Podcast appearances and mentions of tessa lunney

Tessa Lunney, author of the Kiki Button historical espionage series, talks with Michelle Hamadache about Paris, plotting and how the present can galvanise the past when writing historical fiction.

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of reading a new novel from Sydney-based writer, Tessa Lunney. Called "Autumn Leaves, 1922", it's the second book in Tessa's Kiki Button mysteries. A novel that does much to capture post-war sentiment in Europe at the time. Think Phrynne Fisher meets The Great Gatsby. A complex tale with a colourful and vibrant cast of characters - both real and imagined. I was thrilled to have the chance to speak with Tessa on the podcast.

October 1922. Kiki Button has had a rough year at home in Australia after her mother's sudden death. As the leaves turn gold on the Parisian boulevards, Kiki returns to Europe, more desperately in need of Paris and all its liveliness than ever. As soon as she arrives back in Montparnasse, Kiki takes up her life again, drinking with artists at the Café Rotonde, gossiping with her friends, and finding lovers among the enormous expatriate community. Even her summertime lover from the year before, handsome Russian exile Prince Theo Romanov, is waiting for her.But it's not all champagne and moonlit trysts. Theo is worried that his brother-in-law is being led astray by political fanatics. Kiki's boy from home, Tom, is still hiding under a false name. Her friends are in trouble—Maisie has been blackmailed and looks for revenge, Bertie is still lovesick and lonely, and Harry has important information about her mother. And to top it off, she is found by Dr. Fox, her former spymaster, who insists that she work for him once more.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's the end of summer and we have a super sized episode for you. 5 amazing authors including Matthew Fitzsimmons (Constance), Rachel Howzell Hall (These Toxic Things) Taylor Moore (Down Range), Tessa Lunney (Autumn Leaves, 1922) and Elisabeth De Mariaffi (The Retreat) All music used by permission under the creative commons license. Music in this episode inclludes: Blueprint by Jahzzar Sunday by Otis McDonald Knock Knock by Podington Bear Magic In The Other by Cruiser Warm Up Suit by Broke For Free Something Wobbly by Broke For Free Ramona by Macchiato Funky  Boots for Seven Miles by Kielokaz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 1922. Kiki Button has had a rough year at home in Australia after her mother's sudden death. As the leaves turn gold on the Parisian boulevards, Kiki returns to Europe, more desperately in need of Paris and all its liveliness than ever. As soon as she arrives back in Montparnasse, Kiki takes up her life again, drinking with artists at the Café Rotonde, gossiping with her friends, and finding lovers among the enormous expatriate community. Even her summertime lover from the year before, handsome Russian exile Prince Theo Romanov, is waiting for her.But it's not all champagne and moonlit trysts. Theo is worried that his brother-in-law is being led astray by political fanatics. Kiki's boy from home, Tom, is still hiding under a false name. Her friends are in trouble—Maisie has been blackmailed and looks for revenge, Bertie is still lovesick and lonely, and Harry has important information about her mother. And to top it off, she is found by Dr. Fox, her former spymaster, who insists that she work for him once more.Amidst the gaiety of 1920s Paris, Kiki stalks the haunted, the hunted, and people still heartsore from the war. She parties with princes and Communist comrades, she wears ballgowns with Chanel and the Marchesa Casati, she talks politics with Hemingway and poetry with Sylvia Beach, and sips tea with Gertrude Stein. She confronts the men who would bring Europe into another war. And as she uses her gossip columnist connections for her mission, she also meets people who knew her mother, and can help to answer her burning question: why did her mother leave England all those years ago?Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Imagining the Past’s new season features live recorded sessions from the 2019 HNSA conference brought to you by our host, Greg Johnston. Our twelfth episode explores History and Mystery: weaving a web of truth and lies in detective fiction.  Writing historical crime fiction is like a treasure hunt for authors who dig up nuggets from the past to recreate old crimes and mysteries, both real and imaginary. How do authors lay down clues to keep readers (and the central characters) guessing whodunit? How do you balance the interlacing stories of detective, murderer and victim? What sources do authors use to set the scene and solve the crime using old-fashioned methods of crime detection? Felicity Pulman tracks down the answers to these questions and more with Malla Nunn, Katherine Kovacic and Tessa Lunney.

  We had the honor to interview author Tessa Lunney on the podcast today about her novel, April in Paris 1921.    Jade was experiencing a lot of difficulties with her Wi-Fi so apologies if the quality is a little bit shaky. We tried our best to edit it to death! Email: hello@booksboozepod.com jade@booksboozepod.com chiara@booksboozepod.com   Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/BooksnBooze Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/booksboozepod/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/BooksBoozePod

Tessa Lunney's party girl hero Kiki Button poses for Pablo Picasso in Bohemian Paris in the first book of a mystery series that gently prods at serious questions – like how to be a ‘modern woman.' Hi there I'm your host Jenny Wheeler and today Tessa talks about  why she's obsessed with 1920s Paris, how her doctorate on war literature helped shape Kiki's character, and why Harry Potter saved her in the early days of motherhood. But before we talk to Tessa, just a reminder that the show notes for this episode can be found on the website, the Joys of Binge Reading.com  that's where you'll find links to Tessa's website and  work, as well as details about how to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss future episodes. Where to find Tessa Lunney:  Website: https://tessalunney.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tessa.lunney Twitter: https://twitter.com/tessawynn Instagram:  @misskikibutton  and @tessawynn Six Things You'll Find Out   Why she's obsessed with Anglophone 1920s Paris Partying with Pablo Picasso and Kiki Button Aussie nurse and hero Kiki Button's relevance to Me Too How Harry Potter saved her sanity as a young Mother Where to go in Kiki's Paris How her doctorate on war trauma informed the story What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions. Jenny: But now here's Tessa.  Hello there Tessa and welcome to the show it's great to have you with us . . Tessa Lunney: Paris mysteries Tessa: It's great to be here. Jenny: Beginning at the  beginning - was there a "Once Upon A Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction?  And if there was a catalyst, what was it? Tessa: There was a moment when I decided to write fiction, and that was about two years after I realized I was never going to be an actress. I wanted to be an actress so much from when I was a very little girl. When I was about 21 or 22, I realized that I didn't have the success that my friends who were actors had already had, but also it didn't suit me. It didn't suit my personality and it didn't suit me intellectually. I looked at the decisions I'd made in my life, and I realized none of these were pointing towards an acting life. I told myself  "you have to be honest with yourself, you're not going to do this". A couple of years later, I finished university and I did an honors year, which is an extra year added on to my three year degree. I was surrounded by highly intelligent, passionate, eloquent book readers. And I thought 'these are my people!' I thought, 'you're going to have to go with books. It's you're first love and you're true love, so maybe you can tell a story... maybe you should start to try?' And so I started to try when I enrolled in a graduate diploma of creative writing. I enrolled because my boyfriend at the time was enrolling in his Bachelor of Music, and I was bored and had nothing better to do. I had three or four classes a week, and I thought this is it. This is what I'm going to do. That was like a long moment that ended in a flash of revelation. Jenny: It's great that you had such self awareness at such an early age! Tessa: Well, it was sort of forced upon me because I was quite unhappy trying to do this and trying to do that. It was all failing and not working. It should have worked; it worked in my mind but I just couldn't perform, I couldn't do anything. I tried out the drama schools and hadn't got in and I just thought this is a series of failures. But more than that- I wasn't even enjoying it. I didn't even enjoy being up on stage. I didn't want to do it, so why are you pursuing this if you hate it? So I had to think about it. It took a long time because I went overseas and had affairs and finished my degree. I did a lot of thinking, so the self awareness came slowly. Jenny: April in Paris 1921 is a mystery set in that period when the expat artists and writers were taking over Montparnasse!

We meet Katherine King Button as she embarks from the boat into London, two years after departing at the end of the war. Having served as a nurse on the Western Front, Katherine is Kiki to all those who know her from those days. London is just a pit stop, though on her way to Paris and to the freedom that only the post war liberty that city can offer. Ensconced in a garret in Montparnasse Kiki is determined to live up to notoriety as the blonde Australian society reporter.Falling in with artistic circles Kiki becomes a model and lover of Pablo Picasso who entrusts Kiki with a mission to locate a stolen portrait; leveraging all her society access to discover the thief. When a mysterious figure from the war reemerges, at the same time reports drift in from Germany's northern territories of fascist brownshirts terrorising the population, Kiki knows her past is catching up with her...Settle in for a ripping adventure in the city of lights!

Great Conversations features interviews with authors and writers, exploring books, writing and literary culture from Australia and the world.Today's episode features Tessa Lunney discussing her debut novel April in Paris, 1921.In April in Paris, 1921 we meet Katherine King Button returning to London, having departed Europe at the end of the war. Katherine is Kiki to all those who know her from those days, and London is just a pit stop on her way to Paris and the freedom that only that city can offer.

Tessa Lunney is a novelist, poet, and occasional academic. Her debut novel April in Paris, 1921 is published by Harper Collins Australia and Pegasus Books USA. In 2016 she won the prestigious Griffith University Josephine Ulrick Prize for Literature for her story Chess and Dragonflies and the A Room Of Her Own Foundation Orlando Prize for Fiction for Those Ebola Burners Them. She was also the recipient of a Varuna Fellowship. In 2013, she graduated from Western Sydney University with a Doctorate of Creative Arts that explored silence in Australian war fiction. In 2014 she was awarded an Australia Council ArtStart grant for literature. Her poetry, short fiction, and reviews have been published in Best Australian Poems 2014, Southerly, Cordite,Griffith Review, and the Australian Book Review, among others. She loves swing and rockabilly dancing, vintage style and lives in Sydney.