Episode 10 | Karleah Olson
Meet my guest.
Karleah Olson is a Perth-based writer and an avid reader. She loves to read all genres, and to collect more books than she can possibly read in a lifetime.
Karleah has spent the last few years as a PhD candidate at Edith Cowan University, where she is studying Australian Coastal Gothic Literature.
Her debut novel A Wreck of Seabirds was shortlisted for the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award, and is a work of young adult fiction inspired by the gothic genre and the West Australian coastal landscape.
What we talk about: Karleah and I chat about the PhD to book publishing experience, and the way people talk about writing as a career is that it’s never going to be a sustainable career. It really is approached as more of a hobby and even when you’ve done it [professionally], it can still feel a bit that way.
Meet the debut book.
When Briony first meets Ren, he is standing in the freezing sea at the edge of their tiny town.
Ren hasn’t been home for a decade but has returned to be with his dying father.
Briony won’t leave, hoping that Sarah, her missing sister, will one day reappear.
But Sarah and her friend Aria have been stranded on a desolate island far off the coast. The longer they’re trapped there, the less alone they seem.
How many secrets in this town have been swallowed by the brooding sea?
What was the last book that you read and loved? What I Would Do to You by Georgia Harper.
A Wreck of Seabirds by Karleah Olson is available to purchase wherever you buy your books. Alternatively, check in with your local library. If they don’t have a copy yet, put in a request!
For more debut Australian books, check out The Australian Debut Author Book List, curated by yours truly!
