Katia Ariel reads from and talks about her new book Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch. We talk about her unique way of engaging with her subject, about creating biographies that are respectful, open, and true, about Ephraim's role in the community and the way in which Ariel universalises it, about ancestry and inheritance, grief, death and love, and lots more. Find out more about Katia Ariel and her books at: http://arielediting.com.au/ Ferryman book page at the publisher's site:...
Jul 17, 2025•34 min
Ashley Kalagian Blunt joins us again to read from and talk about her book Cold Truth . We talk about such things as the Winnipeg climate which is such a feature in the book, along with other aspects of the city and fun facts, the relationships between characters, about becoming the cyber crime/tech noir queen, the optioning of her previous book Dark Web , the new book out very soon, Like, Follow, Die!, narrated by Claudia Karvan, and lots more including some of her upcoming events. Find out more...
May 22, 2025•28 min
Paris Rosemont reads from and talks about her new poetry book Barefoot Poetess . We cover such topics as how and why she began writing, the notion of poetic 'play', the balance between confession and performance, the joy of theatre and its relationship to poetry, her work-in-progress, and lots more. Find out more about Paris her website: https://www.parisrosemont.com/ Buy a copy of Barefoot Poetess: https://www.westwords.com.au/product/barefoot-poetess/...
May 01, 2025•36 min
Terri-ann White, founder of Upswell Publishing, reads from and talks about her own book Finding Theodore and Brina . We talk about how the book came about, how her relationship with the book and its characters have changed over time, notions of memoir, memory, writing place, on what can and can't be known, the power of stories, reclamation, The Swan River, time, and lots more. To obtain a copy of Finding Theodore and Brina visit: https://upswellpublishing.com/product/finding-theodore-and-brina V...
Apr 09, 2025•36 min
In this episode, Phillis Levin, the author of six poetry collections, offers an in-depth look at her newest book, An Anthology of Rain , published by Barrow Street Press. A “poet’s poet,” Levin discusses her career, including her previous works such as Mr. Memory & Other Poems (Penguin) and her accolades, which include the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award, a Fulbright Scholar Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Art...
Mar 11, 2025•53 min
Andrea Goldsmith reads from and talks about her. new novel The Buried Life . We talk about the delicate dance between death and life in the book, about the characters and their arcs, the importance of friendship, Mahler, cheese, rapture, and lots more. Find more about Andrea's work at: http://andreagoldsmith.com.au Grab a copy of the book at: https://transitlounge.com.au/shop/the-buried-life/ Compulsive Reader review: https://compulsivereader.com/2025/02/19/a-review-of-the-buried-life-by-andrea-...
Feb 27, 2025•29 min
Dr Karen Pearlman, director of the new film Breaking Plates, talks about the making of her latest film, the inventive ways she engages with Cinemas First Nasty women archive, her use of dance, song, visual collage, slapstick, splicing, intertextually , feminist theory, humour, her excellent actors, on working with her talented family team, and lots more. More on Breaking Plates: http://physicaltv.com.au/breaking-plates/ Physical TV’s many projects http://physicaltv.com.au Cinema’s First Nasty Wo...
Jan 23, 2025•29 min
Damen O'Brien reads from and talks about his latest poetry book Walking the Boundary . We talk about such things as the way the book came together as a collection, the joy (and horror) of wriggling creatures, inheritance, apocalypse, humour, and lots more. Find out more about Damen at his website: https://www.dameno.org/ Buy a copy of Walking the Boundary at: https://pittstreetpoetry.com/book/walking-the-boundary/...
Dec 20, 2024•35 min
PS Cottier and NG Hartland, authors of The Thirty-one Legs of Vladimir Putin, read from and talk about their new book, which won the Finlay Lloyd 20/40 publishing prize for fiction. We talk about some of the key themes in the book like identity, semblance, what's real and what isn't, the book's prescience in dealing with power dynamics and image, their writing process, characters, works-in-progress, and lots more. More information on The Thirty-One Legs of Vladimir Putin can be found here: https...
Nov 14, 2024•33 min
John Kinsella reads from and talks about his new short story collection Beam of Light . We talk about the use of furniture in this book, the connective themes, its malevolent undercurrent, the importance and beauty of a sentient landscape, his characters and their struggles against the colonial mindset, what poetry and fiction can do and why he might choose one form or another, and lots more. For more on John and his extensive body of work, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kinsella_(po...
Sep 16, 2024•34 min
This was a special zoom session of poetry to mark the 10th anniversary of Girls on Key featuring Sophia Wilson, Mikaela Nyman, Kiri Piahana-Wong, Patricia Sykes, Nancy Holland-Shroder, and open mic readings from Anna Forsyth (GoK founder), Lou Steer, and Magdalena Ball (host) Video link: https://www.facebook.com/830439988/videos/1307289250655911/ Girls on Key: https://girlsonkey.wixsite.com/.../copy-of-girls-on-key... Sophia Wilson: https://sophiakwilson.wordpress.com/ Instagram: https://www.ins...
Sep 14, 2024•59 min
Sarah Temporal is a prize-winning poet, producer, and educator who runs the well-respected regional arts initiative Poets Out Loud. She joins us to read from and talk about her debut book Tight Bindings . Visit Sarah’s website at: https://sarahtemporal.com/ Watch videos of Sarah performing and order Tight Bindings : https://puncherandwattmann.com/product/tight-bindings/ Damien Becker’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seasaltskin?igsh=MWVqNDFkYzR0M3J1MA==...
Aug 28, 2024•34 min•Season 20Ep. 8
Patti Miller joins us to read from and talk about her book Writing True Stories which has just been extensively updated and extended. She talks about what has changed in the 30+ years since she started teaching Life Writing, the impact of technology, her best tip, her own work in progress, and lots more. Find out more about Patti and Writing True Stories at her website: https://lifestories.com.au Find a copy of Writing True Stories here: https://www.routledge.com/Writing-True-Stories-The-Complet...
Jul 04, 2024•36 min
Julia Levitina reads from and talks about her new book The Girl From Moscow including such things as how the book came about, why fiction, how the book follows her own departure from the Soviet Union, the importance of 1983 as her setting, inherited trauma and her protagonists, antisemitism, the theatre, her work-in-progress and lots more. Find out more about Julia at her website here: https://www.julialevitinaauthor.com/
Jun 24, 2024•35 min
Omar Musa joins us to perform from and talk about his new album The Fullness. We talk about collaboration and his amazing collaborators, pushing into liminal spaces of multiple identities, leaning into grief and joy ("our lives given shape by shadows"), ego deflation, how some of the songs on The Fullness were created, the percussiveness of rap and its conjunction with poetry, the alchemical process of art, the dissolving of borders between artforms and nationalities, the resonance of the mother...
May 13, 2024•34 min
Kent MacCarter joins us to read from and talk about his new poetry book Fat Chance . We talk about Kent's process, about having written the "feel bad book of the year”, his journalistic process, the nature of Gossypiboma (retained medical objects), memoir, reverse ekphrasis, and lots more. For more information or to purchase a copy of Fat Chance visit: https://upswellpublishing.com/product/fat-chance Kent will be a guest at this year's Brisbane Writers Festival. For details about his two events,...
Apr 19, 2024•32 min
Robbie Coburn reads from and talks about his new book Ghost Poetry. Topics covered include the many ghosts that haunt the pages of the book, dreams and nightmares, the relationship between horses and people, subject and object, the subconscious, confessional poetry and the creative act/the artifice, horses, gothic country as a genre, and lots more. Where to buy the book: Upswell - Ghost Poetry (upswellpublishing.com) Robbie's website: Robbie Coburn...
Mar 06, 2024•32 min
The author of Kin: Family in the 21st Century reads from and talks about her new book, about the many permeations of family both nuclear and otherwise, about the book's origins, some of her key themes and challenges including such things as donor privacy versus the rights of a child to know their origins, helping people start families vs the commodification of reproduction, future tech and the risk of Eugenics, and lots more. Find out more about Marina and Kin at: Marina Kamenev Marina's Instagr...
Feb 18, 2024•32 min
Award winning author Eugen Bacon reads from and talks about her latest book Serengotti. We discuss such things as the books themes including notions of privilege, racism, misogyny and the multiplicity of the self, the book's unique narrative voice, the protagonist Ch'anzu and other characters, on working through and beyond binaries and genres, on world and app creation, and much more. Find out more about Eugen at: https://eugenbacon.com Grab a copy of Serengotti at: Serengotti | Transit Lounge...
Jan 30, 2024•34 min
Valerie Werder reads from and talks about her award-winning debut novel Thieves. In this wide-ranging interview we talk about such things as representation, semantics, spirituality, thievery and its many iterations, cognitive dissonance, the changing subjectivity and tenses, the art and cosmetic industries, connection and lots more. Find out more about Valerie Werder at her website: Valerie Werder | Thieves Get a copy of Thieves direct from the publisher here: Thieves: A Novel by Valerie Werder ...
Dec 04, 2023•38 min
Beatriz Copello, author of No Salami Fairy Bread drops by to read from and talk about her newest poetry book. We talk about such things as the linguistic quality of the book, its structure, overall themes including migration, memoir, feminism, coming-of-age, the use of humour, why she chose verse, her new fantasy work-in-progress, and lots more. The book can be purchased here: https://www.ginninderrapress.com.au/store.php?product/page/2905/Beatriz+Copello+%2F+No+Salami+Fairy+Bread...
Nov 21, 2023•29 min
Award winning filmmaker Samuel Lucas Allen talks about their new short film CUT. We talk about how the film came together as a project, the extraordinary cinematography, on working with their father, Richard James Allen (who has been on the show several times to talk about his own work), and the father-son relationship in general, Judaism, guilt, toxic masculinity, the acting team (including a well-behaved chicken), the film score by composer Sam Weiss , what's exciting them right now and lots m...
Oct 25, 2023•29 min
Esther Ottaway talks about and reads from her new book She Doesn't Seem Autistic. Through a number of poems, Esther talks about many of the key themes, rhythms, structures and concepts in the book, including masking, humour, her use of animals, on reclaiming clinical labels, the relationship between art and advocacy, and lots more. Find out more about Esther at: Home | Esther Ottaway, Poet (jimdosite.com) Purchase a copy of She Doesn't Seem Autistic: She Doesn't Seem Autistic - Puncher & Wat...
Sep 20, 2023•36 min
Richard James Allen joins me to read from and talk about his latest book Text Messages from the Universe . We talk about many things including the book's deeply spiritual themes, its links with The Tibetan book of the Dead , the unique format of the book and how it relates to its matching film, what's exciting him at the moment, and lots more. Video version can be seen here: https://youtu.be/0lKl8XXydfs You can get hold of Text Messages from the Universe (at its ridiculously low price of $10) fr...
Jul 01, 2023•32 min
Soil scientist Alisa Bryce reads from and talks about her book Grounded. In this conversation we cover such things as how the book came about, Alisa's deep love of soil and both how important it is to all aspects of our lives, but also how fun and interesting it is, the importance of broad-reaching science communication and its relationship to academia, soil and the microbiome, why we have only mapped 2% of the underground world, on the comfort of how “the human story in the soil ends about 5-19...
Jun 21, 2023•31 min
Alan Fyfe joins us to read from and talk about his latest novel T , which shortlisted for the T.A.G Hungerford Prize (Australia) and the Chaffinch Press Aware Prize (Ireland), and was recently was shortlisted in The WA Premier's Prize for an Emerging Writer. Alan also reads from and discusses his debut collection, G-d, Sleep, and Chaos , forthcoming from Gazebo Books in 2024. Find out more about Alan and his work at Alan's website: https://alanfyfe.com Purchase a copy of T : https://alanfyfe.com...
May 31, 2023•37 min
Ashley Kalagian Blunt joins us to read from and talk about her new thriller Dark Mode. We talk about such things as her research, the Dark Web, her protagonist Reagan Carson, her fabulous plant store setting Voodoo Lily and dark flowers, what she's reading now, her work-in-progress (hint it's another thriller), and lots more. Ashley's website: https://www.ashleykalagianblunt.com/ Click here for more information on Dark Mode, the free book club pack, or to take Ashley up on her offer to come ta...
Apr 04, 2023•31 min
In this wide-reading and humorous interview, Irish poet, academic and journalist Oisín Breen reads from and talks about his new poetry book Lilies on the Deathbed of Étaín & Other Poems with Simon Whitby Brown. Find out more about Oisin here: https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/oisin_breen By a copy of Lilies on the Deathbed of Étaín & Other Poems here: https://beirbuapress.com/2023/01/01/lilies-on-the-deathbed-of-etain-and-other-poems-by-oisin-breen/ Find out more about Simon Whitby Br...
Mar 04, 2023•45 min
Meera Atkinson reads from her book Traumata and talks about her work, the ongoing relevance of Traumata, the difficulty and the necessity of the hybrid form, on language, blood, the patriarchy, beauty and its commodification, the power of engagement with the past - personally and collectively, literature, poetry and much more. Find out more about Meera and her work at her website: https://www.meeraatkinson.com Two recent publications of Meera's: http://cordite.org.au/scholarly/writing-threat-and...
Feb 16, 2023•31 min
One of the two editors of Voices of Freedom: Contemporary Writing From Ukraine reads from and talks about her new anthology. Kateryna Kazimirova talks about the project and how it came together, how she chose the 27 authors, the importance of art in wartime, the many styles of the work, on translation and collaboration, her project Craft Magazine, and lots more. V oices of Freedom: Contemporary Writing From Ukraine is published by 8th and Atlas Publishing and can be purchased here: https://www.8...
Dec 21, 2022•35 min
