Tasma Walton and Robbie Arnott on their Historical Novel Society Australasia 2025 award-winning novels

'I am Nannertgarrook' is based on the true story of Tasma Walton’s ancestor, a powerful, heart-wrenching novel about maternal love that endures against pitiless odds. Kidnapped by sealers and enslaved far from her homeland, Nannertgarrook has a spirit that refuses to bow/ From her idyllic life in sea country in Nerrm (Port Phillip Bay, Victoria), Nannertgarrook is abducted and taken to a slave market, leaving behind a husband, daughter and son. Pregnant when seized, she soon gives birth to another son, whom she raises with the children of her fellow captives.

In the distant highlands, a puma named Dusk is killing shepherds. Down in the lowlands, twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt. As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there's far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they're forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and deeply personal.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Tasma Walton and Robbie Arnott about their ARA Historical Novel Society of Australasia's prize winning novels for 2025. Tasma and Robbie share their thoughts about the role of mythology within the genre of historical fiction, the destruction of landscape and culture that has come with colonisation, and how very different approaches to research have informed their novels.