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MIN READ
Our January member spotlight is Rebecca Armitage, an author and journalist who likes to write about royals. Rebecca’s novel The Heir Apparent was named as the December 2025 pick for Reese’s Book Club.
As a journalist, she has written stories about the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the coronation of King Charles III, the exile of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan, and the abdication of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe. As digital editor for the ABC’s International news team, she has covered several US elections and the war in Gaza.
The Heir Apparent is her first novel. It has been published in the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy.
Rebecca lives in Hobart, Tasmania, with her husband and a German Shorthaired Pointer named Chino.
What inspired you to begin a writing career?
I wanted to be an author when I was a kid, but I have always been afflicted with practicality. It didn’t seem like a realistic goal, so I went into journalism instead (an ever so slightly less volatile industry than publishing!). I was very lucky to have a great career as a journalist at the ABC, and wrote thousands of articles. But my secret writing practice always continued in the background and I was constantly daydreaming ideas for fictional stories.
In 2018, while covering the leadup to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding, I had an idea for a book about a wayward princess who spurns royal life – until a tragedy makes her the heir. I became obsessed with this story and mapped the whole thing out in my mind until 2023, when I finally had to sit down and write it, if only so it could exist outside myself.
Congratulations on your debut novel The Heir Apparent being named as the December 2025 pick for Reese’s Book Club. What does that mean to you? And what can you tell us about how that came about?
Thank you! I’m still not over the fact that I have a book deal, so I truly cannot believe everything else that has followed. I’ve always loved Reese’s Book Club so it’s a huge honour to be selected. My American publisher, Reagan Arthur, submitted it for consideration on my behalf early in 2025 – she didn’t tell me she was doing this as she probably knew I wouldn’t be able to cope with the anticipation! So I didn’t know anything about it until she sent me an email saying ‘Congratulations, Reese Witherspoon has selected The Heir Apparent for her book club’. I thought I was hallucinating and had to get my husband to read the email to make sure it was real.
You took part in one of the ASA’s Virtual Literary Speed Dating events. What prompted you to try this event and what was that experience like for you?
Yes! This is where my publishing journey started. I first heard about the Virtual Speed Dating event when I was at a friend’s book launch in 2018. I overheard his agent mention that he had done speed dating events to meet publishers. At that stage of my life, I was still pretending that I didn’t want to be an author, but I still filed that little tidbit away in my brain for the next six years. When I had a manuscript to pitch, I remembered what that agent had said and I googled ‘literary speed dating’.
After signing up with the ASA and doing many of their excellent courses, including Pitch Perfect, I booked in for the speed dating event. I took it very seriously and practised my pitch hundreds of times. I would say it to myself in the shower, while walking the dog. I recorded myself so I could hear it back. This was probably a little over the top, but it meant that when I joined each Zoom call, I wasn’t as nervous as I imagined I would be. I had a few nibbles of interest, a few heartbreaking rejections, but on my third try, I got interest from a publisher, which allowed me to quickly sign with an agent, and from there, my life completely changed in the space of a week. None of it would have happened without the ASA!
What do you know now that you wish you’d known as you started your career?
Ask lots of questions. I came into the publishing industry knowing absolutely nothing and I was embarrassed when people talked about things I didn’t understand. Just ask. No one will judge you.
Also, having a book published is a dream come true, but it is also very scary. Every writer has reassured me that having a complete crash-out just before publication is a rite of passage. So be easy on yourself and feel all your feelings.
And lastly, it’s easy to get swept up in sales figures and Instagram followers and buzz, but remember to be proud of yourself. Your inner child just wanted to hold your book in their hands, so don’t forget to take a moment and remember that you did it. Your story is out in the world. That’s amazing.
Which Australian authors and illustrators are influential for you?
I love, love, love Heather Rose. She is such a brilliant author and still has so much joy and wonder for writing. I really admire that she refuses to be pigeon-holed and tries different genres and styles. I love Pip Drysdale. I don’t understand how she turns out such perfectly-rendered, gripping novels year after year. I wish I could write landscape as well as Holly Ringland.
But the writers I admire the most are the ones who get up every morning filled with ideas, who jot down lines when they can, who write purely for the love of it, whether their words are read by anyone else, or just by the writer themselves.
Why are you a member of the ASA?
Australia has a small but mighty literary community, which looks out for each other and lifts each other up. I think being part of that is not only good for the soul, but vital for our survival. The ASA is integral to that community. I have learned so, so much from the courses they offer, I have met fellow authors with whom I can commiserate and celebrate, and of course, my career was completely transformed by the good work of the ASA.
Every time an emerging writer asks for my advice, I always say ‘join the ASA, that’s when everything changed for me’.
Find out more about Rebecca Armitage at rebeccaarmitage.com and on Instagram @rebeccaarmitageauthor
