Through discussions and interviews with writers, artists and health professionals, author friends James McKenzie Watson and Ashley Kalagian Blunt explore the big questions: how do books get written? How do people navigate life with chronic illness? And just what are you reading?
Ashley Kalagian Blunt is the author of Dark Mode, an internationally published psychological thriller. Her earlier books are How to Be Australian, a memoir, and My Name Is Revenge, collected fiction and essays. Her writing appears in the Sydney Morning Herald, Overland, Griffith Review, Sydney Review of Books, and more. Ashley is an enthusiastic teacher of writing and creativity. Originally from Canada, she has lived and worked in South Korea, Peru and Mexico. Find her on Twitter and Instagram or visit her website.
James McKenzie Watson is the author of Denizen, which won the 2021 Penguin Literary Prize and was shortlisted in 2023 Ned Kelly Awards for Best Debut. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings and the Newtown Review of Books. He has appeared at events including the Sydney Writers Festival, Newcastle Writers Festival and BAD Crime Sydney. He works as a nurse. Find him on Twitter and Instagram or visit his website.
Mar 11, 2025
What considerations come into choosing to have a baby for creatives? And once baby enters the picture, how do you balance parenting with your creative practice?
We ask Dinuka McKenzie and Lee Kofman, two beloved past guests who happen to be both authors and parents, about their decision to have children and how they manage their writing lives as parents.
Plus, James has a big announcement – you'll never guess what it is.
Lee Kofman is a Russian-born, Israeli-Australian memoirist, novelist, editor and writing coach. She’s the author of three fiction books and two memoirs, including Imperfect, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Nib Literary Award in 2019. Her short works have been widely published in Australia, US, UK, Israel and Canada. Lee’s most recent book is The Writer Laid Bare (Ventura Press).
Dinuka is the author of the Detective Kate Miles crime series, The Torrent, Taken and Tipping Point, published in Australia and the UK. She was the winner of the 2020 HarperCollins Australia Banjo Prize and has been shortlisted for numerous major Australian crime writing awards. Dinuka lives with her family in Southern Sydney on Dharawal country.
Books & authors discussed in this episode:
- Cyril Connolly
- The Lady's Handbook to Her Mysterious Illness by Sarah Ramey
- Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
- At the Strangers' Gate by Adam Gopnik
- Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart
- Your Baby Doesn't Come with a Book by Daniel Golshevsky
- The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
Upcoming events
- James is having a baby! Well, not him personally. His wife. But he'll be there. Date and time TBA.
- Ashley is teaching Pathways to Publishing in-person for the South Coast Writers Centre on Saturday, 15 March starting 10.30 am
- Ashley is doing her first-ever Canberra author talk at Big River Gin Distillery, Thursday 20 March, 6 pm, featuring chocolate martinis
- Ashley is returning to the Occasional Wine Bar, Boorowa, on Friday 21 March, 6.30pm
- Ashley is appearing at Book Face Erina with Anna Downes on Tuesday 25 March, 6pm
- Ashley is appearing at Newcastle Writers Festival with Anna Downes & Petronella McGovern, and with Shankari Chandran & Jock Serong, 5-6 April
- Ashley is teaching Online: Writing Crime for Faber, 8 weeks starting Tuesday 6 May
Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library.
Get in touch!