Mick Herron: British spy author on writing, his success, and new novel ’Clown Town’

He’s been described as “the John le Carré of his generation” and a “megastar of the genre”.

British spy writer Mick Herron has earned millions of fans around the world and delighted critics with his thrilling plots, rich characters, and dry humour.

He’s won dozens of awards for both his Slough House series, his stand alone works, and his short story collections, and ‘Slow Horses’ and ‘Down Cemetery Road’ have both been adapted to the screen.

Herron’s on our shores for the Auckland Writers Festival, in which he’ll introduce the latest addition to his iconic series, ‘Clown Town’, set during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

‘Slow Horses’ was originally released in 2010, and wasn’t particularly successful, especially when compared to the acclaim both the book, and Herron's work as a whole, now holds.

Herron told Jack Tame things changed one day at a time, so it doesn’t feel like that big of a difference.

“It was a low slow process, and it’s one in which, I mean, my part in it has been that every – well, most days, not every day, most days I just sit down and get on with the book that I happen to be writing.”

“Everything else goes on around me really,” he told Tame.

He attributes his success to his publishers, the people working in marketing, those who run festivals, and so on.

“I just respond to invitations and very happily turn up.”

Over four million copies of his books have sold around the world, but Herron isn’t quite sure what it is about his work that people connect with so much.

“I don’t intend to investigate it too closely,” he said.

“It’s a feeling that if I did, I might break something without meaning to.”

“I just carry on doing what I’m doing and hope I’m doing it right ... I just do what I’ve always done, which is write the novel that’s inside me that I need to write.”

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.