Dear Rach & Soph

We recorded this episode a week ahead of the 2026 RJ Book Club Readers Retreat, which was held in Geelong and was as jam-packed and fun as the previous years. Rachael runs the book club and the retreats (and the podcast Reading Between Deadlines ) with Anthea Hodgson, who is also from Perth and also a wonderful writer. Anthea has a new novel, The Palace of Lost Virtue , so of course we wanted to t...

Belinda Alexandra is one of Australia’s favourite novelists, with very good reason - her books are wonderful! And there’s some biographical information about her below, as well as the blurb of her latest novel, The Italian Correspondent . She is also, as you shall discover in this episode of Dear Rach & Soph, an incredibly interesting woman who has lots of passions and pursuits, and a wide-ope...

From Sophie: At the time of recording this episode I had a cold and Rachael was in the middle of preparing her house to go on the market. When I pressed ‘record’ I forgot to pull my microphone close enough and my usual camera wasn’t connecting so it’s the substandard version, which the internet would likely say is far too low quality to be permissible on a podcast that has video options … but! We...

Have you heard the term ‘regurgitated volume’ before? No? Good. That’s because Sophie made it up in this episode of Dear Rach & Soph, to describe large volumes of content being produced by generate A.I. In other words: books being written by A.I. But she's not going to call them that, and we discuss why. A.I. is a topic that is everywhere all at once, and also being raised specifically in rela...

From Sophie: On this podcast Rachael Johns and I let these conversations go where they will, and in this episode we start talking about how important it is for grown-ups to engage in play. That means in our writing as well, even if - perhaps especially if - we are constrained by expectations and deadlines. So that’s the light stuff. The heavy - or heavier - stuff turns up when we answer a listener...

In this episode we talk about a subject that has been on our list for a while: the reflexive nature of saying ‘sorry’. Admittedly it’s something Sophie put on the list, as it’s something she's had an interest in - you’ll have to watch/listen to this episode for the back story - and which she talks about regularly in her life, because so many of us say ‘sorry’ so regularly that she believes it’s de...

Hello longtime Dear Rach & Soph liewers (that's listeners + viewers to the uninitiated)! Thank you for your patience while Rachael Johns and I took a break to focus on writing our next books (two of them, in Rach's case) and other things.  Over the hiatus we've both had feedback that you mostly like us talking to each other, so there will be more of that this season, interspersed with som...

Due to manuscript deadlines and other commitments, it’s taken until now to bring you up to date with October and November new releases. But it’s just in time for summer reading! See how I managed to spin that! As a reminder: these are the books we know about. If you’re an author with a 2026 release, you can let us know  here . This is a Soph-only episode as Rach has two books to write at once...

**SPOILER ALERT** If you haven’t read Rachael Johns’s latest novel, The Lucky Sisters, please be advised that in this bonus episode of our podcast, Dear Rach & Soph, we discuss the ending of the book. The episode was recorded before the book was published and held until now to give people time to read it. If you haven’t read it and decide to listen anyway, well … you’ve ruined your own surpris...

We recorded this episode in September, and Rachael was under the weather at the time, but she’s not any more! And she also talks about her latest novel, The Lucky Sisters , maybe being out by the time this episode is - and that novel is indeed out now. Our guest for this episode is the wonderful Chiara Priorelli from audiobook publisher Wavesound . (Wavesound published the audiobook of Sophie's la...

When Rachael and I were offered the chance to have Lyla Sage as a guest on the podcast, we said yes straightaway. While our focus is Australian books and authors, Lyla has created something special in her Rebel Blue Ranch series and new novel Soul Searching, which kicks off the new series Sweetwater Peak. The writing is first and foremost, and she’s a great writer. But there’s also ‘the package’ -...

Note from Sophie: This is an episode featuring me alone - not because Rachael lost her voice or anything else, but because my guest is Qin Qin, and I published her book, Model Minority Gone Rogue: How an unfulfilled daughter of a tiger mother went way off script , so it made sense for me to do this one alone.  Model Minority Gone Rogue has been shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year and at...

Michael Brissenden had a long career as an esteemed journalist (see bio below) and all the while was writing fiction, as we found out when we spoke to him recently. We were interested in finding out more about how he has moved from investigative journalism to writing fiction that has won him lots of new fans, as those books - the latest of which is Dust - have become bestsellers. We also found out...

‘So I just get this tiny snapshot of extreme humanity at its most tempestuous or its most vulnerable almost … I obviously have had a lifetime of influence of what humans can do when they're pushed to the edge in whatever way. And that obviously has to kind of influence how I see humanity and therefore how I write characters in a way.’ Michelle Johnston is the author of THE REVISIONISTS and she is...

This year Holly Brunnbauer released her first novel, What Did I Miss? - but it is far from her first attempt at writing (and not even her first fiction manuscript). Holly began writing in earnest when she created a blog about motherhood in Melbourne and turned it into an enterprise. That taught her about writing to an audience, and she now assists other authors in understanding how to communicate...

Renae Black (bio below) was a guest on the first season of Dear Rach & Soph, and at that time we talked about whether or not she needed a literary agent. This time around, we wanted to talk to Renae about how her work in child protection has influenced the stories she writes, including her latest, Second Chance Station . What followed was a discussion in which Renae not only talked about the s...

These are the Australian books being released in September 2025 that we know about. There is no one central place to find out about book releases so we rely on authors reporting to us and also on the publishers who have added us to their mailing lists for advance notice of releases (as opposed to newsletters). We hope these episodes help you find a great new book! **NB: This is a Soph-alone episod...

When we started doing this podcast it was mainly us talking to each other. Then we started bringing guests onto the podcast and that has taken on its own life. And we certainly love talking to other writers! However, every now and again we go back to talking to each other, thanks to listener/viewer (aka ‘liewer’) Lucinda Ellen, who sent us several great questions. The questions ranged from to writ...

Two guests join me and Rachael Johns in this episode, and they are both fabulous (you can read their bios below). Emma Pei Yin has just released her first novel, When Sleeping Women Wake , and is working on her second. Saman Shad released her second novel, The Sex Lives of Married Women , earlier this year. Something Emma said to me when we first met - about what it was like working on her second...

Patrick Lenton is the author of the book of short stories A Man Made Entirely of Bats (2015) , the book of comedic essays Uncle Hercules and Other Lies (2019) , and the full length short story collection Sexy Tales of Paleontology (2021) . His debut novel, a rom-com called In Spite of You is out now from Pantera Press. And his actual bio is a lot longer than this because he’s a very accomplished i...

Each time one of us releases a book (separately) we devote an episode of Dear Rach & Soph to discussing the book - Sophie will interview Rachael about hers, and vice versa. This latest episode, which we’re releasing as a bonus episode, is about Sophie's new novel, Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon . There’s a short description below and you can hear Rach read the longer blurb in the episode...

As the Romance Writers of Australia conference is taking place this weekend, we thought it was a good time to publish the episode we recorded with Amy Barry . Rachael is an expert romance writer; Amy is a romance writer and also an academic expert in romance fiction (her bio appears below). Note from Sophie: I was passenger for most of this episode - to the point that my internet cut out, I droppe...

Kayte Nunn ’s previous books were mostly historical fiction, and there was often an element of intrigue, so the signs were there that she was heading for crime, and it’s a genre that she has taken to like the proverbial duck to water in her latest novel, THE PALAZZO. We loved speaking to Kayte about her decision to switch to crime, and how she came to create the intricate web of story in THE PALAZ...

These are the new fiction releases in Australia for August 2025 – that we know about! We’re relying on information from authors and publishers, but not all of them send it to us, so if you’re an author with an upcoming release, please let us know!  HISTORICAL FICTION Until the Red Leaves Fall by Alli Parker Daughters of Batavia by Stefanie Koens The Midnight Estate by Kelly Rimmer GENERAL FIC...

Maya Linnell is a beloved author of seven novels, the latest of which is COCKATOO COVE (blurb below). Her writing life began with journalism, and she worked at a rural newspaper before moving into public relations then into writing fiction as well as blogging for Romance Writers Australia. Maya currently lives in rural Queensland with her husband and three children.  We wanted to talk to Maya...