Steven Amsterdam, Kirsten Tranter, Deborah Forster, Angela Meyer (facilitator)
The second novel is notoriously difficult but it has not stopped Kirsten Tranter (A Common Loss), Deborah Forster (The Meaning of Grace) or Steven Amsterdam (What the Family Needed). Just to add to the pressure, each of them was listed for major Australian literary prizes for their first books. They tell Angela Meyer how they managed, and what was different the second time around.
Steven Amsterdam (Australian)
Steven Amsterdam is a palliative care nurse and a writer. His first book, Things We Didn't See Coming, won The Age Book of the Year and was longlisted for The Guardian First Book Award. What the Family Needed is his second novel. stevenamsterdam.com
Kirsten Tranter is the author of two critically acclaimed novels: The Legacy, longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal, and A Common Loss. Kirsten grew up in Sydney, lived in New York for eight years and holds a PhD in English Renaissance literature from Rutgers University. She lives in Sydney with her husband and son. kirstentranter.com
Deborah Foster grew up in Footscray. She worked as a staff and freelance journalist for many years and was a This Life columnist on The Age and The Sunday Age. Deborah Foster is married to Alan Kohler and they have three children. The Book of Emmett, her first novel, was shorltisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Prime Minister's Award for Literature.
Angela Meyer's short stories, articles and reviews have been published widely, including in Wet Ink, The Lifted Brow, Crikey, Southerly, The Big Issue, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian. She is a former acting editor of Bookseller+Publisher and runs a popular blog, LiteraryMinded, featuring book reviews and author interviews. She is based in Melbourne and is working on a novel as part of a doctorate of creative arts through the Writing and Society Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney. http://literaryminded.com.au
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