From the outside, publication can look like the beginning. A book appears on a shelf. A new author arrives.

But what happened before the book?

Join forthcoming debut novelists Nicole Lenoir-Jourdain author of upcoming Young Adult fiction novel Saltblood (Wakefield Press) and Linda Atkins author of crime novel What We Left Behind (Summit Books) - two of the Western Sydney "debut crew" for 2026/2027 - in conversation about the long, often winding road to a first novel.

From the first spark of an idea through years of writing and rewriting, creative development, setbacks and breakthroughs, finding a publisher and navigating the editing process, this is a conversation about everything that happens before a book finally exists.

What keeps a writer going? How does a manuscript change along the way? And what does it feel like to reach the extraordinary moment when something you have carried privately for years is about to become a book that belongs to readers?

A candid conversation about persistence, process, creative practice and the road to publication - and a celebration of everything that happens before there is a book!

Presented by Parramatta's Lit! in partnership with City of Parramatta