Shining Star

AJ HIGGINSON MEETS WRITER AND CULTURAL CAMPAIGNER, STELLA DUFFY OBE

STELLA DUFFY

A highly acclaimed novelist and theatre-maker, Stella Duffy has twice won a prestigious Crime Writers’ Association Dagger for her short stories. She has also won Stonewall Writer of the Year twice. A driving force behind the Women’s Equality Party since its inception and co-director of the Fun Palaces campaign for greater access to culture for all, she was awarded an OBE for services to the arts in 2016.

Stella’s latest book, London Lies Beneath, is inspired by a real but mostly forgotten disaster, which befell a scouting trip sailing from Waterloo to the Isle of Sheppey, near the mouth of the Thames, in August 1912. Set in the south London slums of the 1900s, this is the story of three friends, and a tragedy that will change them forever.

DIVA caught up with Stella to find out more about the new book, the success of Fun Palaces and why her OBE meant so much.

DIVA: How did you get into writing?

STELLA DUFFY: I started in theatre, creating plays with friends, then moved on to comedy, standup and improvisation. I would recommend improv as a great way to learn how to craft stories.

What inspired you to write this book?

I’m a south Londoner, my mum was a south Londoner, I love south London. The stories of the boys who died had been forgotten for a long time. These kids were desperate to get out and see more of the world but once they do they also realise the world is dangerous, and a terrible thing happens. Even though the stories are entirely fictional, I wanted to try and write about a working class community and the support that a working class community has for each other, as honestly as I could.