In this episode of Backstory, Melissa Cranenburgh is joined by Elise Valmorbida, the author of the novels Matilde Waltzing, The TV President, and The Winding Stick, as well as The Book of Happy Endings.Her most recent work, The Madonna of the Mountains received the Prize for Fiction at the 2019 Victorian Literary Awards.

Mel is then joined by Sam Cooney, head of the not-for-profit independent publishing organisation that produces the quarterly literary magazine The Lifted Brow, publishes books under its Brow Books imprint, posts new pieces of commentary and criticism online every day or two, stages events, awards writing prizes, and does a whole lot more.