A little bit more lABLEd Breaking Barriers in Literature – Lottie Mills on Inclusive reading and writing

About the Episode
Alice Evans and Lucy Wood host the last bonus episode of this season featuring guest Lottie Mills, a BBC Young Writers Award winner and author of “Monstrum,” a collection of 10 short stories exploring disability and difference through folklore and speculative fiction.

Lottie discusses her creative process, drawing inspiration from works like “The Chrysalids” and Angela Carter, and emphasizes the importance of accessibility in literature, advocating for audiobooks and inclusive reading practices. The conversation also touches on the challenges of publishing short story collections and the impact of narrators on audiobook enjoyment. Lottie shares her plans to pursue a master’s in English studies at Cambridge, focusing on dystopian and speculative fiction.

About our Guest
Lottie Mills was born in Hampshire and grew up in West Sussex, Hertfordshire, and Essex. She studied English at Newnham College, Cambridge, and in 2020, was awarded the BBC Young Writers’ Award for her short story ‘The Changeling’. Her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 4, and she has appeared on programmes including Woman’s Hour to discuss her writing. Monstrum is her debut story collection.