The Royal Literary Fund

But what I like to do is to show those kind of debates and the struggles so that people know that, you know, just calling for change or trying to affect change is only the beginning of a journey.

Hello and welcome to Collected, the Royal Literary Fund podcast about writing.

I'm Juliette George-Romero.

My guest today is award-winning playwright, adaptor, dramaturg and academic Dipo Agboluaje.

Deepo's work can be political, provocative, fantastical and very funny, with characters who confront systems of power and dare to imagine they can be changed.

Deepo's next production will feature in the National Theatre's 2027 season.

Today we'll bring Deepo into conversation with writers from the Royal Literary Fund Archive to explore writing between cultures, reclaiming history and finding creative freedom.

Welcome, Deepo Agbualaje.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, because Milne died in 1956 and left the rights to his widow through a trust, and, uh, to his widow and three organizations, The Westminster School, the Royal Literary Fund, and the Garrick Club.

Hmm.

And Disney bought the rights, uh, from the widow at least, that she controlled in '61, and struck a deal with the other four...

A hush descended as a large black car approached and a special guest stepped out.

Queen Camilla, patron of the Royal Literary Fund, who had come to play a game of poo sticks with the children's authors.

Because this was no ordinary forest, but Ashdown Forest, home of the 100-acre wood in A.A. Milne's world-famous children's classic Winnie the Pooh.

And the bridge was no ordinary bridge but the bridge where Milne's son, Christopher Robin, dropped sticks into the water to see which would float fastest, giving his father the idea for the game.

And to be there on the bridge that they knew...

Playing pooh sticks that they played was magical.

And to be doing it with the Queen, of course, her role with the Royal Literary Fund is the reason she was there.

But she, I mean, she takes literature and encouraging reading so seriously.

The, the courses I'm doing at the moment are, um, in person.

Uh, so I do different sort of, uh, courses, um, online through the Royal Literary Fund.

I, uh, which are to do with writing for self-expression, um, and, and reading courses.

And some of those are, are online.

Where can listeners find out more about you, Natalie?

So I've got a dedicated website, uh, for my writing.

Uh, they can also find out some more about me on the, um, Royal Literary Fund website, the RLF.

Um, yes, and, um, if they want to buy my book, um, they can obviously buy it from the publishers, Legion Press, or from Amazon or any other, uh, retailers.

And that does not let itself be swayed by what anyone else thinks or says.

Hello and welcome to Collected, the podcast about writing from the Royal Literary Fund.

I'm Jonathan Tulloch.

I'm really delighted to be here with Jay Griffiths.

me or four.

It could have been.

Well, what we do, Jay, is we bring a writer like yourself and we listen to some things from the archive of the Royal Literary Fund.

It's what writers have said over the past 10 years about the writing life.