ABOUT THE GARRET
Love writing? Looking to improve your writing? Or do you just love listening to writers talk about their craft? If yes, The Garret: Writers on Writing is for you.
The Garret is a podcast writers for writers about the craft of writing. It is hosted Astrid Edwards, and her goal is to interview the best writers in Australia (and perhaps some from abroad) about how and why they do what they do.
The Garret has ongoing partnerships with the State Library of Victoria, Writers Victoria and RMIT University. We held a series of live podcast events with the State Library of Victoria (which you can listen to here). We are supporting the next generation of review writers working with RMIT University to publish RMIT Reviews, which are written by writing students about new Australian works of fiction and non-fiction (you can read them here).
In 2019 and 2020 we were a media partner for the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali Indonesia, and released three of the live events Astrid Edwards moderated at the festival through The Garret.
The Garret is educational in outlook. We received funding from The Copyright Agency to develop a series of interviews with diverse writers whose works should appear on the school curriculum. We have previously received two grants from the Australia Council for the Arts.
A defining feature of The Garret is our transcripts. Each interview is published with a complete transcript (so you don’t have to write anything down while you listen).
The Garret was shortlisted for Best Literature, Arts and Music Podcast in both the 2017 and 2019 Australian Podcast Awards. The podcast has surpassed 350,000 downloads in January 2021.
The Garret is a labour of love on behalf of all emerging writers. The Garret is supported by grants and the time of Astrid Edwards. It does not operate for revenue or profit. If you would like to support The Garret, simply subscribe on Apple Podcasts (or wherever else you listen to your podcasts) and join the conversation on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.
You can also follow our host Astrid Edwards (including her published book reviews) at astridedwards.com.
STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
Our founding partnership with the State Library of Victoria continues to expand. Not only has the Library given The Garret a home, in 2018 we launched The Garret LIVE at the Library - a series of interviews recorded in front of a live audience and then released as a podcast. These live event continue in 2019, and have expanded to include an event with The Stella Prize. Our host Astrid Edwards was also chosen to participate in the Library's 2019 'Bootcamp for Creatives'.
RMIT UNIVERSITY
RMIT University became a partner of The Garret in 2019. The Garret and RMIT seek to grow a culture of critical engagement with Australian literature, and we will publish reviews of Australian fiction and non-fiction written by students of RMIT University - RMIT Reviews.
COPYRIGHT AGENCY'S CULTURAL FUND
In 2019 The Garret received funding from The Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund to interview ten Australian women and diverse writers whose works are listed for study in secondary schools. In addition to the interviews and associated transcripts, the Australian Association for the Teaching of English will develop teaching resources linked to the interview for Reading Australia.
UBUD WRITERS AND READERS FESTIVAL
Ubud Writers and Readers Festival is on again in 2019, with a program of more than 200 events with 180 storytellers from 30 countries. This year, The Garret is a Media Partner of the festival, and our host Astrid Edwards will be participating in five events. We hope to see you in Ubud from 23-27 October... and if you are planning on going, listen to The Garret for your discount code.
WRITERS VICTORIA
Writers Victoria supports The Garret by sharing our interviews with their audience. Writers Victoria is the largest membership-based organisation for writers in Australia.
Writers Victoria and The Garret have also run masterclasses with some of Australia's best writers.
OUR HISTORY
The Garret was founded in late 2016 by Astrid Edwards and Nic Brasch, with the goal of interviewing the best writers writing in Australia about the craft of writing.
Astrid replaced the original host Nic Brasch in early 2018 and continues to this day.
