Join Anni Swinburn for the launch of Mother House
Workshop member Anni Swinburn is excited to invite you to the launch of her debut novel, Mother House, at Sheffield Plate on September 3rd. We asked Anni to tell us about the book.
Mother House is an interesting title. What’s your book about? A young woman runs away from her impending marriage and embarks upon an overland adventure through Europe and Asia. She meets fellow travellers with their own tales to tell and falls in love with one of them. Fast forward eighteen years, a nun searches through her belongings in preparation for leaving the convent and the pieces of the narrative begin to fall into place. It’s part memoir, part fiction and part travelogue — an unusual mix perhaps.
What gave you the original idea? I am not religious myself but have always been fascinated by religion, faith and its place in society — the ways in which it can be helpful and supportive at times but also used by the powerful to exploit the vulnerable. I worked as a volunteer in Calcutta in my youth and subsequently worked professionally with those affected by the many issues in the novel. The travelogue and memoir parts of the book have been sitting there waiting to be used in some way. The hybrid nature of this book; a travelogue/memoir with a novel running through it caused me some difficulties with the structure, but I couldn’t seem to write it any other way.
How long have you been writing it? Mother House took twenty years to write with lots of time ruminating in between. It has been a long haul.
How different is the final version from earlier versions? In some ways quite different but in others not. It has always had the same protagonist, the same trajectory and narrative, but I was never sure about the end until I got there. It was actually a surprise to me how it ended! My own travel journals were unearthed in the last ten years after my parents died, so I had more memories/jottings to consider and some decisions to make about what to include or discard.
Why did you make the decision to self-publish? What has this been like for you so far? I have limited word processing/formatting skills so found the writing the manuscript difficult. And then I hated the idea of sending it off to agents/publishers with a self-promoting letter saying how fab it was and what a wonderful writer I am, knowing it would be time consuming, exhausting, confidence bashing and spiritually draining. I am sure if a publisher had considered my book (none ever did) there would have been changes expected that I would not have been prepared or able to make. In January 2025, I contacted Workshop Associate Anne Grange (Wild Rosemary Writing Services) and she helped with formatting and editing the novel. She was very encouraging in a hands-off way and gave me the confidence just to go for it. It has felt quite liberating.
You have previously written plays and a short film script. How was writing a novel different for you? Well, I have to write in small chunks, as concentrating and processing information are difficult for me. So, plays, monologues, short scripts are a bit easier for me to focus on. The short film was a co-writing project, and I generally work better as part of a team when I can bounce ideas around with other creatives. The novel was in the drawer bugging me, waiting to be either thrown away or tinkered with between other projects. It has always been hard for me to remain focused and believe in its worth. Being in my own head with the novel with no-one really able to help has been a difficult journey, although Writers Workshop retreats, groups and coaching have been most helpful, as well as meeting like-minded people in the various stages of their own writing journey.
Do you have any advice for other people who are trying to write novels? I wouldn’t take advice from me if you want to be a commercially successful writer! However, I would say just do it, go ahead and write what you want to write about. Listen to advice but don’t always take it. Follow your gut instinct but accept that it may not be to everyone’s taste. That’s the beauty of art and writing: there is a place for all of it and all of us. Take a chance.
Where can people buy the book? Mother House is available from Amazon. Due to my own political and personal stand, I would prefer not to use Amazon. However, the service is low cost and enabling for those wishing to self-publish. The launch will be downstairs at Sheffield Plate on Wednesday 3rd September. I’d love to see Writers Workshop members there to raise a glass of prosecco!