Words and Nerds: Authors, books and literature.

Eliza Henry-Jones is an author based on a little farm in the Yarra Valley of Victoria.

Eliza chats to Words and Nerds about mental illness , the power of friendship in a world created for couples and art. In this very honest and entertaining podcast Eliza shares personal experiences that led her to write this beautiful book.

Her debut novel In the Quiet was published in 2015 as part of a three book deal with HarperCollins Australia and is now out in the US through Harper360. It was shortlisted for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and was longlisted in the Indie Awards and ABIA Awards. Her second novel Ache was released in 2017.

Eliza has also signed an additional two book deal with HarperCollins Australia for two works for younger readers. Her first Young Adult novel P is for Pearl has just been released.

Eliza has qualifications in English, Psychology and grief, loss and trauma counselling. She has also completed an honours thesis exploring representations of bushfire trauma in fiction. Her work has been published widely, appearing in places such as The Guardian, The Age, Southerly, Island, The Big Issue and Daily Life.

Sarah Ridout, Australian novelist chats about her novel Le Chateau and how living in France as an Australian inspired her writing. The Gothic fiction novel set in the French countryside centres around our protagonist Charlotte who returns home to a family she doesn't remember. Mystery and intrigue follow her throughout this romantic gothic novel.

Sarah also discusses the importance of fighting for humanitarian rights in Manus Island. Finally, she discusses her upcoming novel a memoir centred around her grandmother's relationship with Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

We also chat about souffle, giving birth and being an ex-pat.

New York Times Bestselling author William Kent Krueger chats to Words and Nerds about his writing process, how the Ojibwe people have influenced his writing and Cork O'Connor.

Sulfur Springs in Kent's 16th book of the Cork O'Connor series, this time the book is set in Arizona where Cork and his new wife Rainy come up against a dangerous drug cartel in order to save her son. A wonderfully written crime fiction novel about love, family, justice and proving voices for the voiceless.

Steph Bowe is a 24-year-old YA author represented by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown. Her latest novel is NIGHT SWIMMING, her debut novel, GIRL SAVES BOY, was published in September 2010. Steph's debut novel have been translated into Spanish, Dutch and Catalan. her second novel, ALL THIS COULD END, was published in 2013.

Steph Bowe chats about developing unique characters and going beyond the cliche when creating them. We chat about the importance of secondary characters to add depth to the novel and how readers can relate to the character's unique personalities as well as their weirdness. Huge advocates of being weird or at least being yourself, this podcast challenges young people to be confident in who they are and what they believe.

Writing from the perspective of a young girl who falls in love with the new girl who arrives in town, the story is about love, friendships and above all accepting yourself.

Australian young adult author Nadia L King discusses her novella Jenna's Truth.

The novella discusses important issues that are relevant to our young people today: cyber-bullying, bullying, friendships, alcohol and most importantly suicide prevention.

Nadia L King has visited many schools and her positive message is always the same: you'll get through the challenging times, don't give ever give up.

In our Valentine's Day special we chat to CRAIG JOHNSON, New York Times Bestselling author of the Longmire series, because who doesn't love Walk Longmire, Henry Standing Bear and Vic Moretti?

Craig chats about his novels, what inspired the character Walt Longmire and the process of casting the television series. We hear about Lou Diamond Phillips' audition process, and wonderful Australian actor Robert Taylor, and Katie Sackhoff.

Craig gives an insight into complex storylines and how he manages writing parallel narratives in his latest novel The Western Star.

A wonderful chat with an incredible author!

Australian novelist and verse-novelist Steven Herrick discusses his verse-novel The Simple Gift, and the importance of emotional gifts and the gift of accepting people without judgement. The Simple Gift has been on the HSC prescriptions list for a decade, and we discuss how it has the capacity to be studied in a number of ways in a number of complexities. We also chat about his earlier works and his current novel focusing on domestic violence.

Steven also chats to us about his cycling journeys that have taken him across the world and his passion for cycle safety and creating a functioning society for humans not cars.

A wonderfully insightful chat with a wonderful Australian author.

Jules Faber: Australian illustrator, cartoonist and author chats about his creepy compilation of short stories - that even his mother couldn't read - working with Disney on The Proud Family, and creating stories for children.

A great Aussie bloke, Jules talks to us about his career, the writing process and how to engage children in stories, he should know he has illustrated a number of children's books such as the WeirDo series with Anh Do, The Kaboom Kid with cricketer David Warner, the Leo Da Vinci series with Michael Pryor and the Helix series with Damian Posner.

Did you know Jules won the Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards with Anh Do for the first WeirDo book in 2014? They also won Best Designed Book for Children and Best Cover at the Australian Book Design Awards as well as an Honours in the KOALAs 2014. Plus Weirdo 3 has been nominated for three awards in 2015 and David Warner’s Kaboom Kid series has been nominated for Best Designed Series at the ABDAs.

Did you know Jules is also an award-winning cartoonist? He’s won three prizes in the Rotary Cartoon Awards Best Comic Strip category, coming second in 2009 and 2010 before getting first place in 2013.

On top of this, Jules’ talents lie in many fields including: caricature art, realistic illustration, teaching workshops, public speaking, pizza making, animation, writing and wearing sneakers.

Australian YA fiction writer and journalist Gabrielle Tozer explores the past and its impact on our present lives, through her latest novel 'Remind Me How This Ends.'

Gabrielle Tozer is the internationally published author of three YA novels: The Intern, which won the State Library of Victoria’s 2015 Gold Inky Award, Faking It and Remind Me How This Ends. Her first picture book, Peas and Quiet (illustrated by Sue deGennaro), was published in June 2017, and her YA contemporary short story ‘The Feeling From Over Here’ (featured in Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology) is also out now. Based in Sydney, Gabrielle loves sharing her passion for storytelling and creativity, and has appeared at festivals, schools and conferences around Australia including the Sydney Writers' Festival, Bendigo Writers' Festival, National Young Writers' Festival and the Somerset Celebration of Literature. She has also been featured on Weekend Today, Triple J and ABC Radio, as well as in The Sydney Morning Herald, Dolly, Girlfriend, TV Week and Cosmopolitan.

The novel: Milo was a discoloured memory with blurred edges and a washed-out palette. Yet five minutes with him and everything came back to me in an instant."

Layla Montgomery’s life fell apart at thirteen. After her mum died in a shock accident, Layla’s grieving father packed their bags and forced her to leave behind everything she’d ever known.

Milo Dark has been stuck on pause since the Year 12 exams. His long-term girlfriend moved 300 kilometres away for uni, his mates bailed for bigger things, and he’s convinced he missed the reminder to plan out the rest of his life.

As kids, Layla and Milo shared everything – their secrets, a treehouse and weekends at the river. But they haven't spoken since her mum’s funeral. That is, until Layla shows up five years later in his parents’ bookshop without so much as a text message.

Pretty soon they’re drawn into a tangled mess that guarantees someone will get hurt. And while it’s a summer they'll never forget, is it one they’ll want to remember?

Lucy Adlington: author, actor and costume historian discusses her beautiful novel The Red Ribbon, the significance of clothing as shaping identity, and finding hope amongst the dark.

Set in WWII under the Nazi regime, the story centres around a group of young women working for the Commandment's wife to create fashionable clothes for the wives of officers. A fashion house right in the middle of a labour and extermination camp, and this account is taken from history.

Lucy chats about the ambiguity of morality when faced with such horror, friendship, storytelling as escapism and always finding hope.

A beautiful story told from a unique perspective!