Podcast appearances and mentions of Stella Prize

Anna and Annie discuss the 2025 Women's Prize and try to predict the winner. Since we recorded this the winner has been announced: The Safe Keep by Yael Van Der Wouden. (Annie was right!) And Annie wraps up recent Australian book award news including the Stella Prize winner Theory and Practice by Michelle de Kretser and the Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist. Our book of the week is THE NAMES by Florence Knapp. Cora goes with her daughter Maia to register the birth of her son.  According to family tradition, he will be called Gordon, after her husband.  Cora prefers the name Julian and Maia suggests Bear. The story breaks into three as we see the ripple effects of each decision. Described as 'the best debut novel in years' (The Sunday Times), this buzzy book has been an instant bestseller and on many 'best of 2025' lists. Coming up: THE EMPUSIUM by Olga Tokarczuk translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.  Follow us! Email: Booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Award-winning author Melanie Cheng joins James and Ashley to discuss her writing practice, her pet rabbit, and The Burrow, her 'most personal book' and its many parallels to her own life.  She also shares her experience of writing toward her greatest fear, coming to terms with her cyclical writing process, and how teaching narrative to medical students can help increase communication between doctors and patients.  Melanie Cheng is a writer and general practitioner. She was born in Adelaide, grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in Melbourne. Her debut collection of short stories, Australia Day, won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2016 and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction in 2018. Room for a Stranger, her highly acclaimed first novel, was published in 2019. The Burrow was published in 2024, and has since been shortlisted for numerous major Australian prizes, including the Stella Prize, the Age Book of the Year and the Miles Franklin Award. Read the Kill Your Darlings interview with Melanie discussed in this episode here.  Books & authors discussed in this episode: The Burrow by Franz Kafka Tender Is the Flesh by Augustina Batzerrica  Helen Garner Maxine Beneba Clarke Tony Birch Alice Pung Hilton Koppe (from ep 70)  The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler  Sanchana Venkatesh (from ep 75) and #MyYearWithAnneTyler Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Oliver Ready Bat Eater (and other names for Cora Zheng) by Kylie Lee Baker, recommended by @EmilyEatsPages  Laura McClusky  Riley James Jacinta Dietrich Upcoming events: Ashley is part of the Sisters in Crime – Death in a Cold Climate panel, Friday 27 June, 7-10pm, South Melbourne Ashley will be doing an in-conversation in Meeniyan with Jacinta Dietrich, Saturday 28 June, 6.30-7.30pm Ashley is speaking at Bendigo Library, Monday 30 June, 1-2pm Ashley is teaching a multi-day memoir masterclass as part of the Writers at the Woolshed Winter Writing Retreat in the Southern Highlands, 13-18 July Join Ashley and podcast fav Hayley Scrivenor for the Mystery and Mayhem Readers Retreat at the 5-star Tamborine Mountain Glades, 3-5 October James is launching Matt Rogers' highly anticipated debut thriller 'The Forsaken' at Harry Hartog Mosman, Wednesday July 9 Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. Plus check out Like, Follow, Die from Audible.  Learn more about James's award-winning novel Denizen and get your copy from your local bookshop or your library. Get in touch! ashleykalagianblunt.com jamesmckenziewatson.com Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

Astrid Edwards interviews Samah Sabawi about her memoir Cactus Pear For My Beloved which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. Become an FW member to join the movement and fast-track your professional development Keep up with @futurewomen on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astrid Edwards interviews Melanie Cheng about her novel The Burrow, which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. Become an FW member to join the movement and fast-track your professional development Keep up with @futurewomen on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charlotte Wood is the author of seven novels and three books of non-fiction. Her novel Stone Yard Devotional was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. It was described by the UK Guardian as ‘a quiet novel of immense power' and has been praised by authors Anne Enright, Tim Winton, Karen Joy Fowler, Hannah Kent and Paula Hawkins among others. Her previous books include The Luminous Solution, a book of essays on the creative process; the international bestseller, The Weekend; and The Natural Way of Things which won a number of prizes including The Stella Prize and the Prime Minister's Literary Award. Her features and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Literary Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Saturday Paper among other publications. In 2023 Belvoir Theatre Company staged an adaptation of her novel The Weekend, and her novel The Natural Way of Thingsfeatured in ABC Television's 2021 series The Books That Made Us. Charlotte joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about pacing a quiet novel, her main character who is never named, why she set the novel at the start of the pandemic, plagues, slowing down your writing and paying attention to small details, her relationship with plot, revision, and voice, and much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It's stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you'll find an album's worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It's perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. Email the show at writersonwritingpodcast@gmail.com. We love to hear from our listeners! (Recorded on April 23, 2025) Host: Barbara DeMarco-BarrettHost: Marrie StoneMusic: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)

Irma and Karen chat about finishing a draft of a novel. Then Karen talks to Favel Parrett about why she decided to give up being a postie and become an author, why she signed up for a writing course but didn't finish, how her novel Past the Shallows changed her life and keeps on giving, why she likes school visits, how she received not one but two Antarctic Arts Fellowships, why she likes writing child characters, how she came to write about dingoes, how rewarding it can be to write for young readers, and how the worst moment of her writing career also turned out to be one of the best.About FavelFavel Parrett's debut novel Past the Shallows (published in 2011) was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and won the Dobbie Literary Award. The following year she won the ABIA Newcomer of the Year Award. Her second novel When the Night Comes, was longlisted for the Miles Franklin and shortlisted for many other awards. Her third novel There Was Still Love was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and won the Indie Awards Book of the Year. Favel has also written two novels for children: Wandi and Kimmi.

Astrid Edwards interviews Amy McQuire about Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media, which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. Become an FW member to join the movement and fast-track your professional development Keep up with @futurewomen on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astrid Edwards interviews Jumaana Abdu about Translations, which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. Become an FW member to join the movement and fast-track your professional development Keep up with @futurewomen on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astrid Edwards interviews Santilla Chingaipe about Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia, which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. Become an FW member to join the movement and fast-track your professional development Keep up with @futurewomen on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astrid Edwards interviews Michelle de Kretser about Theory & Practice, which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. Become an FW member to join the movement and fast-track your professional development Keep up with @futurewomen on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A special episode! Anna is joined by Emily Hart and Margot Lloyd, founders of Pink Shorts Press. We discuss the exciting launch of this new publisher and the 2025 Stella Prize shortlist. Our book of the week is SEA GREEN by Barbara Hanrahan, re-issued by Pink Shorts Press this year with an introduction by Laura Elizabeth Woollett. This semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of Virginia, a school-teacher and artist who travels from Adelaide to London in the 1960s. An Australian feminist classic, it explores the clash between a conservative upbringing with an artistic life. Other books mentioned - perfect for a bad feminist Aussie April! MY BEAUTIFUL FRIEND by Elena Ferrante translated by Anne Goldstein THE TRANSIT OF VENUS by Shirley Hazzard MONKEY GRIP by Helen Garner THEORY AND PRACTICE by Michelle de Kretser WEST GIRLS by Laura Elizabeth Woollett Coming up: MEMORIAL DAYS by Geraldine Brooks Follow us! Email: Booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Substack: Books On The Go Pink Shorts Press: https://www.pinkshortspress.com.au/ / https://www.instagram.com/pinkshortspress/?hl=en  Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz  

أعلنت جائزة " Stella Prize " المرموقة للأدب النسائي في أستراليا عن قائمتها القصيرة لأهم الروايات التي ستنافس على جائزتها الكبرى لعام 2025. وقد ضمت القائمة رواية الروائية سماح السبعاوي التي حملت عنوان " ثمرة صبّار لحبيبتي".

We are back! Jamila Rizvi introduces a special Stella Season of Anonymous Was A Woman. Astrid Edwards, FW book nerd and Chair of Judges for the 2025 Stella Prize, has interviewed the six authors shortlisted this year. Astrid interviews Michelle de Kretser (Theory & Practice), Santilla Chingape (Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia), Melanie Cheng (The Burrow), Samah Sabawi (Cactus Pear For My Beloved), Jumaana Abdu (Translations) and Amy McQuire (Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media). Interviews will drop before the winner is announced on Friday 23 May 2025. Become an FW member to join the movement and fast-track your professional development Keep up with @futurewomen on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anna and Annie discuss the 2025 Stella Prize longlist and some upcoming book-to-screen adaptations: THE LEOPARD, SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE, FOURTH WING and THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO. Our book of the week is SOMEBODY DOWN THERE LIKES ME by Robert Lukins. A dysfunctional family comes together in Connecticut when the parents announce they have lost everything. This will appeal to SUCCESSION fans – we're ready for the tv adaptation! Coming up: Aussie April continues with SEA GREEN by Barbara Hanrahan with Emily and Margot from Pink Shorts Press, and MEMORIAL DAYS by Geraldine Brooks. Follow us! Email: Booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Journalist Kerrie Davies with the story of how novelist Miles Franklin went undercover as a maid for a year, in Sydney and Melbourne's wealthy houses, well before gonzo journalists became household names.The real-life story of novelist Stella Maria Miles Franklin had an unexpected chapter after publishing My Brilliant Career.In 1903, Miles became a 'girl stunt reporter' by going undercover as a servant.For a year, she lived as a maid in Sydney and Melbourne's wealthy houses and wrote about the humiliations and drudgery in the daily lives of servant girls, or 'slaveys'.During her experiment she hand-rolled heavy, wet clothes through a washing mangle; served her employers pre-breakfast tea and toast in bed, which she thought was an obscene indulgence; she cleaned guest rooms and parlours; helped at high-society balls and kept fires burning in winter.The manuscript Miles wrote about this year pre-dated George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London by three decades, yet it never found a publisher.Journalist Kerrie Davies has investigated this little-known chapter of Miles' life, finally bringing this story to life in her own book.This episode of Conversations explores feminism, suffragettes, biography, books, servants, writing, Australian fiction, boy sober, class warfare, adventures, adventurous women, risk-taking, origin stories, gonzo journalism, Nellie Bly, Rose Scott, early 20th century Sydney, Chicago, women's rights, trad wives, motherhood, partnership, self-partnering.Miles Franklin Undercover is published by Allen and Unwin.

Be among the first to discover the 2025 Stella Prize longlist. Join the Judging Panel – Debra Dank, Astrid Edwards, Leah-Jing McIntosh and Rick Morton – for an illuminating discussion about the best literature produced in Australia.Event details:Tue 04 Mar, 5:00pm | North Stage

Irma and Karen chat about juggling jobs to survive while writing. Then Karen talks to Nardi Simpson about how writing songs differs from writing books, why she decided to start writing novels, how writing helps her to explore larger questions, how her writing mentors inspired her, what she learned from the Year of the Novel course, how sending a story out into the world is like throwing a boomerang, how she opens herself to playing with ideas and language, why she no longer writes lists of rules for herself when starting to write a new book, how competitiveness gets in the way of her writing, how green rooms differ between music gigs and writers festivals, how her partner met Trent Dalton in a green room, and how sharing stories and sitting with love and family are the most important things in her life.About NardiNardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay woman living in Sydney. She's a singer/songwriter in the vocal duo the Stiff Gins, in which she has performed nationally and internationally and released four albums, two singles, an EP and countless compilations. In 2018 Nardi won the Black & Write! Fellowship for the manuscript that became her first novel, 'Song of the Crocodile', which went on to win  the ASAL Gold Medal and be longlisted for both the Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Awards. Her second novel is 'The Belburd'. 

Charlotte Wood is the author of seven novels and three books of non-fiction. Her novel Stone Yard Devotional was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. Her previous books include The Luminous Solution, a book of essays on the creative process; the international bestseller, The Weekend; and The Natural Way of Things which won a number of prizes including The Stella Prize and the Prime Minister's Literary Award. Her features and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Literary Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Saturday Paper among other publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Irma and Karen chat about the changing shape of the Australian publishing industry as small publishers are bought up by larger publishing houses. Then Karen talks to short-story maestro Cate Kennedy about how she came to be a writer and then a teacher of writing, how writing (and reading) a short story is like plunging deep into a diving pool, how her career took off after having a story published in a 9/11 commemorative edition of the New Yorker, how she wrote a novel because of an offer she couldn't refuse, what makes a character interesting, how judging prizes has changed her writing, how to overcome procrastination and slumps in confidence, and how a mystery person served her a cup of tea in a green room.About CateCate Kennedy is an award-winning short-story writer of two collections, Dark Roots, and also Like a House on Fire, which was shortlisted for the inaugural Stella Prize. Cate has also written poetry, a travel memoir Sing and Don't Cry, and a novel, The World Beneath, which won the People's Choice Award in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Cate is an incredible teacher of creative writing. She also works as a writing teacher and advisor on the faculty of Pacific University's MFA in Creative Writing Program in Portland, Oregon. She lives in Castlemaine, Victoria.

For Maggie Mackellar, writing was never in her plans. She initially wanted to be a vet or mountain climber before eventually settling into a career as an academic. Mackellar’s love for writing came while studying a PhD in history at the University of Sydney. Now, as a writer and historian living on the east coast of Tasmania, Maggie writes the much-loved newsletter The Sit Spot and is the author of five books, including ‘Graft’, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and longlisted for the Stella Prize in 2024. Joining Georgina Godwin during Adelaide Writer’s Week 2024, she speaks about her upbringing, motherhood and her career so far. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Winner of both the Miles Franklin Award and the Stella Prize, author Evie Wyld writes dark and often trauma-informed books, but she also has a remarkable capacity to capture the tenderness of memory. In this episode, from Schwartz Media's podcast Read This, Michael is joined by Evie for a conversation about her latest book The Echoes, which explores how we tell stories around and into the absences that define us. Reading list: After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, Evie Wyld, 2009 All The Birds, Singing, Evie Wyld, 2013 The Bass Rock, Evie Wyld, 2020 The Echoes, Evie Wyld, 2024 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.  Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Evie Wyld

In this episode of our sister podcast, Read This, host Michael Williams speaks with the winner of the 2024 Miles Franklin Award, Alexis Wright. Her epic novel Praiseworthy, also won the Stella Prize and has been described as “an astonishing feat of storytelling and sovereign imagination.

Alexis Wright's 2023 novel Praiseworthy has just been awarded the Miles Franklin Award. It also won the Stella Prize and has been described as “an astonishing feat of storytelling and sovereign imagination.” In this special episode, Alexis joins Michael for a conversation about Praiseworthy and reveals why she decided very early on in her literary career that she wasn't going to be trapped in anyone's box.Reading list:Carpentaria, Alexis Wright, 2006The Swan Book, Alexis Wright, 2013Tracker, Alexis Wright 2017Praiseworthy, Alexis Wright, 2023You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Alexis WrightSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alexis Wright's 2023 novel Praiseworthy has just been awarded the Miles Franklin Award. It also won the Stella Prize and has been described as “an astonishing feat of storytelling and sovereign imagination.” In this special episode, Alexis joins Michael for a conversation about Praiseworthy and reveals why she decided very early on in her literary career that she wasn't going to be trapped in anyone's box. Reading list: Carpentaria, Alexis Wright, 2006 The Swan Book, Alexis Wright, 2013 Tracker, Alexis Wright 2017 Praiseworthy, Alexis Wright, 2023 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.  Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Alexis Wright

Evie Wyld writes dark and often trauma-informed books, but she also has a remarkable capacity to capture the tenderness of memory. Her novels have been a critical and commercial success, with her second, All The Birds Singing, winning the Miles Franklin and her third, The Bass Rock, taking home the 2021 Stella Prize. This week, Michael sits down with Evie for a conversation about her latest book The Echoes, which explores how we tell stories around, and into the absences that define us. Reading list: After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, Evie Wyld, 2009 All The Birds, Singing, Evie Wyld, 2013 The Bass Rock, Evie Wyld, 2020 The Echoes, Evie Wyld, 2024 Only Sound Remains, Hossein Asgari, 2023 Wall, Jen Craig, 2023  Anam, Andre Dao, 2023 The Bell of the World, Gregory Day, 2023 Hospital, Sanya Rushdi, 2023 Praiseworthy, Alexis Wright, 2023 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.  Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Evie Wyld

Evie Wyld writes dark and often trauma-informed books, but she also has a remarkable capacity to capture the tenderness of memory. Her novels have been a critical and commercial success, with her second, All The Birds Singing, winning the Miles Franklin and her third, The Bass Rock, taking home the 2021 Stella Prize. This week, Michael sits down with Evie for a conversation about her latest book The Echoes, which explores how we tell stories around, and into the absences that define us.Reading list:After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, Evie Wyld, 2009All The Birds, Singing, Evie Wyld, 2013The Bass Rock, Evie Wyld, 2020The Echoes, Evie Wyld, 2024Only Sound Remains, Hossein Asgari, 2023Wall, Jen Craig, 2023 Anam, Andre Dao, 2023The Bell of the World, Gregory Day, 2023Hospital, Sanya Rushdi, 2023Praiseworthy, Alexis Wright, 2023You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Evie WyldSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is there a right time to disclose personal information at work? Astrid Edwards is an educator and researcher dedicated to social and climate justice. She's also a bibliophile, literary critic, and Chair of the Stella Prize. In this episode with Helen McCabe, hear how Astrid navigated her Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis, how leaders can support team members with chronic illnesses, and ways to find deeper purpose in your work. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Irma and Karen reveal exciting new partnerships with Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and Writers Victoria. Then Karen chats with Beejay Silcox about literary criticism in Australia – what good critics endeavour to do, the blowback from a tough review, what is lacking in Australian criticism, the impact of shrinking page space, the inability to make a sustainable career out of criticism, and her deep regret over one particular review. And then on judging the Stella Prize – how the process works, the role of chair and how the panel is selected, how a shortlist and then a winner is decided, and the alchemy of a strong process. About BeejayBeejay Silcox is an Australian writer and literary critic. She is the Artistic Director of Canberra Writers Festival, and was chair of the 2024 Stella Prize judging panel. Her literary criticism regularly appears in national and international arts publications, and her award-winning short fiction has been published in several literary magazines. She also teaches creative writing. 

Send us a Text Message.Hello friends! Sarah is joined by delightful friend-of-the-podcast Belle today for a discussion about the second half of the Stella Prize 2024 shortlist. They discuss their feelings about Abandon Every Hope, Praiseworthy, and Feast, as well as some recent reads.  Stella prizeWhy did Belle do an Acknowledgement of Country? Review of Abandon Every HopeReview of Praiseworthy in The Guardian  Books mentionedAbandon Every Hope: Essays for the Dead by Hayley SingerFeast by Emily O'GradyPraiseworthy by Alexis Wright  I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai The Bee Sting by Paul MurrayGet in touchInstagram | TikTok | Voice message | Substack | Patreon | Ko-fiSupport The Bookcast ClubYou can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post.  You can now try our bonus tier FREE for 7 days. If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi.  A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.NewsletterSign up to our monthly newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news.  Come and chat to us in the comments.Support the Show.

Send us a Text Message.Hello friends! Sarah is joined by delightful friend-of-the-podcast Belle today. They discuss the Stella shortlist and review the first half of the six-book list, which they both think is stellar (I'll see myself out). Stella prize Books coveredHospital by Sanya Rushdi (translated by Arunava Sinha)Body Friend by Katherine BrabonThe Swift Dark Tide by Katia Ariel Get in touchInstagram | TikTok | Voice message | Substack | Patreon | Ko-fiSupport The Bookcast ClubYou can support the podcast on Patreon. Our tiers start at £2 a month. Rewards include early access to the podcast, 'close friends' feed on Instagram, monthly bonus episodes, tailored book recommendations and books in the post.  You can now try our bonus tier FREE for 7 days. If you would like to make a one-off donation you can do so on Ko-fi.  A free way to show your support is to mention us on social media, rate us on Spotify or review us on Apple Podcasts.NewsletterSign up to our monthly newsletter on Substack for more book recommendations, reviews, new releases, podcast recommendations and the latest podcast news.  Come and chat to us in the comments.Support the Show.

Anna and Annie discuss the 2024 Stella Prize winner and the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist. Our book of the week is Thunderhead by Miranda Darling. A black comedy, set in suburbia, about one woman's struggle to be free, it has been described as a 'feminist triumph and homage to Virginia Woolf' (Australian Book Review).  We love a short novel and this is a gem. Coming up: The Busy Body with author Kemper Donovan. Follow us! Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Email: Booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com   Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

Waanyi writer Alexis Wright is the only author to win the Stella Prize twice - the first time for Tracker and the second time for Praiseworthy.  Alexis is also the author of the prize-winning novels Carpentaria and The Swan Book, as well as Take Power, an oral history of the Central Land Council; and Grog War, a study of alcohol abuse in the Northern Territory. Alexis was previously the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne, and she is the inaugural winner of the Creative Australia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. This interview was recorded live for Vision Australia in March 2024, after Praiseworthy was longlisted for The Stella Prize.   About The Garret Follow The Garret: Writing and Publishing and our host Astrid Edwards on Instagram. Explore our back catalogue (and transcripts) at thegarretpodcast.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“The Wandering is a choose your own adventure novel, and the reader is situated in the shoes of this brown woman from the Global South. She's 27 and in a way, she is stuck with her life. She aspires to be middle class, but her job doesn't allow her to achieve this social mobility. In her condition, she makes a deal with a devil, a reference to the story of Faust and Mephistopheles, finally getting a pair of red shoes that will take her anywhere. But that means she will never be able to find home—that's the curse of the shoes. The title in Indonesian is Gentayanga, which is a word used to describe ghosts who exist in a liminal state. This is a metaphor for people who travel. I came up with the idea for this novel in 2009 when I was an Indonesian international student studying for my PHD in New York. When I went back to Jakarta, I felt like I was not at home, but New York wasn't my home either, so there's a feeling of being neither here nor there. I wanted to capture the sense of being everywhere, which is liberating, but also the sense of displacement.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How are writing and travel vehicles for understanding? How can we expand the literary canon to include other voices, other cultures, other experiences of the world?Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.“The Wandering is a choose your own adventure novel, and the reader is situated in the shoes of this brown woman from the Global South. She's 27 and in a way, she is stuck with her life. She aspires to be middle class, but her job doesn't allow her to achieve this social mobility. In her condition, she makes a deal with a devil, a reference to the story of Faust and Mephistopheles, finally getting a pair of red shoes that will take her anywhere. But that means she will never be able to find home—that's the curse of the shoes. The title in Indonesian is Gentayanga, which is a word used to describe ghosts who exist in a liminal state. This is a metaphor for people who travel. I came up with the idea for this novel in 2009 when I was an Indonesian international student studying for my PHD in New York. When I went back to Jakarta, I felt like I was not at home, but New York wasn't my home either, so there's a feeling of being neither here nor there. I wanted to capture the sense of being everywhere, which is liberating, but also the sense of displacement.”https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“Some travel writers have shared a sense of responsibility in creating narratives around travel in relation to the climate crisis. But at the same time, I think we also need to first, raise critical awareness around the media productions that glamorize travel. What I learned from the feminist framework in climate justice is that climate change affects societies in uneven ways. So we also need to raise questions around the wealthy countries that take advantage of cheap labor or relocate production and emission in the Global South, and then they blame people in the Global South for being the contributors of the climate crisis. We really need to ask questions around the structures of people in power rather than focusing on individual responsibility. Whenever I encounter beauty, it's immediately disrupted. For instance, whenever I go to Bali, going to the beach and looking at the sunset, I'm reminded of the structures of global inequalities that make tourism possible. It's the same here in Sydney where I'm reminded this is a settler colonial country. But maybe it's important to appreciate the beauty of nature around you, but then be constantly disrupted by all these thoughts and questions.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“The Wandering is a choose your own adventure novel, and the reader is situated in the shoes of this brown woman from the Global South. She's 27 and in a way, she is stuck with her life. She aspires to be middle class, but her job doesn't allow her to achieve this social mobility. In her condition, she makes a deal with a devil, a reference to the story of Faust and Mephistopheles, finally getting a pair of red shoes that will take her anywhere. But that means she will never be able to find home—that's the curse of the shoes. The title in Indonesian is Gentayanga, which is a word used to describe ghosts who exist in a liminal state. This is a metaphor for people who travel. I came up with the idea for this novel in 2009 when I was an Indonesian international student studying for my PHD in New York. When I went back to Jakarta, I felt like I was not at home, but New York wasn't my home either, so there's a feeling of being neither here nor there. I wanted to capture the sense of being everywhere, which is liberating, but also the sense of displacement.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How are writing and travel vehicles for understanding? How can we expand the literary canon to include other voices, other cultures, other experiences of the world?Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.“The Wandering is a choose your own adventure novel, and the reader is situated in the shoes of this brown woman from the Global South. She's 27 and in a way, she is stuck with her life. She aspires to be middle class, but her job doesn't allow her to achieve this social mobility. In her condition, she makes a deal with a devil, a reference to the story of Faust and Mephistopheles, finally getting a pair of red shoes that will take her anywhere. But that means she will never be able to find home—that's the curse of the shoes. The title in Indonesian is Gentayanga, which is a word used to describe ghosts who exist in a liminal state. This is a metaphor for people who travel. I came up with the idea for this novel in 2009 when I was an Indonesian international student studying for my PHD in New York. When I went back to Jakarta, I felt like I was not at home, but New York wasn't my home either, so there's a feeling of being neither here nor there. I wanted to capture the sense of being everywhere, which is liberating, but also the sense of displacement.”https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“Some travel writers have shared a sense of responsibility in creating narratives around travel in relation to the climate crisis. But at the same time, I think we also need to first, raise critical awareness around the media productions that glamorize travel. What I learned from the feminist framework in climate justice is that climate change affects societies in uneven ways. So we also need to raise questions around the wealthy countries that take advantage of cheap labor or relocate production and emission in the Global South, and then they blame people in the Global South for being the contributors of the climate crisis. We really need to ask questions around the structures of people in power rather than focusing on individual responsibility. Whenever I encounter beauty, it's immediately disrupted. For instance, whenever I go to Bali, going to the beach and looking at the sunset, I'm reminded of the structures of global inequalities that make tourism possible. It's the same here in Sydney where I'm reminded this is a settler colonial country. But maybe it's important to appreciate the beauty of nature around you, but then be constantly disrupted by all these thoughts and questions.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“It's important to imagine, to keep imagining, a world that is free from colonialism, from oppression, from exploitation, also expropriation of nature. And unfortunately this world is not sustainable—we are not living in that kind of world today. But if we want to see the world for our next generation for the future, we need to pass the torch and ask them to imagine, and then perhaps that way the struggle will continue.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How are writing and travel vehicles for understanding? How can we expand the literary canon to include other voices, other cultures, other experiences of the world?Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.“It's important to imagine, to keep imagining, a world that is free from colonialism, from oppression, from exploitation, also expropriation of nature. And unfortunately this world is not sustainable—we are not living in that kind of world today. But if we want to see the world for our next generation for the future, we need to pass the torch and ask them to imagine, and then perhaps that way the struggle will continue.”https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“The Wandering is a choose your own adventure novel, and the reader is situated in the shoes of this brown woman from the Global South. She's 27 and in a way, she is stuck with her life. She aspires to be middle class, but her job doesn't allow her to achieve this social mobility. In her condition, she makes a deal with a devil, a reference to the story of Faust and Mephistopheles, finally getting a pair of red shoes that will take her anywhere. But that means she will never be able to find home—that's the curse of the shoes. The title in Indonesian is Gentayanga, which is a word used to describe ghosts who exist in a liminal state. This is a metaphor for people who travel. I came up with the idea for this novel in 2009 when I was an Indonesian international student studying for my PHD in New York. When I went back to Jakarta, I felt like I was not at home, but New York wasn't my home either, so there's a feeling of being neither here nor there. I wanted to capture the sense of being everywhere, which is liberating, but also the sense of displacement.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How are writing and travel vehicles for understanding? How can we expand the literary canon to include other voices, other cultures, other experiences of the world?Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.“The Wandering is a choose your own adventure novel, and the reader is situated in the shoes of this brown woman from the Global South. She's 27 and in a way, she is stuck with her life. She aspires to be middle class, but her job doesn't allow her to achieve this social mobility. In her condition, she makes a deal with a devil, a reference to the story of Faust and Mephistopheles, finally getting a pair of red shoes that will take her anywhere. But that means she will never be able to find home—that's the curse of the shoes. The title in Indonesian is Gentayanga, which is a word used to describe ghosts who exist in a liminal state. This is a metaphor for people who travel. I came up with the idea for this novel in 2009 when I was an Indonesian international student studying for my PHD in New York. When I went back to Jakarta, I felt like I was not at home, but New York wasn't my home either, so there's a feeling of being neither here nor there. I wanted to capture the sense of being everywhere, which is liberating, but also the sense of displacement.”https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How are writing and travel vehicles for understanding? How can we expand the literary canon to include other voices, other cultures, other experiences of the world?Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.“I grew up with folktales and fairytales from the Indonesian archipelago, from the Nusantara. And of course I grew up with the stories from the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen and actually I like them better than the Disney version because they're more bloody and gory. I guessed that also shaped my preferences for more dark and gothic stories as I grew up. I did English literature at the University of Indonesia. I wrote a BA thesis on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And my mother was a very imaginative person. She loved making her own stories, so I think I inherit that from her. But she never had the chance to explore her creative side—there were certain expectations for women at that time to get married. She was harsh. But I know why I considered her monstrous when she was younger. She was trying to reject society's expectations in her own way, but we didn't understand her. And so I became really interested in the so-called bad women or monstrous women, in a way that these women allow me to ask questions around the structures that create them. Her whole presence taught me to really appreciate the knowledge that was created by generations of women before me. Part of the work I do now is work with a feminist collective to actually question knowledge production, who is excluded from it, who is being marginalized because of it, and my mother played a great role in steering me in that direction.”https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“I grew up with folktales and fairytales from the Indonesian archipelago, from the Nusantara. And of course I grew up with the stories from the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen and actually I like them better than the Disney version because they're more bloody and gory. I guessed that also shaped my preferences for more dark and gothic stories as I grew up. I did English literature at the University of Indonesia. I wrote a BA thesis on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And my mother was a very imaginative person. She loved making her own stories, so I think I inherit that from her. But she never had the chance to explore her creative side—there were certain expectations for women at that time to get married. She was harsh. But I know why I considered her monstrous when she was younger. She was trying to reject society's expectations in her own way, but we didn't understand her. And so I became really interested in the so-called bad women or monstrous women, in a way that these women allow me to ask questions around the structures that create them. Her whole presence taught me to really appreciate the knowledge that was created by generations of women before me. Part of the work I do now is work with a feminist collective to actually question knowledge production, who is excluded from it, who is being marginalized because of it, and my mother played a great role in steering me in that direction.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How are writing and travel vehicles for understanding? How can we expand the literary canon to include other voices, other cultures, other experiences of the world?Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.“I grew up with folktales and fairytales from the Indonesian archipelago, from the Nusantara. And of course I grew up with the stories from the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen and actually I like them better than the Disney version because they're more bloody and gory. I guessed that also shaped my preferences for more dark and gothic stories as I grew up. I did English literature at the University of Indonesia. I wrote a BA thesis on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And my mother was a very imaginative person. She loved making her own stories, so I think I inherit that from her. But she never had the chance to explore her creative side—there were certain expectations for women at that time to get married. She was harsh. But I know why I considered her monstrous when she was younger. She was trying to reject society's expectations in her own way, but we didn't understand her. And so I became really interested in the so-called bad women or monstrous women, in a way that these women allow me to ask questions around the structures that create them. Her whole presence taught me to really appreciate the knowledge that was created by generations of women before me. Part of the work I do now is work with a feminist collective to actually question knowledge production, who is excluded from it, who is being marginalized because of it, and my mother played a great role in steering me in that direction.”https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“I grew up with folktales and fairytales from the Indonesian archipelago, from the Nusantara. And of course I grew up with the stories from the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen and actually I like them better than the Disney version because they're more bloody and gory. I guessed that also shaped my preferences for more dark and gothic stories as I grew up. I did English literature at the University of Indonesia. I wrote a BA thesis on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And my mother was a very imaginative person. She loved making her own stories, so I think I inherit that from her. But she never had the chance to explore her creative side—there were certain expectations for women at that time to get married. She was harsh. But I know why I considered her monstrous when she was younger. She was trying to reject society's expectations in her own way, but we didn't understand her. And so I became really interested in the so-called bad women or monstrous women, in a way that these women allow me to ask questions around the structures that create them. Her whole presence taught me to really appreciate the knowledge that was created by generations of women before me. Part of the work I do now is work with a feminist collective to actually question knowledge production, who is excluded from it, who is being marginalized because of it, and my mother played a great role in steering me in that direction.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“The Wandering is a choose your own adventure novel, and the reader is situated in the shoes of this brown woman from the Global South. She's 27 and in a way, she is stuck with her life. She aspires to be middle class, but her job doesn't allow her to achieve this social mobility. In her condition, she makes a deal with a devil, a reference to the story of Faust and Mephistopheles, finally getting a pair of red shoes that will take her anywhere. But that means she will never be able to find home—that's the curse of the shoes. The title in Indonesian is Gentayanga, which is a word used to describe ghosts who exist in a liminal state. This is a metaphor for people who travel. I came up with the idea for this novel in 2009 when I was an Indonesian international student studying for my PHD in New York. When I went back to Jakarta, I felt like I was not at home, but New York wasn't my home either, so there's a feeling of being neither here nor there. I wanted to capture the sense of being everywhere, which is liberating, but also the sense of displacement.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“I've been playing with AI just to see what it can do. People who are not privileged with the skills of conceptualizing, the skills of abstract thinking, they will be replaced. And I'm just thinking about people from the Global South at this moment. People from the Global South have been working as supporters. They do a lot of support for creative work of entrepreneurs in the Global North. They do social media. They create content and things like that. The people who would provide the support live in, let's say, the Philippines. So, what I'm worried about is how AI technology could take the jobs of people who are not really trained to sort of do conceptual thinking.”Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Anna and Annie discuss the 2024 Stella Prize shortlist. Our book of the week is Butter by Asako Yuzuki translated by Polly Barton. Described as 'a novel of food and murder' this follows Riko, a journalist, who investigates serial killer Manako Kajii.  Kajii allegedly seduced rich men with her cooking before killing them, and she encourages Riko to cook and appreciate food.  Inspired by a true story, this has been a cult Japanese best-seller.  Coming up: Question 7 by Richard Flanagan. Follow us! Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Facebook: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

• S3E4. Queer Writes Session: Jonathan Butler with Fiona Kelly McGregor In this episode Jono chats with Fiona Kelly McGregor, a multidisciplinary writer, artist and critic who has published eight books. When in Sydney, Fiona lives and works on Gadigal land. Her most recent book was Iris, Picador Pan Macmillan, (2022), shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, the ALS Gold Medal, the NSW Premier's Award, the ARA Historical Novel Prize, and longlisted for the Stella Prize, the Voss Literary Award, the BookPeople and ABDA Awards. Highlights from their chat: • How to marry the historical archive with a compelling narrative that feels true • The importance of capturing the personality of place in literature • Ways queer writers can be brave with their work • Generous writing advice and shout outs Queer Writes Session (QWS) Podcast, a Words & Nerds spin off series hosted by Rob aka R.W.R. McDonald and Jonathan Butler, in partnership with Blarney Books & Art in Port Fairy. Books mentioned and reviews can be found on QUEER WRITES SESSIONS | Blarney Books and Art Resources mentioned and a transcript for this episode's interview is available at QWS Podcast · R.W.R. McDonald https://rwrmcdonald.com/