Q&As and Interviews posts
Q&A with Justin Heazlewood
Justin Heazlewood – AKA The Bedroom Philosopher – talks about his rogue self-help book.
In Funemployed, you look at the actualities of being a working artist in Australia. Can you tell about your motivation to write this book, and how the process unfolded?I was down and out! I was thousands of dollars in debt from an overly ambitious Melbourne Comedy Festival campaign. I was bitter and burnt…
Liam Pieper chats to Lorelei Vashti about The Feel-Good Hit of the Year
The photo on the cover of The Feel-Good Hit of the Year is of a boy who looks like he’s running away from something. It was taken at Labassa, the National Trust-listed nineteenth-century mansion in Caulfield where the author, Liam Pieper, lived as a child.
‘Dad took the photo,’ Pieper says. ‘I can’t remember it, but I assume we were playing Robin Hood, ’cause that was my Robin Hood outfit.’ He p…
Q&A with Andrew Solomon
Bronte Coates talks with Andrew Solomon about unorthodox families, including his own.
Far from the Tree is frequently described as a ‘life-changing’ book, and I’d absolutely agree with this statement; after reading the book I’ve viewed my own relationship with my family differently. Do you feel a sense of responsibility for such a reaction from readers?I’m of course honoured by the designati…
Emily Bitto chats to Kristina Olsson about The Strays
We live in an era infatuated with memory and perspective. In looking back, we interrogate our individual and collective pasts in an attempt, perhaps, to check our own authenticity, to keep ourselves honest. But the truth of the past, if such a thing exists, is as changeable as our needs.
This notion is at the centre of Emily Bitto’s engaging debut novel, The Strays. The story is centred around …
Q&A with Maxine Beneba Clarke
Bronte Coates talks with Maxine Beneba Clarke about her debut collection of short stories.
Foreign Soil portrays characters positioned on the fringe of society, often oppressed or downtrodden – an asylum seeker at Villawood, a pregnant young woman in rural Jamaica. What appeals to you about writing these kinds of protagonists?All of the issues explored in Foreign Soil are part of my experien…
Q&A with Angela Meyer
Bronte Coates talks with Angela Meyer about her new collection of micro fiction.
Why flash fiction? (And can you describe to new readers what it is?)The terms flash fiction, and micro fiction, are relatively new ways to categorise an old form: the very short story. Some of my favourite writers in this form are Franz Kafka and Janet Frame, and I’ve been undeniably inspired by contemporary Aus…
Q&A with Ceridwen Dovey
Bronte Coates talks with Ceridwen Dovey about her new collection of short stories.
Only the Animals has a distinct set-up: told from the perspective of ten different animals, each story depicts how they lived and died during human conflicts, and throughout, pays homage to a particular real-life author. Where did this unusual premise come from?The task I set myself for this book was to see if…
Conversations with small publishers: Brass Monkey Books
I had long been a bit frustrated that so many of the Indian books written in English that we get in the West either explore the migration story or ar…
Conversations with small publishers: Inkerman & Blunt
And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings. — Meister Eckhart
What were your reasons for establishing Inkerman & Blunt?I have a passion for creating beautiful books…
Conversations with small publishers: Hologram
Hologram is a new project by Express Media, publishing two novellas by writers under 30. We figured novellas were kind of an underrated format – they have the same las…
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