In episode 120, bestselling author Michelle Prak discusses how she set her latest thriller against the backdrop of Australia’s housing crisis and why she writes flawed, sometimes rash characters. 

She also reflects on how growing up in a lower socio-economic home influenced her love of reading and her ambition to be a writer, and also how it delayed her efforts to make that dream happen.  

Michelle Prak is a professional communicator with a thirty-year career in PR, social media, and politics. She lives in Adelaide and teaches communication subjects at the University of South Australia. Her bestselling debut thriller The Rush was published internationally in 2023. Barren Cape is her second novel. 

• 'The habit of writing' by Michelle Prak for Sisters in Crime;
• Colin Thiele
• Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister
• A Fortunate Life by AB Facey
• Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
• Universality by Natasha Brown
• The Last Victim by Tracy Hall and Summer Land

Upcoming events:

• Ashley is at the Mudgee Readers' Festival teaching narrative drive on Friday 15 August and speaking on Technology & The Future of Crime Fiction on Saturday 16 August 
• Ashley is teaching a one-day narrative drive workshop for Writers at the Woolshed on Thursday 11 September and providing manuscript feedback sessions on Friday 12 September 
• Ashley is doing one-on-one manuscript assessments for BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival on Saturday 13 September (only two spots available!) 
• James is teaching Writing Setting and Landscape at Writing NSW on Saturday 20 September 
• Ashley is teaching Online: Crafting Memoir for Queensland Writers Centre on Sunday 28 September 
• Join Ashley and podcast fav Hayley Scrivenor for the Mystery and Mayhem Readers Retreat at the 5-star Tamborine Mountain Glades, 3-5 October

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. Plus check out Like, Follow, Die from Audible. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

In episode 119, debut author Nathan Dunne joins us to discuss his memoir, When Nothing Feels Real, which shares the story of his onset of severe depersonalisation and his quest to find a diagnosis.

He shares the challenge of conveying his experience to those unfamiliar with the condition, his multi-year challenge to reach a proper diagnosis, and the long and uneven journey to recovery. We also discuss the community of fellow sufferers that supported him in the completion of his memoir. 

Nathan Dunne was born in Brisbane and grew up in India. As a journalist and critic, he has contributed to many publications, including The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, The Guardian and Slate. He now lives in Sydney. His debut book is When Nothing Feels Real, a memoir about living with depersonalisation, a frequently misunderstood mental illness.

Books & authors discussed in this episode:

• My First Book by Honor Levy; 
• The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff; 
• Luminous by Silvia Park 

Upcoming events

• Join Ashley and podcast fav Hayley Scrivenor for the Mystery and Mayhem Readers Retreat at the 5-star Tamborine Mountain Glades, 3-5 October
• James is launching Matt Rogers' highly anticipated debut thriller 'The Forsaken' at Harry Hartog Mosman, Wednesday July 9

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. Plus check out Like, Follow, Die from Audible. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

Ashley's brand new thriller Like, Follow, Die is out now as an audiobook exclusive from Audible! In episode 118, Ashley discusses the book's unique development and what it was like working with an ensemble cast of prominent Australian actors to bring her third book to life.

Like, Follow, Die is a "shattering and provocative psychological thriller that dives into the darkest corners of the internet and the powerful bonds between parents and children." Learn more and listen to it here.

Books & authors discussed in this episode:

• John Sandford (narrated by Richard Ferrone)
• JP Pomare
• Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things? by Pierre Novellie
• Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
• Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Upcoming events:

• Ashley is part of the Sisters in Crime – Death in a Cold Climate panel, Friday 27 June, 7-10pm, South Melbourne
• Ashley will be doing an in-conversation in Meeniyan with Jacinta Dietrich, Saturday 28 June, 6.30-7.30pm
• Ashley is speaking at Bendigo Library, Monday 30 June, 1-2pm
• Ashley is teaching a multi-day memoir masterclass as part of the Writers at the Woolshed Winter Writing Retreat in the Southern Highlands, 13-18 July
• Join Ashley and podcast fav Hayley Scrivenor for the Mystery and Mayhem Readers Retreat at the 5-star Tamborine Mountain Glades, 3-5 October
• James is launching Matt Rogers' highly anticipated debut thriller 'The Forsaken' at Harry Hartog Mosman, Wednesday July 9

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. Plus check out Like, Follow, Die from Audible. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

Award-winning author Melanie Cheng joins James and Ashley to discuss her writing practice, her pet rabbit, and The Burrow, her 'most personal book' and its many parallels to her own life. 

She also shares her experience of writing toward her greatest fear, coming to terms with her cyclical writing process, and how teaching narrative to medical students can help increase communication between doctors and patients. 

Melanie Cheng is a writer and general practitioner. She was born in Adelaide, grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in Melbourne. Her debut collection of short stories, Australia Day, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2016 and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction in 2018. Room for a Stranger, her highly acclaimed first novel, was published in 2019. The Burrow was published in 2024, and has since been shortlisted for numerous major Australian prizes, including the Stella Prize, the Age Book of the Year and the Miles Franklin Award.

Read the Kill Your Darlings interview with Melanie discussed in this episode here. 

Books & authors discussed in this episode:

• The Burrow by Franz Kafka
• Tender Is the Flesh by Augustina Batzerrica 
• Helen Garner
• Maxine Beneba Clarke
• Tony Birch
• Alice Pung
• Hilton Koppe (from ep 70) 
• The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler 
• Sanchana Venkatesh (from ep 75) and #MyYearWithAnneTyler
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Oliver Ready
• Bat Eater (and other names for Cora Zheng) by Kylie Lee Baker, recommended by @EmilyEatsPages 
• Laura McClusky 
• Riley James
• Jacinta Dietrich

Upcoming events:

• Ashley is part of the Sisters in Crime – Death in a Cold Climate panel, Friday 27 June, 7-10pm, South Melbourne
• Ashley will be doing an in-conversation in Meeniyan with Jacinta Dietrich, Saturday 28 June, 6.30-7.30pm
• Ashley is speaking at Bendigo Library, Monday 30 June, 1-2pm
• Ashley is teaching a multi-day memoir masterclass as part of the Writers at the Woolshed Winter Writing Retreat in the Southern Highlands, 13-18 July
• Join Ashley and podcast fav Hayley Scrivenor for the Mystery and Mayhem Readers Retreat at the 5-star Tamborine Mountain Glades, 3-5 October
• James is launching Matt Rogers' highly anticipated debut thriller 'The Forsaken' at Harry Hartog Mosman, Wednesday July 9

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. Plus check out Like, Follow, Die from Audible. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

If you missed hearing Ashley and James live in conversation at the launch of Cold Truth, we've got the full event recording for you here, complete with fake nazi invasions, terrifying cybercrime stats, and the satisfying crunch of James being forced to try genuine Manitoban dill pickle chips. 

Thanks to local bookseller Roaring Stories for hosting this event! 

Upcoming events:

• Ashley is teaching Online: Writing Crime for Faber, 8 weeks starting Tuesday 6 May 
• Ashley is launching Jay Martin's debut novel at Better Read Than Dead on Sunday 18 May, 3pm
• Ashley is teaching a multi-day memoir masterclass as part of the Writers at the Woolshed Winter Writing Retreat in the Southern Highlands, 13-18 July 
• Join Ashley and podcast fav Hayley Scrivenor for the Mystery and Mayhem Readers Retreat at the 5-star Tamborine Mountain Glades, 3-5 October

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop, Booktopia or your library. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

How did Jay Martin go from an award-winning memoir to a fiction manuscript she ultimately abandoned? And what did she learn that helped her craft her debut novel, Boom Town Snap? 

Jay talks with Ashley and James about what toxic workplaces have in common with abusive relationships, and how we get trapped in toxic relationships at the community level as well. 

Ashley is in conversation with Jay Martin to launch Boom Town Snap at Better Read Than Dead on Sunday 18 May, 3pm

Jay Martin’s first book, Vodka and Apple Juice: Travels of an Undiplomatic Wife in Poland, won the Hungerford Award and was published in 2018. She has worked in a range of roles including in community development, government policy and consulting. This included positions in federal government in Canberra, as well as in consulting firms in Australia and Canada. Jay designs and runs writing workshops and programs around Western Australia. Her debut novel is Boom Town Snap. 

Books & authors discussed in this episode:

• Arna Radovich (from ep 105)
• Anatomy of a Secret by Gerard McCann
• The Hollow Girl by Lyn Yeowart
• The Silent Listener by Lyn Yeowart (from ep 39)
• Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
• Tender Is the Flesh by Augustina Batzerrica

Upcoming events:

• Ashley is in conversation with Jay Martin to launch Boom Town Snap at Better Read Than Dead on Sunday 18 May, 3pm
• Ashley is in conversation with Dinuka McKenzie at Sutherland Library, Thursday 5 June, 6.30pm
• Ashley is part of the Sisters in Crime – Death in a Cold Climate panel, Friday 27 June, 7-10pm, South Melbourne
• Ashley will be doing an in-conversation in Meeniyan with Jacinta Dietrich, Saturday 28 June, 6.30-7.30pm
• Ashley is speaking at Bendigo Library, Monday 30 June, 1-2pm
• Ashley is teaching a multi-day memoir masterclass as part of the Writers at the Woolshed Winter Writing Retreat in the Southern Highlands, 13-18 July 
• Join Ashley and podcast fav Hayley Scrivenor for the Mystery and Mayhem Readers Retreat at the 5-star Tamborine Mountain Glades, 3-5 October

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

Lynne Ainsworth is the founder of Writers at the Woolshed, an emerging writer, and a person who 'loves hanging out with people who read and write'. She loves it so much, she not only created a pop-up festival to connect authors with regional readers and writers, she's now hosting the first Winter Writing Retreat, featuring masterclasses with Eleanor Limprecht, Betty O'Neil, Audrey Molloy, Ashley Kalagian Blunt and Lee Kofman (from eps 3, 76 and 112).  

In this special bonus episode, Lynne tells us how she first became a festival director, and shares details of the retreat, happening 13-18 July in Mittagong, NSW. 

An alumna of Varuna and Faber Writing Academy, Lynne Ainsworth has several short stories published, and was awarded a Masterclass with Patti Miller at Varuna in 2017, a one-month placement as Artist in Residence at The Old School House at Mt. Wilson, and a CreateNSW Small Project Grant for her current memoir, Sambio, set in Papua New Guinea. 

Find out more from Writers at the Woolshed.

Books & authors discussed in this episode:

• Clare Keegan
• Girl in a Pink Dress by Kylie Needham 
• The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
• We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
• Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
• Freedom by Lea Ypi

Upcoming events:

• Ashley & Pip in conversation at Five Dock Library speaking about Cold Truth, Five Dock Library, Wednesday 30 April 5.30 for 6pm start. Free, book online. 
• Ashley is teaching Online: Writing Crime for Faber, 8 weeks starting Tuesday 6 May 
• Ashley is launching Jay Martin's debut novel at Better Read Than Dead on Sunday 18 May, 3pm
• Ashley will be doing an in-conversation in Meeniyan with Jacinta Dietrich, Saturday 28 June, 6.30-7.30pm
• Ashley is teaching a multi-day memoir masterclass as part of the Writers at the Woolshed Winter Writing Retreat in the Southern Highlands, 13-18 July 
• Join Ashley and podcast fav Hayley Scrivenor for the Mystery and Mayhem Readers Retreat at the 5-star Tamborine Mountain Glades, 3-5 October

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

How does having a stalker change your life? We talk with bestselling novelist Pip Drysdale about her latest novel 'The Close-Up,' its real-life inspirations, and how surviving a stalker shifted her worldview. 

We also discuss how to navigate public image and the role anxiety has to play in creative pursuits. 

Plus, this ep's What Are You Reading? inspires a debate about what's derivative and what's inspired, and if those can be the same thing. 

Join Ashley & Pip in conversation at Five Dock Library speaking about Cold Truth, Five Dock Library, Wednesday 30 April 5.30 for 6pm start. Free, book online. 

Pip Drysdale is an author, musician and actor. She grew up in Africa, Canada, and Australia, became an adult in New York and London, and lives on a steady diet of coffee, dreams, and literature. Her first four books – The Sunday Girl, The Strangers We Know, The Paris Affair and The Next Girl – have been bestsellers in Australia. Her latest book, The Close-Up is out now in Australia/NZ and North America. She lives in Sydney.

Books & authors discussed in this episode:

• 'My Stalker, My Novel' by Pip Drysdale for Crime Reads; 
• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman; 
• We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer; 
• Anna Downes; 
• House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski

Upcoming events:

• Ashley & Pip in conversation at Five Dock Library speaking about Cold Truth, Five Dock Library, Wednesday 30 April 5.30 for 6pm start. Free, book online. 
• Ashley is the guest author of the Bloom & Bound 'Bound to Roam' bookshop crawl happening Saturday 26 April, Sydney 
• Ashley is teaching Online: Writing Crime for Faber, 8 weeks starting Tuesday 6 May 
• Ashley is launching Jay Martin's debut novel at Better Read Than Dead on Sunday 18 May, 3pm
• Ashley is teaching a multi-day memoir masterclass as part of the Writers at the Woolshed Winter Writing Retreat in the Southern Highlands, 13-18 July 
• Join Ashley and podcast fav Hayley Scrivenor for the Mystery and Mayhem Readers Retreat at the 5-star Tamborine Mountain Glades, 3-5 October

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

What considerations come into choosing to have a baby for creatives? And once baby enters the picture, how do you balance parenting with your creative practice? 

We ask Dinuka McKenzie and Lee Kofman, two beloved past guests who happen to be both authors and parents, about their decision to have children and how they manage their writing lives as parents. 

Plus, James has a big announcement – you'll never guess what it is. 

Lee Kofman is a Russian-born, Israeli-Australian memoirist, novelist, editor and writing coach. She’s the author of three fiction books and two memoirs, including Imperfect, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Nib Literary Award in 2019. Her short works have been widely published in Australia, US, UK, Israel and Canada. Lee’s most recent book is The Writer Laid Bare (Ventura Press).

Dinuka is the author of the Detective Kate Miles crime series, The Torrent, Taken and Tipping Point, published in Australia and the UK. She was the winner of the 2020 HarperCollins Australia Banjo Prize and has been shortlisted for numerous major Australian crime writing awards. Dinuka lives with her family in Southern Sydney on Dharawal country.

Mascara Literary Review is looking for essays, flash fiction and poetry from disabled and chronically ill writers – closes 31 March. 

Books & authors discussed in this episode:

• Cyril Connolly 
• The Lady's Handbook to Her Mysterious Illness by Sarah Ramey 
• Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko 
• At the Strangers' Gate by Adam Gopnik 
• Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart
• Your Baby Doesn't Come with a Book by Daniel Golshevsky
• The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus 

Upcoming events 

• James is having a baby! Well, not him personally. His wife. But he'll be there. Date and time TBA. 
• Ashley is teaching Pathways to Publishing in-person for the South Coast Writers Centre on Saturday, 15 March starting 10.30 am
• Ashley is doing her first-ever Canberra author talk at Big River Gin Distillery, Thursday 20 March, 6 pm, featuring chocolate martinis  
• Ashley is returning to the Occasional Wine Bar, Boorowa, on Friday 21 March, 6.30pm
• Ashley is appearing at Book Face Erina with Anna Downes on Tuesday 25 March, 6pm
• Ashley is appearing at Newcastle Writers Festival with Anna Downes & Petronella McGovern, and with Shankari Chandran & Jock Serong, 5-6 April
• Ashley is teaching Online: Writing Crime for Faber, 8 weeks starting Tuesday 6 May 

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson

Cold Truth, Ashley's new thriller, is out now. James and Ashley discuss just how difficult writing this book was, plus why she chose to set in a city that makes headlines for being colder than the surface of Mars. They also chat about real-life research, including the time Ashley learned how to pick a lock with a credit card. Plus, James horrifies Ashley with a true story about digital privacy. 

Cold Truth is available now from Booktopia, your local bookshop and your library.  

• Everyone and Everything by Nadine Cohen
• My Dream Time by Ash Barty

Upcoming events:

• Ashley is teaching From Memory to Manuscript for Hunter Writers Centre monthly on Monday evenings starting 24 February 
• Ashley is teaching Year of the Novel for Writing NSW on Wednesday evenings starting 26 February 2025 
• Cold Truth Sydney launch with James – Thursday 6 Feb, 7 pm at the Royal Oak, Balmain
• Cold Truth Melbourne with Kate Mildenhall – Tuesday 11 February, 6.30 at Readings Carlton
• Cold Truth Brisbane launch with Martine Kropkowski – Thursday 13 February, 6pm at Avid Reader
• Newcastle author talk – Thursday, 20 Feb, 6pm at Newcastle Library
• Ashley is teaching Pathways to Publishing in-person for the South Coast Writers Centre on Saturday, 15 March starting 10.30 am

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. 

Get in touch!

• ashleykalagianblunt.com
• jamesmckenziewatson.com
• Instagram: @akalagianblunt + @jamesmcwatson