This Writing Life
ABOUT THE SHOW
Susan Orlean, Richard Flanagan, Andrew Pippos & Charlotte Wood in conversation with Carody Culver
What does it mean to capture a life in words – and how do the stories we tell about ourselves shape the way we see the world? Susan Orlean’s exuberant memoir of finding her creative calling, Richard Flanagan’s exceptional blend of history and autofiction, Andrew Pippos’ intimate novel of endings and beginnings, and Charlotte Wood’s indispensable compilation of conversations with other authors all reveal, in striking and compelling ways, how we narrate and understand the writer’s work.
PART OF BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Susan Orlean is the bestselling author of eight books including Joyride, The Library Book, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Oscar-winning film Adaptation. She has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1992. She lives in Los Angeles.
Richard Flanagan has been described by the Washington Post as ‘one of our greatest living novelists’ and as ‘among the most versatile writers in the English language’ by the New York Review of Books. He won the Commonwealth Prize for Gould’s Book of Fish and the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Question 7 was shortlisted for the Prix Femina étranger and the Prix du meilleur livre étranger as a novel, and won the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. He is the first and only author to have ever won both the Booker and the Baillie Gifford prizes.
Andrew Pippos is a Sydney author. His debut novel, Lucky’s, won The Readings Prize for Australian Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award.
Charlotte Wood is the author of seven novels and three books of non-fiction. Her latest novel Stone Yard Devotional was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and named a top-10 book of 2025 by both the New York Times and The Washington Post.
Carody Culver is the editor of Griffith Review. She’s also a writer and a literary interviewer. Her work has appeared in Australian Book Review, Meanjin, Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, Books+Publishing and more, and she’s been a contributing editor for Peppermint magazine. Her chapbook, The Morgue I Think the Deader It Gets, was published by Cordite in 2022.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Susan Orlean is the bestselling author of eight books including Joyride, The Library Book, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Oscar-winning film Adaptation. She has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1992. She lives in Los Angeles.
Richard Flanagan has been described by the Washington Post as ‘one of our greatest living novelists’ and as ‘among the most versatile writers in the English language’ by the New York Review of Books. He won the Commonwealth Prize for Gould’s Book of Fish and the Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Question 7 was shortlisted for the Prix Femina étranger and the Prix du meilleur livre étranger as a novel, and won the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. He is the first and only author to have ever won both the Booker and the Baillie Gifford prizes.
Andrew Pippos is a Sydney author. His debut novel, Lucky’s, won The Readings Prize for Australian Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award.
Charlotte Wood is the author of seven novels and three books of non-fiction. Her latest novel Stone Yard Devotional was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and named a top-10 book of 2025 by both the New York Times and The Washington Post.
Carody Culver is the editor of Griffith Review. She’s also a writer and a literary interviewer. Her work has appeared in Australian Book Review, Meanjin, Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, Books+Publishing and more, and she’s been a contributing editor for Peppermint magazine. Her chapbook, The Morgue I Think the Deader It Gets, was published by Cordite in 2022.
