Not the Plot
Conversations about books, art and living a creative life.
Episodes
57 episodes
KQ Watson - Writing on the darker side
K. Q. Watson’s author bio is intriguing. She describes herself as a ‘one legged Canadian who likes The Dark Crystal more than she will ever like you’ and ‘the cyborg that you don’t take home to meet your parents’. She looks inno...
Justine Robertson - Exploring human darkness
Justine Robertson has always been an avid reader, tracing her passion back to the moment she was handed her first take-home books at the age of four: Peter and Jane. That love for reading blossomed into a newfound passion for...
Polly Holmes - Getting cosy with mystery
Australian author Polly Holmes delights readers with paranormal and culinary cozy mysteries bursting with charm, mischief, and a dash of magic. Her stories blend action, humour, and unforgettable characters, creating page‑turning adventures tha...
Kat Richardson - Taking the path to creative freedom
Kat Richardson is a Tasmanian writer, illustrator and editor. Kat’s creative life started in a small country town, surrounded by books, animals, magic and a handful of brilliant teachers who made space for storytelling. She spent her childhood ...
Kylie Howarth - Winning young readers
Kylie Howarth is an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator from Perth. She was raised in the country alongside her brother, dog, sheep, several orphaned kangaroos and one very cheeky echidna. Kylie’s obsession with an...
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Leanne White - Inspired by wildlife, wild spaces and places
Leanne White is an accomplished artist, children’s book author, illustrator, publisher and visual arts educator who teaches painting and drawing to children and adults. She believes everyone can create, they just need the freedom to know they c...
Tenille Seow - Pursuing a publishing dream
Tenille Seow is an Australian author passionate about creating accessible fantasy stories for younger readers. When Tenille picked up a popular young adult fantasy novel in 2023, she expected to be swept into the story. Instead, she foun...
Kate Searle - Writing soul-centred children's books
Kate Searle is an author, mum and geologist from Quindalup in the south west of Western Australia. Kate’s books, My Soul Treasure and Find Your Treasure, encourage young readers to visualise their inner strengths as precious g...
Brendan Colley - Living a writing life
Author Brendan Colley was born in South Africa, and made Tasmania his home in 2009. His first novel, The Signal Line, won the Unpublished Manuscript Prize in the 2019 Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Awards, and was shortlisted for the Victorian Pr...
Kez Wickham St George - Embracing empowerment
Kez Wickham-St George is an artist, author, mentor and public speaker with a passion for personal development and a commitment to supporting people from diverse backgrounds on their own creative journey. Kez is widely travelled and draws strong...
Maura Pierlot - Living a creative life as a philosophy
Maura Pierlot is an international award-winning author, playwright and filmmaker who creates across art forms for children and adults. Her work typically has an existential bent, exploring the nature of self, belonging, identity and ethi...
Lellie Lopter - Writing about big feelings and tricky topics
Kellie Coff, writing as Lellie Lopter, is an international award-winning children’s author, illustrator, and creator who isn’t afraid to write about big feelings and tricky topics. Her stories encourage children to think big,...
Sharon Giltrow - Writing for young readers with humour and heart.
Sharon Giltrow is an award-winning author of humorous and heartfelt picture books and speculative, adventure-filled middle grade books. Sharon grew up in South Australia, the youngest of eight children in a one-hundred-year-o...
Liv Lorkin - A heart-led path to creativity
Liv Lorkin is a heart-led children's book author, illustrator and visual storyteller.Since packing books underneath her bed as a child, she’s loved reading, writing and colouring outside the lines. With a blended background in sci...
Alan Fyfe - Putting place and poverty on the page
Alan Fyfe is a maker of stories and poems who lives on unceded Noongar country. Alan’s poetry and prose fiction has received recognition with a number of awards and listings in Australia and internationally. His latest release, The Cross Th...
Brenton Cullen - On writing, reading, and staying the distance
Brenton Cullen is a Queensland writer, bookseller and passionate advocate for children’s literature. He writes stories from the heart for all ages, with a particular love for picture books and middle-grade fiction.He has written articles, i...
Marlene Rattigan - Inspiring children through words and music
Marlene Rattigan is an early childhood teacher with an extensive background in music. She’s the author of the kidz-fiz-biz series of music and movement books and has conducted training workshops for teachers, children, and parents at sch...
Christine Read - Sharing the joy of circle dancing
Christine Read found circle dance about 22 years ago and has been teaching for the past 18 years. Her love for this form of dance turned her into a dancing nomad and led to major lifestyle changes. In 2016 she retired from paid employment, sold...
Michelle Worthington - Sharing stories on page and screen
Michelle Worthington is an International award-winning author, scriptwriter, playwright and producer. Michelle has twice taken out the International Book Award and been shortlisted for the Australian Speech Pathology Award. In 2018 she received...
Dianne Wolfer - Writing across genres
Award-winning author Dianne Wolfer is a bookworm who reads and writes every day and can’t imagine a world without books. Dianne writes across genres, from picture books for pre-schoolers to fantasy novels for young adults, and historical fictio...
Renae Hayward - Creating space for creativity
Children’s author and poet Renae Hayward was born during a cyclone in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, but grew up by the beaches of Perth’s northern suburbs. Renae now lives near Fremantle with her author/illustrator husband James, their tw...
Carolyn Wren - Tales of romance and suspense
Carolyn Wren was born in London and lives in Western Australia with a husband she adores and a very neurotic cat named Lucky. Carolyn doesn’t like to limit herself to one genre, preferring to let her characters take control. The res...
Stephen Crabbe - A focus on historical fiction
Stephen Crabbe’s ancestors were among the first colonists of South Australia, where he lived for most of his life. From his earliest years he loved language and music in many forms, and this led to formal study and qualifications in both. He wa...
Kym Langfield - A venture in creativity
Kym Langfield is an author, illustrator, teacher and counsellor. She has illustrated a range of picture books, including my picture book Solo Dan about a foster child finding his forever home. Her artwork, stories and poems have featured in ant...
Juliet Marillier - Folklore, fantasy and stories that heal
Juliet Marillier is an award-winning historical fantasy author who grew up surrounded by Celtic music and stories. Her own Celtic-Gaelic roots inspired her to write her first series, the Sevenwaters Trilogy, a reimagining of The Six Swans fairy...
