Episode 33: Single parents (with Steph Vizard)

‘There’s no epidural for writers block’

Thanks for listening to That Rom Com Pod, recorded on Gadigal land.

Our guest is Steph Vizard, an Australian writer and lawyer. After studying literature at Oxford University, she worked in publishing in London. Her debut romantic comedy, The Love Contract, won the 2022 HarperCollins Banjo Prize. She is a connoisseur of salt and vinegar chips and lives with her family in Melbourne.

Find Steph on Instagram at @StephEVizard or her website. And listen to the end for an exclusive title reveal of Steph’s second novel, coming out later this year with HarperCollins.

OK, here’s episode 33!

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Trending topics

• The Banjo Prize doesn’t exist any more but HarperCollins has the The Australian Fiction Prize which comes with prize money of $20,000 and an advance of $15,000. It’s open for entries now! If you’re thinking about entering, get your manuscript in by May 30.

• An Academic Affair, Jodi McAlister (June 2025, Simon & Schuster)

Single parents

• Special Delivery, Leesa Ronald (2024, Allen & Unwin)

• Maggie Alderson (Instagram)

• How to be Second Best, Jessica Dettmann (2018, HarperCollins)

• Fair Play, Eve Rodsky (2019, Hachette)

• Fair Play card deck (2021, Penguin)

• Sleepless in Seattle (1993, Stan)

• The Holiday (2006, Prime)

• Smothered (2023, Binge)

• The Idea Of You, Robinne Lee (2017, Penguin)

• The Idea Of You (2024, Prime)

• Maid In Manhattan (2002, Binge)

• Raising Helen (2004, Disney)

• The Last Love Note, Emma Grey (2023, Penguin)

• Things Will Calm Down Soon, Zoe Foster Blake (2024, Allen & Unwin)

• Bridget Jones Mad About The Boy (2025, in cinemas)

• Grace Under Pressure, Tori Haschka (2021, Simon & Schuster)

• The Mummy Bloggers, Holly Wainwright (2017, Allen & Unwin)

• Without Further Ado, Jessica Dettmann (2023, HarperCollins)

• Olive, Emma Gannon (2020, HarperCollins)

• Inconceivable by Alexandra Collier (2023, Hachette)

• The Back-Up Plan (2010, Netflix)

Shelf Love

Steph: An Academic Affair, Jodi McAlister (June 2025, Simon & Schuster)

Clare: Talking At Night, Claire Daverley (2023, Penguin); Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld (2005, Penguin)

Karina: The Private Island, Ali Lowe (2025, Hachette)

Also mentioned:

• Show Don’t Tell, Curtis Sittenfeld (2005, Penguin)

• Consider Yourself Kissed, Jessica Stanley (2025, Text Publishing)

• The Trivia Night, Ali Lowe (2022, Hachette)

• White Lotus (2021-25 Binge)

Want more of That Rom Com Pod?

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More about us:

Clare Fletcher

• Love Match, 2023 & Five Bush Weddings (2022, Penguin)

• Instagram: @ClareFletcherWriter

• Newsletter:

Karina May

• That Island Feeling (Dec 31, 2024), Never Ever Forever (2023, Pan Macmillan), Duck a l’Orange for Breakfast (2023, Pan Macmillan)

• Instagram: @KarinaMayWrite 

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That Rom Com Pod is expertly edited by Joshua Broadbent at Marker Creative Co.