Podcast interviews with authors

Podcast with Elliot Perlman

Elliot Perlman is the author of three novels and a collection of short stories. His debut novel Three Dollars was published in 1998 and won The Age Book of the Year award and the Betty Trask Prize. It was later turned into a film by Elliot and director Robert Connolly, and was released in 2005.

Podcast with Kim Kiyosaki

Kim Kiyosaki is a successful entrepreneur who was able to retire in 1994 thanks to the success of her business endeavours, but she couldn’t sit still for long, and in 1997 with husband, Robert Kyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, she began travelling the world and imparting the secrets of her financial success.

Podcast with Brian Thacker

Brian Thacker’s seventh travel book is Tell Them to Get Lost – Travels with the Lonely Planet guidebook that started it all. Travelling South-East Asia with a copy of the first-ever shoestring guidebook, published in 1975, Brian travels through Portuguese Timor, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Burma.

Podcast with Jessica Rudd

Jessica Rudd’s second novel, and sequel to her debut Campaign Ruby, is Ruby Blues. After helping the opposition win government in Campaign Ruby, Ruby Stanhope is now struggling with a PM whose popularity is quickly waning, a luke-warm love life, and her looming 30th birthday.

Christmas podcast

For the Christmas edition of our podcast, we've done something a little different. Regular listeners will know that we usually interview one author per podcast. this time, we've interviewed two former students of the Sydney Writers' Centre, Heather Smith and Al
McKillop, who both have books released this month.

Podcast with Tara Moss

Tara Moss is the best-selling author of The Spider Goddess, the second book in her new series of paranormal fiction featuring Pandora English. Tara started her career as an international fashion model before pursuing her love of writing and publishing her first novel, Fetish, at the age of 23.

Podcast with Judy Nunn

Judy Nunn is an Australian author and actress, known by many of us for her role in Home and Away as Ailsa. Her latest books is Tiger Man, set in Tasmania in the 1850s when ambitious entrepreneurs rapidly built a thriving centre of industry at the expense of the state’s natural resources and environment.

Podcast with Robert Kiyosaki

Robert Kiyosaki dropped into the Sydney Writers’ Centre and we chatted about his new book Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich – And Why Most Don’t, which he co-authored with Donald Trump. Robert has built an entire empire on his “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” series of books so it was great to be able to chat to him about his writing and book marketing strategies.

Podcast with James Halliday

James Halliday is one of Australia’s leading wine experts. He is a wine writer, critic and competition judge. An experienced winemaker, James is famous for the James Halliday Australian Wine Companion, which is a must buy for any wine buff, from the novice to the connoisseur.

Podcast with Nick Earls

Nick Earls is an award-winning author of 12 novels and two short story collections. His latest is The Fix, is the story of a wannabe investigative journalist working instead as a fixer – the PR spin-master who can get any client out of a bind. Nick has written both popular adult and young adult fiction. Of his popular fiction novels he is most well-know for Zigzag Street, which has been adapted for theatre (and plays regularly in Brisbane), and his 2009 novel, The True Story of Butterfish.

Podcast with YA Erskine

After working for 11 years as a police officer in Tasmania, YA (Yvette) Erskine decided to leave the force and pursue her writing career. Her first book is The Brotherhood, a fictional account of what many police officers experience daily in their working lives. The novel follows the investigation of the murder of Sergeant John White, and all-round good guy who is killed during a routine callout.

Podcast with Lauren Shockey

After completing a degree at the University of Chicago, Lauren Shockey took up a role in a public relations agency. But after just one year in the “perdition” of the corporate world she quit her job and enrolled in the French Culinary Institute to start her training as a chef. She went on to take up internship roles in some of the world’s most well-known restaurants, in New York, Paris, Hanoi and Tel Aviv. Her book, Four Kitchens, chronicles her life as a chef’s apprentic).

Podcast with Barry Maitland

Barry Maitland is an architect turned author. His most recent novel is Chelsea Mansions, the latest in the Brock and Kolla series of crime novels. Barry was born in Scotland and, in 1984, moved to Australia from London to take up a role as Professor of Architecture at the University of Newcastle. In 2000 he retired from that role to write full time.

Podcast with Liz Porter

Liz Porter is the author of Cold Case Files, an account of how cold cases from Australia, the UK and the US have been solved using new science and techniques. She is also the author of Written on the Skin, which was the joint winner of the 2007 Ned Kelly award for best true crime book. 

Podcast with Anonymums

Anonymums is a book by 3 anonymous mothers, Mum A, Mum B and Mum C. The book started off as a game of "Truth or Dare", a game they played with each other to relieve themselves of boredom in suburbia. However the end result is a book that is a raw and revealing account of motherhood.

Podcast with Lisa Genova

Lisa Genova has just released her second book – Left Neglected. It is a fictional look at the devastating affects of a traumatic brain injury on high-powered supermum, Sarah Nickerson, and is inspired by an actual condition called Left Neglect. Her first book, Still Alice, made the New York Times bestseller list and has sold over 40,000 copies in Australia alone.

Podcast with Anna Lanyon

Anna Lanyon is an author and academic, with a long interest in Spanish and Portuguese langue and history. She has written three historical books and her third, Fire and Song, has just been released. Her earlier novels were Malinche’s Conquest (2000), which has been translated into five languages and was awarded the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for history. Her second book, The New World of Martin Cortes, was released in 2003.

Podcast with Mark Abernethy

Mark Abernethy is an Australian author well-known for his suspense and thriller novels featuring the Aussie super-spy, Alan McQueen. He has written four novels and two non-fiction books. His latest is Counter Attack, the third book in the Alan McQueen series. Based in Sydney, he has been a journalist, speechwriter and a senior editor at Australian Penthouse magazine. 

Podcast with Leslie Cannold

Leslie Cannold is an academic, ethicist and freelance writer. Her first novel is The Book of Rachael, a re-imagining of the story of Jesus told through the eyes of his younger sister. A long-time activist, Leslie Cannold is committed women’s rights and equality, two themes that feature strongly in her first novel. 

Podcast with Sara Foster

West Australian author, Sara Foster, has just released her second book – Beneath the Shadows. Beneath the Shadows is set in the isolated North Yorkshire Moors in England. Grace has returned there one year after her husband, Adam, vanishes. Her first novel, Come Back to Me, was released in 2010 and was well received by readers and critics alike.

Podcast with Dominic Smith

Dominic Smith is an Australian author currently living in Austin, Texas. He’s published three novels and his latest is Bright and Distant Shores. It follows the journey of an obsessive American collector who travels to islands in the Pacific to collect artefacts for an ethnographic exhibition. Set in the years after the Chicago World Fair, it chronicles the clash between modern and commercial America and the tribal Pacific. 

Podcast with Cory Taylor

Cory Taylor is a freelance writer from Brisbane, best known for her children’s books, including Rat Tales #1 and Rate Tales #2. Her first novel, Me and Mr Booker will be released in March this year (2011). Me and Mr Booker is already receiving a lot of interest in literary circles.

Podcast with Alison Booth

Author and academic, Alison Booth, has just published her second book – The Indigo Sky. Her first novel, Stillwater Creek, was published in 2010 and was well received by critics and readers alike. The Indigo Sky is the sequel to Stillwater Creek.

Podcast with Matthew Reilly

Publishing phenomenon Matthew Reilly is known for his action/thriller novels. His first book, Contest, was self-published in 1996. After being knocked back by every major publisher in Sydney, he produced 1,000 copies of Contest himself, and eventually won a publishing deal with Pan Macmillan. Matt Reilly’s books have been published in over 20 countries and sold over 3.5 million copies. Some of his books have also been optioned for film.

Podcast with Lara Morgan

Lara Morgan is the author of the new young adults series, The Rosie Black Chronicles. The first book, Genesis, will be released in October 2010. In 2003 she won the Australian Women’s Weekly Short Story Contest, which led to an invitation to write a story for Girls’ Night In, published by Penguin in 2004.

Podcast with Kate Williams

Kate Williams is an historian and author of two historical biographies – England’s Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton and Becoming Queen about the young Queen Victoria and her cousin Princess Charlotte. She is an expert on the Regency period in England and lectures regularly throughout Europe.

Podcast with Posie Graeme-Evans

Posie Graeme-Evans is an author, screenwriter, television producer and lyricist. Her most recent novel is The Dressmaker. She is also the author of the historical romance trilogy – The Innocent, The Exiled and The Beloved – set in medieval England. Posie was the creator and producer of one of Australia’s best-loved drama series, McLeod’s Daughters, and the co-creator of Hi-5.

Podcast with Sonya Harnett

Sonya Harnett is one of Australia’s most well known authors. She has written books for both children and adults and received numerous prizes and awards. She started writing when she was 13, and her first book, Trouble All The Way, was published when she was just 15. Her latest books are the adult novel, Butterfly, the children’s picture book The Boy and the Toy, and later this year she’ll release The Midnight Zoo, another children’s book.

Podcast with Patrick Ness

Patrick Ness is an American-born writer now living in London. The first book in the Chaos Walking series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, was published in 2008 and was awarded the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Prize. It was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in the UK. His latest book is Monsters of Men, the third in his young adult series, Chaos Walking. 

Podcast with Sally Murphy

Sally Murphy made the decision to fulfill her dream of becoming a children’s author in 2002. Since then she has published 30 books and has been short-listed for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards, among others. Her latest book is Toppling, an illustrated verse novel about childhood illness. Sally has worked as a teacher, and is also a book reviewer. She runs the website Aussiereviews.com, which features reviews of Australian books for children, young adults and adults.  

Podcast with John Connolly

John Connolly is the author of the popular Charlie Parker crime series. Connolly published his first novel in 1999. Every Dead Thing was a critical success and earned him a nomination for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His latest novel is The Whisperers, the ninth book in the series. Other books include Dark Hollow, The White Road and The Black Angel.

Podcast with Natasha Solomons

Natasha Solomons is the author of Mr Rosenblum’s List, which was published in Australia in April. It is her first novel and is based partly on her grandparents’ story of leaving Germany and settling in England before WWII. The novel has been very well received and is already published in 9 languages. Natasha is currently working on the screen adaptation with her husband, fellow screenwriter David Solomons.

Podcast with Linda Jaivin

Linda Jaivin is the author of eight books, including the bestseller Eat Me – a romp through the lives of four Sydney women and their erotic exploits. Eat Me was her first novel and was a bestseller here and overseas. Since Eat Me she has published five more novels – Rock & Roll Babes from Outer Space, Miles Walker, You’re Dead, Dead Sexy and the Internal Optimist. Her latest is A Most Immoral Woman. 

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Podcast with Malla Nunn

Malla Nunn is an Australian author, screenwriter and director. Her latest book is Let the Dead Lie, the second Detective Emmanuel Cooper novel. Originally from Swaziland, she emigrated to Perth with her parents in the 1970s. Her first novel was A Beautiful Place to Die, which was also the first in her Emmanuel Cooper series, scored her a Sisters in Crime Award for Best Adult Crime Novel and a nomination in the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Awards. 

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Podcast with Sarah Waters

Sarah Waters’ 2009 novel, The Little Stranger, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and has received much praise and critical acclaim since its release. Set in 1940s England, it is a chilling ghost story about the Ayres family. Since 2003, she has been awarded the Betty Trask Award, the Somerset Maugham Awards, and the CWA Ellis Peters Dagger Award for Historical Crime Fiction for Fingersmith. She has also been shortlisted twice for both the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize. 

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Podcast with Andrea Levy

Andrea Levy's latest book is The Long Song. It is the story of July – a slave girl on a sugar plantation in Jamaica. Set during the time of the Baptist War, when slavery eventually came to an end. The inspiration from her books comes from the experiences of black Jamaicans in Britain. Her own parents migrated from Jamaica in 1948 and, as a young woman, Levy always wanted to see more books written about the lives of black Britons.

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Podcast with PD Martin

PD Martin is an Australian crime writer. Her latest book, Kiss of Death, features Aussie FBI profiler Sophie Anderson. Her academic career started with a Bachelor in Behavioural Sciences. She then went on to study music full time and it was during this period that she rediscovered her love of writing. 

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Podcast with Elizabeth Kostova

Elizabeth Kostova's second novel is The Swan Thieves, a story of obsession and art. Her first, The Historian, shot to number one on the New York Times bestseller list, becoming the first debut novel to do so. This historical novel explores the history and folklore of Vlad the Impaler, the real-life inspiration for the Dracula story. It went on to sell over two million copies worldwide, and was published in 26 foreign editions.

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Podcast with Sara Foster

Sara Foster's debut novel is Come Back to Me. Originally from England, she settled in Perth with her husband in 2004. Although she started her career in book publishing and has been working as a freelance editor for the last decade, she has always had an interest in writing and wrote poems and short stories from a young age. 

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Podcast with Christopher Ride

Christopher Ride self-published his first novel, The Schumann Frequency, after spending 10 years writing it but having no success in finding a publisher. He went on to sell well over the 10,000 copies he was aiming for and the rights to the novel were eventually bought by Random House. They have now published the second book in the Overseer series, The First Boxer.

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Podcast with Penelope Green

Penelope Green is a freelance journalist and author. She has published three travel memoirs recounting her time in Italy – When In Rome, See Naples and Die, and the latest, Girl By Sea. It is the story of her life in Procida, an idyllic island looking over the Bay of Naples, and how she became part of the community through a common love of food. 

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Podcast with Liz Byrski

Liz Byrski is a freelance journalist and author of 14 non-fiction and fiction books. As a journalist she has over 40 years’ experience in the media, both in England and Australia. She worked on ABC Radio in Perth and went on to become an executive producer there. Her latest novel is Bad Behaviour, a story of three women coming to terms with their past.

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Podcast with Tom Rob Smith

Tom Rob Smith is the author of Child 44, which won huge acclaim when it was released in 2008. It was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, won the 2008 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger prize for best thriller and was nominated for the Costa First Novel Award (formerly the Whitbread Awards). His latest novel is The Secret Speech.

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Podcast with Jack Marx

Jack Marx is a journalist, blogger and author. As a journalist, Marx has written for The Sydney Morning Herald, Rolling Stone, The Times, The Age, Men’s Style, Ralph, Australian Traveller and many others. His latest book is Australian Tragic: Gripping tales from the dark side of our history, a book of true stories from Australia’s ‘dark heart’.

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Podcast with Andrew Griffiths

Andrew Griffiths is an entrepreneur and author of ten books. He is the author of the ‘101 Ways’ business building series of books, published by Allen & Unwin. There are eight books in total in the series and they’ve all been incredibly successful both in Australia and overseas. His latest is The ME Myth – a book about how to combat the self-obsession of the modern world.

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Podcast with Scott Frost

Scott Frost is a screen writer and novelist with some incredibly successful television programs and books to his credit. His television credits include shows such as Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Babylon Five and Andromeda. He has also written five books, his latest book is Don't look back.

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Podcast with Lisa Lutz

Lisa Lutz is the author of the Spellman series, the latest of which, Revenge of the Spellmans, has just been released. The books are about a family of private investigators and have sold in over 22 countries. Film rights to The Spellman Files have also been optioned. In 2000 her screenplay, Plan B, was made – and she vowed never to write another screenplay again! She also worked for many years for a private detective agency.

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Podcast with JJ Cooper

JJ Cooper’s debut novel is The Interrogator. It is a military thriller made frighteningly authentic thanks to Cooper’s own experience as a Human Intelligence officer with the Australian Army. He spent 17 years in the army, during which time he did two tours of duty in East Timor and one in the Middle East.

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Podcast with Michael McGirr

Michael McGirr is the author of the best-selling books Things You Get For Free, about his trip to Europe with his mother, and Bypass: The Story of a Road, about Australia’s ‘main road’, the Hume Highway. His latest book is The Lost Art of Sleep, a book that explores sleep and its seeming demise despite its many benefits, and the huge role it plays in everyday life.

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Podcast with Leah Giarratano

Dr Leah Giarratano has been a clinical psychologist for many years - she's therefore well placed to write convincing crime thrillers. She has also worked in television - in 2009 she was the host of Channel 7's Beyond the Darklands. Her latest book is Black Ice, the third in the series of Jill Jackson novels.

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Podcast with Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay is the hugely successful author of No Time for Goodbye, which was the bestselling novel in the UK for 2008. He started his career in journalism in his hometown of Ontario, Canada and went on to become a regular humour columnist in the Toronto Star from 1993 to 2008. His latest book, Fear the Worst, has just been released.

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Podcast with Marele Day

Marele Day is the author of 10 books, including the four-book Claudia Valentine series of crime novels. She has won several awards including the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement, 2008 and won international acclaim for her 1997 novel Lambs of God. Her latest book is The Sea Bed, about a Buddhist monk who leaves his monastery to carry out a fellow monk’s dying wish.

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Podcast with Helen Brown

Helen Brown is a newspaper columnist and author originally from New Zealand and now living in Melbourne. She has published 10 books and has written regular columns for papers such as the Christchurch Star, Marlborough Express and LIVE Magazine. Her latest book is Cleo, the story of the cat Cleo who entered her one week after her oldest son was killed, and stayed with her and her family for 24 years. It will be released in Australia in September this year.

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Podcast with Poppy King

Poppy King set up Poppy Industries in 1992 selling her own brand of lipstick, and within three years, her business had grown into a multi-million dollar company. She quickly became known as the ‘Lipstick Queen’. In 2002 Poppy Industries was sold to Estee Lauder. Poppy has now returned to running her own company, this time called Lipstick Queen. She has also just released her first book, Lessons of a Lipstick Queen: Finding and Developing the Great Idea That Can Change Your Life.

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Podcast with Susannah Fullerton

Susannah Fullerton is a popular literary lecturer and author. She is a leading authority on 19th and 20th century writers with a special interest in Jane Austen – she is president of the Jane Austen Society of Australia. She also leads literary tours to the UK every year. Her latest book is Brief Encounters: Literary travellers in Australia 1836-1939.

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Podcast with Craig Silvey

Craig Silvey was only 19 when he finished his first novel, Rhubarb. It was published two years later in 2004 and won Craig The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist award. His second novel, Jasper Jones, has just been released and has already garnered rave reviews.  It has been compared favourably to the classic, To Kill a Mockingbird and promises to be as successful as Rhubarb was five years ago.

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Podcast with Mary Moody

Mary Moody has had a long passion for gardening which has led to a number of columns on gardening and eventually many books. She is probably most well-known for her French trilogy - Au Revoir, Last Tango in Toulouse and The Long Hot Summer. Her latest book is Sweet Surrender: Love, life and the whole damn thing.

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Podcast with Gregor Salmon

Gregor Salmon is a freelance feature writer who has written for Inside Sport, Sunday LIfe!, Ralph and Playboy. He has also worked as a producer at The Morning Show at Channel 7 and as an online producer for i7news and Yahoo7. His latest book is Poppy - Life, Death and Addiction inside Afghanistan's opium trade.

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Podcast with Dominic Knight

Dominic Knight is best known for his work with the comedy team, The Chaser. In 1999 he founded The Chaser newspaper with Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel and Charles Firth. Following on from that were the ABC television series CNNNN, The Chaser Decides and The Chaser’s War on Everything, the third series of which is airing on ABC currently. His recent debut novel is Disco Boy.

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Podcast with Amanda Falconer

Amanda Falconer is author of The Renovator’s Survival Guide. Since the book’s launch, she has been featured on Sunrise, 9am with David and Kim, A Current Affair, as well as numerous radio interviews. She is a brand and marketing expert with over 20 years experience.

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Podcast with Richard Harland

Richard Harland left his job 12 years ago as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wollongong to write full-time. Since then he has published 15 novels and has just scored a big US publishing deal for his latest book, Worldshaker.

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Podcast with Louise Bagshawe

Louise Bagshawe is the author 12 international bestsellers including Tuesday’s Child, Glamour, Glitz and her most recent Passion. She is also a parliamentary candidate for the Conservative Party and an advocate for many charities supporting victims of HIV/AIDS, the homeless and children.

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Podcast with Sydney Bauer

Sydney Bauer is the author of the crime series featuring Boston based criminal attorney David Cavanagh. Her debut novel Undertow, also the first novel in the series, was published in 2006 and won the Sisters in Crime Davitt Award for the best crime novel by an Australian Woman. Since then, she has written three more novels – Gospel, Alibi and Move to Strike.

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Podcast with Maree Giles

Maree Giles' debut novel, Invisible Thread, is a semi-autobiographical account of life for a young girl in the Gunyah Training School for Girls in 1970. Despite its sometimes harrowing story, it received rave reviews. Maree is in Australia in June and will be teaching one writing course this year at the Sydney Writers' Centre - Hook Your Reader.

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Podcast with Janeen Brian

Janeen Brian is an award-winning author of more than 65 books - some of her more well-know children's books are Where does Thursday go?, Hoosh! Camels in Australia and Pilawuk: When I was Young. Janeen has been a teacher, actress, artist and writer and has even written scripts for Humphrey Bear, the iconic Australian children's program. Her most recent short novel is Oddball.

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Podcast with Patti Miller

Patti Miller is an author and writing teacher. She has written five books including two on the process of life writing, Writing Your Life and The Memoir Book. She has been teaching life writing throughout Australia and overseas for over 15 years and teaches regularly at the Sydney Writers' Centre.

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Podcast with Michelle Bridges

Michelle Bridges has been a trainer on Channel 10’s The Biggest Loser since 2006. She has been writing regular columns on health, nutrition and fitness for a number of national newspapers and magazines since 2001 and has recently released Crunch Time through Penguin books, a guide to healthy eating and exercise.

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Podcast with Annette Hughes

Annette Hughes wanted to be an artist, but married an art dealer and the art world instead. After the marriage failed, she went into book publishing with an independent small publisher. Annette's first book is called Art Life Chooks.

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Podcast with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki has written 26 books. His first book Great Moments In Science was published in 1984 and his latest book Please Explain was released in November 2007. According to New Scientist Magazine Karl's last five books have all become best-selling popular science books in Australia. His latest book is Please Explain.

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Podcast with John Birmingham

John Birmingham freelanced as a journalist for ten years taking feature commissions from a wide variety of magazines such as Playboy and Rolling Stone. His first book, He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, was a cult comedy success which went on to be filmed by indie amateur Richard Lownstein and was adapted for the stage. His latest book is Final Impact.

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Podcast with Sean Williams

Sean Williams has written over 27 science fiction and fantasy books. He has won over 11 awards for his books. His latest award was the 2007 Ditmar Award for Best Novel for his book Saturn Returns. His latest book is book two of the Broken Land called The Dust Devils

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Podcast with Jenine Beekhuyzen

Jenine Beekhuyzen has just released her book Tech girls are chic, not just geek. It is a not-for-profit book free for Australian schoolgirls, to encourage them into an IT career. It is based on seven years of research, finding role models, and helping others understand the diversity of IT careers.

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Podcast with Holly Hill

Holly Hill is an author who gained notoriety after writing her controversial book, Sugarbabe. A book about her experience finding a sugar daddy. Following on the controversial path blazed by Sugarbabe, Holly holds nothing back in her new book, Toyboy.

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Podcast with Duncan Ball

Duncan Ball is the best-selling author of seventy-five books of children's fiction including the Selby and Emily Eyefinger series. He moved to Australia in 1974. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and lived for some years in Anchorage, Alaska, and later in Madrid and Paris. His latest book is The Joke's On Selby.

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Podcast with Michael MacConnell

Michael MacConnell has been writing crime stories in the second grade. His father loved Sherlock Holmes and watched old remakes so crime fiction has always been an influence for him. He wrote his first novel Maelstrom which was released in October 2007. His latest novel Splinter was launched in July 2008.

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Podcast with Christine Harris

Christine Harris has written over 50 books. She has written all sorts of books for children and young adults she has written historical fiction, fantasy, joke books, spy books and series books. Christine’s first book in the series Audrey of the Outback is set in Northern South Australia in 1930. Her latest book in the series is Audrey goes to Town.

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Podcast with Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay is the founder of the Australian quarterly research series The Ipsos Mackay Report (previously The Mackay Report). He is a psychologist, social researcher, a regular columnist in The Age and a regular commentator appearing on radio and television. Hugh has just launched his latest book Advance Australia Where?

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Podcast with Lawrence Hill

Lawrence Hill's book Someone Knows My Name won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2008 award. It is called The Book of Negroes in Canada and it is about the history of slavery. It follows African slaves from Africa to America and delves into the struggles for the character Aminato Diallo.

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Podcast with Jackie French

Jackie French has been writing for over 17 years and has had 132 of her books published. She wrote her first children's book called Rainstones in 1991 while she was living in a shed. She said it was probably the messiest manuscript that Angus and Robertson has ever received (and accepted). Jackie's latest book, A rose for the Anzac Boys, is about the war in 1915.

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Podcast with Bronwyn Parry

Bronwyn Parry was awarded the prestigious Golden Heart Award in July 2007 for her romantic suspense manuscript which has now been published as the book My Darkness Falls just out in Australian bookshops.

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Podcast with Alan Sunderland

Alan Sunderland is a television journalist and a children's author. He has written three books about a rat called Inspector Octavius O'Malley. His third book in the series has just been released called Octavius O'Malley and the Mystery of the Criminal Cats.

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Podcast with Kate Mosse

Kate Mosse is the author of the bestselling book Labyrinth - a book about archaeology, love and mystery set in contemporary and medieval France. Her books are described as well researched absorbing historical mysteries with wonderful interlinking female characters. Kate has just completed Sepulchre - another book set in modern and medieval France.

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Podcast with Fiona McIntosh

Fiona McIntosh was born in Sussex, England. Her latest book is Royal Exile, the first book in the Valisar series. Fiona is a prolific writer who also writes crime fiction under the name of Lauren Crow. All of Fiona’s books have received great acclaim and reviews.

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Podcast with Hannah Tinti

Hannah Tinti is the author of The Good Thief which is a novel about Ren, an orphan who is 12. The story is set in New England and it was inspired by ressurection men - grave robbers in the 1800s. The rights to The Good Thief have been sold to 11 countries and Hannah is considered the new voice of American literature.

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Podcast with Nick Earls

Nick Earls has written 5 adult novels and 5 young adult novels and 2 collections of short stories. His books ZigZag Street, Bachelor Kisses, World of Chickens, and Perfect Skin, are about men - men who can't commit - men who are bachelors. Then the men get older, fall in and out of love and finally settle down.

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Podcast with Gabrielle Lord

Gabrielle Lord has written 15 books as well as a 12 volume thriller series for young adults. She started writing seriously at the age of 30 and resigned from her position as Employment Officer in the Public service after her third book Fortress. It was picked up internationally and made into a feature film starring Rachel Ward. Her latest book is Shattered, the fourth book in her popular Gemma Lincoln series.

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Podcast with Sandra Hall

Sandra Hall is an author and journalist who is well known for her film reviews for The Sydney Morning Herald. In 2006 Sandra’s novel, Beyond the Break was published. It was longlisted for the 2007 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Sandra has just released her biography of Ezra Norton called The Tabloid Man: The life and times of Ezra Norton.

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Podcast with Rachael Bermingham

Rachael Bermingham and Kim McCosker are the co authors of 4 Ingredients. 4 Ingredients was self published by the duo. At the time, they were unknown and couldn’t get a publisher. The book has taken off and sold over 720,000 copies in Australia.

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Podcast with David Rollins

David Rollins is an Australian author whose books mix crime, politics, terrorism, action adventure, flying and war. His books have been reviewed as incredibly dramatic blockbusters and David has been hailed as the next Tom Clancy. His latest novel is Hard Rain which was released in June 2008.

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Podcast with Ber Carroll

Ber Carroll is the author of three books, Just Business, Executive Affair and her latest novel High Potential. All three books are considered chick lit for the working girl and they all focus on aspects of work, balancing work life and falling in/out of love at work.

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Podcast with Kate Forsyth

Kate Forsyth is the award-winning author of more than twenty books for both children and adults, which have been sold in more than ten countries round the world, including Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan. Her latest book is The Gypsy Crown, an historical adventure story for 9-12 year olds

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Podcast with Michael Whelan

Michael Whelan is the author of The Other Country, a book about his son's autism. He gave up his job to care for his son and made a discovery not only about his son, but about his family and himself along the way.

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Podcast with Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss is author of The Four Hour Work Week - a book that debuted on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best seller lists, has so far been published in 31 countries and made headlines around the world.

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Podcast with Pamela Freeman

Pamela Freeman is an award-winning author and one of our creative writing teachers here at the Sydney Writers' Centre. She is author of 19 books and her most recent, Blood Ties, is an epic fantasy. It's the first in a trilogy, with the second and third books Deep Water and Full Circle coming soon.

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Podcast with Libby Gleeson

Libby Gleeson has published over 30 books for children and teenagers. She has been shortlisted for the CBCA Awards twelve times and has won the Book of the Year for Younger Readers Award in 1997 with Hannah and the Tomorrow Room, and the Picture Book of the Year Award in 2002 for An Ordinary Day. Her latest book is Mahtab’s Story.

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Podcast with Tristan Bancks

Tristan Bancks' latest book The Rules of Cool was launched at the Byron Bay Writers' Festival. He is a former actor on the iconic Australian series Home and Away and has also written two series of books called Dreamracers and Hollywood or Bust.

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Podcast with Anna Fienberg

Anna Fienberg has written many award-winning books, short stories and junior novels including the Tashi series. The latest title is the fifteenth Tashi book Tashi and the Phoenix. Anna's most recent book for older readers is called Number Eight.

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Podcast with Garth Nix

Garth Nix's fantasy books have sold over 4.5 million copies around the world and been translated into 36 languages. His books include the award-winning fantasy novels Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen and the young adult science fiction novel Shade’s Children.

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