Category: Interviews with writers

Former paramedic Kylie Edwards had never written before she enrolled in the Australian Writers’ Centre’s Personal Storytelling for Veterans and First Responders course. By the end of it, she believed she could write a memoir. “This has changed my life and given me back my voice!” she says. “The course

Julie Modra’s middle-grade novella Oscar Was Here has been published by Rhiza Press, and the foreign rights have already been acquired by a publisher in Slovenia. Julie is a graduate of our Novel Writing Essentials and Write Your Novel courses, and she credits them with turning a former English teacher’s

Kirstie Bedford has signed a two-book deal with Bloodhound Books. Her debut psychological suspense novel, White Lies, will be published in June 2027, followed later that year by her second crime novel, Murder She Heard. Kirstie is a graduate of our Creative Writing Stage 1 and Write Your Novel courses,

Whitney Fitzsimmons’ thriller The Rising has been published by Ventura Press. Whitney is a graduate of our Crime and Thriller Writing course, which she credits with giving her the structure she’d been missing every time she’d tried to finish a novel before. “The course gave me a solid foundation in

JoJo Leslie’s picture book Fish Don’t Hop has been published by Woodslane Press, and she both wrote and illustrated it. JoJo is a graduate of our Writing Picture Books course, and she credits it with changing the way she approaches writing for children. “For me it was a game changer,”

After completing more than 10 courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre, graduate Jenny Marshall is now a copywriter and a self-published picture book author.

Di Taylor never set out to become a novelist. She simply wanted to find out whether she could write a book. The answer turned out to be Anna’s War (Riveted Press), a young adult historical novel published under her pen name, DJ Taylor – and her debut at the age

Completing the Writing Picture Books course from the Australian Writers’ Centre, graduate Sharna Carter found success with her latest book ‘I Dreamed of You’.

Anne Freeman wrote her first novel on her phone, in the Google Docs app, while nursing her baby. Several awards later, she’s a three-book author with the independent press Hawkeye Publishing, and her latest novel is The Time After Now. By the time Anne enrolled in AWC’s Dare to Dream

Michelle Stephens spent two decades as an architect before she let herself chase the dream she has had since childhood: writing a book. That dream now her debut mystery thriller, The Crack, is set for release with Allen & Unwin in January 2027. Her way into all of this was

Shannon Kelly-White had a secret dream – she wanted to write fiction. That dream is now a reality and you’ll see it in bookstores: Billie King, her debut novel has now been published by HarperCollins Australia. It all started with a course at the Australian Writers’ Centre. Creative Writing Stage

When Bethany Loveridge set out to write a junior-fiction series, she was convinced there was an “art and science” to writing for children – and that if she cracked it, she’d finally be signing those author agreements. She was right. Her debut, Josie Mack and the MEGA Division, is the

When Emma Warrender started writing her debut novel, she knew she wanted to do everything possible to give it the best chance of being published. So she enrolled in the Australian Writers’ Centre’s Creative Writing Stage 1 course to build her craft – and to find her people. That investment

It started as a comic strip drawn on a scrap of paper at the kitchen table for two daughters who wanted bedtime stories. Two decades later, John Stanton’s middle-grade novel The Adventures of Squidape is being published by Riveted Press, with more than 20 of John’s own watercolour illustrations woven