Kate speaks with literary critic, academic and research, Bernadette Brennan. Among many publications, Brennan has published an award winning literary biography of Helen Garner - A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work -  and most recently Leaping Into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears. They discuss research in literary archives, the ives of Garner and Mears, the state of literary criticism in Australia and what Brennan has learned as a judge of the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

Check out show notes for this episode on our website www.thefirsttimepodcast.com or get in touch via Twitter (@thefirsttimepod) or Instagram (@thefirsttimepod).

Don't forget you can support us and the making of Season Five via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!