Liane Moriarty interview: Aussie author reflects on her career highlights and incredible book adaptations | exclusive interview

I am on the phone to one of Australia’ most successful authors, Liane Moriarty. For a diehard fan like myself, it is a pinch-me moment.

It’s hard to narrow down talking points when you are speaking to one of our best-selling writers.

Luckily for me, Moriarty is in no hurry to wrap up and is happy to stay past the designated 30 minutes to talk about everything from the first book she wrote, to realising she had ‘made it’ and her own ‘pinch-me moments’, such as when Nicole Kidman came calling.

READ MORE: Candid Meghan finally addresses two big rumours about her next move

Moriarty, 58, has sold more than 20 million books worldwide.

Her tenth novel, Here One Moment, was released in Australia last August, and a month later in the US, where it went to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list – her third book to nab the coveted top spot. 

For Moriarty, who was born in Sydney in 1966, her earliest memories involved shelves laden with books.

“We always had a lot of books in the house,” Moriarty tells 9honey.

“My mother would always take us to the local library and my father had shelves full of airport thrillers while my grandmother had shelves full of the classics. So there were books everywhere,” she said.

READ MORE: Martha Stewart’s baffling food confession leaves TV host stunned

While the whole family were avid readers, Moriarty was quick to point out they were ‘not academics’.

When she was about 10, her father commissioned her to write a novel and offered her an advance of $1. She ended up writing a three-volume epic she entitled The History of Dead Man’s Island, even convincing a school friend to do the illustrations.

But after finishing school, Moriarty did not think seriously about becoming an author, instead moving into advertising after initially eyeing a career in journalism.

“I always had a job that involved some sort of writing,” she said.

“Originally the plan was to go into journalism, and I sometimes think I should have done that.”

READ MORE: Meghan shuts down divorce rumours during podcast interview

“I remember telling everybody I was going to be a journalist, but I wasn’t very aware of current events… and I didn’t read the paper,” she laughed.

After climbing the corporate ladder, Moriarty became a freelance copywriter.

Then a pivotal moment came: her younger sister Jaclyn got a publishing deal for a young adult (YA) novel.

‘Sibling rivalry’ prompted Moriarty, who had dabbled in writing short stories in her spare time, to write a book.

She wrote a children’s book that was rejected by publishers, before enrolling in a Masters degree at Sydney’s Macquarie University. 

As part of the course, she wrote her first novel, Three Wishes, and was promptly signed by a literary agent. The book was published in 2003. 

Her next book, The Last Anniversary, followed in 2005.

She was still working as a copywriter when What Alice Forgot was released in 2009. It was only then she finally gave up her last client and became a full-time author.

Moriarty told 9honey she still vividly recalls the first time she saw someone reading one of her books.

“For me, the first time I felt that I had made it was when I was on a Sydney ferry and the woman sitting next to me pulled out a copy of Three Wishes,” Moriarty said. 

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.

“And that felt real. I couldn’t believe it, because she was literally right near me. I do think I was sort of leaning [and] looking a little bit too interested. I think she put the book away.

“That is still one of the most amazing feelings, whenever I see someone reading my books. And I assume [that] will always give me goosebumps.”

The Hypnotist’s Love Story followed in 2011 but it was her fifth book, The Husband’s Secret, released in 2013, that was the first to climb to the top of The New York Times Bestseller list, where it remained for more than a year.

Next came Big Little Lies, which debuted at number one on the same list on its release in 2014, making her the first Australian author to debut in the top spot.

It wasn’t long before Hollywood came calling.

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.

“I just got a call from my agent that Nicole [Kidman] was in Sydney and wanted to talk to me about possibly optioning the book,” Moriarty recalls.

By that time, What Alice Forgot had also been optioned, but a screen adaptation never came to fruition, so while Moriarty was happy to meet with Kidman, she didn’t expect anything would come of it.

“I do always remember that I said to [Kidman], ‘I know not to get too excited because you may or may not do it’ and she said, ‘No, if we option it, get excited because we won’t be doing it just for the sake of it’. And it then did happen very quickly, and unusually so.”

Big Little Lies went on to become an Emmy Award-winning TV series starring Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Zoe Kravitz, among others. 

Moriarty admits to another ‘pinch-me moment’ when she appeared alongside the show’s stars at the Emmy Awards.

“When they called out Big Little Lies and I went up on stage, that was a real pinch-me moment,” she said.

When Moriarty was asked to write a ‘treatment’ that would form the basis of a second series of the show, she did something she never usually does and wrote one of the roles with a star in mind.

“I wrote 50,000 words for season two of Big Little Lies, so that is when I wrote the role for Meryl Streep and I called that character Mary-Louise, which was Meryl’s real name.

“I was manifesting it.

“I remember after I finished writing it I called the producers… and I said to them ‘I’ve got a role for Meryl’ and that’s when they were laughing at me and saying, ‘You’ve become so Hollywood’.

“And I don’t know how many months later I got a text saying, ‘We got you Meryl’. That really was a pinch-me moment.”

Despite forging such a close bond with the stars of the show, Moriarty stayed on the sidelines when the book was adapted for the screen, preferring to leave it to the experts.

19 banned and challenged books everyone should read

“I was very much involved on the sidelines. I feel grateful to them because they kept me involved, just keeping me up to date. But I said from the beginning I didn’t want to write the screenplay,” she said.

“I visited the set, which was great fun, but I would describe myself as a very interested bystander.”

Since then, there have been more screen adaptations of her books, including Nine Perfect Strangers, again starring Kidman, and Apples Never Fall, starring Annette Bening.

Moriarty says she has loved all the screen adaptations of her books.

The most recent is The Last Anniversary, which has just been made into a TV series, with Kidman again on board as a producer. Its world premiere was held at Sydney’s State Theatre in March.

It is the only one Moriarty insisted be set in Australia.

And there are likely to be more screen adaptations in the future, with all 10 of her books optioned, and another around the corner.

Of all her books, she would most like to see What Alice Forgot make it to the screen after numerous false starts. It was the first of her books to be optioned and came close at times, with Jennifer Aniston at one time set for a starring role.

Moriarty will make two appearances at the 2025 Sydney Writer’s Festival (May 19-27).

She will join One Day author David Nicholls at Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday, May 21, where they will speak about their experiences of creating Australian-based stories that went on to become acclaimed films and TV series.

She will also appear alongside her sisters, Jaclyn and Nicola, for a panel discussion, “The Moriarty Sisters – One family, three successful writers”, at Carriageworks on May 23.

More information about the festival program and tickets can be found here.

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.

Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan.