Biographers in Conversation

Jillian Graham "Inner Song: A Biography of Margaret Sutherland"

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, the musician and author Dr Jillian Graham chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Inner Song. A Biography of Margaret Sutherland, the life story of the ‘Grand Old Lady of Classical Music.’
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Margeret Sutherland was a child prodigy, composer, pianist and teacher. She composed more than 200 works and was an influential champion of both contemporary and Australian music
Margaret Sutherland’s role in Australia’s cultural history and why she still matters, 40 years after her death
How Jillian Graham narrowed the biographical scope given the avalanche of evidence she sourced during her painstaking research
How Margaret’s character drove the plot of Inner Song
How Jillian balanced Margaret’s voice and perspective and her voice as the narrator
How Jillian balanced Margaret’s public persona and professional accomplishments with her human story
How Jillian reconciled conflicting opinions about Margaret Sutherland
Why it was so vital to bring Margaret Sutherland’s story to a new generation of readers and music lovers.

David Veltman, Daniel Meister and Hans Renders Biography Across the Digitized Globe: Essays in Honour of Hans Renders

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr David Veltman, Dr Daniel Meister and Professor Hans Renders chat with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about Biography Across the Digitized Globe: Essays in Honour of Hans Renders.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
David and Daniel edited this collection of essays to honour Hans’s pioneering role in the field of biography.
Diverse perspectives on how digital sources and global connections are reshaping how we share life stories.
Why biography remains a vital, evolving genre despite deliberate disinformation and an Orwellian subversion of truthfulness in politics and public conversation.
Why is it vital to consider biographical traditions from around the world.
Diverse perspectives on how digital sources and global connections are reshaping how we share life stories.
The value of a biography lies not in its adherence to a single, monolithic ‘truth’, but in its ability to offer an authentic, authoritative and empathetic exploration of a human life.
Biography’s future given the emergence of AI.

Shauna Bostock "Reaching Through Time: Finding My Family’s Stories"

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Shauna Bostock chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Reaching Through Time: Finding My Family’s Stories.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
The shocking late-night phone Shauna Bostock received that ignited her determination to unearth her family’s true history.
How Shauna traced over 200 years of her Indigenous family history amid scant and fragmented records.
Shauna’s unique approach to storytelling: blending biography, history, memoir and oral storytelling.
How Shauna balanced being a rigorous historian and a loving descendant.
How Shauna alternated between close-up personal scenes and wide-angle historical context.
Why Shauna Bostock sees her book as part of Australia’s broader truth-telling movement, an effort to openly acknowledge Indigenous history and the injustices of the past.

Sebastian Smee: "Paris in Ruins: How Love, War and Art Gave Birth to Impressionism"

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about his choices while crafting Paris in Ruins: How Love, War and Art Gave Birth to Impressionism.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
How the chaos of war and revolution in 1870s Paris shaped the birth of Impressionism.
Why the relationship between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot was central to the book and the Impressionist Movement.
How Impressionism’s quick brushwork and light fixation reflect trauma, urgency and impermanence.
Why Smee gives Berthe Morisot equal prominence and reinterprets her legacy in a male-dominated art world.
What it means to write empathetic, narrative-driven biography while honouring archival truth.
Why art made in crisis can speak across generations and offer hope, resistance and resilience.

Heather Clark: "Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath"

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, multi-award-winning biographer Dr Heather Clark chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Why Heather Clark intentionally shifts the narrative away from Sylvia Plath’s tragic death to celebrate her vibrant life and literary achievements.
Why Heather emphasises Sylvia Plath’s ambition, joy and creative courage as a young woman navigating the mid-20th-century’s literary culture.
The challenge of navigating an avalanche of archival material to find the narrative thread in Plath’s life.
How Heather balanced rigorous scholarship with the art of storytelling, giving Red Comet the propulsive narrative energy of a novel despite its scholarly depth.
How Heather portrayed Plath’s inner life with empathy and honesty.  
How Heather focuses on Plath’s literary significance, repositioning her among the most important writers of the 20th century.
How by challenging one-dimensional stereotypes, Red Comet invites a new appreciation of Plath’s genius and legacy beyond the shadow of her death.

Judith Brett: "Fearless Beatrice Faust: Sex, Feminism and Body Politics"

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, award-winning political historian and biographer Dr Judith Brett chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Fearless Beatrice Faust: Sex, Feminism and Body Politics.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
How Judith Brett discovered Beatrice Faust’s story.
Why Judith was inspired to craft Fearless Beatrice Faust. 
How Beatrice Faust captures a vivid chapter of Australia’s feminist history.
How in 1972, Beatrice Faust founded the Women’s Electoral Lobby, empowering Australian women voters and challenging politicians to listen.
The tension between Faust’s bold public crusades and the private struggles she concealed.
Why Brett structured Fearless Beatrice Faust around themes instead of a timeline, complete with provocative chapter titles like ‘Becoming Notorious’ to highlight the recurring battles in Faust’s life.
The psychological depth behind Faust’s fiery persona, from her rebellious intellect and fierce independence to the vulnerable moments that fuelled her passion.
How Judith Brett balances her authorial voice with Beatrice’s unique voice to create a biography that’s both captivating and scholarly.
Why Beatrice Faust’s fearless fight for women’s rights is as vital in 2025 as it was in 1972.

Charlotte Jacobs: 90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor’s Nuclear Odyssey

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Charlotte Jacobs chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting 90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor’s Nuclear Odyssey.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
Charlotte Jacobs’s inspiration for crafting 90 Seconds to Midnight.
How Charlotte gained insights into Setsuko’s inner world.
How Charlotte balanced Setsuko’s unique voice and perspective with her voice as the narrator.
How Charlotte balanced Setsuko’s public and professional life with her human story.
The meaning of 90 Seconds to Midnight and why Charlotte chose it.
Why Charlotte opens the biography with a vivid, haunting prologue amid the ruins of Hiroshima, a gripping scene that shaped Setsuko’s lifelong activism.
How Charlotte emphasised the urgency of Setsuko’s anti-nuclear warning in today’s geo-political environment.
How Charlotte crafted lyrical, eloquent narrative that was also gripping.
Charlotte’s thoughts on the role of a biographer.

Sam Elkin: "Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga"

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, lawyer and author Sam Elkin chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about his choices while crafting Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Sam’s thought process behind structuring the memoir as a chronological legal saga intertwining his gender transition with pivotal moments in Australia’s LGBTQ+ rights movement.
How he found a warm, conversational writing voice beyond his legal training, shedding formal jargon to connect with readers on a personal level.
Why he infused dark humour into serious moments and how laughter helped him cope with pain while keeping the story human and relatable.
The raw vulnerability he chose to share, from detailing gender-affirming surgeries to admitting moments of self-doubt.
How Sam navigated tough ethical choices in sharing his story, balancing unvarnished honesty with respect for others’ privacy while weighing the risks of being so candid.
Sam’s reflections on the double-edged sword of visibility as a trans man: how being seen can be empowering yet perilous and how he portrays that tension in Detachable Penis.
How including stories from his community law work and marginalised queer folks broadened Detachable Penis into a portrait of activism, community struggles and hope.
Insights into Sam’s writing journey: how he expanded short personal essays into a cohesive memoir.
How Sam practised self-care during tough chapters and how the process deepened his self-understanding.

Nathan Hobby "The Red Witch: A Biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard"

Nathan Hobby shares his choices while crafting The Red Witch; A Biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard. Here’s what you’ll discover:
Katharine Susannah Prichard’s significance as a trailblazing Australian novelist and political figure who co-founded the Australian Communist Party
How Pritchard’s ground-breaking novels reflected her social ideals
Nathan’s extensive research process, from scouring archives to retracing Prichard’s footsteps
The book’s structure and narrative style
The difficulties of dealing with unreliable or biased source material
The challenging decisions involved in narrowing the biographical scope given the trove of source material
How Nathan used novelistic techniques to enliven the biography
The role of a biographer.

Megan Marshall: "After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart"

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, multi-award-winning biographer Megan Marshall chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Why a renowned biographer turned the lens on herself, blending memoir with biography after decades of writing about other people.
How writing about her partner’s illness and loss and heartbreak made Megan a more empathetic biographer.
Megan’s bold decision to step out from behind the scenes and become a character in her own book.
The touching reason Megan put her mother’s self-portrait on the cover. 
How decades of exploring other people’s lives taught Megan surprising lessons about living her own life.
What Megan means by ‘the mysteries of the human heart’ and why some questions about a life will always remain unanswered.