Silja Swaby, half Jamaican, half Finnish, is a marine biologist and author. Funded by Arts Council England, she has won competitions, and been placed in prizes and awards. She is working on a series of futuristic thrillers, featuring a female biologist whose quiet academic life takes a drastic turn. Silja has taken creative writing courses at Cambridge University and more recently Yale University, USA.

Silja tutors writers, gives workshops, and provides a critique service. She is happily unmarried and lives in deepest Somerset, UK.


Silja Swaby is pronounced Sil-yah Sway-bee.

January 30, 2012

Jennifer Worth's Call the Mid Wife

Jennifer Worth's Call the Mid Wife is a prime example of how success can come at any moment, even if the timing is ill-fated. Sadly for Jennifer, who died in 2011, it came too late for her to see the first of her novel trilogy appear on BBC TV.

8 comments:

K M Kelly said...

I've got this recorded but haven't watched it yet. Was it good?

Silja Swaby said...

My interest in Jennifer is that she was a member of the SWWJ who had to self publish before being noticed by a publisher. This is yet another example of how agents and publishers don't know what people like.

K M Kelly said...

I'm intrigued by you last comment - isn't knowing what sells the same as knowing what people like?

Silja Swaby said...

Up until now we could only buy what they put on bookshelves so yes, what sold was liked. But if they knew what people liked Jennifer (and many others like her) would not have had to prove people did want to read about mid wives in the 1950's, for example. Of course everything is changing with more self-publishing and ebooks which means we can buy what we like, not what they decide we should like.

K M Kelly said...

I guess every agent has a 'one who got away' story. It's good that she got taken up in the end. :-)

Silja Swaby said...

Yes. At least now, with the advent of ebooks, we can choose from writers all over the world. I've been looking up Finnish sci-fi authors. Not too many, as I've discovered.

K M Kelly said...

Oh I do love books from overseas that come in translation! Of course, we do tend to see the good ones that have a track record in their home counrty - or a canny agent who knows how to sell their foreign rights ;-) But I always love to get a fresh perspective on things! Can you recommend any of these SF authors you've come across?

Silja Swaby said...

Still looking so will let you know!

Pot luck Writing tips