature Festival Diggi Place jaipur

07/06/2024

A new episode of We’d Like A Word with Indian, Pakistani & Bangladeshi authors, poets & thinkers, recorded at the Khushwant Literary Festival at SOAS in London, hosted by paul_waters_writer & a new co-host Jonathan Kennedy. Guests include: Harinder Singh of Sikh Art UK & Sikh Lens on working with the Singh twins & Gopinder Kaur on Jewels From Sikh Wisdom; ; author Nadia K Barb on her book Truth or Dare published by Renard Press ; Farrukh Dhondy on Charles Sobraj ; Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi on her shocking book The Centre; Shirin Wheeler on her book about her father Charles Wheeler; Marina Wheeler on her book about her mother Dip and partition; poet Imtiaz Dharker ; Aneysha Minocha of Quantaco ; & Akshat Rathi of the Zero podcast, Bloomberg Green & author of Climate Capitalism.

Listen here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/wed-like-a-word/id1458233596?i=1000657932069 or wherever you get your podcasts.

NB - Your favourite WLAW host Stevyn Colgan will be back shortly. Phew!

Khushwant Singh SOAS University of London SOAS Library SOAS Library Brunei Gallery, SOAS Sikh Channel We'd Like A Word British Council Madhur Singh