S2 E9 Mykaela Saunders: On Speculative Fiction and Sovereignty

Join Tenille on this special bonus episode as she chats to Bianca Martin and Johanna Wiggers, the founders and editors of Exhume, about curation, editing, and the future of literary criticism in Australia.Exhume is a new critical literary space designed to explore themes relevant to a history of Australian literary criticism, and, like Edits & Annotations, is a project of the Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing. Issue 1 is available to read now!

In our final episode of the season, Mia talks to Jane Rawson, Island magazine editor and author of Human/Nature, about how to find nature everywhere and to write for joy even when everything seems doomed.

In the penultimate episode of season two, writer, critic, and editor Mykaela Saunders joins Tenille to discuss writing Goori futures, colonisation and sovereignty in speculative fiction, and the necessity of hope.

Bonny Cassidy is the author of three poetry collections and one book of nonfiction, as well as a book critic and internationally recognised scholar of Australian literature. Formerly an academic, she is now an independent creative writing mentor and psychology student. In 2025 she was shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal, Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and won the AAALS Creative Prose Prize. Bonny lives in the bush on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. In this episode, Mia and Bonny discuss the creative research and writing process of her literary memoir, Monument.  

Isobelle Carmody is one of Australia's most well-known and prolific writers. In this episode, she chats to Bethany about how the industry has changed throughout her career, how she keeps track of the worlds she creates, and what it’s like to have other people write PhDs about your work.

Crime writer Nicole Crowe joins Tenille to talk about her funny and thrilling debut novel The Washup, along with first book jitters, the mysteries of the publication process, writing place, and her best advice for aspiring writers.

Join us for episode five! Jessica Mansour-Nahra chats with Bethany about her debut novel The Farm, which remasters 18th century gothic for the 21st century. Jessica shares her writing process and discusses scene setting, international rights, and the ongoing relevance of gothic literature.Pleasebe advised this interview discusses pregnancy loss and fertility and medical issues.

In our fourth episode of the season, 2025 winner of the Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award Khin Myint joins Tenille to speak about finding compassion in writing, the complicated intersections of class, race, and gender, and his stunning debut memoir, Fragile Creatures.

Our incredible lineup of guests in Season 2 continues! Join writer, editor and food reviewer Candice Chung as she and Mia discuss being anti love-language, crafting the I in memoir, and food as means of communicating frustration and fear, anxiety and affection.

What insight can writing give into religion? How does a character emerge from a draft? And what's the connection between Frida Kahlo and a 9th-century female pope?Award-winning writer and 2025 Roderick Centre Visiting Fellow Emily Maguire joins Tenille to discuss creative collisions, writing careers, and her latest novel, Rapture.Link to Emily's FALS Colin Roderick Memorial Lecture - recording coming soon!