February 6, 2019 - 10:06am by Anonymous

As a freelance journalist, writer, editor and presenter, I have enjoyed many years meeting and interviewing fascinating people, and visiting wonderful locations worldwide.

I regularly conduct on-stage interviews with authors and personalities at festivals and events, and for more than 10 years co-hosted a monthly on air book club with Lesley Dolphin at BBC Radio Suffolk.

Details of my events, book reviews and recommendations can be found on my website moreaboutbooks.com and all the latest information is available in my weekly e-newsletter which you can receive by signing up here or read recent issues here.

Or follow me on Twitter @catherinelarner

In the press

Magazine cover pagesAs a journalist I contribute lifestyle features and profiles for regional and national newspapers and magazines. Earlier in my career, I was the launch editor of what became the leading business journal for the fitness industry in Europe, and I regularly contributed articles about the market for a US publication.

published articles

On the radio

For more than 10 years I co-hosted an on-air book club on BBC Radio Suffolk with Lesley Dolphin. Listen to past discussions here.

In addition, my print articles and author interviews often feature as podcasts. You can listen to an interview with former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams for Premier Radio here.

view archive on moreaboutbooks.com

At events

Hosting book launches and talks for festivals and events throughout Suffolk, I regularly interview authors on stage with audiences from 30 to 300. I have been in conversation with Esther Freud, Salley Vickers, Victoria Hislop, Rev Richard Coles, Elly Griffiths and Patrick Gale (pictured).

view event listings on moreaboutbooks.com

Recent articles

Christmas at the bookshop
in 'Norfolk', December 2024
Christmas is an even more magical time of year at Kett's Books at Wymondham.
Artist who captures beauty of Suffolk
in 'East Anglian Daily Times', November 2024
Artist and printmaker Angela Harding to speak in Woodbridge and Southwold this weekend
A painter in light
in 'This England', November 2024
Catherine Larner explores the colourful work of Margaret Rope
Hot off the press
in 'Suffolk', November 2024
James and Katie Jenkins left their careers, and armed with an 1860 letterpress and an unerring eye for detail, launched a Suffolk-based stationery business founded on traditional techniques and sustainability.
The painter's daughters
in 'Suffolk', November 2024
Gainsborough's name is synonymous with Suffolk, but it was his daughters, one who suffered from mental illness and the other who cared for her, who grabbed Emily Howes' imagination and inspired her to write a novel about them.
Pressing matters
in 'Coast', November 2024
A tranquil, secluded corner of Suffolk is home to a designer-maker studio, producing stunning stationery and running traditional craft courses. Catherine Larner finds out more.

Keeping it short

No matter how prepared I think I am, there always seems to be too much to do and too little time in the lead up to Christmas. So it certainly doesn't feel appropriate to be whiling away the hours reading. But I never feel quite right if I haven't got a good book on the go.

So I was pleased to discover that Tessa Hadley's latest book is a novella (see below). I could enjoy the story in one sitting, as a perfect escape on a grey afternoon and found I returned to the Christmas preparations renewed!

It was interesting, then, to read a newspaper article extolling the virtues of short stories, and novellas. The journalist was hoping this might become 'a thing'.

It's commonly accepted that fewer people enjoy short stories than full length novels (in 2020 a YouGov poll found that just 14 per cent of people in the UK declared short stories their favourite form of fiction), but there's a lot to be said for this more concise form, not least the fact that a short story can be enjoyed in a lunch break or a commute, an evening in front of the fire, or in a snatched hour or two between commitments over the festive period itself.

This year there have been a number of novelists publishing short story collections - Elly Griffiths, Lee Child, Stephen King, George Saunders, Eliza Clark, and the interconnected stories of Elizabeth Strout.

We bemoan the short attention span of society generally but there's also something to be celebrated in brevity, and the skill of creating a world in few words. And isn't the winter the perfect time for a short story? What about the extraordinary 'Small Things Like These' by Claire Keegan, the ghost stories of MR James with the wind swirling outside, or Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol', of course. I think I'll be picking up a few more short stories in the next few weeks.

Thank you for reading.

More about books

Catherine LarnerFor my book reviews, event information and blog, please visit moreaboutbooks.com