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The inspiration(s) behind Dark Mode
I started writing Dark Mode in July 2019 while on residency at Varuna, the National Writer’s House. I remember opening a blank Word doc and thinking, okay, now it’s time to start a whole new book. My first book, My Name Is Revenge, had come out in April that year. I’d also just received a…
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What are those creepy plants on your book cover?!
It surprises a lot of people to learn that writers generally don’t have much, if any, say in their book covers. If a publisher takes on your manuscript, they’re in charge of the book cover. Sometimes you get to voice an opinion on a few options, sometimes you don’t even get that. The publishers are…
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Ep 69 Best Book Recommendations of 2022
To wrap up every episode of James and Ashley Stay at Home, the podcast I co-host with author James McKenzie Watson, we ask our guests the same question – what are you reading? To close out 2022, we’ve collected the year’s best recommendations into one super book chat ep! It’s a lot of fun and…
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Ep 66 How to say goodbye with Jackie Bailey, author of The Eulogy
How do you work through a major edit on your book when you have a traumatic brain injury? And how do you write about the death of a loved one while you’re grieving? Jackie Bailey, author of debut novel The Eulogy and professional deathwalker, joins us to discuss her experience with both. Jackie Bailey is…
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Ep 65 What people don’t know with author Al Campbell
‘For most people, when they become a carer, it happens in an instant.’ This is the way it happened for Al Campbell, Brisbane-based author and mother to two autistic sons. In episode 65 of James and Ashley Stay at Home, Al joins us to discuss her debut book The Keepers, a fictionalised account of her…
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Ep 63 How not to write a memoir with author Bronwyn Birdsall
After contracting glandular fever as a child (aka mono), Bronwyn Birdsall ended up with such bad chronic fatigue, she missed six months of school. This was at a time when there was still significant stigma surrounding the illness. Bronwyn grew up in Sydney. At age 24, she moved to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and worked…
Ashley Kalagian Blunt 