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'Synergies' is the first episode in a brand-new series: Cognitive Conversations, where we tackle the big questions in art, creativity and neuroscience. This series is hosted and produced by Bianca Millroy.

Cognitive Conversations #1 - “Synergies: The Art of Living a Double Life”

We're excited to be bringing this inaugural episode to you: a synergy of minds discussing the dual occupations writers often hold and all the fascinating connections in-between. In this episode, we explore the common threads that bring creative and medical practice together (is a structural edit on a manuscript anything like the patience and precision required for surgery?).

We unpack "day-to-day" strategies for switching between creative and cognitive modes, the duality of the roles we play in life, stepping into the shoes of a character, and how fiction can respond to moments of crisis and upheaval that change us cognitively.

We ruminate on people, memory, belonging, relationality and the small but magnificent ways we find, and hold onto, connection. We compare the work of a GP to that of a writer, turning stories heard in the clinic into ideas that percolate and transmute into words on the page, drawing on lived experience alongside challenges of writing about trauma and mental health.

We also discuss the role of metaphor in writing climate-fuelled disasters intersecting with our personal crises; how writing re-frames a personal event into a collective narrative - and should writers always pursue a silver lining?

Lastly we deep-dive on creative nonfiction writing and the intrinsic role it can play in opening up new dialogues on the page - and the ripple effect it has on our lives.

Meet our guests

Dr Fiona Robertson is a writer and doctor based here in Meanjin/Brisbane. Fiona is the author of the short story collection If You’re Happy which won the Glendower Award in the 2020 Queensland Literary Awards, and was shortlisted for the Steele Rudd Award in 2022. Fiona’s short fiction has been published in Australia and the UK, and has been shortlisted for international competitions. Currently, she is working on a novel.

Visit Fiona's website and connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter/X.

Dr Laurie Steed is a novelist and short story writer from Boorloo/Perth, living on Whadjuk Noongar Country. Laurie was a recipient of the 2021 Henry Handel Richardson Flagship Fellowship for Short Story Writing from Varuna, among other fellowships and residencies. His debut novel, You Belong Here, was published in 2018, followed by Love, Dad: Confessions of An Anxious Father, in 2023. His third book, the short story collection Greater City Shadows, is out now.

Visit Laurie's website and subscribe to his e-newsletter | Connect with Laurie on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dr Jo Skinner is a writer and GP based in Meanjin/Brisbane who writes contemporary women’s fiction as well as freelance non-fiction articles about women’s issues and mental health. Jo has a distance running habit. When she is not working or writing you will find her accruing kilometres while plotting her next story. Jo's debut novel, The Truth About My Daughter is out now.

Visit Jo's website and subscribe to her e-newsletter | Connect with Jo on Instagram and Facebook.

About the host: Bianca Millroy is an emerging science writer, editor, and PhD student based in Meanjin (Brisbane), researching the intersection of creativity and neuroscience.

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We’ll be back with another episode soon, and more Cognitive Conversations to come!

We acknowledge the Jaegara/Yugara and Turrbal People, Traditional Owners of the land on which this episode was created, and the cultural unceded lands on which our guests live and continue to make and tell stories.