#MeetTheResident – Liza Thompson

Posted: December 2nd, 2021

Tell us a bit about yourself and your business?

I’m a book editor working for Bloomsbury Publishing in London (although I live in Belfast full time now). I run a list focusing in on contemporary thinking whether that be philosophy, politics, biography, art, film, feminism and gender studies (and more). I’ve also started working on my own writing projects and have done some editorial consultancy work for the BBC.

Any projects you’re currently working on?

I’m working on all sorts of things including a post-work manifesto, books on consent and sexual politics, philosophies of disability and translation projects featuring radical thinkers from the global south. I’m currently enjoying working on a memoir in which the author tells the story of their life through the objects around them. At a more personal level, I am working on a book of letters between women, a book about the Regency romance novelist, Georgette Heyer and an ill-advised TV treatment.

How do you stay creative/inspired?

There’s a constant flow of interesting book ideas coming into my inbox which I find very energising. I like working out the best way to title and package a book as well as, of course, editing the text itself. I see ideas for books everywhere from reading reviews to going to see local art and talking with friends. I think talking (a lot) with friends is probably my main source of inspiration.

Who is your creative hero?

I always go back to the Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard for something a bit bewildering and exciting to think about, find great solace in the letters of Iris Murdoch, watch that 1980s Miss Marple (with Joan Hickson) over and over again and finding old records by singers like John McCormack in charity shops. I could go on and on here but these are creative heroes I go back to.

Where can we find your work on Social Media?

I am (rather ineffectually) on twitter @lizajthompson