This episode is a Live recording of the First Time Publishing panel at the Write Around the Murray Festival on September 17, 2023. Kate speaks with writers Kathryn Heyman, Irma Gold and Tim Napper about their first and subsequent publication experiences and what they have learned along the way. Kathryn Heyman is the author of six novels including Storm and Grace and Captain Starlight's Apprentice which was serialised on BBC radio to an audience of two million and was published last year in a new...
Oct 22, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 6Ep. 245
This episode Katherine speakers to Sydney based author and podcaster Jessie Stephens . Jessie Stephens is an Executive Editor at Mamamia, Australia's largest independent women's media company. She co-hosts Mamamia's flagship podcast and winner of Australia's Best Podcast Series, Mamamia Out Loud. Jessie's debut book Heartsick based on three true stories was an international bestseller and her first novel Something Bad Is Going to Happen came out in September this year. Jessie and Katherine discu...
Oct 15, 2023•45 min•Season 6Ep. 244
Katherine shares the lowdown on torture museums and Kryal Castle fun and we respond to some great listener questions (as best we can!) Recommended reading and listening including: Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan Sidelines by Karen Viggers (released January 2024) That Rom Com Pod from writers Clare Fletcher and Karina May The Word Count from writers Fiona Taylor , Jo Dixon and Jacq Ellem Our Featured Book segment this episode is brought to you by Fremantle Press ...
Oct 08, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 6Ep. 243
Kate & Katherine get excited about Katherine's upcoming trip to Kryall Castle, debrief on recent reads and Kate swoons over the amazing Stero Stories at Write around the Murray. This episode the Featured Book is brought to you by Fremantle Press and we’re talking to writer and journalist Molly Schmidt. Molly is from the coastal town of Albany, Western Australia. She is passionate about producing stories that are inclusive of all members of her community. Her first novel Salt River Road was w...
Oct 01, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 6Ep. 242
This is the episode to listen to if you're already read Kate Mildenhall's latest book, THE HUMMINGBIRD EFFECT OR if you don't mind knowing what happens before it happens. We discuss writing and plot choices, like was *a** **** always going to die and die in THAT way? Were the links between stories there from the beginning? WHy bogong moths? (and other great questions). Check out show notes for this episode on our website www.thefirsttimepodcast.com or get in touch via Twitter (@thefirsttimepod) ...
Sep 24, 2023•45 min•Season 6Ep. 240
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...
Sep 17, 2023•35 min•Season 6Ep. 239
Kate and Katherine discuss how The Hummingbird Book tour came together and give tips for what to do/think about if you're an author wanting to do the same. They talk about the books they've reading and the podcast Kate's obsessed with (hint: it involves someone shitting* on the floor of a wedding) *Their word, not ours This episode the Featured Book is brought to you be Fremantle Press and we’re very, very excited to be talking to Emma Young about her novel, The Disorganisation of Celia Stone. A...
Sep 10, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 6Ep. 238
Kate and Katherine catch up on why they are in their sweats, ice baths, tour shenanigans, morning pages and their general chatter. Our Featured Book in this episode is One Day We're All Going to Die by playwright and debut novelist Elise Esther Hearst. This segment is brought to you by HQ/Harper Collins. Elise Esther Hearst is a Melbourne-based author and playwright. Elise trained in London at the Royal Court Theatre and her plays include Bright World , co-written with Andrea James (Theatreworks...
Sep 03, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 6Ep. 237
This is a conversation Kate has been dying to have for awhile now - keen for the lowdown on The Letdown and generally a massive fan of Alison Bell's work. Alison is the co-creator/co-writer/producer/director and star of the award winning ABC and Netflix co-production The Letdown . Together with her co-writer, Sarah Scheller, Alison won the 2016 AACTA Award for Best Television Screenplay. The Letdown also won the AACTA Award for Best Comedy Program for both seasons 1 + 2 (20017 + 2019). Alison’s ...
Aug 27, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 6Ep. 236
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...
Aug 23, 2023•33 min•Season 6Ep. 234
Cecilia Rabess previously worked as a data scientist at Google and as an associate at Goldman Sachs. Her nonfiction has been featured in McSweeneys , FiveThirtyEight, Fast Company and FlowingData, among other places. Everything’s Fine is her debut novel . Katherine and Cecilia discuss: Early writing life Donald Trump is Destroying My Marriage - article in NY Magazine that inspired Everything's Fine Writing an 'opposites attract' love story, when the opposites part is that people are on opposing ...
Aug 20, 2023•46 min•Season 6Ep. 235
This episode the Featured Book is brought to you by Text Publishing, and we are delighted to be talking to Loraine Peck about her novel, THE DOUBLE BIND. From magician’s assistant to crime novelist, it’s all about mastering the art of subterfuge for Loraine Peck, whose love of crime fiction propelled her to write the kind of book she loves to read. The Second Son , Loraine’s debut, won the 2021 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction from the Australian Crime Writers Association.It was shor...
Aug 13, 2023•56 min•Season 6Ep. 233
This episode was recorded as part of Willy Lit Fest 2023 and features Katherine talking with Pip Finkemeyer about her INCREDIBLE debut Sad Girl Novel . Pip Finkemeyer’s fiction has been listed for the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize, the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers, the Disquiet Literary Prize, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She co-founded the Berlin-based zine Nothing To See Here , and completed a Masters in Publishing and Editing at RMIT. She lives in Naarm/Melbourne, and ...
Aug 09, 2023•46 min•Season 6Ep. 232
Finally! We get to go behind the scenes and hear all about Kate Mildenhall's latest book, THE HUMMINGBIRD EFFECT . This episode focuses on writing process, voice and how Kate magically weaved the stories in this book together. Stay tuned and read the book in preparation for a future, spoiler-riddled deep dive, to be released in a few weeks' time. Check out show notes for this episode on our website www.thefirsttimepodcast.com or get in touch via Twitter (@thefirsttimepod) or Instagram (@thefirst...
Aug 06, 2023•36 min•Season 6Ep. 231
This week, writer and one-time Agony Aunt for the podcast, Charlotte Wood, returns to talk about the creative collaboration involved in the new stage adaptation of her novel The Weekend. Also discussed, Charlotte's forthcoming novel Stone Yard Devotional and her advice to Kate on keeping calm during the book tour rollercoaster. Sydneysiders can see The Weekend at Belvoir St Theatre from August 5 to September 3. Tickets and information here . Our Featured Segment in this episode is brought to you...
Jul 30, 2023•59 min•Season 6Ep. 230
The ink is dry and Katherine shares her news about her brand new two book deal! Kate's back from Bali and feeling all the nerves and excitement with only a couple of weeks until her third novel THE HUMMINGBIRD EFFECT hits shelves. Waterslides, ru-ro book recommendations and creative writing emergencies - we go everywhere! This episode the featured book is brought to you by Text Publishing and we’re talking to Robyn Dennison about her debut novel Blind Spot. Robyn Dennison’s fiction has appeared ...
Jul 23, 2023•50 min•Season 6Ep. 229
In this special Feature Episode brought to you by Penguin Books Australia, we speak to four debut authors about their new books. Erin Riley is a writer and social worker who has spent most of the last decade working alongside marginalised populations in community aged care in and around Sydney. Erin brings a queer lived experience to their professional work and to their writing. They were a Penguin Random House Australia Write It fellow in 2021, and have been published in various publications in...
Jul 16, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Season 6Ep. 228
This episode we talk to pop culture, TV writer and Real Housewives guru, Brian Moylan. Brian Moylan is the New York Times best-selling author of The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives and has written about television and pop culture for the New York Times, The Guardian, Vice, NBC News, and a few outlets that are NSFW. Katherine and Brian discuss: Early writing life, including what to be aware of when writing obituaries Recapping Real Housewives episodes What you're critiquing ...
Jul 09, 2023•43 min•Season 6Ep. 227
Ling Ma is a writer hailing from Fujian, Utah and Kansas. She is the author of the novel Severance , which received the 2018 Kirkus Prize, the Whiting Award and the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award and the 2022 short story collection Bliss Montage which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and The Story Prize. Ma’s Stories and excerpts have appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Granta, Virginia Quarterly Review , Vice , and more. She has been, until recently as we discuss in ...
Jul 02, 2023•51 min•Season 6Ep. 226
This episode our featured book is brought to you by Hachette and we’re very excited to talk to MARGARET MEYER about her debut novel THE WITCHING TIDE . Margaret Meyer was born in Canada, grew up in New Zealand and now lives in Norwich England. She worked in publishing and literature promotion before retraining in a second career as a mental health therapist. In 2020 she completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. The Witching Tide is her first novel. Kate and Katherine ...
Jun 25, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 225
Oh we go so many places in this ep: starting new projects, Kryall Castle school holiday plans, The Little Mermaid, how to land an ending on a tv series, great books, and old school video stores. Our Featured Book this week is Untethered by debut novelist, Ayesha Inoon. This segment is brought to you by Harper Collins. Ayesha Inoon is a Sri Lankan-Australian writer with a unique cultural perspective, which she brings to her writing. Born in Colombo, she travelled widely and worked as a journalist...
Jun 18, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 224
In this Masters Series interview, Katherine talks to best selling author, television writer and podcast host, RA Spratt. RA Spratt is Katherine's kids' favourite author. They LOVE her books and series: Nanny Piggins, Friday Barnes, Peski Kids and Shockingly Good Stories (in that order). R.A. Spratt has also written for dozens of different television shows. In recent years she has specialized mainly in children’s animation, but she has also had extensive experience writing jokes, sketch comedy an...
Jun 11, 2023•39 min•Season 6Ep. 223
Today's ep is another awkward convo - one we've been looking forward to for awhile! We talk about endorsements - aka praise, puffs and blurbs. How do you ask for an endorsement, what do authors think about the 'endorsement machine', how many are too many and can we do without them? We chat about 'Fool's Gold' - a Sydney Review of Books article by Catriona Menzies Pike and Kate has sought comment from a number of past guests - early and established career writers - about all their endorsement fee...
Jun 04, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 6Ep. 222
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...
May 31, 2023•22 min•Season 6Ep. 221
This episode our featured book is brought to you by Text Publishing and we’re so excited to talk to TARA CALABY about her debut novel HOUSE OF LONGING. Tara Calaby lives in Gippsland with her wife and far too many books. She is currently a PhD candidate at La Trobe University, researching the social worlds of women in Victorian lunatic asylums. Her speculative and historical short stories have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies. Tara recommends A Million Things by Emily Spurr . (No...
May 28, 2023•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 220
Katherine drops some very exciting news! And Kate and Katherine catch up on reading recommendations, more on authors and money and how they feel about AI. Our Featured Book this week is The Rush by Michelle Prak and the segment is brought to you by Simon & Schuster. Michelle Prak (known to some of you on socials as Prakky !) is a professional communicator with a thirty-year career in corporate communication, social media, politics and journalism. Writing has been the backbone of much of her ...
May 21, 2023•55 min•Season 6Ep. 219
We are thrilled to present this conversation with Australian literary legend - Tim Winton. This is a conversation Kate has been hoping to have since...well, since she was sixteen years old. The interview covers Winton's latest project - the television documentary Ningaloo - along with his writing life and environmental advocacy. Tim Winton has published twenty-nine books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. Since his first novel, An Open Swimmer ...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 218
Kate's been wanting to speak to New York Times and internationally bestselling author Amie Kaufman for ages! Not only has her multi-award winning work been translated into nearly thirty languages, and is in development for film and TV, but Amie is incredibly experienced in talking and teaching about writing and the strange world of BEING a writer. Raised in Australia and Ireland, Amie has degrees in literature, law, history and conflict resolution, and is currently undertaking a PhD in Creative ...
May 14, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 217
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...
May 10, 2023•45 min•Season 6Ep. 216
After last episode's recording fail, there's a lot to discuss! Kate's dipping her toe into TIKTOK, Katherine's reading a LOT of uplifting fiction/non-fiction, plus the hosts talk debut author experiences -- have things changed since their books came out? This episode the featured book is brought to you by BFredericksPR and Gregory Ladner. Gregory Ladner is one of Australia’s most enduring fashion designers, with a career spanning over four decades across Australia, Europe, and Asia. From humble ...
May 07, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 6Ep. 215
