When ABC journalist and former royal correspondent, Rebecca Armitage, started writing her first novel for fun, after work, she had no expectations whatsoever. But once the manuscript was finished, she entered the Australian Society of Authors' Virtual Speed Dating event, landed a major publishing deal for The Heir Apparent, and then experienced the surreal joy of being chosen for Reese Witherspoon's Book Club.

Now lined up for a sumptuous TV series, Bec's debut is a glitzy, high concept romance set in London and Tasmania that follows Lexi, a British princess in pursuit of an ordinary life. When a multiple tragedy strikes in Europe, Lexi is recalled from her medical studies in Nipaluna/Hobart to the palace, where she's repositioned in a system of wealth and privilege that prohibits her personal freedom.

Topical, incisive, and politically astute, the novel is a whipsmart retort to anyone who's ever dismissed gripping commercial women's fiction as superficial fluff. Glamourous and compelling, it also interrogates issues of unearned power and colonialism, wealth, class and entitlement in a story that raises important questions about the currency of archaic cultural institutions and asks what happens to self-agency in the public eye.

In this episode, Liz and Bec discuss the novels' themes, the peculiar nature of the relationship between Britain's real-life royals and the media, the benefits and challenges of basing fictional characters on actual people, and what it's like to have your wildest author dreams be superseded by experience.

With Bec's fabulous success in mind, Kate and Liz take on the indecipherable mystery that is the publishing industry for this episode's Topical Chat. Most commonly described as 'opaque', publishing is a business that baffles the very people it relies on - authors. I've yet to meet a writer who understands the machinations of the publishing world. Tune in to see how far we get... !

And for this show's Cities of Literature Book Picks, Sophie of Fullers Bookshop chooses Kate's stunning, award-winning second novel, Heartsease, and Old God's Time by Dublin author, Sebastian Barry.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it comes to books, book festivals, and literary affairs in general, much of the focus is on writers, so this episode hands the baton firmly back to readers, with Em, Kat and Megan of The Woman Booker Prize Club.

We look at the connections between reading and friendship, refute gender-biased genres (chick lit anyone?!), consider the challenge of reading the 'real' Booker Prize long-list, and discuss our life-changing stories. We also look at the disturbingly low reading statistics for boys and men, brainstorm a few ideas for how to improve this, and explore the possibilities for more lit socials here in Nipaluna/Hobart, including literary speed-dating and throwing a book doof.... Yes, really.

Running with the Booker theme, Liz and Kate weigh up the benefits of writing competitions for our Topical Chat, and Adele of Fuller's Bookshop recommends local author Mary-Lou Stephens' The Hobart Hotel, and After the Siren by Melbourne's Darcy Green for this episode's Cities of Lit Book Picks.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Treasured for its huge and ancient wild spaces, the island state of Lutruwita/Tasmania is nevertheless part of a threatened planet, and with climate change intensifying at a terrifying rate, humans are desperately seeking solutions to preserve the environment. But what happens when our caretaking becomes a form of control? And how do we know when we've started playing God?

In her prize-winning novel, Every Wild Soul, author Katherine Johnson explores these complex questions by regarding our relationship with nature through the lens of science. Contrasting rewilding projects with attempts to bring back the thylacine, Johnson interrogates the risks of overprotection through the story of Min, an isolated young woman who lives on Maria Island with her watchful father. When a stranger appears in their midst, the safety of Min's beautiful, but nevertheless restricted world begins to break apart, and her father finds his authority challenged in this beautiful and evocative narrative that Shakespeare fans might find a little familiar.

Returning to the theme of AI, first examined on Remotely Lit by Charlotte Wood in Episode 2, Kate Kruimink and I express our horror for the rapid and unscrupulous encroachment of this unknown technology in our Topical Chat, and this episode's Cities of Lit Book Picks come from Madeleine at Fullers Bookshop, who pairs her local choice, Born Into This by Adam Thompson, with Endling by Maria Reva from Vancouver in Canada.(Liz has used Adam's book in her university teaching, and was so blown away by this second book recommendation that she bought a copy immediately... )

As always, find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When was the last time you travelled to a place where you didn't know the language? Did you bother to learn any phrases, or make any attempt at stepping outside of your English-speaking comfort zone? Are you someone who thinks everyone should have a mastery of basic English, no matter where they are in the world? If so, this episode is for you, as we delve into the power of language, storytelling, and diverse reading cultures.

Aimen Jafri is a training and engagement officer at Nipaluna/Hobart's Migrant Resource Centre who understands the profound relationship between language and personal safety. In this show, she explores the fundamental role played by story in forming cultural identity, and maintaining a stable sense of self, and explains the transformational potential that stories hold for all of us, everywhere. She also tells Liz why having access to translations is key to helping people feel settled, and why the way to a rich and healthy future is through collaboration.

For our Cities of Lit Book Picks, Alex Okenyo (our featured guest in an upcoming episode), of the gorgeous Black Swan Bookshop in Wulawali/New Norfolk, chooses Richard Flanagan's The Sound of One Hand Clapping and Apeirogon by Dublin-born author Colum McCann.

And for this week's Topical Chat, Liz and Kate give their author's perspectives on Nipaluna/Hobart's prestigious UNESCO City of Literature designation, the main subject of Episode One, which featured an interview with the fabulous City of Literature convener, Sue Hayes.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why on earth would anyone spend almost ten years writing and constructing a complicated verse novel using the tricky, painstaking framework of bricolage? And what exactly did this mean for the author, her book designer and her brave publisher? In this episode, author and community storyteller, Johanna Bell tells Liz why her award-winning novel, Department of the Vanishing, could only have been written using this intricate, highly visual approach. She also discusses her next book, which interrogates the reliability of memory, and explains why she's prepared to commute from Nipaluna/Hobart to Warrane/Sydney for her prestigious Copyright Agency Residency

For this episode’s Cities of Lit Book Picks, Meahd Farnaby of TasWriters chooses A Soul's Breath by Nipaluna/Hobart-based spoken word artist Moran Wiesel, and Boulder by Eva Baltasar who is from Barcelona. Shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize the novel was translated from Spanish by Julia Sanches. 

And in our Topical Chat, Liz and Kate interrogate the real cost of writing residencies, asking who do they actually benefit, and what are they really for?

As always, find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While mainland Australia enjoys around 150 writer's festivals each year, in Tasmania, we're lucky if we have one, so when the first Island Reader's and Writer's Festival was announced in early 2026, with its sparkling line-up of bestselling authors, beloved local writers, university academics, Palawa writers, graphic novelists and poets, you can imagine the buzz around Nipaluna/Hobart. In this episode, all-round literary Renaissance woman and editor of Island magazine, Jane Rawson, tells Liz how she devised and curated this diverse and original festival with a delicate balancing act of small city diplomacy.

Our Cities of Lit Book Picks is from Kat of Fullers Bookshop, who recommends local writer Keely Jobe's incredible debut, The Endling, and the award-winning Piranesi by Susannah Clarke, from Nottingham in the UK.

And for this week's Topical Chat, Liz and Kate Kruimink return to the question of festivals, asking what makes a good one?

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Exploring the unique literary scene on a tiny island at the edge of the world...

In this episode, one of Australia's best-loved and most critically acclaimed authors, Charlotte Wood, considers the benefits of living and working in a marginalised place, ponders the pedagogy of Creative Writing within academia, and explains why she won't use AI for anything, including rudimentary tasks.

Our Cities of Lit Book Picks is from Clinton of Hobart's beloved natural wine and book shop, Five Leaves Left, who recommends Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and Independent People by Halldór Laxness from Reykjavik in Iceland.

And for this week's Topical Chat, Liz and Kate Kruimink mull over the thorny question of what it means to be writing in and about Lutruwita/Tasmania.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Exploring the unique literary scene on a tiny island at the edge of the world...

In 2023, Nipaluna/Hobart became a UNESCO City of Literature, making it the second city in Australia after Melbourne to achieve this status. But what does it actually mean? And who does it benefit? Is it all just another marketing gimmick? Or does the award hold meaningful potential for genuine cultural exchange and creative opportunity?

For our first ever episode, creative practitioner and City of Lit convenor, Sue Hayes, unpacks the cultural significance and international possibilities of the title, while telling Liz all about her new play, Wallpaper Bandit, inspired by the life and times of iconic Australian designer, Florence Broadhurst.

Kicking off our Cities of Lit Book Picks is Liv from Fullers Bookshop, who recommends Department of the Vanishing by nipaluna/Hobart author, Johanna Bell, and No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy by Mark Hodkinson from Manchester, in the UK.

And for our first Topical Chat, Liz and Kate Kruimink consider the joys of libraries, list some of southern Lutruwita/Tasmania’s best independent bookshops, and swap notes about seeing their novels for sale in Big W.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Find the complete show notes at the Remotely Lit website.

Written and presented by Liz Evans. Produced by Tiffany Dimmack.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.