Write & Seek

About Write & Seek

Write & Seek is the podcast exploring how writers get writing done, and their journey to publication. debutbooks.substack.com (https://debutbooks.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Debut Books

Category

arts · fiction

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Aug 2024

Latest episode

26 Nov 2024

Latest episodes

16 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Nov 2024

   Episode 15 | Katherine Larsen & Sarah Sasson

   Debut author Sarah Sasson, an immunologist and writer, shares her thought-provoking novel Tidelines, exploring the complexities of growing up in the face of unimaginable loss.

2. 

   23 Oct 2024

   Episode 14 | Katherine Larsen & Emily Tsokos Purtill

   Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Emily Tsokos Purtill is a Western Australian writer of Greek heritage living in Perth/Boorloo on the lands of the Whadjuk Nyoongar people. She has also lived in the UK, Vancouver, Paris and New York. Her creative non fiction, short fiction, flash fiction and poetry has been awarded and published in anthologies and journals in Australia and the United States. Her short fiction can be found in Westerly and Griffith Review. After being awarded for her short fiction as a young writer, including winning the Tim Winton Award for Outstanding Achievement and twice winning the Katharine Susannah Prichard Award for Young Writers, Emily pursued a career in law and has worked as a lawyer in Perth and in Paris. Emily returned to writing when she lived in New York in 2013/2014. Matia is Emily's debut novel. Website: emilytsokospurtill.com (https://www.emilytsokospurtill.com/) Instagram: instagram.com/emilytsokospurtill (https://www.instagram.com/emilytsokospurtill) Facebook: Emily Tsokos Purtill - Author (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095303045300) Book: uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/matia (https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/matia) Meet the debut book. A woman in my village gave me four prophecies . . . they have all come true, so far. Sia is a young Greek woman who has emigrated from Greece to Perth, Western Australia in 1945 for a better life. She carries with her four prophecies and four pieces of protective jewellery, matia, one for herself, her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter. With a dooming prophecy hanging over each woman’s head will their lives unfold as they want or are they chained to the fate that’s been destined for them? Over four generations and three continents, linking back and forth over 125 years from Greece to Perth to New York and back to Greece, Emily Tsokos Purtill has weaved a story that is utterly captivating and deeply moving. Matia by Emily Tsokos Purtill is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   17 Oct 2024

   Episode 13 | Katherine Larsen & Rhianna King

   Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Rhianna King spent 20 years working in strategic communications for state government environment agencies. During this time, she developed a love of the natural world and learned everything she’ll ever need to know about cane toads. She now works for a not-for-profit Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation. When she’s not spending time with her husband, two kids and dog Rosie, Rhianna is reading, chasing her next marathon PB or sending apologetic messages to friends and family about it being too long between catch ups. Website: rhiannaking.com.au (https://www.rhiannaking.com.au/) Instagram: instagram.com/rhianna.m.king (https://www.instagram.com/rhianna.m.king) Meet the debut book. Beth doesn't feel like she belongs in her rambunctious, bohemian family. Apart from the special relationship she shares with her grandma, Elise. When Beth wins the lottery (on a ticket she bought to prove she could be spontaneous), she decides to spend it on treating Elise. But instead of anything material, Elise wants Beth to help her track down her first love, Gerry. It's a fun and uncomplicated little adventure, Beth thinks, until she discovers that her grandma's great love is actually a woman, and their romance was thwarted by the conservatism of the day. Grappling with her grandma's past spurs Beth to reconsider herself in the present. Birds of a Feather is a funny, poignant and utterly charming debut novel about questioning who you are and what you might become. Birds of a Feather by Rhianna King is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

4. 

   15 Oct 2024

   Episode 12 | Katherine Larsen & Marie O'Rourke

   Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Entranced by the power of words from birth, Marie O’Rourke spent many years reading, analysing, and teaching the stories of others before working up the nerve to start shaping her own. That story culminated in a PhD from Curtin University, where her research and writing pushed against the tradition of first-person, past-tense, chronological, narrative memoir, hoping to capture the shape-shifting nature of memory and identity. Marie’s memoir was shortlisted for the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award and her essays have been published in many respected national and international journals such as a/b, Axon, Essay Daily, Meanjin, Meniscus, New Writing, TEXT and Westerly. Teaching creative writing and literary studies at Curtin University, and now at St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls, Marie is passionate about helping future generations of readers and writers to see and feel all that words can carry. Twitter: twitter.com/marieorourke25 (https://twitter.com/marieorourke25?lang=en) Meet the debut book. All her life, Marie O’Rourke has been a Good Girl, a perfectionist, using words to apply golden seams to an imperfect life in an attempt to make something beautiful out of things that are flawed or broken. A volatile father, the death of a sister far too young, a faltering marriage, the ghosts of lovers past: these are just some of the fragments that Marie puts together again in these essays that explore her closest relationships as a daughter, sister, mother, wife and lover. With exquisite prose, Marie reflects on the beauty of brokenness and the ways in which time can transform our understanding of truth, forgiveness, and healing. These essays are a poignant reminder that some things cannot be fixed but can still hold immense beauty and meaning. Whether you’ve experienced similar struggles, or are seeking a deeper understanding of the human experience, Marie’s collection will leave you moved and inspired. How many of us feel our family life is not picture perfect? This book will resonate with those who are interested in exploring the human condition through universal themes of love and loss, forgiveness and redemption. Kintsugi by Marie O’Rourke is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

5. 

   10 Oct 2024

   Episode 11 | Katherine Larsen & Martine Kropkowski

   Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Martine was born in Canberra, raised in Sydney, and now lives and works in Brisbane. She has worked as a soldier, a journalist and an academic, and her essays and short fiction have appeared in journals such as Griffith Review, The Conversation, The ABC, Overland and Crackle Anthology. Martine teaches professional and creative writing at The University of Queensland as well as in the community, and she is a regular speaker and in-conversation partner at literary events. Website: martinekropkowski.com (https://www.martinekropkowski.com/) Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/tigestgirma/)instagram.com/martinekropkowski (https://www.instagram.com/martinekropkowski/) Book: ultimopress.com.au/products/everywhere-we-look (https://ultimopress.com.au/products/everywhere-we-look?_pos=1&_sid=ff63d9c51&_ss=r) Meet the debut book. A year after a tragic incident splintered their friendship, three women travel to Marcoy, a regional town, in attempt to reconnect.Melissa has slept much of the past twelve months away, and she hopes this weekend will help her re-emerge from the depression she’s been living with. Bridie worries that she is not a good enough mother. She worries about most things, really, but she’s dealing with things just fine. At least that’s what she tells herself. What Cassandra really needs is a break, so she’s come away to forget it all, to enjoy a cab sav and an open fire and the company of her long-lost friends.This weekend is about being together, about enjoying their friendship the way they used to, while not—at any cost—having to address the reason for the distance between them. But when they witness a young girl being coerced into a car by a man she fears, they are forced to reckon with the chasm of grief and trauma that’s kept them apart.Everywhere We Look explores domestic abuse, the dynamics of female friendship, and the danger that can hide in plain sight. Everywhere We Look by Martine Kropkowski is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

6. 

   19 Sept 2024

   Episode 10 | Katherine Larsen & Karleah Olson

   Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Karleah Olson is a Perth-based writer and an avid reader. She loves to read all genres, and to collect more books than she can possibly read in a lifetime. Karleah has spent the last few years as a PhD candidate at Edith Cowan University, where she is studying Australian Coastal Gothic Literature. Her debut novel A Wreck of Seabirds was shortlisted for the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award, and is a work of young adult fiction inspired by the gothic genre and the West Australian coastal landscape. Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/tigestgirma/)instagram.com/karleah_may (https://www.instagram.com/karleah_may/) Book: fremantlepress.com.au/books/a-wreck-of-seabirds (https://fremantlepress.com.au/books/a-wreck-of-seabirds/) Meet the debut book. When Briony first meets Ren, he is standing in the freezing sea at the edge of their tiny town. Ren hasn’t been home for a decade but has returned to be with his dying father. Briony won’t leave, hoping that Sarah, her missing sister, will one day reappear. But Sarah and her friend Aria have been stranded on a desolate island far off the coast. The longer they’re trapped there, the less alone they seem. How many secrets in this town have been swallowed by the brooding sea? A Wreck of Seabirds by Karleah Olson is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

7. 

   12 Sept 2024

   Episode 9 | Katherine Larsen & Tigest Girma

   Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Tigest Girma is an Ethiopian writer based in Melbourne, Australia. After graduating with a Bachelor of Education, she splits her time between writing and teaching. Passionate about exploring East African characters and myths, her work weaves Black stories with the dark and fantastical. In her free time, she can be found rewatching her comfort shows where the villain gets the girl. She invites you to visit her at tigestgirma.com or tiktok.com/tigestgirma. Immortal Dark is her debut novel. Website: tigestgirma.com (http://tigestgirma.com) Instagram: instagram.com/tigestgirma (https://www.instagram.com/tigestgirma/) TikTok: tiktok.com/tigestgirma (http://tiktok.com/tigestgirma) Book: hachette.com.au/tigest-girma/immortal-dark-trilogy-book-1-a-lost-heiress-a-soulless-vampire-a-secret-drenched-in-blood (https://www.hachette.com.au/tigest-girma/immortal-dark-trilogy-book-1-a-lost-heiress-a-soulless-vampire-a-secret-drenched-in-blood) Meet the debut book. A lost heiress must infiltrate an arcane society and live with the vampire she suspects killed her family and kidnapped her sister in this dangerously romantic and highly anticipated dark academia debut. Orphan Kidan Adane is the heiress to a fallen House of humans bound to vampiric creatures known as draniacs. As a human, it is her responsibility to study and nurture the relationships between draniacs and humans at Uxlay University. But when her sister is kidnapped and Kidan suspects that her own house draniac, the enigmatic Susenyos, is to blame, she heads down a violent path towards vengeance, willing to hurt anyone who stands in her way. Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

8. 

   5 Sept 2024

   Episode 8 | Katherine Larsen & Gail Holmes

   Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Gail Holmes grew up in Scotland, the youngest of seven children and the only girl. She graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering and a Master of Business Administration. She had a career with an international energy company for twenty-three years. During this time Gail also married and had five children. She moved to Australia in 2013. Her creative writing journey began when she was a working mum with very young children in Shanghai, China. Unable to get back to sleep one night, Gail started writing short stories about living in Shanghai. As this writing habit continued to grow, she attended short courses at the City College of Literature in London and then later studied the Melbourne University’s Master of Creative Writing, Editing and Publishing programme, graduating in 2021. In the Margins is her first novel. Website: gailholmesauthor.com (https://www.gailholmesauthor.com/) Instagram: instagram.com/gailholmeswrites (https://www.instagram.com/gailholmeswrites/) Book: ultimopress.com.au/collections/gail-holmes/products/in-the-margins (https://ultimopress.com.au/collections/gail-holmes/products/in-the-margins) Meet the debut book. Inspired by a real person, In the Margins is the story of spirited book-collector, Frances Wolfreston—the woman who uniquely preserved the earliest part of Shakespeare’s legacy.   England, 1647. As civil war gives way to an uneasy peace and Puritanism becomes the letter of the law, Frances Wolfreston, a rector's wife, is charged with enforcing religious compliance by informing on her parishioners. This awful task triggers memories of her mother, Alice, who inspired Frances’s love of books and secretly practised Catholicism at great risk. Conflicted, she doesn’t report a reclusive and mysterious midwife to delay her going to gaol. As Frances takes increasingly bold steps to help the women and children of the parish, she attracts the ire of a patron of the church who questions why Frances collects books that she charges are entertainment. When her mother is gaoled for religious crimes, the secrets Frances hides from her husband begin to surface, and she is faced with an impossible choice: comply with the strict dictates of the new laws, or risk everything to free the women she cares for.   In this tender and powerful work of imagination, the life of a remarkable woman who wrote and lived in the margins in a time where women's voices went unheard is restored to history. Beautifully written and deeply moving, In the Margins is a testament to the way literature can illuminate our inner lives and set us free when the world around us is covered in darkness. In the Margins by Gail Holmes is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

9. 

   29 Aug 2024

   Episode 7 | Katherine Larsen & Susannah Begbie

   Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Susannah grew up on a sheep farm in NSW. She has worked as a GP from Boggabri to Broome, South Coast to Red Centre and a whole lot of places in between. In 2006, Susannah started a Graduate Diploma in Professional Writing at Canberra University. She was awarded Editor’s Pick for short story ‘Fly to meet you’ in the UCan’s First anthology, and best written text for children’s book ‘Don’t You Dare!’ in the Get Real project. ‘The Deed’ is Susannah’s first novel. It won the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers in 2022 and is published by Hachette Australia. Susannah is represented by the Jane Novak Literary Agency. Website: susannahbegbiewrites.au (https://www.susannahbegbiewrites.au/) Instagram: instagram.com/susannahbegbiewrites (https://www.instagram.com/susannahbegbiewrites/) Book: hachette.com.au/susannah-begbie/the-deed (https://www.hachette.com.au/susannah-begbie/the-deed) Meet the debut book. A perceptive and unforgettable debut novel from the 2022 Richell Prize winner that explores the messy, sometimes volatile, complications that only the best and worst of family can bring. MEET THE EDWARDS FAMILYTom Edwards is dying, and cranky. He's made his peace with the dying part. But he'd bet his property - the whole ten thousand acres of it - that there'd be no wailing at his funeral. His kids wouldn't be able to chop down a tree, let alone build a coffin to bury him in.Then Tom has an idea ...Christine is furious, David ashen-faced, and Sophie distracted. Only Jenny listens carefully as Vince Barton, of Barton & Sons, reads their father's will. Either they build his coffin - in four days - or they lose their inheritance. All of it.A perceptive and unforgettable debut novel, The Deed explores the messy, sometimes volatile, complications that only the best and worst of family can bring. Sometimes greed can be good. The Deed by Susannah Begbie is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

10. 

    27 Aug 2024

    Happy publication day to The Little Black Book of Publishing!

    'The Little Black Book of Publishing is a big-hearted and no-nonsense writing and publishing mentor for your pocket or bookshelf.' Kate Mildenhall, author of The Hummingbird Effect. The Little Black Book of Publishing (https://www.debutbooks.com.au/bookshop/p/the-little-black-book-of-publishing) by Katherine Larsen (founder of Debut Books) is officially available to purchase at debutbooks.com.au (file:////Users/katherinelarsen/Library/Group%20Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/TemporaryItems/msohtmlclip/clip_filelist.xml). Alternatively, head to your local library or bookshop and put in a request! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

11. 

    22 Aug 2024

    Episode 5 | Katherine Larsen & Kirsty Iltners

    Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Kirsty Iltners is a writer and freelance photographer living on Jagera and Turrbal Country, Meanjin, with her two daughters, her border collie and four axolotls. She has worked for publications such as Brisbane Times and Broadsheet, runs her own photography business, and has previously been shortlisted for the National Portrait Prize. She has a degree in psychology and is currently studying law at QUT. Her debut novel, Depth of Field (https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/depth-of-field) was the winner of the 2023 Dorothy Hewett Award. Website: kirstyiltners.com.au (https://www.kirstyiltners.com.au/) Instagram: instagram.com/kirstyiltners (https://www.instagram.com/kirstyiltners/) Book: uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/depth-of-field (https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/depth-of-field) Meet the debut book. In photography, you don’t get to have it all. You are always making choices, always making sacrifices. To capture the light. Tom’s longest-standing commitment is his run-down house Mayfield, which hasn’t been the same since Adeline. He’s stuck in the past drowning his sorrows in too many bottles of wine and an unfulfilling photography business. Unable to move on, Tom is treading water in a low-commitment relationship. The only problem—she isn’t Adeline. Lottie is living with her baby, Coral, in a cramped flat above a fish and chip shop. Struggling to make ends meet, all she wants is to find connection—with her distant mother, the parent’s group, her old school friends, but Lottie straddles too many different worlds to quite fit into any of them. She doesn’t have much, but at least her and Coral have each other. Told through alternating perspectives, Kirsty Iltners’ debut novel examines the lives of two isolated individuals to reveal the fragility of life and the fallibility of our memories. Winner of the 2023 Dorothy Hewett Award, Depth of Field is a gripping novel where the mechanisms of photography are allowed to falter just enough to expose how selective and unreliable our memories are, especially when parts of the truth are left out of the frame. Depth of Field by Kirsty Iltners is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

12. 

    15 Aug 2024

    Episode 4 | Katherine Larsen & Zahid Gamieldien

    Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Zahid Gamieldien is an author, screenwriter, editor and writing tutor. He is the author of the novel All the Missing Children (Ultimo Press, 2024), which has been optioned to be developed into a television series. His short fiction has been published in literary journals including Overland, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, Island Magazine and many others. His work has also been listed for the Richell Prize and selected for inclusion in the ‘best of’ fortieth anniversary edition of The UTS Writers’ Anthology. His screenwriting has been listed for awards, and as an editor and writing tutor he’s helped several authors get their work into print. Most recently, he received funding to undertake a residency at Varuna House and a major grant from Create NSW to complete his second novel. Website: zahidgamieldien.com (https://zahidgamieldien.com/) Instagram: instagram.com/zahidgamieldien (https://www.instagram.com/zahidgamieldien/) Book: ultimopress.com.au/collections/frontpage/products/all-the-missing-children (https://ultimopress.com.au/collections/frontpage/products/all-the-missing-children) Meet the debut book. Ilene, a working-class mother, is struggling to survive and desperate to reconnect with her children, Jack and Lonnie, in the aftermath of a near-fatal tragedy.But her children vanish, setting off a chain reaction within the community. Suspended detective Omar helps out with the investigation, uncovering disquieting clues, but he keeps getting pulled away by a dangerous cold case. Benji, a recovering addict, finds peace by breeding lorikeets and caring for his mother, only to have his clean life upended by a stranger’s menacing threat. Nera, a city lawyer grieving on a country farm, wants to find out who killed one of her animals and is faced with increasingly strange and unsettling answers. In this gripping tale of human frailty and the other-worldly, each character must confront the mystery of what really happened to Jack and Lonnie. All the Missing Children by Zahid Gamieldien is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

13. 

    8 Aug 2024

    Episode 3 | Katherine Larsen & Jacqueline Rule

    Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Dr Jacqueline Rule is an Australian author who holds a PhD in English from the University of Sydney, a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English from Goldsmiths College, University of London (International Programme) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She is the winner of the University of London’s 150th Anniversary Prize for academic achievement in English Literature. Born in South Africa, Jacqueline has lived in Sydney for many years. She is admitted as a solicitor by the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Jacqueline has worked in research (focusing on law and literature) and academic governance at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), as an academic tutor teaching literature at the University of Sydney and as a fiction reader for literary journals. Her PhD thesis focused on the intersections between literature and law, narrative ethics and interpretative practices and the representation of historical trauma through the form of the novel. In addition, Jacqueline spent several years working in a legal organisation, supporting a specialist committee on youth detention in the criminal justice system. Website: jacquelinerule.com.au (http://www.jacquelinerule.com.au) Book: spinifexpress.com.au/shop/p/9781922964021 (https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/shop/p/9781922964021) Meet the debut book. He’s in a new home, turning his bag upside down, emptying the contents onto the rug in the middle of the room. It was there, he knows he packed it, the framed picture of his mum, he saw it inside his bag in the social worker’s car. In the picture, she sits. In her rocking chair, their chair, a small pillow tucked behind her, jutting out behind her elbow. Little Cat is on the shelf behind the chair, a row of his books, the window slightly open. Sun pouring through, the photo slightly overexposed. Faith and Evelyn are close friends, neighbours, and single mothers of Luke and of Mitch – and both bear the scars of the trauma of colonisation and the Stolen Generations. When Faith dies unexpectedly, Luke’s childhood in Sydney is severed into a ‘before’ and ‘after’ and a chain of catastrophic events is unleashed that will alter the course of his life. Navigating the upheaval of a broken foster system (that serves as a pipeline to poverty and incarceration in ‘juvie’), The Leaves is a bittersweet meditation on motherhood and loss, on the power of female friendship, and the role of the state in perpetuating violence. Luke’s journey exposes the aftermath of colonisation, as the nature of punishment, historical trauma and healing are examined. In doing so, the novel reveals the cruelty and futility of the youth detention system, and the violence of the law itself. Through the pursuit of unattainable justice for Luke, The Leaves raises larger questions about a society that is yet to take responsibility for its own historical crimes. The Leaves by Jacqueline Rule is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

14. 

    8 Aug 2024

    Episode 2 | Katherine Larsen & Deborah Pike

    Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Deborah is a writer and academic based in Sydney. She grew up in Northam and Perth, Western Australia. She has an Honours degree in English from the University of Western Australia, and a PhD from the University of Sydney. She is an associate professor of English Literature at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, and is a winner of an Australian Government Award for University Teaching. Deborah has travelled widely and lived in Paris for several years, where she held positions at Shakespeare & Company Bookstore, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the University of Paris VII and the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). She is the author of The Subversive Art of Zelda Fitzgerald, which was shortlisted for the AUHE award in literary criticism. Website: deborahpike.com (https://www.deborahpike.com/) Instagram: instagram.com/authordeborahjpike (https://www.instagram.com/authordeborahjpike) Facebook: facebook.com/authordeborahjpike (https://www.facebook.com/authordeborahjpike) Book: fremantlepress.com.au/books/the-players (https://fremantlepress.com.au/books/the-players/) Meet the debut book. One hot summer, a group of university students gathers in an orchard to rehearse a play. Veronika is born for a life on the stage while Felix seizes his last chance for creative freedom. Sebastian woos Veronika, and Cassie longs for Sebastian. Josh and Gloria each carry a secret they are unable to share. Passion, rivalry and enduring connections will bind the Players across years and continents, long after the final curtain falls and they leave university behind. From Perth to Paris, Cambridge, London, Berlin and Dili the friends search for meaning in their careers and friendship, discover love and endure heartbreak. The Players by Deborah Pike is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

15. 

    8 Aug 2024

    Episode 1 | Katherine Larsen & Liz Evans

    Welcome to Write & Seek! Meet my guest. Liz Evans is a British journalist, author, former psychotherapist and academic with a PhD in Creative Writing. Currently based on unceded Melukerdee land in Lutruwita/Tasmania, she has written for the NME, The Guardian, New Statesman, Elle, Dumbo Feather, Lunch Lady, Island Magazine, Womankind and The Conversation, among many others. She has been awarded two Varuna Residential Fellowships and the Katharine Susannah Prichard Fellowship, as well as an Arts Tasmania grant for an Education Residency. Website: lizevanswrites.com (https://www.lizevanswrites.com/) Instagram: instagram.com/lizevanswrites (https://www.instagram.com/lizevanswrites/) Book: ultimopress.com.au/collections/liz-evans/products/catherine-wheel (https://ultimopress.com.au/collections/liz-evans/products/catherine-wheel) Meet the debut book. Five years ago, Kate’s partner, Max, abandoned her for his pregnant lover. The affair has long since crumbled, but Kate has become fixated with Vee, her ‘replacement’. In a bid to find out what compelled Max to leave, she moves to Bridgewell, which stands in the shadow of St Catherine's Chapel, where Vee is now raising her four-year-old daughter, Iona.  Warm and trusting, Vee is juggling work, single parenthood and a controlling ex-partner, Max, with whom she is still secretly sexually involved. Glad of Kate’s friendship, she nevertheless wonders what has brought this glamorous but brittle woman to such a quiet corner of middle England. When Vee meets charismatic artist Tom, she is hopeful of establishing her first meaningful attachment since Max. But Kate has her own plans... Against a backdrop of ancient ghosts, mystical forces and long-buried tragedy, Vee unwittingly yields to Kate’s cruel agenda, until the past and present collide with devastating consequences. Catherine Wheel by Liz Evans is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request! For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OChTsg1y278bCPSP_pZb1zReEbOymYS9VC2EyMra6PI/edit?usp=sharing), curated by yours truly! Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

16. 

    7 Aug 2024

    Introducing Write & Seek!

    Welcome to Write & Seek. My name is Katherine and I am the founder of Debut Books, and the publishing coach, budding literary agent and debut author working within its book-lined walls. This podcast was inspired by something Charlotte Wood said in her book The Luminous Solution - ‘While there is information abound these days with advice and exercises on the craft of writing, there is far less available that shines a light on an individual’s actual writing practice.’ I’ve seen countless writers struggle through the book writing and publishing experience, and it has been easy to see patterns emerge. What truly baffles me is how universal the struggle is to write and publish a book, and yet because our western culture is steeped in scarcity and perfectionism, there is still so much shame around reaching out and asking for help. Write & Seek is a podcast of two halves, exploring how writers get writing done, and their path to publication. There is no one way to write and publish a book and I’m going to chat weekly with first-time Australian authors about their personal writing practice, and their publishing journey. Get full access to Debut Books at debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe (https://debutbooks.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

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