Why you can’t forget your first love

Bookends with Mattea Roach

That all-consuming, dizzying feeling is what acclaimed poet Seán Hewitt captures in his debut novel, Open, Heaven. The book follows a teenager named James, whose first love is made complicated by his own sexuality and the realities of the rural English village where he lives. Seán joins Mattea to talk about the difference between love and desire, the role of nature in his work and why Ireland is such fertile ground for poets.

If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes:

• Alan Hollinghurst: Coming of age in Britain and writing through the gay gaze
• Emma Knight: 'Bad' mothers make good stories — and are more true-to-life