Look, we're all about vulnerability and awkward, so it's a delight to have shared our recording fail on insta this week and for Kate to publicly accept responsibility for her failure to press record. We promise that next week we'll re-record ALL of our recommendations and discussion on the industry and get it to you ears. Our Featured Segment this week is brought to you by Brio Books and we are delighted to speak with Alison Ferguson about her space-fic novel GREY NOMAD . Alison Ferguson complet...
Apr 30, 2023•24 min•Season 6Ep. 214
Kate and Katherine catch up in the aftermath of Kate's trip to Newcastle Writers Festival, in which she managed to lose (and ultimately find) both her laptop and her luggage. The discuss festival etiquette and recommends things to read, including everything by Kevin Wilson (check out last week's episode !!). This episode our featured book segment is brought to you by Allen and Unwin and we’re talking to Madelaine Lucas about her debut novel Thirst For Salt. Madelaine Lucas is the author of Thirs...
Apr 23, 2023•51 min•Season 6Ep. 213
Kevin Wilson has been on Katherine's interview wishlist oh about forever and FINALLY she got to speak to him. The discuss weirdness, including how Kevin writes about it with such tenderness, and talk a lot about art -- it's creation, secrecy vs publicness. Also, how often Kevin writes (answer: not very often). Kevin Wilson is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Now is Not the Time to Panic , Nothing to See Here , which was a Read with Jenna book club selection; The Family Fang , ...
Apr 16, 2023•45 min•Season 6Ep. 212
This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience. One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to capture that first time again ourselves... We’re going to being follow a first time author across the yea...
Apr 12, 2023•33 min•Season 6Ep. 211
The words 'author headshot' can strike fear into the hearts of the toughest writers. Kate and Katherine recently toughened up: Kate wanted new headshots ahead of the new book coming out and the podcast needed some updating from 2018. In this episode they talk through past photoshoot experiences, what they've learned over time and what worked in their last excellent shoot with Gemma Carr. As part of the episode, Kate talks to author Anna Downes about her experiences of headshots - first as an act...
Apr 09, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Season 6Ep. 210
This episode Kate and Katherine catch up on what they've been reading and listening to including: The Publishing Rodeo podcast - specifically this episode ' Anatomy of a Best Seller (Part 2) ' ' My mentor John Hughes taught me how to write. Then he plagiarised my work ' by Joseph Earp Reasons Not to Worry by Brigid Delaney Catriona Menzies Pike on blurbing in SRB Dress Rehearsals by Madison Godfrey The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop Secrets from the Green Room podcast episode with Canberra book...
Apr 02, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 6Ep. 209
Kate (finally!) has some book news! And responds to a listener question on defining the stages of the editing process. Our featured book segment is brought to you by Affirm Press and we are delighted to be talking to Pip Williams about her second novel, THE BOOKBINDER OF JERICHO. Pip Williams was born in London, grew up in Sydney, and now lives in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia with her family and an assortment of animals. She has spent most of her working life as a social researcher, stu...
Mar 26, 2023•52 min•Season 6Ep. 208
Kate travelled to Castlemaine to record this interview in person with Cate Kennedy in her beautiful home amongst overflowing bookshelves. Kate attempted to edit down this episode, she really did, but Cate Kennedy just shares so much writing wisdom it was hard not to just give you the uncut super long version! Settle in with a cuppa if you can. Cate Kennedy has published several collections of both poetry and fiction. Her story collections Like a House on Fire and Dark Roots are widely studied in...
Mar 19, 2023•2 hr 43 min•Season 6Ep. 207
This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience. One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to capture that first time again ourselves... We’re going to being follow a first time author across the yea...
Mar 15, 2023•32 min•Season 6Ep. 206
This episode the hosts talk money. They discuss the writing incomes, the podcast's 'money story' and how it's changed over time, including the move to having some paid content. Also -- the difference between publicity and marketing, which FINALLY the two of them seem to be across. Our Featured Book is brought to you by Hachette and we are delighted to be talking to Eleanor Shearer about her debut novel River Sing Me Home . Eleanor Shearer is a mixed-race writer and the granddaughter of Windrush ...
Mar 12, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 6Ep. 205
This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience. One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to capture that first time again ourselves... We’re going to being follow a first time author across the yea...
Mar 08, 2023•34 min•Season 6Ep. 204
Oh it’s exciting to be back. It’s a typically BIG ep as we kick off Season Six and we go lots of places: summer fishing, social media blackouts, teeth, horoscopes, childhood confessions, exciting 2023 news (which we can’t actually tell you…yet) and a bunch of things we’ve been reading, watching and listening to. Our Featured Segment, brought to you by Harper Collins, is with debut novellist Jo Dixon. Jo lives in rural Lutrawita, Tasmania where she now writes full-time while wrangling a property ...
Mar 05, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Season 6Ep. 203
In the twelfth episode of our summer series Katherine speaks to Dervla McTiernan how her writing life began, the importance of setting in crime writing, good vs bad, and all the stuff -- from Plottr to Scrivener and Goodnotes -- she uses to write. Enjoy! Award-winning, number one bestseller Dervla McTiernan has established herself as one of the biggest names in crime fiction. Her books have garnered critical acclaim around the world and sold over 400,000 copies in Australia and New Zealand alone...
Feb 05, 2023•33 min•Season 5Ep. 202
In our eleventh episode of our Summer Series, Katherine speaks with multi-award winning author Kim Scott about history, identity, culture and language, particularly of his ancestors the Noongar people. Kim Scott grew up on the south coast of Western Australia. As a descendant of those who first created human society along that edge of ocean, he is proud to be one among those who call themselves Noongar. His second novel, Benang: From the Heart , won the 1999 Western Australian Premier's Book Awa...
Feb 01, 2023•40 min•Season 5Ep. 202
In the tenth episode of our Summer Series, Kate speaks with Australian Fiction Queen, Liane Moriarty in a wide ranging conversation about her career, writing process and dealing with Hollywood. Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of nine internationally bestselling novels, Three Wishes , The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story and the number one New York Times bestsellers The Husband’s Secret , Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty , Nine Perfect Strangers and he...
Jan 25, 2023•43 min•Season 5Ep. 201
In our sixth episode of our Summer Series, Katherine speaks with Australian Children's Laureate (22-23) Gabrielle Wang. Gabrielle Wang is an award-winning author and illustrator of more than 20 novels and picture books for children and young adults. She was born in Melbourne of Chinese heritage. As a result, Gabrielle’s books are a blend of both Australian and Chinese culture, with a touch of fantasy. In March 2022 Gabrielle was named the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2022-2023 . Check out ...
Jan 22, 2023•57 min•Season 5Ep. 201
In the eighth episode of our Summer Series, Kate and Katherine get schooled by Kate's talented friend, marketing/social media expert Shay Gardner on ALL things social media. This episode was so popular and birthed the phrase 'bring the salad'. Check out this episode on our website www.thefirsttimepodcast.com or get in touch via Twitter (@thefirsttimepod) or Instagram (@thefirsttimepod) . Don't forget you can support us and the making of Season Six via our Patreon page . Thanks for joining us and...
Jan 18, 2023•46 min•Season 5Ep. 201
In the seventh episode of our Summer Series, Kate speaks with internationally bestselling author, Sarah Winman. Sarah Winman grew up in Essex and now lives in London. She attended the Weber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to act in theatre, film and television. Her first novel, When God Was a Rabbit was an international bestseller, her second A Year of Marvellous Ways was a Sunday Times bestseller and Tin Man was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award 2018. Her latest novel – the best...
Jan 15, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 201
In our sixth episode of our Summer Series, Katherine speaks with bestselling Australian author, Natasha Lester Natasha Lester is the internationally bestselling author of A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald, Her Mother's Secret, The Paris Seamstress , The French Photographer, The Paris Secret and The Riviera House , and a former marketing executive for L'Oreal. Her novels have been translated into many different languages and are published all around the world. Check out this episode on our website www.th...
Jan 11, 2023•51 min•Season 5Ep. 199
In our fifth episode of our Summer Series, Kate talks to much loved Australian literary legend, Tony Birch. Tony Birch is a novelist, short story writer, poet and academic. He is the author of three novels: Ghost Rive r , which won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; Blood , which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and The White Girl , winner of the 2020 NSWs Premier’s Prize for Indigenous writing and also shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Award. He is ...
Jan 08, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 200
In our fourth episode of our Summer Series we revisit our most popular ep ever! Kate speaks to Literary Queen, Helen Garner. Helen Garner’s first book, Monkey Grip , was published in 1977. She is well known for her novels, short stories, journalism and essays, and for several influential works of non-fiction. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature , and in 2016 she won the prestigious Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for non-fiction . In 2019 she was honoured with the...
Jan 04, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 199
In our third episode of our Summer Series, we revisit Kate's conversation with Madeleine Dore which was a hugely popular ep to kick off 2022. We hope you can apply her energy to your 2023 new year! Madeleine Dore is a freelance writer, interviewer and founder of Extraordinary Routines. Since 2014, Dore has been asking creative thinkers how they navigate their days on her popular blog Extraordinary Routines and podcast Routines & Ruts . Her interviews, life-experiments, and articles have appe...
Jan 01, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 5Ep. 199
In our second episode of our Summer Series, we revisit Katherine's conversation with Benjamin Law. Benjamin Law is the author of The Family Law, Gaysia, the Quarterly Essay: Moral Panic 101 and editor of Growing up Queer in Australia. He created and co-wrote three seasons of the award winning SBS TV series The Family Law and wrote the sold-out MTC play Torch the Place. He co-hosts Stop Everything! on the ABC’s Radio National and interviews public figures for Good Weekend. Benjamin and Katherine ...
Dec 28, 2022•36 min•Season 5Ep. 198
Welcome to our Summer Series! First off we take you back to our very first ever episode in 2018 where we discuss just what The First Time Podcast is all about (or at least what we planned back then!). Then we chat to Claire G Coleman. Claire G Coleman is a Noongar woman whose family belong to the south coast of Western Australia. She writes fiction, essays, poetry and art criticism while either living in Naarm (Melbourne) or on the road. Born in Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar (Perth), away from her anc...
Dec 25, 2022•39 min•Season 5Ep. 197
We are thrilled to bring you this special episode with Kurdish-Iranian journalist, writer, filmmaker and refugee advocate Behrouz Boochani. The episode includes conversations Kate had with Behrouz in Aotearoa at Verb Wellington and in Naarm, Melbourne ahead of his sold out event at The Wheeler Centre. At Behrouz's request, Kate also spoke to his translators and collaborators Omid Tofighian & Moones Mansoubi about how they work together, the making of the new book Freedom, Only Freedom: The P...
Dec 18, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Season 5Ep. 196
It's the last episode of a pretty epic season! Kate and Katherine talk the year that was for both of them, plus what they've been reading, watching and listening to. It's not a 'best of' list but it's a great list. Things that get mentioned include: The First Time interview with Kim Scott The First Time interview with Chloe Hooper Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmun This is Dating (podcast) Interview with Esther Perel on the Dumbo Feather podcast If Books Could Kill (podcast) The Mel Robbins P...
Dec 11, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 5Ep. 195
A very special, final Master Series episode for Season 5! Kate was THRILLED to have the opportunity to speak to literary legend George Saunders. They discuss his early writing life, his model for revising, advice to writers, why he loves teaching and his Story Club community and his latest collection Liberation Day . George Saunders is the author of eleven books, including Lincoln in the Bardo , which won the 2017 Man Booker Prize for best work of fiction in English, and was a finalist for the G...
Dec 04, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 194
This episode Katherine speaks to poet and writer Allen C. Jones about basketball, poetry, metaphor mapping and his debut novel, Her Death Was Also Water. Allen C. Jones is an award-winning writer from California. He has lived and taught in Spain, Mexico, Korea, China, and presently serves as associate professor of literature in Norway. He earned an MFA in poetry from the University of New Mexico and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. His work appears widely online an...
Nov 27, 2022•33 min•Season 5Ep. 193
Our final Master Series of S5! And it's a LIVE one! Recorded at Readings Hawthorn with the fabulous Australian novelist and nature writer, Inga Simpson. We discuss her writing career, how to fall back in love with your craft, love of trees and Inga's latest book - 'the great Australian cricket novel - Willowman (Hachette Australia). Inga Simpson is also the author of The Last Woman in the World (Hachette 2021), which was shortlisted for the Margaret and Colin Roderick literary Award and the Fict...
Nov 20, 2022•52 min•Season 5Ep. 192
Kate is home and insufferably glowy after her residency, handing in her MS and the fabulous Verb Wellington festival. Katherine is 'very happy for her.' Lots of mentions this ep, including: Verb Wellington Bad Diaries Salon Meeting Behrouz Boochani - author of No Friend but the Mountains and his new book Freedom, Only Freedom Esther Perel in Where Should We Begin . Heather Rose - Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here Nagi Maehashi - RecipeTin Eats Dinner Allen C Jones - Her Death Was Also Water Coco Sol...
Nov 13, 2022•59 min•Season 5Ep. 191
