Isolationcast #15: Yara Rodrigues Fowler on local living and how mental health affects creativity

Yara Rodrigues Fowler is a force of nature. Last year, she published her debut novel Stubborn Archivist, a complex and subtle examination of identity, trauma and recovery which straddles Brazil and South London, winning high praise from critics and earning nominations for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize. Now she is working on her next book - but if you think this is a straightforward story of a young writer achieving overnight success, think again. As we discuss in this episode, at university she found unhappiness had a detrimental effect on her creativity; later, while trying to fit writing around a full-time job, she pushed herself to the point of burnout. We talk about this, as well as the benefits that antidepressants have had in her life, the Brazilian Black Lives Matter movement, how lockdown has changed our lifestyles, subverting conventional writing styles and much much more. Twitter: @aliceazania / @yazzarf Instagram: @aliceazania / @yararodriguesfowler Buy the book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stubborn-Archivist-Yara-Rodrigues-Fowler/dp/0708899072 Edited by Chelsey Moore