Acclaimed writer and anthropologist Ceridwen Dovey joins Amy Mullins for a chat about her brand new short story collection, Only The Astronauts (Penguin Random House).

Bringing real space objects to life through fiction, Ceridwen reflects on the hypothetical inner lives of Elon Musk's rocket test mannequin 'Starman’, the International Space Station, the first sculpture ever taken to the Moon, and even the Voyager 1 space probe and the special Golden Record.

Together they discuss the restorative effects of reading and writing fiction, as well as Ceridwen’s process for writing fiction and these modern fables.

Ceridwen Dovey is an Australian fiction writer, creative non-fiction writer, science writer, and anthropologist based in Sydney.

She is also the author of Blood Kin; Only The Animals; In the Garden of the Fugitives; On J.M. Coetzee: Writers on Writers; Life After Truth; Inner Worlds Outer Spaces; and Mothertongues (with co-writer Eliza Bell and original songs by Keppie Coutts).

Ceridwen's science writing has been recognised with an Australian Museum Eureka Award and two UNSW Press Bragg Prizes for Science Writing.

Photo credit: Shannon Smith