Writers' stories

Step into any bookshop today and you'll find too many compendiums of feminist heroines designed for both children and adults. The books might be recently published, but the formula is well-established: colourful illustrations opposite short descriptions of the lives and works of pioneering women such as Jane Austen, Frida Kahlo and Hillary Clinton.  Read more

Growing up in Minnesota, Helen Hoang suffered from crippling social anxiety and struggled to make friends. She found refuge in romance novels, frothy stories that allowed her to experience intense feelings that were clearly spelled out on the page, always with the promise of a happy ending. "It was like I found a pure, undiluted drug," she said.  Read more

Melbourne author Christian White's life changed almost overnight when an early draft of his riveting debut thriller, The Nowhere Child, scooped the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript last year.

The 37-year-old occasional screenwriter was overwhelmed when a bidding war broke out over the book, crediting his agents, RGM, with keeping him right.  Read more

After just a few months as a published author, I've learned some things. The learning curve, at times, was fast paced and exhilarating, much like a waterslide on a hot, steamy day. At others times, well, it hasn't been so pleasant.  Read more

Novelist Philip Roth "discovered" his own books as he wrote them. "I don't know anything in the beginning, which makes it great fun to write ..." he told Fresh Air in 2006. "You begin every book as an amateur. ... Gradually, by writing sentence after sentence, the book, as it were, reveals itself to you. ... Each and every sentence is a revelation."