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 23, 2026
Mary Colussi says her debut novel Touch Grass, winner of the 2025 Penguin Literary Prize, is a ‘Noah’s ark of her weird interests.' Penguin Literary Prize judge Jack Harkin puts it a little differently: 'part warning, part screwball comedy - and a riot of brilliant, incisive writing about social media, body politics and the effects of worshiping false gods.'
In episode 131, Mary shares with James how she went from writing Buzzfeed listicles to finishing the first draft of Touch Grass in under 90 days, and how she used her writing to ‘metabolise her anxieties about the future’. She describes how illness has turned her into a 'diplomat for her own physical form' and how she took inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut to juxtapose the absurd with the deeply philosophical.
Mary Colussi is an Australian American writer currently based in Sydney. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the National Institute of Dramatic Art, she was shortlisted for the 2025 Katie Lees Fellowship and received a 2025 Residential Fellowship at Varuna, the National Writers' House. As well as fiction, she writes satire, plays and screenplays. Touch Grass, her first novel, won the 2025 Penguin Literary Prize.
Find Touch Grass through Booktopia or from your local bookshop or library.
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
- Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
- Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell
- Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
- Will and Testament by Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund
- Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Upcoming events
- Adelaide – Ashley is teaching Crafting Narrative Drive for Writers SA, Saturday 27 June 10.30am
- Sydney – Ashley is reading at Twisted Fiction, a free event at the Shakespeare Hotel in Surry Hills, Tuesday 7 July, 6pm
- Sydney - James is in conversation with Nicholas Timms about his debut crime novel, The Lineup, at The Rose Red Bookshop in Summer Hill on Friday July 10, 7pm
- Penrith – Ashley is in conversation with Petronella McGovern about her latest thriller, Every Time She Wakes, at Penrith Library, Friday 27 July, 6pm
- Geelong – join Ashley for her first-ever Geelong event with Dymocks Books in Bars, Wednesday 22 July, 6.30pm
- Sydney – Ashley is launching Dinuka McKenzie’s latest thriller, She Lied First, at Gleebooks Glebe on Monday 27 July, 6.30pm
- Sydney – Ashley is in conversation with Petronella McGovern about her latest thriller, Every Time She Wakes, at Berkelouw Paddington, Thursday 30 July, 6pm
- Central Coast – join Ashley for an in-conversation at Umina Book Nook on Friday 21 August, 6pm
Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode, Cold Truth, and Like, Follow, Die and get your copies from your local bookshop or library.
Learn more about James's award-winning novel Denizen and get your copy from your local bookshop or library.
Get in touch!