In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Brett Mason chats with Gabriella about the choices he made while writing Wizards of Oz: How Oliphant and Florey helped win the war and shape the modern world.

Wizards of Oz is an account of a friendship between two Adelaide men, the physicist Mark Oliphant and medical researcher Howard Florey and how their scientific discoveries profoundly impacted the course of World War II. It is a gripping tale of secret missions, international intrigue and triumph against all odds.

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

• Why Brett Mason chose to open Wizards of Oz with an electrifying prologue about Oliphant and Florey’s high stakes, top secret missions to gain political and financial support from the American government and U.S. businesses for their scientific projects at a critical stage of World War II.
• Brett’s research strategy and how he narrowed the biographical scope after uncovering an avalanche of primary source material.
• How Brett learned about the intricacies of microwave technology, nuclear physics and penicillin research given his background in politics rather than science and medicine.
• How Brett translated complex scientific information into a propulsive narrative that keeps you as the reader on the edge of your seat wondering what happens next.
• The extent to which Brett balanced scientific discoveries and advocacy with Oliphant and Florey’s human stories.
• How Brett crafted a cohesive narrative from the experiences of two brilliant yet very different researchers who worked in disparate fields of science.
• How Brett presented Oliphant and Florey’s lives with immediacy, so you as the reader feel as if you are Oliphant and Florey experiencing their frustrations, fear and desperation to gain support for their scientific endeavours when the stakes were so high.

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In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Joel Stephen Birnie chats with Gabriella about the choices he made while crafting My People’s Songs: How an Indigenous Family Survived Colonial Tasmania, his historical biography of his earliest known ancestral grandmother and her two surviving daughters. These three extraordinary matriarchs fought for the Indigenous communities they founded in Tasmania, sparking a tradition of social justice that continues in Joel’s family today.

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

• You’ll meet Tarenootairer, Joel’s earliest known ancestral grandmother, and her two surviving daughters, Mary Ann Arthur and Fanny Cochrane Smith.
• Why Joel felt compelled to write My People’s Songs and his goal in writing the book.
• Why Joel chose to structure My People’s Songs around three self-contained biographies of Tarenootairer, Mary Ann and Fanny and why he shared their stories from their perspective and in their voices.
• How Mary Ann’s fight for autonomy laid the foundation for contemporary Indigenous politics.
• How he chose to portray Mary Ann’s role as a voice of self-empowerment for Tasmania’s Indigenous people.
• Fanny’s skilled and tenacious political advocacy despite intense opposition from Tasmanian politicians and some sections of the media.
• Fanny’s challenge to the false declaration of Indigenous Tasmanian extinction and why this was, and still is, crucial.
• Joel’s research strategy given that few archival records exist of Indigenous peoples’ lives in 19th century Tasmania and those that are available lack an Indigenous perspective. They are also tainted by colonial half-truths, interpretations and propaganda.

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In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Nadia Wheatley chats with Gabriella about the choices she made while writing the biography of Charmian Clift, one of Australia’s most charismatic writers whose books were often decades ahead of their time.

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

• Nadia Wheatley’s reluctance to write Charmian Clift’s biography and the vigorous arm twisting that ultimately resulted in her agreeing to embark on the project.
• Nadia’s reasons for opening the biography with her personal story.
• The meaning behind the book’s title: The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift.
• Why Nadia chose to interpret Clift’s life rather than repeat the mythical representations of earlier biographies.
• The ethical dilemmas Nadia faced when revealing secrets about Clift’s personal life.
• How Nadia achieved a fine balance between portraying Clift’s conflicting roles as a talented author and wife of a prolific writer; a devoted mother; and a feminist decades ahead of her time.
• The extent to which Nadia believes she accessed the truth of her subject.
• Nadia’s exciting news about publishing an edited version of Charmian Clift’s, The End of the Morning, which includes Clift’s previously unpublished autobiographical novel and thirty of her essays.

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