S2E9: Author Emma Hardy on writing memoir

Season 2: The Home SeasonThe second season of Creative Momentum with Meg, The Home Season, features interviews with Australian writers and artists where I explore how and why people do their creative work.Episode 9: Emma Hardy, AuthorEmma Hardy is a writer who works across fiction and non-fiction. Her debut book Periodic B***h is a literary memoir of menstruation, madness, and monsters. It is a hybrid non-fiction work that weaves her own experience of PMDD during Melbourne’s lockdowns with archival research and a sweeping look at how women’s illnesses have been treated throughout history. It is also, as the title suggests, not shy about being angry.In this conversation, Emma and I cover a lot of ground. We talk about improv and how it helps or hinders writing, what it means to craft a curated version of yourself in memoir, and Jane Alison’s book on story structure that made everything click. We talk about body doubling, dead cow narrators, and why workshop can sometimes edit out the good bits. And we talk about Melbourne as home for Emma and her writing.Connect with Emma HardyInstagram WebsiteBuy Periodic B***h bookEmma’s Substack ‘Hot Mess’See Emma at Melbourne Writers FestivalJoin Emma at her book launch at Readings on 14 May 2026Find all Creative Momentum with Meg show notes and interviewsA special thanks to Yvonne Morton for the music accompanying this episode. You can find Yvonne on Bandcamp and Instagram. Get full access to Musings with Meg at megdunley.substack.com/subscribe