28. Isolation, Place and Truth: Verity Borthwick and Judi Morison in conversation with Claire Corbett

About this episode

Claire Corbett hosts a discussion with authors Judi Morison and Verity Borthwick about their debut novels and the themes of isolation and truth in storytelling.

In this episode of Fully Lit Live , UTS alumni Judi Morison and Verity Borthwick join writer and academic Dr Claire Corbett to discuss their debut novels at the 2025 UTS Writers’ Festival . Verity Borthwick’s Hollow Air is a psychological thriller set at a remote mining site in Far North Queensland, using isolation and an often-unseen industry to explore power, fear and uncertainty. Judi Morison’s Secrets is a family saga spanning six decades, centred on a matriarch facing the end of her life — and a truth she has carried for sixty years — illuminating histories of incarceration, racism and intergenerational trauma. The authors reflect on the importance of place in their storytelling, on isolation and truth-telling, and on the role UTS played in helping them develop their voices and navigate the path to publication. The episode also features readings from both novels. Voices Dr Claire Corbett is a writer, critic and lecturer in Creative Writing at UTS , where she teaches fiction and creative nonfiction. Her work spans literary criticism, essays and teaching, with a focus on contemporary literature, feminism and narrative form. Judi Morison is a writer and UTS alumna whose debut…

People in this episode

Host: Claire Corbett

Guests: Judi Morison, Verity Borthwick

Topics covered

• debut novels
• psychological thriller
• family saga
• isolation
• truth-telling
• place in storytelling

Keywords

• UTS Writers’ Festival
• Hollow Air
• Secrets
• psychological thriller
• family saga
• isolation
• truth
• intergenerational trauma

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UTS, Bundyi, Simon & Schuster, Ultimo Press

Books & works: Hollow Air, Secrets

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