Cirrus@Austlit

'In this episode, we talk to Carmel Bird. Carmel has been writing continuously for more than forty years. She is the 2016 Patrick White Award winner. This award recognises a writer’s entire body of work, and Carmel’s body of work is impressive by any measure. Ten novels, children’s books, and very highly acclaimed books about the craft of writing. It is my pleasure to welcome Carmel Bird to The Garret.'

'Morry Schwartz has been an integral part of the Australian publishing industry for decades. He has published fiction, nonfiction, essays, poetry, directories, nothing has been beyond him. And though he has had many successes over the years it’s probably fair to say that his interests have never been as influential as they are now. Black Inc Books, The Monthly, Quarterly Essay, The Saturday Paper and most recently, Australian Foreign Affairs. ' (Introduction)

'Euan Mitchell is Australia's foremost expert on self-publishing, or indie publishing, as it is increasingly becoming known. He's helped thousands of people down the often perilous track of indie publishing. A writer, a publisher, a lecturer, his interest in this field began with the publication of his own novel, Feral Tracks in 1998.

Euan self-published Feral Tracks after it was rejected by 25 literary agents and publishers. After its success, Hardie Grant published Euan's first non-fiction publication, Self-Publishing Made Simple: the Ultimate Australian Guide. Euan then started his own publishing imprint, OverDog Press, to release the second edition of the work. In 2014 he publishedYour Book Publishing Options: How to Make and Market Ebooks and Print Books with the support of the Australian Society of Authors.

Euan has a PhD in Creative Writing from Victoria University. He taught at Box Hill Institute of TAFE and now teaches at Swinburne University.'

Source: Blurb.

'Tom Keneally is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers. Booker Prize winner, Miles Franklin winner… He’s also a very hard writer to pigeon-hole. His fiction incorporates so much real life and his non-fiction reads like the best creative fiction. And at the core of all of his work is a love of history. (Introduction)

'Garth Nix is one of Australia’s most successful writers. His novels have sold more than five million copies worldwide. That includes the series The Old Kingdom, The Seventh Tower, The Keys to the Kingdom, and Troubletwisters. His latest is Frogkisser. ' (Introduction)

'Hannah Kent burst onto the literary scene in 2013 with her first novel, Burial Rites. It became an international bestseller and won many awards. Her second novel, The Good People, came out recently and is destined for similar success. Hannah's also the co-founder and publishing director of the Australian literary publication Kill Your Darlings. Hannah is destined to be one of Australia's major literary figures from here on. She's an exceptional writer. ' (Introduction)

'Morris Gleitzman is one of Australia’s leading children’s writers, beloved by children and adults alike. More than perhaps any other Australian children’s author he has pushed the boundaries with his content and our children are the richer for it. From the humour of some of his early books and his collaborations with Paul Jennings to his harrowing series of Once, Then, Now, After, Soon and Maybe, Morris Gleitzman is a writer of courage and enormous talent. ' (Introduction)

'Alice Pung is an award-winning writer, journalist, and essayist. Her first book, the memoir Unpolished Gem, won the Australian Book Industry Newcomer of the Year Award. She followed it with another memoir, Her Father's Daughter. And in the novel Laurinda, Alice is one of the rising stars of Australian writing. I started my conversation with Alice by asking her about the origin of her first name.' (Introduction)

'Don Watson began his literary career an academic historian, but soon moved on to political satire and speechwriting. He wrote political satire for the comedian Max Gillies, and then became speechwriter for Prime Minister Paul Keating.

'Since 2003 Don has been documenting the viral spread of management-speak and the decline of public language on weaselwords.com.au. He is a regular contributor to Australian public debate, including in The Age and The Monthly.'

Source: Blurb.

'Isobelle Carmody is an inventive and extraordinarily popular writer. When it comes to Australian fantasy fiction, there is no bigger name. I recorded this chat with Isobelle at the State Library of Victoria, after Isobelle had spent the weekend at Comic Con' (Introduction)

'...We have been privileged to hear the stories from great authors like Tony Birch, Sofie Laguna, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, John Marsden, Kerry Greenwood, Anita Heiss and Christos Tsiolkas. They are all writers of immense talent and scope. They have several things in common, one of which is that you can buy their books at Readings bookstores.

'Readings has been a great supporter of The Garret podcast since its beginning. It’s also the world’s number one independent bookstore. Its Managing Director is Mark Rubbo, and I spent time with Mark recently and learned how a former medical student became an accidental bookseller.' (Introduction)

'Christos Tsiolkas is a writer of strength and courage. He burst on to the literary scene with his debut novel Loaded. The Slap solidified his place as one of the top writers writing today, and he followed it up with another critical and commercial success, Barracuda. He has written novels, short stories, plays, essays and film reviews. I spent more than an hour with Christos at the State Library of Victoria. His experience and his love of writing began with the books his parents gave him.' (Introduction)

'Nikki Gemmell has seemingly done it all in the writing world. She is a former journalist, a best-selling novelist, children’s book author, writer of intensely moving non-fiction books, and a weekly columnist for The Weekend Australian, where she reveals almost every aspect of her life.' (Introduction)

'Sofie Laguna is an acclaimed writer for both children and adults. Her picture books, Too Loud Lily and On Our Way to the Beach, are classics. Her Miles Franklin award winning novel, The Eye of the Sheep, grabs your attention early and never let’s go.' (Introduction)

'Nic Brasch: Welcome to the Garret. The Garret podcast is a series of interviews with the best writers writing today. And Tony Birch is certainly one of the best. To me, this Melbourne-based writer’s work is reminiscent of great American writers. His novel Blood features a Steinbeck quality, but it shines a light on Australia’s working class (rather than those in the American Dust Bowl).' (Introduction)

'Nic Brasch: Welcome to The Garret. The Garret podcast is a series of interviews with the best writers writing today. Alicia Sometimes is a writer, a poet, a broadcaster, a podcaster, a musician, a spoken-word performer and a footy fan. I spent an hour with Alicia at the State Library of Victoria, and we talked about all the things that fascinate her and that influence her work. My chat with Alicia is coming up in a moment.' (Introduction)

'Nic Brasch: Welcome to the Garret. The Garret podcast is a series of interviews with the best writers writing today. And Jeff Sparrow is one of those writers. His collection of books combines his passions and interests in a series of compelling stories that cover everything from communism, political activism, the pornography industry, and the extraordinary life of Paul Robeson. Jeff will share his story in a moment.' (Introduction)

'Nic Brasch: Welcome to The Garret. The Garret podcast is a series of interviews with the best writers writing today. This episode features the prolific writer and activist Anita Heiss. Anita’s story in just a moment.' (Introduction)

'Leigh Hobbs is the 2016-2017 Australian Children's Laureate. The theme for Hobbs’s term as Children’s Laureate is ‘to champion creative opportunities for children, and to highlight the essential role libraries play in nurturing our creative lives’.'

'Nic Brasch: Welcome to a special bonus episode of The Garret. The Garret podcast is a series of interviews with the best writers writing today. Today’s interview, however, is not with a writer but a publisher. Michael Heyward is an editor and publisher with Text Publishing. Text is one of Australia’s leading independent publishers. Michael’s story, which includes his thoughts on what it takes to get your book published, comes in a moment.' (Introduction)

'The Garret podcast is a series of interviews with the best writers writing today, and this episode features English writer and academic Ian McGuire. Ian McGuire’s The North Water was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. It also made The New York Times ‘10 best of 2016’, and for good reason. From the opening page it pulls the reader into a world of violent, toxic characters for whom no type of depravity is off limits. Largely set on a whaling ship in the mid nineteenth century, it’s clearly the work of a writer with extraordinary skill and a frightening mind. Ian also co-founded The Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester. Today he is our guest, and I started by asking him about his literary influences as a young man.' (Introduction)

'Mia Freedman probably has the largest readership of any writer in Australia, and her influence on the media industry has been profound. Mia in synonymous with not only magazines in Australia, she is one of the original bloggers. She edited a national magazine at the age of 24. When she left the print world, she continued to write, but took her writing to a new platform: the blog. That blog has grown into the dominant online presence, MamaMia.' (Introduction)

'The shortlist for the 2017 Miles Franklin was announced on 18 June 2017, and this episode - featuring all five shortlisted authors - was released on 20 June 2017.

This episode features interviews with all five shortlisted authors: Emily Maguire (An Isolated Incident), Mark O'Flynn (The Last Days of Ava  Langdon), Ryan O'Neill (Their Brilliant Careers), Philip Salom (Waiting) and Josephine Wilson (Extinctions).'

Source: Blurb.

'This episode features two authors who are writing for children. And in the not too distant future, I hope I’m interviewing someone who says they grew up reading Andy and Jill Griffiths as a kid.' (Introduction)