Writers Talking

Karen Brooks joined me to talk about her latest historical novel, The Extraordinary Florence Stoker ; the story of the woman that history has dismissed as Bram Stoker's cold, indifferent wife. Karen shares her own her path from academia (a PhD in cultural studies and 18 years as a newspaper columnist) to YA fantasy and, eventually, historical fiction, including the unpublished fantasy trilogy...

Nick Croydon is the CEO of QBD Books, one of Australia's best-known bookselling chains, and the author of the bestselling debut The Turing Protocol and its new follow-up, Nautilus. In this episode, Nick traces his path from auditing the bank in the basement of Harrods to running a bookstore empire (from 55 stores to nearly 100), and explains how his love of history and a time-slip machine beca...

Whitney Fitzsimmons spent decades mastering the tight, formulaic world of broadcast journalism — so when she finally sat down to write her debut novel, The Rising , the sheer freedom of fiction nearly stopped her in her tracks. In this episode, Whitney walks through how a flood-ravaged fictional town called Birradurra and a twenty-year-old cold case came to her almost fully formed, why she built h...

Gabbie Stroud joins us to talk about The Angry Wives Club, her “domestic noir with a chick-lit twist,” set on the far south coast of NSW. We start with the story of how she met fellow author Emma Grey (a completely random meet-cute in a dental surgery waiting room), then dig into how three generations of women - Steph, Heather, and Joni - came together on the page as, in Gabbie's words, an integra...

We first sat down with Andrea Barton back when The Godfather of Dance came out; now she's back to mark the completion of her five-book Jade Riley Mysteries series! In this episode, Andrea unpacks the decade-long journey behind the series: how a psychologist named Tara Wells became journalist Jade Riley, why the book she wrote first ( The Desert Thief ) ended up published last, and how thirteen yea...

Tricia Stringer joins us again hot off celebrating 30,000 copies sold of The Road Trip — and just months out from the October release of her next book, The Paradise Resort . In this episode, Tricia talks about how Road Trip favorites Kathleen and Omar found their way into the new story, and how a completely unplanned character, the irrepressible Beatrice, showed up around 20,000 words in and resha...

Fleur McDonald is one of Australia's most prolific crime writers... and she's the first to admit she has absolutely no idea how she does it. In this conversation, Fleur returns to chat about The Witness , the third instalment in her Kalgoorlie series (after The Prospect and The Missing ), a book that deliberately flips the script: you might figure out who did it halfway through, but the real tensi...

Kathryn Heyman is an actor, playwright, performance poet, novelist, and director of the Australian Writers' Mentoring Program. Her new novel Circle of Wonders (HarperCollins) is unlike anything she's written before. In this winding, generous conversation, Kathryn takes us inside what she describes as the "beautiful grapple" of writing this book about Roni Bloom, a charismatic woman at the end of h...

Amra Pajalic and I had so much more to chat about, so we continued our conversation! Some of the larger topics we cover in this second part include: Creating from passion rather than market pressure A big throughline is choosing creative projects based on personal passion and integrity, not trends, algorithms, or sales expectations. We talk about following curiosity across genres, letting reading...

Welcome to Writers Talking 2026!! I was thrilled to start the year with a fascinating conversation with author Amra Pajalic! In fact, we had so much to chat about that we decided to split it over 2 eps!! In this first episode, we chatted about: Writing fiction grounded in real historical trauma We discuss the responsibility and ethical weight of fictionalising real events, particularly the Bosnian...

Our final episode of 2025 is one I have been waiting for... A conversation with two of my favourite Australian authors, Angie Faye Martin and Alli Parker!! This episode gave us an opportunity (thanks to the fabulous suggestion from Angie) to dive into how each of their books was inspired by their culture and their family's stories. Though their novels are pretty different on the surface in terms o...

We started the year sharing a convo with Kate Horan and we've bookened with another! Well, almost, there's one more Writer's Talking episode coming next week as we farewell 2025. This conversation with Kate, chatting about her sophomore novel (or is it...) and what she's learnt through the process of publishing again with her supportive team at HQ Australia. We unpacked some of the high-level (no...

I was beyond excited to chat this week with A. Rushby (aka Allison Rushby), author of Slashed Beauties as I had the pleasure of receiving an early copy to review. Sold into mutliple markets and eagerly awaited, Allison's book was pitched as gothic feminist body horror. The concept itself was intriguing (but I'll let you hear directly from Allison about the genisis of the concept) and I was even mo...

This week's convo with Alina Bellchambers was fascinating! If you've been on social media or in bookshops in the past year (or more!), you'll KNOW that the love for Fantasty & Romantasy books has reached peak levels and I was lucky enough to be introduced to this bright new voice in the Australian market. A prolific writer who was raised in her family's bookshop, Alina has had a connection to...

Are you an author who struggles to pinpoint your genre? Or maybe a reader who loves stories that blend genres in unexpected ways? You'll love this week's episode where I chat with Dmetri Kakmi about his compelling new book, The Woman in the Well . Having written in different genres, Dmetri shares about how he leaves the genre designation to the publishers and the importance of bringing truth to ev...

I was SO excited to read this thrilling debut from the moment I heard it was being published June 2025!! Angie Faye Martin was kind enough to join me on the podcast to share all about her debut novel. She opens up about how long she worked on the manuscript, what her plotting approach looks like, the best advice she got from early industry mentoring and so much more. Let me know... would you love...

Welcome to a check-in episode with the inimitable Emma Grey where she shares what she's been up to amidst book 3 edits and screen adaptation learnings. It was fascinating! And then we both get vulnerable talking about what book promotion looks like (and costs) authors. I am so appreciative of how open and honest Emma always gets and we each got to share our awkward feelings about balancing gratitu...

Our latest convo with the delightful Sara Foster won't disappoint! Sara is shifting back from book promotion mode (for her latest twisty thriller, When She Was Gone ) to writing as she's focussed on finishing her 10th novel. We chat about the challenge (and the solutions) of writing in multiple POV, the passion she has for writing more stories centring mothers as well as getting clear about where...

I had such a brilliant time this week *finally* talking to Jane Costello (as you'll hear, I've been waiting months to have this chat!) who is not only incredibly experienced as an author of 15 novels, but she is so warm and generous with her stories...which is no surprise if you've read her latest fabulous novel, It's Getting Hot in Here ! In this episode, Jane tells us about her experience writin...

This week's chat with Andrew Matthews is masterclass in validation and motivation for writers everywhere. We chatted about his own writerly journey as well as the biggest takeaways that are important for all writers around perserverance and promotion. Andrew Matthews’ books have sold over 8 million copies in 48 languages and today we're taling about his latest, BOUNCING BACK . Andrew’s f...

“You put yourself in those shoes as much as you can, in that body and that skin. And when I write scene by scene, at the top of each scene, I do write the emotion I am trying to convey.” - Nanda Reddy During this week's writerly convo, I felt as if we just got started! Debut author Nanda Reddy has written a totally compelling, timely and heartwrenching-but-ultimately-hopeful story, A Girl Within a...

This week I had the pleasure of chatting with DG Rampton, the fabulous author of highly successful Regency romances (plus one contemporary rom-com!) which have hit a collective 100k+ sales! "As soon as I started to take myself seriously and my job (as a writer) seriously, other people started doing the same!" - DG Rampton That brilliant quote came early on in the conversation and is, I think, some...

Welcome to Season 4 of Writers Talking!! We are starting this season chatting with the author of a debut novel that's getting a lot of buzz in Australia, Kate Horan... Kate shares how she went from intriguing idea to pantsing her first draft, the (slightly) unexpected path her novel took from query to acquisition, her preferences around plotting during the editorial process and more. I absolutely...

I loved having the chance to catch up with Lisa Darcy again after the release of her most recent book, Christmas Actually!! We dove into topics like bringing real-life anecdotes and experiences into your writing, how to manage a complete storyline pivot suggestion from your editors, staying true to the kind of story you love to write and so much more... Looking for a festive last-minute gift? Buy...

I had the pleasure of connecting with one of my favourite Aussie authors and writerly friend, Dr Anita Heiss...not only did we talk about the second of her fantastic Historical Fiction novels, DIRRAYAWADHA, but so much more! Listen in as Anita chats about how she's surrounded herself with her passions, what she does on a daily basis to get so much done related to each of those passions, how she fi...