Sydney Writers' Centre Podcast

Caroline Overington is an award-winning journalist, magazine editor and author. She has twice been awarded a Walkley Award for investigative journalism – in 2004 for for her investigation into the author Norma Khouri (along with Malcolm Knox) and in 2006 for her coverage of the Australian Wheat Board Scandal – and is currently the associate editor of the iconic magazine, Australian Women’s Weekly .

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A prodigious children’s book writer with well over 100 titles across a variety of genres to her credit, Jackie French is best known for her 1999 novel Hitler’s Daughter , which was awarded the 2000 CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers.

Another of her books, To the Moon and Back (co-written with Bryan Sullivan, illustrated by Gus Gordon, 2004) won the Children’s Book of the Year Award: Eve Pownall Award for Information Books in 2005 and a number of her other works have been either awarded or shortlisted as part of the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award honours.

She is also an avid gardener and conserver of endangered fruit species on her property out near Braidwood in NSW, as well as the author of a number of ground breaking books on theories and practices for pest and weed ecology.

We interviewed her at the Sydney Writers’ Festival where we asked her about her amazing publishing career and what we can expect from her in the future.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Born in Italy in 1959, Diego Marani is a man of many talents. A highly regarded translator, he is the creator of “Europanto”, a mock “international auxiliary language” (a language invented for use by people who don’t share a common mother tongue), in which he has published short stories, articles and video clips. Diego is best known for New Finnish Grammar (2000), a novel which explores the role language plays in the creation of identity. His latest book The Last of the Vostyachs .

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Deborah Levy began her creative career as a playwright in 1981 when she left the Darlington College of Arts to write plays including Pax , Call Blue Jane , Shiny Nylon and Heresies: Eva and Moses , which was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987. Her latest book, Swimming Home , was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2011.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arnold Zable is an award-winning Australian writer, novelist, storyteller, and human rights advocate. He combines a prodigious creative output with extensive human rights advocacy work. He is the author of a broad range of work including theatrical pieces, essays and books, his most recent release, Violin Lessons , published in 2011.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Acclaimed for the “fearless honesty of her work”, Krissy Kneen has worked across a number of different writing genres.

The author of the just-released novel Steeplechase (March 2013), she has also written a collection of erotica Swallow the Sound (2007), a memoir Affection: A Memoir of Love, Sex & Intimacy (2009), which was shortlisted for the 2010 ABIA Biography of the Year, and Triptych, An Erotic Adventure: 3 Stories in 1 (2011).

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael Robotham is an Australian crime fiction writer. His latest book is Watching You, a terrifying thriller featuring clinical psychologist Joe O'Loughlin. who has appeared in many of Michael's previous books.

Michael began his writing life as a journalist, then moved into ghost writing. As a ghost writer, he wrote 15 books, 12 of which became bestsellers. His first novel, Suspect, was published in 2004 and since then he has written and published a book a year.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The winner of the inaugural Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2011, Hannah Kent spent a transformative year at the age of 18 in Sauðárkrókur, Iceland as part of the Rotary Exchange Program.

During her time in the country, she came across the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last woman to be executed for murder in Iceland in 1830. Fascinated by the tale, she returned to Iceland many times, researching the story of the last months of Agnes’ life which became the basis of her first book Burial Rites .

Currently completing her PhD at Flinders University in Adelaide, she is the co-founder and deputy editor of the Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings.

We interviewed her at the Sydney Writers’ Festival about her unique life journey and how Iceland came to dominate the life of a girl from the Adelaide Hills.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jane Gleeson-White is an Australian author and blogger. Her latest book is Double Entry: How the merchants of Venice shaped the modern world – and how their invention could make or break the planet , an exploration of the history of double-entry bookkeeping. She has also published two books about books – Classics in 2005 and Australian Classics in 2007. Jane also blogs at bookishgirl.com.au .

We caught up with Jane at the Sydney Writers’ Festival and spoke to her about her latest book, her research, what she thinks makes a classic book and what drove her to write a book about accounting!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A co-founder and co-director of the annual Jaipur Literary Festival in India, William Dalrymple has an eye for history and an ability to make it come alive.

The British historian, writer and curator’s latest book, The Return of a King, The Battle for Afghanistan (2012) is testament to his talent for artfully recounting tales from humanity’s collective past with Barnaby Rogerson of The Independent newspaper describing the book thus:

“William Dalrymple is a master storyteller, who breathes such passion, vivacity and animation into the historical characters of the First Anglo-Afghan war of 1839-42 that at the end of this 567-page book you feel you have marched, fought, dined and plotted with them all …”

In our interview with Dalrymple we asked him about where his love of history originated, how he makes the dry old pages of history spring to life, and his advice for aspiring writers.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre, at the 2013 Sydney Writers Festival.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ashley Hay is a Brisbane author of both fiction and non-fiction books. Her latest novel is The Railwayman’s Wife, a story set in the NSW coastal town of Thirroul in the years following WWII.

Ashley’s first novel, The Body in the Clouds, was nominated for several awards when it was published in 2010, including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

She has also written four books of narrative non-fiction and her essays, short stories and journalism regularly appear in Australian journals and anthologies. She has had stories published in The Monthly magazine, The Bulletin, Best Australian Essays and Heat.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jessica Shirvington is the author of the popular Embrace series for young adults. This five-book series follows the life of Violet Eden, a young woman who, on turning 17, discovers she's Grigori – part angel and part human. The first book in the series, Embrace , was picked up by author agent Selwa Anthony in 2010 – not long after Jessica completed two creative writing courses at the Australian Writers' Centre.

Since she scored an agent and a three-book deal with Hachette Australia, Jessica has published five books – four in the Embrace series (with a fifth on the way) and a stand-alone novel, Between the Lives . In just four years Jessica has gained a huge following, with her books being published in the US, the UK and Germany.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emma Hopkin fell in love with books as a young child, a love affair which has shown no signs of abating in the intervening years.

Currently the Managing Director of Bloomsbury Children's and Educational Publishing at Bloomsbury Publishing, she has channeled this enduring love of literature into a successful career that has seen her occupy a number of management roles at various international publishing houses, specifically overseeing children's literature.

She was in Australia recently from the UK to meet with the Bloomsbury team here, and promote the launch of their new digital imprint Spark, and so we took the opportunity to sit down with her to ask her when she first realised how powerful books could be, what led her into the publishing industry in the first place, and where she sees the rapidly changing business of selling books going.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A journalist of 35 years standing, who has worked for a number of publications, Helen Trinca is currently the Managing Editor of The Australian .

A well-regarded author of a number of non-fiction books, she has previously co-authored Waterfront: The Battle That Changed Australia (2000) with Anne Davies, which has been made into a telemovie, Bastard Boys , and Better Than Sex: How A Whole Generation Got Hooked On Work (2004) with Catherine Fox.

Her latest book, Madeleine , is a biography of little known expatriate author, Madeleine St. John, who was the first Australian nominated for the Mann Booker Prize.

We sat down to talk to her about the art of writing memoirs and why she chose Madeleine St John as the object of her newest book.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trevor Young is a PR and social media communications consultant, speaker and coach who helps companies and individuals to increase the intensity of connection they have with the people who matter most to the success of their business, cause or issue. He writes one of Australia's leading marketing blogs - PRWarrior.com - and is the author of the new book: microDOMINATION: How to leverage social media and content marketing to build a mini-business empire around your personal brand.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, national director of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maureen McCarthy is a Melbourne-based author whose most recent book is The Convent, a fictional novel about the lives for four generations of women who are all inextricably linked to The Abbotsford Convent, a real place in Collingwood Melbourne.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, national director of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Vann’s books are daring, emotionally fraught narratives that have struck a chord with readers the world over. His books have been internationally best-selling, multi-award winning and translated in 18 languages. His fiction books include Legend of a Suicide, Caribou Island and his new release Dirt . He has also written two non-fiction books, and written for a host of publications including the Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, McSweeney’s and The Guardian.

Australian Writers' Centre
www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicolas Rothwell is an award-winning Australian author and journalist. In the 1980s and early 1990s he was a foreign correspondent for The Australian newspaper and continues to write for the paper from his home in the Northern Territory. In 2006 he was awarded a Walkley Award for his coverage on Indigenous Affairs. He has written six books and his latest is Belomor .

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After 15 years working as a paramedic in Sydney, Katherine Howell decided it was high time she pursued her love of writing full time. Her debut novel, Frantic , won the 2008 Davitt Award for best crime fiction, and was followed by The Darkest Hour, Cold Justice (which won the 2011 Davitt Award making Katherine the only author to have won it twice), Violent Exposure and Silent Fear. Her latest novel, Web of Deceit , sees the return of the very popular police detective Ella Marconi.

Interview by Andrew Gillman, office manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Rosie Project by debut author, Graeme Simsion, is destined to be one of the literary hits of 2013. Developed initially as a film script, Graeme turned his idea into a novel during a novel writing course at Melbourne University in 2012. That manuscript went on to be shortlisted, and win, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript. It was then picked up by Text Publishing and the rights have now been sold to more than 30 countries.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kate Morton is a Brisbane-based author who has enjoyed huge success at home and overseas. Since publishing her first book in 2006 she has become one of Australia’s biggest selling authors internationally and her books have been published in more than 38 countries. Her latest book is The Secret Keeper.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Australian Writers' Centre.

www.WritersCentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Gill is an award-winning Australian conductor and music educator. His long career in music started when he was a teacher in Sydney’s western suburbs. He went on to become the dean at the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music, the Director of Chorus at the Australian Opera and, since 2005, he has been the Music Director at Victorian Opera. Richard's memoir is Give Me Excess of It .

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ramona Koval has been living a life richly steeped in words since she learned to read and checked out Kafka's "The Trial" at 10 years of age. A writer, journalist and broadcaster, she was Australia's voice of literature for five years as the presenter of the Book Show on the ABC.

Interview by Rose Powell of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kimberley Freeman is an Australian contemporary women’s fiction author who has also published speculative fiction and horror under her real name, Kim Wilkins. She is an award-winning author in her original genre, In 2007 she decided to explore a new genre and published her first women’s fiction novel, Duet. Her fourth book in the genre is Lighthouse Bay .

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joanne Harris is the best-selling author of 14 novels, including Chocolat, Blackberry Wine and Five Quarters of the Orange . Her latest novel is Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure , the third book in the trilogy that started with Chocolat and Lollipop Shoes .

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sulari Gentill’s latest novel is Paving the New Road , the fourth book in the Rowland Sinclair historical crime series. It is the second book in the series she’s released in 2012 and has just been awarded the Sisters in Crime Davitt Award for the best crime novel by a woman. The first book in the series, A Few Right Thinking Men , was nominated in 2011 for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Novel in the South Easy Asia and Pacific.
 

Interview by Danielle Willams, course manager of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melbourne writer Zane Lovitt’s first book is The Midnight Promise. Told over a collection of 10 crime mysteries, it is the story of private inquiry agent, John Dorn. Its already garnered critical praise and comparisons to Australian crime writer, Peter Temple.

Interview by Danielle Williams, course manager of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Rose Powell, Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kim Kyosaki 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. Her particular focus is on empowering women to take control of their financial destiny. It is a theme she has addressed in both her books, Rich Woman , released in 2006, and in her recently published new book, It’s Rising Time! What it really takes for the reward of financial freedom .

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the 2011 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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tara Moss is the best-selling author of The Spider Goddess , the second book in her new series of paranormal fiction featuring Pandora English. A heady mix of high fashion and gothic horror set in New York, The Spider Goddess follows Pandora as she goes to live with her great-aunt in a haunted mansion in Spektor, Manhattan.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki dropped into the Sydney Writers’ Centre and we chatted to him 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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After working for 11 years as a police officer in Tasmania, Y A (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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 stagiares (chef’s apprentice).

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Its funny and very honest which is why the authors have decided to remain anonymous. So they can admit in print what most mothers simply will not.

Mum A talks to us in this podcast anonymously, of course.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Best-selling author, 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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

West Australian author, Sara Foster, has just released her second book – Beneath the Shadows. Her first novel, Come Back to Me, was released in 2010 and was well received by readers and critics alike.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 .

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

His first book with Pan Macmillan was Ice Station , followed by Contest and Temple . Among the 7 books published since then are Hell Island (one of four in the Shane Schofield series), The Five Greatest Warriors (book 3 of the Jack West series) and Hover Car Racer , a book that was originally published online and read by over 180,000 people – for free!

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.

In this podcast Matthew is interviewed by Sydney Writers’ Centre presenter Geoff Bartlett.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 .

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.
 

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Connolly is the author of the popular Charlie Parker crime series. Connelly 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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Her latest is A Most Immoral Woman.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.
 

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, and 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’.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael White is the author of the bestselling novels Equinox and The Medici Secret. His latest book in the series is The Borgia Ring. He is also the author of the E-force books, which are published under his pseudonym, Sam Fisher. The latest Sam Fisher novel was also published this year and is called State of Emergency.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael McGirr is the author of the best-selling book '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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.

www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

www.valeriekhoo.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.