Send us a text Welcome to our 'between seasons' offering. We're re-listening to episodes past and digging out the GOLD. Support the show

Send us a text In this special episode, our usual presenter, Courtney Collins, is interviewed by our Producer Lisa Madden. Courtney talks about her novel writing process and her PhD 'Working against whiteness in creative literary production'. She shares insights from living in the remote Northern Territory in Ngukurr, working amongst the indigenous community, and how what she learnt in that time has influenced her work and her life. Many thanks to Hattie Dalton for allowing us to use her ou...

Send us a text In this episode of Are You Still Working?! writers Mirandi Riwoe and Laura Elvery chat to Courtney Collins about becoming published authors and what they've learnt along the way. Recorded in front of a live audience at Avid Reader, an independent bookstore in West End, Brisbane, this episode is packed with tips and tricks for emerging writers - from getting noticed by publishers by entering competitions, to establishing your own writers group and setting up your own writers re...

Send us a text Clare Murphy is a Storyteller by trade. In this episode she talks about the long history of storytelling in Ireland, her birth country, and how storytelling culture differs around the world but is ultimately essential to humanity. Clare lives in Bristol, England now, but she has worked with organisations across the globe as diverse as NASA, the NHS and the New Zealand All Blacks. She realised early on in her career that Storytelling was going to be an isolating and lonely road...

Send us a text Jasmin Tarasin has been a filmmaker her entire career. She's never had any other job. She's worked all over the world directing documentaries, short films, commercials and video art installations. Most recently she’s been creating a series of artists retreats called Muse Maker, to feed creative souls and she has just directed her first feature film LIFE CAN BE A DREAM. So what does it take for a person, a woman, a mother to multiple children (and a dog), to commit to a working ...

Send us a text Ruth Maddison's visual work spans 5 decades. Her first photography exhibition was in Melbourne in 1979 and the collection was purchased complete by the National Gallery of Victoria. Self-taught, Ruth was introduced to the camera and photo processing at the age of 30 by her house-mate Ponch Hawkes. She photographed people that she knew, processing the film and she quickly began getting paid work. Subsequent commissions and exhibitions replicated her success. Ruth moved t...

Send us a text Originally a science writer by profession, Toni Jordan talks through the catalyst and the process that put her on track to being the acclaimed novelist she is today. She describes herself as someone who thought she 'didn't have a creative bone in her body', but now the discipline and process of working on intensive scientific dossiers for 12 months or more has transferred to her creative process as a full time writer. Support the show

Send us a text Judith Nangala Crispin discusses in bold and simple terms what it takes for her to call herself an artist - the joys and the sacrifices. Beginning her creative journey as a musician, Judith worked as an opera singer and a composer before arriving at poetry and visual art. One of her current projects is using dead animals (roadkill), and transforming them into ethereal works of art. Judith talks about her commitment to and inspiration from the land - the country she live...

Send us a text Sarah Lambert is a writer, director, producer and showrunner, creating television series' such as The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, The Messenger, Lambs of God and many more. In this episode Sarah talks about how as a child, she always preferred the imagined world to reality, how she'll never feel able to rest on her laurels (no matter how successful she is or how many projects she has on the go), why she wasn't satisfied being 'just' a writer, and why she loves them but d...

Send us a text Winnie Dunn is a Tongan-Australian writer and editor. Her debut novel titled 'Dirt Poor Islanders', is the first novel to be published about the Tongan-Australian community. In this episode, Winnie talk about how she honed her craft at Sweatshop, a literacy movement in Western Sydney, how self-insert fan fiction was her gateway to writing, and how working solidly as a writer and editor has allowed her to move out of the cramped family home she grew up in, to a place of her own...

Send us a text Lo Carmen is a singer/songwriter, writer and actor. Lo first came to public attention starring as Freya in the 1987 classic Australian film The Year My Voice Broke. She's just released a new album called 'Transatlantic Light', her first album since the Nashville recorded Lovers, Dreamers, Fighters in 2017. Her book, published in 2022 by HarperCollins (the book is also titled 'Lovers, Dreamers, Fighters'), with its accompanying playlist should be compulsory reading for anyone in...

Send us a text Artist and author Karen Rogers is a Ngalakan woman from Ngukurr, a remote community in southeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Her artwork comes from cultural knowledge and her feelings for the land. She studied visual art at Batchelor Institute. Karen works across textiles, glass, painting, and animation. Wanmari, written and illustrated by Karen and directed by Jake Duczynski, was a finalist in the NATSIA Awards. Karen's also an author of a picture book called Main A...

Send us a text Multidisciplinary artist Lottie Consalvo lives and works on Awabakal Country in Newcastle, Australia. She works across painting, sculpture, performance art, photography and video. She is represented by https://dominikmerschgallery.com/ in Sydney and https://www.janmurphygallery.com.au/ in Brisbane. In this interview, Lottie talks about how she finds agency and autonomy in her studio, how she creates the headspace for little epiphanies, and the people and practices that ...

Send us a text Photographer Joy Mai En Lai has worked in Sydney's leading cultural institutions for more than a decade, including the Library of NSW. Her photographs regularly appear in print, exhibitions and on the facades of prominent public buildings. Born in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Joy has also lived in Asia and Australia. Based on Gadigal Country in Sydney, she creates work from her own explorations and commissioned assignments. Joy discusses the rewards of leaving the comfort of he...

Send us a text Musician and creative research scholar Dr Amanda Roff lives on the traditional lands of the Taungurung people in Nagambie, Central Victoria, and the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation in Naarm/Melbourne. She completed her Honours at the University of California Berkeley, and she holds a PhD in English and Creative Writing from La Trobe University. Her thesis focused on metaphysical aspects of music and performance through re-interpretation of Greek myth. Amanda is a member ...

Send us a text Author Charlotte Wood is the author of nine brilliant books. Throughout her career, she has most generously shared her own research and life-long investigations into how stories are made. She has even been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to literature. Her latest novel Stone Yard Devotional has just been released to a great critical reception and before that, her novel The Weekend was an international bestseller, winning both the ...

Send us a text Filmmaker and video artist Naina Sen explores cultural identity, gender and equity. AACTA and Walkley nominated, her work privileges First Nations and South East Asian points of view, and includes the wonderful documentary The Song Keepers with The Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir. In this interview, Naina discusses how focus and discipline support her creative practice. She offers insight into the emotional and social rigour of testing your ideas, and why accounta...

Send us a text Singer-songwriter Laura Jean has released six widely acclaimed albums. Her most recent, Amateurs, is a pulsing examination of what it is to be an artist working in Australia today. As well as making music and touring, she also works for a film financing company and studies Arts/Law at the University of NSW. In this interview, Laura Jean describes how she nurtures her 'three children': music, work and study, and how her working-class background influences how she regards ...

Send us a text Author Holly Ringland has well and truly picked up the pen. In the past five years, she has published two novels – The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding, and she has just released her first non-fiction title, The House That Joy Built, which explores the transformative power of creative work. Meanwhile, the screen adaptation of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart screened this year on Amazon Prime. Holly's creativity and joy seem to radiate from ...

Send us a text There's a new podcast in town and it's called, Are You Still Working?! How to take your creative ideas seriously. Is there a creative project you've been longing to do, but for one reason or another, you haven't been able to pick up a pen or a brush or a hammer to even begin? In season one, you'll hear from acclaimed authors, Charlotte Wood and Holly Ringland, musician, Laura Jean, artist Lotte Consalvo and more. You'll hear how they've wrestled with self doubt to do the work ...