ABSTRACT
Sarah Butler novels include Ten Things I’ve Learnt about Love (2013), Before the Fire (2015), and Jack and Bet (2020). The latter, written as part of a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing undertaken at The Open University, is set in Elephant and Castle, London, and chronicles the lives of an elderly couple, and has a unique focus on the spatial aspects of ageing. Butler has also made a documentary film, Unearthing Elephant (2017), has published short stories in various collections and a novella, Not Home (2018), the latter written in conversation with people living in unsupported temporary accommodation. She has developed a socially engaged writing practice that parallels common themes in her novels. An abiding interest in urban settings has led to her involvement in several place-specific arts projects, working with communities that are often undergoing change, and several writing residencies, such as on the Central tube line, at Great Ormond Street hospital, and with a regeneration project, Tideline, in Belvedere in East London. She teaches Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. The interview took place at The Open University and FutureLearn premises in Camden in 2019, while Butler was still writing Jack and Bet.
