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Australian novelist Alison Edwards gave a master class for us on 8 February 2025 in Amsterdam. The class focussed on her debut novel Two Daughters (Atlantic Books Australia, 2024), the story of two young women from very different backgrounds and opposite sides of the world whose lives intersect in a way neither could have predicted.
Alison began her fiction writing journey with the Collective and large portions of Two Daughters were workshopped in our courses.
She spoke with IWC instructor Jennifer van der Kwast about:
- the ins and outs of writing your first novel—from building your skills to finding the time and the motivation to keep going,
- the challenges of writing in dual perspectives,
- tips on getting a literary agent,
- lessons from working with an editor, and
- what she wishes she had done differently in hindsight.
ABOUT THESE TEACHERS
Alison Edwards was born and raised on the south coast of New South Wales. She studied journalism and international studies before obtaining a PhD in linguistics at the University of Cambridge. She is now based with her family in Amsterdam, where she works as a translator, editor and sometime academic. She took her first Level I course with the IWC in 2017, worked her way through the levels, and began sharing what would become Two Daughters in our Level III & IV workshops from 2021.
Jennifer van der Kwast teaches Level II courses with the IWC. Her novel, Pounding the Pavement, was published by Doubleday in 2005. Prior to moving to the Netherlands in 2011, Jennifer lived in New York City where she worked for the Harold Ober Literary Agency. Jennifer’s travel articles and personal essays have appeared in New York Magazine, Time Out Amsterdam, and the Washington Post.
ABOUT OUR MASTER CLASS SERIES
In this series, working writers talk tips, tricks and techniques with a focus on a single novel or collection. The classes are conducted in an interview format with plenty of room for questions. Check out our podcast archive to listen to recordings of previous Master Classes with writers such as A.M. Homes, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction; Kristen Roupenian, author of the viral short story “Cat Person”; Jennifer Clement, then PEN International president; and Lauren Groff, the author of Barack Obama’s favourite book of 2015.
Copyright © 2025 Alison Edwards & International Writers’ Collective
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