Podcast: Fantasy and Reality with Isobelle Carmody

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Isobelle Carmody is a national treasure: she’s written fantasy and children’s literature since she was fourteen, and is incredibly prolific. In this podcast, Isobelle chats with Cheryl Akle about her family life, how she got into writing, and why she thinks it’s such an important genre for both children and adults alike.

Duration: 28 Mins

Podcast Guest: Isobelle Carmody

Isobelle Carmody is one of Australia’s most highly acclaimed authors of fantasy. At fourteen, she began Obernewtyn, the first book in her much-loved Obernewtyn Chronicles, and has since written many works in this genre. Her novel The Gatheringwas joint winner of the 1993 Children’s Literature Peace Prize and the 1994 CBCA Book of the Year Award, and Greylands was joint winner of the 1997 Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction (Young Adult category), and was named a White Raven at the 1998 Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

Isobelle’s work for younger readers includes her two series, The Legend of Little Fur, and The Kingdom of the Lost, the first book of which, The Red Wind, won the CBCA Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers in 2011. She has also written several picture books as well as collections of short stories for children, young adults and adults.

After living in Europe for more than a decade, Isobelle now divides her time in Australia between her home on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, and Brisbane, where she is working on a PhD at the University of Queensland. She lives with her partner and daughter, and a shadow-black cat called Mitya.

Podcast on iTunes or on Stitcher for Android