Final Draft - Great Conversations

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. Maria van Neerven is a Mununjali poet from the Yugambeh nation living in Meanjin. Maria was the winner of the David Unaipon Award in 202...

One of my favourite parts of Final Draft is discovering debut novels that get me excited for many more books to come. That was my feeling as I devoured George Kemp’s Soft Serve (sorry pun not intended) over the holidays. George Kemp is a writer of fiction, plays and television. After a life as an actor and producing his own scripts on the stage, George was accepted into The Faber Academy, where he...

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. Sara Haddad is an editor and writer. You first met Sara on Final Draft when we discussed he debut novella The Sunbird. Today Sara is ret...

Shailee Thompson is a writer and educator and today we’ve got her debut novel, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates. Right off the top I’ll let you all know that How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates is a horror/slasher story. It has a lot of fun playing with the genre and that’s why I’m bringing it in for you, but if that’s not your thing right now just mute the next few minutes. Jamie needs a break from her...

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. Kay Kerr is an author and journalist based on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Kay’s latest novel, Might Cry Later, is out now. Nora is ho...

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. Christian White is an Australian author and screenwriter. He is the bestselling author of titles including The Nowhere Child (2018), The...

Summer time in the Final Draft household brings lots of new release and pre-release titles and the corresponding challenge of knowing where to start. When the titles started rolling in though it was very easy to pick up Kay Kerr’s new novel, her first aimed at adult readers because I’ve enjoyed her Young Adult writing, as well as her strong autistic characters and her approach to neurodiversity. ...

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. George Kemp is an award winning writer of fiction, plays and television. In 2024, George was accepted into The Faber Academy, during whi...

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. Rhett Davis is the author of Hovering. Today we’ve got his new novel Arborescence Arborescence is the state of having the root and branc...

Summer time in the Final Draft household brings lots of new release and pre-release titles and the corresponding challenge of knowing where to start. When the titles started rolling in though it was very easy to pick up Kay Kerr’s new novel, her first aimed at adult readers because I’ve enjoyed her Young Adult writing, as well as her strong autistic characters and her approach to neurodiversity. ...

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. William J Byrne’s debut novel is The Warrumbar. Robbie’s not so different from the other boys in his class. He loves cricket, school not...

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. Evelyn Araluen is a Goorie and Koori poet, editor and researcher. She is co-editor of Overland Literary Journal. Evelyn’s first collecti...

Xmas time is here and as sure we’ll be reaching for mince pies, gravy and white wine in the sun, we’ll also be turning our attention to festive tales that make us feel warm and full of cheer. Because festive cheer is what makes a Xmas story Xmassy right? I saw the other day that this year marks the 35th anniversary of Home Alone. Feeling old yet? This iconic Xmas movie is full of all the festive s...

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. Today Felix Shannon joins us in conversation with Benjamin Stevenson Benjamin Stevenson is an award-winning stand-up comedian and author...

Today's Book Club is a reading from Evelyn Araluen's new poetry collection The Rot. Evelyn Araluen is a Goorie and Koori poet, editor and researcher. She is co-editor of Overland Literary Journal. Evelyn’s first collection Dropbear won the Stella Prize in 2022 and she is joining us today with her new collection The Rot. Originally aired on 2ser 107.3

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. Dr Katharine Pollock (PhD) is the author of Her Fidelity. Her new novel is Starry Eyed. To say that Scarlett Fever is the centre of Addi...

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. Sally Hepworth is a New York Times bestselling author of ten novels. Her novels have been translated into over 30 languages. Sally’s nov...

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. Luke Johnson is a physiotherapist and writer from Victoria.  He’s joining us today with his debut novel King Tide. When you’re young in...

Rhett Davis is the author of Hovering. Today we’ve got his new novel Arborescence Arborescence is the state of having the root and branch like structures of a tree. Importantly it’s a noun, but Rhett Davis asks us to imagine if it were a verb… Caelyn is at a loss. She’s bouncing between jobs that she quickly loses, like when she gets fired from a nursery for taking home the dying plants (they cons...

Andrew is joined In Conversation by Maeve Marsden. Maeve is the Artistic Director of Blue Mountains Writers Festival and the two explore programming a festival and exploring ideas that not everyone agrees with. 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 mo...

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. January Gilchrist is  Brisbane based author. Her debut novel is The Final Chapter Writers’ retreats are supposed to be about creativity....

Sally Hepworth is a New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, with her novel The Family Next Door having recently been adapted for television. Today I’ve got for you her new novel Mad Mabel.  Elsie just wants a quiet life. She’s been more than thirty years in her quiet little Melbourne lane and she’d happily stay thirty more if she thought she had that much time left. Unfortunately for Elsi...

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. Brandon Jack is the author of the acclaimed memoir 28. Brandon’s debut novel is Pissants.  Brandon’s also a footballer, who played for t...