Dearests, a quick note to let you know the next few eps are all pre-recorded and as such are blissfully pandemic free.
Okay, so you all know we are deep in second book land. At the start of this new season we touch base on exactly how Book Two looks compared to Book One, in process and in the feels.
Kate reveals her greatest fear, we overshare on behalf of the greatest oversharer we know, J.P Pomare (who we spoke to in S2), and Katherine expresses some regret at the Great Delete of 2019.
You can read more on Kate’s journalling on the excellent blog of Lee Kofman (and listen Lee’s convo with us if you haven’t already!).
Then Kate speaks with debut author, Mandy Beaumont.
Mandy is an award winning writer, researcher and editor living in Melbourne, Australia. Her first book Wild, Fearless Chests (Hachette, 2020) was shortlisted for the 2018 Hachette Richell Prize, the 2019 UWAP Dorothy Hewett Award, and a short story from the collection won the Moth International Short Story Award. She is also a PhD candidate at RMIT’s School of Media and Communication, where she is producing a novel of feminist philosophical fiction, inspired by the philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir. Mandy has been a finalist in the Victorian University Short Story Award, the Overland Fair Australia Prize (twice), the Newcastle Short Story Award, the Rachel Funari Award, the ACU Poetry Prize, and the SmokeLong Quarterly Award. Her work has been published in Griffith Review, Cordite, Black Inc. Best Poems and The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library Journal. Find Mandy’s full bio on her website.
The conversation covers:
- Keeping a day job and Mandy’s writing routine
- Being shortlisted for the Hachette Richell Prize
- Separating self from ‘author self’ (and the very famous essay neither Kate nor Mandy can name – The Death of the Author)
- Creating the book launch you want (check out pics of Mandy’s rock ‘n roll launch on her insta)
- Confidence (including what she learnt from our convo with Charlotte Wood)
- Mandy’s conversation about Anne Enright’s Actress on The Bookshelf
Mandy’s advice to first time authors?
‘Just because someone rejected you, doesn’t mean your writing is bad.’
Her fave debut (which they finally get to after waxing lyrical on a shared love of Eimar McBride and Carmen Maria Machado):
Praise by Andrew McGahan
Find out more about Mandy Beaumont on her website or follow her on twitter or instagram.
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Thanks for listening! x
The First Time podcast 