The Writer's Kitchen

The novelist, Andrea Goldsmith, met Dorothy Porter in 1992 on the Victorian Women's Writers’ Train. They were together until Dorothy’s death in December, 2008. Both writers were short-listed for the 2003 Miles Franklin award, Andrea for her fourth novel, The Prosperous Thief, and Dorothy for her verse novel, Wild Surmise. Andrea’s 6th novel, The Memory Trap, won the Melbourne Prize for Best writing in 2015. Her most recent book is Invented Lives, a novel of exile and love set in Soviet Russia and 1980s Melbourne. Andrea also writes essays. These have been published widely both in Australia and overseas. Some of these essays plus many shorter articles can be found on her website at www.andreagoldsmith.com.au

Ramona Koval is a writer who has worked as a journalist and broadcaster. Her most recent books are A Letter to Layla: Travels to our Deep Past and Near Future, Bloodhound: Searching For My Father, and By the Book: A Reader’s Guide to Life (all published by Text). She was the editor of two volumes of Best Australian Essays (Black Inc.). Her notable literary interviews are collected in Speaking Volumes: Conversations with Remarkable Writers (Scribe). From 2006 to 2011 she presented Radio National’s Book Show, and before that a series of ABC Radio programs since the 1980s, including the iconic Books and Writing. She has written for the Age, the Australian, The Saturday Paper, and many international literary publications and made radio documentaries for ABC and BBC World Service. She is currently an Honorary Fellow at Deakin University.

Toni Jordan is the author of six novels including the international best-seller Addition, Nine Days, which was awarded Best Fiction at the 2012 Indie Awards, and Our Tiny, Useless Hearts (2016), which was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and for the Voss Literary Award. Toni holds a bachelor of science and a PhD in creative arts. Her most recent novel is Dinner with the Schnabels (2022).