Secrets from the Green Room

Sulari Gentill, a Sri Lankan-born author and former lawyer turned writer, dives into her journey from astrophysics to crafting the Rowland Sinclair mystery series. She discusses the challenges of writing in chaotic environments, her surprising experience at an awards ceremony, and how historical themes relate to today's societal issues. Sulari also shares insights on the pros and cons of the profit-sharing model in publishing and amusingly recalls a memorable encounter with Tanya Plibersek at a writers festival.

Irma and Craig discuss inspirational quotes.Then Craig chats to writing couple Cat Sparks and Rob Hood about whether there’s competition in a relationship when you’re both writers, how your book can be a sausage in the sausage factory, how hard it is as an editor to get what you want from a slush pile (because authors don’t read the freaking guidelines!). Also, the benefits of being published by small presses and having a supportive writing community, what constitutes a good writing day versus a bad writing day, and snobby big name authors in the green room!About CatCat Sparks is a writer of speculative fiction as well as an editor, graphic designer and photographer. She has run Agog! Press, an Australian independent press that produced ten anthologies of new speculative fiction from 2002–2008. She has won several Ditmar Awards and Aurealis awards for excellence in speculative fiction, and has published a bajillion short stories, two collections of her own work and a novel, Lotus Blue.About RobertRobert Hood is one of Australia's leading horror writers although his work often crosses genre into science fiction, fantasy and crime. He has published five young adult novels, four collections of his short fiction, an adult fantasy novel, fifteen children's books and over 120 short stories in anthologies and magazines. He has also co-edited many anthologies of horror and crime. He has won seven Ditmars and been nominated for six Aurealis Awards.

Irma and Craig talk about the differences in typing and handwriting work.Then they both speak to Nigel Featherstone about how he always feels like an outsider, why it shits him that writing isn’t considered real work, how Tony Abbott was the unlikely inspiration for his novel Bodies of Men, the strange benefits of interviewing his characters, why he is an obsessive re-drafter, the experience of a writing nervous breakdown and the moment his agent thought he literally died on the phone to her.About NigelNigel Featherstone is a Goulburn-based writer. His work includes novels, novellas, short stories, essays, memoirs, plays and even a libretto! His awards include being longlisted for the 2020 ARA Historical Novel Prize, short-listed for the 2020 ACT Book of the Year award, shortlisted in the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards and a 2020 Canberra Critics Circle Award. His novels include the highly-praised Bodies of Men, and his latest novel is My Heart is Wild Little Thing. 

Irma and Craig talk about literary tourism.Then Craig talks with bestselling fantasy author Isobelle Carmody on the challenges of meeting fan expectations, why her writing income has suddenly dropped dramatically and how she adapted, whether genre labels are useful, the benefits of doing a creative PhD, and the repercussions of being an activist author. About Isobelle Isobelle Carmody is one of Australia’s most beloved and awarded authors of science fiction, fantasy, children's literature, and young adult literature. She is recipient of the Aurealis Award for best children's fiction.  

Craig and Irma talk about the dead authors they would most like to interview. Then Irma talks with Allison Tait (AL Tait) on why the first structural edit she received did her head in and how she now works through them, the most difficult book rejection she’s ever experienced, why children’s book authors don’t get the kudos they deserve, and a whole lot more.About AllisonAllison Tait (or AL Tait) is the internationally published bestselling author of middle-grade adventure series The Mapmaker Chronicles and Ateban Cipher. Her latest novel is The Wolf’s Howl, book 2 in the Maven & Reeve Mystery series. Allison has a background in magazines, newspapers and online publishing, and is the co-host of the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast and Your Kid’s Next Read podcast.    

Craig and Irma discuss lesson learned from life on the road doing a book tour for Irma's novel The Breaking. Then Irma speaks with national living treasure Charlotte Wood about the terror of public exposure on releasing a book into the world, the discomfort of the first draft and why it’s important to ‘look for trouble’, how and when to get feedback on work-in-progress, how the pandemic has changed book publicity, why writers desperately need more financial support, why a book rejection was the best and worst moment of her career, and green room encounters that would horrify the reading public.About CharlotteCharlotte Wood is the author of six novels and three books of non-fiction, her latest being The Luminous Solution. Her latest novel is The Weekend, which won the 2020 Australian Book Industry Award for Literary Fiction and was shortlisted or longlisted for a number of other prizes, including the Stella Prize and the Miles Franklin Award. Her previous novel, The Natural Way of Things, won a swag of awards, including the Stella, the Indie Book of the Year and Novel of the Year, and shared the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction.

Irma and Craig discuss Covid-19 impacts on book sales.Then Craig chats with Mirandi Riwoe about combining fact and fiction in her historical novels, viewing the past through the lens of the present, why it's important to her to write Eurasian and Chinese characters, and the important difference between accuracy and authenticity. About MirandiMirandi Riwoe is the author of the novella The Fish Girl, which won Seizure’s Viva la Novella prize and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the Queensland Literary Award’s Fiction Prize.  Her latest novel, Stone Sky Gold Mountain, won the Queensland Literary Award for Fiction and the inaugural ARA Historical Novel Prize. Mirandi lives in Brisbane. 

Irma and Craig talk about balancing the writing life with real life.Then they both chat with Jack Heath about what working as a full-time author looks like, feeling like a fraud even when you’ve published 36 books, the differences (and similarities) between writing and promoting both adult and kids’ books, what characterises an ideal publisher, the perils of social media and whether it’s actually necessary to sell books, his most embarrassing fan moment, creepy fan interactions, and a memorable hot tub moment with Sofie Laguna! About JackJack Heath is the number 1 bestselling author of 40 novels, published in nine languages. His first crime thriller, Hangman, was voted one of the 100 best books of all time (twice). His mission is to create books that inspire a love of reading in children and adults.

Craig and Irma talk about what you write on your immigration card and when you first feel like a ‘real’ writer. Then Irma talks to Nikki Gemmell about the trauma of being outed for The Bride Stripped Bare, the importance of re-drafting and harsh edits, how words can change the world, the creep of imposter syndrome even when you have published a ton of books, dealing with vicious criticism, and how a leather-bound volume of Jane Eyre changed Nikki’s life.About NikkiNikki Gemmell is a bestselling author of thirteen works of fiction and five non-fiction books, and is a regular columnist for Weekend Australian Magazine. Her work has received international critical acclaim and been translated into 22 languages. In 2007, the French literary magazine Lire included her in a list of the 50 most important writers in the world. 

Craig and Irma talk about the good the bad and ugly sides of teaching writing.Then they both chat with Lisa Fuller about the state of publishing, how the industry can better support First Nations writers and editors, how the Pancake Parlour figured in her winning a major prize, and the many books her dog has eaten!About Lisa Lisa Fuller is a Wuilli Wuilli woman from Eidsvold, Queensland, and is also descended from Gooreng Gooreng and Wakka Wakka peoples. Ghost Bird is her debut YA novel, for which she received the 2017 David Unaipon Award for an Unpublished Indigenous Writer, the 2018 Varuna Eleanor Dark Flagship Fellowship, and was a joint winner of the 2018 Copyright Agency Fellowships for First Nations Writers. Ghost Bird also won the 2020 Queensland Literary Awards, Griffith University Young Adult Book Award, the Readings Young Adult Book Prize 2020, and was joint winner of the Norma K Hemming Award.