The First Time

In this special episode, Kate and Katherine seek out advice from the best as they both prepare to launch brand new books for kids. They are delighted to be chatting with author, illustrator and current Australian Children's Laureate, Sally Rippin . How to launch a MG book and why it's different from launching an adult book, the art of illustration, taking the business side of author life seriously...

This special live recording of The First Time Podcast took place on May 23, 2024 at Carriageworks on Gadigal Land for the Sydney Writers Festival. Podcast co-host, Kate Mildenhall spoke to guests Melanie Saward, James Colley and Charlotte Wood about their books, their paths to publication and the writing life. Melanie Saward is a proud Bigambul and Wakka Wakka woman. She is a writer, editor and un...

This episode of The Next Step is with Nat Kringoudis. It’s the episode where Katherine FINALLY gets to talk about both ice baths and fasting. Fasting can be problematic for some people so if you feel like food restriction discussions are triggering, maybe sit this one out.   Nat Kringoudis is a health care practitioner, she’s also a two times best selling author, Speaker and all-round natural fert...

Laurie Kilmartin is a stand-up comedian and an Emmy-nominated and award-winning comedy writer. She was a staff writer for all 11 years of CONAN and has performed standup on CONAN, Late Late Show w/James Corden, and Comedy Central.  Laurie Kilmartin is also on Twitter . A lot of people are on Twitter or have been on Twitter, but she’s the kind of tweeter that makes you wish Twitter was still a thin...

Sarah Pound is the creator of @wholesomebysarah . You’ve probably heard of her before, you may also have cooked her food. Sarah shares easy weeknight recipes on Insta where she a cult following of more than 700,000 people. You can also get Sarah’s meal kids in Woolworths around the country.  Sarah recently released her first cookbook also called ‘ Wholesome by Sarah ’. When pre-orders of her cookb...

Have you ever wanted to own your own business but not known where to begin? Like, literally all you know is that you WANT a business and nothing else? This interview with coach and entrepreneur Luisa Zhou is for you. Luisa Zhou is the founder of LuisaZhou.com , which teaches people how to go from employee to entrepreneur, and scale their businesses to 6- and 7-figures. She’s helped thousands of pe...

Brigid Delaney is currently a political speechwriter. She was a journalist for The Guardian , and wrote popular weekly column, ' Brigid Delaney's Diary ',’ which we little a little about in this interview. She wrote that column for eight years. It is so good. Like unbelievably and consistently funny, it’s stood the test of time. Read the cheese story and the mansion story mentioned in the episode—...

It's surprising how much the discussion about thoughts and thinking in basketball can apply to creativity. This episode is with BriAnna Garza , a professional basketball shooting coach. She currently coaches players in the (American) NBA, WNBA (as well as the NCAA and youth players) on both shot development and thought development.  BriAnna is also the founder/owner of Shooters Shoot— a mentorship...

Jack Druce is a comedian. Katherine thinks he's the best comedian in Australia (he's also the most humble). If you have the chance to see his stand up, GO. He's not at the Melbourne Comedy Festival this year unfortunately, but you can see his stand up special Rat Paradise on YouTube. It featured in New York Magazine.  Katherine gets excited telling people about Jack Druce because he’s genuinely hi...

This interview is with Jessica Weisberg . Jessica Weisberg is an award-winning writer and producer. Her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, Harper’s, and Atavist , among other publications, and been nominated for a National Magazine Award. She ran the features unit at Vice News Tonight on HBO, for which she was nominated for an Emmy, and is a senior producer at Serial Podcast. ...

This interview is with Mia Freedman. Mia Freedman needs no introduction! But we'll introduce her anyway. Mia Freedman is the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of the Mamamia Women’s Media Company in Australia. She very famously started Mamamia sitting at her kitchen table in the the aftermath of walking away from a big job in TV that was a TOTAL disaster. Mamamia now has an audience of more th...

Welcome to the very first episode of The First Time podcast's spin off series, The Next Step. The Next Step is all about figuring out what to do next in life. This episode is on manifestation. It's a bit woo woo but probably it’s less woo woo that you might expect. Longer time listeners of The First Time podcast might remember Katherine mentioning To Be Magnetic last season. To Be Magnetic ('TBM')...

It's finally arrived! Many of you will know that The First Time is taking a break in its current format this year BUT! Katherine is hosting a spin off series called The Next Step.  The Next Step is figuratively (but also literally in this case) what happens after The First Time. It’s about figuring out what to do next in life...  It'll still feature interviews with writers but other creatives, com...

Welcome to the last episode in Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the season 6 finale, you'll know that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back (solo) as of next week with The Next Step. The Next Step is figuratively but also l...

Welcome to our Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the season 6 finale, you'll know that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back (solo) in March with something new. It'll feature interviews with writers but also creatives, comed...

Welcome to our Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the season 6 finale, you'll know that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back (solo) in March with something new. It'll feature interviews with writers but also creatives, comed...

Welcome to our Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the season 6 finale, you'll know that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back (solo) in March with something new. It'll feature interviews with writers but also creatives, comed...

Welcome to our Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the season 6 finale, you'll know that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back (solo) in March with something new. It'll feature interviews with writers but also creatives, comed...

Welcome to our Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the seas 6 finale, you'll now that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back flying solo in March with something new. It'll feature interviews with writers but also creatives, com...

We're kicking off our Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the seas 6 finale, you'll now that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back flying solo in March with something new. It'll feature interviews with writers but also creativ...

We're kicking off our Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the seas 6 finale, you'll now that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back flying solo in March with something new. It'll feature interviews with writers but also creativ...

We're kicking off our Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the seas 6 finale, you'll now that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back flying solo in March with something new. It'll feature interviews with writers but also creativ...

We're kicking off our Summer Series -- a chance to catch up on some episodes you may have missed out on the first time around. If you listened to the seas 6 finale, you'll now that The First Time is taking a break in it's current format in 2024 BUT! Don't delete the feed just yet, Katherine will be back flying solo in March with something new. It'll feature interviews with writers but also creativ...

It's a big ep. We debrief, reflect, recommend and share some rather big news about the pod in 2024. We discuss: Things that have happened in writing and pod life for us since episode one of this season Fishing as a key theme of Katherine's year (and yes, the free fishing rods for Grade 4s is an actual thing ) A delightful school visit for Katherine and why she's excited for 2024 and the publicatio...

We are coming up to the last episode/s of the season and will have news about the podcast for next year very soon but for now, we're re-releasing an episode from earlier in the year with (American writer) Kevin Wilson... Enjoy!  Kevin Wilson has been on Katherine's interview wishlist oh about forever and FINALLY she got to speak to him. The discuss weirdness, including how Kevin writes about it wi...