Episode 457 - Bella Ellwood Clayton - Her gripping debut novel, Weekend Friends is Unputdownable

DR. BELLA ELLWOOD-CLAYTON was born on Valentine’s Day in Melbourne, Australia; the daughter of avant-garde composer and playwright, Syd Clayton, and enlightenment-seeker, Gwenda Ellwood.

At a young age, Bella moved to Vancouver, Canada, with her mother. They lived in Kits (Kitsilano) in different basement suites. Bella’s mother went back to school, studying IT. Bella had a chaotic childhood with lots of freedom. She loved dancing and being with her friends.

In elementary school, Bella had a bad knee accident and on the way to the hospital, wrote her first poem—a topic fitting a Vancouverite.

Raindrops on the window meet like lovers after a long separation

During her recovery in the hospital, a friend’s mother visited Bella and read aloud Dylan Thomas’ poem, “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night,” as well as gifting her a book of poetry. From that moment on, Bella never stopped writing. She always had a journal and found deeper companionship with the page than almost anything or anyone else.

After high school, Bella moved to Montréal and completed a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia University, majoring in anthropology. Her honours thesis examined beauty historically and cross-culturally. She received first class honours and was the recipient of the Mark Doughty Scholarship. She had a studio apartment in the McGill Ghetto, a long-distance (toxic) relationship, and a desire explore the world.

Her first short story was published, as well as some poetry.

Soon after, with a crew from National Geographic, Bella took to the jungle to explore tattoo and social change in the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia. This documentary continues to air from a wide range of international locations.

Her nonfiction book, Sex Drive: In Pursuit of Female Desire, was published by Allen & Unwin. She published more short stories and poetry and wrote for The Huffington Post and Daily Life, and frequently appeared on radio programs such as Triple M and TV programs including, The Project and Sunrise. She’s given many talks about relationships, including a TEDx talk.

Bella hosted The Science of Sex Drive on Love Destination, a global video-on-demand network on 8 million devices.

Now, Bella is the Head of Editorial at NAC (New Authors Collective) Literary Agency and has a freelance editing business, Dr. Bella Editorial. She was the resident creative writing teacher at Kensington Neighbourhood House.

After writing her first poem about raindrops all those years ago, her debut novel, WEEKEND FRIENDS, was published in November 2023 (Post Hill Press/Simon & Schuster).

https://www.drbella.com.au/

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