Listener feedback & Jannali Jones on NanoWriMo, persistence & cultural identity

Someone gave us a two star review. Katherine got a bit worried. We talk about the (mostly) fabulous feedback we get from our amazing listeners and we do a completely transparent request for your lovely reviews on iTunes, if you are so inclined.

We also attempt to answer a question from one listener who wanted us to be a little more specific about the editing process. We’ve tried our best to explain how we go about it, and we also refer back to eps with editors Mandy Brett, Irma Gold and the two Marks (Mark Smith & Mark Brandi) who have all given some great insights into editing in our interviews.

Then Kate speaks with debut YA author, Jannali Jones, at Writers Victoria during the Blak & Bright Festival.

Jannali Jones is a Krowathunkoolong woman of the Gunai nation. She holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney. Jannali was the winner of the 2015 black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship and an inaugural recipient of Magabala’s Australian Indigenous Creator Scholarship. Her short stories and poetry have been published in Australia and overseas, including in Overland, Southerly, The Review of Australian Fiction and Westerly. She was recently shortlisted for the Text Prize for YA and her debut YA novel My Father’s Shadow is published by Magabala Books.

With the atmospheric sounds of the festival in the background, they discuss:

• the Blak and Bright festival and Artistic Director, Jane Harrison
• Writers groups
• Nanowrimo
• winning the Black&Write Fellowship (like previous guest Claire G Coleman)
• the highs and lows of workshopping writing
• writing a book that she aimed to be ‘subtle in the way it explored cultural identity’
• Reading Terri Janke’s Butterfly Song as a teen reader
• combining full time work with writing
• being shortlisted for the Text YA Prize

Jannali’s advice to other writers:

• Make your work the best it can be.
• Be persistent.

And her debut recommendation is a classic, begun when she was only fourteen years old –  Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewtyn.

Find out more about Jannali Jones on her website or follow her on twitter or instagram.