Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies chats with biographers across the world about the myriad of choices they make while researching, writing and publishing life stories. In every episode, she explores elements of narrative strategy such as structure, use of fiction techniques, facts and truth, beginnings and endings and to what extent the writer interpreted the evidence rather than providing clues and leaving it to readers to do the interpreting themselves. She also asks how they researched their books; how they balanced a subject’s public, personal and inner lives; and ethical issues, such as privacy and revealing secrets.
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Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies chats with biographers across the world about the myriad of choices they make while researching, writing and publishing life stories. In every episode, she explores elements of narrative strategy such as structure, use of fiction techniques, facts and truth, beginnings and endings and to what extent the writer interpreted the evidence rather than providing clues and leaving it to readers to do the interpreting themselves. She also asks how they researched their books; how they balanced a subject’s public, personal and inner lives; and ethical issues, such as privacy and revealing secrets.
Charlotte Jacobs: 90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor’s Nuclear Odyssey
Biographers in Conversation
45 minutes
2 months ago
Charlotte Jacobs: 90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor’s Nuclear Odyssey
In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Charlotte Jacobs chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting 90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor’s Nuclear Odyssey.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Charlotte Jacobs’s inspiration for crafting 90 Seconds to Midnight.
How Charlotte gained insights into Setsuko’s inner world.
How Charlotte balanced Setsuko’s unique voice and perspective with her voice as the narrator.
How Charlotte balanced Setsuko’s public and professional life with her human story.
The meaning of 90 Seconds to Midnight and why Charlotte chose it.
Why Charlotte opens the biography with a vivid, haunting prologue amid the ruins of Hiroshima, a gripping scene that shaped Setsuko’s lifelong activism.
How Charlotte emphasised the urgency of Setsuko’s anti-nuclear warning in today’s geo-political environment.
How Charlotte crafted lyrical, eloquent narrative that was also gripping.
Charlotte’s thoughts on the role of a biographer.
Biographers in Conversation
Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies chats with biographers across the world about the myriad of choices they make while researching, writing and publishing life stories. In every episode, she explores elements of narrative strategy such as structure, use of fiction techniques, facts and truth, beginnings and endings and to what extent the writer interpreted the evidence rather than providing clues and leaving it to readers to do the interpreting themselves. She also asks how they researched their books; how they balanced a subject’s public, personal and inner lives; and ethical issues, such as privacy and revealing secrets.
