Search a title or topic

Over 20 million podcasts, powered by 

Player FM logo
Artwork

Content provided by James Watson, James McKenzie Watson, and Ashley Kalagian Blunt. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by James Watson, James McKenzie Watson, and Ashley Kalagian Blunt or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
Player FM - Podcast App
Go offline with the Player FM app!

117 | Writing towards your greatest fear with Melanie Cheng, author of 'The Burrow'

44:25
 
Share
 

Manage episode 488175773 series 2860383
Content provided by James Watson, James McKenzie Watson, and Ashley Kalagian Blunt. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by James Watson, James McKenzie Watson, and Ashley Kalagian Blunt or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Award-winning author Melanie Cheng joins James and Ashley to discuss her writing practice, her pet rabbit, and The Burrow, her 'most personal book' and its many parallels to her own life.

She also shares her experience of writing toward her greatest fear, coming to terms with her cyclical writing process, and how teaching narrative to medical students can help increase communication between doctors and patients.

Melanie Cheng is a writer and general practitioner. She was born in Adelaide, grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in Melbourne. Her debut collection of short stories, Australia Day, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2016 and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction in 2018. Room for a Stranger, her highly acclaimed first novel, was published in 2019. The Burrow was published in 2024, and has since been shortlisted for numerous major Australian prizes, including the Stella Prize, the Age Book of the Year and the Miles Franklin Award.

Read the Kill Your Darlings interview with Melanie discussed in this episode here.

Books & authors discussed in this episode:

  • The Burrow by Franz Kafka
  • Tender Is the Flesh by Augustina Batzerrica
  • Helen Garner
  • Maxine Beneba Clarke
  • Tony Birch
  • Alice Pung
  • Hilton Koppe (from ep 70)
  • The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
  • Sanchana Venkatesh (from ep 75) and #MyYearWithAnneTyler
  • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Oliver Ready
  • Bat Eater (and other names for Cora Zheng) by Kylie Lee Baker, recommended by @EmilyEatsPages
  • Laura McClusky
  • Riley James
  • Jacinta Dietrich

Upcoming events:

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. Plus check out Like, Follow, Die from Audible.

Learn more about James's award-winning novel Denizen and get your copy from your local bookshop or your library.

Get in touch!

  continue reading

118 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 488175773 series 2860383
Content provided by James Watson, James McKenzie Watson, and Ashley Kalagian Blunt. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by James Watson, James McKenzie Watson, and Ashley Kalagian Blunt or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Award-winning author Melanie Cheng joins James and Ashley to discuss her writing practice, her pet rabbit, and The Burrow, her 'most personal book' and its many parallels to her own life.

She also shares her experience of writing toward her greatest fear, coming to terms with her cyclical writing process, and how teaching narrative to medical students can help increase communication between doctors and patients.

Melanie Cheng is a writer and general practitioner. She was born in Adelaide, grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in Melbourne. Her debut collection of short stories, Australia Day, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2016 and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction in 2018. Room for a Stranger, her highly acclaimed first novel, was published in 2019. The Burrow was published in 2024, and has since been shortlisted for numerous major Australian prizes, including the Stella Prize, the Age Book of the Year and the Miles Franklin Award.

Read the Kill Your Darlings interview with Melanie discussed in this episode here.

Books & authors discussed in this episode:

  • The Burrow by Franz Kafka
  • Tender Is the Flesh by Augustina Batzerrica
  • Helen Garner
  • Maxine Beneba Clarke
  • Tony Birch
  • Alice Pung
  • Hilton Koppe (from ep 70)
  • The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
  • Sanchana Venkatesh (from ep 75) and #MyYearWithAnneTyler
  • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Oliver Ready
  • Bat Eater (and other names for Cora Zheng) by Kylie Lee Baker, recommended by @EmilyEatsPages
  • Laura McClusky
  • Riley James
  • Jacinta Dietrich

Upcoming events:

Learn more about Ashley's thrillers, Dark Mode and Cold Truth, and get your copies from your local bookshop or your library. Plus check out Like, Follow, Die from Audible.

Learn more about James's award-winning novel Denizen and get your copy from your local bookshop or your library.

Get in touch!

  continue reading

118 episodes

All episodes

×
 
Loading …

Welcome to Player FM!

Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.

 

Copyright 2025 | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | | Copyright
Listen to this show while you explore
Play