It was an enormous privilege to have Adam Thompson, author of the incredible short story collection Born Into This, join me for the last episode of this season of the podcast. W...

The delightful Mirandi Riwoe, author of the short story collection The Burnished Sun, as well as the novels Stone Sky Gold Mountain and Sunbirds, talked with me over Zoom about her meticulous planning processes and ho...

Multi-award-winning Queensland short story writer Laura Elvery and I caught up over Zoom to talk about her astonishing record of sweeping story prizes – as well as what it's like to write about women winning prizes of another kind. In t...

Fiction, comedy and TV writer Jack Vening is a funny bloke. We caught up over Zoom to talk about George Saunders, writing humour, and how to elegantly devastate your readers. In the course of our conversation Jacky mentions several auth...

Ben Walter is a Tasmanian author of fiction, essays, poetry and experimental prose, whose writing has recently appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, The Saturday Paper and Griffith Review. His most recent book is the sho...

Author, essayist and academic Ellena Savage and I caught up over Zoom to talk about sources of inspiration, discipline, waking up in the middle of the night/the very early morning to write, and our mutual desire to throw our devices off tall bu...

Brisbane writer Yen-Rong Wong and I caught up over Zoom to talk about how and why to write about race and identity, addressing your younger self with your creative practice, and her idiosyncratic writing and editing style. I highly ...

Melbourne author Sam van Zweden and I caught up over Zoom to talk about revisiting memory, writing mental health, the importance of having a dedicated “input day”, and how to turn a mango into a memoir. The books that Sam recommends...

Award-winning Tasmanian novelist and all-round good bloke Robbie Arnott and I sat down together in Craig Farrell’s office studio in New Norfolk to talk about knowing what you want to say before you say it, editing hacks (drink the revolting tea...

In the first episode of First Word's first season (!) Tasmanian novelist Erin Hortle and I sat down together to get really in-depth about the practical process of writing and editing (hot tip: have a clean room!), the shifting landscape of femi...