An interview with Campbell McConachie and Karen Lateo of the KCR Book Space team

Is the past a tense subject for you? That is how the KCR Book Space team of Kiama Community Radio pitched my chat with them about connecting the past with the present.

Tune in above to listen to our wide‑ranging conversation about my plunge into the intricate terrain of memory and history, explored in my memoir I Belong to No One and my new novel Louisa. I talk about how weaving archival research with my love of storytelling led me to the 19th‑century life of my great‑grandmother — and how the choices she made echoed through my own, as revealed in my memoir.

Special Note: I’m still learning how to embed audio in a WordPress blog. If the Spotify link does not play for you, please let me know and I will try with SoundCloud.

A correction:
Our chat wandered into the domain of writing and publishing, and in the course of formulating my thoughts I made an “oopsy”. Around the 21-minute mark I say that Writing NSW is located at the old Rydalmere psych hospital. While my mother was certainly an inpatient there, as well as many others of the day, what I meant to say was Callan Park, Lilyfield (specifically Garry Owen House). I suspect my mind was cycling through Broughton Hall, Gladesville Mental Asylum, etc, etc, and decided to head on a journey west, taking my tongue with it 🙂