The First Time

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.

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!

Oh it’s exciting to be back. It’s a typically BIG ep as we kick off Season Six and we go lots of places: summer fishing, social media blackouts, teeth, horoscopes, childhood confessions, exciting 2023 news (which we can’t actually tell you…yet) and a bunch of things we’ve been reading, watching and listening to.

Our Featured Segment, brought to you by Harper Collins, is with debut novellist Jo Dixon. Jo lives in rural Lutrawita, Tasmania where she now writes full-time while wrangling a property and immense gardens. The House of Now and Then is her debut 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!

In the twelfth episode of our summer series Katherine speaks to Dervla McTiernan how her writing life began, the importance of setting in crime writing, good vs bad, and all the stuff -- from Plottr to Scrivener and Goodnotes -- she uses to write. Enjoy!
 
 Award-winning, number one bestseller Dervla McTiernan has established herself as one of the biggest names in crime fiction. Her books have garnered critical acclaim around the world and sold over 400,000 copies in Australia and New Zealand alone.
 
 Dervla’s book include The Ruin, The Scholar and The Good Turn (all part of the Cormac Reilly detective series). Her most recent book is The Murder Rule.

Dervla spent twelve years working as a lawyer. Following the global financial crisis, she moved from Ireland to Australia and turned her hand to writing. Dervla is a member of the Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers Association, and lives in Perth, Australia, with her husband and 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).

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

In our eleventh episode of our Summer Series, Katherine speaks with multi-award winning author Kim Scott about history, identity, culture and language, particularly of his ancestors the Noongar people.
 
Kim Scott grew up on the south coast of Western Australia. As a descendant of those who first created human society along that edge of ocean, he is proud to be one among those who call themselves Noongar. His second novel, Benang: From the Heart, won the 1999 Western Australian Premier's Book Award, the 2000 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the 2001 Kate Challis RAKA Award. His third novel, That Deadman Dance, also won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2011, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Western Australian Premier's Book Award. His latest book, published in 2017 is Taboo.

Kim lives in Fremantle, Western Australia, and is currently Professor of Writing at the School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts, Curtin University.

Check out show notes for this episode on our website 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!

In the tenth episode of our Summer Series, Kate speaks with Australian Fiction Queen, Liane Moriarty in a wide ranging conversation about her career, writing process and dealing with Hollywood.

Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of nine internationally bestselling novels, Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story and the number one New York Times bestsellers The Husband’s Secret, Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty, Nine Perfect Strangers and her most recent Apples Never Fall. Her books have sold over twenty million copies worldwide, including three million in Australia and New Zealand. Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers have both been adapted into phenomenally successful television series and a number of Moriarty’s other books are in the process of adaptation or production. She is also the author of a children’s book series Nicola Berry and the Petrifying Problem with Princess Petronella.

Check out 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 and we look forward to bringing you brand new episodes from March 2023!

In our sixth episode of our Summer Series, Katherine speaks with Australian Children's Laureate (22-23) Gabrielle Wang.

Gabrielle Wang is an award-winning author and illustrator of more than 20 novels and picture books for children and young adults. She was born in Melbourne of Chinese heritage. As a result, Gabrielle’s books are a blend of both Australian and Chinese culture, with a touch of fantasy. In March 2022 Gabrielle was named the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2022-2023.

Check out 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 and we look forward to bringing you brand new episodes from March 2023!

In the eighth episode of our Summer Series, Kate and Katherine get schooled by Kate's talented friend, marketing/social media expert Shay Gardner on ALL things social media. This episode was so popular and birthed the phrase 'bring the salad'. 

Check out 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 and we look forward to bringing you brand new episodes from March 2023!

In the seventh episode of our Summer Series, Kate speaks with internationally bestselling author, Sarah Winman.

Sarah Winman grew up in Essex and now lives in London. She attended the Weber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to act in theatre, film and television. Her first novel, When God Was a Rabbit was an international bestseller, her second A Year of Marvellous Ways was a Sunday Times bestseller and Tin Man was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award 2018. Her latest novel – the bestseller Still Life -was published in 2020.

Check out 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 and we look forward to bringing you brand new episodes from March 2023!

In our sixth episode of our Summer Series, Katherine speaks with bestselling Australian author, Natasha Lester

Natasha Lester is the internationally bestselling author of A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald, Her Mother's Secret, The Paris Seamstress, The French Photographer, The Paris Secret and The Riviera House, and a former marketing executive for L'Oreal. Her novels have been translated into many different languages and are published all around the world.

Check out 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 and we look forward to bringing you brand new episodes from March 2023!

In our fifth episode of our Summer Series, Kate talks to much loved Australian literary legend, Tony Birch.

Tony Birch is a novelist, short story writer, poet and academic. He is the author of three novels: Ghost River, which won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and The White Girl, winner of the 2020 NSWs Premier’s Prize for Indigenous writing and also shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Award. 

He is also the author of five short story collections, Shadowboxing, Father’s Day, The Promise, Common People and Dark as Last Night. His most recent publication is the poetry collection, Whisper Songs. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award. Tony is a much loved member of the Australian lit world, a regular guest at writers’ festivals, and a climate justice campaigner. He lives in Melbourne.

Check out 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 and we look forward to bringing you brand new episodes from March 2023!