Joanna Murray-Smith is a world-renowned playwright, novelist and screenwriter. In this first episode of Backstories, Joanna talks about her life growing up and what influenced her journey into the arts; from her mother taking her to shows as a child or listening to family friends in boozy political conversations.

Growing up, Joanna says she was never told that she couldn’t be a writer or that it’s a “hard life” or “most people fail”, instead she said the silence of the people around her, spoke volumes.

“It was a perfectly rationale and reasonable expectation, that if you had that imaginative flourish, you could pursue it as a means to living.

“When I look back now I can see that the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle were kind of in place to lead me to playwrighting, but it took me a long time to see that.”

Listeners will get an insight into how Jo writes and the backstory to her play ‘Berlin’.

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