Irma and Karen chat about audio books.

Then Karen speaks with Finegan Kruckemeyer about how he got his first break as a playwright, the difference between writing for young people and adult audiences, how much freedom there is in the parameters of commissioned works, why he acts out his scripts, why a school production of one of his plays blew him away far more than the professional production, how he goes about writing both comedy and big issues, why he doesn’t enter the rehearsal space, advice on how to get started as a playwright, and how his wife’s illness and a new puppy led to writing his first novel.

About Finegan:
Finegan Kruckemeyer is one of Australia’s most prolific playwrights and has written more than 100 commissioned plays for children and adults that have been performed all over the world. He’s received many awards for his work as a playwright, including the 2017 Mickey Miners Lifetime Achievement Award for services to international theatre for young audiences, and the 2015 David Williamson Award for Excellence in Australian Playwrighting. He’s recently had his first novel published: The End and Everything Before It.

Irma chats to agent Jacinta di Mase about what agents do to earn their 15%, the intricacies of contracts – including rights reversion, world rights, backlists and rising royalties, how an agent can fight for an author over cover design and choosing a title, the dos and don’ts of submitting to agents, the extent of editorial feedback to expect from agents, how the submission process to publishers works, the ins and outs of foreign rights, what a co-agent is and why they’re important, how film/TV deals are negotiated, how Covid transformed the industry for the better, and why a meeting at Allen & Unwin with Clementine Ford turned out to be one of the highlights of Jacinta’s career.

About Jacinta
Jacinta di Mase has a background in bookselling and publishing, and worked for ten years in two of Australia’s premier literary agencies, before setting up her own agency, Jacinta di Mase Management, in 2004. The agency represents a diverse range of writers and illustrators across all areas of the publishing market, including fiction, non-fiction, and books for children and young adults.

Karen and Irma chat about the ins and outs of contracts.

Then Irma talks to Hilde Hinton about the way her work polarises people, how an argument with her brother (actor Samuel Johnson) led to her first novel, why Lego is an important part of her writing process, how novels can make space for important conversations about big topics like mental illness and suicide through joy rather than the sadness, how AI has revolutionised the way she researches, the ways in which writing her debut changed her feelings about her mother, why she formulated a three-book plan (and pulled it off), , not being timid during the editing process, and how eating milk bottle lollies with Tony Birch in a green room led to a watershed moment.

About Hilde
Hilde Hinton’s critically acclaimed debut novel, The Loudness of Unsaid Things, made a number of bestseller lists, when it hit the shelves. Her next book was Heroes Next Door, written with her brother Samuel Johnson. Hilde’s second novel, A Solitary Walk on the Moon, was published in May 2022. She is currently head down bum up, working on her third novel, currently untitled, to be published in May 2025.