Imagining The Past

Greg Johnston chats to Mary-Lou Stephens about her tryptic of Tasmanian novels, all centred around various foods,  The Last of the Apple Blossom , The Chocolate Factory , and The Jam Maker .  

Greg Johnston chats with David Shield. His manuscript, Blind Dragon , won the 2024 Elizabeth Jane Corbet Mentorship Contest. The young adult novel is set in 17C Japan, rich in details and the drama of the period.  

Greg Johnston chats to Stephen Daisley. Originally from New Zealand’s North Island, his first novel, Traitor , won the 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction. Coming Rain won the Ockham Prize in 2015. A Better Place was long-listed for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize. 

Host Greg Johnston chats with Catherine McKinnon. Her 2017 novel, Storyland, was shortlisted for five literary awards, including, in 2018, the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Barbara Jefferis Award and the Voss Literary Prize. Her second novel, the complex and textured To Sing of War , was long-listed for the 2024 ARA Hist Novel Prize adult category and highly commended.  Imagining the Past is...

Greg Johnston chats with Rebecca Lim, an award-winning Australian writer, illustrator, editor and author of over twenty books. Her work has been shortlisted for many awards, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and the Queensland Literary Awards.  Her CYA novel, Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky , was shortlisted for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize....

Greg Johnston chats with Natasha Lester, a New York Times bestselling author. Her novels  The Paris Seamstress , The French Photographer , The Paris Secret and The Riviera House , have been translated into many different languages and are published all around the world. The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard was long-listed for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize. Imagining the Past is commercial-fre...

Does time run in a straight line? Is history needed to give context to a futuristic novel? Can traditional cultures be highlighted through melding speculative and historical fiction together? What limits should be placed on a genre when encompassing past, present and future? All these questions and more will be explored by Ally Burnham with authors Gina Cole, Jennifer Mills and Kate Mildenhall.  I...

How does an author's profession (outside their role as a novelist) inform their books? Cecilia Rice will explore with Leah Kaminsky (a doctor), Alison Booth (an economist and academic) and Sue Williams (a journalist) whether switching ‘right and left’ brains impacts their research and writing.  What led them to historical fiction? And what strengths or weaknesses do their 'day jobs' afford them as...

Fine art, luxury jewellery, espionage, royal scandal and danger. Alexandra Joel, Christine Wells and Belinda Alexandra are expert in interweaving the intrigue of past lives into novels set in cities such as Paris, New York and Cairo. Diane Murray asks what inspired their stories, what methods they use to tease out their mysteries, and the challenges encountered when portraying time periods within...

Author Kim Kelly interviews Judy Nunn on her love for historical fiction which have encompassed stories across diverse eras from colonial periods, WW2, the Cold War to more modern times. Her most recent novel, Showtime , features a showdown between rival entrepreneurs in 1880s Melbourne with comedy, tragedy, passion and betrayal; economic depression, the Black Death and the horrors of World War On...

Kelly Rimmer, Victoria Purman and Nicole Alexander have conjured various characters across their many books. Greg Johnston examines their inspiration for key characters, the methods used to fully develop them, whether unexpected plot twists arose when placing them in predicaments, and if their creations took on a life of their own once delivered to readers. Imagining the Past is listed in the Top...

Mirandi Riwoe's The Sunbirds tests the identities and loyalties between Dutch and Indonesians in colonial Java on the eve of the Japanese invasion. Devika Ponnambalam's I Am Not Your Eve is an imagining of the life of Teha’amana, Paul Gaugin's Tahitian 'child-bride'.   Both authors join Elisabeth Storrs in discussing the complexities of bringing alternative perspectives to previously Euro-centric...

View from the East—Christopher Cheng, Daryl Lim and Siang Lu discuss with Claudia Chan Shaw their novels, Asian histories, and the challenges of being an Asian writer within the current publishing industry. Imagining the Past is listed in the Top 25 Historical Fiction Podcasts .  

Writer and critic Stephen Romei is in conversation with Jock Serong and Fiona McFarlane. Jock discusses part three of his Furneaux trilogy, The Settlement , which was short listed for the 2023 ARA Historica Novel Price. Part two of the trilogy, The Burning Island , won the ARA Prize in 2021.  Fiona discusses her second novel, The Sun Walks Down , which was shortlisted for the 2023 Walter Scott His...

In our Summer/Autumn season, we present selected sessions from our 2023 HNSA Conference. Enjoy RN's The Bookshelf host, Kate Evans, in conversation with Guest of Honour, Anna Funder, about the challenges of writing a blend of fiction and non-fiction in 'Wifedom', a book about George Orwell's wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy. Imagining the Past is listed in the Top 25 Historical Fiction Podcasts .   

Alison D Stegert discusses with Greg Johnston her YA novel, Her Majesty’s League of Remarkable Young Ladies .  She also discusses her win of HNSA’s inaugural 2020 Elizabeth Jane Corbett Mentorship and its great consequences.  

Gail Jones chats with Greg Johnston about her complex novel, Salonika Burning , which won the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize—Adult Category. 

Suzanne Leal chats with Greg Johnston about her 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize, CYA shortlisted novel, Running with Ivan , some of the differences between writing CYA and Adult fiction, and her interesting methods of research. 

Lauren Chater chats with Greg Johnston about all things beautiful, including the research and writing of her new novel, The Beauties . 

Melissa Lucashenko discusses with Greg Johnston the research and writing of her novel,  Edenglassie. 

Robbie Arnott discusses with Greg Johnston the many intricacies of writing the novel Limberlost , based on his family folklore and longlisted for the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize—Adult Category.  

Fiona Kelly McGregor discusses with Kelly Gardiner the many intricacies of writing her novel, Iris, shortlisted for the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize—Adult Category.  

Amelia Mellor discusses with Greg Johnston the intricacies of writing CYA Historical Fiction, and her novel, The Bookseller’s Apprentice, winner of the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize—CYA Category.  

Thomas Keneally discusses his long literary career with Greg Johnston, and his novel, Corporal Hitler’s Pistol , which won the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize—Adult Category

Claire Saxby discusses with Greg Johnston the intricacies of writing CYA Historical Fiction, and her novel, The Wearing of the Green, shortlisted for the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize—CYA Category.