Edits & Annotations

Join Tenille on this special bonus episode as she chats to Bianca Martin and Johanna Wiggers, the founders and editors of Exhume, about curation, editing, and the future of literary criticism in Australia.Exhume is a new critical literary space designed to explore themes relevant to a history of Australian literary criticism, and, like Edits & Annotations, is a project of the Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing. Issue 1 is available to read now!

In our final episode of the season, Mia talks to Jane Rawson, Island magazine editor and author of Human/Nature, about how to find nature everywhere and to write for joy even when everything seems doomed.

In the penultimate episode of season two, writer, critic, and editor Mykaela Saunders joins Tenille to discuss writing Goori futures, colonisation and sovereignty in speculative fiction, and the necessity of hope.

Bonny Cassidy is the author of three poetry collections and one book of nonfiction, as well as a book critic and internationally recognised scholar of Australian literature. Formerly an academic, she is now an independent creative writing mentor and psychology student. In 2025 she was shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal, Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and won the AAALS Creative Prose Prize. Bonny lives in the bush on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. In this episode, Mia and Bonny discuss the creative research and writing process of her literary memoir, Monument.  

Isobelle Carmody is one of Australia's most well-known and prolific writers. In this episode, she chats to Bethany about how the industry has changed throughout her career, how she keeps track of the worlds she creates, and what it’s like to have other people write PhDs about your work.

Crime writer Nicole Crowe joins Tenille to talk about her funny and thrilling debut novel The Washup, along with first book jitters, the mysteries of the publication process, writing place, and her best advice for aspiring writers.

Join us for episode five! Jessica Mansour-Nahra chats with Bethany about her debut novel The Farm, which remasters 18th century gothic for the 21st century. Jessica shares her writing process and discusses scene setting, international rights, and the ongoing relevance of gothic literature.Pleasebe advised this interview discusses pregnancy loss and fertility and medical issues.

In our fourth episode of the season, 2025 winner of the Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award Khin Myint joins Tenille to speak about finding compassion in writing, the complicated intersections of class, race, and gender, and his stunning debut memoir, Fragile Creatures.

Our incredible lineup of guests in Season 2 continues! Join writer, editor and food reviewer Candice Chung as she and Mia discuss being anti love-language, crafting the I in memoir, and food as means of communicating frustration and fear, anxiety and affection.

What insight can writing give into religion? How does a character emerge from a draft? And what's the connection between Frida Kahlo and a 9th-century female pope?Award-winning writer and 2025 Roderick Centre Visiting Fellow Emily Maguire joins Tenille to discuss creative collisions, writing careers, and her latest novel, Rapture.Link to Emily's FALS Colin Roderick Memorial Lecture - recording coming soon!

We're kicking off our second season in the company of the brilliant Steve MinOn, whose debut novel First Name Second Name spans four generations, ranging from the Queensland gold fields of the 1860s, to Brisbane and back up north again . . . with a walking corpse. Steve joins Bethany to talk about the importance of building a community of writers, world building, identity, and, of course, names.

Sarah Burke is a PhD candidate at the Indigenous Education and Research Centre at James Cook University, Townsville. She was selected for the QPAC/Playlab Sparks program in 2023 and was awarded the 2020 Mabel Innes Prize for Lyric Verse. Her creative writing moves across forms and genres, exploring the gothic, ghost stories, fantasy and bush landscapes in poetry, prose and scripts. This episode is in partnership with the Emerging Writers Festival 2025. Please note: this episode contains discussion of cancer. 

Chelsea is a PhD student at James Cook University, Townsville. Her research explores the intersection of true crime, life writing and feminist poetry. She was awarded the P.F Rowland Memorial Prize in 2023 for producing the most outstanding BA Honours thesis in English. Her current project poses biographical poetry as a nuanced writing tool for the re-mediation and re-vision of dominant narratives surrounding women victims and perpetrators of crime.  This episode is in partnership with the Emerging Writers Festival 2025. Please note: this episode references violent crimes.

Jade Reilly is an emerging writer from Toowoomba, Queensland. She is a criminologist working in social policy who uses her unique insights into criminal behaviour to write crime fiction that explores the dark side of human nature but with a touch of hope. Keep an eye out for her debut novel that explores intergenerational trauma and family secrets.  This episode is in partnership with the Emerging Writers Festival 2025.  Please note: this episode discusses domestic and family violence, PTSD, and childhood cancer. 

In this bonus episode, go behind the scenes and join Bethany, Mia and Tenille as they discuss their creative writing PhDs, writing in regional areas, and their favourite moments of producing season one of Edits & Annotations.

Kate Grenville has published 18 books over her 40-year career. Her novels include The Idea of Perfection, Lilian’s Story, Joan Makes History, The Secret River, and Restless Dolly Maunder, which was shortlisted for the Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary award. In this episode, Kate talks to Bethany about historical perspectives, women's history, and the Doctorate of Creative Arts that became The Secret River.

In this episode, Tenille chats with essayist and critic Cher Tan about her book Peripathetic, what makes a great book review, the impact of the internet on writing and culture, and producing art in the era of late capitalism.

In this panel episode, Mia speaks with former CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Dr Paul Hardisty, and award-winning Icelandic writer, Andri Snær Magnason, on how to craft powerful environmental stories. How do we find language big enough to describe the magnitude of the climate crisis that lies before us? Reaching across two hemispheres, this episode explores the interconnected plights of glaciers and coral reefs through elegy, metaphor and personal narrative.

Boori Monty Pryor has had an extraordinary career as both a writer and musician, penning award-winning children's books and television shows and touring schools around Australia. In this episode, Boori speaks with Tenille about working across different mediums, the connection between music and writing, and the power of storytelling.

Alli Parker is the author of At the Foot of the Cherry Tree and Tania Blanchard is the author of six novels, The Girl from Munich, Suitcase of Dreams, Letters from Berlin, Daughter of Calabria/Echoes of War, A Woman of Courage, and An Undeniable Voice. Each of these books are inspired by family histories and play with the relationship between history and fiction. Bethany speaks to Alli and Tania in conversation about their approaches to novelising family stories, including the challenge of telling personal stories to a public audience.

Melanie Saward is a proud Bigambul and Wakka Wakka woman and a writer, editor, academic and 'publishing all rounder'. Her debut novel Burn was published in 2023 and her first romantic comedy novel, Love Unleashed, was published in 2024. Her newest work, A Good Kind of Trouble, is a heart-warming collaborative project with Brooke Blurton full of high-school longing, friendship and footy. In this episode, Melanie shares her knowledge of the industry, what it means to be a writer online today, finding literary community, the co-writing process, and hopping from one genre to another. 

In this special feature episode, Tenille speaks with Alice Robinson (Anchor Point, The Glad Shout, If You Go) and Kate Mildenhall (Skylarking, The Mother Fault, The Hummingbird Effect) about the related themes across their work: the environment, time, motherhood, and where technology may take us.  

Hannah Kent is the author of three novels: Burial Rites, The Good People and Devotion.  She also wrote the screenplay for the psychological thriller, Run Rabbit Run. She chats to Bethany about finding stories in the archives and the ethical considerations when it comes to speculating someone else’s story.  

Naag Mountain is a book born from a dream. In this episode, writer and artist Manisha Anjali describes the craft of writing from the subconscious to explore cultural identity and hidden histories. She delves into the process of producing writing that is rich in sensory and imaginative description while drawing from archives and dreams.  

How does a book come into being? What does the creative process entail? How do you build a writing life? Join creative writing PhD candidates Bethany, Mia and Tenille on season one of Edits & Annotations as they discuss these questions (and more!) with an array of talented writers and storytellers. Episode 1 will be released on Tuesday 4th February, with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Edits & Annotations is a project of the Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing at James Cook University. This podcast is produced on the lands of the Bindal and Wulgurukaba people of Thul Garrie Waja, Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun. Always was, always will be.