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.
Jun 11, 2024
We've made it to episode 98! Author Imbi Neeme joins James and Ashley to discuss life with misophonia, a hypersensitivity to sounds that she describes as 'like a cheese grater against the brain'. Imbi speaks both about how she discovered that her personal experiences are shared by others, and how she's explored the condition in her latest novel, 'Kind of, Sort of, Maybe but Probably Not.' They also discuss the challenge of second books and developing a writing career in an industry obsessed with debuts.
Imbi Neeme won the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize for The Spill, which was published by Penguin Random House in 2020. She blogged for many years at Not Drowning, Mothering, which won the 2010 Bloggies Award for best ANZ Weblog. She lives in Melbourne.
Books and authors discussed in this episode:
- Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
- Ghost Cities by Siang Lu
- On Our Best Behaviour by Elise Loehnen
- The Writer's Room by Charlotte Wood
- Katherine Collette (from ep 55)
- Kate Mildenhall (from ep 13)
Get your copy of Kind of, Sort of, Maybe but Probably Not from Booktopia or your local bookshop.
Upcoming events
- Ashley is teaching Pathways to Publication for Writing NSW on Saturday 15 June, 10am-4pm
- Ashley is in conversation with Petronella McGovern to launch her new novel on Monday 1 July, 6pm
- Ashley is in conversation with Lisa Kenway to launch her debut thriller on Thursday 1 August, 6.30pm
Get in touch!