Sonja Price
Born in Bristol, Sonja studied at the University of East Anglia and then taught students in Germany and Austria. She has a PhD in English literature and a position as a lecturer at Jena University in Germany, where she teaches English and Creative Writing. Her stories were published in Stories for Homes, the Shelter Anthology of Short Stories and In These Tangles, Beauty Lies, an anthology in aid of the Beanstalk Trust for children with reading difficulties. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and her first novel The Giants Look Down, published in 2016, was longlisted for the Mslexia First Novel Prize and shortlisted for the Joan Hessayon Award. When in Germany she stays in Weimar, once home to Goethe, Schiller and Nietzsche, but otherwise her home is in Glastonbury, where she finds walking the dog with a view of the Tor quite inspirational.
Sonja is currently writing a thriller about a widow delving into the mystery surrounding her husband’s death in the Canadian wilds.
Meet the author:
How long have you been writing?
About 12 years. Once I’d handed in my PhD I thought, now I’m going to write
whatever I want.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
As a child I wanted to be a vet.
Have you got a day job?
I divide my time between writing and teaching.
Which writers inspired you?
A.S. Byatt, Iris Murdoch, Melvyn Bragg and many others.
What are you reading at the moment?
Angela Clarke: Follow Me; Henry David Thoreau: Walden.
What kind of a writer do you see yourself as?
I’d like to be seen as a writer’s writer.
When and where do you write? Can you write anywhere?
I have a study at home and can best write in the mornings. It’s wonderful if I know I have a totally free day in front of me.
Are you very disciplined?
Yes, but I am frustrated at the slow progress I make.
Was it difficult to get published?
My agent Jane Conway-Gordon found me my publisher. I don’t think it’s easy to get published without an agent but there are plenty of exceptions, as other Stellar Scribes prove!
Traditional versus epublishing: which is best?
Well, I was very happy to hold my book in my hands and it has since been made available on Kindle. I don’t think there is a best way. You can be very successful all by yourself with epublishing but you have to be on the ball business-wise. I have a friend who sold her first book to a traditional publishing house for a six-figure sum and is now self-publishing her second novel.
Do your books sell abroad?
My book sells in the US and my hope is that it will soon be available in India, because it is set in Kashmir.
Have you attended any creative writing courses?
Yes: three Arvon Courses with the British Arts Council in the old homes of Ted Hughes and John Osborne. We had the most wonderful teachers and delicious food and I came back full of ideas for my writing and cooking! I would highly recommend the courses and wish I’d attended one earlier.
What brought you to the West Country?
Well I was born here and feel very much at home here.
Do you write by hand or computer?
On the computer. I find it satisfying to immediately see my thoughts in ‘print’.
Where do you get your ideas?
They come to me and cannot be induced.
Is your writing based on real-life experiences?
Not consciously, but friends have said they recognise me in my writing. I can’t see it myself especially as I base my stories in remote exotic settings.
Where do your characters come from?
They just appear, but I suppose they’re a bit like children. They can astonish you even though you’ve given birth to them
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I’m ashamed to say I’m a pantser. I so wish I could plan; it would take away so much agony but, if I do, inspiration goes out the window. I find that ideas evolve though writing, as do my characters
The Giants Look Down
publshed by Robert Hale, 2016
Below: A view of Kashmir, the setting of The Giants Look Down by Sonja Price.
