[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-144605-en":3,"doc-seo-144605-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},144605,1099513958762,"Logic","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/1000023916a998db790?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1784791008015729253",2,"Literature","Writers Aloud - Episode 419 - Stories that Shape Identity","Writers Aloud episode 419 features Ian Ayris and Elizabeth Cook exploring how stories and losses shape identity. Ian Ayris reflects on growing up as an identical twin, feeling defined by comparison and searching for difference, and how Dickens, Camus, and other books became companions through difficult work and a troubled marriage. Elizabeth Cook then examines how grief of many kinds can transform experience and lead to deeper, richer discoveries.","Episode 419  \nRL F inAloutdr, oductiona podcast br: Helougloht  \nand welcome. You’re listening to Writers to you by writers for the Royal Literary  \nFund in London.  \nHello and welcome to episode 419 of Writers Aloud. In this episode, Ian Ayris reveals how stories have been his constant companions, accompanying him through the darkest periods of his life, and ultimately shaping his identity. Then Elizabeth Cook explores how losses of all kinds shape us and may sometimes lead us to richer discoveries. First, here’s Ian Ayris with ‘The Stories of my Life’.  \nThe Stories of my Life Ian Ayris  \nThe American writer , Edgar Allan Poe, once wrote a story of a  \nman dogged by a mirror image of himself—a stranger who turns up in times of crisis to reveal the man to be morally corrupt. The story ends with the man running the stranger through with a sword, thus killing himself in the process. My life hasn’t been quite so Gothic, but it has been a life defined by reflection. I was born in Dagenham, 1969, an identical twin. Even now, in my fifties, I am still mistaken for my brother. My life has been one of constant comparison, a life dominated by a search for my own identity. I am a walking simile unable to escape the prison of mirrors I was born into.  \nMy mum dressed us the same, for a while. We went to the same schools,  \nplayed for the same football teams. We were known as ‘the twins’ or sometimes individually as ‘twinny’. And all this time, I looked on from the outside, observing, trying to find the details that might define the difference between us. My observing turned to daydreaming, spending much of my time staring out of the classroom window, and I soon fell behind my brother at school. As my brother studied Shakespeare, I was sitting at the front of the class down the corridor explaining to the lad next to me that ‘live’ – as in the verb – and‘live’ – as in the adjective – are spelt the same but mean different things. I can see his burnished, appleround face now, raging at me for apparently ‘winding him up’.  \nIt was at this time, I had begun to read through the Charles Dickens books I’d seen at my Nan and Grandad’s house. The focus Dickens placedon the downtrodden and the dispossessed appealed to me immediately. I fell in love with his use of words. Even though I understood probably less than half, it didn’t matter. They sounded so playful, so beautiful, and so amazing — and the fact he had literally made me laugh out loud – and still does – was a huge thing for me. I became joyfully lost amongst the ragged inhabitants of Victorian London, its dreary courtyards and narrow streets. The world Dickens created became a place within me, a place I could retreat to when my own world became too much. It is a place, in many ways, I have never truly left.  \nLooking back, I can see my failure at school was an unconscious effort to create a tangible difference between myself and my brother, something others could use to tell us apart. I left school at fifteen as my brother continued his education.  \nA poem by Walt Whitman, called ‘There Was a Child Went Forth’, tells of a boy who everything he experiences becomes a part of him. Stories became that for me. Stories became the way I made sense of everything, and my insulation from a series of grim experiences in the world of work in which I found myself.  \nI remember trying to read The Outsider by Albert Camus as I, and three or four other lads, bounced around in the back of a white van on the way to a day’s work in a gin factory. I was meant to work there for a week, but a day was all I could manage in that gin-soaked circle of Hell. I next found myself working in a factory that made doors for the backs of lorries—spending much of my time putting nuts and bolts, and various other necessary fixings for the construction of the doors, into small brown boxes, wrapping them in tape and labelling them with a marker pen.  \nBreak times were spent in the factory canteen where I found myself almost t","cbCaidUdo4jDnCnz","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidUdo4jDnCnz","pdf",167316,3,1,11,"English","en",105,"# Writers Aloud\n## Ian Ayris: The Stories of my Life\n## Edgar Allan Poe and reflection\n## Dickens and finding refuge in words\n## Work experiences and reading as survival\n## Journey, writing, and creating space\n## Elizabeth Cook: losses and richer discoveries","[{\"question\":\"What role do stories play in Ian Ayris’s life according to the episode?\",\"answer\":\"Stories function as constant companions that helped him make sense of experiences, especially during difficult periods. They also supported his search for personal identity and a private inner world.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Ian Ayris describe his childhood as an identical twin?\",\"answer\":\"He explains that his life was dominated by comparison and observation, with his identity often shaped by attempts to create a tangible difference from his brother. He also notes being mistaken for his twin even in adulthood.\"},{\"question\":\"What does Elizabeth Cook explore after Ian Ayris’s segment?\",\"answer\":\"Elizabeth Cook discusses how losses of all kinds shape people and may sometimes lead to richer discoveries.\"}]","Writers Aloud - Episode 419 - Stories that Shape Identity | PDF",1787705771,17,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":29},"writers-aloud-episode-419-stories-that-shape-identity","",{"@graph":37,"@context":85},[38,53,68],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,50],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/writers-aloud-episode-419-stories-that-shape-identity/144605/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":42,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-05","2026-08-26",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What role do stories play in Ian Ayris’s life according to the episode?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Stories function as constant companions that helped him make sense of experiences, especially during difficult periods. 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He also notes being mistaken for his twin even in adulthood.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What does Elizabeth Cook explore after Ian Ayris’s segment?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Elizabeth Cook discusses how losses of all kinds shape people and may sometimes lead to richer discoveries.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,100,104,109,114,119,124,129,132,136],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":135},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]