In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, multi-award-winning biographer Dr Heather Clark chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• Why Heather Clark intentionally shifts the narrative away from Sylvia Plath’s tragic death to celebrate her vibrant life and literary achievements.
• Why Heather emphasises Sylvia Plath’s ambition, joy and creative courage as a young woman navigating the mid-20th-century’s literary culture.
• The challenge of navigating an avalanche of archival material to find the narrative thread in Plath’s life.
• How Heather balanced rigorous scholarship with the art of storytelling, giving Red Comet the propulsive narrative energy of a novel despite its scholarly depth.
• How Heather portrayed Plath’s inner life with empathy and honesty.
• How Heather focuses on Plath’s literary significance, repositioning her among the most important writers of the 20th century.
• How by challenging one-dimensional stereotypes, Red Comet invites a new appreciation of Plath’s genius and legacy beyond the shadow of her death.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, award-winning political historian and biographer Dr Judith Brett chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Fearless Beatrice Faust: Sex, Feminism and Body Politics.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• How Judith Brett discovered Beatrice Faust’s story.
• Why Judith was inspired to craft Fearless Beatrice Faust.
• How Beatrice Faust captures a vivid chapter of Australia’s feminist history.
• How in 1972, Beatrice Faust founded the Women’s Electoral Lobby, empowering Australian women voters and challenging politicians to listen.
• The tension between Faust’s bold public crusades and the private struggles she concealed.
• Why Brett structured Fearless Beatrice Faust around themes instead of a timeline, complete with provocative chapter titles like ‘Becoming Notorious’ to highlight the recurring battles in Faust’s life.
• The psychological depth behind Faust’s fiery persona, from her rebellious intellect and fierce independence to the vulnerable moments that fuelled her passion.
• How Judith Brett balances her authorial voice with Beatrice’s unique voice to create a biography that’s both captivating and scholarly.
• Why Beatrice Faust’s fearless fight for women’s rights is as vital in 2025 as it was in 1972.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Charlotte Jacobs chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting 90 Seconds to Midnight: A Hiroshima Survivor’s Nuclear Odyssey.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• Charlotte Jacobs’s inspiration for crafting 90 Seconds to Midnight.
• How Charlotte gained insights into Setsuko’s inner world.
• How Charlotte balanced Setsuko’s unique voice and perspective with her voice as the narrator.
• How Charlotte balanced Setsuko’s public and professional life with her human story.
• The meaning of 90 Seconds to Midnight and why Charlotte chose it.
• Why Charlotte opens the biography with a vivid, haunting prologue amid the ruins of Hiroshima, a gripping scene that shaped Setsuko’s lifelong activism.
• How Charlotte emphasised the urgency of Setsuko’s anti-nuclear warning in today’s geo-political environment.
• How Charlotte crafted lyrical, eloquent narrative that was also gripping.
• Charlotte’s thoughts on the role of a biographer.