Authors
Number of items in collection: 102
Short description:
Recordings in this collection can be played by anyone.
This collection contains interviews from the National Life Stories project Authors’ Lives. Initiated in 2007 Authors’ Lives is an ongoing project to record in-depth interviews with authors reflecting on their experiences of living and writing in the 20th and 21st centuries, a period which has seen enormous changes in the way in which books are written, published and read. The archive currently contains recordings with novelists, poets, children’s writers, biographers and historians. Whilst capturing the life story and creative practice of interviewees, the recordings also explore the edifice that surrounds modern writers, including the literary agents, publishing houses and editors vital to an author’s career.
Further information about Authors’ Lives can be found within National Life Stories Annual Reports, and in particular the article ‘Authors’ Lives: In Their Own Words’ (pp. 6-7) and Victoria Glendinning’s reflection on her experience of being interviewed for the project ‘On life stories and biography' (pp. 18-19). In 2011, 'The Writing Life: Authors Speak', a CD containing edited extracts from the collection, was published and is available through British Library Publishing, and also online in Oral history curator's choice. To explore the collection in detail, please search the Sound and Moving Image catalogue. The catalogue reference used for all the recordings in the project is C1276.
Oral history recordings provide valuable first-hand testimony of the past. The views and opinions expressed in oral history interviews are those of the interviewees, who describe events from their own perspective. The interviews are historical documents and their language, tone and content might in some cases reflect attitudes that could cause offence in today’s society.
Long description:
Recordings in this collection can be played by anyone.
This collection contains interviews from the National Life Stories project Authors’ Lives. Initiated in 2007 Authors’ Lives is an ongoing project to record in-depth interviews with authors reflecting on their experiences of living and writing in the 20th and 21st centuries, a period which has seen enormous changes in the way in which books are written, published and read. The archive currently contains recordings with novelists, poets, children’s writers, biographers and historians. Whilst capturing the life story and creative practice of interviewees, the recordings also explore the edifice that surrounds modern writers, including the literary agents, publishing houses and editors vital to an author’s career.
Further information about Authors’ Lives can be found within National Life Stories Annual Reports, and in particular the article ‘Authors’ Lives: In Their Own Words’ (pp. 6-7) and Victoria Glendinning’s reflection on her experience of being interviewed for the project ‘On life stories and biography' (pp. 18-19). In 2011, 'The Writing Life: Authors Speak', a CD containing edited extracts from the collection, was published and is available through British Library Publishing, and also online in Oral history curator's choice. To explore the collection in detail, please search the Sound and Moving Image catalogue. The catalogue reference used for all the recordings in the project is C1276.
Oral history recordings provide valuable first-hand testimony of the past. The views and opinions expressed in oral history interviews are those of the interviewees, who describe events from their own perspective. The interviews are historical documents and their language, tone and content might in some cases reflect attitudes that could cause offence in today’s society.
What the interviews tell us
One-to-one oral history interviews explore memories and recount narratives rarely found elsewhere. Personal testimony fills knowledge gaps, provides new insights, challenges stereotypical views, and overturns orthodoxies. These recordings reveal collective memory, individual agency, gender, skill, influence and intentionality.
Ethical use of oral history
The interviewees have been generous in sharing their memories - often traumatic, confidential and intimate - and listeners are asked to treat this material with respect and sensitivity. Recordings should be analysed and presented in context, so that the interviewee’s meaning is not misconstrued. Quotations and audio clips should be referenced as, for example: “Interview with Fred Yates by Cathy Courtney, March 2006, Artists' Lives, reference C466/234 part x, © The British Library Board”. Each interviewee whose recording appears on this site has assigned copyright to The British Library Board and given their consent for the recording to be used for educational study. We have made every effort to contact all the interviewees and inform them about this project. However should any participant wish to discuss their involvement they should contact the Lead Curator, Oral History at the British Library (oralhistory@bl.uk)
Oral history at the British Library
The interviews on this site are a small selection from the many thousands held in the Oral History section of the British Library. These recordings go back over 100 years and cover many facets of life in Britain. Many interviews were gathered through National Life Stories, an externally-funded unit within the Library established in 1987 to “record first-hand experiences of as wide a cross-section of present-day society as possible”.All recordings on this site are governed by licence agreements.