Final Draft - Great Conversations

Antoun Issa is a Lebanese-Australian journalist and co-founder of Deepcut News. Antoun has a new book out entitled Rebirth and with the byline a “Love Story from the depths of war.” Rebirth chronicles Antoun’s mothers experiences of the beginnings of the Lebanese civil war in the 1970s and her subsequent migration to Australia. The novel centers around the experience of the pseudonymously named Kh...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Katherine Johnson is the author of five novels including Matryoshka and Paris Savages. Katherine’s latest Every Wild Soul is the inaugur...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Johanna is an award winning author of fiction, poetry and children’s books. She’s joining us today with her new novel Department of the...

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese diaspora author, screenwriter and award-winning social advocate. She has published six books, including essays in Talking About a Revolution and a series for younger readers, You must be Layla and Listen Layla. Today we’re going to be talking about her latest, literary fiction debut, At Sea.  Zainab has spent her life on oil rigs living the fly in fly out life. I...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. ​​Mary Colussi’s debut novel Touch Grass won the 2025 Penguin Literary Prize. She is joining us today as Touch Grass prepares to launch...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. ​Charlotte McConaghy is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the novels Wild Dark Shore, Once There Were Wolves, and...

Brendan Colley’s first novel was the much feted The Signal Line and introduced us to his wild and wonderful world within a world of Hobart. Brendan’s new novel The Season for Flying Saucers promises to deliver just as much of a ride. When the lights appear on the first night of summer Hobart is abuzz. Locals and paranormal pundits alike agree, it’s shaping up to be a good season. Noah is skeptical...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Antoun Issa is a Lebanese-Australian journalist and co-founder of Deepcut News. Antoun has a new book out entitled Rebirth it’s describe...

​Charlotte McConaghy is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the novels Wild Dark Shore, Once There Were Wolves, and Migrations. Wild Dark Shore is the Literary Fiction Book of the Year at THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS 2026. Shearwater Island has a dark history. Pillaged for its natural resources, the island saw the massacre of hundreds of thousands of whales, seals and pe...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Melissa Manning’s debut story collection, Smokehouse, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction. Melissa joins us today wit...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Sam Elliott is a writer and podcaster. He’s the host of ‘The Write Way’, and joins us today with his debut novel Haze. The fires ringing...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Emily has worked in the children’s book industry for over 25 years. Her writing includes I Am Out With Lanterns (2018), Elsewhere Girls...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Brendan Colley’s first novel The Signal Line won the Unpublished Manuscript Prize in the 2019 Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Awards, and w...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement, the author of four novels, including The Lebs (2018) and...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Tim Ayliffe is a journalist and author. Tim is the author of the standalone novel, Dark Desert Road, and the ‘John Bailey’ series. Final...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Alan Fyfe is a maker of stories and poems who lives on unceded Noongar country. Alan’s joining us today with his new novel The Cross Thi...

Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin writer, whose young adult novels, The Boy from the Mish, We Didn't Think It Through, and I'm Not Really Here have been shortlisted for numerous awards. Gary’s latest novel is Good Young Men. Carraway’s Point is an idyllic coastal destination. Kallum, Jordy, Dylan and Brandon grew up together on Chopin Drive, a ready made friendship group. Fast forward eight years. The b...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Emily Lighezzolo is a publishing industry professional. She has won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer at the Queensl...

Dr Liz Allan is an Australian writer and teacher living in the United Kingdom. Her debut novel is IN BLOOM. Content note for references of sexual assault… In coastal Australian towns around the country tourists come and go every summer, often oblivious to the locals and their lives outside their two week picture perfect holidays. The Bastards disagree with this halcyon view of their home town. Vin...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin writer, whose young adult novels, The Boy from the Mish, We Didn't Think It Through, and I'm Not Really Here...

Maria van Neerven reads from her acclaimed debut collection Two Tongues. Maria van Neerven is a Mununjali poet from the Yugambeh nation living in Meanjin. Maria was the winner of the David Unaipon Award in 2023 and was a Next Chapter Fellow in 2024. Two Tongues is her first poetry collection.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Penny Tangey is a librarian, mother and former stand-up comedian living in East Melbourne. What Rhymes with Murder? is Penny’s first nov...

Today for our book club I’m bringing you an intriguing new work of historical intrigue.  Ian Kemish’s Two Islands Ian Kemish AM is a former Australian diplomat. His first book, The Consul, offered a personal perspective on Australia’s foreign affairs challenges. Two Islands is his first work of fiction. The background to the novel are the war crimes trials conducted in the aftermath of The Wars in...

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Shailee Thompson is a writer and educator based in Brisbane, Australia. How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates is her debut novel. Content Warni...

Starting with a shout out to Emily who is a publishing industry professional. I have had the chance to work with Emily setting up interviews for authors and I’m very happy to be talking about her first book. Emily won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer at the Queensland Literary Awards and her debut novel, Life Drawing. Charlie’s moved to Brisbane for uni. He feels out of place...