Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Special Series: Episode 73: Lech Blaine
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Karen chats to Lech Blaine about how to shape a memoir and find a meaningful throughline within the truth, what it was like being edited by Helen Garner, how to decide what to leave out of a memoir, the ethical dilemmas of writing about trauma in relation to friends and family, how he found the voice for the ‘characters’ in his memoirs, how he scored his Quarterly essays and the way he approaches long-form essays, and what he loves and hates about the publishing process.About LechLech Blaine is the award-winning author of the two works of creative non-fiction/memoir Car Crash and Australian Gospel and two Quarterly Essays Top Blokes and Bad Cop. He was the 2023 Charles Perkins Centre writer in residence, and his writing has appeared in Good Weekend, Griffith Review, The Guardian and The Monthly.
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Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2025 special series: Episode 72: Nina Karnikowski
In a special series direct from the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Irma chats to travel writer Nina Karnikowski about why she no longer wants to do a five-day trip to Paris and would rather opt for longer more immersive travel, tips for how to get started as a travel writer, why a luxury trip to Bali was one of her worst experiences, and how a moment with a polar bear in the Arctic changed her life, how she organises the various tasks that make up freelance travel writing, tips on how to pitch travel articles and why writing her memoir so quickly had huge benefits.About NinaNina Karnikowski is a writer exploring how travel can help solve social and environmental problems. Having reported from over 60 countries, her work weaves together storytelling, systems thinking and a deep respect for place. She is the author of three books about travel and creative living, and a deck of writing prompt cards. Based in Byron Bay, she also mentors purpose-driven creatives.
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Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2025 special series: Episode 71: Green room stories
In this episode Irma and Karen chat about the 2025 Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, painting a picture of the festival atmosphere and sharing some of the highlights. Then they ask six authors at the festival – Clare Wright, Jenny Erpenbeck, Lech Blaine, Yves Rees, Craig Leeson and Virginia Haussegger – to share a green room story. They uncover Bryan Brown’s funny festival request, Thomas Keneally's unwitting green room 'theft', Jenny Erpenbeck’s props room catastrophe, Annabel Crabb’s near miss, David Attenborough's pub oration, and how Virginia Haussegger burnt a hole in a green room floor.
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Season 6: Episode 70: Sophie Cunningham (ASA Chair)
Karen and Irma chat about early drafts and tips for gaining momentum again after a break.Then Irma talks to Sophie Cunningham in her role as Chair of the Australian Society of Authors about the impact of AI, the closure of Meanjin, the ASA’s role with industry issues, the ways in which authors need to change their expectations around publishing, how the Stella Prize changed the literary landscape, but also why prizes can be devastating for the majority who don’t make the lists, why we need to rethink the acquisition of independents by multinational publishing houses, and why seeing writing as a job helps her avoid the destablising effect of career highs and lows.About SophieSophie Cunningham has written 10 books, was co-founder of The Stella Prize, is a former editor of Meanjin, and a Member of the Order of Australia for her contributions to literature. She is currently a non-executive director of the Copyright Agency and the Chair of the Australian Society of Authors, which is the capacity in which we are chatting with her today.
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Season 6: Episode 69: Craig Cormick
Irma and Karen chat about the upcoming Ubud Readers & Writers Festival at which they will be recording interviews with several international writers, as well as some of the books they've been reading recently.Then both Karen and Irma chat to Craig Cormick about the pros and cons of big versus small publishers, how he’s got author gigs on cruise ships and what they’ve involved, how he’s managed to be such a prolific writer while having a full-time job as a science communicator and responsibilities as a carer, the ways he’s seen the publishing landscape change over the last three decades, how to prevent the shiny new idea from derailing your current project, advice for writers wanting to include First Nations characters in their books and how to go about it the right way, the industry differences between writing for adults and kids, how he has landed multiple Antarctica residencies, and why the highest moment of his career was also his lowest.ABOUT CRAIGDr Craig Cormick is an award-winning author and science communicator. He writes books for children and adults, and stopped counting them somewhere after 30, but by our count he’s published 46 over the last xxx years. He is drawn to stories of people whose voices have been hidden from history, and his most recent book is Warra Warra Wai: How Indigenous Australians Discovered Captain Cook and What they Tell about the Coming of the Ghost People, which is co-written with Gunditjmara - Gunai-kurnai author Darren Rix.
In each episode of the Secrets from the Green Room podcast hosts Irma Gold and Karen Viggers chat with a writer about their experience of the writing and publishing process in honest green room-style, uncovering some of the plain and simple truths, as well as some of the secrets – whether they be mundane or salubrious – and having a lot of fun in the process.
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