Louise’s debut novel, How to be Brave, was a Guardian Readers’ pick in 2015 and a top ten bestseller on Amazon. The Mountain in my Shoe longlisted for the Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize 2016. The Sunday Mirror called Maria in the Moon ‘quirky, darkly comic, original and heartfelt’. It was also a Must Read in the Sunday Express and a Book of the Year at LoveReadingUK. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was described as ‘engrossing and captivating’ by the Daily Express. It also shortlisted for the RNA’s Romantic Novel of the Year and longlisted for the Polari Prize 2019. Call Me Star Girl hit number one on Kobo. It also longlisted for the Not The Booker Prize and won the Best magazine Big Book Award 2019. This Is How We Are Human was a Clare Mackintosh August Book of the Month 2021. Audiobook memoir Daffodils came out in 2022, and novel Nothing Else too.
Louise also writes as Louise Swanson.
Tell me about your latest book and why we should read it?
I’m going to talk about my memoir, Daffodils, as my most recent, though at the moment it’s only in audiobook, but WATCH THIS SPACE for news of a paperback. I wrote it during lockdown, following my mother’s bridge jump, so it was certainly a tough write, but I think it also has lots of my dark humour in there.
If a film was being made about your life, who would you want to play you?
I think Jennifer Lopez might almost manage to capture my style and essence. If not, Rowan Atkinson could don a wig.
If I could grant you 1 wish, what would it be?
I would wish that my daughter could be cured of her Type 1 Diabetes.
When was the last time you Googled yourself and what did you find?
I did this about two weeks ago and discovered that my book, This Is How We Are Human, is going to be translated into Dutch and has a beautiful new cover!
If you could host a literary dinner party, which 5 authors (dead or alive) would you invite and what food would you serve?
I’d invite Margaret Atwood, Margaret Mitchell, Katie Price, Hanya Yanagihara and Jackie Collins. They can have cheese and crackers, chicken nuggets and chips, and Angel Delight.
Finally, please recommend 3 books that you’ve recently read and tell me why you’ve chosen them.
I recently loved In Little Stars by Linda Green, Mad Woman by Louisa Treger, and Nanette by Hannah Gadsby. Each of them was topical, different from anything I’ve read, and explored strong women.
