Isabel Costello

LATEST ARTICLES ( 428 )

• What’s Your Kind of Book?

  

  Once again thanks to Ben Blackman and Sanjida O’Connell for contributing such stimulating guest posts and for keeping the Literary Sofa in business whilst I was... Read more

  Posted on 16 October 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Guest Author – Sanjida O’Connell on Editing Her Novels

  

  I’m very grateful to this week’s guest, the multi-talented Sanjida O’Connell, for offering to step in and keep the Literary Sofa warm. Read more

  Posted on 07 October 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Guest Author – Ben Blackman on Writing Narrative Non-Fiction

  

  Today, for the first time, I’m delighted to welcome an as-yet-unpublished writer to the Literary Sofa. My guest is a popular and witty presence on Twitter and... Read more

  Posted on 01 October 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• I Remember

  

  Before I remembered anythingFollowing the excitement of the York Festival of Writing, I am spending every possible moment polishing my manuscript but I don’t... Read more

  Posted on 23 September 2013 SELF EXPRESSION

• The York Effect – Festival of Writing 2013

  

  I first attended the Festival of Writing organised by Writers’ Workshop in 2012. If you’d told me then that I’d end up going two years in a row, I would have... Read more

  Posted on 16 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Second Blog Anniversary Competition – Return of the Literary Lunch

  

  Things have been pretty frantic since I returned from my month in America:  I got straight back into my manuscript for the final push before I send it out to... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Book Review – Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

  

  Being in the very final stages of my re-write, I wasn’t planning to post any more book reviews until I finish the manuscript, but sometimes with resolutions... Read more

  Posted on 05 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Guest Author – Wendy Wallace on Setting a Historical Novel in a Foreign Country

  

  When Wendy Wallace appeared on the Literary Sofa in June 2012 as my first ever Guest Author, it was a great start to what has since become one of the most... Read more

  Posted on 02 September 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The City and the Road – August in America

  

  It’s good to be back on the Literary Sofa again after spending almost all of August in the States. If you know my blog or my fiction you already know that I hav... Read more

  Posted on 30 August 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• My American Holiday TBR 2013

  

  My Top Summer Reads 2013 has attracted a lot of interest and it’s great to be getting positive feedback from readers who’ve discovered titles they loved... Read more

  Posted on 29 July 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Everything Looks Different Now – the Final Rewrite Post

  

  I never planned three posts about my big rewrite but having talked about it at the start and the halfway point, I feel I should sign off. Read more

  Posted on 22 July 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• The Online You and Me

  

  This week marks two years since I joined Twitter. Within months, I’d started the Literary Sofa blog and the rest is… amazing! Now, wherever I go, people talk... Read more

  Posted on 08 July 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Guest Author – Barry Walsh on Writing Fiction from Your Own Life

  

  This morning I had the pleasure of catching up with Wendy Wallace who was my first ever Guest Author on the Literary Sofa just over a year ago. Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Sex Scenes in Fiction

  

  This is the 100th post on the Literary Sofa and the subject of sex hasn’t come up much beyond the occasional mention in a review. Read more

  Posted on 24 June 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE, LOVE & SEX

• XX Or XY? Do Readers Care About Gender of Author?

  

  This piece started out as a review of A M (Amy) Homes’ novel May We Be Forgiven, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013. Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Guest Author – Susan Elliot Wright on Writing a Dual Narrative

  

  Top 10 Summer Reads 2013 has already attracted huge interest and as promised, I’m featuring some of the titles on the Literary Sofa, starting with Susan Elliot... Read more

  Posted on 10 June 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Let’s All Talk About GONE GIRL

  

  Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl isn’t the kind of book I read very often, and this isn’t going to be one of the reviews which take me six hours to write. Read more

  Posted on 04 June 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Short Fiction: Family Snapshots eBook Singles

  

  Name your favourite fictional family novel or story for a chance to win signed collections – see end of post for details. Life is never boring on the Literary... Read more

  Posted on 03 June 2013 BOOKS

• Book Review – All That Is by James Salter

  

  NOTE: This article makes reference to sexually explicit material.In the run-up to publication of James Salter’s sixth novel, All That Is – and no doubt long... Read more

  Posted on 27 May 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE

• Top 10 Summer Reads 2013

  

  After three months of grapevine-listening, tip-offs and an intense reading marathon, I’m very excited to present the Literary Sofa Top 10 Summer Reads 2013. Read more

  Posted on 16 May 2013 BOOKS, CULTURE