Science Write Now
38 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago -The Science Write Now (SWN) Podcast is a 3x/monthly podcast for people who love science and the arts. If you’re interested in learning more about great books, plays, and films; writing, research or editing; the lives of scientists; and creative insights into contemporary science; then you’ve come to the right place! The SWN Podcast is hosted by Amanda Niehaus and Jessica White and produced by Taylor Mitchell with funding from the Australia Council for the Arts.sciencewritenow.com
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Episodes
Cells, Ears, Impairments and Memoir, with with Amanda Tink, Lauren Poole and Heather Taylor Johnson
March 03, 2024 07:00 - 40 minutes - 27.9 MBIn this episode, Jessica White chats with Amanda Tink, Lauren Poole and Heather Taylor Johnson about the ways that impairments, and historical responses to impairments, shape our bodies and writing. About Amanda Tink: Amanda Tink is a blind and neurodivergent creative, personal and academic essayist. She researches the influence of impairment on writing, most recently in a PhD on the poet Les Murray, who was autistic. Her essays have been published in a range of venues including Sydney Revi...
Bursting with Science and Story
May 03, 2023 07:00 - 55 minutes - 38.3 MBIn this episode, Jess talks to Claire Bowen and Kevin Vinsen about Storyburst, a writing project that they established in 2020. They invited Australian writers of all ages to collaborate with researchers to write science-inspired monologues. The monologues can be performed in any of 15 languages including Auslan, and can include diverse performance styles such as puppetry, dance, and song. Claire Bowen Claire has been a storyteller since she was able to read and write. She has a Bachelor o...
All Things Comedy with Anne Libera (The Second City)
October 28, 2022 17:00 - 51 minutes - 35.7 MBIn this episode, Amanda chats with Professor Anne Libera—Director of Comedy Studies at the prestigious comedy club The Second City in Chicago—about how comedy works and why we need it. Anne Libera is an Associate Professor and Director of Comedy Studies at Columbia College Chicago and The Second City and served as Director of Pedagogy for The Second Science Project. She has presented on topics in improvisation and comedy at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Chicago Ideas Week, Chicago Humanities F...
The Absurdist Truths of Climate Change
August 31, 2022 11:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MBIn this episode, Amanda speaks with Australian playwrights Oliver Gough and Stephen Carleton about performing climate change on the stage—and the role of absurdity in communicating dire issues. Oliver Gough is an emerging playwright and MPhil Candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Queensland. He was a participant in Playlab’s 2021 ‘Incubator’ program, and his plays have been produced by UQ’s Underground Theatre Company and at Brisbane’s Anywhere Festival. His creative practice s...
The stories of seeds with Fiona McMillan-Webster
August 03, 2022 16:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBWhy do some seeds live for thousands of years, while others only a few? What made Nikolai Vavilov the Indiana Jones of the ‘seed world’? And how do you write a book about something in which you’re not already an expert? In this episode, Amanda talks to science writer Fiona McMillan-Webster about her first book The Age of Seeds: How Plants Hacked Time and Why Our Future Depends on It. Fiona McMillan-Webster is a science writer with degrees in physics and biophysics. She's written for Nati...
Keeping Secrets and Finding Science with Danielle Clode
June 14, 2022 05:00 - 29 minutes - 20.6 MBIn this episode, Jess talks to Danielle Clode about how, from the 18th to the 20th centuries, women have employed great ingenuity to discover new knowledge. Danielle Clode is an award-winning author of Australian non-fiction books. Her writing includes natural history, essays, science writing, historical fiction and best-selling children’s books as well as documentaries. In this episode, we focus on two of Danielle’s books – In Search of the Woman Who Sailed the World, and The Wasp and The ...
Writing Beyond the Human with Chris Flynn
May 21, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 52.4 MBIn this episode, Amanda speaks with Chris Flynn about writing beyond the human, stories led by imagination, and thinking through place beyond setting. Chris Flynn is the author of Mammoth, The Glass Kingdom and A Tiger in Eden. He is Editor-in-Residence at Museums Victoria, and is the creator of Horridus: Journey of a Triceratops, and Horridus and the Hidden Valley. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Australian, Griffith Review, Meanjin, Australian Book Review, The Satur...
Writing Beyond the Human with Chris Flynn
May 21, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 52.4 MBIn this episode, Amanda speaks with Chris Flynn about writing beyond the human, stories led by imagination, and thinking through place beyond setting. Chris Flynn is the author of Mammoth, The Glass Kingdom and A Tiger in Eden. He is Editor-in-Residence at Museums Victoria, and is the creator of Horridus: Journey of a Triceratops, and Horridus and the Hidden Valley. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Australian, Griffith Review, Meanjin, Australian Book Review, The Satur...
Lost Lives Found in Fiction and Ecobiography with Melissa Ashley and Jessica White
May 11, 2022 06:00 - 51 minutes - 35.3 MBIn this episode, Amanda talks with novelist Melissa Ashley and our own Jessica White about writing the lives of 19th-century female natural historians in fiction and ecobiography—and the importance of bringing untold stories to the light. Jessica White is the award-winning author of two novels, A Curious Intimacy and Entitlement, and a hybrid memoir about deafness, Hearing Maud. Her short stories and essays have appeared widely in Australian and international literary journals and have been...
The Nature of Trees and Rivers with Ashley Hay and Simon Cleary
April 29, 2022 00:00 - 39 minutes - 27.1 MBIn this episode, Jessica White speaks Ashley Hay and Simon Cleary about thinking—and writing—through rivers and trees, and how they connect people, places, histories, ecologies, landscapes and myths. Ashley Hay is the author of three novels and four books of narrative non-fiction. Her most recent novel, A Hundred Small Lessons, was published in 2017. Her second novel, The Railwayman’s Wife, was published in 2013. It won the 2013 Colin Roderick Prize and the People’s Choice Award at the 2014...
Science in Virtual Realities with Michael Angilletta
March 29, 2022 05:00 - 56 minutes - 38.8 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with biologist Michael Angilletta about his collaborative work building virtual reality science labs with Hollywood-born Dreamscape Immersive, student engagement through story, and the power of immersion— as well as Amanda’s aphantasia and Mike’s hard-learned rules of surviving the Zoom era. Michael Angilletta is President's Professor and Director of the Center for Science Learning Innovation at Arizona State University. Mike established an internationa...
Immersive Storytelling with Michael Angilletta
March 29, 2022 05:00 - 56 minutes - 38.8 MBMichael Angilletta is President's Professor and Director of the Center for Science Learning Innovation at Arizona State University. Mike established an international reputation first as an evolutionary biologist studying adaptation to climate change, which resulted in an award winning book called Thermal Adaptation. Now, Mike works at expanding the use of digital learning technologies, such as adaptive courseware and virtual reality. And his team has launched the first online program to conf...
Time, memory and the stories of our lives with Sven Birkerts
March 22, 2022 05:00 - 47 minutes - 33 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with writer & AGNI co-editor Sven Birkerts about time, memory, and the patterns that shape our writing. Sven Birkerts is the author of eleven books of essays and memoirs, most recently 'Speak, Memory', a personal reading of Nabokov's memoir. He is the former director of the Bennington Writing Seminars, and he co-edits the journal AGNI at Boston University. Purchase Sven’s smart and personal analysis of Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak Memory here. The Scienc...
Time, memory and storytelling with Sven Birkerts
March 22, 2022 05:00 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBSven Birkerts is the author of eleven books of essays and memoirs, most recently 'Speak, Memory', a personal reading of Nabokov's memoir. He is the former director of the Bennington Writing Seminars, and he co-edits the journal Agni at Boston University. In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with Sven Birkerts about time, memory and patterns and how these might shape our writing. Purchase Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory: https://www.booktopia.com.au/vladimir-nabokov-s-speak-memory-bookma...
Writing, re-writing, and the scales of change with Matt Bell
March 07, 2022 05:00 - 42 minutes - 29.5 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with speculative fiction writer and Associate Professor of Fiction (Arizona State University) Matt Bell about his new craft book Refuse to be Done, the iterative craft of writing and rewriting, and conceptualising the vast timescales of climate change into his recent novel Appleseed. Matt Bell is the author most recently of the novels Appleseed (a New York Times Notable Book of 2021), Scrapper (a Michigan Notable Book), and In the House upon the Dirt Be...
Writing, re-writing, and the scales of change with Matt Bell
March 07, 2022 05:00 - 42 minutes - 29.5 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with speculative fiction writer and Associate Professor of Fiction (Arizona State University) Matt Bell about his new craft book Refuse to be Done, the iterative craft of writing and rewriting, and conceptualising the vast timescales of climate change into his recent novel Appleseed. Matt Bell is the author most recently of the novels Appleseed (a New York Times Notable Book of 2021), Scrapper (a Michigan Notable Book), and In the House upon the Dirt Be...
Novel writing, rewriting, and revision with Matt Bell
March 07, 2022 05:00 - 42 minutes - 29.5 MBMatt Bell is the author most recently of the novels Appleseed (a New York Times Notable Book of 2021), Scrapper (a Michigan Notable Book), and In the House upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods (a finalist for the Young Lions Fiction Award). His stories have appeared in Best American Mystery Stories, Esquire, Tin House, Conjunctions, Fairy Tale Review, Gulf Coast, and many other publications. A native of Michigan, he now teaches creative writing at Arizona State University. In this e...
Reimagining Darwin with David Morton (Dead Puppet Society)
February 23, 2022 05:00 - 38 minutes - 26.7 MBDavid Morton is a writer, director and designer, and the Creative Director of Dead Puppet Society. Over the last decade he has led DPS in the creation of large-scale visual theatre works developed with international teams. The Wider Earth (DPS, Queensland Theatre, Trish Wadley Productions, Glass Half Full Productions) was conceived in residence at St Ann’s Warehouse, and recently closed a six-month run in a custom built theatre in London’s Natural History Museum. Laser Beak Man (DPS, La Boit...
Re-imagining Darwin for the stage with David Morton
February 23, 2022 05:00 - 38 minutes - 26.7 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with David Morton, Creative Director of Dead Puppet Society, about taking young Darwin from the page — and the Galapagos — to the stage, in The Wider Earth. David Morton is a writer, director and designer, and the Creative Director of Dead Puppet Society. Over the last decade he has led DPS in the creation of large-scale visual theatre works developed with international teams. The Wider Earth (DPS, Queensland Theatre, Trish Wadley Productions, Glass Hal...
Writing with textures and moods with Kathleen Jennings
December 13, 2021 05:00 - 53 minutes - 36.4 MBKathleen Jennings is an illustrator and writer based in Brisbane, Australia. As an illustrator, she has won one World Fantasy Award (and been a finalist three other times), and has been shortlisted once for the Hugos, and once for the Locus Awards, as well as winning a number of Ditmars. As a writer, she has won a British Fantasy Award (the Sydney J Bounds Award) and two Ditmars and been shortlisted for World Fantasy Awards, the Courier-Mail People’s Choice Book of the Year Award, the Crawfo...
Texture and mood with Kathleen Jennings
December 13, 2021 05:00 - 53 minutes - 36.4 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with award-winning writer and illustrator Kathleen Jennings about stitching together her observations into stories and worlds, writing with texture and creating narratives using mood. Kathleen Jennings is an illustrator and writer based in Brisbane, Australia. As an illustrator, she has won one World Fantasy Award (and been a finalist three other times), and has been shortlisted once for the Hugos, and once for the Locus Awards, as well as winning a num...
Writing and painting nature with Inda Ahmad Zahri
December 02, 2021 05:00 - 46 minutes - 31.9 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with Inda Ahmad Zahri about writing stories embedded in nature and creating across forms. Inda Ahmad Zahri believes in a world of wonder. She lives in Brisbane where she illustrates and writes for children and adults. Her stories are inspired by natural and cultural gems curated from her travels and lovingly added to her Malaysian heritage. She is also a surgical doctor, swapping her writer's hat and paintbrush for scrubs and scalpel when duty calls. ...
Writing and painting nature with Inda Ahmad Zahri
December 02, 2021 05:00 - 46 minutes - 31.9 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with Inda Ahmad Zahri about writing stories embedded in nature and creating across forms. Inda Ahmad Zahri believes in a world of wonder. She lives in Brisbane where she illustrates and writes for children and adults. Her stories are inspired by natural and cultural gems curated from her travels and lovingly added to her Malaysian heritage. She is also a surgical doctor, swapping her writer's hat and paintbrush for scrubs and scalpel when duty calls. ...
Narrating with Nature with Inda Ahmad Zahri
December 02, 2021 05:00 - 46 minutes - 31.9 MBInda Ahmad Zahri believes in a world of wonder. She lives in Brisbane where she illustrates and writes for children and adults. Her stories are inspired by natural and cultural gems curated from her travels and lovingly added to her Malaysian heritage. She is also a surgical doctor, swapping her writer's hat and paintbrush for scrubs and scalpel when duty calls. In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with Inda Ahmad Zahri about writing stories embedded in nature and creating across disciplin...
Writing Eco-fiction with Andrea Baldwin
November 23, 2021 05:00 - 57 minutes - 39.2 MBAndrea Baldwin is a psychologist and author who works at the intersection between arts, health and the environment. She holds PhDs in psychology and creative writing and a Masters in drama. Currently, Andrea is the clinical consultant supporting Queensland Health's response to children and young people affected by recent floods and bushfires. She is also the immediate past chair of the Queensland Writers Centre and a writer of eco-fiction for all ages. In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats ...
Eco-fiction for every reader with Andrea Baldwin
November 23, 2021 05:00 - 57 minutes - 39.2 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with writer and psychologist Andrea Baldwin about writing eco-fiction and crafting stories about the environment for different audiences and age groups. Andrea Baldwin is a psychologist and author who works at the intersection between arts, health and the environment. She holds PhDs in psychology and creative writing and a Masters in drama. Currently, Andrea is the clinical consultant supporting Queensland Health's response to children and young people...
Creating Environments with Renée Treml
November 08, 2021 06:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBRenée Treml was inspired by Australia’s wildlife and native birds after moving from the USA to Australia in 2007. She loves to create artworks that highlight the subtle details of nature with delicacy and humour. Renée’s books have won or been listed for awards including the CBCA Crichton Award for New Illustrator, Speech Pathology Book of the Year and the Environment Award for Children’s Literature. Renée’s illustrations are featured on a variety of products, including stationery, ceramics ...
Animal characters and authentic environments with Renée Treml
November 08, 2021 06:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with Renée Treml about graphic novels and picture books, science for kids, designing museums (and specimens!) for books, and changing careers from science to art. Renée Treml was inspired by Australia’s wildlife and native birds after moving from the USA to Australia in 2007. She loves to create artworks that highlight the subtle details of nature with delicacy and humour. Renée’s books have won or been listed for awards including the CBCA Crichton Aw...
Artificial Intimacy with Rob Brooks
November 03, 2021 22:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBRob Brooks is an evolutionary biologist who studies the conflicting interests that make sex sizzle and render reproduction complicated. As Scientia Professor of Evolution at UNSW in Sydney, Australia, he studies the behaviour and evolution of humans and non-human animals. His first book, Sex, Genes & Rock 'n' Roll won the Queensland Literary Award for Science Writing and the Eureka Prize for Science Communication. His latest, Artificial Intimacy: Virtual friends, digital lovers and algorithm...
The future of sex with Rob Brooks
November 03, 2021 22:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBIn this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with University of New South Wales evolutionary biologist and author Rob Brooks about the future of sex, his new book Artificial Intimacy, and the science and politics of human relationships. Rob Brooks is an evolutionary biologist who studies the conflicting interests that make sex sizzle and render reproduction complicated. As Scientia Professor of Evolution at UNSW in Sydney, Australia, he studies the behaviour and evolution of humans and non-human a...
Writing ecological emergency with Rebecca Giggs
November 02, 2021 01:00 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MBIn this episode, Jessica White chats with Rebecca Giggs about her beautiful nonfiction book Fathoms: The World in the Whale and how she translates abstracted aspects of the ecological emergency—like its unfathomable scale—into a visceral narrative that is relatable for readers. Rebecca Giggs is an award-winning author from Perth, Australia. Rebecca writes about how people feel toward animals in a time of ecological crisis and technological change. Her debut nonfiction book, Fathoms: The Wor...
Visceral Storytelling with Rebecca Giggs
November 02, 2021 01:00 - 33 minutes - 22.9 MBRebecca Giggs is an award-winning author from Perth, Australia. Rebecca writes about how people feel toward animals in a time of ecological crisis and technological change. Her debut nonfiction book, Fathoms: The World in the Whale, came out in 2020 with Simon & Schuster (US), and Scribe (Aus/UK). In the US Fathoms was awarded the prestigious 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The book also listed as a finalist in the Kirkus Prize and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Scienc...
Science in poetry with Tricia Dearborn and Benjamin Dodds
October 22, 2021 01:00 - 52 minutes - 36 MBIn this episode, Jessica White chats with Tricia Dearborn and Benjamin Dodd about the inspiration for and writing of their recent poetry collections Autobiochemistry and Airplane Baby Banana Blanket. Tricia Dearborn is a Sydney poet, writer and editor. Her work has been widely published in literary journals, and has also been featured in significant anthologies such as Contemporary Australian Poetry (Puncher & Wattmann, 2016) and The Best Australian Poems 2012 and 2010 (Black Inc.). She has...
Science and Poetry with Tricia Dearborn and Benjamin Dodds
October 22, 2021 01:00 - 52 minutes - 36 MBTricia Dearborn is a Sydney poet, writer and editor. Her work has been widely published in literary journals, and has also been featured in significant anthologies such as Contemporary Australian Poetry (Puncher & Wattmann, 2016) and The Best Australian Poems 2012 and 2010 (Black Inc.). She has been awarded four grants by the Australia Council for the Arts and a Residential Fellowship at Varuna, the Writers' House. Benjamin Dodds is a Sydney-based poet who grew up in the Riverina of New Sout...
Women in Science with Laura Elvery
September 16, 2021 00:00 - 42 minutes - 29 MBLaura Elvery is one of Australia’s most beloved short story writers. She has won the Josephine Ulrick Prize for Literature, the Margaret River Short Story Competition, the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize and the Fair Australia Prize for Fiction, and has been published in Meanjin, Overland, The Saturday Paper, Island, Australian Financial Review, The Big Issue Fiction Edition and Griffith Review. In this episode, Jess chats with Laura Elvery about her new collection of short stories, 'Ordina...
Writing de/extinction with James Bradley, Donna Mazza & Chris Flynn
September 16, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 42.4 MBIn this episode, Jessica White chats with James Bradley, Donna Mazza, and Chris Flynn about the inspiration for and writing of their recent novels Ghost Species, Fauna and Mammoth—all of which consider the implications of de/extinction and, in one case, talking megafauna. James Bradley OAM is widely recognised as one of Australia’s greatest critics and climate fiction writers—including the multi-award-winning, science-inspired novels Ghost Species(2020, Penguin), Clade (2015, Penguin) and D...
De/Extinction with James Bradley, Donna Mazza & Chris Flynn
September 16, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 42.3 MBJames Bradley OAM is widely recognised as one of Australia’s greatest critics and climate fiction writers—including the multi-award-winning, science-inspired novels Ghost Species(2020, Penguin), Clade (2015, Penguin) and Deep Field (2000, Henry Holt). Donna Mazza writes fiction and poetry, and is author of Fauna (2020, Allen & Unwin) and The Albanian(2007, Fremantle Press), which was a TAG Hungerford Award winner. Donna teaches at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. Chris Flynn is t...
Women in science in fiction with Laura Elvery
September 16, 2021 00:00 - 42 minutes - 29.1 MBIn this episode, Jess chats with Laura Elvery about her new collection of short stories, 'Ordinary Matter,' which is inspired by the twenty women who have won the Nobel Prize for science. You can purchase 'Ordinary Matter' here: https://bit.ly/3FP983B Laura Elvery is one of Australia’s most beloved short story writers. She has won the Josephine Ulrick Prize for Literature, the Margaret River Short Story Competition, the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize and the Fair Australia Prize for Fictio...