Welcome to a special series of episodes, where WestWords Academy alumni interview their favourite creatives. In this episode, Academy alumni Elizabeth speaks to Michelle Hamadache in depth about her written works, and together they share strategies and ways to continue one's own creative writing journey while maintaining a busy career and home life…

Welcome to a special series of episodes, where WestWords Academy alumni interview their favourite creatives. In this episode, Academy alumni Sheryl speaks to Sonam Mahatme about her identity as Queer South Asian person living in Australia, and her experiences navigating family, community and culture. Together they discuss what role a creative pract…

Welcome to a special series of episodes, where WestWords Academy alumni interview their favourite creatives. In this episode, Academy alumni Zohra speaks to Hayley Scrivenor about Hayley's experience writing her award-winning novel Dirt Town as a part of her creative writing PHD. Together they discuss knowing when your novel is finished, working ou…

Welcome to a special series of episodes, where WestWords Academy alumni interview their favourite creatives. In this episode, Academy alumni Elizabeth speaks to Trish Bolton about the release of her debut novel Whenever You're Ready. Trish details her journey to publication, how to build a CV as an emerging writer, upending ageist stereotypes, and …

Welcome to a special series of episodes, where WestWords Academy alumni interview their favourite creatives. In this episode, Paul and Marc speak to musician and songwriter Bryan Estepa about the emotions that inspire them to write, how words, lyrics and music allow us to distort meaning, imposter syndrome, and writing for yourself first. Bryan Est…

Welcome to a special series of episodes, where WestWords Academy members, and Alumni, interview their favourite creatives. Susan Templeman MP is an Australian politician. She is the member for Macquarie in the Australian House of Representatives and is Australia's Special Envoy for the Arts. Michael Campbell is the Executive Director of WestWords. …

Welcome to a special series of episodes, where WestWords Academy members, and Alumni, interview their favourite creatives. Maria Tran is a Vietnamese-Australian actor, filmmaker, and martial artist who has won multiple awards for her work in film, TV, stage, and performance. She also specializes in fight action choreography and is the founder of Ph…

Victoria Brookman is an activist, author and academic from the Blue Mountains. In this interview with James Roy she describes how her own perceived inability to push through writer's block, along with a catastrophic natural disaster, led her to write her debut novel, Burnt Out (Harper Collins), a funny and angry look at climate change, activism and…

Peter Hollo is a professional cellist and founding member of FourPlay String Quartet, a musical ensemble who recently collaborated to record a second spoken word/music album with writer and creative powerhouse Neil Gaiman. The title of the latest album is Signs of Life, and in the second half of this interview with James Roy and Paris Rosemont, Pet…

Peter Hollo is a professional cellist and founding member of FourPlay String Quartet, a musical ensemble who recently collaborated to record a second spoken word/music album with writer and creative powerhouse Neil Gaiman. The title of the latest album is Signs of Life, and in the first half of this interview with James Roy and Paris Rosemont, Pete…

George Ivanoff is a Melbourne writer who has written over 130 books for young people, including a series of tense and thrilling interactive adventure books. Listen to this podcast to find out how he does it, especially if for you (like the host, James) plot is harder to do than character. georgeivanoff.com.au NOTE: Opinions expressed in this podcas…

Pete Shmigel is a freelance writer and journalist who has just returned from his second visit to Ukraine in 2023, where he began to write the stories of the people on the frontline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this interview he talks about what compelled him to voluntarily enter a war zone, and what he took from the experience, both as a …

Catherine Jinks is a multi-award winning author of books for all ages, with over fifty books published in a 35 year career. In this conversation with James Roy, Catherine talks about trends in publishing and where writing might be heading as a profession, gives her theories on why royalties are shrinking despite books still being massively popular,…

Fiona Murphy is a journalist, memoirist and non-fiction writer. As a Deaf writer, she is very interested in the rise of Own Voices as an important consideration for any artist working in a diverse space, be that around race, language, culture, sex/gender identity, disability or any other of the many diverse stories that can be told. In this intervi…

Augusta Supple is a playwright, theatre critic, one-time arts administrator, short story writer, screenwriter and amateur flautist. In this conversation with James Roy, Augusta talks about creative experimentation, artform diversity, the optimism and positivity of the arts, and the important lessons that COVID taught us as practitioners.…

The latest guests of the Mini-Masterclass podcast are Mary Rachel Brown and Jamie Oxenbould. Mary and Jamie operate in different spaces within the theatre scene: Mary writes for theatre, and Jamie is an actor. They were recently residents at Daffodil Cottage, and sat down with James at a cafe in Katoomba to talk about their current project, titled …

Today we welcome Michele Freeman, a former WestWords Fellow and emerging writer from Western Sydney. Michele was recently at Daffodil Cottage for a week-long residency, and she and James had a wide-ranging conversation about working towards long-range artistic goals, what drives her as an artist, feeling like an imposter, and her approach to the st…

Margaret Hamilton AM (1941-2022) was a publisher, advocate, writer, educator, curator and passionate supporter of children's literature, particularly picture books. She passed away late in 2022, so we felt it timely to go back to an earlier interview with James Roy, in June 2020 at Pinerolo in Blackheath, in which she talks about what makes a good …

Welcome back to the WestWords Mini-Masterclass podcast, a fortnightly series of conversations with creatives. To kick off 2023 we welcome Hilary Bell, who is a highly respected and multi-awarded playwright, writer, librettist and children’s book author. Hilary was one of our WestWords/Daffodil Cottage residents in 2022, where she was working on her…

Ally Burnham (WestWords creative producer) chats with writer and usual host of this podcast, James Roy, about his research methods for his current project, and how working on location creates surprising results. ** Note: Views and opinions expressed in the podcast are not necessarily those of the WestWords organisation.…

Ally Burnham (WestWords' own Creative Producer) recently won an AWGIE award for her animated short film Metropius. In this conversation she chats with James Roy about some of the differences between writing for animated and writing for live action.Av WestWords

Today's conversation is with Bundjalung illustrator Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, who speaks with James Roy about the expectations, limitations and obligations of being a First Nations artist, and where the lines between artist and activist are clear, and where they are blurred. NOTE: Opinions expressed in this podcast are not necessarily shared by the W…

In this Mini-Masterclass, James sits down with the 2022 WestWords-Varuna Writers in Residence: J. Marahuyo, Paris Rosemont, Harvey Liu and Finn O'Branagain; the winner of the inaugural Ultimo Prize, Zeynab Gamieldien; and poet and program mentor ali whitelock. They are discussing an amazing week at Varuna, the National Writers' House (varuna.com.au…

Today (2nd September 2022) marks a century since the passing of beloved Australian (and Blue Mountains) poet and writer, Henry Lawson. In this conversation, James speaks with biographer and historian Lowell Tarling about the man, the myth, the tragic legend that was Henry Lawson. Please note that opinions and views expressed in this podcast do not …

Caren Florance (a.k.a. Ampersand Duck) is a letterpress artist who is currently residing in the house formerly owned by the late Mike Hudson and Jadwiga Jarvis, who were the duo behind the famed Wayzgoose Press, a letterpress publisher in Katoomba. In this conversation with James Roy, Caren talks about letterpress art (a form of printmaking), mater…

In this mini-practicum, James Roy leads you through a short writing exercise that will hopefully help you better understand the benefits to finding a more simple but more effective way to tell your story.Av WestWords

Curative - does the word suggest something that cures, or something that assists in curating? Conversations, for example. Dave Griffiths opened his cafe with two purposes in mind, and neither of them was to make money. One was to make a previously much-loved but now deserted space into somewhere alive again. The other was to attract people with a s…

Happy birthday, Dorothea Mackellar. Sally Piper reads from Bone Memories (UQP, 2022). Plus news and opportunities.Av WestWords

Writer and creative writing teacher Lee Kofman talks about writer's block, the art of redrafting, and the spectre of "the pram in the hall".Av WestWords

Lullabys are universal, and in this episode, four writers and literature experts share lullabys and vague approximations of same with James Roy. I'f you'd like to share a lullaby with us, please email admin@westwords.com.au Views expressed by guests on this podcast are not necessarily those of the WestWords organisation…

This special edition of the WestWords Mini-Masterclass podcast is taken from an interview conducted with the winning and two highly commended poets (Simone King, Kirsten Krauth and Gershon Maller) from the 67th Blake Poetry Prize, a biennial poetry prize examining the world of belief and spirituality. In this interview, James Roy discusses the insp…

Happy birthday to Robert Allen Zimmerman. We hear from the three top-placed poets in the 67th Blake Poetry Prize. Plus news from WestWords.Av WestWords

James Roy and WestWords Fellow Brittany Kempaiah chat with slam poet Alasdair Carter about his work, particularly with respect to his "other job", which is working in the nursing field. *** DISCLAIMER: Views expressed by guests of WestWords are not necessarily those of the WestWords organisation. ***…

Happy Mothers' Day! In recognition of mothers everywhere, we're recommending two wonderful and moving books about motherhood. Plus all the usual news from WestWords.Av WestWords

Writer, lecturer and doctoral candidate Georgia Monaghan talks about the evolution of her work looking at the concept of spectacle, and the associated creative project. *** DISCLAIMER: Views expressed by guests of WestWords are not necessarily those of the WestWords organisation. ***Av WestWords

It's ANZAC Day, and we discuss Catch-22, one of the great war novels. We hear from Hani Abdile, Somalian-Australian poet. Plus news and opportunities.Av WestWords

In this episode, James throws some curly questions at Ally Burnham (screenwriter and WestWords' creative producer), Margo Lanagan (multi-award winning author) and Michael Campbell (biographer and WestWords' executive director. *** DISCLAIMER: Views expressed by guests of WestWords are not necessarily those of the WestWords organisation. ***…

Happy birthday to the Anne Statute, and to Anne Lamott, amongst others. We speak with the Auburn Poets & Writers. Various opportunities await.Av WestWords

In this episode, James Roy discusses the first song of the stage musical Hamilton, and the seemingly unusual decision to announce the method of the main character's ultimate demise. It's a structural choice designed to ramp up tension throughout the work. Does it work? *** DISCLAIMER: Views expressed by guests of WestWords are not necessarily those…

Happy birthday to Quentin Tarantino. Also announcing an exciting publishing opportunity, and a competition with real actual prizes! Plus we announce the winner of the Blake Poetry Prize. Audio of Quentin Tarantino appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live is taken from the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6SEqO7OQVI Recovere…

James Elazzi is an Australian born writer, of Lebanese decent. His writing stems from his upbringing, combining a hybrid cultural melting pot of Lebanese and Australian heritage. His award-winning writing for the stage includes Lady Tabouli, Omar and Dawn and Son of Byblos. Recently James completed his first screenplay, titled Karim's Cello. In thi…

In this fortnight's podcast, we discuss ways to help the flood-affected communities in our state's north-east, we share some thoughts about our first event in our new premises, Linda Jaivin drops in, and more.Av WestWords

This fortnight, James is speaking with Jane Godwin, who is an award-winning writer of over thirty books for young people, which she managed to achieve during a thirty year career as an editor and then publisher at a major publishing house. In this interview, Jane speaks about the unique challenges of having to wear three hats that look kind of simi…

Happy birthday to Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange. Poet Ouyang Yu reads and discusses his poem Someone. Plus the latest news from WestWords.Av WestWords

In this conversation, James' guest Lili Wilkinson discusses the censorship of literature for young people, and how allowing them to 'experience' the lives of those outside their own world through books can lead to empathy,, kindness and understanding. Lili also reveals which bits she would cut and which she would keep in her hypothetical director's…

It's the first WestWords Podcast for 2022 -- welcome back! Today we wish a happy birthday to a writer whose books have sold over 300 million copies, and who won an Oscar for screenwriting. We hear Grace Karstens read from her award-winning book People of the River. Plus all the usual news you've come to expect.…

Welcome back! It's the first episode for 2022, and Number 50 since we began the Mini-Masterclass podcast series. James' guest this episode is author, illustrator, TV writer and producer, screenwriter and more, Mick Elliott. They discuss how our younger generations of readers are growing up in a different world, with different stories, different way…

What happens when a YA fiction writer and a poet get together to write a genre fiction novel, where they're both working on the same character and no one is designated driver? In this conversation, held at Daffodil Cottage, they discuss their "experimental" approach to collaboration.Av WestWords

Happy birthday, William Blake. A big win at the 2021 WSABE awards for WestWords and our director. The WestWords-Varuna Residency wraps up.Av WestWords

This fortnight we feature a conversation with publisher and editor from Tyle&Bateson Publishing, Leonie Tyle. She speaks with James Roy about the publishing prospects of new writers now, compared with thirty or more years ago, and the shift in thinking that may be required to claim your spot in the world of the published writer.…