S2 Episode 7 - Being Age Appropriate is so Overrated with Niloufar Lamakan

In this engaging conversation, Niloufar Lamakan shares her journey as an author, discussing her debut novel 'Aged to Perfection' and the challenges she faced in the writing and publishing process. She emphasises the importance of resilience in the face of rejection and the need to break stereotypes surrounding age in literature. Niloufar also highlights her passion for dancing and her unique approach to marketing her book, while looking forward to future projects that continue to celebrate age defiance.

Niloufar Lamakan is an Iranian-born author and artist. She moved to the UK as a child and has lived in London most of her life. She came to writing after careers in technology, design, art, and property. Her debut novel, Aged to Perfection, won the Commendation Award at the Comedy Women in Print Prize and was a finalist at the Page Turner Awards.

She writes bold, romantic comedies that are unapologetically age defiant. Her art also explores the connections between age, identity, and society’s perceptions of beauty. When she’s not painting or writing, you’ll find her on the dancefloor.

Links:

Amazon link https://mybook.to/2x8xO 

Instagram Niloufar Lamakan, Author (@nlamakan) • Instagram photos and videos

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nlamakan

Website https://www.niloufarlamakan.com/

Takeaways

Niloufar's debut novel won the commendation award at the Comedy Women in Print Prize.

She faced 42 rejections before finding success with her book.

Resilience is key in the writing and publishing journey.

Niloufar aims to challenge age stereotypes in literature.

Her protagonist is a 60-year-old woman, showcasing age defiance.

Marketing a book often falls on the author, not just the publisher.

Dancing brings joy and a sense of freedom to Niloufar's life.

She believes there is no such thing as age-appropriate behaviour.

Niloufar is currently working on her second novel.

The Sophia Spritzer cocktail reflects her protagonist's personality.

Insta @hearmeroarhere

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YouTube @hearmeroarhere

Get in touch: hearmeroarhere@gmail.com or via our website hearmeroarhere.com

Transcript

Hear Me Roar (00:33)

We've had such a good summer so far but you have had a really good weekend this weekend Marie, haven't you? I have, have Yvonne, yes. I've been on a girls weekend, it was a couple of friends 60th so nine of us went away into a lovely house with a hot tub.

much Prosecco and what have you was drunk. And this house actually had a bar inside it. So we'd brought various spirits and it actually had optics. I was gonna say people took in turns, it didn't. There was one lady in particular who felt very at home behind the bar. So we christened her Bet and she was there, kept serving out the drinks. It was a good time. It was a good time. That's lovely. So you did, what did you do?

Pottery or We did pottery, yes. And I had my own personal Ghost experience with another friend, which was hilarious. How my pot didn't go flying off the wheel, I'll never know. Yeah, but you got a nice cuddle out of it. I did get a nice cuddle out of it, yeah. We could all do And we sat in the hot tub, drinking gin and tonics. You just need it, don't you? You need to go and spend time. You do. It doesn't matter what you do. You don't have to be in a hot tub. You don't have to be on the Prosecco. You just need time, some time to just...

Enjoy being with your girlfriends. Yeah, well, we're planning. A few of us are planning a couple of days in Glasgow. Nice, Glasgow is beautiful. And I'm quite looking forward to it. It's not going to be quite as glamorous as yours because I think we're going to stay in a Premier Inn. Oh yeah. There's nowt wrong with a Premier Inn? If all you're using it for is to put your head down in a bed.

and have your breakfast. It doesn't matter. But I did say on the WhatsApp group, I did say that J.K. Rowling finished off Harry Potter in the five star Balmoral in Edinburgh. You need to up your game then, don't you love? I'm going to finish my next book in a Premier in Glasgow. Doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it? No, you definitely need to up your game there. And talking of books, we've got Niloufar Lamakan today.

And she's an Iranian born author and artist. She moved to the UK as a child and has lived in London most of her life. And she came to writing after careers in technology, design, art and property. But her debut novel, Aged to Perfection, won the commendation award at the Comedy Women in Print Prize and was a finalist at the Page Turner Awards. that's, that's really, that's really great. Yeah. And this is her first novel, isn't it? Yeah.

And she writes bold romantic comedies that are unapologetically age defiant. Her art also explores the connections between age identity and society's perceptions of beauty, which is something that we feel quite passionate about too. Absolutely, we agree about being age defiant. Definitely. Unapologetically. And a bit like yourself.

when she's not painting or writing, you'll find her on the dance floor. Yeah. Well, absolutely. So let's go and meet Niloufar Lamakan.

Hear Me Roar (03:46)

nice to meet you Niloufar.

Niloufar Lamakan (03:48)

Hello, it's lovely to meet both of you. Thank you for having me on.

Hear Me Roar (03:53)

it's lovely to have you. So Niloufar you're an Iranian born author and artist and your debut novel, Aged to Perfection, won the Commodation Award at the Comedy Women in Print Prize, which is like must have just been massive for you.

Niloufar Lamakan (04:10)

⁓ It was amazing. It's one of those moments when I got the email to say I'd been shortlisted. I was just getting ready in the morning and I just burst into tears because I wanted it. I wanted it so much. And there it is proudly being displayed behind me, of course.

Hear Me Roar (04:21)

I'm not as you would.

⁓ fantastic,

fantastic. Well, ⁓ you must it must it must have just felt like such an achievement because a book's not an easy thing to write.

Niloufar Lamakan (04:40)

It is difficult and I mean, it's difficult writing it in the first place and then you think you get it just right and you start sending it out and then you either get complete silence or with just thanks but no thanks. So to be recognized by an award like this was just such a massive boost. Just generally the whole award, I mean, Helen Lederer set it up in 2018, I think.

Hear Me Roar (05:09)

Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (05:10)

because she wanted to have a platform for funny women basically to become recognized. And she's been so supportive and we have a fantastic community of women. I've made loads of friends and we all help and support each other and we learn from each other because a lot of us are debuts and publishing is very opaque. There's a very steep learning curve. So it's just really lovely to be.

together and come up together basically.

Hear Me Roar (05:42)

That's fantastic but you haven't always been an author you've had some other jobs before you started writing

Niloufar Lamakan (05:51)

I have, yes. I originally I worked in information management and technology. I used to work in the NHS for quite a few years. And yeah, so I sort of had a salary job, safe job. And when I got into my fifties, I think something came over me. I don't know. I decided to be more adventurous and I left my job and I...

set up a property development company and I became an interior designer. ⁓ Yeah, the property development was, I mean, that was a big learning curve as well, but it's, it just, it does give you a sense of achievement. It's very stressful because especially if you're doing it in London, the amounts of money involved are huge. So there's a lot of pressure and risk. ⁓ But I did pretty well. So I was happy with that.

Hear Me Roar (06:22)

Bye.

Niloufar Lamakan (06:47)

and I'm actually still working as an interior designer. So that's my day job.

Hear Me Roar (06:52)

Fantastic.

That can

never leave you, though. You know what mean? If you have that sort of eye and you have that bit of experience in it, you've got it forever, really. It's the kind of thing you can always do.

Niloufar Lamakan (07:08)

You do, yeah. And

also I've got clients who come back to me, you know, that I've been with for many years, or they recommend me to one of their friends. And so I don't go out and look for work anymore, but if it comes my way and it's a nice project, then I do it. Because officially I am a pensioner.

Hear Me Roar (07:23)

It just comes.

So I was them.

They're the best kind of people. Definitely. I'm going to be a pensioner next year. Is 60 still a Is 60 classed as a pensioner?

Niloufar Lamakan (07:35)

Yeah, exactly.

Not for the state pension, depends on how old you are. Mine came into effect at 66, but you're younger, so yours will be a little bit later. Yeah, you can't put your feet up yet. ⁓

Hear Me Roar (07:50)

⁓ right, hang on.

⁓ Okay, I've got to wait for that then. No, sadly.

I think I've got 12 years. All right, pipe down you. Yeah, just here's your nose, rub it in. So I was going to ask you, your main character, Sophia, I was going to ask how much of you was in her, but straight away, she's an interior designer, isn't she? Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (08:03)

hahahaha

Yeah.

She says,

well, you know, they say write about what you know. And I thought, well, why not make her an interior designer? I know all about it. And I've got lots of stories that I could draw on.

Hear Me Roar (08:24)

write about what you know. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

But I have a question

here, because she's not just an interior designer. She's also quite good at a little bit of therapy and things, isn't she?

Of the horizontal kind.

For her friends.

Niloufar Lamakan (08:49)

And that

Hear Me Roar (08:50)

She's good with other people's relationships, isn't she?

Niloufar Lamakan (08:53)

She is good, yes. And I think that comes in handy when you're an interior designer, because you're thrown into people's lives, right into the centre of their lives. And I go in and look in their bedroom, look in their bathroom cupboards and everything, first time I visit, just to get a feel for it. ⁓ you do have to be good with people in that way.

Hear Me Roar (08:59)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (09:17)

yeah.

Hear Me Roar (09:17)

Can I

just tell you back to what you said at the beginning about sending your book off and getting rejections? Did you get lots of rejections and what made you, what turned that into you thinking, right, I'm going to enter this book into a competition.

Niloufar Lamakan (09:31)

⁓ I think because I'm just completely determined and focused and I don't give up. I had proudly had 42 rejections or a mixture of rejections and silence.

Hear Me Roar (09:35)

Yeah.

Wow. Well you're up there with J.K. Rowling.

Niloufar Lamakan (09:47)

Sorry.

Hear Me Roar (09:48)

You're up there with

the likes of J.K. Rowling. She had loads of rejections didn't she? She did, yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (09:52)

Exactly.

Mallory Blackman's the one I always quote because I read that she had 82 rejections before she got a yes and now she's, you know, she's so well known and she's massive. So it can be a bit depressing sometimes. One day I remember I had three rejections in one day and ⁓ that wasn't nice. But I try and just sleep on it and forget it the next day and move on because...

Hear Me Roar (09:58)

Wow.

Go.

⁓ god.

Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (10:20)

You do have to be very resilient and if you give up after a few rejections you're not going to get very far. It's very rare to get picked up very quickly.

Hear Me Roar (10:23)

Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. So it was part.

I mean, I know that writing, like querying agents and things is almost like a full time job for a writer, isn't it? But did you get an agent or anything as part of your prize for the Comedy Women in Print? And sort of second part to that question is, is there a book

deal for a number of books at all?

Niloufar Lamakan (10:53)

I didn't get an agent. The overall winner got a publishing deal with HarperCollins. I didn't have an agent. I submitted to One More Chapter. It's a division of HarperCollins and they take submissions directly from authors rather than having to go through an

Hear Me Roar (10:58)

Right.

⁓ right, okay.

Niloufar Lamakan (11:12)

I actually...

Hear Me Roar (11:12)

gosh, there's not many doing that now.

Niloufar Lamakan (11:14)

No, there's a few. think a few more of the smaller publishers do that now. So that was great.

Hear Me Roar (11:15)

Yeah.

And Book as well.

Niloufar Lamakan (11:23)

Yeah,

I signed a contract with them directly and I got the Society of Authors to help me a little bit with the contract negotiations. the deal is for one book, but subsequently ⁓ since then I have got Kate Nash as my agent and I kept the dramatization rights because I think it would make a good

Hear Me Roar (11:35)

Right.

Niloufar Lamakan (11:51)

mini-series for maybe Netflix or something like that. Because it's quite filmic in parts, the book. So she is currently trying to get me a deal for that, which would be so exciting if it happens.

Hear Me Roar (11:54)

Right.

That's fantastic. Yeah. It is.

Niloufar Lamakan (12:06)

You never know.

Hear Me Roar (12:06)

We will keep everything crossed.

Niloufar Lamakan (12:09)

Thank you.

Hear Me Roar (12:08)

we will.

And we've got a list of questions and we've cheerfully jumped all over them with the questions that we've been... That's what we do. We just go all over the place. I want to know, why did you make Sophia 60? Because that's not the norm for chick-lit, is it? They usually...

Niloufar Lamakan (12:19)

Jump away.

No.

Hear Me Roar (12:32)

Women's Fiction. Sorry, are we not allowed to call it chick-lit? I don't know. Be proud of chick-lit. People don't seem to call it that anymore, do they?

Niloufar Lamakan (12:40)

No,

it's usually called women's fiction now or I call mine a rom-com.

Hear Me Roar (12:46)

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (12:46)

It's a romantic comedy.

Hear Me Roar (12:48)

Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (12:49)

I mean, once I had the idea of the book set in my head and I knew what I was going to write, I thought, gosh, I'm in that age group. You hardly ever see anyone in their 60s in a rom-com when they're at the centre of the story and they're the one going for it and living the...

Hear Me Roar (13:00)

Mm-hmm.

No.

Niloufar Lamakan (13:10)

an amazing life. That usually stops around at 40, doesn't it? So I just thought, I need to like rebel yell for older women. I just wanna show that society shouldn't write us off. Cause you know that horrible phrase when they say you just become invisible when you're past 50 basically. And I know loads of women who are amazing.

Hear Me Roar (13:15)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (13:37)

⁓ do lots and start new careers and are really adventurous. So, you know, some people are not, but you shouldn't be told not to be adventurous because of your age. I think that's the point I really wanted to get across in the book.

Hear Me Roar (13:43)

Mm.

Yeah, because yes, absolutely. we're very on our on our Facebook pages. We're very anti being pigeonholed into your age. But you're right. The norm in like sitcoms and books is that, excuse me, once you're like 60, you become the mother, you know, the mother role rather than the the central role and the star. So to have a whole book where a 60 year old is the

Niloufar Lamakan (14:03)

Mm.

Hear Me Roar (14:22)

star of the show, so to speak, is fantastic. And it it was just good to sort of like have a woman being a woman. Yes. You know, because sex as you get older tends to get a bit whitewashed out of things. Although I can quite understand that in a way, because I think younger people find it a bit icky.

Niloufar Lamakan (14:31)

Hmm.

They

Hear Me Roar (14:43)

They do,

Niloufar Lamakan (14:43)

do.

Hear Me Roar (14:44)

they do. I mean, just be honest. It's like old people having sex. To them, old people's anyone over 40, really.

Niloufar Lamakan (14:52)

Yes.

Hear Me Roar (14:56)

But...

Niloufar Lamakan (14:53)

Old people are generally icky to them, aren't they?

Hear Me Roar (14:56)

Yeah, yeah. But women in their 60s and older do still enjoy sex. And why shouldn't she enjoy sex in the book? You know, it's all right for men to go around enjoying sex, but for some reason it's a bit, oh, no, you know, for women, but...

Why? Why should that be any different? Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (15:14)

Exactly, exactly.

I mean, you know, especially if you're single and you're out there, why not, you know, do what makes you happy.

Hear Me Roar (15:20)

Well, why not? Yeah.

Exactly. And you hit a kind of nice, sort of happy medium where it wasn't ridiculously graphic either. I know I read some of the Amazon reviews before I started reading your book. I mean, the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, but there was someone who said that there were a couple of bits where they had to look away. And I thought, all right, OK. So I read the book and I got to the bit.

Niloufar Lamakan (15:45)

Yes.

Hear Me Roar (15:50)

⁓ And I hope this isn't a spoiler for anyone. Well, I won't put any more details, but I will just say I got to the bit about the foot fetishist and I did have to look away at that bit.

Niloufar Lamakan (16:03)

I think that

I was quite graphic with that one. I don't know why. I did a bit of research on it because I didn't know anything about it myself. So yeah, I got into it a bit too much maybe.

Hear Me Roar (16:18)

But why not? Why not? yeah, I mean, it made me laugh out loud a few times, but yeah, the foot fetishist was a wee bit too much for me. ⁓ bless. I'm quite a robust wee soul. She came over all unnecessary.

Niloufar Lamakan (16:24)

Oz.

⁓

Well, Yvonne ...

just try it, you never know. You might find it's the thing for you.

Hear Me Roar (16:41)

No, no.

So, have you, what's after this? Have you got some ideas of what you want to do next?

Niloufar Lamakan (16:55)

I definitely, I'm definitely writing a second novel. I have started it. I'm sort of halfway through. I've been a bit lax the last few months because I've been marketing this book and as much as I want to get the next one out, I want this one to be a success. So there's, you know, I'm doing bookshop appearances, book signings.

Hear Me Roar (17:07)

you

Niloufar Lamakan (17:19)

I've been on panels in festivals. I was at a romance festival on Saturday called the Meet Cute Book Festival, which was fantastic. There were loads and loads of people. And which, you know, and it's really lovely to go out and meet people. So between that and the day job, I've been a little lax, but I've set aside July and August to really get going on it again. And it will, it will have a 60 year old protagonist again.

Hear Me Roar (17:38)

you

Cause I

I was just going to ask, is it going to have another older heroine?

Niloufar Lamakan (17:47)

and

absolutely, yeah. It's gonna be my USP now.

Hear Me Roar (17:54)

Well, why not?

When you finally get ⁓ a publishing deal, I think people kind of assume that's it and your work here is done, but you seem to be having to do an awful lot of your own marketing. Is that sort of expected or have you just chosen to do that? Or because I kind of assumed that the publishing house would be doing all of that.

Niloufar Lamakan (18:17)

Yeah, that's a bit of a myth. mean, publishers do do advertising and marketing. It all comes down to who else is coming out at the same time. You know, if they've got a really big name, they may divert their resources to them. So my publisher is a digital first publisher, so they do online advertising only. They don't arrange any events or anything like that.

Hear Me Roar (18:34)

Yeah.

Right.

Niloufar Lamakan (18:47)

There's no pressure on me to do it. But if I don't do it, you know, your book just tanks. So you have to stay in the limelight and keep going so people hear about your book. So I'm hoping word of mouth will start to kick in after a while, hopefully.

Hear Me Roar (18:49)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Has

it been a learning curve for you at all doing your own marketing?

Niloufar Lamakan (19:12)

⁓ absolutely. Everything's been a learning curve, the writing, the getting published. But I love that because I love learning new things. That's how I got into writing because I always do lots of different courses. So was looking through the city lit courses, the college in Covent Garden and I saw creative writing. I thought, ooh I'll give that a go. And that's how I sort of got the idea in my head about

Hear Me Roar (19:16)

You

Mm-hmm.

Niloufar Lamakan (19:41)

writing generally. I wasn't really thinking of writing a book at the time but then as I carried on and went carried on going to other classes I thought well maybe I could try it.

Hear Me Roar (19:53)

Are

you a big reader yourself then?

Niloufar Lamakan (19:56)

I am, yes. I think you have to be. And I read lots of different genres as well. I still do a class every Friday, which is really great because you do something different every week and it sort of exercises the writing muscles. yeah, I read crime. I love cosy crime.

Hear Me Roar (19:57)

Yeah. Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (20:18)

and historical fiction. I read other rom-coms to see what's happening on the market and what books are doing well. Yeah, so lots of different ones really.

Hear Me Roar (20:23)

Mm-hmm.

I'm a historical, a historical fiction buff.

Niloufar Lamakan (20:33)

I get

through quite a few books every month. But I love it. It's great.

Hear Me Roar (20:37)

Yeah.

Well, give me a nice crinoline and I'm quite happy. I don't mind a bit of Bridgerton. No, they didn't wear crinolines, did they? That was the Regency era. Yeah. But they're more romance-y. Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (20:43)

you

Hear Me Roar (20:54)

So I'm... Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (20:55)

Not on the telly.

Hear Me Roar (20:58)

Well, that's true. That's the kind of...

historical stuff I'd be reading. I'm more into historical stabby, stabby stuff. ⁓ Okay. Mysteries and murder and I love ⁓ Ambrose Parry. Have you read them?

Niloufar Lamakan (21:09)

Okay.

Hear Me Roar (21:16)

Well,

Niloufar Lamakan (21:16)

No.

Hear Me Roar (21:16)

I'm saying them because it's Christopher Brookmyre and his wife who write those books together. And they're absolutely brilliant.

They're set in Edinburgh and it's all quite kind of dark and moody, you know, sort of a bit grave robbery. But there's no actual grave robbery happens, it's kind of, it brings all that to mind. Yeah. And I love them. So, you've got your older heroine. How are you finding aging in general? Because you've obviously chosen to have an older heroine. So you're trying to...

Niloufar Lamakan (21:32)

Feels like it.

Hear Me Roar (21:52)

redress the balance about how older women are perceived. I know we feel on our Facebook page is that we're always banging the drum for older women. How are you feeling about the way society perceives the older woman?

Niloufar Lamakan (22:02)

You are, yes.

Oh if I go to a bar and I don't get served straight away, I get really angry. And I'm very small as well, so the combination of being an older woman and being small as well, they just look over your head and serve other people. ⁓ Yeah, so I'm just carrying on really. Maybe I'm not working like a nine to five job anymore, but I'm doing different things, so I'm active.

Hear Me Roar (22:15)

Ha ha!

Niloufar Lamakan (22:38)

I've got loads of friends, I'm going out a lot, making loads of new friends through writing. So there's even more to do there. So yeah, I'm just going to keep going until I can't basically.

Hear Me Roar (22:44)

Yeah.

Yeah, that's the best way, isn't it?

Niloufar Lamakan (22:53)

is, yeah.

Hear Me Roar (22:52)

⁓

One of the things I know you feel passionate about is there's no such thing as age appropriate. So what sort of things do you do that aren't age appropriate then, Niloufar? Do tell! Yeah, spill the beans!

Niloufar Lamakan (23:06)

Voila.

Well, I definitely don't dress age appropriate, I have to say. I hate it when people go, I'm a bit old for that. No, you're not. If you love it and you feel good in it, just wear it, you know. Yeah. So there's that. I have been known to date some younger men in the past, and why not? Yes, different perspective from going out with an older man. Yeah, so.

Hear Me Roar (23:15)

Yeah, good. ⁓

No. Yeah.

Wear it, exactly. ⁓

And why not?

Yes.

Niloufar Lamakan (23:40)

⁓ gosh, that's a good question. else?

Hear Me Roar (23:46)

You like dancing, don't you?

Niloufar Lamakan (23:49)

I love it. Yes. Yeah. I've been doing ballroom and Latin dancing for many years and also go to salsa classes too. And it's just wonderful. I love salsa. I was telling someone else the other day, I love it. Although I'm a very independent woman and you know, and I'm single, so everything's down to me. I make all the decisions. There's no one else to consult.

⁓ with salsa, the man or usually a man, leads the dance and you don't know what they're gonna do. You just have to be able to interpret how they want you to respond. And I say, that's quite nice, because it's one area of my life where I don't have to make a decision. I just follow someone else. And it's quite refreshing, takes the pressure off. Yeah.

Hear Me Roar (24:15)

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

Yeah ⁓

I've always fancied having a go at salsa.

Niloufar Lamakan (24:45)

you should. It's just, if you see me dancing, you know, whether it's ballroom or salsa, I'm just grinning from ear to ear. It's so joyful. There's a few of us go to the Royal Opera House, they have tea dances there. And you know, in the big glass atrium, they push the bar to the back and you've got this big ballroom and they have a live band and their white tuxedos.

Hear Me Roar (24:53)

Yeah.

Hi.

Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (25:12)

and you go and dance and it's just fantastic should try that it's lovely yeah

Hear Me Roar (25:12)

⁓ how fantastic. I would love that. Yeah, I would love to do

that. So from dancing, I think the next logical step is cocktails. Yes. Of course. So. ⁓

Niloufar Lamakan (25:28)

Yes!

Hear Me Roar (25:33)

us with

Niloufar Lamakan (25:33)

Say.

Hear Me Roar (25:33)

your cocktail. If you were a cocktail, what would you be called and what would your ingredients be and why? And I'm going to write it down because we're going to be making it. ⁓

Niloufar Lamakan (25:42)

Okay well I've based

it on my protagonist of course it's called the Sophia Spritzer.

Hear Me Roar (25:47)

Mm-hmm, Sophia.

nice.

Niloufar Lamakan (25:50)

And it is made from Prosecco, ⁓ lime juice, ⁓ fresh chili, and triple sec. And that's because, yeah, so Prosecco because she's very bubbly, ⁓ lime juice because she's refreshing in her attitude towards life, chili because she's very spicy. And ⁓ the triple sec.

Hear Me Roar (25:53)

Mm-hmm.

Ooh. Oh, I like the sound of that.

I see it.

Niloufar Lamakan (26:19)

because she's actually quite sweet. So that's...

Hear Me Roar (26:21)

Well, that sounds fantastic.

I'm looking forward to trying that one. It sounds brilliant. because we have had some that we thought. Yes, no, I think that would be lovely. We'll have one of those sitting outside in your garden. Oh, yeah, we could do, couldn't we? Plans. Go, go. So just do you have a name for your next novel or is it under wraps or have you not thought of it yet? Title? Not known.

Niloufar Lamakan (26:26)

Yeah, it should be nice and refreshing. ⁓

Enjoy!

I don't

have a title for it yet, but it is going to be set in a salsa school.

Hear Me Roar (26:52)

⁓ marvelous. That'll be brilliant.

Niloufar Lamakan (26:55)

a,

Hear Me Roar (26:55)

Write what you know.

Niloufar Lamakan (26:57)

well, exactly. And also it's a great setting because you get people from all walks of life come to it and different ages. And you do meet people that you wouldn't normally meet in your circle of friends. So it's really great for that. And you know, and you get...

Hear Me Roar (27:00)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Niloufar Lamakan (27:15)

all the characters. If you're in the salsa scene, you know what people are like, generally, you know who dances best. So yeah, avoid who's going to throw you around the dance floor too vigorously, you know, You run away from those people. that would be really fun.

Hear Me Roar (27:28)

you

Yeah that sounds great.

Well thank you so much for talking to us, Niloufar. It's been absolutely fascinating and I think I've still got about 5,000 questions but... Let's just say the name of the book again, Aged to Perfection. Yes. And your website is?

Niloufar Lamakan (27:53)

Thank you.

Hear Me Roar (27:59)

Okay, that's fantastic. So hopefully some of our listeners will give you a visit.

Niloufar Lamakan (28:00)

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.

It's been so much fun. I love reading all your posts on Facebook. I was going to say, it puts a smile on my face, but no, it's usually laugh at laugh. So it's been great to meet you in person.

Hear Me Roar (28:06)

Thank you.

It's been lovely to meet you. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Niloufar Bye.

Niloufar Lamakan (28:21)

Thank you. Bye bye. Bye.