Better Words

Michelle Upton writes short stories and novels examining our darkest fears and illuminating hope and possibility. Born in Birmingham, Michelle emigrated to Australia in 2006 and is proud to call herself Australian. Michelle has a Bachelor (Hons) degree in Literature with Psychology, and before having children, she was a primary school teacher. Her debut novel, Terms of Inheritance, was shortlisted...

Jonathon Shannon is a Sydney-based writer and creative director. His work has been recognised at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, screened at the St Kilda Film Festival, and is housed in the permanent archives of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Bound to Happen is his debut novel. Our interview begins at  00.21.00 We've got a Substack publication now! On the...

Eleanor Elliott Thomas worked for many years as a human rights lawyer before devoting herself full-time to writing. She lives in Melbourne with her partner, two kids, and three cats. Today, we're discussing her debut novel, The Opposite of Success . Our interview begins at  00.17.00 We've got a Substack publication now! On the last day of the month, we share recommendations for two things we...

Janice Hallett is the author of three best-selling novels. Her debut, The Appeal , was awarded the CWA Debut Dagger of 2021. Her second novel, The Twyford Code, was named Crime & Thriller Book of the Year in the British Book Awards 2023. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels was an instant Times and Sunday Times bestseller on its launch in January 2023. Janice is a former magazine editor,...

Alice Pung OAM is one of Australia's foremost writers. She wrote the memoirs Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter , and edited anthologies Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First Lesson . Her debut novel Laurinda won the Ethel Turner Prize at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and has been adapted for the stage. Her second novel, One Hundred Days , was shortlisted for the 2022 Miles Fra...

Elise Esther Hearst is a Melbourne-based playwright and author, working and living on Boon Wurrung country. She studied Creative Arts at Melbourne University and playwriting at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Upcoming productions include A Very Jewish Christmas Carol (Melbourne Theatre Company) and Yentl (Malthouse Theatre). One Day We’re All Going to Die , published by Harper Collins Australia...

Clare Fletcher was born and raised in regional Queensland, Australia. Her debut novel, romantic comedy Five Bush Weddings , was published in 2022, and today we're discussing the follow-up, Love Match . Clare also co-hosts That Rom Com Pod with fellow author (and previous Better Words guest) Karina May. Our interview begins at  00:28 We've got a Substack publication now! On the last day of the...

Lex Croucher grew up in Surrey, reading a lot of books and making friends with strangers on the internet, and now lives in London with an elderly cat. With a background in social media, Lex now writes historical-ish rom-coms for adults ( Reputation , Infamous ) and historical fantasy rom-coms for teenagers. We're discussing their debut YA novel, Gwen and Art Are Not in Love . Our interview begins...

Ashley Kalagian Blunt is the author of Dark Mode, an internationally published psychological thriller. Her earlier books are How to Be Australian, a memoir, and My Name Is Revenge, collected fiction and essays, which was a finalist in the 2018 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award. Her writing appears in the Sydney widely across Australian publications, and she co-hosts James and Ashley Stay at Home,...

Karina May is a Sydney-based former magazine journalist turned digital marketer, avid reader and writer of lively love stories that span the globe. When she's not dreaming up her next meet-cute, you'll likely find her rescuing her paperback from the bath, or out guzzling espresso martinis in the name of research. We're discussing her new novel, Duck á l'Orange for Breakfast . Our interview begins...

Trang Thanh Tran writes speculative stories about food, belonging and the Vietnamese diaspora. When not writing, they can be found over-caffeinating on iced coffee and watching zombie movies. She Is A Haunting is their debut novel. Our interview begins at  00:19 We've got a Substack publication now! On the last day of the month, we share recommendations for two things we reckon you should rea...

Claire Christian tells stories: she is a writer, theatre maker and facilitator. She has three novels published with Text publishing. Beautiful Mess won the Text Prize in 2016. It’s Been A Pleasure, Noni Blake was released in 2020. She has had the great joy of directing Michelle Law’s smash hit comedy Single Asian Female since 2017. She is a proud member of the Mama’s Boys theatre collective whose...

Josh grew up on a farm in the Lake District before moving to Manchester with his family, where he spent his teenage years loving the city. He moved to London to train at RADA as an actor and has performed in the West End and on Broadway. After deciding to change careers, Josh began training as a mental health nurse and, at the same time, started writing his first book. Josh lives in Manchester wit...

Genevieve Novak is a writer from all over, but who now lives in Melbourne on Wurundjeri land. She writes romantic comedies, women’s fiction, and columns for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald that make men on Twitter very upset. Her first novel, No Hard Feelings , was released in 2021, and her second novel, Crushing , is out now. Genevieve's corgi Victor also joins us and you'll hear him in a f...

Karen Comer is a freelance editor and presents writing workshops to children and adults. Earlier in her career, she worked in educational publishing and was the editor for the children's art magazine BIG. She lives in Melbourne. Grace Notes, a YA verse novel, was published in February 2023 with Hachette. Her MG verse novel, Sunshine on Vinegar Street , will be published in June 2023 with Allen &am...

Jessica Dettmann is the author of three novels: How To be Second Best , This Has Been Absolutely Lovely , and Without Further Ado , and a picture book called There’s No Such Book . After a decade working as a book editor for Random House, HarperCollins and freelance, she made the transition to writing after having kids. She was born and raised in Sydney and here she remains, disappointing her four...

Leanne is an Asian-Australian author of Singaporean and Malaysian heritage who loves writing the diaspora experience into contemporary and fantasy fiction. She started her career as an IT business analyst (boring – her words, not ours!) and is now an escape room creator (much more interesting). She has designed internationally recognised games with her partner that weave unique puzzle mechanics wi...

It's our favourite episode of the year – our favourite books, films, TV and audio of the year. Thank you for joining us in 2022 and supporting our wonderful authors. We've started a Substack for Better Words to give you extra mini recommendations each month outside of our podcast episodes. Come join us ! You can also find us Storygraph: Michelle and Caitlin . Season 10 (can you BELIEVE?!) will be...

We're switching things up for Season 9: Welcome to The Re-Read. In this mini-season, we check in with a selection of past guests to find out what they've been working on. Expect lots of books, some babies and plenty of chat. This season works a little differently, without book recommendations from us at the start of each episode. But we promise you'll still get plenty of books added to your TBR! I...

We're switching things up for Season 9: Welcome to The Re-Read. In this mini-season, we check in with a selection of past guests to find out what they've been working on. Expect lots of books, some babies and plenty of chat. This season works a little differently, without book recommendations from us at the start of each episode. But we promise you'll still get plenty of books added to your TBR! I...

We're switching things up for Season 9: Welcome to The Re-Read. In this mini-season, we check in with a selection of past guests to find out what they've been working on. Expect lots of books, some babies and plenty of chat. This season works a little differently, without book recommendations from us at the start of each episode. But we promise you'll still get plenty of books added to your TBR! I...

We're switching things up for Season 9: Welcome to The Re-Read. In this mini-season, we check in with a selection of past guests to find out what they've been working on. Expect lots of books, some babies and plenty of chat. This season works a little differently, without book recommendations from us at the start of each episode. But we promise you'll still get plenty of books added to your TBR! I...

We're switching things up for Season 9: Welcome to The Re-Read. In this mini-season, we check in with a selection of past guests to find out what they've been working on. Expect lots of books, some babies and plenty of chat. This season works a little differently, without book recommendations from us at the start of each episode. But we promise you'll still get plenty of books added to your TBR! W...

Hayli Thomson lives in Sydney, Australia, and writes novels about candid characters for anybody who ever watched Jo March leap a fence and longed to be her best friend. Bizarrely, during her teen years, Hayli was afflicted with a 'headache' every third Monday in September, when she was left with no option but to stay home from school and watch her favourite female comedians collect Emmys live on t...

Jodi McAlister is an author and academic. In her author life, her latest books are Libby Lawrence Is Good At Pretending, a campus rom-com about theatre kids with too many emotions, and Here for the Right Reasons, playing with reality TV tropes. As an academic, she researches romantic love and popular culture and is a Senior Lecturer in Writing, Literature and Culture at Deakin University. Our inte...