This episode is a Live recording of the First Time Publishing panel at the Write Around the Murray Festival on September 17, 2023. Kate speaks with writers Kathryn Heyman, Irma Gold and Tim Napper about their first and subsequent publication experiences and what they have learned along the way.
Kathryn Heyman is the author of six novels including Storm and Grace and Captain Starlight’s Apprentice which was serialised on BBC radio to an audience of two million and was published last year in a new edition. Her previous work has won the Wingate, Southern Arts and Arts Council of England Writing Awards in the UK and been nominated for awards including the Scottish Writer of the Year, the Orange Prize, the Edinburgh Fringe Critics Awards, the Kibble Prize and the West Australian Premier’s Literary Awards.Alongside her publishing career, she was for several years a frequent dramatist for stage and for BBC radio. Kathryn won the CAL Author Fellowship for her 2021 memoir Fury, which was one of the Guardian’s 25 best books of the year. Fury was nominated for the international Folio Prize, shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, and is in development as a feature film. Kathryn taught poetry and writing for the University of Oxford and is now the director of the Australian Writers Mentoring Program.
Irma Gold is a writer and full-time freelance book editor based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her debut novel, The Breaking, won the Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship and a Canberra Critics Circle Award, and was shortlisted for the ACT Notable Award for Fiction. Her short fiction has been widely published in literary journals, and her critically acclaimed collection of short stories is Two Steps Forward. She is also the author of five children’s picture books – including Where the Heart Is and Seree’s Story and is co-host of the writing podcast, Secrets from the Green Room with author Karen Viggers.
T. R. Napper is a multi-award-winning speculative fiction author. His short fiction has appeared in annual ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies, and he has been published in respected genre magazines in the US, the UK, Israel, Austria, Australia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Before turning to writing, T. R. Napper was a diplomat and aid worker, delivering humanitarian programs in Southeast Asia for a decade. During this period, he resided in the Old Quarter in Ha Noi for several years, the setting for his debut novel, 36 Streets. Napper earned his doctorate in creative writing for his thesis on Noir, Cyberpunk, and Asian Modernity. These days he has returned to his home country of Australia, where – in addition to writing – he works as a Dungeon Master, running campaigns for young people with autism for a local charity.
The discussion covers:
- Tim’s big rejection moment which you can read in full here
- when debut books are not a debut
- short stories as a gateway to novels for Irma and Tim
- the ‘writing’ has to come before an ‘audience’
- the power of making connections: ‘connections are gold’
- the choices about the decisions you make – with or without an agent (ie you don’t have to take the biggest publishing offer)
- Kathryn reiterates: “FIRSTLY, write the good book’
- The pros and cons of getting an agent
- Check out the ASA website for resources on finding an agent
- The Australian Writers Marketplace
- The Writers and Artists Yearbook
- Tim recommends making your cover letter the ‘best letter of your life’
- Rjin Collins, author of Fed to Red Birds, who spoke at the festival about how writing practice also includes walking & thinking
- Word counts – listen back on the pod to Pip Williams talking about her new 1 word daily word count goal
- Robbie Arnott with Astrid Edwards at Canberra Writers Festival for The Garrett on reading as part of writing practice
- Kathryn’s Deep Immersion online course
Advice:
- Irma: Write where the heat is, and write what scares you.
- Tim: Aim high! But simulataneously steel yourself for the wave of rejections that will come
- Kathryn: Harness your desire. Honour conflict – when something is hard it’s often where the diamonds are. Lower the bar (in the private space). Create rituals. Find your tribe.
Recommended debut reading:
- Kathryn recommends Kirsty Jagger’s Roseghetto (Kirsty won the Heyman Mentorship Award)
- Irma recommends Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip (listen to Kate’s convo with Helen Garner here)
- Tim recommends Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth and Richard Adam’s Watership Down
Keep an eye on the Write Around the Murray website to check out 2024 dates!
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