Karen and Irma chat about the pros and cons of online writing courses. 

Then they chat to Marion Halligan about how Sylvia Plath inspired her to get started, what she bought with her first earnings, how writing is a kind of madness, the challenge of writing a memoir about her late daughter, good and bad editing experiences and what it was like being edited by her sister, why essays are her favourite form, the controversies while serving as Chair of the Australia Council Literature Board, why the government should pay writers a salary, and why she got angry at Bill Bryson at the Melbourne Writers Festival.