Lavinia Greenlaw Interviewed by Paula Byrne

Poet Lavinia Greenlaw talks about her new collection, The Built Moment, and about her second novel, In the City of Love’s Sleep. How different is writing a novel to writing poetry, and what are the common themes between the two works?

The Building Moment is Greenlaw’s first collection of poetry since 2011. It is a reflection on her father’s dementia, on the metaphysics of memory and loss, and on possibilities in the face of loss. In the City of Love’s Sleep is a story about what it means to fall in love in middle age.

Greenlaw is professor of creative writing (poetry) at Royal Holloway, London. She has published five previous collections of poetry. Her first novel, Mary George of Allnorthover, received France’s Prix du Premier Roman Étranger. Here she talks to biographer and novelist Dr Paula Byrne.