Podcasts by The Bookshelf
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A Glasgow teenager, a Roman emperor and a sneaky revolutionary: new books by Douglas Stuart, Julian Barnes and Charmian Clift from 2022-04-16T10:05
Reading Douglas Stuart's Young Mungo, Julian Barnes' Elizabeth Finch and Charmian Clift's Sneaky Little Revolutions: Selected Essays with writers Nadia Wheatley and Ruth Wilson (The Jane Austen Rem...
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A snowy Tokyo, a haunted house and a cracked swimming pool: books by Jessica Au, John Darnielle and Julie Otsuka from 2022-04-09T10:05
Reading Jessica Au's Cold Enough for Snow, John Darnielle's Devil House and Julie Otsuka's The Swimmers with novelists Anna Downes and Diana Reid.
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The Book Club: reading New Zealand through Keri Hulmes'The Bone People + Lloyd Jones'The Fish from 2022-04-02T10:05
Children, violence, landscape, and powerful and strange writing: we're talking fiction from New Zealand with the director of Wellington's Verb Writers' Festival Claire Mabey and novelist Sam Coley....
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Mexico, dystopian exile, and Oz suburbia: new fiction from Fernanda Melchor, Toni Jordan and Tom Watson from 2022-03-26T10:05
Reading Mexican writer Fernanda Melchor's Paradais, Australian Toni Jordan's Dinner with the Schnabels and English debut novelist Tom Watson's Metronome
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Iceland, Nebraska and the Sunshine Coast: new fiction from Robert Lukins, Kári Gíslason and Harlan Coben from 2022-03-19T10:05
Reading Robert Lukins' Loveland, Kári Gíslason's The Sorrow Stone and Harlan Coben's The Match with crime writer Loraine Peck (The Second Son) and mediaeval Icelandic literature specialist Lisa Ben...
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New fiction from Ireland and New Zealand from 2022-03-12T10:05
Reading Irish novel The Colony by Audrey Magee, and two New Zealand novels, Becky Manawatu's Auē and Sue Orr's Loop Tracks, with guests publisher Jemma Birrell and novelist Lyn Yeowart
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The Book Club: Monica Ali's Brick Lane and Love Marriage from 2022-03-05T10:05
Reading Monica Ali's 2003 debut novel, Brick Lane and latest release, Love Marriage with guests writer Roanna Gonsalves and RN's Richard Aedy. Love, marriage, migration, displacement, drama, storyt...
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Book Club: Monica Ali's Brick Lane and Love Marriage from 2022-03-05T10:05
Reading Monica Ali's 2003 debut novel, Brick Lane and latest release, Love Marriage with guests writer Roanna Gonsalves and RN's Richard Aedy. Love, marriage, migration, displacement, drama, storyt...
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New fiction from Omar Sakr, Karen Joy Fowler and Aoife Clifford from 2022-02-26T10:05
Western Sydney, coastal Victoria and nineteenth-century America: reading Omar Sakr's Son of Sin, Karen Joy Fowler's Booth and Aoife Clifford's When We Fall with guests historian Ethan Blue and crim...
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Reading Korean history, fierce Italian parents and a theme park of funerary futures from 2022-02-19T10:05
Reading Sequoia Nagamatsu's How High We Go in the Dark, Juhea Kim's Beasts of a Little Land and Claudia Durastanti, Strangers I Know with guests Melissa Fulton from The Big Issue and literary studi...
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Reading our way to islands, monsters, balloons, snowscapes, heroes and more from 2022-02-12T10:05
Reading Emily Brugman's The Islands, Vanessa Len's Only a Monster and Hélène Gaudy's A World With No Shore (translated by Stephanie Smee) with writers Michelle Law and Molly Murn
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The Book Club: Rebecca and Rebecca from 2022-02-05T10:05
Reading Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel, Rebecca, and Graeme Macrae Burnet's Case Study (which includes a character in the mid 1960s who takes on a Rebecca persona in direct response to du Maurier's...
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Reading Hanya Yanagihara, Gary Shteyngart and Nikki May from 2022-01-29T10:05
Reading Hanya Yanigahara's To Paradise, Gary Shteyngart's Our Country Friends and Nikki May's Wahala with novelist and critic Jessie Tu and poet and performer Geoff Forrester (whose alter ego, Tug ...
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Pip Williams and The Dictionary of Lost Words from 2022-01-28T20:05
A special edition of The Bookshelf, with writer Pip Williams speaking to Kate about her career, research, year in Italy, and interest in the history of words and their visibility, leading to the no...
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Summer Reads: Hannah Kent, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Sunjeev Sahota and Aravind Adiga from 2022-01-21T12:05
Kate and Cassie read Hannah Kent's Devotion; RN's Daniel Browning reads Caleb Azumah Nelson's Open Water; novelist Rashida Murphy reads Sunjeev Sahota's China Room; and novelist Aravind Adiga on Au...
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The Bookshelf that Made Me: Siri Hustvedt&Jennifer Mills from 2022-01-20T17:12:13
Reading, writers, family, art and mentors in Siri Hustvedt's essay collection, Mothers, Fathers and Others; and dissipating ghosts, cities and stories in Jennifer Mills' The Airways
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Summer Reads: Patricia Lockwood, Ann Patchett, Simon Winchester, Suyi Davies Okungbowa and Jay Kristoff from 2022-01-14T12:05
Kate and Cassie read Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking About This; Eugen Bacon on Suyi Davies Okungbowa's Son of the Storm; a story from Ann Patchett's These Precious Days; Simon Winchester dis...
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The Bookshelf that Made Me: Tilly Lawless&Jon McGregor from 2022-01-13T11:05
Tilly Lawless on her debut novel Nothing but My Body, and her reading inspiration; and Jon McGregor on aphasia and Antarctica, in his Lean Fall Stand
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Summer Reads: James Ellroy, Jhumpa Lahiri, Guillermo Martinez and Charlotte McConaghy from 2022-01-07T12:05
Kate and Cassie on James Ellroy's Widespread Panic; Debra Oswald on Jhumpa Lahiri's Whereabouts; Robert Gott on Guillermo Martinez' The Oxford Brotherhood and Charlotte McConaghy with the Bookshelf...
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The Bookshelf that Made Me: R W R Mcdonald&Jacqueline Bublitz from 2022-01-06T11:05
Crime writers R W R McDonald (The Nancys, Nancy Business) and Jacqueline Bublitz (Before you Knew My Name) on the books that they are writing against, in concert with, inspired by, and so on (it's ...
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Summer Reading: a wild party, Beowulf, and Gillian Mears from 2021-12-31T12:05
Biographer Bernadette Brennan on why we should read and know Australian writer Gillian Mears; music writer Mark Mordue on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Malibu Rising, and mediaevalist Louise D'Arcens on a ...
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The Bookshelf that Made Me: Colm Tóibín and Emily Gale from 2021-12-30T11:05
A fictional biography of German Nobel Prize winning writer Thomas Manne (and his extraordinary family) by Irish writer Colm Tóibín, with The Magician; and a roadtrip across America in Emily Gale's ...
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Summer Reading: Jane Austen, Joan Silber, Kevin Barry and Elizabeth Strout from 2021-12-24T12:05
A new interview with Elizabeth Strout about Oh, William! and the Bookshelf that Made Her; and favourite review discussions from the year about Jane Austen, Joan Silber and Kevin Barry with readers ...
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The Bookshelf That Made Me: Sarah Winman and Nick Earls from 2021-12-23T11:05
Writers and their bookshelves. Sarah Winman's Still Life moves between England and Florence, while Nick Earls' Empires travels from Brisbane to Alaska, London, Vienna and Hong Kong. But what are th...
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The Bookshelf That Made Me: Ken Follett, Rose Tremain, Amie Kaufman&Jaclyn Moriarty from 2021-12-17T12:05
What are the books that have shaped these writers and (in particular) their latest works? Ken Follett, Rose Tremaine, Amie Kaufman & Jaclyn Moriarty
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Best Reads 2021 Part 2: General Adult Fiction from 2021-12-10T12:05
Reading recommendations from writer and critic Beejay Silcox, crime writer Christian White and memoirist Lech Blaine. What are the books they have especially admired this year?
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Claudia Karvan and the Books that Made Us: Pod Extra from 2021-12-09T03:05
Actor Claudia Karvan speaks to Kate Evans about her reading life and the Books That Made Us
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The Book Club: John Hughes'The Dogs + Kate Grenville's The Secret River from 2021-12-03T12:05
Reading John Hughes' The Dogs and Kate Grenville's The Secret River with historian David Hunt and writer and philosopher Michael McGirr
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Classic Australian Novels - Alexis Wright's Carpentaria from 2021-11-30T15:06
Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. In 2007 Alexis Wright won the Miles Franklin Award...
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Classic Australian Novels - Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang from 2021-11-30T15:05
Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. In True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey took...
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Classic Australian Novels - Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish from 2021-11-30T14:07
Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. With his first two novels Richard Flanagan had alr...
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Classic Australian Novels - Michelle de Kretser's Questions of Travel from 2021-11-30T14:04
Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. The politics and philosophy of tourism are at the ...
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Classic Australian Novels - Helen Garner's Monkey Grip from 2021-11-30T14:03
Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. Monkey Grip ushered in a new voice in Australian L...
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Classic Australian Novels - Kim Scott's That Deadman Dance from 2021-11-30T14:02
Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. That Deadman Dance was published in 2010 and is th...
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Classic Australian Novels - Kate Grenville's The Secret River from 2021-11-30T14:01
Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. Kate Grenville's The Secret River released in 2005...
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Best Reads 2021 Part 1: Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction from 2021-11-26T12:05
Reading recommendations from writers Emily Gale and Tristan Bancks (both of whom write for both teens and younger readers); and the Books That Made Us Youth Fiction Prize. (Part 2 of our best reads...
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On Christos Tsiolkas'7 ½, Vietnamese smoky ghosts&a helluva book from 2021-11-19T12:05
On Christos Tsiolkas' 7 ½: A Novel, Violet Kupersmith's Build your House Around my Body and Jason Mott's Hell of a Book with comedian and writer Matt Okine and writer and producer Sheila Ngọc Phạm
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Behemoths, Novellas and Essays: reading recommendations from 2021-11-12T12:05
Reading Polish Nobel Prize winning author Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob and Marisa Fazio's novella Piazza Garibaldi with writers Amanda Lohrey and Bram Presser; and novelist and essayist Ann ...
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The Book Club: Amor Towles'The Lincoln Highway + Cormac McCarthy's The Road from 2021-11-05T12:05
Join us for a road trip book club, with actor and director Jeremy Sims and novelist and academic Intan Paramaditha. Travel on foot, in a car, on a train, into both ravaged and familiar landscapes
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Adam Liaw and Hannah Kent: Star Reviewers #4 from 2021-10-29T12:05
Reading Michelle de Kretser's Scary Monsters, Richard Powers' Bewilderment and Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Vampire with guest reader reviewers food writer Adam Liaw and novelist Hannah Kent
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Geraldine Hakewill and Graeme Simsion: Star Reviewers #3 from 2021-10-22T12:05
Reading Hannah Kent's much-anticipated new novel, Devotion, Katie Kitamura's Intimacies and Mary Lawson's A Town Called Solace, with guest reader reviewers actor Geraldine Hakewill and novelist Gra...
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Tim Rogers and Pip Williams: Star Reviewers #2 from 2021-10-15T12:05
Reading Emily Bitto's Wild Abandon, Karl Ove Knausgaard's The Morning Star and Elizabeth Strout's Oh William! with musician Tim Rogers and novelist Pip Williams.
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Marta Dusseldorp and John Safran: Star Reviewers #1 from 2021-10-08T12:05
Reading Jonathan Franzen's novel Crossroads and Ruth Ozeki's The Book of Form and Emptiness, with actor Marta Dusseldorp and writer and provocateur John Safran
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The Book Club: George Eliot's Middlemarch + Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle from 2021-10-01T12:05
Smalltown England in the 1830s and a city within a city in the early 1960s: stories of lives and loves, dramas and small moments well told. Reading Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle and George El...
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Did you hear the one about the obscenity trial? from 2021-09-24T12:05
On the significance of English writer D H Lawrence and Alison MacLeod's novel, Tenderness; and reading Australian novels Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down and Hannah Bent's When Things Are Alive the...
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'Uneasy, Ambiguous and Strange': Why rewrite Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann? from 2021-09-17T12:05
On Colm Tóibín's The Magician (a fictionalised life of Nobel Prize winning author, Thomas Mann), Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Velvet Was the Night and Sarah Bailey's The Housemate with guests Paige Clark...
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Yes, we are reviewing Sally Rooney's new novel from 2021-09-10T12:05
Novelist J P Pomare and memoirist Ianto Ware join Kate and Cassie, and the books discussed today are Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where Are You, Paula Hawkins' A Slow Fire Burning and Pascal Jan...
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The Book Club: On Memory from 2021-09-03T12:05
Why is memory such a potent theme in fiction? On Jessica Anderson's Tirra Lirra by the River and Hugh Breakey's The Beautiful Fall, with guests - novelists both - Robert Lukins and Alison Booth
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How to read like an Australian writer from 2021-08-27T12:05
What does it mean to read like an Australian writer? Insights from writers Belinda Castles, Debra Adelaide and Nicholas Jose. Also, crime writer Will Dean on the dark fairytale woods of Sweden and ...
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Why you should read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (and meet his feistiest character) from 2021-08-20T12:00
Boastful, funny, clever, skilled and much maligned: meet Geoffrey Chaucer's Wife of Bath, both his fourteenth-century invention and a fresh remaking of her in Karen Brooks' The Good Wife of Bath. A...
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Wolves, ghosts and a great flood: scary things in books from 2021-08-13T12:05
Broadcaster and journalist Melanie Tait joins Kate to talk wild empathy, in Charlotte McConaghy's Once There Were Wolves. There are also reviews of Jennifer Mills' The Airways and Jessie Greengrass...
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Outraged tweeters, miniature soldiers and the flooded canals of Venice from 2021-08-06T12:05
Kate and Cassie join guests Larissa Behrendt and Tiger Webb as Irish writer John Boyne takes on the Twittersphere; Nick Earls spins a tale that takes us from Vienna during the Napoleonic Wars throu...
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The Book Club: Amanda Lohrey's The Labyrinth&the Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist from 2021-07-30T12:05
Books writer Nicole Abadee and theatre writer Tom Wright join Kate and Cassie to read Amanda Lohrey's The Labyrinth, winner of the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award, as well as the other five book...
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Three novels of seclusion: by Mark Brandi, Sunjeev Sahota, Patrick McGrath from 2021-07-23T12:05
Writers Rashida Murphy (The Historian's Daughter) and Michael Winkler (Grimmish) join Kate and Cassie as they read and review Mark Brandi's The Others, Sunjeev Sahota's China Room and Patrick McGra...
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The deliberately depraved and dissolute worlds of James Ellroy and Lisa Taddeo from 2021-07-16T12:05
Writers Kathryn Heyman and Aoife Clifford join Cassie and Kate as they discuss the tawdry and damaged in James Ellroy's Widespread Panic and Lisa Taddeo's Animal; while there's ice cold drama and p...
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Podcast Extra: More Musical Mayhem with Taylor Jenkins Reid and Dawnie Walton from 2021-07-15T03:05
Extended interviews by Kate Evans with writers Taylor Jenkins Reid (Malibu Rising and Daisy Jones and the Six) and Dawnie Walton (The Final Revival of Opal and Nev), following on from the recent mu...
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The Book Club: Turn up the Music! from 2021-07-09T12:05
Double J's Zan Rowe and music journalist and novelist Barry Divola join Kate and Cassie as they talk music in books, focusing on Dawnie Walton's The Final Revival of Opal and Nev and Patti Smith's ...
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Can't Travel? Here's a collection of books that will transport you from 2021-07-02T12:05
Travel to places both real and imagined with writers Heather Rose, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Richard Fidler and Tegan Bennett Daylight, in conversation with Kate Evans onstage at the Sydney Writers Fes...
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A party to end all parties, a stranded whale, musical words and a train: what to read this week from 2021-06-25T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined this week by poet and music writer Mark Mordue, singer-songwriter Darren Hanlon and Music Show colleague Andrew Ford; and the books discussed are Taylor Jenkins Reid's Ma...
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A shrinking lake, a circus of wonders, and a baby: novels to make you feel and think from 2021-06-18T12:05
Novelist Meg Mason (Sorrow and Bliss) and journalist Michael Dulaney join Cassie and Kate as they discuss Briohny Doyle's Echolalia and Angelike Schrobsdorff's You Are Not Like Other Mothers; and E...
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Reading Jane Austen from the 1940s until now (and other adventures in reading and reviewing) from 2021-06-11T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined by reviewer Dr Ruth Wilson, whose PhD on Jane Austen and education was awarded last year, when she was 88 years old. Together, they read Joan Silber's Secrets of Happines...
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The Book Club: Patricia Highsmith from 2021-06-04T12:05
Crime writer Michel Robotham and playwright Joanna Murray Smith join Kate and Cassie to discuss the work of Patricia Highsmith, high priestess of dark psychological thrillers. With cameos by Highsm...
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Podcast Extra: Patricia Highsmith's biographer answers your questions from 2021-05-31T14:05
Ahead of this week's RN Book Club on Patricia Highsmith, her biographer Richard Bradford answers questions from readers and members of the ABC Book Club Facebook Group. An intriguing woman, and a w...
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Reading Western Sydney, a hot country town&fantasy Africa remade from 2021-05-28T12:05
Kate and Cassie read Michael Mohammed Ahmad's The Other Half of You, Cassandra Austin's Like Mother and Suyi Davies Okungbowa's Son of the Storm with writers Monica Dux and Eugen Bacon
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Ern Malley Rides Again! Writes, we meant writes from 2021-05-21T12:05
Ern Malley was the poet at the centre of Australia's most famous literary hoaxes: an invented poet, supposedly discovered by his sister, Ethel. Well, Ethel has been revived and rediscovered, made s...
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Podcast Extra: Reading the world in Spinoza's Overcoat from 2021-05-20T03:05
Writer and translator Subhash Jaireth tracks his life through both countries and bookshelves, from India to the (then) Soviet Union and onto Australia, with many countries and literary traditions i...
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Earwax, kidnappings and an octopus god from 2021-05-14T12:05
Writer Krissy Kneen and podcaster Mike Williams join Cassie and Kate as they discuss Rahul Raina's How to Kidnap the Rich, Jamie Marina Lau's Gunk Baby and Jasper Gibson's The Octopus Man. An India...
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Podcast Extra: Sujata Massey and a woman lawyer in India in the 1920s from 2021-05-13T03:05
India's first woman lawyer practiced, against the odds, in the 1920s. Novelist Sujata Massey used that woman as inspiration for her fictional character, Perveen Mistry, amateur sleuth in a country ...
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The Book Club: reading Kazuo Ishiguro in the sun from 2021-05-07T12:05
Novelist Bram Presser and comparative literature academic Rebecca Suter join Kate and Cassie to talk about Kazuo Ishiguro's latest novel, Klara and the Sun, in light of all his other novels. And ye...
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Live from the Sydney Writers Festival with Anita Heiss, Rick Morton and Emily Maguire from 2021-04-30T12:05
It's been a long time since Kate and Cassie have seen either writers or readers in person, but here we all are . . .
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Podcast Extra: General Sir Peter Cosgrove reads historical fiction and political biography from 2021-04-29T03:05
Fighting aliens with bows arrows, reading the Encyclopedia Brittanica, and why he's drawn to historical fiction. Former Governor General Peter Cosgrove speaks to Kate Evans about books, reading, hi...
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New books by Patricia Lockwood, Jacqueline Maley, Peace Adzo Medie and Marco Missiroli from 2021-04-23T12:05
Kate and Cassie discuss Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking About This, Peace Adzo Medie's His Only Wife and Marco Missiroli's Fidelity with writer Sefakor Zikpi and journalist Penelope Green, wh...
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Podcast extra: Maria Dahvana Headley and all that monstrous reading from 2021-04-22T03:05
Maria Dahvana Headley knows how to write - and read - monsters. And in doing both she remakes them, as she explains to Kate Evans
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New fiction from Ethan Hawke, Olivia Sudjic and Dirk Kurbjuweit from 2021-04-16T12:05
Fame, fate, a fair bit of love lost and serial killers in this week's edition of The Bookshelf.
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Podcast Extra: Steven Carroll on reading wartime surrender in the scandalous Story of O from 2021-04-15T03:05
Novelist Steven Carroll speaks with Kate Evans about both the books and publishing history imbedded in his novel O
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New books by Haruki Murakami, Patricia Engel and Blair James from 2021-04-09T12:05:51
Language specialist Tiger Webb joins Kate while Cassie is away this week, to discuss Blair James' Bernard and Pat, Patricia Engel's Infinite Country and Haruki Murakami's short story collection Fir...
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Podcast Extra: Fiona Mozley reads her way into London and Edinburgh from 2021-04-08T03:05
Fiona Mozley's latest novel, Hot Stew, buzzes and rumbles with history, change, gangsters and sex workers. She speaks to Kate Evans about the books that have shaped her
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The Book Club: The Vietnamese diaspora and the aftermath of war from 2021-04-02T12:05
Reading Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Committed and Nam Le's The Boat with Dai Le and Nathalie Nguyen
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Podcast Extra: Francis Spufford's Light Perpetual and the books behind it from 2021-04-01T03:05
English writer Francis Spufford speaks to Kate Evans about his latest novel, Light Perpetual, and the books that shaped it and him
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Trevor Shearston's The Beach Caves, Fiona Mozley's Hot Stew and what Caleb Azumah Nelson reads from 2021-03-26T12:05
Archaeologist Estelle Lazer and writer Patrick Carey join Kate and Cassie to read books layered with history and story. Trevor Shearston's Australian novel, The Dig and English writer Fiona Mozley'...
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Podcast Extra: Robert Jones Jr on James Baldwin and the other writers that have shaped him from 2021-03-25T03:05
Robert Jones Jr's novel The Prophets is the story of a defiant love story enacted on a slave plantation in the American south. The author speaks to Kate Evans about the books that have shaped it an...
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New fiction from Edward St Aubyn, Steven Carroll and Lisa Harding from 2021-03-19T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined by journalist Brooke Boney and academic Nicole Moore as they read Edward St Aubyn's Double Blind, Lisa Harding's Bright Burning Things and Steven Carroll's O
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Podcast Extra: Daisy Buchanan is insatiable for books from 2021-03-18T03:05
Daisy Buchanan is an English columnist, books podcaster and novelist. She speaks to Kate Evans about her latest novel, about reading sexy books, about writing greed and desire, and about the books ...
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Ella Baxter's New Animal, Francis Spufford's Light Perpetual&the Sydney Writers'Festival is back from 2021-03-12T12:05
Novelist Susan Johnson and journalist Avani Dias join Cassie and Kate as they read Ella Baxter's New Animal and Francis Spufford's Light Perpetual; and Artistic Director of the Sydney Writers' Fest...
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Podcast Extra: Max Porter answers your questions from 2021-03-11T03:05
Max Porter answers readers' questions about his latest book, The Death of Francis Bacon (this is the full version of his conversation with Kate Evans, which you may have seen as an online video/ Zo...
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The Book Club: February — Art in fiction from 2021-03-05T12:05
Cassie and Kate are joined by artist Paul Ryan and art-historian and novelist Katherine Kovacic as they discuss art in fiction, with a focus on Max...
The Book Club: February — Art in fiction from 2021-03-05T12:05
Cassie and Kate are joined by artist Paul Ryan and art-historian and novelist Katherine Kovacic as they discuss art in fiction, with a focus on Max Porter's The Death of Francis Bacon and Dominic S...
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Podcast Extra: Simon Winchester's Bookshelf from 2021-03-04T03:05
Writer Simon Winchester (The Surgeon of Crowthorne, The Map that Changed the World, Land etc) read a book at the age of almost-22 that changed everything about his life. He speaks to Kate Evans abo...
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Reading Simon Winchester, Sarah J Maas, John Kinsella and Guillermo Martínez from 2021-02-26T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined by novelist Robert Gott as they discuss new fiction by John Kinsella and Guillermo Martínez; and the book/s that made writers Simon Winchester and Sarah J Maas
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Podcast Extra: What does Angie Thomas read? from 2021-02-25T03:05
'It's a classic novel about a Black girl in Mississippi, and I was a Black girl in Mississippi, and it was the first time I ever read a book about someone I could see myself in.'
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New fiction by Caleb Azumah Nelson, Melissa Broder and Sònia Hernández from 2021-02-19T12:05
RN presenter Daniel Browning and novelist Kavita Bedford join Kate and Cassie as they discuss Caleb Azumah Nelson's Open Water, Melissa Broder's Milk Fed and Sònia Hernández's Prosopagnosia
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Podcast Extra: Andrew Pippos and the bookshelf that made Lucky's from 2021-02-18T03:05
Andrew Pippos' novel Lucky's travels in and out of Greek Australian cafes in Sydney and elsewhere - but what are the literary and other influences that sit on those formica tables?
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On Robert Jones Jr's The Prophets, Una Mannion's A Crooked Tree, and a new translation of Beowulf from 2021-02-12T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined by Prof of Mediaeval Literature Louise D'Arcens and novelist Petronella McGovern as they discuss Maria Dahvana Headley's new translation of Beowulf, Una Mannion's The Cr...
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Podcast Extra: More on the writer Madeleine St John from 2021-02-10T03:05
Following on from last week's Book Club on work, which featured Madeleine St John's The Women in Black, an extended interview with St John's biographer Helen Trinca
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The Book Club 2021 No 1: Work from 2021-02-05T12:05
On Madeleine St John's The Women in Black and Kikuko Tsumura's There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job with doctor and memoirist Yumiko Kadota and RN presenter Richard Aedy (and featuring St John's bi...
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On Anna North's Outlawed, Raven Leilani's Luster&Kevin Barry's That Old Country Music from 2021-01-29T12:05
Rewriting westerns in the 1890s, sex and desire in the present, and romance in Ireland. Three new works of fiction with Kate and Cassie and guests Michael McGirr and Emma Kate Lewis
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Summer Bookshelf celebrating Australian writing from 2021-01-22T12:05
Australian fiction from 1901, 1980 and 2014. Miles Franklin, Shirley Hazzard, Joan London
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Summer Bookshelf with novels by Malcolm Knox, Frances Cha&Garth Greenwell from 2021-01-15T12:05
Three novels and an illustrator who uses his pencil like a sword
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Summer Bookshelf with novels by Aravind Adiga, Richard Flanagan and Maggie O'Farrell from 2021-01-08T12:05
On Aravind Adiga's Amnesty, Richard Flanagan's The Living Sea of Waking Dreams and Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet
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Summer Bookshelf and The Dry on screen plus novels by Laura Jean McKay, Curtis Sittenfeld&Mieko Kawakami from 2021-01-01T12:05
On Laura Jean McKay, The Animals in that Country, Curtis Sittenfeld, Rodham and Mieko Kawakami, Breasts and Eggs - and putting Jane Harper's The Dry on screen
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Summer Bookshelf: The Rain Heron, Greenwood, A Theatre for Dreamers and Mayflies from 2020-12-25T12:05
Some of the best books and discussions about them from 2020: on Robbie Arnott's The Rain Heron, Michael Christie's Greenwood and Polly Samson's A Theatre for Dreamers and Andrew O'Hagan on the Book...
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The Bookshelf's Best Reads of 2020 (Part 2) from 2020-12-18T12:05
Novelist Jock Serong, music writer and broadcaster Stuart Coupe and bookseller and literary judge Fiona Stager join Cassie and Kate for more book recommendations
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The Bookshelf's Best Reads of 2020 (Part 1) from 2020-12-11T12:05
Reading recommendations from Jessie Tu, Stephen Romei, Suzanne Leal, Kate and Cassie.
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Podcast Extra: Naomi Novik from 2020-12-09T03:05
American fantasy writer Naomi Novik on her latest novel, A Deadly Education, and the Bookshelf that Made Her
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Podcast Extra: Garth Nix from 2020-12-08T03:05
On fantasy foundational texts, finding books from childhood in booksales and libraries, and the lure of imaginary bookshops
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The Book Club No 8: Mining the past from 2020-12-04T12:05
On Gail Jones' Our Shadows and Randolph Stow's The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea with guests writer Ailsa Piper and historian Frank Bongiorno
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Podcast Extra: Susanna Clarke from 2020-12-01T03:05
Writer Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Piranesi) with Kate Evans, on the bookshelf that shaped her, why statues are fascinating, and creating a world out of ruins and seawater
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Maybe they're all aliens? from 2020-11-27T12:05
On Sayaka Murata's Earthlings, Ayad Akhtar's Homeland Elegies and Thomas McMullan's The Last Good Man
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Podcast Extra: Lev Grossman from 2020-11-24T03:05
Fantasy writer and former literary critic Lev Grossman speaks to Kate Evans about his foundational texts and wider reading in fantasy and elsewhere; and they go on a magical train journey courtesy ...
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A film set, a glass heart, and the unclaimed dead from 2020-11-20T12:05
On Philip Salom’s The Fifth Season, Tiffany McDaniel’s Betty and William Boyd’s Trio
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Podcast Extra: Graham Swift and the rough glittering world from 2020-11-17T03:05
The author of Here We Are, Last Orders, Mothering Sunday, Waterland and so many more joins Kate Evans to talk reading, writing, influences and why a book he first read as a twenty year old was just...
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A cafe, a shiver, a chase from 2020-11-13T12:05
On Andrew Pippos’ Lucky’s, Kate Mildenhall’s The Mother Fault and Karen Wyld’s Where the Fruit Falls
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Fictionalised lives, old friends and empty streets from 2020-11-06T12:05
Ceridwen Dovey’s Life After Truth, Don Delillo’s The Silence and Martin Amis’ Inside Story: A novel with critics Tegan Bennett Daylight and Geordie Williamson
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The Book Club No 7: On the Coast and in the Water from 2020-10-30T12:05
Malcolm Knox’s Bluebird and Tim Winton’s Breath under scrutiny with surfwriter Stuart Nettle and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson
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Tragedies, Sagas and Infinite Splendours from 2020-10-23T12:05
On Sofie Laguna’s Infinite Splendours, Nardi Simpson’s Song of the Crocodile and Nicolas Mathieu’s And Their Children After Them with writers Sam Coley and Mykaela Saunders
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Vanishing body parts and toxic relationships from 2020-10-16T12:05
Richard Flanagan's The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, Avni Doshi's Burnt Sugar, and Cassie meets bestselling author Ken Follett.
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Podcast Extra: Andrew O'Hagan from 2020-10-14T03:05
Writer Andrew O’Hagan on autobiographical fiction, an old copy of Dickens’ David Copperfield, why J M Barrie’s Peter Pan is so important, and other books that have shaped him and his latest novel, ...
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A mythic quest and star-crossed love from 2020-10-09T12:05
Trent Dalton's All Our Shimmering Skies, Marilynne Robinson's Jack, and Craig Silvey for Me, Myshelf and I.
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Podcast Extra: Chris Riddell sharpens his pencil from 2020-10-07T03:05
Chris Riddell is an illustrator, cartoonist and novelist. Here, he discusses collaboration, reading, influences, poetry and why he draws political cartoons instead of shouting at the radio
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The Book Club No 6: Italy in translation from 2020-10-02T12:05
Elena Ferrante's new novel The Lying Life of Adults, and the 1958 classic, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard
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Podcast Extra: Sue Miller from 2020-09-30T03:05
American novelist Sue Miller discusses both her latest novel, Monogamy, and the bookshelf that shaped her
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Standing on the bridge, wrong side of the rail from 2020-09-25T12:05
On Craig Silvey’s Honeybee, Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom and Sue Miller’s Monogamy
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Podcast Extra: Maria Lewis from 2020-09-23T03:05
Werewolves running nightclubs in Berlin, Supernatural Sydney, witches with attitude and a whole slew of terrific fantasy recommendations from writer Maria Lewis
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Slipping between worlds and cities, in history, fiction and fantasy from 2020-09-18T12:05
On Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, Ken Follett’s The Evening and the Morning and Edmund White’s A Saint from Texas
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Podcast Extra: Meg Rosoff from 2020-09-16T03:05
It was the Summer where everything changed: Meg Rosoff, her new novel and the bookshelf that made her
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Podcast Extra: Christopher Paolini from 2020-09-15T03:05
From dragons and mythical origin stories to adventures in the stars, fantasy and SF writer Christopher Paolini has plenty to say about how his genre works
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Podcast Extra: Sarah Moss&Ian McGuire from 2020-09-14T03:05
Two writers on this podcast extra edition of the Bookshelf, both of whom write very broadly in a ‘Northern’ English tradition. Sarah Moss and Ian McGuire speak (separately) with Kate Evans
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Imagined taxonomies of life, love, death and memory from 2020-09-11T12:05
On Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies, Eley Williams’ The Liar’s Dictionary, Pip Williams’ The Dictionary of Lost Words and Rose Tremain’s Islands of Mercy
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Podcast Extra: Raymond E Feist from 2020-09-09T03:05
Raymond E Feist on writing, and reading, fantasy fiction. World building, foundational texts, and how the genre has changed
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Podcast Extra: Dugald Bruce Lockhart from 2020-09-08T03:05
Stage and screen actor Dugald Bruce Lockhart has now turned to fiction. Here, he reveals the books – and plays – that made him
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Book Club No 5: Speculative Fiction and N K Jemisin’s The City we Became from 2020-09-04T12:05
The city of New York is coming alive, but its enemies are against it. Urban fantasy, overturning racist narratives, and some very large genre tentacles
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Podcast Extra: Kester Grant from 2020-09-02T03:05
Mauritian writer Kester Grant on her fantasy novel The Court of Miracles (inspired by Victor Hugo) and the books that have shaped her
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Podcast Extra: Nicholas Shakespeare from 2020-09-01T03:05
Biographer, critic and novelist Nicholas Shakespeare on his latest novel (The Sandpit) and the books and writers that shaped him
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A tricky nemesis or two, the past, and a damp holiday camp from 2020-08-28T12:05
On Jock Serong's The Burning Island, Sarah Moss's Summerwater and Ian McGuire's The Abstainer with writers Aoife Clifford and Emily Maguire
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Poisonous plants, talking rabbits, and a roadtrip of tears from 2020-08-21T12:05
Michaela Kalowski and Kate Evans read Sam Coley’s State Highway One, Jasper Fforde’s The Constant Rabbit and Rebecca Dinerstein Knight’s Hex with writers Christopher Raja and Karina Kilmore
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Thrillers, wars and labyrinths spiral through fiction from 2020-08-14T12:05
On Nicholas Shakespeare's The Sandpit, Nguyẽ̂n Phan Qué̂ Mai's The Mountains Sing and Amanda Lohrey's The Labyrinth
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Family secrets and the approach of General Winter in three new Australian novels from 2020-08-07T12:05
Imbi Neeme's The Spill, Victoria Hannan's Kokomo and Steven Conte's The Tolstoy Estate with writers Gina Inverarity and Roger Pulvers
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The Book Club No 4: Tara June Winch's The Yield and Miles Franklin's My Brilliant Career from 2020-07-31T12:05
The winner of this year's Miles Franklin's Literary Award, Tara June Winch's The Yield; and the debut novel of the benefactor of the Award, Miles Franklin' 1901 novel My Brilliant Career
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Creatures, sisters and relationships in fiction from 2020-07-24T12:05
On Samanta Schweblin's Little Eyes, Daisy Johnson's Sisters and Luke Horton's The Fogging with reviewers Jessie Tu (A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing) and Mark Sutton
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A note in a forest, a train on fire, a gothic mood from 2020-07-17T12:05
On Ottessa Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands, Megha Majumdar's A Burning and Catherine Noske on the Australian gothic tradition
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History, fiction and plastic surgery from 2020-07-10T12:05
On Kate Grenville’s A Room Made of Leaves, David Mitchell’s Utopia Avenue and Frances Cha’s If I Had Your Face
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The Book Club No 3: Crime, thrillers, and Lawrence Wright’s The End of October from 2020-07-03T12:05
Reading Lawrence Wright’s pandemic thriller The End of October with crime writers Candice Fox and Ben Hobson
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Pod Extra: Poetry and Music from 2020-07-01T12:05
Crank up the poetry find a chair for your music (and how ageing is dealt with in dystopian fiction).
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The discomfort of grief and memory from 2020-06-26T12:05
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s The Discomfort of Evening, Sreedhevi Iyer’s The Tiniest House of Time and Me Myshelf and I with Kawai Strong Washburn.
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Reading love and tragedy in Jamaica, Trinidad and India from 2020-06-19T12:05
On Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Patsy, Ingrid Persaud’s Love after Love and Sujata Massey’s A Murder at Malabar Hill
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Race, apocalypse and robots from 2020-06-12T12:05
On Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half, Patrick Allington’s Rise and Shine and Martha Wells’ Network Effect (A Murderbot novel). Eating emotions in the books we read
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The Book Club No 2: Joan London’s The Golden Age&Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus from 2020-06-05T12:05
Australian fiction discussed with academic and critic Bernadette Brennan and novelist Robert Lukins, on Joan London’s The Golden Age & Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus
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A bird made of rain, a girl made of plantain, a family made of loss from 2020-05-29T12:05
On Robbie Arnott's The Rain Heron, Zalika Reid-Benta's Frying Plantain and Maike Wetzel's Elly.
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What If, said the writer, What If? from 2020-05-22T12:05
On Curtis Sittenfeld's Rodham, Anne Tyler's Redhead by the Side of the Road, and Naoise Dolan's Exciting Times
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Hello Kitty with unshaved armpits (and other bookish insights) from 2020-05-15T12:05
On Catherine Noske's The Salt Madonna, Jennifer Rosner's The Yellow Bird Sings, Suzanne Leal's The Deceptions, Mieko Kawakami's Breasts and Eggs
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A fossilised penguin walked into a bar (and other stories) from 2020-05-08T12:05
Reading and reviewing Jeet Thayil's Low, Chris Flynn's Mammoth and Sue Monk Kidd's The Book of Longings.
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The Book Club No 1: Come on, join our Book Club from 2020-05-01T12:05
On the first week of every month, we're going to talk books together. To begin: reading in isolation with guests Ailsa Piper and Tom Wright
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The Book Club No 1: Come on, join our Book Club from 2020-05-01T12:05
On the first week of every month, we're going to talk books together. To begin: reading in isolation with guests Ailsa Piper and Tom Wright
...
What did that dingo just say to me? And other adventures in fiction from 2020-04-24T12:05
James Bradley's Ghost Species, Laura Jean McKay's The Animals in that Country, Jessica Moor's Keeper, Kirsten Krauth's Almost a Mirror
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What lives from books? What drama? from 2020-04-17T12:05
Polly Samson's A Theatre for Dreamers takes us to Hydra with Charmian Clift, George Johnston, Leonard Cohen and the rest; Fernanda Melchor's Hurricane Season takes us into a bloody Mexico; and Evie...
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How to read Shakespeare's family from 2020-04-10T12:05
Reading Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet, Sophie Hardcastle's Below Deck, Kawai Strong Washburn's Sharks in the Time of Saviours and Julian Leatherdale's Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club - and the state ...
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These books are edged with gold from 2020-04-03T12:05
Emily St John Mandel's The Glass Hotel, Mirandi Riwoe’s Stone Sky Gold Mountain, C Pam Zhang's How Much of these Hills is Gold and book recommendations that include Jane Austen, F Scott Fitzgerald ...
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Reading in isolation? We’ve got you covered from 2020-03-27T12:05
Tom Keneally’s The Dickens Boy, Joan Silber’s Improvement, Ceridwen Dovey’s Inner Worlds Outer Spaces, Ken Gelder’s The Colonial Kangaroo Hunt and Jo Lennan's In the Time of Foxes
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Novels from Poland, Norway and Crescent City from 2020-03-20T12:05
Tomasz Jedrowski's Swimming in the Dark, Lars Mytting's the Bell in the Lake, Sarah J Maas's Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood - and being Mary Gulliver in 1702
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Fiction that takes on the world from 2020-03-13T12:05
Colum McCann's Apeirogon; Jenny Offill's Weather and Tommy Wieringa's The Blessed Rita
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'The dice is shaken in a bone cup,'in Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light from 2020-03-06T12:05
New fiction from Hilary Mantel, Vivian Pham and Abi Daré.
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In the wings, on the reservation, inside a woman's rage from 2020-02-28T12:05
Three new novels: Louise Erdrich's The Night Watchman, Graham Swift's Here We Are and Cho Nam-Joo's Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
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In which we give Tyson Yunkaporta a book that's too good from 2020-02-21T12:05
On Michael Christie's Greenwood, José Luis de Juan's Napoleon’s Beekeeper and the bookshelf that made crimewriter Abir Mukherjee
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Novels by Anne Enright, Aravind Adiga and Kiley Reid from 2020-02-14T12:05
Anne Enright's Actress, Aravind Adiga's Amnesty and Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age
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New books by Carmen Maria Machado, Evie Wyld and Emma Forrest from 2020-02-07T12:05
Leap into the early 1980s, step onto an isolated rocky outcrop, and walk through a fraught dream house, all in a collection of new writing.
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Novels by Eimear McBride, Romesh Gunesekera and Benjamin Myers from 2020-01-31T12:05
A woman in a series of hotel rooms, two boys riding bikes in 1960s Sri Lanka, and a girl fleeing an ominous pairing of a Priest and a Poacher. New fiction.
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New books by Garth Greenwell, Isabel Allende and Jeanine Cummins from 2020-01-24T12:05
Reviews and discussion of Garth Greenwell's Cleanness, Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt and Isabel Allende's A Long Petal of the Sea. New fiction, every week
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Summer reads from India, Russia, Japan and the Amazon from 2020-01-17T12:05
Me Myshelf and I with Indian writer Tishani Doshi; with Roger Pulvers, who reads Russian and Japanese; YA novelist David Nicholls and children’s author Katherine Rundell
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When reading is gothic, digital or just plain hard from 2020-01-10T12:05
What does it mean if you have to grit your teeth to get through a book? Endurance reading with too much pain or violence?
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Begin your reading year with Peter Goldsworthy, Sarah Bailey and Anna Krien from 2020-01-03T12:05
Reading influences and recommendations from three Australian novelists
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Fantasy with Samantha Shannon, Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman from 2019-12-27T12:05
Three fantasy writers share the bookshelves that have shaped them, and some writing insights too.
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Book recommendations from Kate Forsyth, Heather Rose and Alex McClintock from 2019-12-20T12:05
Boxing, fairytales and political scandal as three writers share the bookshelves that have shaped them.
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The Bookshelf's best books of 2019 from 2019-12-13T12:05
A trio of readers join Kate and Cassie with their reading recommendations.
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New fiction from Ben Lerner, Marcy Dermansky and Curdella Forbes from 2019-12-06T12:05
Novelist Graeme Simsion and reviewer Nicole Abadee on Marcy Dermansky's Very Nice and Curdella Forbes' A Tall History of Sugar, and reading America in Ben Lerner's The Topeka School
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Pod Extra: Poet Lemn Sissay and the many foster children of literature from 2019-12-04T12:05
A podcast special edition of the Bookshelf, in which English poet and writer Lemn Sissay reveals his life and history as a child in care, and connects it to the many foster children of literature.
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Pod Extra: Charlotte Wood's The Weekend from 2019-12-03T12:05
In this podcast extra edition of The Bookshelf, writer Charlotte Wood talks to Kate Evans about writing friendship, ageing, grief and joy.
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Leah Purcell's novel The Drover's Wife and crime with Garry Disher, Emma Viskic and Jessica Chapnik Kahn from 2019-11-29T12:05
From stage to screen to page, Leah Purcell has taken Henry Lawson's 1890s story of a lone woman in a tough landscape and remade it as her own in The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson. And ...
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New books from Julian Barnes, Petina Gappah and Niall Williams from 2019-11-22T12:05
Rewriting the end of the 19th century in London; rewriting colonial Africa from the inside; and lighting up Faha, Ireland
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André Aciman's Find Me, Inez Baranay's Turn Left at Venus and Zimbabwean literature from 2019-11-15T12:05
What will fans of André Aciman's Call Me By Your Name make of his follow-up novel, Find Me?
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Reading Los Angeles with Michael Connelly plus new Australian fiction from 2019-11-08T12:05
Crime writing dominates this week's show, with Garry Disher's novel Peace and Michael Connelly (Bosch) sharing his own bookshelf. And reading novellas with Griffith Review's Ashley Hay
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New books by Paul Lynch, Erin Morgenstern and Mary Costello from 2019-11-01T12:05
Fantasy writer Garth Nix and arts journalist Martin Portus join Cassie and Kate to discuss a collection of water-filled novels: Beyond the Sea, The Starless Sea and The River Capture
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On Christos Tsiolkas'Damascus, Helen Phillips'The Need and the books on Chris Hammer's bookshelf from 2019-10-25T12:05
Kate and Cassie with guests Meredith Lake (Soul Search), Karen Viggers (The Orchardist's Daughter) and Chris Hammer (Scrubland, Silver) as they discuss new fiction by Christos Tsiolkas, Helen Phill...
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The Bookshelf at the State Library of NSW from 2019-10-18T12:05
Kate and Cassie onstage with writers Holden Sheppard (Invisible Boys) and Roanna Gonsalves (The Permanent Resident), and Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville, as they read new novels by Australian wr...
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Books from Tishani Doshi, Katherine Rundell, Roger Pulvers and David Nicholls from 2019-10-15T12:05
Book influences and recommendations from India, Russia, Japan, Australia, the USA and more, in a podcast extra edition of The Bookshelf
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Political satire, historical fiction and short stories from 2019-10-11T12:05
Political satire from Ian McEwan and Heather Rose, a short story collection by Zadie Smith and the state of historical fiction with Robert Gott and Elisabeth Storrs
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The bookshelves of Jessie Burton, Corey White and Dominic Smith from 2019-10-08T12:05
Me Myshelf and I, as novelists Jessie Burton and Dominic Smith (The Electric Hotel), and comedian Corey White, reveal the books and reading that has shaped them
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New novels from Philip Pullman, Favel Parrett and Nino Haratischvili from 2019-10-04T12:05
On Philip Pullman's The Secret Commonwealth, Favel Parrett's There Was Still Love and Nino Haratischvili's The Eighth Life (For Brilka)
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New books by Edna O'Brien, Etgar Keret and Benjamin Myers from 2019-09-27T12:00
Kate and Cassie are joined by writer Chloe Higgins and interviewer Michaela Kalowski as they discuss Edna O'Brien's Girl, Benjamin Myers' The Offing and Etgar Keret's Fly Already
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On Ann Patchett's The Dutch House, Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other and Emma Donoghue's Akin from 2019-09-20T12:05
Autoethnographer and storyteller Denise Chapman and shortstory writer Amanda O'Callaghan join Kate and Cassie as they discuss Ann Patchett's The Dutch House, Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Othe...
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On Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, Elizabeth Strout's Olive, Again, Peter Goldsworthy's Minotaur and Alvydas Šlepikas's In the Shadow of Wolves from 2019-09-13T12:05
Novelist Hannah Kent and literary academic Stephen Knight join Cassie and Kate as they discuss four new novels: Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, Elizabeth Strout's Olive, Again, Peter Goldsworthy'...
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New fiction from Deborah Levy, Andrew McGahan and Claire G Coleman from 2019-09-06T12:05
Bookseller Jon Page and historian Clare Corbould join Cassie and Kate as they discuss Deborah Levy's The Man Who Saw Everything, the late Andrew McGahan's The Rich Man's House and Claire G Coleman'...
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On Salman Rushdie's Quichotte, Lucy Treloar's Wolfe Island, Lisa Taddeo's Three Women and the state of Oz crime from 2019-08-30T12:05
Guests Susan Wyndham, Krissy Kneen and Catherine du Peloux Menagé join Kate and Cassie as they travel across America with Salman Rushdie, onto a crumbling island with Lucy Treloar, through women's ...
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New fiction from Ben Hobson, Carolina Setterwall and Kate Forsyth plus an exhortation re reading from 2019-08-23T12:05
Katherine Rundell makes the case for Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are so Old and Wise, and Meg Keneally and Johan Gabrielsson join Cassie and Kate to talk new fiction from ...
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Novels by Téa Obreht, Wai Chim and Vasily Grossman (and a booklist from Julia Phillips) from 2019-08-16T12:05
A Western, a war saga and a plate of dumplings. Téa Obreht's Inland, Vasily Grossman's Stalingrad, Wai Chim's The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling and writer Julia Phillips with 'Me Myshelf and I.'
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On Alix Nathan's The Warlow Experiment, David Nicholls'Sweet Sorrow and Lisa See's The Island of Sea Women from 2019-08-09T12:05
Writer Bri Lee and broadcaster Joey Watson join Kate and Cassie to talk new fiction by Alix Nathan, David Nicholls and Lisa See, while novelist Lenny Bartulin reveals 'Me Myshelf and I'
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Reading the Counterculture from 2019-08-02T12:05
Three music writers and a whole lotta books.
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Kathryn Hind's Hitch, Herman Koch's The Ditch and Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner from 2019-07-26T12:05
Writers Luke Carman and Laura Elizabeth Woollett join Kate and Cassie to review new novels from Australia, the USA and the Netherlands.
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On Joyce Carol Oates'My Life As a Rat, Peter Polites'The Pillars and Me Myshelf and I with Sulari Gentill from 2019-07-19T12:05
Critic and digital producer Patrick Carey joins Kate and Cassie as they discuss Joyce Carol Oates' My Life As a Rat and Peter Polites' The Pillars, while crime writer Sulari Gentill reveals the boo...
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Monsters in fiction with Sarah Perry from 2019-07-12T12:05
Literary monsters with gothic writer Sarah Perry, an over-the-top monster in Thomas Harris' new novel Cari Mora, and a monstrous system in Philip Kerr's Metropolis
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New fiction from Ocean Vuong, Colson Whitehead and Sarah Hopkins from 2019-07-05T12:05
Incarceration, possibility and punishment in fiction. Historian Ethan Blue and commentator Mark Sutton join Cassie and Kate to discuss new fiction from Colson Whitehead (The Nickel Boys), Ocean Vuo...
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On Tara June Winch's The Yield, Tony Birch's The White Girl and Julia Phillips'Disappearing Earth from 2019-06-28T12:05
Novelists Malla Nunn and Aoife Clifford join Cassie and Kate to review new novels from Tara June Winch, Tony Birch and Julia Phillips
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On Dominic Smith's The Electric Hotel, Roque Larraquy's Comemadre, Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island and the reading habits of Robert Forster and Fiona McGregor from 2019-06-21T12:05
Musician and writer Robert Forster (solo artist, ex-Go Betweens), and novelist and performance artist Fiona McGregor (A Novel Idea) join Kate and Cassie to talk books, reading, reviews and (in a su...
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Bookshelf Podcast Extra with Damian Barr, Andrea Goldsmith, Nguyen Phan Que Mai, Simon Cleary and Emma Ashmere from 2019-06-19T12:05
Bonus interviews and book recommendation from novelists Damian Barr, Andrea Goldsmith, Simon Cleary and Emma Ashmere and poet and filmmaker Nguyen Phan Que Mai
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On Damian Barr's You Will Be Safe Here, Chip Cheek's Cape May and Alex Landrigan's Crossings from 2019-06-14T12:05
Novelists Emma Ashmere and Simon Cleary join Kate and Cassie to discuss new fiction by Damian Barr, Chip Cheek and Alex Landrigan; and Damian Barr himself comes along to talk about the books that h...
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On James Ellroy's This Storm, Tishani Doshi's Small Days and Nights and Elizabeth Cook's Lux from 2019-06-07T12:05
Cassie and Kate are joined by literary academic Rodney Taveira and historian and RN colleague Meredith Lake as they discuss new fiction from the noir-ish James Ellroy, the biblical Elizabeth Cook a...
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On Susan Choi's Trust Exercise, Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls and Richard Anderson's Boxed from 2019-05-31T12:05
Brett Evans and Anthea Taylor join Cassie and Kate to discuss new novels by Susan Choi, Elizabeth Gilbert and Richard Anderson, and Irish writer Caolinn Hughes reveals the books that have shaped her.
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On Jeanette Winterson's Frankissstein, Guzel Yakhina's Zuleikha and Annaleese Jochems, Baby from 2019-05-24T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined by writers Lee Kofman and Rozanna Lilley as they discuss Jeanette Winterson's playful homage Frankissstein, Guzel Yakhina's Russian epic Zuleikha and Annaleese Jochems' d...
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Podcast Extra on traumatic reading, Chris Womersley's bookshelf and Julianne Schultz's digital futures from 2019-05-23T12:05
What does it mean if reading becomes an endurance test in the face of trauma? Critic Beejay Silcox asks what it means to read books that are pointlessly distressing. Also, gothic Australian writer ...
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On Ali Smith's Spring, Mark Haddon's The Porpoise, Laila Lalami's The Other Americans&how digital is disrupting reading from 2019-05-17T12:05
Kate Evans is joined by broadcaster Sarah Kanowski, writer Justine Hyde and Catherine Keenan from The Story Factory to discuss new fiction from Ali Smith, Mark Haddon and Laila Lalami; and Julianne...
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Podcast extra on Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree and Jay Kristoff and Amie Kauffman's Aurora Rising from 2019-05-16T17:00
In this podcast extra edition of The Bookshelf, Kate Evans talks to English fantasy writer Samantha Shannon about the bookshelf that made her and Shannon's latest novel, The Priory of the Orange Tr...
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On Rohan Wilson's Daughter of Bad Times, Hallie Rubenhold's The Five and Kauffman&Kristoff's YA SF Aurora Rising from 2019-05-10T12:05
Fictionalising both the future and the past, with the help of Antony Funnell and the dystopian novel Daughter of Bad Times by Rohan Wilson, the YA SF Aurora Rising by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff...
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The Bookshelf Live from the Sydney Writers Festival from 2019-05-03T12:05
On Friday 3 May Kate and Cassie present the Bookshelf live onstage from the Sydney Writers Festival with guests English novelist Max Porter, American writer Alexander Chee and Nigerian novelist Oyi...
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Podcast extra on NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Les Murray, translation in China and Holly Throsby's bookshelf from 2019-05-01T17:05
A podcast only edition of the Bookshelf, in which Kate Evans talks to Suzanne Leal about this week's NSW Premier's Literary Awards, to Chinese acquisitions editor Li Kangqin about reading in China,...
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On T C Boyle's Outside Looking In, Don Winslow's The Border and Simon Cleary's The War Artist from 2019-04-26T12:05
Crime writer Andy Muir and cultural historian Catie Gilchrist join Kate Evans and Mark Sutton as they discuss T C Boyle's Outside Looking In, Don Winslow's The Border and Simon Cleary's The War Artist
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On Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me and Joanne Harris's The Strawberry Thief, and the bookshelves of Caro Llewellyn and Dervla McTiernan from 2019-04-19T12:05
Consciousness and artificial intelligence in Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me, a life defined by books and reading with Caro Llewellyn, writing Irish police procedurals in Perth with Dervla McTiernan,...
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On Siri Hustvedt's Memories of the Future, Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive, the Stella Prize and the reading habits of Jenny Brockie and Sam Twyford-Moore from 2019-04-12T12:05
Journalist and television presenter Jenny Brockie, and writer Sam Twyford-Moore, join Kate and Cassie to review Siri Hustvedt's Memories of the Future and Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive, ...
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On Max Porter's Lanny, Alexander Chee's Edinburgh, Dave Eggers'The Parade and Katherine Kovacic's Bookshelf from 2019-04-05T12:05
Novelists Jamie Marina Lau and Belinda Castles join Kate and Cassie as they talk about Max Porter's Lanny, Alexander Chee's Edinburgh and How to Write an Autobiographical Novel and Dave Eggers' The...
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Novels by Andrea Goldsmith, Sarah Moss, Niviaq Korneliussen, Felicity McLean and José Luís Peixoto from 2019-03-29T12:05
Critic Kate Jinx and ABC RN producer of audio fiction Sophie Townsend join Cassie and Kate as they discuss Andrea Goldsmith's Invented Lives, Sarah Moss's Ghost Wall, Niviaq Korneliussen's Crimson ...
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On Leah Kaminsky's The Hollow Bones, Ben Marcus's Notes from the Fog, Julie Keys, The Artist’s Portrait, Katherine Kovacic, Painting in the Shadows and Andrea Goldsmith on books from 2019-03-22T12:05
Writers Ceridwen Dovey and Kelly Gardiner join Kate and Cassie to talk new books, and Andrea Goldsmith reveals how reading has allowed her to be 'privately wild'.
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On Mark Brandi's The Rip, Dervla McTiernan's The Scholar, Leïla Slimani's Adèle and Mohammed Hanif's Red Birds from 2019-03-15T12:05
Crime fiction specialist Sue Turnbull and reviewer Nicole Abadee join Kate and Cassie as they ponder, among other things, whether liking a character (or not) impacts a reader's sense of literary me...
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On Carrie Tiffany's Exploded View, Peggy Frew's Islands, Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones and the Six and the bookshelf that made Karen Viggers from 2019-03-08T12:05
Novelist and translator Tiffany Tsao and music industry specialist Leanne de Souza join Cassie and Kate in a show that features four novels by women, for International Women's Day.
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On Melissa Harrison's All Among the Barley, Nana Kwama Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black and Emiliano Monge's Among the Lost from 2019-03-01T12:05
Writer and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke and bookseller and academic Elias Greig join Cassie and Kate to talk reading, throwing books through windows and (specifically) Melissa Harrison's All Among the...
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On Sigrid Nunez's The Friend, Will Dean’s Red Snow and Karen Thompson Walker's The Dreamers from 2019-02-22T12:05
Writers Chris Hammer (Scrublands) and John Connell (The Cow Book) join Cassie and Kate to talk new fiction
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Reading Roberto Bolaño's The Spirit of Science Fiction and Delphine de Vigan's Loyalties plus the bookshelves of Lynda La Plante and Ferenc Barnás from 2019-02-15T12:05
Novelist Mirandi Riwoe and sound engineer Tim Jenkins join Kate Evans to talk new fiction from Latin American writer Roberto Bolaño and French novelist Delphine de Vigan, while English crime writer...
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On Marlon James'Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Debra Adelaide's Zebra, Tessa Hadley's Late in the Day and what's on David Stratton's bookshelf from 2019-02-08T12:05
Novelist Trent Jamieson and writer Patrick Carey join Cassie and Kate to discuss new fiction from Marlon James, Debra Adelaide and Tessa Hadley, while film critic David Stratton reveals the bookshe...
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On Caoilinn Hughes'Orchid&the Wasp, Steven Carroll's The Year of the Beast, John Lanchester's The Wall and Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Result from 2019-02-01T12:05
Jacqueline Kent, Robert Lukins and Michael Cathcart join Cassie and Kate to examine new fiction from Caoilinn Hughes, Steven Carroll, John Lanchester and Graeme Simsion
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On Summer reading and Ben Okri's The Freedom Artist, Chigozie Obioma's An Orchestra of Minorities and Søren Sveistrup's The Chestnut Man from 2019-01-25T12:05
Kate and Cassie are back with bookseller Anna Lowe, arts journalist Melanie Kembrey and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson to reveal their best novels of Summer and to discuss Nigerian novels Ben ...
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What Morris Gleitzman read on the factory floor, being amanuensis to Will Self, talking to Sofie Laguna, and a bit of Finnish Weird from 2019-01-18T12:05
New interviews with writer Matthew de Abaitua (Self and I) and Sofie Laguna (The Choke), and revisiting the Finnish Weird of Laura Lindstedt's Oneiron and the formative bookshelf of Morris Gleitzman
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Are you a rereader? And other thoughts for a Summer Bookshelf from 2019-01-11T12:05
Why Cassie rereads Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, while Kate returns to 20th C novelists like Michael Ondaatje and A S Byatt. Also, talking Berlin noir and the works of Philip Kerr, reading English ...
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Do you have book-shaped New Year's reading resolutions? from 2019-01-04T12:05
New revelations of the bookshelves that made them, from novelists Patrick de Witt and Lisa Ireland; while Cassie talks to Christos Tsiolkas about reading Patrick White, and Mireille Juchau and Susa...
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If you dog-ear your books, you're part of a long tradition from 2018-12-28T12:05
On this Summer Edition of the Bookshelf, Kate hears about the long history of dog-earing books and discovers it wasn't an abhorred practice until the nineteenth century, and Cassie and Kate revisit...
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Summer reading with Tayari Jones'An American Marriage, Peter Cochrane's The Making of Martin Sparrow and talking to Tara Westover about her memoir Educated from 2018-12-21T12:05
New material as well as some of the best books of the year, on The Bookshelf's Summer series. Tara Westover reflects on the books that shaped her, in an American family almost entirely cut off from...
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Podcast extra edition: with Viv Albertine, Jessie Burton and Jorge Carrion from 2018-12-19T12:05
Kate Evans talks books and writing with Viv Albertine - former punk guitarist from The Slits turned memoirist, as well as Jessie Burton whose latest book retells a fairy tale, and Spanish writer Jo...
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Best reads of the year from Stuart Coupe, Nicole Abadee, Trent Jamieson and Cassie&Kate from 2018-12-14T12:05
Literary fiction, short stories, music writing and SF and fantasy: Kate and Cassie sit down with a trio of readers, to discuss their best reads of 2018, and a few clues for books to be released in ...
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What are the best books Trent Dalton, Shaun Prescott and Amelia Lush have read this year? from 2018-12-07T12:05
Novelists Trent Dalton and Shaun Prescott, and professional reader Amelia Lush, join Kate and Cassie to talk about their best reads of the year.
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Reading Sydney Noir, finding plague pits in the backyard with Minette Walters, Anne Summers on fiction and new journalism and Sally Rippin's bookshelf from 2018-12-05T12:05
A podcast extra edition of the Bookshelf in which Cassie talks Sydney Noir with John Dale, Mandy Sayer and Mark Dapin; Kate talks to children's author Sally Rippin about the bookshelf that made her...
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On Graham Norton's A Keeper, R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries and Georgina Harding's Land of the Living with David Hunt, Aoife Clifford and Anne Summers from 2018-11-30T12:05
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh talk new books with historian David Hunt and crime writer Aoife Clifford. The books in front of them? Graham Norton's A Keeper, R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries and Geor...
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New fiction from Patrick Gale, Minette Walters, Rick Gekoski and Amitava Kumar from 2018-11-23T12:05
Reading and disagreeing about Patrick Gale's Take Nothing With You, Rick Gekoski's A Long Island Story and Amitava Kumar's Immigrant, Montana with Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh, Liz Byrski and Berna...
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Podcast Extra edition: with Fiona Wright, Kimberley Knight, Stephanie Bishop and Moreno Giovannoni from 2018-11-20T12:05
You did what with your salad spinner? Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh continue their bookish conversation with poet Fiona Wright and historian Kimberley Knight, and writers Stephanie Bishop and Mor...
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On Anna Burns'Milkman, Esi Edugyan's Washington Black and Philip Teir's The Summer House from 2018-11-16T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined by essayist Fiona Wright and historian Kimberley Knight as they discuss Anna Burns' Irish novel Milkman, Esi Edugyan's story of slavery and escape Washington Black and a ...
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RN Armistice 100 The Bookshelf podcast extra: On Robert Graves'Good-Bye to All That and a coda for Vera Brittain from 2018-11-10T13:05
A conversation with Jean Moorcoft Wilson on the life of British war poet and novelist, Robert Graves; and a postscript on the life of writer and peace activist Vera Brittain.
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RN Armistice 100: Australian WWI fiction, Indian writing&Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth from 2018-11-09T12:05
How has the First World War been fictionalised, in Australia, over the past century? And what about the Indian experience, with 1.5 million soldiers at war: has that story entered its popular imagi...
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New fiction from Andrew Miller, Anne Tyler and Victor LaValle from 2018-11-02T12:05
On Andrew Miller's Now We Shall be Entirely Free, Anne Tyler's Clock Dance and Victor LaValle's The Changeling, with novelists Jane Rawson and John Tesarsch and literary academic David Ellison. (Sp...
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On Krissy Kneen's Wintering, Les Zig's August Falling, Margaret Morgan's The Second Cure, Ilka Tampke's Songwoman and more from 2018-10-26T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined by historian Ruth Balint, crime writer Peter Cotton and Science Fiction reader George Williams to discuss fiction by Krissy Kneen, Les Zig, Margaret Morgan, Peter F Hamil...
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On Haruki Murakami's Killing Commendatore, Sarah Perry's Melmoth and Kristina Olsson's own bookshelf from 2018-10-19T12:05
Cassie and Kate are joined by TV writer and Dylanologist Mark Sutton to discuss Murakami's mammoth Killing Commendatore and Sarah Perry's gothic Melmoth, while novelist Kristina Olsson (Shell) reve...
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On Kristina Olsson's Shell, Markus Zusak's Bridge of Clay and Prayaag Akbar's Leila from 2018-10-12T12:00
Kate and Cassie talk books with novelist Suzanne Leal and translator and memoirist Vicki Laveau-Harvie. Kristina Olsson's reimagining of the building of the Sydney Opera House (Shell), Markus Zusak...
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Reading habits, influences and recommendations from Australian novelists Emma Viskic, Melissa Lucashenko, Chris Hammer and Christian White from 2018-10-05T12:05
Writers and their reading: novelist Melissa Lucashenko (Too Much Lip) and crime writers Emma Viskic (And Fire Came Down), Chris Hammer (Scrublands) and Christian White (Nowhere Child)
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On books by J M Coetzee, Kate Morton, Sebastian Faulks, Rebecca O'Connor and John Connell from 2018-09-28T12:05
Kate and Cassie speak to novelist Ceridwen Dovey about J M Coetzee, encounter very different ghosts in the latest novels of Sebastian Faulks (Paris Echo) and Kate Morton (The Clockmaker's Daughter)...
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New novels from Louis de Bernières, Kate Atkinson, Andrew Sean Greer and Rebecca Lim from 2018-09-21T12:05
Kate and Cassie discuss Louis de Bernières' So Much Life Left Over, Kate Atkinson's Transcription, Andrew Sean Greer's Still and Rebecca Lim's The Relic of the Blue Dragon, with writer Sam Twyford-...
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On Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls, Patrick de Witt's French Exit and the Australian Reading Hour from 2018-09-14T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined by lawyer and novelist Andreas Heger and publisher and writer Phillipa McGregor to discuss the latest books by Pat Barker and Patrick de Witt, while Morris Gleitzman tell...
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Short stories from Robert Drewe, Curtis Sittenfeld, Roxane Gay, Lauren Groff, William Trevor&John Edgar Wideman from 2018-09-07T12:05
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with rather a lot of short stories, and the reader reviewers Roanna Gonsalves, Brett Evans and Michael Dulaney
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On Sally Rooney's Normal People and Stephanie Bishop's Man Out of Time (just for starters) from 2018-08-31T12:05
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with reader Patrick Carey, editor of the Australian Book Review Peter Rose, writer and translator Tiffany Tsao and a whole lot of books.
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Vale Crimewriter Peter Corris: Cliff Hardy has made his exit from 2018-08-30T15:00
Peter Corris was known as the Godfather of Australian crime. He wrote more than forty Cliff Hardy novels, as well as works of history, co-authored biography and many more (ninety books at least)
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On Anna Seghers'The Seventh Cross, Tiffany Tsao's Under Your Wings and books by Edward St Aubyn and Roland Schimmelpfennig from 2018-08-24T12:05
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are joined by arts journalist Martin Portus, literary scholar Helen Groth and historian Clare Monagle to talk fiction.
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On Melissa Broder's The Pisces, Audrey Schulman's Theory of Bastards and V S Naipaul - with writers Felicity Castagna, Margo Lanagan and Khalid Warsame from 2018-08-17T12:05
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with novels about animals, sex and research (and a few other things)
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On crime writer Ann Cleeves, Laura Elizabeth Woollett's Beautiful Revolutionary, Simon Mawer's Prague Spring and A People's History of the Vampire Uprising from 2018-08-10T12:05
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with crime writer Ann Cleeves, historian David Hunt, memoirist Vicki Laveau-Harvie and bookseller Jennifer Stephens - and a whole lot of revolutionary novels.
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On Melissa Lucashenko's Too Much Lip, Chris Hammer's Scrublands and Gregory Day's A Sand Archive from 2018-08-03T12:05
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with literary academic Nicole Moore and the Sydney Story Factory's Catherine Keenan on Melissa Lucashenko's Too Much Lip, Chris Hammer's Scrublands and Gregory Day's...
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On Mario Vargas Llosa, Libby Page's The Lido, Sharlene Teo's Ponti and Tim Ayliffe's The Greater Good from 2018-07-27T12:05
Kate and Cassie disagree (again!) about Mario Vargas Llosa's The Neighbourhood, writers Bridie Jabour and Sheila Pham review debut novels by Libby Page and Sharlene Teo, and journo and novelist Tim...
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On Tara Isabella Burton's Social Creature, Barry Hill's Reason and Lovelessness, Natasha Lester's The Paris Seamstress and Sunni Overend's The Rules of Backyard Croquet from 2018-07-20T12:05
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are at loggerheads this week over Tara Isabella Burton's Social Creature, and you'll hear from the American writer herself. Barry Hill reveals a career shaped by enc...
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On Rachel Cusk's Kudos, Maria Tumarkin's Axiomatic and Kim Scott's bookshelf from 2018-07-13T12:05
Novelists Mireille Juchau and Susan Johnson join Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh to discuss Rachel Cusk's Kudos and Maria Tumarkin's Axiomatic; and Kim Scott reveals the bookshelf that shaped him
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Barbara Kingsolver, Alexander McCall Smith and why some novelists disappear from 2018-07-06T12:05
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with what Alexander McCall Smith reads (hint, there's a collection of poetry in his pocket), why Barbara Kingsolver...
On Enza Gandolfo's The Bridge, Hallgrímur Helgason's The Woman at 1000 Degrees, The Book Ninja & Michael Robotham's The Other Wife from 2018-06-29T12:05
Writers, readers and reviewers Michael Robotham, Robyn Annear, Antony Funnell, Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus join Kate Evans to talk books books book...
On Peter Cochrane's The Making of Martin Sparrow, Willy Vlautin's Don't Skip Out on Me, Meg Wolitzer's The Female Persuasion and Sally Seltmann's bookshelf from 2018-06-22T12:05
Kate and Cassie are joined by readers and reviewers, historian Stephen Gapps, novelist Peggy Frew and essayist Michael Dulaney.
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Poet A F Harrold; Claire G Coleman, Melanie Cheng and Felicity Castagna telling 'home truths' through fiction; and SF writer Jay Kristoff from 2018-06-15T12:05
English poet and children's book author A F Harrold reveals how libraries have shaped him; writers Melanie Cheng, Felicity Castagna and Claire G Co...