Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

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.

  1. All Episodes
  2. 53 | A sprinkling of magic with Fiona Robertson, author of 'If You're Happy'

53 | A sprinkling of magic with Fiona Robertson, author of 'If You're Happy'

Mar 8, 2022

Fiona Robertson lived with migraines for years, writing short stories as a creative pursuit. Now she's free from migraines and the award-winning author of the debut short story collection, If You're Happy. Her work explores the lives of lonely people seeking happiness in a turbulent world. 

She tells us about the common threads that bind her stories, why they're her chosen form, and how living with unpredictable chronic illness impacted her life and creative work. 

Fiona is a writer and doctor. Her short fiction has been published in literary magazines and anthologies in Australia and the UK, and has been shortlisted for international competitions. Her collection of stories, If You’re Happy, won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer at the 2020 Queensland Literary Awards. Fiona lives in Brisbane with her husband and children.

Learn more about Fiona on her website, and buy a copy of 'If You're Happy' from your local bookshop, Booktopia or wherever else books are sold. 

Books and authors discussed in this episode:

  • Louise Allan;
  • The Keepers by Al Campbell, plus her Sydney Morning Herald article, 'The disappointing question I most often got after writing a book'; 
  • Long Road to Dry River by Jen Severn;
  • All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy;
  • Child of God by Cormac McCarthy;
  • Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy;
  • David Vann;
  • Denizen by James McKenzie Watson, out 19 July 2022! 

Get in touch!