Biographers in Conversation

Joel Birnie: My People’s Songs: How an Indigenous Family Survived Colonial Tasmania

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Joel Stephen Birnie chats with Gabriella about the choices he made while crafting My People’s Songs: How an Indigenous Family Survived Colonial Tasmania, his historical biography of his earliest known ancestral grandmother and her two surviving daughters. These three extraordinary matriarchs fought for the Indigenous communities they founded in Tasmania, sparking a tradition of social justice that continues in Joel’s family today.
 Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
You’ll meet Tarenootairer, Joel’s earliest known ancestral grandmother, and her two surviving daughters, Mary Ann Arthur and Fanny Cochrane Smith.
Why Joel felt compelled to write My People’s Songs and his goal in writing the book. 
Why Joel chose to structure My People’s Songs around three self-contained biographies of Tarenootairer, Mary Ann and Fanny and why he shared their stories from their perspective and in their voices. 
How Mary Ann’s fight for autonomy laid the foundation for contemporary Indigenous politics.
How he chose to portray Mary Ann’s role as a voice of self-empowerment for Tasmania’s Indigenous people. 
Fanny’s skilled and tenacious political advocacy despite intense opposition from Tasmanian politicians and some sections of the media. 
Fanny’s challenge to the false declaration of Indigenous Tasmanian extinction and why this was, and still is, crucial. 
Joel’s research strategy given that few archival records exist of Indigenous peoples’ lives in 19th century Tasmania and those that are available lack an Indigenous perspective. They are also tainted by colonial half-truths, interpretations and propaganda. 
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Nadia Wheatley: The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Nadia Wheatley chats with Gabriella about the choices she made while writing the biography of Charmian Clift, one of Australia’s most charismatic writers whose books were often decades ahead of their time.
 Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Nadia Wheatley’s reluctance to write Charmian Clift’s biography and the vigorous arm twisting that ultimately resulted in her agreeing to embark on the project.
Nadia’s reasons for opening the biography with her personal story.
The meaning behind the book’s title: The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift.
Why Nadia chose to interpret Clift’s life rather than repeat the mythical representations of earlier biographies.
The ethical dilemmas Nadia faced when revealing secrets about Clift’s personal life. 
How Nadia achieved a fine balance between portraying Clift’s conflicting roles as a talented author and wife of a prolific writer; a devoted mother; and a feminist decades ahead of her time.
The extent to which Nadia believes she accessed the truth of her subject.
Nadia’s exciting news about publishing an edited version of Charmian Clift’s, The End of the Morning, which includes Clift’s previously unpublished autobiographical novel and thirty of her essays.
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Kenneth Miller, Mapping the Darkness, The Visionary Scientists who Unlocked the Mysteries of Sleep (Part Two)

In this episode, Gabriella continues her conversation with Kenneth Miller about his  group biography Mapping the Darkness, The Visionary Scientists who Unlocked the Mysteries of Sleep.
As we learned in the previous episode, a century ago, sleep was widely considered a state of nothingness and a wasteful habit we could learn to overcome. Thanks to the four scientists Kenneth introduced us to in episode one, we now know the truth: that sleep is an incredibly complex phenomenon, central to our physical, emotional, and cognitive health.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
How Kenneth captured each character’s passion for research and their sense of scientific wonder.
How Kenneth portrayed each scientist’s quest to uncover the mysteries of sleep.
How Kenneth structured the narrative to create a gripping adventure of the human spirit.
Details of the famous cave experiment in 1938 when two sleep researchers retreated into the cavernous Mammoth Cave in Kentucky for 32 days to find out when they could switch to a 28-hour sleep cycle after being deprived of environmental cues. 
Kenneth’s meticulous research strategy and how he grasped complicated sleep science. 
How Kenneth transformed thousands of pages of complex scientific information into a propulsive and compelling biography of the quartet of individuals who revolutionised our understanding of why we sleep and how we can get sleep better.
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Kenneth Miller: Mapping the Darkness, The Visionary Scientists who Unlocked the Mysteries of Sleep (Part One)

In this first of two episodes with Kenneth Miller, Gabriella asks about the choices he made while writing Mapping the Darkness, The Visionary Scientists who Unlocked the Mysteries of Sleep, the compelling biography of the quartet of researchers who revolutionised our understanding of why we sleep and how we can sleep better.
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Why Kenneth suddenly became interested in the field of sleep science.
Why Kenneth opened Mapping the Darkness with the story of a man whose life unraveled because of a sleep disorder.
The cast of characters who created the field of sleep science at a time when no-one was interested in the topic and funding for sleep research was non-existent. 
The historical, social and political context in which the sleep scientists conducted their research. 
The unexpected opportunities that enabled the scientists to gain research funding and recognition for their discoveries.
Kenneth’s approach to balancing the scientists’ professional and private lives to create a kaleidoscopic rather than one-dimensional portrait dominated by their obsession with unravelling the puzzle of sleep.
The four scientists’ breathtaking discoveries that ultimately shaped the way we understand sleep and its role in our lives.
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Matthew Lamb: Frank Moorhouse. Strange Paths

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Matthew Lamb chats with Gabriella about the choices he made while writing Strange Paths, the biography of Frank Moorhouse, a celebrated Australian novelist, screenwriter and journalist. 
Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode: 
Why Matthew chose to write Frank Moorhouse’s biography in two volumes.
Why Matthew refers to Strange Paths as a cultural biography.
The meaning of the book’s title, Strange Paths.
How Matthew distinguished between the legends, myths and facts of Moorhouse’s life. 
How Matthew navigated the complexities of writing about someone he knew and who was alive during most of the project.
Matthew’s research strategy and how he narrowed the biographical scope given the tidal wave of primary research material he accessed.
How Matthew portrayed the historical, political and social context of the times and how he believes they influenced Moorhouse and his writing. 
The ethical choices Matthew faced about revealing secrets.
How Matthew navigated the complexities of portraying sensitive information.
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Bernadette Brennan: A Writing Life. Helen Garner and her Work

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Gabriella chats with Bernadette Brennan about her choices while crafting A Writing Life. Helen Garner and her Work, a literary portrait of one of Australia’s most vital and revered authors.
 Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Why Bernadette Brennan felt compelled to write A Writing Life. 
Why Bernadette chose to craft A Writing Life as a literary portrait of Helen Garner rather than as a conventional biography.
Why Bernadette opened A Writing Life with a scene in which an agitated Garner is a panelist at a writers’ conference.
How Bernadette disentangled Garner’s human story from her writing given that Garner’s life and writing inform and shape each other. 
Why Bernadette views A Writing Life as genre-bending.
Why Bernadette structured the portrait around literary analysis of each of Garner’s books, and why she thinks of the chapters in A Writing Life as rooms in ‘Garner’s house of writing’. 
Why Bernadette ended A Writing Life with an email from Garner about her Bible reading group and her remark: ‘Our immersion in a (mighty) text brings everyone to his (or her) best self’. 
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Peter FitzSimons: The Opera House

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Peter FitzSimons chats with Gabriella about the choices he made while writing The Opera House, the gripping biography of Sydney Opera House, one of the world’s most iconic buildings. 
 Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:
Peter FitzSimons’s inspiration for writing the biography of Sydney Opera House.
Why Peter opened The Opera House with the Indigenous history of Bennelong Point, the site on which Sydney Opera House now stands. 
How Peter researched the book and captured vivid sensory details that enabled him to reconstruct historically accurate scenes that make you feel in the scene.  
How Peter grasped complex architectural and engineering concepts, then translated this complicated technical detail into a suspenseful narrative.
Why The Opera House includes so much dialogue and so many excerpts from parliamentary debates, minutes of meetings, correspondence and media coverage.
Why Peter wrote The Opera House in present rather than past tense. 
Why Peter made ironic comments throughout The Opera House.
The novelistic devices Peter employed to create a propulsive narrative that keeps you as the reader turning the pages.   
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Biographers in Conversation Sneak Peek

Welcome to Biographers in Conversation, a podcast about the many choices biographers make while researching, writing, and publishing life stories.
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Stay tuned for the launch of Biographers in Conversation on the 3 April 2024.
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