DiscoverThe Writing LifeThe power of language: Eimear McBride on The City Changes Its Face
The power of language: Eimear McBride on The City Changes Its Face

The power of language: Eimear McBride on The City Changes Its Face

Update: 2025-05-191
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In this episode of The Writing Life, novelist and screenwriter Eimear McBride on the power of language, and the ways literary fiction can evoke emotion and connection.


 


Eimear McBride is the award-winning author of four novels: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, The Lesser Bohemians, Strange Hotel and The City Changes Its Face. Her debut novel A Girl is a Half-formed Thing won the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize, Irish Novel of the Year, the Bailey's Prize for Women's Fiction, The Desmond Elliott Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award. The City Changes Its Face is a continuation of this novel, and follows an intense story of passion, jealousy and family.


 


She sits down with NCW's former Chief Executive and lover of books Chris Gribble to discuss the recently published The City Changes its Face, a continuation of her debut novel A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing. Together, they discuss the process of returning to characters and storylines previously written, her experience adapting her novel into a screenplay, and the machine of writing and publishing; going from the solitary task of writing to the hustle and bustle of book tours and literary events.

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The power of language: Eimear McBride on The City Changes Its Face

The power of language: Eimear McBride on The City Changes Its Face

National Centre for Writing