Imagining The Past

Malcolm Knox, winner of three Walkley Awards and a Human Rights Award, chats with Greg Johnston about his novel, The First Friend, shortlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize 2025 Adult Category.  

Anna Ciddor discusses with Greg Johnston her novel Moonboy , shortlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize 2025 – CYA category.  

Leonie Norrington chats with Greg Johnston about her novel, A Piece of Red Cloth , and the intricacies of writing in conjunction with Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga, and Djawundil Maymuru.  

Dave Warner chats with Will Yeoman about his novel, Sound Mind Dead Body , at the City of Perth Library. Not only does Dave speak, he sings, accompanied by Will on guitar and Nicole Warner on backup vocals, a first for Imagining the Past .  

Lauren Keegan chats with Greg Johnston about her first published novel, All the Bees in the Hollows, long-listed for the ARA Historical Novel Prize 2025.   

In April 2026, Mary Lou Stephens launched her fourth novel, The Hobart Hotel, in the place the novel is set – Hobart’s glamorous Wrest Point Hotel Casino. Join Mary-Lou and author Karen Brooks in the Stardust room for a sparkling and twirling conversation.  

Debra Oswald’s One Hundred Years of Betty was longlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize 2025.  She chats with Greg Johnston about her long career writing for film, television, stage, radio, fiction and children's fiction. 

Imagining the Past Summer Season is here. Enjoy catching up with book launch discussions featuring your favourite authors and new voices.  This podcast is truly a mesclun. In Feb 2026, Sue Williams launched her fourth novel, The Duke’s Secret, at the rowdy and aptly relevant pub, the Hero of Waterloo, in Sydney’s Rocks district. She was also interviewed by James Dunbar about some of the stories be...

Imagining the Past Summer Season is here. Enjoy catching up with book launch discussions featuring your favourite authors and new voices. In early December 2025, Shelley Dark launched her second novel, Son of Hydra , with book coach Hayley Saunders at the Noosa Library.  

Imagining the Past Summer Season is here. Enjoy catching up with book launch discussions featuring your favourite authors and new voices. Alexandria Burnham’s debut novel, Swallow, through Westwords Publication, was launched by Lauren Chater at the HNSA History Unbound Festival dinner, held in Parramatta in November 2025.   www.westwords.com.au/product/swallow/

Imagining the Past Summer Season is here. Enjoy catching up with book launch discussions featuring your favourite authors and new voices. Wendy J. Dunn launched her new novel, Shades of Yellow , on November 15th, 2025, at Eltham Library in Melbourne. Dr Anne Casey gave an enthusiastic invocation, followed by Wendy’s response and reading from the novel. 

Imagining the Past Summer Season is here. Enjoy catching up with book launch discussions featuring your favourite authors and new voices. Konrad Muller’s debut novel, My Heart at Evening , is published by a new imprint, Evercreech Editions. In November 2025, Konrad chatted with Rodney Croome at the Devonport Library about the novel’s recreation of the final days of colonial surveyor, artist and am...

Imagining the Past Summer Season is here. Enjoy catching up with book launch discussions featuring your favourite authors and new voices. Nicole Alexander travelled a long and winding road to promote her new novel, The Limestone Road . In September, she spoke with Goondiwindi Shire Councillor Susie Kelly at the Goondiwindi Library.  

Imagining the Past Summer Season is here. Enjoy catching up with book launch discussions featuring your favourite authors and new voices. Death at Booroomba is Alison Booth’s ninth novel, a deeply evocative historical whodunnit. It was launched at Gleebooks in Sydney in September 2025. Published through Ventura Press, Jane Curry was the session's convener. 

Greg Johnston chats with Jane Harrison about her novel, The Visitors , and its long and winding road to being long-listed for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize. 

 Greg Johnston chats to Beverley McWilliams about her second CYA novel, Spies in the Sky , which flew into first place in the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize – CYA category.  

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...