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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Ellen Peirson-Hagger

INSANE: It was a deflating experience the novelists who nearly gave up | Vintage Vibes

‘I wondered whether writing was still a viable thing for me to continue doing’ … Ross Raisin.
‘I wondered whether writing was still a viable thing for me to continue doing’ … Ross Raisin. Photograph: Stephen Garnett

The 2022 publication of A Hunger, Ross Raisin’s fourth novel, was his “lowest moment”, the 45-year-old author says. “It was a deflating experience.”

The book received positive reviews, but then Raisin found out it wouldn’t be stocked in a large high-street book chain, and literary festivals claimed they “didn’t have space” to programme him. “I had to work hard not to succumb to a negativity that in turn thwarts creativity,” he says. It made him consider giving up writing altogether.

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