A Season One finale featuring unaired short conversations with our first season guests Maria Lewis, Patti Miller, Alan Baxter, Heather Rose, Dr Sarah Edelman & Louise Remond , With topics as diverse as: your first murder; Cro-Magnon cave art; the trinkets of memory; writing the narrative of game based learning; the importance of diet on mental health; and finding the perfect co-author. We'll be back with Season Two in a few short weeks. Thanks for listening. Twitter: @conversationsww  

Garth Franklin has been at the forefront of online film criticism for the past 20 years, breaking news via scoops, leaks and non-disclosure breaches from every corner of the Hollywood system. His news and reviews site Dark Horizons changed the way studios engaged with online media and established new release and feedback models across the publicity and production industries. In conversation, Garth also discusses his recent treatises on masculinity in film. Garth can be found at...

Patti Miller is one of Australia’s most successful memoirists. The author of several best-selling award-winning biographies and autobiographies, capturing the cultures, legacies and life-stories of herself and hundreds of others. Patti has recently published Writing True Stories and in conversation discusses her discovery of memoir; the unreliable narrator of memory; the richness of uncovering the Australian indigenous culture and the memoirs of white settlers. Writing true Stories is...

Multi-award winner Alan Baxter fills his dark urban horror thrillers with realistic violence from first-hand experience. The author having spent a lifetime training and teaching Kung Fu. In conversation Alan provides an insight to his love of mashing genres and writing across formats; how the cowardice of bullies drove him towards competitive martial arts; and we tap into the injustice of losing loved ones while the less deserving live on. Alan can be found via Twitter @alanbaxter   

According to recent studies, one in four young people are at risk of serious mental illness. The issues of body image, coping with stress, school and studying identified as the key drivers of concern. In response, Clinical Psychologists Dr Sarah Edelman and Louise Remond have authored Good Thinking - a teenager's guide to managing stress and emotions using CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). An evidence based guide to changing how teenagers think to improve the way they feel. In...

Sami Shah is a comedian, journalist and author, renown for his insightful and often hilarious dissection of the culture, religion and politics of his birthplace of Pakistan and adopted home in Australia. In this episode Sami shares with us the world of his latest fiction release, "Earth Boy", the conclusion to last year's unique dark urban fantasy "Fire Boy" set above and below the streets of Karachi. Featuring the Djinns of Islamic lore and drawing from the stories of his family, The Boy...

Publisher Joel Naoum has been editor, adviser and disciplinarian for many of Australia's biggest authors, advising them to kill more characters and turn their work in on time. A herald for the birth of digital publishing and the proliferation of e-books, in conversation Joel shares what it takes to find, nurture and influence the next generation of bestsellers and looks back at the seismic shift in the economics and distribution channels of traditional publishing. You can find Joel at...

Bestseller Dianne Blacklock has forged a writing career finding the romantic drama of everyday conflict. With nine books on shelves to date and more to follow, Di continues to steal from contemporary life to build a series of complicated heroines facing the familiar challenges of love, family and career. In conversation, Di shares the need for conflict to drive story; the discovery of reading; how family informs a world view; and the sheer Englishness of Enid Blyton.   

Bram Connolly served 15 years with Australia's Special Forces, including two tours of the Badlands of Afghanistan, before using his unique frontline experience to forge a new career as an action author. Bram's debut novel The Fighting Season carving itself onto the bestseller list and reclaiming shelf space for a new Australian military action hero. In conversation Bram discusses the need to write strong intelligent women; the rigours of Special Forces selection; the blending of fact &...

2017 Stella Prize winner Heather Rose crafted her best-selling The Museum of Modern Love from the real-life  durational performance of Marina Abramović at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Inspired by Marina's devotion to her art and trance-like transformations, Heather has also drawn from own experiences of endurance and creative expression to tell a complex fictional account of love in modern society.

By 2006 Middle Eastern Organised Crime dominated South West Sydney. The drive-bys, drug deals and public gun battles between warring families signalling a new generation of criminals. In his book ‘The Squad’, award-winning journalist and author Yoni Bashan details the exploits of Middle Eastern Organised Crime’s gang leaders and the elite police squad (MEOCS) forged to take them down. In conversation, Yoni tells how a criminal mastermind ran a drug empire and ordered executions while locked...

Will Kostakis has published three hugely popular YA novels to date, reinventing himself on each occasion. Proactively engaging with his audience of teenagers facing an uncertain future, Will talks about his media-darling rise, humbling fall and literary resurrection; coming out mid press tour; the value of a tortured teen diary; the debate between gay, too gay and not gay enough; and the power of teachers in shaping the identity of young people. With a self-deprecating wit and laugh capable...

International bestselling author Tony Park talks of a life shared between Australia and Africa; running from lions in your underwear; using writing to address post traumatic stress disorder; how stable government drives major social change;  and what it's like to write while serving in Afghanistan with the Australian Army. Tony is the author of 13 bestselling action adventure novels set across the wilds of the African continent, capturing the majesty and terror of a unique world of...

Maria Lewis burst onto the bestseller list with her first novel Who's Afraid. Bold, blunt and tattooed with pop culture, Maria talks about serial killer bedtime stories; the representation of violence against women; the commercial risks of keeping her own name; punching celebrities; her experiences with murder in real life; and the rise of the Merman! ..."I'm never gonna see a Merman." Who's Afraid is the first in a five book series, with the sequel Who's Afraid Too recently released and...