Max Easton’s Now, Autonomy

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Shannon Kelly-White is joining us with her debut novel Billie King It’s been twelve years since Dulcie James set foot in Orilong.  A lot can happen in twelve years People grow old; Dulcie’s certainly feeling the years. People die; Dulcie’s been responsible for a few of them over the years. And People grow up. People like Billie King.  Now Dulcie’s got some choices to make and some wrongs to right. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Gillian Hagenus is one of the organisers of the Australian Short Story Festival. Her work has been shortlisted and longlisted for a number of awards, including the Boroondara, Djillong, Nielma Sidney and Peter Carey short story awards. Common Places won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer at the 2025 Queensland Literary Awards; it is her first collection of short fiction. So many of us grow up in the suburbs, but familiarity is not the same as understanding. Common Places dips beneath the surface of these familiar landscapes to uncover the moments and scenes only partially glimpsed and half remembered Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Adam Ouston’s debut novel Waypoints was listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the ALS Gold Medal, and the Tasmanian Literary Prize for Fiction.  Mine is his second novel. A poet wakes in a darkened space. He’s fallen. He must have fallen.  But where? In the darkness the poet’s now is condensed, while his mind wanders out to the Tasmanian Wilderness he loves and has fought to protect, to the land beneath the land that countless people have tried to tame. The land beneath where the poet now dwells.  Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Victoria Hannan is a photographer and writer from Melbourne/Naarm. She is the author of Kokomo and Marshmallow. Leslie’s really not sure how to feel about things. The end of her marriage came as neither a shock nor a disappointment, but now she’s on a trip to Las Vegas. Old Leslie probably wouldn’t believe any of this was possible, but this is new Leslie. She just has to figure out who that is. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Max Easton’s first novel, The Magpie Wing, was longlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award.  Max joins us today with his third novel is Now, Autonomy Helen, Pat, Sio, Sunny and Maria are trying to live a righteous life; attending rallies, maintaining a punk ethos, maybe finally releasing their album. Except Sydney’s not the easiest place to keep your moral compass clear. When the abandoned pub Sunny finds doesn’t pan out as a band space they are again at a loose end. But maybe Pat’s past holds a key to the group's future…  Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Chris Ames is a writer from California, who now lives in Melbourne. He is the 2025 winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. And we now are the beneficiaries as we discover his short story collection I Made This Just For You. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Christy Anne Jones is an author, illustrator and content creator. Her debut novel is Theodora’s Tea Shop Dorothy has always dreamed of magic, but across Calleum magic has been banned and only the most privileged can obtain a license for its use. In desperation Dorothy flees to the capital Alliaster in search of a fabled Tea Shop, said to be the home of a grand witch Theodora. Dorothy dreams that Theodora will help her learn magic, never dreaming of the vast and dangerous world she is about to enter. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Mirandi Riwoe is the author of Sunbirds, The Fish Girl, and Stone Sky Gold Mountain, which won the Queensland Literary Award – Fiction Book Award and the inaugural ARA Historical Novel Prize, and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award.  Mirandi joins us with her new novel A Short History of Longans Across four generations A Short History of Longans tells the story of a family. In the near future Daniel lives a solitary life; trapped by his past. In the year 2000 Wendy tries to connect to her family even as her memory is gradually stripped away. In post war America, Ruby fears she may never get back to Australia.  And in the mid nineteenth century, Maria and Ah Yang are drawn together to begin the whole saga. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. KRIS KNEEN is an award-winning author of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. Their latest book is Rite of Spring, and Kris is joining us today to discuss. Miranda and Richard land on the shore of a remote island off the coast of Tasmania.  On paper they are there as caretakers for the old lighthouse and its infrastructure. To each other they might acknowledge a deeper purpose; to restore or renew something of their relationship. And then there is Miranda’s reasons; something deeper and more instinctual Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Allee Richards is the author of Small Joys of Real Life and A Light in the Dark. She joins us today with her new novel Tight Lines Luke, Matty and Josh live for the water; swimming, surfing, fishing. Their coastal lives look idyllic. Every summer Millie completes the group as they barrel towards adulthood. The end of school arrives with all its relief and release and adult plans are tomorrow’s problem when there’s a party on tonight.  And then everything changes… Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.