Pip Williams — from dyslexia to the Dictionary of Lost Words

Pip Williams was diagnosed with dyslexia as a teenager. She grew up to write a novel inspired by the history of the Oxford Dictionary, which soon became an international bestseller. (R)

Pip Williams was a teenage poetry enthusiast when she had her first poem, called Fifteen, published in Dolly magazine.

Then just a couple of years later, she was diagnosed with dyslexia.

But despite her struggles with reading and spelling, she never drew back from the world of books and words.

A few years ago Pip was reading a non-fiction book about the history of the Oxford English Dictionary when she started to question why there weren't more women in the story.

Then she found the story of a missing word left out of the first-ever edition of the dictionary.

This story became the seeds of Pip's first novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, which is now an international bestseller.

This episode of Conversations touches on dyslexia, dictionary, tree change, writing, books, Italy, travel, memoir, neurodivergence, learning disability, permaculture, farm to table, author, novels, personal stories, motherhood, origin stories, and reflection.