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In this special episode, our usual presenter, Courtney Collins, is interviewed by our Producer Lisa Madden.

Courtney talks about her novel writing process and her PhD 'Working against whiteness in creative literary production'. She shares insights from living in the remote Northern Territory in Ngukurr, working amongst the indigenous community, and how what she learnt in that time has influenced her work and her life.

Many thanks to Hattie Dalton for allowing us to use her outrageous but immediately understandable quote in this episode.

This is the final episode in Series 2 of 'Are You Still Working?!', do let us know if there's anyone you'd like us to interview for Series 3, and follow us on Instagram @areyoustillworkingpodcast.

Support the show

Are You Still Working?! is an independently produced, ad-free podcast presented by Courtney Collins and produced by Lisa Madden.

To keep connected, follow 'Are you still working?!' on Instagram.

Music: We are grateful for permission to use the track 'My Operator', by Time for Dreams.

Love and thanks to:

Shirley May Diffley
Jude Emmett
Amanda Roff
Stefan Wernik

AND our brilliant guests.

Send us a text

In this episode of Are You Still Working?! writers Mirandi Riwoe and Laura Elvery chat to Courtney Collins about becoming published authors and what they've learnt along the way.

Recorded in front of a live audience at Avid Reader, an independent bookstore in West End, Brisbane, this episode is packed with tips and tricks for emerging writers - from getting noticed by publishers by entering competitions, to establishing your own writers group and setting up your own writers residencies.

Support the show

Are You Still Working?! is an independently produced, ad-free podcast presented by Courtney Collins and produced by Lisa Madden.

To keep connected, follow 'Are you still working?!' on Instagram.

Music: We are grateful for permission to use the track 'My Operator', by Time for Dreams.

Love and thanks to:

Shirley May Diffley
Jude Emmett
Amanda Roff
Stefan Wernik

AND our brilliant guests.

Send us a text

Clare Murphy is a Storyteller by trade. In this episode she talks about the long history of storytelling in Ireland, her birth country, and how storytelling culture differs around the world but is ultimately essential to humanity.

Clare lives in Bristol, England now, but she has worked with organisations across the globe as diverse as NASA, the NHS and the New Zealand All Blacks. She realised early on in her career that Storytelling was going to be an isolating and lonely road if she didn't cultivate connection with like-minded people. She talks about how she is inspired and kept company by artists, poets and dancers both living and dead.

Support the show

Are You Still Working?! is an independently produced, ad-free podcast presented by Courtney Collins and produced by Lisa Madden.

To keep connected, follow 'Are you still working?!' on Instagram.

Music: We are grateful for permission to use the track 'My Operator', by Time for Dreams.

Love and thanks to:

Shirley May Diffley
Jude Emmett
Amanda Roff
Stefan Wernik

AND our brilliant guests.

Send us a text

Jasmin Tarasin has been a filmmaker her entire career. She's never had any other job. She's worked all over the world directing documentaries, short films, commercials and video art installations. Most recently she’s been creating a series of artists retreats called Muse Maker, to feed creative souls and she has just directed her first feature film LIFE CAN BE A DREAM.

So what does it take for a person, a woman, a mother to multiple children (and a dog), to commit to a working life that offers no security, little possibility for planning and often outrageously long hours?

In this episode of Are You Still Working?! Jasmin talks through the core elements that help her keep momentum, clarity and playfulness in an industry that relentlessly demands so much time, energy and creativity.

Support the show

Are You Still Working?! is an independently produced, ad-free podcast presented by Courtney Collins and produced by Lisa Madden.

To keep connected, follow 'Are you still working?!' on Instagram.

Music: We are grateful for permission to use the track 'My Operator', by Time for Dreams.

Love and thanks to:

Shirley May Diffley
Jude Emmett
Amanda Roff
Stefan Wernik

AND our brilliant guests.

Send us a text

Ruth Maddison's visual work spans 5 decades. Her first photography exhibition was in Melbourne in 1979 and the collection was purchased complete by the National Gallery of Victoria.

Self-taught, Ruth was introduced to the camera and photo processing at the age of 30 by her house-mate Ponch Hawkes. She photographed people that she knew, processing the film and she quickly began getting paid work. Subsequent commissions and exhibitions replicated her success.

Ruth moved to Eden on the south coast of NSW in the mid-90s and the location has influenced her work profoundly. Living in a small town, she photographed the lives of the community including teenagers, fisherman and the local chipping/sawmill industries, as well as documenting the landscape with polaroids, lumen prints and camera-less photography.

Fascinated by the lives of ordinary people, Ruth's work has moved beyond photography and now includes other image making. Her recent show at SECCA in Bega exhibited covid-related embroidered doilies, stained by unknown families and her grandmother's tablecloth.

Ruth is still working.

{Last seconds: Sound of a wave crashing onto Aslings Beach in Eden}

Support the show

Are You Still Working?! is an independently produced, ad-free podcast presented by Courtney Collins and produced by Lisa Madden.

To keep connected, follow 'Are you still working?!' on Instagram.

Music: We are grateful for permission to use the track 'My Operator', by Time for Dreams.

Love and thanks to:

Shirley May Diffley
Jude Emmett
Amanda Roff
Stefan Wernik

AND our brilliant guests.

Send us a text

Originally a science writer by profession, Toni Jordan talks through the catalyst and the process that put her on track to being the acclaimed novelist she is today.

She describes herself as someone who thought she 'didn't have a creative bone in her body', but now the discipline and process of working on intensive scientific dossiers for 12 months or more has transferred to her creative process as a full time writer.

Support the show

Are You Still Working?! is an independently produced, ad-free podcast presented by Courtney Collins and produced by Lisa Madden.

To keep connected, follow 'Are you still working?!' on Instagram.

Music: We are grateful for permission to use the track 'My Operator', by Time for Dreams.

Love and thanks to:

Shirley May Diffley
Jude Emmett
Amanda Roff
Stefan Wernik

AND our brilliant guests.

Send us a text

Judith Nangala Crispin discusses in bold and simple terms what it takes for her to call herself an artist - the joys and the sacrifices.

Beginning her creative journey as a musician, Judith worked as an opera singer and a composer before arriving at poetry and visual art. One of her current projects is using dead animals (roadkill), and transforming them into ethereal works of art.

Judith talks about her commitment to and inspiration from the land - the country she lives and works on, and about searching for her indigenous heritage, tracking down as much as she could about her Great, Great Grandmother Charlotte.

Essential listening for anyone who wants to truly commit to living an artistic life.

More information about Judith's work and pictures of her beautiful artwork can be found on her website: https://judithcrispin.com/

Support the show

Are You Still Working?! is an independently produced, ad-free podcast presented by Courtney Collins and produced by Lisa Madden.

To keep connected, follow 'Are you still working?!' on Instagram.

Music: We are grateful for permission to use the track 'My Operator', by Time for Dreams.

Love and thanks to:

Shirley May Diffley
Jude Emmett
Amanda Roff
Stefan Wernik

AND our brilliant guests.

Send us a text

Sarah Lambert is a writer, director, producer and showrunner, creating television series' such as The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, The Messenger, Lambs of God and many more.

In this episode Sarah talks about how as a child, she always preferred the imagined world to reality, how she'll never feel able to rest on her laurels (no matter how successful she is or how many projects she has on the go), why she wasn't satisfied being 'just' a writer, and why she loves them but doesn't think she should be the one to make documentaries.

Support the show

Are You Still Working?! is an independently produced, ad-free podcast presented by Courtney Collins and produced by Lisa Madden.

To keep connected, follow 'Are you still working?!' on Instagram.

Music: We are grateful for permission to use the track 'My Operator', by Time for Dreams.

Love and thanks to:

Shirley May Diffley
Jude Emmett
Amanda Roff
Stefan Wernik

AND our brilliant guests.