Irma and Karen answer a listener question about the transition from emerging writer to established, then chat about their latest reading recommendations. Then Karen talks to poet Robbie Coburn about how discovering Edgar Allan Poe when he was 14 was like being let out of jail, how mimicking great writers can help develop your writing early on, how he connects poems to memories like songs, the best way for poets to get their work out into the world, the value of mentorship for poets, why allowing...
May 11, 2026•41 min•Season 7Ep. 82
Karen and Irma chat about the environmental cost of publishing books, and uncover some positive take-aways. Then Irma talks to children’s author Ingrid Laguna about how running away from home impacted her as a creative, how the traumatic experience of losing her own twin boys led to her memoir and then a novel for kids, why her agent didn’t want to pitch her book but then her publisher ended up loving it, why kids books need to tackle tough subjects, how to keep going when you’re writing about t...
Apr 20, 2026•47 min•Season 7Ep. 81
Irma and Karen talk about how different platforms – Instagram, Facebook, X, Substack and author websites – help sell books (or don’t!) Then Karen chats to Toni Jordan about how to successfully inject serious subjects with humour, the book to film process of Addition , why she structures her life to the nth degree but with writing is completely unstructured, how to approach writing as a business and why networking should be reframed, why being a skilled public speaker is important as a writer, ho...
Mar 30, 2026•47 min•Season 7Ep. 80
Karen and Irma talk about the importance of writers centres, and urge listeners to sign the Writers Victoria petition. Then Irma chats to Tasma Walton about novelising the story of her ancestor Nannertgarrook, how she protected herself in the process of writing about trauma, the reclamation of her Boonwurrung language and the importance of language in her novel, how writing and acting feed into each other, the challenges of writing versus acting, how writers rooms for TV and film work, and an em...
Mar 10, 2026•50 min•Season 7Ep. 79
Karen and Irma debate whether AI is useful to break writer’s block. Then they both chat to Fleur McDonald about pioneering the way in rural crime writing, how she built her profile over the years and then rebranded, connecting emotionally with readers, using imposter-syndrome to motivate her next book, how an imaginary character changed her life, fighting for your rights as an author and why she changed publishers, why making a difference with her writing is so important to her, how experts help...
Feb 16, 2026•39 min•Season 7Ep. 78
Irma and Karen chat about the year ahead, and dive into their first Book Chat of the year, championing Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, and Colony by Annika Norlin. Then Karen talks to Colombian writer Ingrid Rojas Contreras about how she coped with all the international attention after being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, how the violence of the Pablo Escobar era stimulated her curiosity as a writer, caring for yourself when writing from trauma, how she uses inherited stories and hauntings in he...
Jan 26, 2026•40 min•Season 7Ep. 77
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Karen chats to Craig Leeson (impact filmmaker) about how growing up in Tasmania made him an environmental activist, how to find a hook to capture your audience, how to tell a story in few words, the importance of character development, how to keep an audience engaged, how to avoid overwhelming people when telling tough stories, and how hitting the lowest low of his career paved the way for the highest high. Supported by the...
Dec 21, 2025•37 min•Ep. 76
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Karen chats to Indian author, winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize, Banu Mushtaq about what drives her to write about the fundamentalist Muslim community in which she grew up, how she became an activist for women’s rights, how stories can change lives and culture, the process of working with her translator, how she injects humour into dark stories, the censorship she faces, and the meaningful impact of winning the ...
Dec 16, 2025•25 min•Ep. 75
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Irma chats to German author, winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize, Jenny Erpenbeck, about the pros and cons of coming from a family of famous writers, why she mourns aspects of the German Democratic Republic and is driven to express this through writing, how she weaves the personal and political together, the translation process, the financial support available to German authors that we do not have in Australia, wh...
Dec 08, 2025•36 min•Ep. 74
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Karen chats to Lech Blaine about how to shape a memoir and find a meaningful throughline within the truth, what it was like being edited by Helen Garner, how to decide what to leave out of a memoir, the ethical dilemmas of writing about trauma in relation to friends and family, how he found the voice for the ‘characters’ in his memoirs, how he scored his Quarterly essays and the way he approaches long-form essays, and what ...
Dec 01, 2025•35 min•Ep. 73
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Irma chats to travel writer Nina Karnikowski about why she no longer wants to do a five-day trip to Paris and would rather opt for longer more immersive travel, tips for how to get started as a travel writer, why a luxury trip to Bali was one of her worst experiences, and how a moment with a polar bear in the Arctic changed her life, how she organises the various tasks that make up freelance travel writing, tips on how to p...
Nov 25, 2025•51 min•Ep. 72
In this episode Irma and Karen chat about the 2025 Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, painting a picture of the festival atmosphere and sharing some of the highlights. Then they ask six authors at the festival – Clare Wright, Jenny Erpenbeck, Lech Blaine, Yves Rees, Craig Leeson and Virginia Haussegger – to share a green room story. They uncover Bryan Brown’s funny festival request, Thomas Keneally's unwitting green room 'theft', Jenny Erpenbeck’s props room catastrophe, Annabel Crabb’s near m...
Nov 17, 2025•25 min•Ep. 71
Karen and Irma chat about early drafts and tips for gaining momentum again after a break. Then Irma talks to Sophie Cunningham in her role as Chair of the Australian Society of Authors about the impact of AI, the closure of Meanjin , the ASA’s role with industry issues, the ways in which authors need to change their expectations around publishing, how the Stella Prize changed the literary landscape, but also why prizes can be devastating for the majority who don’t make the lists, why we need to ...
Oct 27, 2025•50 min•Season 6Ep. 70
Irma and Karen chat about the upcoming Ubud Readers & Writers Festival at which they will be recording interviews with several international writers, as well as some of the books they've been reading recently. Then both Karen and Irma chat to Craig Cormick about the pros and cons of big versus small publishers, how he’s got author gigs on cruise ships and what they’ve involved, how he’s managed to be such a prolific writer while having a full-time job as a science communicator and responsibi...
Oct 06, 2025•55 min•Season 6Ep. 69
Irma and Karen chat about small regional writers’ festivals. Then Karen talks to Emily Maguire about how a high school teacher initially crashed her dreams of becoming a writer, how she became a feminist without realising it, how she avoids putting her own opinions into the heads of her characters, how she has learned to focus her anger when writing about feminist issues, how much joy she gains from teaching creative writing, the impact of AI on the writing world, and some very important lifesty...
Sep 16, 2025•46 min•Season 6Ep. 68
Irma and Karen talk about copyright, and the productivity commission’s recent recommendations regarding AI. Then Karen talks to Pip Williams about how she shifted from academic research to writing novels, how COVID lockdown inadvertently boosted sales of The Dictionary of Lost Words , how a genius promotions idea for The Bookbinder of Jericho turned into stunning window displays in bookshops, the process of watching her book become a stage play, how writing might be easier than reading for peopl...
Aug 25, 2025•49 min•Season 6Ep. 67
Karen and Irma chat about book to film adaptations, and recommend recent reads in their new Book Chat segment. Then Irma talks to Upswell Founder and Publisher Terri-ann White about the current state of the publishing industry and what needs to change, why she thinks too many books are being published, why she believes there is not enough risk-taking happening, the cult of the writer and its impact on the publicity demands placed on authors, how shame and guilt pervade the industry, the devastat...
Aug 05, 2025•53 min•Season 6Ep. 66
Karen and Irma chat about foreign rights deals, and Irma shares some shocking stats. Then Irma chats to Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist about how a conversation between them on their first wedding anniversary was pivotal in Anne’s career, the low of splitting with Graeme’s publisher after the three Rosie Project books, how they manage the process of planning and writing books together, why they think their book tour to 400 bookshops made no difference to sales, what does impact sales and tips for ...
Jul 21, 2025•50 min•Season 6Ep. 65
Irma and Karen chat about how a two-book deal was secured via an explosive Booktok profile. Then in a new occasional segment, Book Chat, they share recent reads they’ve enjoyed. Next Karen talks to Markus Zusak about his family of storytellers, how he used his writing heroes to develop his own voice, how The Book Thief arose from three separate ideas that came together like a volcanic eruption, how the success of that book impacted his life and future work, finding the right spark in writing, an...
Jun 23, 2025•58 min•Season 6Ep. 64
Karen and Irma chat about BookTok and book publicity. Then Irma talks to school librarian Helen Farch about how she became an Instagram superstar, why so many schools no longer have a teacher librarian or even a library, the issues faced in determining what is appropriate to buy in for kids, what kind of budgets government schools are working with, the controversies around books on sex and LGBTQI+ themes, how to engage reluctant readers, the gaps in children’s publishing, and the broad spectrum ...
Jun 02, 2025•46 min•Season 6Ep. 63
Irma and Karen chat about finishing a draft of a novel. Then Karen talks to Favel Parrett about why she decided to give up being a postie and become an author, why she signed up for a writing course but didn’t finish, how her novel Past the Shallows changed her life and keeps on giving, why she likes school visits, how she received not one but two Antarctic Arts Fellowships, why she likes writing child characters, how she came to write about dingoes, how rewarding it can be to write for young re...
May 12, 2025•46 min•Season 6Ep. 62
Karen and Irma talk about the intel Irma has gleaned from booksellers on her Shift book tour. Then Irma chats to Tania McCartney about how she made the transition from self-publishing to traditional publishing, creative burn-out and how to come out the other side, deciding to become an illustrator when she was already an established author, the idea that we should all ask for five things we are certain we’ll get a no to, why illustrators need greater recognition, the ways in which the children’s...
Apr 21, 2025•52 min•Season 6Ep. 61
Irma and Karen chat about juggling jobs to survive while writing. Then Karen talks to Nardi Simpson about the creative crossover between making songs and writing books, why she decided to start writing novels, how writing helps her to explore larger questions, how her writing mentors inspired her, what she learned from the Year of the Novel course, how sending a story out into the world is like throwing a boomerang, how she opens herself to playing with ideas and language, why she no longer writ...
Mar 10, 2025•49 min•Season 5Ep. 60
Karen and Irma chat about the challenges of being able to accept praise. Then Irma talks with Katherine Collette about how co-hosting The First Time podcast was life-changing, her most excruciating experience with the podcast, the excitement of overseas deals for her debut novel and the huge low that followed, how the US market differs from the ANZ market, the secrecy around book sales, the challenges in moving from writing books for adults to writing for kids, how to write humour on the page, h...
Feb 17, 2025•44 min•Season 5Ep. 59
Irma and Karen chat about the changing shape of the Australian publishing industry as small publishers are bought up by larger publishing houses. Then Karen talks to short-story maestro Cate Kennedy about how she came to be a writer and then a teacher of writing, how writing (and reading) a short story is like plunging deep into a diving pool, how her career took off after having a story published in a 9/11 commemorative edition of the New Yorker, how she wrote a novel because of an offer she co...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 5Ep. 58
Irma and Karen chat about their top books from the last 12 months. Then Karen chats with lifelong activist and former politician Bob Brown about why writing is so important to activism, why storytelling with intent is important, how he approached writing his memoir, why the practice of writing notes while out in nature is key, the ways in which writing fiction is important in getting people to think about other lives and issues, why he’s given up writing his speeches, the ways in which hope sust...
Jan 13, 2025•56 min•Season 5Ep. 57
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) Omar Musa chats with Irma about how growing up in an artistic family set his course, why he stopped reading and writing during a dark period and how a new form of expression saved him, the ways in which earning a living from the thing you love can be deeply problematic, why winning the Australian Poetry Slam took him to UWRF and was a gateway into the literary world, why he wants to challenge his own assumptions and bia...
Nov 26, 2024•58 min•Ep. 56
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Bora Chung chats with Irma about how she wrote her first short story solely for prize money but it eventually led to a short fiction collection that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, why her publisher thought an approach from Anton Hur to translate her collection into English was a scam, what it was like to be at the Booker Prize ceremony and the strange thing every judge said to her, how the Booker has impacted her career...
Nov 18, 2024•33 min•Ep. 55
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Laura Jean McKay chats with Irma about the experience of touring her books to the UK, why she threw up in a caravan sink after finishing her novel, how the publishing landscape for short fiction has changed over the last two decades, a disastrous book event that ended up in an Oscar-winning performance, writing about big political themes, the surreal experience of recording her audiobook during the pandemic, why winning prizes...
Nov 11, 2024•50 min•Ep. 54
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Aube Rey Lescure chats with Irma about how she initially followed a friend’s advice not to become a writer but then ditched law to pursue it anyway, how being multilingual impacts the way she writes, why she refused to follow the career trajectory her creative writing course advised, why she got fixated on publishing a book before she was 30 – and then was forced to let go of it, how her mum’s April Fool’s joke led to an impor...
Nov 04, 2024•42 min•Ep. 53
