Author of the Month | Matson Taylor

Hey Bookworms,

I'm incredibly delighted to announce Matson Taylor (pictured) is my Author of the Month! His debut is due to be released on July 14th - I am so lucky to have had the joy of reading it already so I know you will love it as much as I did 😊

Matson grew up in Yorkshire but now lives in London. He is a design historian and academic writing tutor and has worked at various universities and museums around the world; he currently teaches at the V&A, Imperial College, and the RCA. He has also worked on Camden Market, appeared in an Italian TV commercial, and been a pronunciation coach for Catalan opera singers. 

 

 Without further ado here is my Q&A with the fabulous man himself...

Can you tell us something about The Miseducation of Evie Epworth that isn't in the blurb?

Food plays quite an important role in the story, in many different ways. Chris, my editor at Scribner, really liked this and suggested making more of it by having an actual recipe or two in the book. I loved this idea but wanted to do something a bit different - rather than having a recipe sitting on the page and interrupting the narrative, I've integrated into the text, making them part of the story, told in Evie's voice. It was really good fun to write and readers seem to love it! There are three recipes 'hidden' in the novel and we're hoping to run a competition on social media to get people making the recipes and sharing the results! 

How do you come up with the inspiration for the novel?

I knew I wanted to write a book with a really strong voice - and I loved the idea of 'the voice' being on the brink of adulthood ie that funny time when we're adults and children simultaneously. At that age we're still quite innocent and naive but at the same time uncannily 'knowing' and perceptive, often seeing things that older people don't. I thought I could have a lot of fun with this. As I was thinking about the novel Evie's voice just arrived, fully formed, and that was that! I also knew from the beginning that I wanted the book to be set in 1962 because I liked the idea of a decade growing up as well as a person - what we think of as the '60s didn't really get going until late 1962/3 and I wanted to try and catch the moment when the fifties stopped and the sixties started. And I knew that I wanted to explore some quite serious issues but in a way that made people laugh - I love writers who can do that and I wanted to see if I could do it!

Can you describe Evie in three words?

Fun, wise, brave.

What is the most surprising thing you have discovered when writing your novel?

Just getting to the end was quite surprising! Writing is hard, especially when you're working at the same time, so I can completely understand why so many novels are left unfinished. One surprising thing I learnt is how much I enjoy writing and editing - time just disappears. I can spend hours on a paragraph, shaping it, getting the rhythm right, choosing just the right words, and that hour only feels like a few minutes.

How do you create such a sense of place in your novel, Yorkshire is almost an extra character? 

Thank you! I really wanted the novel to have a strong sense of place and it's great that you think Yorkshire came across almost like another character. I had a very clear image in my head of Evie's village and the farm - I grew up in a similar location so it was quite easy to write about not only what it looked like but also what it felt like to be there (the smells, sounds etc plus the way people live their lives).

Which authors do you admire the most?

I love Katherine Mansfield. Her sentences have such a wonderful rhythm to them - they're like music. Rosamund Lehmann too. And I like how both writers can express such deep emotion (loss, love) just with a simple word or image. It's very 'unshowy' writing, no fireworks or 'look at me' peacock feathers, but it's beautiful. Kate Atkinson is like that too - and with much more humour than Katherine Mansfield or Rosamund Lehmann. 

Where is your favourite place to write?

At my desk at home - I find it very difficult to write if there's a lot going on around me so writing in a cafe etc wouldn't work (I'm far too nosey!). I need silence and no distractions...

What do you enjoy doing when you aren't writing?

I love meeting up with friends and going to art galleries and museums (or rather, going to the café of art galleries and museums). I try to get to the theatre, too, and to the cinema (a lot) and various types of music concerts. I live in London and it’s always easy to find something to do or somewhere to go. All that is pre-covid, of course; during lockdown I’ve been binge watching various tv series: The Trial of Christine Keeler; Killing Eve; Peter Kay’s Car Share; Normal People; The Crown; Schitt’s Creek; GLOW. I like to walk a lot because it clears the head and helps me puzzle out any problems I’m having with whatever I’m writing at the moment. And then, probably the thing I do most when not writing (and when writing, unfortunately): eating. I love going out to eat with friends – there are some great pubs nearby and there is nothing I like more than a pie and a pint. 

Which book is currently on your bedside table?

Ben Fergusson's An Honest Man (I'm really enjoying it - it gives a brilliant sense of being in Berlin at the end tail end of the Cold War)

What is coming next for you? Please tell me there is more Evie?!

Yes! I'm currently writing Evie 2. I've been writing it for a month or so now and I was quite worried before I started and would do anything other than sit down and write (eg research, read, clean the oven). But, the moment I sat down and started writing the first chapter, I loved it. It was so nice to be back with Evie again (not that she ever went away - the final edit was only done in February!).

Thanks, Matson it was an absolute pleasure!

You guys can read my review of The Misadventures of Evie Epworth here.