A Slice of Cake With... Kathleen Jowitt

This week I am delighted to be having a slice of cake with Kathleen Jowitt.

Kathleen was born in Winchester, UK, and grew up deep in the Welsh Marches and, subsequently, on the Isle of Wight. After completing her undergraduate degree in English Literature at the University of Exeter she moved to Guildford and found herself working for a major trade union. She now lives in Cambridge, works in London, and writes on the train.

Her first novel, Speak Its Name, was the first self-published book ever to be shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize.

What kind of books do you write?

I write books about people finding the way out of their own self-imposed limitations, and about the shortcomings of even the most idealistic institutions. I explore themes of integrity, burnout, and self-discovery.

Can you describe your writing why?

I think I have different motivations for writing different things. Conflict, frustration, challenge? It's partly to get difficult feelings out of my head, and partly to let people know that they're not alone in those feelings. Otherwise, it tends to be answering 'what if...?' questions that get stuck in my head.

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most

This is from my first novel, Speak Its Name, which took me eight years from first word to publication. The writing process ranged from 'utter despair' to 'joyous voyage of discovery'. The lows were low, but the highs were very high. Now I know what I'm doing things are slightly less exciting!

She remembered how Colette had told her... my ex-girlfriend... bisexual, actually... How easy it had looked, that take-it-or-leave-it honesty (not, Lydia could admit, entirely innocent of the desire to shock), that stubborn insistence on her identity. Queer Christians. We exist. Do you have a problem with that? A challenge unspoken, and, even now, not fully answered. We exist. And the clear autumn breeze lifting the hem of the curtain, and Peter singing in the garden, and her soul standing on the threshold of its self-made prison, not yet ready to step out, but knowing for the first time that there was a world outside it.

Tell us about your latest project

A Spoke In The Wheel is a story about doping, disability, sports, life in the gig economy, and when to stop pushing. It follows disgraced cyclist Ben Goddard as he tries to reinvent himself – as anything other than a cyclist – in a town where nobody knows him. Unfortunately for his plans, the first people he meets are disabled cycling fan Polly Devine and her friend Vicki Whitaker, a keen cyclist herself...

It's been shortlisted for the Selfies Award and the Exeter Novel Prize.

What is your favourite cake?

A proper moist, fruity, marzipanned Christmas cake. 

I do love a slice of Christmas cake myself - great choice!

You can connect with Kathleen on her website, follow her on Facebook and Twitter. All her books are available on Amazon. 

Join me next week when I'll be having a slice of cake with Zachery Wheeler.

If you would like to take part in A Slice of Cake With... please fill in the form found here. I'd be delighted to have you.

You can also support my writing endeavours and buy me tea & cake - it's what makes the world go round!

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.