In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, lawyer and author Sam Elkin chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about his choices while crafting Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga.

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

• Sam’s thought process behind structuring the memoir as a chronological legal saga intertwining his gender transition with pivotal moments in Australia’s LGBTQ+ rights movement.
• How he found a warm, conversational writing voice beyond his legal training, shedding formal jargon to connect with readers on a personal level.
• Why he infused dark humour into serious moments and how laughter helped him cope with pain while keeping the story human and relatable.
• The raw vulnerability he chose to share, from detailing gender-affirming surgeries to admitting moments of self-doubt.
• How Sam navigated tough ethical choices in sharing his story, balancing unvarnished honesty with respect for others’ privacy while weighing the risks of being so candid.
• Sam’s reflections on the double-edged sword of visibility as a trans man: how being seen can be empowering yet perilous and how he portrays that tension in Detachable Penis.
• How including stories from his community law work and marginalised queer folks broadened Detachable Penis into a portrait of activism, community struggles and hope.
• Insights into Sam’s writing journey: how he expanded short personal essays into a cohesive memoir.
• How Sam practised self-care during tough chapters and how the process deepened his self-understanding.

Nathan Hobby shares his choices while crafting The Red Witch; A Biography of Katharine Susannah Prichard. Here’s what you’ll discover:

• Katharine Susannah Prichard’s significance as a trailblazing Australian novelist and political figure who co-founded the Australian Communist Party
• How Pritchard’s ground-breaking novels reflected her social ideals
• Nathan’s extensive research process, from scouring archives to retracing Prichard’s footsteps
• The book’s structure and narrative style
• The difficulties of dealing with unreliable or biased source material
• The challenging decisions involved in narrowing the biographical scope given the trove of source material
• How Nathan used novelistic techniques to enliven the biography
• The role of a biographer.

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, multi-award-winning biographer Megan Marshall chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart.

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

• Why a renowned biographer turned the lens on herself, blending memoir with biography after decades of writing about other people.
• How writing about her partner’s illness and loss and heartbreak made Megan a more empathetic biographer.
• Megan’s bold decision to step out from behind the scenes and become a character in her own book.
• The touching reason Megan put her mother’s self-portrait on the cover.
• How decades of exploring other people’s lives taught Megan surprising lessons about living her own life.
• What Megan means by ‘the mysteries of the human heart’ and why some questions about a life will always remain unanswered.