Australian Writers' Centre Podcast

Patrick Ness is an American-born writer now living in London. The first book in the Chaos Walking series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, was published in 2008 and was awarded the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Prize. It was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in the UK. His latest book is Monsters of Men, the third in his young adult series, Chaos Walking.<p>&nbsp;</p><p>Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.</p><p>www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au</p><p>www.valeriekhoo.com</p>

Sally Murphy made the decision to fulfill her dream of becoming a children’s author in 2002. Since then she has published 30 books and has been short-listed for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards, among others. Her latest book is Toppling, an illustrated verse novel about childhood illness. Sally has worked as a teacher, and is also a book reviewer. She runs the website Aussiereviews.com, which features reviews of Australian books for children, young adults and adults. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

John Connolly is the author of the popular Charlie Parker crime series. Connelly published his first novel in 1999. Every Dead Thing was a critical success and earned him a nomination for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His latest novel is The Whisperers, the ninth book in the series. Other books include Dark Hollow, The White Road and The Black Angel.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Natasha Solomons is the author of Mr Rosenblum’s List, which was published in Australia in April. It is her first novel and is based partly on her grandparents’ story of leaving Germany and settling in England before WWII. The novel has been very well received and is already published in 9 languages. Natasha is currently working on the screen adaptation with her husband, fellow screenwriter David Solomons.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Linda Jaivin is the author of eight books, including the bestseller Eat Me – a romp through the lives of four Sydney women and their erotic exploits. Eat Me was her first novel and was a bestseller here and overseas. Her latest is A Most Immoral Woman.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Malla Nunn is an Australian author, screenwriter and director. Her latest book is Let the Dead Lie, the second Detective Emmanuel Cooper novel. Originally from Swaziland, she emigrated to Perth with her parents in the 1970s. <p>&nbsp;</p><p>Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre.</p><p>www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au</p><p>www.valeriekhoo.com</p>

Sarah Waters’ 2009 novel, The Little Stranger, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and has received much praise and critical acclaim since its release. Set in 1940s England, it is a chilling ghost story about the Ayres family. Since 2003, she has been awarded the Betty Trask Award, the Somerset Maugham Awards, and the CWA Ellis Peters Dagger Award for Historical Crime Fiction for Fingersmith. She has also been shortlisted twice for both the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Andrea Levy's latest book is The Long Song. It is the story of July – a slave girl on a sugar plantation in Jamaica. Set during the time of the Baptist War, when slavery eventually came to an end. The inspiration from her books comes from the experiences of black Jamaicans in Britain. Her own parents migrated from Jamaica in 1948 and, as a young woman, Levy always wanted to see more books written about the lives of black Britons.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

PD Martin is an Australian crime writer. Her latest book, Kiss of Death, features Aussie FBI profiler Sophie Anderson. Her academic career started with a Bachelor in Behavioural Sciences. She then went on to study music full time and it was during this period that she rediscovered her love of writing.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Elizabeth Kostova’s second novel is The Swan Thieves, a story of obsession and art. Her first, The Historian, shot to number one on the New York Times bestseller list, becoming the first debut novel to do so. This historical novel explores the history and folklore of Vlad the Impaler, the real-life inspiration for the Dracula story. It went on to sell over two million copies worldwide, and was published in 26 foreign editions.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Sara Foster’s debut novel is Come Back to Me. Originally from England, she settled in Perth with her husband in 2004. Although she started her career in book publishing and has been working as a freelance editor for the last decade, she has always had an interest in writing and wrote poems and short stories from a young age.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Christopher Ride self-published his first novel, The Schumann Frequency, after spending 10 years writing it but having no success in finding a publisher. He went on to sell well over the 10,000 copies he was aiming for and the rights to the novel were eventually bought by Random House. They have now published the second book in the Overseer series, The First Boxer. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Penelope Green is a freelance journalist and author. She has published three travel memoirs recounting her time in Italy – When In Rome, See Naples and Die, and the latest, Girl By Sea. It is the story of her life in Procida, an idyllic island looking over the Bay of Naples, and how she became part of the community through a common love of food.    Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Liz Byrski is a freelance journalist and author of 14 non-fiction and fiction books. As a journalist she has over 40 years' experience in the media, both in England and Australia. She worked on ABC Radio in Perth and went on to become an executive producer there. Her latest novel is 'Bad Behaviour', a story of three women coming to terms with their past.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Tom Rob Smith is the author of Child 44, which won huge acclaim when it was released in 2008. It was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, won the 2008 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger prize for best thriller and was nominated for the Costa First Novel Award (formerly the Whitbread Awards). His latest novel is The Secret Speech.  Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Jack Marx is a journalist, blogger and author. As a journalist Marx has written for The Sydney Morning Herald, Rolling Stone, The Times, The Age, Men's Style, Ralph, and Australian Traveller and many others. His latest book is Australian Tragic: Gripping tales from the dark side of our history, a book of true stories from Australia's 'dark heart'.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Andrew Griffiths is an entrepreneur and author of ten books. He is the author of the '101 Ways' business building series of books, published by Allen & Unwin. There are eight books in total in the series and they've all been incredibly successful both in Australia and overseas. His latest is 'The ME Myth' – a book about how to combat the self-obsession of the modern world.  Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Michael White is the author of the bestselling novels Equinox and The Medici Secret. His latest book in the series is The Borgia Ring. He is also the author of the E-force books, which are published under his pseudonym, Sam Fisher. The latest Sam Fisher novel was also published this year and is called State of Emergency.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Scott Frost is a screen writer and novelist with some incredibly successful television programs and books to his credit. His television credits include shows such as Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Babylon Five and Andromeda. He has also written five books, his latest book is Don't look back.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com

Lisa Lutz is the author of the Spellman series, the latest of which, Revenge of the Spellmans, has just been released. The books are about a family of private investigators and have sold in over 22 countries. Film rights to The Spellman Files have also been optioned. In 2000 her screenplay, Plan B, was made – and she vowed never to write another screenplay again! She also worked for many years for a private detective agency.   Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com