The First Time

Oh we go so many places in this ep: starting new projects, Kryall Castle school holiday plans, The Little Mermaid, how to land an ending on a tv series, great books, and old school video stores.

Our Featured Book this week is Untethered by debut novelist, Ayesha Inoon. This segment is brought to you by Harper Collins.

Ayesha Inoon is a Sri Lankan-Australian writer with a unique cultural perspective, which she brings to her writing. Born in Colombo, she travelled widely and worked as a journalist in Sri Lanka before immigrating to Australia in 2013. Winner of the ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize 2022, her debut novel, Untethered, is partly based on her experiences as an immigrant Muslim woman. Ayesha was a recipient of the inaugural 2019 Penguin Random House Write It Fellowship for an early draft of this novel. In 2020 she was selected for the Rosie Scott Writing Residency in NSW, and in September 2022 she was awarded a KSP fellowship by the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre in WA to work on her second novel.

Ayesha lives in Canberra with her two children.

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

You can support us and the making of Season Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!

In this Masters Series interview, Katherine talks to best selling author, television writer and podcast host, RA Spratt. RA Spratt is Katherine's kids' favourite author. They LOVE her books and series: Nanny Piggins, Friday Barnes, Peski Kids and Shockingly Good Stories (in that order).  

R.A. Spratt has also written for dozens of different television shows.  In recent years she has specialized mainly in children’s animation, but she has also had extensive experience writing jokes, sketch comedy and political satire.

Her podcast ‘Bedtime Stories with R.A. Spratt’ was launched in February 2020 and has a huge following from around the world, with 2 million+ downloads. 

R.A. Spratt lives in Bowral, Australia with her husband and two daughters. She is currently obsessed with Cross Fit and—according to (her) Instagram—has been the Fittest Childrens Author on Earth two years in a row.

Katherine and RA Spratt discuss: 

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 Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!

Today's ep is another awkward convo - one we've been looking forward to for awhile! We talk about endorsements - aka praise, puffs and blurbs. How do you ask for an endorsement, what do authors think about the 'endorsement machine', how many are too many and can we do without them? We chat about 'Fool's Gold' - a Sydney Review of Books article by Catriona Menzies Pike and Kate has sought comment from a number of past guests - early and established career writers - about all their endorsement feels. We also chat about reviews and recommendations on social media, what we pay attention to and what we ignore, and what this all means for the industry.

Our Featured Book segment is brought to you by Allen and Unwin and Kate chats to Amy Taylor about her debut novel Search History.

Amy Taylor is based in Naarm/ Melbourne (Naarm). An adapted chapter of her debut novel was selected as one of the winners in the 2021 Ultimo Prize for best emerging writers in Australia under 30 years of age. Search History is her first novel.

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

You can support us and the making of Season Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!

This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience.

One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to capture that first time again ourselves...

We’re going to being follow a first time author across the year, catching up multiple times along the way. Our very first Follow a First Timer is Megan Rogers, author of The Heart is a Star.

In this, the FIFTH episode of the series, recorded prior to The Heart is a Star being released, Megan talks about failure and what success might look like as an author.

This episode is brought to you by Harper Collins.

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

You can support us and the making of Season Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!

This episode our featured book is brought to you by Text Publishing and we’re so excited to talk to TARA CALABY about her debut novel HOUSE OF LONGING.

Tara Calaby lives in Gippsland with her wife and far too many books. She is currently a PhD candidate at La Trobe University, researching the social worlds of women in Victorian lunatic asylums.

Her speculative and historical short stories have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies.

Tara recommends A Million Things by Emily Spurr. (Note: You will cry!!) 

You can find Tara on her website, Twitter and Instagram.

Kate and Katherine discuss: 

Inconceivable: Heartbreak, Bad Dates and Finding Solo Motherhood by Alexandra Collier 

Motherhood by Sheila Heti 

The Swift Dark Tide by Katia Ariel 

Till Death Do Us Part (article in The Good Weekend) by Fenella Souter 

Yo'ure Welcome podcast with Hilary Rushford Collyer (these three episodes) 

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

You can support us and the making of Season Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!

Katherine drops some very exciting news! And Kate and Katherine catch up on reading recommendations, more on authors and money and how they feel about AI.
 
Our Featured Book this week is The Rush by Michelle Prak and the segment is brought to you by Simon & Schuster.
 
 Michelle Prak (known to some of you on socials as Prakky!) is a professional communicator with a thirty-year career in corporate communication, social media, politics and journalism. Writing has been the backbone of much of her work and she has written several short stories and self-published commercial women's fiction titles. She lives in Adelaide and lectures in public relations and social media at the University of South Australia. The Rush is her first thriller.

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

You can support us and the making of Season Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!

We are thrilled to present this conversation with Australian literary legend - Tim Winton. This is a conversation Kate has been hoping to have since...well, since she was sixteen years old. The interview covers Winton's latest project - the television documentary Ningaloo - along with his writing life and environmental advocacy. 

Tim Winton has published twenty-nine books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. Since his first novel, An Open Swimmer, won the Australian Vogel Award in 1981, he has won the Miles Franklin Award four times (for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for The Riders and Dirt Music). He lives in Western Australia.

Winton is the 2023 recipient of the The ABIA Lloyd O’Neil Award - presented for a lifetime of distinguished and outstanding service to publishing and literary culture. 

Tim’s latest project is a three-part documentary series Ningaloo premiering in Australia on Tuesday 16 May at 8:30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.

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 Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!

Kate's been wanting to speak to New York Times and internationally bestselling authorAmie Kaufman for ages! Not only has her multi-award winning work been translated into nearly thirty languages, and is in development for film and TV, but Amie is incredibly experienced in talking and teaching about writing and the strange world of BEING a writer.

Raised in Australia and Ireland, Amie has degrees in literature, law, history and conflict resolution, and is currently undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing. Her series include The Illuminae Files, The Aurora Cycle, the Other Side of the Sky duology, The Starbound Trilogy, the Unearthed duology and The Elementals Trilogy. Her work has taken home multiple Aurealis Awards, an ABIA, a Gold Inky, made multiple best-of lists and been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Check out Amie's podcasts Amie Kaufman On Writing and Pub Dates with Kate J. Armstrong and her newsletter Finding North.

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 Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!

This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience.

One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to capture that first time again ourselves...

We’re going to being follow a first time author across the year, catching up multiple times along the way. Our very first Follow a First Timer is Megan Rogers, author of The Heart is a Star.

The theme of this FOURTH episode is Megan's publication week feels, including her first festival experience, her big Melbourne launch and some jam-packed days of bookshop visits. 

This episode is brought to you by Harper Collins.

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

You can support us and the making of Season Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!

After last episode's recording fail, there's a lot to discuss! Kate's dipping her toe into TIKTOK, Katherine's reading a LOT of uplifting fiction/non-fiction, plus the hosts talk debut author experiences -- have things changed since their books came out? 

This episode the featured book is brought to you by BFredericksPR and Gregory Ladner. 

Gregory Ladner is one of Australia’s most enduring fashion designers, with a career spanning over four decades across Australia, Europe, and Asia.

From humble beginnings designing outfits and dressing his teddy, to studying fashion at university, Gregory has worked as an Australian couturier, for legendary Melbourne institute Le Louvre and as an international designer who once worked in Hong Kong. Gregory was the creator and designer of the hugely successful fashion accessory company, Gregory Ladner, which is still available in major department stores around the country.

We're delighted to talk to Gregory about his memoir A Boy and his Bear. 

Gregory has a number of events coming up including: 

BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL:

May 10th, panel event called Best Dressed, with Deni Todorovic (Love This for You) moderated by Carody Culver of the Griffith Review. Book here. 

May 11th, panel even called Funny About That with Sita Walker (The God of No Good) Siang Lu (The Whitewash)and Alexandra Collier (Inconceivable) moderator Jonaton O’Brien. Book here.

BOOK LAUNCH & SOLO EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS BY FASHION DESIGNER GREGOR LADNER 

Friday 12 May, 6 – 8pm

Things the hosts discuss:  

Bookpeople gift card via article from Books and Publishing  

Avid Reader book subscriptions 

Molly's Cottage book boxes (see Insta) 

The Little Book Room bookclubs for children  (they also do subscriptions) 

Inconceivable by Ally Collier  

Amie Kaufman’s brand new YA fantasy Isle of the Gods! Amie’s excellent substack and podcast.

Royals by Tegan Bennett Daylight. 

Michelle Prak’s The Rush 

The Dressmakersof Yarrandarrah Prison by Meredith Jaffe 

 This interview with Anna Kendrick on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (you can only listen on Spotify) 

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

You can support us and the making of Season Six via our Patreon page. Thanks for joining us!