Australian Writers' Centre Podcast

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JJ Cooper's debut novel is The Interrogator. It is a military thriller made frighteningly authentic thanks to Cooper's own experience as a Human Intelligence officer with the Australian Army. He spent 17 years in the army, during which time he did two tours of duty in East Timor and one in the Middle East. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael McGirr is the author of the best-selling book 'Things You Get For Free', about his trip to Europe with his mother, and 'Bypass: the story of a road', about Australia's 'main road', the Hume Highway. His latest book is 'The Lost Art of Sleep', a book that explores sleep and its seeming demise despite its many benefits and the huge role it plays in everyday life. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Leah Giarratano has been a clinical psychologist for many years - she's therefore well placed to write convincing crime thrillers. She has also worked in television - in 2009 she was the host of Channel 7's Beyond the Darklands. Her latest book is Black Ice, the third in the series of Jill Jackson novels. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Linwood Barclay is the hugely successful author of No Time for Goodbye, which was the bestselling novel in the UK for 2008. He started his career in journalism in his hometown of Ontario, Canada and went on to become a regular humour columnist in the Toronto Star from 1993 to 2008. His latest book, Fear the Worst, has just been released. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marele Day is the author of 10 books, including the four-book Claudia Valentine series of crime novels. She has won several awards including the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement, 2008 and won international acclaim for her 1997 novel Lambs of God. Her latest book is The Sea Bed, about a Buddhist monk who leaves his monastery to carry out a fellow monk’s dying wish. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Helen Brown is a newspaper columnist and author originally from New Zealand and now living in Melbourne. She has published 10 books and has written regular columns for papers such as the Christchurch Star, Marlborough Express and LIVE Magazine. Her latest book is Cleo, the story of the cat Cleo who entered her one week after her oldest son was killed, and stayed with her and her family for 24 years. It will be released in Australia in September this year. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1992, Poppy King set up Poppy Industries selling her own brand of lipstick, and within three years, her business had grown into a multi-million dollar company. She quickly became known as the ‘Lipstick Queen’. In 2002 Poppy Industries was sold to Estee Lauder. Poppy has now returned to running her own company, this time called Lipstick Queen. She has also just released her first book, Lessons of a Lipstick Queen: Finding and Developing the Great Idea That Can Change Your Life. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Susannah Fullerton is a popular literary lecturer and author. She is a leading authority on 19th and 20th century writers with a special interest in Jane Austen - she is president of the Jane Austen Society of Australia. She also leads literary tours to the UK every year. Her latest book is "Brief Encounters: Literary travellers in Australia 1836-1939". Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Craig Silvey was only 19 when he finished his first novel, Rhubarb. It was published two years later in 2004 and won Craig the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist award. The book was hailed by critics and readers alike and was chosen as the 'One Book' for the Perth International Writers' Festival in 2005, and was included in the national Books Alive campaign. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mary Moody has had a long passion for gardening. Her gardening and love of writing led to a number of columns on gardening and eventually many books. She is probably most well-known for her French trilogy - Au Revoir, Last Tango in Toulouse and The Long Hot Summer. Written during her time in France, where she lived alone for six months while her family remained in Australia, they were bestsellers in Australia and overseas. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gregor Salmon is a Sydney based freelance writer. He has written for many Australian magazines including Sunday Life, Inside Sport, Ralph, Readers Digest and Playboy. He has also worked as a producer in television for Beyond Productions, The Morning Show on Channel 7 and an online producer for Channel 7 and Yahoo7. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dominic Knight is best known for his work with the comedy team, The Chaser. In 1999 he founded The Chaser newspaper with Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel and Charles Firth. Following on from that were the ABC television series CNNNN, The Chaser Decides and The Chaser’s War on Everything, the third series of which is airing on ABC currently. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amanda Falconer is author of The Renovator’s Survival Guide. Since the book’s launch, she has been featured on Sunrise, 9am with David and Kim, A Current Affair, as well as numerous radio interviews. She is a brand and marketing expert with over 20 years experience. Interview by Valerie Khoo, director of Sydney Writers' Centre. www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au www.valeriekhoo.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.