Write on and read on - with best-selling author Marina Lewycka

For fans of humourous Ukrainian fiction, check out this "short history of Marina Lewycka in English."

It's an easy and enjoyable read, offering both insights into the author, and inspiration and encouragement for aspiring authors. Incidentally, it's on a website promoting a writer's workshop in France this summer, with Lewycka as the writer-in-residence. Here are a few excerpts:

.... She's down-to-earth and quietly droll, with a Yorkshire accent. She has just turned 60 and has been writing constantly since she was four years old, so it's more accurate to call her a late achiever than a late starter, she says. The breakthrough came two years ago with the publication of her first novel, the unappetisingly titled A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.

Most reviewers loved it. ... It was shortlisted for the Orange fiction prize, won two top British prizes for comic writing and was on the Man Booker Prize longlist.

Readers also loved it. So far it has been translated into 29 languages and film rights have been sold to Alison Owen (producer of Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett). ...

The book's success has utterly astonished her ...

Read the entire article on Marina Lewycka, her wildly successful novel, and a sneak preview of her next one. You'll find it here.