Episode 98 - Matt Haig: Part 3

Part 3 of This Writing Life's interview with Matt Haig changes tack from memories of Christmas past to consider Matt's experience of depression that inspired his non-fiction memoir Reasons to Stay Alive. We begin by discussing general attitudes towards mental health, not least among politicians, before exploring the effect that Reasons to Stay Alive has had on Matt and his readers. ----more----From there we talked about:

• the internet and mental illness
• Matt and Twitter
• The Trump-Farage Effect: 'We are not in an age of consensus anymore. We are in an age of strong opinions'
• Haig reviews his literary career
• the relationship between depression, social life and writing
• books and masculinity: Haig vs Twitter
• gender and mental health
• 'It would be a scary thing, President Trump'

Part 4 of 4 to follow.