Patrick Marlborough is a neurodivergent non-binary writer, comedian, journalist, critic and musician based in Fremantle, WA. They have been published in Vice, Rolling Stone, TheGuardian, The Saturday Paper, Junkee, Noisey, Meanjin, Overland, Crikey, The Lifted Brow, Cordite, Going Down Swinging, Pedestrian, Kotaku, The Betoota Advocate and 'beloved other'. They are a passionate mental health and disability advocate, regularly writing about their experiences with depression, suicide, bipolar, high-functioning autism and OCD. They have lived their whole life in Fremantle and spend their days arguing with their incredibly naughty dog, Buckley. In this Q&A he tells us more about his manuscript A Horse Held at Gunpoint.
Brooke Dunnell, Patrick Marlborough and Georgia Tree each have a one-in-three chance of taking out Australia’s newest and richest literary award for young writers.
Georgia and Claire are joined by Rowena Morcom, Publisher and Editor of Good Reading Magazine, SpineOut and PK Mag, for a chat about what makes a good author interview and how authors make their way under the covers of her well-thumbed glossy pages for book lovers.
Georgia (she/her) works as a policy adviser for Madeleine King MP, Labor's Shadow Minister for Trade and Resources in the Australian parliament. She is a political activist, unionist and feminist. Georgia completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) majoring in Creative Writing in 2013. She later attended the summer program at the London School of Economics in 2019, studying Trade, Development and the Environment, which contributed to her Master of International Relations and National Security at Curtin University, which she completed in 2020. In her spare time, Georgia runs a feminist book club and a blog. In this Q&A she tells us more about her shortlisted manuscript, Old Boy.
Brooke Dunnell is the author of the short story collection Female(s and) Dogs, which was a finalist for the 2020 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award. Her short stories have been recognised in competitions including the Bridport Short Story Prize 2019 and the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize 2017, and have appeared in The Best Australian Stories, New Australian Stories 2, The Big Issue fiction edition and other anthologies. Brooke has worked as a creative writing mentor, workshop facilitator and judge in various creative writing competitions. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Western Australia and lives in Perth. In this Q&A tells us about her shortlisted manuscript The Glass House.
Brooke Dunnell, Patrick Marlborough and Georgia Tree each have a one-in-three chance of taking out Australia’s newest and richest literary award for young writers. The Fogarty Literary Award is a biennial prize for an unpublished manuscript by a Western Australian author aged between 18 and 35 for a work of fiction, narrative non-fiction or young adult fiction. The winner receives a cash prize of $20,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press.
Described as ‘thoughtful’, ‘delightfully subversive’ and ‘tenderly insightful’, The Little Boat on Trusting Lane by Mel Hall is a novel about how human connection, community and friendship have the potential to heal. In this piece, she describes how the Perth writing community helped her bring her debut novel into being.
One of the questions I get asked about my picture books is ‘Why are they about animals?’ The automatic response for me would be ‘Because I love animals’, but the truth is a little more complex.
Are you in a writing group? In episode two, Georgia and Claire are joined by Deborah Hunn, co-author of How to Be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia for a chat about the ins and outs of workshopping manuscripts. Invisible Boys author Holden Sheppard shares his tips for finding your unique voice and the Comma Chameleon helps us ‘pick the dinkus’.
May is a mega month of author events, from festival appearances to library talks, our authors are out and about and ready to meet you. Find out where you can meet your favourite author or maybe discover a new author to fall in love with.
