Podcasts by The Book Show
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Hannah Kent and Michelle Johnston unearth the past from 2022-04-18T10:05
Hannah Kent reflects on her time as an exchange student in Iceland and how it allowed her to pursue writing, and Michelle Johnston tells Claire Nichols about her novel, Dustfall, for the internatio...
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Jennifer Egan's Goon Squad follow-up from 2022-04-11T10:05
Pulitzer-prize winner, Jennifer Egan, is "interested in the ways technology interacts with our psychologies". Her new novel, The Candy House, plays with a deliciously dangerous idea: what if you co...
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Kári Gíslason gives new life to an old Icelandic saga from 2022-04-04T10:05
The Icelandic sagas have long been a source of fascination for Kári Gíslason and his latest novel, The Sorrow Stone, gives new life to an old Icelandic saga. Also disability advocate and writer Li...
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Mythology and Marlon James — Moon Witch, Spider King from 2022-03-28T10:05
For his latest novel, Moon Witch, Spider King, Marlon James says "I was trying to connect with my own mythological history as a black man in an African diaspora, in a former British colony". Also...
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Recovery and'ridey men'— Marian Keyes and Again, Rachel from 2022-03-21T10:05
'I have a full and beautiful life', says Irish writer Marian Keyes, 'The only thing I can't do is drink'. And the experience of addiction and recovery is something she's given to the main character...
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Karen Joy Fowler targets John Wilkes Booth, America's first presidential assassin from 2022-03-14T10:05
Karen Joy Fowler wades into American Civil War history and the story of John Wilkes Booth, the first presidential assassin, in her novel Booth. Also, Kalkadoon author Megan Albany's comic novel ab...
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Craig Silvey, Tony Birch and Dervla McTiernan’s joy of reading from 2022-03-07T10:05
Craig Silvey, Tony Birch and Dervla McTiernan share their love of reading from the Perth Festival Writers Weekend. They share their formative childhood reads, favourite first lines and give some wr...
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Isabel Allende writes about her mother, Markus Zusak gets your fanmail from 2022-02-28T10:05
Isabel Allende says her latest novel, Violeta, was inspired by her mother but also by Allende's own life. Also, readers who send fan mail and the writers who reply with Markus Zusak, Anita Heiss, J...
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Immigrant stories of the Big Apple with Gary Shteyngart and Xochitl Gonzalez from 2022-02-21T10:05
Our Country Friends is a funny book set in upstate New York during the pandemic by US writer Gary Shteyngart and Xochitl Gonzalez looks at the city through a Puerto Rican lens in Olga Dies Dreaming.
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Love and literature with Hannah Kent, Roddy Doyle, Elif Shafak and more from 2022-02-14T10:05
From young love and forbidden romance to break-ups and long-term relationships: hear authors wax lyrical about love. Writers include David Nicholls, Amy Bloom, Tayari Jones, Howard Jacobson, Monica...
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Jason Mott's Hell of a Book from 2022-02-07T10:05
Jason Mott's Hell of a Book lives up to its name: it has a snappy title, an eccentric narrator and a Nicolas Cage cameo. Also, two authors who explore older Australian's experiences with Liz Byrsk...
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Secrets and lies in Monica Ali's Love Marriage from 2022-01-31T10:05
Almost 20 years after Brick Lane, Monica Ali is still unpicking the ins and outs of relationships in her novel, Love Marriage. Also, Skimming Stones by Maria Papas was directly inspired by her dau...
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Hanya Yanagihara moves on from A Little Life from 2022-01-24T10:05
In her new book To Paradise, Hanya Yanagihara asks what would America be if its foundations were different. Also Katherine Collette's ode to Toastmasters in The Competition and Craig Sherborne's di...
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Masterclass with George Saunders and Tsitsi Dangarembga from 2022-01-17T10:05
Two masters of the form, George Saunders and Tsisti Dangarembga, share lessons from their extensive writing careers.
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Life at the extremes — Pat Barker, Michael Mohammed Ahmad and Ella Baxter from 2022-01-10T10:05
The Booker-winning author Pat Barker's preoccupation with who's allowed to speak and who isn't continues in The Women of Troy, a sequel to The Silence of the Girls, her exploration of women in the ...
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Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro on Klara and the Sun from 2022-01-03T10:05
Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro introduces us to his latest creation in Klara and the Sun, and we also take a look at how authors name their heroes and villains with six writers including Tony Birch,...
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Darkness and light with Patricia Lockwood, Jessie Tu and Ethan Hawke from 2021-12-27T10:05
"It's such a contradiction in life how much we learn from suffering," says actor and writer Ethan Hawke who tells The Book Show about his fourth novel A Bright Ray of Darkness. Darkness and light i...
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And the winner is: the book prize winners of 2021 from 2021-12-13T10:05
Kate Grenville, Craig Silvey, Susanna Clarke, Nardi Simpson, Damon Galgut, Christos Tsiolkas and more on their prize-winning books. Plus, former winners Colson Whitehead, Bernardine Evaristo and An...
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'People were already forgetting'— Jodi Picoult confronts the pandemic from 2021-12-06T10:05
Unlike many authors, Jodi Picoult decided to take on COVID-19 in Wish You Were Here, because Picoult says, "we need to remember everything we got wrong while we were learning what this disease is"....
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How Val McDermid's time as a newspaper journalist inspired a new crime series from 2021-11-29T10:05
Scottish crime writer Val McDermid's new book, 1979, is the beginning of a new series inspired by her own experience as a newspaper journalist in the 1970s and 80s. Also, to celebrate International...
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Creative lives of a Booker, Stella and Nobel winner — Bernardine Evaristo, Charlotte Wood and Abdulrazak Gurnah from 2021-11-22T10:05
"I never sunk into complacency in any aspect of my life." Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo on her latest book, Manifesto, about her unconventional path to success. Also, Stella Prize winner...
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Christos Tsiolkas on beauty and art from 2021-11-15T10:05
"I can't separate the erotic and the sensual from the beautiful." Melbourne Prize for Literature winner, Christos Tsiolkas on his latest novel 7½ which explores what it means to be a writer and the...
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Hannah Kent and Susanna Clarke on love and loneliness from 2021-11-08T10:05
Author of Burial Rites and The Good People, Hannah Kent says she wanted to look at human connection in her latest novel Devotion. It's another historical novel but is a love story about two girls w...
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Pod extra with Booker Prize winner Damon Galgut from 2021-11-04T16:15
Booker Prize winner Damon Galgut on his award winning novel The Promise.
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Literary powerhouses Richard Powers and Michelle de Kretser on their latest novels from 2021-11-01T10:05
"Everyday could be a day of unthinkable richness if we just keep still, attend and be present to what the place that we live in wants to do." Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Powers talks abou...
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Amor Towles takes a road trip on The Lincoln Highway from 2021-10-25T10:05
"The journey is the oldest story known to humanity", says bestselling American author Amor Towles, whose third book is based on this archetypal narrative and takes a group of lost boys on an unpred...
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Families, trees, and buried secrets with Liane Moriarty and Elif Shafak from 2021-10-18T10:05
Liane Moriarty's latest novel is Apples Never Fall and as another TV adaptation of her work wraps us, she is adamant she will never write books with a view to adaptation. Also, British-Turkish El...
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‘It became brutal’ —John Boyne responds to a twitter storm in Echo Chamber from 2021-10-11T10:05
In 2019, John Boyne faced huge online backlash for a book he wrote about a trans teenager and he's channelled that experience in to his new comic novel, The Echo Chamber. Also, Booker Prize shortl...
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Faith and family with Jonathan Franzen on Crossroads from 2021-10-04T10:05
“I admit to regular fits of feeling simply I am not a good person,” says Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections, “and it’s a question that fiction is uniquely poised to engage with”. And it’s ...
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Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Doerr visits Cloud Cuckoo Land from 2021-09-27T10:05
In his latest book Cloud Cuckoo Land, Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Doerr explores the human desire to create utopian worlds in places far from home. CS Pacat on their latest fantasy adventure Dar...
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'It's absolutely magical'— Akala on reading as a superpower from 2021-09-20T10:05
British rapper, poet and writer, Akala, equates reading and writing to a form of magic. He brings this passion to the page in his debut YA novel, The Dark Lady, about pickpocket Henry, set in the t...
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Pulitzer prize winner Colson Whitehead's crime caper, Harlem Shuffle from 2021-09-13T10:05
"My favourite memories as a kid, are watching Saturday afternoon movies," says two time Pulitzer Prize winner, Colson Whitehead, "so I gave myself permission to do a heist book and started planning...
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'I could've got into trouble'— Actor Bryan Brown's crime fiction from 2021-09-06T10:05
Actor Bryan Brown has published a debut collection of crime fuelled fiction in his 70s, it's called Sweet Jimmy. Also, Anita Heiss takes the 1852 Gundagai flood as the starting point for her nove...
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'It all starts with a fight'— Pat Barker gives voice to the women of Ancient Greece from 2021-08-30T10:05
Booker winning, Pat Barker's preoccupation with who's allowed to speak and who isn't continues with The Women of Troy, the sequel to The Silence of the Girls, her exploration of women in the Ancien...
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'I just wanted to rescue them'— Kate Grenville unravels her family history from 2021-08-16T10:05
Kate Grenville's interest in women hemmed in by history comes to the fore in her new audiobook about her grandmother, Always Greener. Also, Lisa Emanuel's debut novel The Covered Wife is about a S...
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Identity, belonging, home, immigration are themes in Hafsa Zayyan's life and fiction from 2021-08-09T10:05
The Asian expulsion from Uganda with Idi Amin's rise to power in 1972 is the focus of London based author Hafsa Zayyan's debut novel We Are All Bir...
Identity, belonging, home and immigration are themes in Hafsa Zayyan's life and fiction from 2021-08-09T10:05
The Asian expulsion from Uganda with Idi Amin's rise to power in 1972 is the focus of London based author Hafsa Zayyan's debut novel We Are All Birds of Uganda which deals with many themes the auth...
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Rahul Raina's satire about fame, fraud and Indian TV from 2021-08-02T10:05
'Your self worth as an Indian child is totally connected with how well you do in these all encompassing exams'. Rahul Raina's satire about fame, fraud and the All India exam system in How to Kidnap...
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'My mother kept this secret for so long'— Esther Freud imagines a different path for her mother from 2021-07-26T10:05
Esther Freud's mother had babies at a time when many unwed mothers in the UK and Ireland had their children taken away. Freud says, 'When I thought about the situation of my mother, it struck me ho...
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What happens when the internet cuts out? Rumaan Alam on his prescient domestic thriller from 2021-07-19T10:05
US author Rumaan Alam’s Leave The World Behind is a timely novel about isolation, fear, class and racism. Also, the 20-something women who are starring in coming of age novels and Rawah Arja's Pu...
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Pod extra with 2021 Miles Franklin winner Amanda Lohrey from 2021-07-15T16:30
Amanda Lohrey has been announced as the 2021 winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award for The Labyrinth. Amanda tells Claire Nichols that her aim was to write a narrative that felt like a medita...
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What does the Miles Franklin shortlist say about Australia? from 2021-07-12T10:05
Ahead of the Miles Franklin Award announcement, we preview the shortlist and find overlapping themes of migration, violence, fractured families and climate change. Aravind Adiga, Amanda Lohrey, A...
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'We are where we are because of resilience'— Larissa Behrendt's book about grief, family and literary travel from 2021-07-05T10:05
Indigenous author Larissa Behrendt questioned whether to include a First Nations lawyer in her latest novel, but she says it felt more authentic given it's a world she knows intimately. Her novel, ...
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Emma Jane Unsworth on the'messy, punky stuff'of women's lives and bodies from 2021-06-28T10:05
Emma Jane Unsworth examines 21st century women in all their conflicted, messy glory in this in-depth interview about her books including Adults and Animals.
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'There are no bodies'— Alexander McCall Smith on his version of Scandi crime fiction from 2021-06-21T10:05
You've heard of Nordic Noir but what about Scandi Blanc? Bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith has taken the noir out Swedish crime fiction in his latest series starring the warm-hearted detect...
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Pod Extra with Jessie Tu on the lessons of loneliness from 2021-06-18T08:18
Australian writer Jessie Tu says the question of female likeability should no longer exist and it's an idea she explores in her fiction. In this in-depth conversation, she also discusses child prod...
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'Why not make it accurate'— Andy Weir on putting the science in sci-fi from 2021-06-14T10:05
Andy Weir is most famous for The Martian, the science-heavy Mars survival story that was made in to a hit film starring Matt Damon, and now he's back now with a new book, Project Hail Mary. Journa...
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'We don't talk about Mummy issues'— Lisa Taddeo's follow-up to Three Women from 2021-06-07T10:05
Lisa Taddeo attracted worldwide attention with her 2019 non-fiction book, Three Women, which explored the depths of three real women's sexual desires. Now Lisa has taken that insight into the femal...
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'In this moment, I had to be there'— Patricia Lockwood on writing about the life and death of a child from 2021-05-31T10:05
The privilege of writing about the loss of a child: Women's Prize shortlisted author Patricia Lockwood on No One Is Talking About This which is laugh-out-loud funny in the first half, and is cry-ou...
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'If felt new and it was hard'— Jhumpa Lahiri on writing in Italian from 2021-05-24T10:05
Indian American writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, has made her name writing fiction in English, but in recent years she has been writing in Italian including her latest, Whereabouts, which she also translated...
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Shaun Tan finds the sublime in the ordinary from 2021-05-17T10:05
Oscar winner, Shaun Tan, tells of his appreciation of seemingly ordinary objects, like a bar of soap, and how he applies mindfulness to his practice as a writer and painter.
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'I'm a restless writer'Nikki Gemmell on tackling colonial gothic horror from 2021-05-10T10:05
Nikki Gemmell wants to challenge herself as a writer so her latest is a colonial gothic horror called The Ripping Tree, written over seven years while raising four children. Meanwhile, Emily Magui...
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Alaa Al Aswany's story of Egyptian revolution and Madeleine Ryan, Rebecca Lim and Huda Hayek from 2021-05-03T10:05
Egyptian writer Alaa Al Aswany fictionalised account of the Egyptian revolution, Rebecca Lim gives writing advice to Huda Hayek and Madeleine Ryan's neurodiverse character.
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Unforgettable school girls with Booker shortlisted author Tsitsi Dangarembga and Emily Spurr from 2021-04-26T10:05
Unforgettable school girls with Booker shortlisted author Tsitsi Dangarembga's story of pre-independence Zimbabwe, and another from modern day Australia with Emily Spurr.
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Pod Extra with Stella Prize winner Evie Wyld from 2021-04-22T20:00
Evie Wyld's The Bass Rock has won the 2021 Stella Prize for Australian women's writing.
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Stella prize shortlist on climate change, male violence, racism and pandemics from 2021-04-19T10:05
Meet all six of the Stella Prize shortlisted writers whose books speak to Australia right in this moment.
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George Saunders'lessons from the Russian masters from 2021-04-12T10:05
Booker winner George Saunders shares writing tips from the Russian masters, Debra Oswald's ethical conundrum in The Family Doctor and Pakana man, Adam Thompson's, debut collection Born Into This.
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Women called witches with Fernanda Melchor and Lucy Jago from 2021-04-05T10:05
Mexican writer Fernanda Melchor speaks about her novel Hurricane Season which was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize, Lucy Jago's 17th century scandal and Christy Collins's debut.
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Ethan Hawke's passionate fourth novel from 2021-03-29T10:05
Ethan Hawke's fourth novel A Bright Ray of Darkness is about an actor as his world implodes, Tabitha Bird on embracing the magical and Kavita Bedford's coming of age Sydney novel.
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Pip Williams's Book of the Year from 2021-03-23T16:45
Pip Williams's debut novel The Dictionary of Lost Words has been named the Book of the Year for the 2021 Indie Book Awards.
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Pod Extra with Pip Williams's Book of the Year from 2021-03-23T15:45
Pip Williams's debut novel The Dictionary of Lost Words has been named the Book of the Year for the 2021 Indie Book Awards.
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Feminist retelling of Beowulf and author of The Cry from 2021-03-22T10:05
Maria Dahvana Headley has dusted off Beowulf with a new translation and author of The Cry, Helen Fitzgerald, has a new thriller centred around a boarding school.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jane Harper and Chloe Wilson on uncomfortable truths from 2021-03-15T10:05
Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen on his latest novel The Committed, we ask what it takes to write crime fiction and Chloe Wilson's powerful collection of short stories.
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Brit Bennett live at the Perth Festival of Literature and Ideas from 2021-03-08T06:00
The author discusses her latest book The Vanishing Half, the complexities of race relations in America, her writing process and making the cover of Time Magazine.
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Befriending the unknowable with Kazuo Ishiguro and Shaun Tan from 2021-03-01T06:00
From artificial intelligence to man's best friend; exploring relationships with beings we may never understand but love nevertheless.
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Maggie O'Farrell and Claire Thomas on women and theatre from 2021-02-22T06:00
Plus a chat with debut novelist Gary Lonesborough on his book, The Boy From The Mish.
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Exploring discomfort with Max Porter, Kim Scott and Rebecca Starford from 2021-02-15T06:00
Max Porter joins Claire to talk about his new book The Death of Francis Bacon and why there is a "certain ecstasy" in thinking about the human body as meat.
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Robert Jones Jr., Michael Brissenden and the world of royal fiction from 2021-02-08T01:00
A historical look at black, queer love; a deep dive into the genre of Royal fiction and a crime novel set in the seedy streets of 1980s Sydney.
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Charles Yu and Peace Adzo Medie challenging stereotypes in fiction from 2021-02-01T10:05
A taste of African chick lit, authors confess their love for Dungeons and Dragons and a book that reads like a movie script.
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Writing Black Lives Matter for young readers with Angie Thomas and Maxine Beneba Clarke from 2021-01-25T10:05
How do you take stories of injustice and rage centred around Black Lives Matter and put them on the page for children?
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Andrew O'Hagan, Jessie Tu and Jane Austen-inspired fiction from 2021-01-11T10:05
Scottish writer Andrew O'Hagan speaks about the very personal story behind his coming-of-age novel Mayflies, set in Thatcher's Britain to a background of New Order and The Smiths.
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Novel inspirations with Celeste Ng, Pip Williams and Chris Flynn from 2020-12-21T10:05
Meet Celeste Ng author of Little Fires Everywhere, Mammut, the talking fossil, and hear from Pip Williams about her popular debut novel.
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Helen Garner's diary and the future of fiction from 2020-12-14T10:05
Helen Garner on writing in her diary in this troubled year and authors reflect on the impacts of coronavirus on the future of fiction.
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From Karachi to Kamchatka - literary travel with Roddy Doyle, Arundhati Roy, Elizabeth Strout and more from 2020-12-07T10:05
In the year that international travel was cancelled, this literary world tour might be the next best thing.
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Racism and belonging with Rumaan Alam and Rawah Arja from 2020-11-30T10:05
Rumaan Alam's literary thriller, Rawah Arja's Punchbowl Boys High drama and young women star in debut coming of age novels.
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Dawn French on questions of motherhood from 2020-11-23T10:05
What makes someone a mother? Dawn French and Kate Mildenhall explore this question, and we have a writer's hotline with Luke Horton and James Bradley.
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Christos Tsiolkas's life of writing from 2020-11-20T01:15
A special in-depth interview with Christos Tsiolkas that digs deep into his origins as a writer.
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Meet the 2020 Booker winner Douglas Stuart from 2020-11-19T14:45
The Scottish American writer Douglas Stuart has won the prestigious Booker Prize.
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Art and redemption with Sofie Laguna, Douglas Stuart and Ken Follett from 2020-11-16T10:05
The redemptive power of art with Sofie Laguna, Booker shortlisted author Douglas Stuart and how Ken Follett learnt to write bestsellers.
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Pivoting to fiction with Nardi Simpson, Avni Doshi and Richard Osman from 2020-11-09T10:05
Three writers who've all had successful non-literary careers on their pivot to fiction with Indigenous singer songwriter Nardi Simpson, Booker shortlisted author Avni Doshi and TV presenter Richard...
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Neil Gaiman, Diane Cook and Malcolm Knox on life changing moments from 2020-11-02T10:05
Neil Gaiman on blogging and wearing black, Booker shortlisted author Diane Cook and Malcolm Knox on changing Australian beach culture.
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Other lives with Matt Haig, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Elizabeth Tan from 2020-10-26T10:05
Matt Haig on the challenges of writing about mental illness, Booker shortlisted author Tsitsi Dangarembga and Elizabeth Tan's quirky short stories.
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Crazy times with Kevin Kwan from 2020-10-23T01:15
In this pod extra, meet novelist Kevin Kwan, the man who introduced readers to the world of Singapore's ultra rich in his hit trilogy Crazy Rich Asians.
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American dreaming with Ayad Akhtar, Brandon Taylor and Yaa Gyasi from 2020-10-19T10:05
Just weeks away from the American election, three American writers on religion, a search for identity, racial injustice and the comfort of science.
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Sky whispering with Trent Dalton, Maaza Mengiste and Cressida Cowell from 2020-10-12T10:05
Trent Dalton explains the concept of sky whispering, Booker shortlisted author Maaza Mengiste and Cressida Cowell's charmed childhood summers on a Viking island.
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Craig Silvey's real life inspiration for Honeybee from 2020-10-05T10:05
The true story behind Craig Silvey's novel Honeybee, a novel inspired by Picnic at Hanging Rock and Laura Elvery's homage to women scientists.
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Brexit and small town murder with Nick Hornby and Jane Harper from 2020-09-28T10:05
Nick Hornby on the Brexit vote and writing diversity, Jane Harper's take on crime writing success and Campbell Whyte's massive graphic novel project.
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Love, friendship and octopuses with Andrew O'Hagan and Erin Hortle from 2020-09-21T10:05
Andrew O'Hagan's latest novel Mayflies, debut author Imbi Neeme and Erin Hortle's octopus encounter.
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History near and far with Caoilinn Hughes and Jock Serong from 2020-09-14T10:05
Caoilinn Hughes' deep dive into the 2008 Irish financial crisis and Jock Serong's investigation of a 19th century shipwreck.
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Stories of love, pain and history with John Boyne and Jing-Jing Lee from 2020-09-07T10:05
John Boyne's novel that spans 2000 years, a debut novel about growing up Guyanese in Australia and Jing-Jing Lee on her novel about the Japanese occupation of Singapore.
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Revealing truths with Elizabeth Strout and Frances Cha from 2020-08-31T10:05
Elizabeth Strout on Olive Kitteridge, the writer's room of fantasy author Juliet Mariller and Frances Cha's book about young women of Seoul.
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Daring debuts with Charlie Kaufman and Jessie Tu from 2020-08-24T10:05
American screenwriter Charlie Kaufman pivots to the novel and Australian Jessie Tu's bold debut.
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Predicting a pandemic with Lawrence Wright from 2020-08-17T10:05
Lawrence Wright on his novel The End of October about a pandemic that starts in Asia and sweeps the world in 2020.
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Stardom in the spotlight with Anne Enright from 2020-08-10T10:05
Anne Enright's novel about the theatre, authors on writing the difficult second novel and Tommy Wieringa's obsession with small villages.
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Love and Les Mis with Roddy Doyle and Kester Grant from 2020-08-03T10:05
Irish novelist Roddy Doyle on Love, Vogel winner KM Kruimink has a writer’s hotline and Les Misérables inspired fantasy fiction.
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Kate Grenville and Julie Janson's different takes on Australian history from 2020-07-27T10:05
Two novelists, one Indigenous and one non-Indigenous, talk about the same period of Australia's colonial history.
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Music and language with David Mitchell and Tara June Winch from 2020-07-20T10:05
David Mitchell celebrates the power of music in Utopia Avenue, Jane Austen inspired fiction and Tara June Winch, winner of the 2020 Miles Franklin Award.
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Pandemics and ponzi schemes with Emily St John Mandel from 2020-07-13T10:05
Emily St John Mandel on The Glass Hotel and pandemics in fiction, a preview of the Miles Franklin shortlist and Ronnie Scott on his debut The Adversary.
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Masterclass with Tim Winton, Arundhati Roy, Michael Ondaatje and more from 2020-07-06T10:05
Some of the biggest names from the writing world share their top writing tips.
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Striving for better with Richard Ford and Jacqueline Woodson from 2020-06-29T10:05
Richard Ford's love of the Irish, Wai Chim and Melanie Cheng have a writers' hotline session and Jacqueline Woodson's growing list of awards.
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Writing and representation with Angie Cruz, C Pam Zhang, Omar Sakr and Michelle Law from 2020-06-22T10:05
Three books that explore the world through the eyes of minorities and outsiders: Angie Cruz on Dominicana, After Australia anthology and C Pam Zhang's alternative version of the American West.
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A talking mammoth steals the show from 2020-06-15T10:05
Meet Celeste Ng author of Little Fires Everywhere and Mammut, the talking fossil, and hear from prominent Australian authors on the future after Corona virus.
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Bernardine Evaristo's win for experimental writers from 2020-06-08T10:05
Bernardine Evaristo on her Booker winning novel, John Burnside shares the power of poetry and Lauren Chater's Gulliver's Wife.
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Help and hope with Mitch Albom, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Ellen van Neerven from 2020-06-01T10:05
Mitch Albom on writing a serialised novel, Munanjali author Ellen van Neerven has a hotline with Yankunytjatjara poet Ali Cobby Eckermann and Canadian author Zalika Reid-Benta's debut novel.
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Curtis Sittenfeld's second novel about a First Lady from 2020-05-25T10:05
Curtis Sittenfeld on Hillary Clinton in Rodham, father and daughter writers Peter and Anna Goldsworthy, Mirandi Riwoe's novel set on the Queensland goldfields.
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Max Barry's alien story for grown ups from 2020-05-18T10:05
Max Barry's latest novel, a science fiction thriller called Providence, Covid 19 impacts on the book industry and Booker International shortlisted Australian author Shokoofeh Azar.
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Breaking the silence with Candace Bushnell and Carmen Maria Machado from 2020-05-11T10:05
Candace Bushnell's Rules for Being a Girl, Carmen Maria Machado's inventive memoir, Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer winning novel and Danielle Binks asks for writing advice from Sally Rippin.
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Bringing back Neanderthals in fiction from 2020-05-04T10:05
James Bradley and Donna Mazza on resurrecting Neanderthals in fiction, prolific American crime writer David Baldacci, and Vivian Pham's debut at 19.
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Fighting for New York with NK Jemisin from 2020-04-27T10:05
Hugo Award winning novelist NK Jemisin on her prescient novel The City We Became, Angela Savage on being an ethical writer, and thoughts on the distracted reader.
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Record breaking author Jokha Alharthi from 2020-04-20T10:05
Omani writer, Jokha Alharthi's record breaking career, fantasy author Lian Hearn's retirement and the longest running book club in Australia.
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Love and memory with Howard Jacobson, Rebecca Makkai and Tony Birch from 2020-04-13T10:05
Booker winner Howard Jacobson's latest, Pulitzer finalist Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers and Tony Birch's The White Girl.
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Who will win the Stella Prize? from 2020-04-06T10:05
A look a the Stella prize shortlist, Sebastian Barry's follow up to Days Without End and The Dictionary of Lost Words, a moving debut.
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Fairy tales and fiction collide from 2020-03-30T10:05
Award winning American author Ann Patchett on wicked stepmothers, Intan Paramaditha's choose your own adventure, and can machines read?
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Writing in the time of coronavirus from 2020-03-23T10:00
Feel like you've just stepped out of a dystopian novel? We ask writers around the world how they're faring and can reading contagion lit help in times like these?
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Writers draw on generational knowledge from 2020-03-16T10:00
Award winning memoirist and pianist Anna Goldworthy's foray into fiction, twice Booker shortlisted novelist Chigozie Obioma, and Charlotte Wood gives writing advice.
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Muscogee Creek Nation poet Joy Harjo from 2020-03-09T10:05
The 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, Joy Harjo belongs to the Muscogee Creek Nation and is also a musician and playwright.
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Hilary Mantel and Eimear McBride experiment with language and tradition from 2020-03-02T10:00
Hilary Mantel's very long and lauded trilogy of Thomas Cromwell, next to the very slender Eimear McBride novel which pushes the boundaries of form and style.
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Power of place in fiction from 2020-02-24T10:00
Authors Julia Phillips, H.M. Naqvi and Pitchaya Sudbanthad take us to Bangkok, Karachi and the Russian Far East.
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Women, murder and menace in Evie Wyld’s gothic novel from 2020-02-17T10:00
Three generations of women face the threat of violent and predatory men in Miles Franklin winner Evie Wyld’s new novel, The Bass Rock.
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Looking to the future with William Gibson from 2020-02-10T10:00
Why is founding father of cyberpunk, William Gibson, worried about the future?
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Future of trees with Canadian Writer Michael Christie from 2020-02-03T10:00
Greenwood is a sprawling epic about trees, families and climate change.
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Finding the right words from 2020-01-27T10:00
Australian author Karen Brooks on being called a witch, Rodney Hall's favourite dictionary and Jamaican writer Curdella Forbes' creole infused fiction.
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Finding home in times of exile from 2020-01-20T10:00
Isabel Allende asks where she belongs, writers respond to the bushfire crisis and finding Anne Bronte 200 years after her birth.
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Retelling Pericles with Ali Smith and Mark Haddon from 2020-01-13T10:05
The two British authors have used elements of Shakespeare's tale in their latest novel. Christos Tsiolkas has chosen a different source: St Paul.
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Siri Hustvedt makes it in New York from 2020-01-06T10:05
She brings her history as a struggling young writer in the big city to her latest novel Memories of the Future.
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Dreams, sleep, and nightmares in fiction and writing from 2019-12-30T10:05
Writers Jasper Fforde, Karen Thompson Walker and Krissy Kneen explore the connection between dreams and fiction in a panel discussion from the Brisbane Writers Festival.
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How to craft a killer beginning, ending, and character from 2019-12-23T10:05
Authors Balli Kaur Jaswal, Markus Zusak and Amy Sackville compare notes on the writing process.
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A Booker shortlist special from 2019-12-16T10:05
Salman Rushdie, Elif Shafak, and Lucy Ellman join the party.
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Debut writers series: Invisible Boys by Holden Sheppard from 2019-12-12T14:00
A rough and raw account of three teenage boys' struggle with their sexuality and the pervasive homophobia in their regional town.
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The Great Debate — is a writer's only responsibility to their art? from 2019-12-09T10:05
William Faulkner thought so. Katherine Colette, Robert Lukins, and Jock Serong face Wayne Macauley, Melanie Cheng, and Angela Savage to decide.
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From one poet to another from 2019-12-02T10:05
Peter Goldsworthy remembers his friend Clive James, and Paul Kelly discusses (and sings) his anthology of his favourite poems.
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Vale Clive James from 2019-11-29T14:30
The writer, critic, and broadcaster spoke in 2015 about his illness and how his writing was flourishing.
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On the case with Michael Connelly from 2019-11-25T10:05
When crime fiction is about more than murder: LA author Michael Connelly, and Australian crime writers Sulari Gentill and Robert Gott on their tour in the US.
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Dear Diary, from Helen Garner from 2019-11-11T10:05
She burned her earlier diaries, and now she's published others in Yellow Notebook.
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A game of Pachinko with Min Jin Lee from 2019-11-04T10:05
Plus, Lucy Ellman finishes a sentence in Ducks, Newburyport.
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Debut writers series: A Constant Hum by Alice Bishop from 2019-10-31T13:30
After losing her family home in the Black Saturday bushfires, Alice Bishop was compelled to write about the many ways people were impacted by the event.
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Christos Tsiolkas on Christianity from 2019-10-28T10:05
Plus, Christos joins The Pillars' author Peter Polites on sexuality and class, and Garth Nix's Angel Mage.
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Charlotte Wood on getting older from 2019-10-21T10:05
Plus, Charlotte joins Debra Adelaide to talk about the writing process, and Favel Parrett on There Was Still Love.
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Booker-shortlisted author Elif Shafak from 2019-10-14T10:05
Plus, love and science in the Nazi era with Heather Morris (The Tattooist of Auschwitz) and Leah Kaminsky (The Hollow Bones) in conversation at Queenscliffe Literary Festival.
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Debut writers series: Lucky Ticket by Joey Bui from 2019-10-10T13:30
Joey Bui's short story collection features a diverse range of experiences with displacement and exile.
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Your Booker Prize 2019 form guide from 2019-10-08T14:30
In this podcast special, Sarah speaks to The Bookshelf's Kate Evans about this year's Booker shortlist.
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Elliot Perlman interrogates the pain of work from 2019-10-07T10:05
Plus, Indonesian poet Norman Erikson Pasaribu and translator Tiffany Tsao, and bestselling "tragic romance" author Paullina Simons.
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Heather Rose's burning political fiction from 2019-09-30T10:05
Plus, Lynley Dodd on Hairy Maclary, and how does the film adaptation of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch hold up to the novel?
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Ann Weisgarber on kindness and the intimacy of glovemaking from 2019-09-23T10:05
Plus, Max Porter's dark woodland spirit tells a story of England's present and past in Lanny.
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Salman Rushdie plays with Quichotte from 2019-09-09T10:05
Plus, The Testaments' broken embargo, and Kate Forsyth's Blue Rose.
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The late Andrew McGahan on his final novel from 2019-09-02T10:05
Plus: Claire G Coleman explores the Stolen Generations through intergalactic warfare, and Joanne Ramos fictionalises surrogacy in her native Philippines.
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Debut writers series: My Father's Shadow by Jannali Jones from 2019-08-29T17:03
18 year-old Kaya is in danger — and she doesn't know who she can trust.
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Téa Obreht reveals what camels have to do with Route 66 from 2019-08-26T10:05
Plus, Sisonke Msimang and Rebecca Carroll discuss extracts of Toni Morrison's writing, and Lucy Treloar's second novel Wolfe Island.
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Why Philippa Gregory doesn't care for kings from 2019-08-19T10:05
Plus, Jane Sullivan revisits her childhood favourites in Storytime, and Tishani Doshi on her poetry and latest novel Small Days and Nights.
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Dominic Smith on the birth of silent film from 2019-08-12T10:05
In The Electric Hotel, Dominic Smith resurrects the history of silent film and delves into the passion of the early innovators.
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Melissa Lucashenko wins the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award from 2019-08-05T10:00
Plus David Nicholls' latest romance Sweet Sorrow and what happens when we read with Belinda Jack.
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Booker winner Howard Jacobson's latest novel about nonagenarian love from 2019-07-29T10:00
Plus meet the six Australian authors shortlisted for this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award and Slaughterhouse Five turns 50.
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50th anniversary of Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather from 2019-07-22T10:00
Plus Michael Robotham's latest crime novel and the Cost of Art series.
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Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead's searing new novel from 2019-07-15T10:00
Plus Australian author Tara June Winch and Irish writer Adrian McKinty
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Miles Franklin shortlist — A Sand Archive by Gregory Day from 2019-07-12T10:20:12
Gregory Day's nominated novel explores the writer's ongoing fascination with Victoria's Great Ocean Road.
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Miles Franklin shortlist — The Death of Noah Glass by Gail Jones from 2019-07-12T10:15:33
Art historian Noah Glass has been found dead — floating in the pool of his Sydney apartment complex.
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Miles Franklin shortlist — The Lebs by Michael Mohammed Ahmad from 2019-07-12T10:10
As a lover of literary fiction, Bani Adam is unique in the sea of hyper masculinity at his school, Punchbowl Boys High, Western Sydney.
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Miles Franklin shortlist — Dyschronia by Jennifer Mills from 2019-07-12T10:05
What if you woke up to find that the sea had disappeared?
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Miles Franklin shortlist — A Stolen Season by Rodney Hall from 2019-07-12T10:00
Power, exploitation and Australia’s involvement in the 2003 Iraq War.
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Miles Franklin shortlist — Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko from 2019-07-12T08:55
The Miles Franklin-shortlisted novel started its life as a project about 'Aboriginal hillbillies'.
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Debut writers series: The Nancys by R. W. R. McDonald from 2019-07-11T12:15
A murder in a small town is investigated by a determined 11 year-old girl, her uncle, and his boyfriend.
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Booker winner Ben Okri on spiders and freedom from 2019-07-08T10:00
Plus we explore the writer's room of Perth based Irish writer Dervla McTiernan.
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Ali Smith on the dark side of spring from 2019-07-01T10:05
Plus, Lydia Kiesling, and a rummage through the ACU's historical children's book collection.
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Tony Birch on loss, strength, and racist policies of the 1960s from 2019-06-24T10:05
Plus, Armando Lucas Correa on WW2 novel The Daughter's Tale, and Erin Gough and Omar Sakr on queer YA anthology Kindred.
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Amitav Ghosh on links between Bengal and Venice from 2019-06-17T10:05
Plus, Geoffrey Chaucer's life re-examined, and Jeannie Baker on collage.
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Mark Haddon gets into the weird zone from 2019-06-10T10:05
Plus, The Letters of Sylvia Plath and a history of silliness — from Aristophanes to Roald Dahl.
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Going big with James Ellroy, Andrea Goldsmith and Trent Dalton from 2019-06-03T10:05
LA Quartet author James Ellroy teaches Claire the right way to say his new book title This Storm, Andrea Goldsmith on her latest novel Invented Lives, and Trent Dalton on the phenomenal success of ...
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Siri Hustvedt on why there's no such thing as pure memoir, the art of translation, Chris Womersley from 2019-05-27T10:05
American author Siri Hustvedt on blending fiction and memoir in her latest novel Memories of the Future, Argentinean author Mariana Dimópolus and her translator Alice Whitmore, and Australian autho...
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T.C. Boyle fictionalises tripping with Timothy Leary, Rohan Wilson's Daughter of Bad Times, Alpacas with Maracas at National Simultaneous Storytime from 2019-05-20T10:05
T.C. Boyle on Outside Looking In, Australian author Rohan Wilson looks to the future, and author/illustrator Matt Cosgrove and Australian Library and Information Association CEO Sue McKerracher on ...
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Ian McEwan's alternative vision of 1982, Melanie Cheng's Room for a Stranger, and Book to Film: The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir from 2019-05-13T10:05
Man Booker award-winning author Ian McEwan on his latest novel Machines Like Me, Australian writer and doctor Melanie Cheng on Room for a Stranger, and Alicia Sometimes and Thomas Caldwell are back...
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The Book Show Special: Graeme Simsion at SWF from 2019-05-06T10:05
The bestselling Australian author discusses the third book in the Rosie series, The Rosie Result, at Sydney Writers' Festival.
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Debut writers series: Fusion by Kate Richards from 2019-05-02T13:45
Conjoined twins, Sea and Serene, are content with their life until a stranger comes into their world and disrupts all they know.
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Rebecca Makkai's novel about AIDS, University of Canberra Book of the Year and Wayne Macauley's latest satire from 2019-04-29T10:00
Rebecca Makkai's novel The Great Believers about AIDS, The Natural Way of Things is the University of Canberra's 2019 Book of the Year and Wayne Macauley's novel about Simpson and his donkey.
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Conversations with Andrew Miller and Carrie Cox at Perth Writers'Week from 2019-04-22T10:00
British author Andrew Miller on his historical novel Now We Shall Be Entirely Free and debut Australian author Carrie Cox on Afternoons With Harvey Beam.
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Joanne Harris on Chocolat, unstoppable writer Jackie French and Vicki Laveau-Harvie, 2019 Stella prize winner from 2019-04-15T10:00
English author Joanne Harris on her fourth Chocolat book, Australian writer Jackie French on how she writes for children, teens and adults, and Vicki Laveau-Harvie, the 2019 Stella prize winner for...
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Melina Marchetta's updated Saving Francesca, Stella Prize wrap, Saul Bellow biography and short story snacks from 2019-04-08T10:00
Australian author Melina Marchetta's novel The Place on Dalhousie, Stella Prize wrap, Saul Bellow biography with Zachary Leader and the short story vending machine.
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Yassmin Abdel-Magied's first novel, Karen Joy Fowler on writers'retreats and Mark Brandi's new novel from 2019-04-01T10:00
Yassmin Abdel-Magied takes a dives in to YA fiction, US bestseller author Karen Joy Fowler on the benefits of writers' retreats and Australian writer Mark Brandi on his new novel, The Rip.
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Italian author Rosella Postorino, Australian author Peggy Frew and writers'routines with Madeleine Dore and Marieke Hardy from 2019-03-25T10:00
Rosella Postorino's At the Wolf's Table, inspired by Hitler's food tasters, Peggy Frew's novel about a lost girl called Islands, and writers' routines with Madeleine Dore and Marieke Hardy.
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Stella prize shortlist: The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie from 2019-03-21T04:30
This memoir about the author's dysfunctional family
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Stella Prize shortlist: Melissa Lucashenko's Too Much Lip from 2019-03-21T04:15
Melissa Lucashenko's Stella-shortlisted novel started its life as a project about 'Aboriginal hillbillies'.
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Stella prize shortlist: Pink Mountain on Locust Island by Jamie Marina Lau from 2019-03-21T04:10
Jamie Marina Lau started writing her debut novel when she was 19, by the time she was 21, it was published.
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Stella prize shortlist: Jenny Ackland's Little Gods from 2019-03-21T04:00:04
Little Gods features 12 year old Olive who thinks of herself as clever, brave and sure and is constantly unsatisfied by the explanations of adults.
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Stella Prize shortlist: Enza Gandolfo's The Bridge from 2019-03-21T04:00
Enza Gandolfo's Stella-shortlisted novel was inspired by the real-life West Gate Bridge disaster, which killed 35 people in 1970s Melbourne.
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Stella Prize shortlist: Maria Tumarkin's Axiomatic from 2019-03-21T04:00
The Stella judges say Tumarkin's book "pushes the boundaries of non-fiction so far out that they will never recover".
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Australian writers Carrie Tiffany and Gerald Murnane, and celebrating 80 years of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep from 2019-03-18T10:00
Stella prize winning author Carrie Tiffany on her latest Exploded View, Gerald Murnane on the release of A Season on Earth in full and the book to film adaptation of The Big Sleep.
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Adelaide Writers'Week — Mohammed Hanif and Esi Edugyan from 2019-03-11T10:05
Guests of Adelaide Writers' Week on their latest books: Pakistani author Mohammed Hanif speaks to Claire Nichols at the festival about his novel Red Birds and Esi Edugyan on her 2018 Booker shortli...
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Booker winner Ben Okri from Adelaide Writers Week and Irish crime writer Dervla McTiernan from 2019-03-04T10:00
Booker winner Ben Okri talks about his latest book The Freedom Artist at Adelaide Writers Week and we explore the writer's room of Perth based Irish writer Dervla McTiernan.
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Finding the first line with Perth Festival Writers Week guests Balli Kaur Jaswal, Markus Zusak and Amy Sackville from 2019-02-25T10:00
Authors Balli Kaur Jaswal, Markus Zusak and Amy Sackville compare notes on the writing process.
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Debut writes series: Molly Murn's Heart of the Grass Tree from 2019-02-21T15:30
Set on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, this debut novel alternates between contemporary and historical narratives.
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British crime writer Lynda La Plante, 80th anniversary of The Grapes of Wrath, Australian author Debra Adelaide from 2019-02-18T10:00
Award winning British crime writer Lynda La Plante on Widow's Revenge, The Bikes of Wrath documentary about retracing the Joad's trip across America in The Grapes of Wrath, and Australian writer De...
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Kristen Roupenian's viral Cat Woman story, Gabrielle Carey on Ivan Southall, and the juvenilia of Bram Presser and Katherine Collette from 2019-02-11T10:00
American author Kristen Roupenian's book of short stories including the New Yorker story, Cat Woman, that went viral, Puberty Blues author Gabrielle Carey on Australian young adult writer Ivan Sout...
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Vale Andrew McGahan, Angie Thomas and biography of Atticus Finch — Update from 2019-02-04T10:00
Remembering Miles Franklin author Andrew McGahan, bestselling YA author Angie Thomas on her new novel The Come Up and the origins of Harper Lee's famous character Atticus Finch.
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Liane Moriarty, Maxine Beneba Clarke and Melissa Lucashenko from 2019-01-28T10:00
An all Australian show with Liane Moriarty's Nine Perfect Strangers, Maxine Beneba Clarke's latest picture book and Melissa Lucashenko's woman on a motorbike.
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US writers George Saunders and Susan Orlean and Australian author Alice Nelson from 2019-01-21T10:00
Man Booker winner George Saunders talks about his short story Fox 8, fellow New Yorker writer Susan Orlean on the importance of libraries and Claire Nichols visits the home of Australian author Ali...
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RN Summer: Tim Winton, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Josephine Wilson, history of the blurb and an ode to grammar from 2019-01-15T10:00
A look at toxic masculinity from two different writers, Tim Winton and Michael Mohammed Ahmad, inside the writing room of Miles Franklin winner Josephine Wilson, a history of the blurb and an ode t...
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RN Summer: Write What You Know debate from 2019-01-08T10:00
In an old fashioned debate, six Australian authors battle out the proposition 'write what you know': Mark Brandi, Claire Coleman, Bram Presser, Jane Rawson, Graeme Simsion and Michelle Aung Thin.
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RN Summer: Spies, war and subterfuge with Michael Ondaatje, Kate Atkinson and Stanley Johnson from 2019-01-01T10:00
Booker winner Michael Ondaatje on his latest novel Warlight, Kate Atkinson's recurring fascination with World War II in Transcription and former politician Stanley Johnson on his "what if" novel Ko...
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RN Summer: Man Booker winner Arundhati Roy, Christopher de Hamel and illuminated manuscripts, and a librarian's letters to books from 2018-12-25T10:00
Man Booker winner Arundhati Roy on The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Christopher de Hamel introduces some remarkable manuscripts, comedian Kirsty Webeck gives a breakdown of Emily Bronte's Wutherin...
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Rodney Hall at the Bendigo Writers Festival from 2018-12-19T13:15
Two times Miles Franklin winner talks about his latest novel, A Stolen Season, about the morality of the Iraq War.
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RN Summer: Amy Bloom, Tayari Jones and umbrellas in fiction from 2018-12-18T10:00
Amy Bloom reimagines the life of Eleanor Roosevelt, Tayari Jones and An American Marriage and umbrellas in fiction with Marion Rankine.
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William Boyd, the apostrophe wars, bookseller Elias Greig and kids'reads from 2018-12-11T10:00
Scottish author William Boyd on his latest novel Love is Blind — an homage to Anton Chekhov, the apostrophe wars with Tiger Webb and Louisa Fitzhardinge, bookseller Elias Greig on his funny encount...
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Debut writers series: The Killing of Louisa by Janet Lee from 2018-12-07T13:15
Louisa Collins was hanged in 1888 for murdering her husband...she was tried for killing the other one too. Janet Lee gets inside her head in her debut novel.
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Kristina Olsson, Steve Hawke and Graeme Base from 2018-12-04T10:00
An all-Australian show: Kristina Olsson talks about Shell, her novel about the Sydney Opera House, Steve Hawke invites us in to the garage where he writes, and children's author Graeme Base explain...
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Lee Child on Jack Reacher, mother and daughter Kirsty and Ruby Murray and Toni Jordan's The Fragments from 2018-11-27T10:05
Bestselling author Lee Child on why he keeps returning to Jack Reacher in his fiction, mother and daughter Kirsty and Ruby Murray on being writers and related, and Toni Jordan's fifth novel The Fra...
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Debut writers series: Pink Mountain on Locust Island by Jamie Marina Lau from 2018-11-23T13:15
Pink Mountain on Locust Island is the first time Jamie Marina Lau has written a story featuring a character like her, with a Cantonese background.
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Indian writers Shobhaa De and Balli Kaur Jaswal from the Jaipur Literature Festival, Adelaide from 2018-11-20T10:00
Indian writers Shobhaa De and Balli Kaur Jaswal talk about sex, repression, love and literature from the Jaipur Literature Festival, Adelaide.
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Markus Zusak, Gary Shteyngart and the diaries of Jenny Ackland and William McInnes from 2018-11-13T10:00
Markus Zusak on his new novel Bridge of Clay, Gary Shteyngart's novel about America called Lake Success and dip into the bad diaries of writers Jenny Ackland and William McInnes.
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Kate Atkinson, Tara Moss with Melissa Lucashenko and John Purcell, Shoes in Fairy tales and World War One lingo from 2018-11-06T10:00
UK author Kate Atkinson on her novel Transcription, Tara Moss speaks with authors Melissa Lucashenko and John Purcell about crafting character, we examine the importance of shoes in fairy tales and...
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Maxine Beneba Clarke, Tara Moss with Kathryn Fox and Krissy Kneen and Graham Norton from 2018-10-30T10:00
An examination of race in the playground with award winning Australian writer Maxine Beneba Clarke, Tara Moss with Kathryn Fox and Krissy Kneen in the craft of writing series and celebrity Irish co...
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Debut writers series: Katherine Collette's The Helpline from 2018-10-26T14:15
Uplit is a new genre of joyful fiction and The Helpline is definitely an example.
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Andrew Sean Greer, Arts News, Tara Moss writing series, and Perth author Natasha Lester from 2018-10-23T10:00
Pulitzer prize winning author Andrew Sean Greer on his novel Less, Arts News, bestselling novelist Tara Moss speaks to Australian writers for our new The Craft of Writing series and Claire Nichols ...
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Writers as activists Hannah Kent and Zana Fraillon, Arts News, David Malouf, crime novelists Emma Viskic and Chris Hammer. from 2018-10-16T10:00
Australian writers Hannah Kent and Zana Fraillon have spoken out against the detention of children on the island of Nauru, Arts News, David Malouf and his latest collection of poetry An Open Book, ...
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French author Marie Darrieussecq, Arts News, sisters Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell on writing and writer-director Shirley Barrett's latest novel. from 2018-10-09T10:00
Award winning French author Marie Darrieussecq on her latest novel Our Life in the Forest, Arts News, sisters Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell on writing and family, and writer-director Shirley Bar...
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Rosalie Ham on The Year of the Farmer, Oscar Wilde's secret, and in the writer's room of Carrie Cox from 2018-10-02T10:00
Australian author Rosalie Ham on her latest novel The Year of the Farmer, Arts News, the US tour that made Oscar Wilde, and in the writer's room of debut Perth author, Carrie Cox.
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UK author Pat Barker, writing from the margins and book to film adaptation Ladies in Black from 2018-09-25T10:00
Man Booker winning author Pat Barker on her retelling of Homer's Illiad The Silence of the Girls, stories and memoir by writers from marginalised backgrounds and we review the book to film adaptati...
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Liane Moriarty on Nine Perfect Strangers, spring and renewal with poet David Mason, Australian Reading Hour and creative couples Chris Wallace-Crabbe and Kristin Headlam from 2018-09-18T10:00
Bestselling Australian author Liane Moriarty on her latest novel Nine Perfect Strangers, we celebrate spring as the season of renewal with US poet David Mason, how to get involved with Australian R...
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Celebrating 100 years of The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay, a visit to author Robert Drewe's home in Fremantle WA and YA author Veronica Roth from 2018-09-11T10:00
Celebrating 100 years of The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay with his granddaughter Helen Glad and children's book illustrator Julie Vivas, a visit to Australian author Robert Drewe's home in Frema...
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The legacy of Peter Corris, the role of writers'festivals and UK author Matt Haig from 2018-09-04T10:00
The legacy of Australian godfather of crime, Peter Corris, who's died at 76, the the role of writers' festivals in Australia and bestselling British author Matt Haig on how writing saved his life, ...
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Comedians v Classics bonus episode: Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre from 2018-08-31T14:15
A double dose of the windy moors in our Comedians v Classics series with Australian comedians Louisa Fitzhardinge and Kirsty Webeck taking on Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre by Charl...
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The 2018 Miles Franklin winner Michelle de Kretser, Irvine Welsh on Dead Men's Trousers and the Queen of Teen, Juno Dawson. from 2018-08-28T10:00
The 2018 Miles Franklin winner Michelle de Kretser talks about her winning novel The Life to Come, Irvine Welsh on his Trainspotting characters Renton, Begbie, Sick Boy and Spud who appear again i...
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Eddie Ayres on his first children's book, the Miles Franklin shortlist and US literary artist Yona Harvey from 2018-08-21T10:00
We're celebrating Children's Book Week, as Eddie Ayres talks about his first foray into children's books with Sonam and the Silence, and Perth primary school children share their favourite books. A...
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Meg Wolitzer on The Female Persuasion, Arts News, VS Naipaul, journalists turned novelists, Australian Booktubers from 2018-08-14T10:00
US writer Meg Wolitzer on her novel The Female Persuasion, Arts News, Vale VS Naipaul, journalists turned novelists Megan Goldin and Ben Doherty on throwing away facts for fiction, Australian Bookt...
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Debut writers series: Robert Lukins'The Everlasting Sunday from 2018-08-10T14:00
"There are things more miraculous than love." This is the first line of Robert Lukins' debut novel The Everlasting Sunday, set during the Big Freeze in 1960s England.
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Emily Rodda on her novel His Name Was Walter, science in fiction with Angela Meyer and Margaret Morgan and why study creative writing? from 2018-08-07T10:00
Australian author of children's and young adult fiction, Emily Rodda, on her latest novel His Name Was Walter, the latest in book news, two novels that explore the near future in neuroscience and b...
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Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Emily Bronte, the creator of Wuthering Heights from 2018-07-31T10:00
It's the 200th anniversary of Emily Bronte's birth, so we're embracing the windy moors of Yorkshire for this special episode dedicated to all things Emily Bronte.
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Ryan O'Neill's The Drover's Wives, Charmaine Papertalk Green and John Kinsella's poetry in conversation, and a dark tour of gothic literature from 2018-07-24T10:00
Ryan O'Neill explains why he wrote 99 different versions of Henry Lawson's short story The Drover's Wife. Also, poets Charmaine Papertalk Green and John Kinsella explore colonisation, mining and fa...
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Booker winner Michael Ondaatje, Shaun Tan, book news, and story time for adults from 2018-07-17T10:00
Booker winner Michael Ondaatje on Warlight, Shaun Tan tackles office life in his book Cicada, book news and the story time for adults with author Jane Rawson.
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Melissa Lucashenko, AJ Betts, prison program Read Along Dads, Roald Dahl's dark side from 2018-07-10T10:00
Melissa Lucashenko's novel Too Much Lip, a glimpse into the writing room of AJ Betts, Read Along Dads is a reading program for fathers in prison and the problematic literary hero, Roald Dahl.
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Man Booker winner Arundhati Roy, Christopher de Hamel and illuminated manuscripts, Comedians v Classics and a librarian's letters to books from 2018-07-03T10:00
Man Booker winner Arundhati Roy on The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Christopher de Hamel introduces some remarkable manuscripts, comedian Emily Tresidder gives a breakdown of Oscar Wilde's The Imp...
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Debut writers series: Robbie Arnott on Flames from 2018-06-29T15:00
How an exploration of grief led Tasmanian author Robbie Arnott to create a strange novel featuring a chorus of voices, including a water rat.
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Amy Bloom on White Houses, the science of plot, book news, and a cabaret performance from Comma Sutra from 2018-06-26T10:00
US author Amy Bloom on her latest novel White Houses. Plus US cognitive scientist Vera Tobin on the science of plot and why we like surprises in fiction, book news, and Louisa Fitzhardinge performs...
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Fantasy author Raymond E Feist, sisters Rozanna and Kate Lilley, Australian authors Nick Earls and Toni Jordan and Alexis Okewow from 2018-06-19T10:00
Fantasy author Raymond E Feist returns with the beginning of a new saga King of Ashes, sisters Rozanna and Kate Lilley discuss the legacy of their mother Dorothy Hewett's bohemian lifestyle, we eav...
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Debut writers series: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland from 2018-06-15T15:00
Holly Ringland learnt to read when she was three so perhaps it's no surprise she's now written a novel. In our debut writers podcast series Holly tells us about The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.
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Historian turned novelist Peter Cochrane, Nick Earls in the Green Room with John Birmingham, Suneeta Peres da Costa's novel Saudade and Maryam Azam's poetry The Hijab Files. from 2018-06-12T10:00
Historian turned novelist Peter Cochrane on his book The The Making of Martin Sparrow, Nick Earls in the Green Room with fellow Brisbanite John Birmingham, Australian author Suneeta Peres da Costa'...
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Debut writers series: Tracy Sorensen's The Lucky Galah from 2018-06-08T15:00
The first in our special series on Australian debut writers beginning with Tracy Sorensen's The Lucky Galah.
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The Great Debate: Write What You Know from 2018-06-05T10:05
In an old fashioned debate, six Australian authors battle out the proposition 'write what you know': Mark Brandi, Claire Coleman, Bram Presser, Jane Rawson, Graeme Simsion and Michelle Aung Thin.
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Booker winner Howard Jacobson on Philip Roth, video games in English class, Nick Earls with Anita Heiss from 2018-05-29T10:05
Booker winner Howard Jacobson reflects on the writing of US author Philip Roth who died last week, we ask should video games be taught in English class and in our Green Room series Australian autho...
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Bonus episode! Comedians v Classics with Craig Quartermaine and Emily Tresidder from 2018-05-25T15:30
Have you read Cormac McCarthy's The Road or The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde? Just in case you haven't, two comedians give you the main plot points so you can fake it in polite conver...
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Tayari Jones on An American Marriage, Nick Earls with Cory Doctorow on Green Room gossip, Eleanor Limprecht's novel The Passengers, and American linguist Ben Zimmer on the passing of Tom Wolfe from 2018-05-22T10:05
An American Marriage by US writer Tayari Jones, has won a highly influential fan, with Oprah Winfrey adding it to her Book Club list for 2018, the first in our new Green Room series in which Austra...
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Jane Harper and Paul Lynch discuss their writing careers, and Emily Maguire on'problematic hero'Graham Greene from 2018-05-15T10:00
Jane Harper discusses her enviable transition from journalist to bestselling novelist. Also, Emily Maguire on how we can relate to problematic literary heroes like Graham Greene, and Paul Lynch on ...
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Bonus episode! Comedians v Classics from 2018-05-11T03:30
In this bonus podcast, two comedians help you fake it with a couple of classics you might not have read (but think you should know about): Frankenstein and Charlotte's Web.
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Literature and the #metoo movement, Jesse Andrews and Munmun, Jenny Zhang's Sour Heart and the film adaptation of Tim Winton's Breath from 2018-05-08T10:00
The #metoo movement continues to resonate through the world of literature, with developments at the Sydney Writers' Festival and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Also, young adult author Jesse Andre...
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In the writer's room with Rodney Hall, musicians-turned-novelists Sally Seltmann and Peggy Frew, creative couple Tim Flannery and Kate Holden, and Jennifer Mills'new novel Dyschronia from 2018-05-01T10:00
Rodney Hall is one of Australian's most important - and unsung - writers. He takes Claire Nichols in to his writing room. Plus, Sally Seltmann and Peggy Frew on making the transition from music to ...
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Circe takes centre stage, Anzac books for kids, and the winner of the Vogel's Literary Award from 2018-04-24T10:00
Circe, from Homer's Odyssey, is thought to be the first witch in Western literature. In Madeline Miller's new novel, the sorceress takes centre stage. Also, picture books about World War One and th...
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Stella Prize winner Alexis Wright, male romance writers, Gail Jones on her new novel, and books for kids from 2018-04-17T10:00
Alexis Wright discusses her writing career and her Stella-prize winning novel Tracker. Also, Gail Jones on her new novel The Death of Noah Glass, male romance writers, and what kids are reading.
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Australian women writers in the 20th century, the Stella Prize shortlist, antipodean crime fiction, and the unsung art of indexing from 2018-04-10T10:00
We explore the vocations of 20th century writers Dorothy Hewett, Ruth Park, Gwen Harwood and Christina Stead. And while we're celebrating women writers, let's check in with the shortlisted authors ...
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Stanley Johnson's Kompromat, famous meals in literature, the Aurealis Awards, and what it takes to be a book critic from 2018-04-03T10:00
What if Russia orchestrated the Brexit vote? That's the question at the heart of Stanley Johnson's satiric, and sometimes prescient novel, Kompromat. Also, literary meals with Kate Young, what it t...
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Umbrellas in fiction, Alan Hollinghurst's The Sparsholt Affair, Gail Honeyman, and a musical treatment for Murray Bail's Eucalyptus from 2018-03-27T10:00
Alan Hollinghurst talks about his latest novel, The Sparsholt Affair. Also, Gail Honeyman on her hit debut novel Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fin...
Tim Winton's new novel, children's authors Alison Lester and Jane Godwin collaborate with kids, and Stefan Merrill Block from 2018-03-20T10:00
Tim Winton talks about place, masculinity, and his new novel, The Shepherd's Hut. Also, authors Alison Lester and Jane Godwin discuss how they work...
Remembering Peter Temple and Barbara Kingsolver at Adelaide Writers' Week from 2018-03-13T10:05
The legacy of crime writer Peter Temple and the award-winning author of The Lacuna, The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees talks about politics, f...
Michael Mohammed Ahmad's The Lebs, the rise of feminist fiction for kids, creative couples and lost Australian literature from 2018-03-06T10:05
Lebs by Michael Mohammed Ahmad is a novel set in Western Sydney that captures the culture of the fictional Punchbowl Boys High. Also, the discovery...
How 1922 changed literature, Ceridwen Dovey's new novel, in the writer's room with Josephine Wilson, and the history of the blurb from 2018-02-27T10:00
Bill Goldstein explains how the year 1922 shaped some of history's most prominent modernist writers - T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster and V...