Alle afleveringen
250 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Summer highlights: Marian Keyes on writing to save her life
21 december 2025 · 55 min
Irish writer Marian Keyes joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival and they spoke about how Marian became a writer when she was in the depths of despair. Marian also acknowledged the wisdom she's gained in a sometimes tumultuous life. Lees meer
Marian's 16th novel, My Favourite Mistake (Penguin), is another story about one of her beloved Walsh sisters, a family she's been writing about for 30 years.
First broadcast 11 May 2025
Presenter: Claire Nichols
Producer: Sarah L'Estrange
Sound engineer: Carey Dell and David Le May
Executive producer: Rhiannon Brown
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Summer highlights: Ocean Vuong, Charlotte McConaghy and David Malouf
14 december 2025 · 55 min
Ocean Vuong's dazzling follow up to his debut On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Charlotte McConaghy's urgent Wild Dark Shore and David Malouf reflects on a life of writing. Lees meer
The Emperor of Gladness is the latest novel from the Vietnam born, American-based writer Ocean Vuong who made his name with his 2019 novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. His new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, takes you to a forgotten, rundown town in Connecticut called East Gladness which is a place of overgrown lawns and trampled weeds, of potholes and roadkill. Ocean shares why he thinks his latest book is self-indulgent (and that's ok), how he came to writing from business school and why his mother never knew that he dropped out of college to study literature.
A small family lives on a remote island, the father a caretaker for the world's seeds. Then in the rising seas, a woman is washed up to shore. Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore is a mystery, a story of love, and a warning.
Now at 91, David Malouf tells Claire Nichols about the place of fiction in his life and what it means to reissue three collections of poetry: An Open Book, Earth Hour and Typewriter Music.
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Bri Lee, Madeleine Gray and Kate Mildenhall on friendship, families and the future
7 december 2025 · 55 min
Bri Lee, Madeleine Gray and Kate Mildenhall break the mould with their new books about fraying families, frightening futures and creepy animals in Seed, Chosen Family and The Hiding Place. Lees meer
These three authors have made a splash with their previous books and they joined each other in Perth with The Book Show host, Claire Nichols, to share the joy — and angst — of writing fiction and the challenge of creating believable worlds.
Madeleine Gray is the author of Green Dot and her new book is Chosen Family.
Bri Lee is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction work, Eggshell Skull, and her debut fiction was The Work. Her second novel is Seed.
Kate Mildenhall is the author of four adult novels including The Hummingbird Effect and The Mother Fault. Her latest book is The Hiding Place.
Plus, the final instalment in our five-part series Dear Jane, celebrating 250 years of Jane Austen. We ask why is Jane Austen endlessly adaptable? American author, Karen Joy Fowler (We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves) has published her own Austen-inspired novel, The Jane Austen Book Club (2004) and helps Claire Nichols and Sarah L'Estrange answer this big question.
Listen to the rest of the Dear Jane series here.
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05 | Dear Jane — The endlessly adaptable Austen
4 december 2025 · 16 min
Why is Jane Austen endlessly adaptable? After all, her Pride and Prejudice character, Elizabeth Bennett, has fought zombies, investigated murders, been a video blogger and has performed Bollywood dance numbers. Is it the brilliant plotting, the wonderful characters or the humour that makes her work so readily transplanted to the screen, stage and page in so many different variations? Lees meer
American author, Karen Joy Fowler (We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves) has published her own Austen-inspired novel, The Jane Austen Book Club (2004) and helps Claire Nichols and Sarah L'Estrange answer these questions in the last of our series celebrating 250 years of Jane Austen.
Listen to the other Dear Jane episodes here.
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Jeanette Winterson releases the reading Genie
30 november 2025 · 56 min
For Jeanette Winterson, reading has been her liberation but she's worried about its future. She asks what AI means for storytelling in her new book One Aladdin Two Lamps. American author Lily King shares the surprising origin of her tear-jerker love-triangle novel, Heart the Lover and we consider the parallels between Regency England and Pakistan in our next instalment of Dear Jane. Lees meer
For British author Jeanette Winterson, the life of the imagination has been the motivating force throughout her life. More recently, the intersection of literature, humanity and technology in the form of AI has preoccupied the author of Oranges are Not the Only Fruit and Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal? She's gathered her ideas about this intersection and what it means for storytelling in a new book, One Aladdin Two Lamps, which also tackles the famous text 1001 Nights. In the face of this technological innovation, she asks the troubling question: will we be reading books in the future?
Heart the Lover is the sixth novel by American author Lily King. It follows Jordan, a young woman at college who is torn between two men who also happen to be best friends. The choices she makes will ripple throughout her life. The book is both a tear-jerker and a love triangle and draws the reader to the emotional end.
We don our bonnets to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen in the fourth episode in our series, Dear Jane. So far, we've delved into Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion and today we focus on the flawed character of Emma Woodhouse, who graces Austen's fourth published novel, Emma. Laleen Sukhera is our guide and founded the Jane Austen Society of Pakistan over a decade ago (and has hosted many Austen style tea parties). She finds parallels between life in Emma's Regency England and the Pakistan of her 1990s youth.
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04 | Dear Jane — Reading Emma in Pakistan
27 november 2025 · 17 min
Jane Austen's influence has spread well beyond the Anglosphere 250 years after her birth and today we consider the the parallels between Austen's Regency England and contemporary Pakistan. Lees meer
Laleen Sukhera is the founder of the Jane Austen Society of Pakistan (which has expanded to the Jane Austen Society MENAP - Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan) and grew up reading Jane Austen. Now based in Dubai, she shares the many similarities between tea time, the marriage market and expectations on women in Austen's time and the Pakistan of her youth. She also shares why she has a soft spot for the fabulously flawed Emma Woodhouse in Austen's fourth published novel, Emma.
Listen to the other episodes in Dear Jane here.
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Megha Majumdar and Sally Hepworth on climate crisis and granny serial killers
23 november 2025 · 55 min
Megha Majumdar's A Guardian and a Thief asks what a billionaire, a manager and homeless person have in common, Sally Hepworth reveals the dramatic confession that led to her latest novel Mad Mabel and in the third episode of Dear Jane we are swept off our feet by the romance in Austen's Persuasion. Lees meer
Indian novelist Megha Majumdar's high stakes second novel, A Guardian and a Thief, drills into the moral dilemma posed by climate catastrophe and the will to survive. It takes a near future Kolkata ravaged by drought and famine and pits middle-class Ma against impoverished Boomba. Both are trying to survive and support their families but who has the moral high ground in this scenario? Megha reflects on how becoming a parent made her the writer she needed to be and why she doesn't want to reinforce the "noble mother" stereotype in her fiction.
Australian author Sally Hepworth's tenth book can be thought of as a heartwarming crime novel. While this description might sound like a contradiction, Mad Mabel is about a granny serial killer but is also about loneliness, neglect and female friendship. Sally tells Claire about the unexpected confession that was inspiration for the book.
We continue our celebration of the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen with the third episode in our series, Dear Jane. So far, we've busted some myths and revealed why Austen loves sailors. Today we focus on the romance in Jane Austen's Persuasion with Australian comedian and lover of romance, Alice Fraser. Alice is the author of A Passion for Passion: A Delirious Love Letter to Romance.
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03 | Dear Jane — Persuasion, the original second chance romance
20 november 2025 · 16 min
Jane Austen's novel Persuasion was the last she completed before her death and it is considered a more mature, sombre romance, and in Dear Jane, we ask what makes it so special? Lees meer
Persuasion follows the ever dependable Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth's rekindled romance after an eight year hiatus when it was deemed unsuitable. Australian comedian Alice Fraser describes it as the original second-chance romance and explains why it's different from Austen's other romances.
Alice is the author of A Passion for Passion: A Delirious Love Letter to Romance.
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Ben Elton and the case for popular fiction
16 november 2025 · 55 min
British comic Ben Elton on the Aussie inspiration for writing fiction, and Miles Franklin winner Sofie Laguna on the collision of puberty and Roman mythology in her novel The Underworld. Plus the rules for reading Austen's Pride and Prejudice with Irish writer Colm Tóibín. Lees meer
It seems Ben Elton can do anything. Since his first writing gig at 21 for the BBC sitcom The Young Ones, he's been a stand-up comedian, a TV presenter and a writer for Blackadder (and many other film and TV productions). He's also had a prolific career as a novelist with 16 titles to his name, including Stark. So how does he manage his ego, being edited and the constant tussle of new ideas inside his mind? He's just released his autobiography, What Have I Done? and Claire Nichols visited him before a gig at Perth's Regal Theatre to find out.
Australian author Sofie Laguna writes for adults and children and is a past winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award (The Eye of the Sheep 2015). Sofie has a special affinity with the inner lives of young people and her latest novel, The Underworld, opens in 1973, when the main protagonist, Martha is 14 years old and dealing with puberty. She's an awkward outsider but she's also clever and brave. Sofie tells Claire Nichols why she was so taken with this character.
In a Jane Austen novel, what does it mean if a character is in the Navy? Irish author of Brooklyn and Long Island, Colm Tóibín, has the answer and shares some "rules" for reading Austen's most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice. This is the second episode in our Dear Jane series which is a celebration of Austen's enduring legacy 250 years after her birth.
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02 | Dear Jane — the perfectly plotted Pride and Prejudice
13 november 2025 · 16 min
In a Jane Austen novel, what does it mean if a character is in the Navy? What role do aunts and silly characters play? And what's the significance of the lavish balls? Lees meer
Irish author of Brooklyn and Long Island, Colm Tóibín, has the answers and shares some "rules" for reading Austen including her most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice.
This is the second episode in The Book Show's Dear Jane series which is a celebration of Austen's enduring legacy 250 years after her birth.
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Pod extra: David Szalay wins the Booker Prize
11 november 2025 · 15 min
The British-Hungarian author David Szalay restrained novel Flesh has won the 2025 Booker Prize. Lees meer
The prize was presented to Szalay by Samantha Harvey, winner of the previous year's prize.
Flesh follows the dramatic life of István from his teens in Hungary to being a social climber in England to a somewhat dejected middle-age.
Szalay says that while the book was a risk to write he enjoyed the process. It's obviously paid off as he receives £50,000 for the win and will likely see a big increase in sales of his book.
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Patricia Lockwood on Dolly the sheep and long covid
9 november 2025 · 54 min
Patricia Lockwood's latest book is the third exploring her inner state, just don't call it a trilogy. A call to all Jane Austen lovers with the beginning of our new series Dear Jane, and Markus Zusak on the wonder of books. Lees meer
Chronically online American author Patricia Lockwood blurs the lines between fiction and memoir in her latest book, Will There Ever Be Another You. Patricia is best known for her memoir Priest Daddy and the Booker Prize shortlisted novel, No One is Talking About This. Her new book is inspired by her own experience of long COVID and what it did to her mind. She tells Claire Nichols about over-ordering at the Wendy's franchise, the connections between her three books and feeling well again.
We're celebrating Jane Austen's 250th birthday with Dear Jane, a brand-new series about her life, her books, her legacy, and why authors are still inspired by her novels. In the first instalment, Roller Derby Austen fanatic and academic Devoney Looser busts some myths and explains why she believes Jane Austen was wild, not mild. Devoney's new book is Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was voted in at second place in our recent Top 100 Books countdown. This year also marks 20 years since this beloved book was published. It's about Leisel, a feisty German girl who finds power in stealing books and was inspired by Markus's parents' experiences in Europe during World War Two. It's a novel of big ideas and huge creative risks including Death as the narrator. Claire spoke to Markus for The Book Show's series My Biggest Book.
Listen to the Top 100 Books countdown.
Download a printable list of the Top 100 Books.
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01 | Dear Jane — the wild, not mild, Jane Austen
6 november 2025 · 21 min
We're celebrating Jane Austen's 250th birthday with Dear Jane, a brand-new series about her life, her books and her legacy. Lees meer
In the first instalment, Roller Derby Austen fanatic and academic Devoney Looser busts some myths and explains why she believes Jane Austen was wild, not mild.
Devoney's new book is Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane.
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Who will win the Booker Prize?
2 november 2025 · 54 min
Become a Booker Prize expert and meet the shortlisted authors before the winner is announced in a ceremony featuring classic British pomp and fanfare. Lees meer
These are the shortlisted books:
Flashlight by Susan Choi
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Audition by Katie Kitamura
Flesh by David Szalay
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits.
The Booker Prize is arguably the most prestigious literary prize in the English-speaking world, the winning author receives £50,000, while the shortlisted authors all receive £2,500. Importantly, the winner makes history and joins literary alumni including Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje and Peter Carey and can expect a sharp rise in sales.
The winner is announced 10 November.
Another book extravaganza that has everyone talking is the Top 100 Books countdown. Listen again to the highlights here.
Download a printable copy of the Top 100 Books list here.
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An American elegy with Eric Puchner and Jane Harper on grief and the disappeared
26 oktober 2025 · 54 min
The American elegy, Dream State by American author Eric Puchner is one of Claire's favourite books of the year, Australian crime novelist Jane Harper explores grief and loss in Last One Out , and we revisit Paul Murray's The Bee Sting which made it into the Top 100 Books countdown. Lees meer
Set under the vast Montana sky, American author Eric Puchner traverses time, changing landscapes and the sometimes grim consequences of both small and large deeds in his latest novel. Dream State begins as a love triangle and sweeps across generations, encompassing many themes; from grief, guilt, long term love, male bonds, climate change, skiing and so much more, including a glimpse at a wolverine.
Since the publication of the The Dry almost ten years ago, Jane Harper has become a household name in crime fiction. Her latest is a standalone novel set in a rural New South Wales town that's been overtaken by a mine, forcing many people to leave and resentment to brew. She tells Sarah L'Estrange Last One Out is about Ro, who's returned to the town for her son's memorial and she's still trying to understand what led to his disappearance five years ago.
And as a special treat we revisit a conversation with the Irish writer, Paul Murray about his book The Bee Sting. A contemporary family story, it came in at number 71 in the Top 100 Books of the 21st century. It begins with a disaster as a bride is on her way to the church.
Listen to the Top 100 Books countdown.
Download a printable list of the Top 100 Books.
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Celebrating Australia's favourite reads with Trent Dalton, Hannah Kent and Barbara Kingsolver
20 oktober 2025 · 54 min
The Top 100 Books of the 21st Century countdown is complete and now it's time to find out the inspiration behind some of Australia's favourite books with the authors: Trent Dalton, Hannah Kent and Barbara Kingsolver. Lees meer
Trent Dalton's debut novel Boy Swallows Universe was voted in as your number one read of the 21st century. A coming of age story, it follows the young boy, Eli Bell, who has a missing dad, a silent brother, a drug addicted mother and a notorious criminal for a babysitter. The novel is made all the more remarkable for how closely it's based on Trent Dalton's own life growing up on the Brisbane fringe. Trent shares his recollections of writing the book with Claire Nichols and what it means to be voted number one in the Top 100 Books.
American writer Barbara Kingsolver's novel Demon Copperhead is a modern day retelling of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Women's Prize for Fiction and now, it came out at number eight in the Top 100 Books countdown. Demon Copperhead is about Damon, known as Demon, who is just 12 when we meet him living a hard-scrabble life in Appalachia, USA. Barbara Kingsolver also calls this area home and in 2022, she told Claire Nichols about wanting to write a book about a new generation of lost boys highlighting issues of poverty, foster care and the opioid crisis in America.
Another debut novel to crack the top ten was Burial Rights by the Australian writer Hannah Kent which was voted in at number six. This novel fictionalises the life of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman to be executed in Iceland. It was inspired by Hannah Kent's own time in Iceland which she's documented in a new memoir called Always Home, Always Homesick.
Download a printable list of the Top 100 Books.
Listen to the Top 100 Books countdown.
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Heather Rose, Omar Musa and Natalia Figueroa Barroso on champagne, ghosts and the disappeared
13 oktober 2025 · 55 min
Heather Rose found writing her latest novel challenging because it's partly based on some murky family secrets. The author of The Museum of Modern Love and Bruny Island among other award winning novels, has now written A Great Act of Love: an historical saga of murder, migration, transformation and enduring familial bonds. It has a surprising effervescent setting; making French style champagne in colonial Tasmania. Lees meer
Poet, visual artist, hip-hop musician and author Omar Musa finds magic in Italian beads, vengeful ghosts and the sound of the Borneo forest in his second novel. Fierceland exposes the dark side of Malay politics and trade in palm oil, but is also a story of family and love.
Australian author Natalia Figueroa Barroso also draws on family and culture in her debut novel Hailstones Fell Without Rain. From single migrant mothers making a life in Western Sydney to women surviving and resisting political oppression in Uruguay, it's a multigenerational celebration of strength and renewal.
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Peter Carey on not writing fiction anymore
5 oktober 2025 · 54 min
It's 25 years since True History of the Kelly Gang came out and while Peter Carey might not be writing fiction anymore he says he's proud of his books. My Sister, The Serial Killer's Oyinkan Braithwaite on not writing the same book twice in Cursed Daughters and Tanya Scott's debut thriller, Stillwater. Lees meer
When it comes to Australia's great novelists, few loom larger than Peter Carey. He's won the Booker Prize twice, and the Miles Franklin Award three times and is beloved for books like Oscar and Lucinda, Illywhacker, Jack Maggs and A Long Way from Home. But at the age of 82, he says he's done with writing fiction. Instead, we're celebrating 25 years since the publication True History of The Kelly Gang which won the Booker in 2001.
Oyinkan Braithwaite is a Nigerian-British author who made a big splash with her first novel, My Sister, The Serial Killer which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Women's Prize and won the Thriller Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Her second novel, Cursed Daughters, is about three generations of Nigerian women and the family curse that dominates their lives.
Stillwater is the debut thriller by Tanya Scott, a GP working in the mental health sector in regional Victoria. It's about Luke, a young man trying to escape his past when a run in with an old associate drags him back into a world of violence and crime.
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Trent Dalton and David Malouf — Brisbane's favourite sons
28 september 2025 · 54 min
Trent Dalton's new novel Gravity Let Me Go is about a middle aged journalist who can't let go of a good story, and David Malouf reflects on a life of writing and the hold of Brisbane on his imagination. Lees meer
Trent Dalton is the bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe, All Our Shimmering Skies and Lola in the Mirror. His new novel Gravity Let me Go, is about a Brisbane crime journalist with a big story, an aching body and a family who could be in peril. Trent tells Claire Nichols that this book was a reckoning with who he is now as a middle aged family man with a serious story addiction. He also explains why he thinks of Brisbane as akin to Paris, London or New York for its romance, dark side and storytelling potential.
Trent Dalton also shares his favourite book for ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books with a special shout-out to Geraldine Brooks. Vote for your favourite book of the 21st Century here.
David Malouf was one of the first writers to put modern-day Brisbane on the literary map with his semi-autobiographical novel Johnno and says the city he wrote about was his own invention. Now at 91, David tells Claire Nichols about the place of fiction in his life and what it means to reissue three collections of poetry: An Open Book, Earth Hour and Typewriter Music.
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How Ian McEwan is using the future to explore the present
21 september 2025 · 54 min
Ian McEwan's futuristic novel What We Can Know is about rising sea levels and a lost poem. Plus, Randa Abdel-Fattah's response to the crisis in Gaza in her novel Discipline and Vogel Award winner Murray Middleton on the despair of being an artist. Lees meer
Ian McEwan is the British author of over 20 books including Atonement, Saturday, Lessons and his Booker Prize-winner, Amsterdam. His new novel, What We Can Know is set a century in the future where a history professor has dedicated his career to examining our era known as the "derangement". McEwan talks about writing a climate change novel and why we're all complicit in this contemporary derangement. He also tells Claire Nichols how he's learnt to be more humble as a writer.
Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Palestinian Egyptian author, lawyer and academic who's mostly written books for children and young adults, but Discipline is her first novel for adults. It follows two Muslim characters living in Australia, as conflict breaks out in Gaza. It's about the agony of watching your family suffer from far away and it's also about the politics of our country and the cost of speaking out.
Vogel Award winning author Murray Middleton contemplates the despair of being an artist in his latest collection of short stories, U Want it Darker. Many of the characters are dealing with a sense of failure, which is personal for Murray Middleton whose had his own set backs as an artist.
The Book Thief author, Markus Zusak shares his favourite book of the 21st Century for ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books. VOTE NOW!
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Arundhati Roy and Mick Herron on monstrous mothers and Slow Horses
14 september 2025 · 54 min
God of Small Things author Arundhati Roy remembers her difficult mother and how she was shaped as a writer, and Mick Herron on the success of Slow Horses and his repellent but memorable creation, Jackson Lamb. Lees meer
Arundhati Roy is a giant of literature. She's published two novels, including the Booker Prize-winning The God of Small Things and is a prolific author of non-fiction, much of which confronts injustice in her home country of India. Her latest book is a memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, which examines her complicated relationship with her mother, Mary Roy. Mary was a trailblazer in education and in fighting for equality for women but as a mum, she could be cruel and even violent. She died in 2022, and in the book, Arundhati Roy writes, "perhaps more than a daughter mourning the passing of her mother, I mourn her as a writer who has lost her most enthralling subject."
British author Mick Herron says his popular Slough House series that began with Slow Horses in 2010 wasn't an immediate success. Although, now the Slough House universe about disgraced MI5 agents has grown with nine novels in the ongoing series and another seven associated standalone books and of course a wonderful TV series. The latest in the series Clown Town is about a missing book, and Jackson Lamb, the flatulent boss of these ragtag agents, is repellent as ever. But Mick Herron cautions not to read his books as an insight into the operations of MI5.
VOTE NOW in ABC Radio National’s Top 100 Books of the 21st Century.
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Toni Jordan, Richard Osman and Gail Jones on greyhounds, murder and mystery
7 september 2025 · 54 min
Australian author of Addition, Toni Jordan, goes gambling with greyhounds in Tenderfoot, Richard Osman digs up the background to The Thursday Murder Club and critically acclaimed writer, Gail Jones on why she wrote the crime novel, The Name of the Sister. Lees meer
Toni Jordan is the Australian author of eight books including Addition, The Fragments and Dinner with the Schnabels. Her new novel, Tenderfoot, is her most personal. It's told from the perspective of a child in 1970s Brisbane who's growing up amongst greyhounds and racing tracks and dealing with her parents' divorce. Toni reflects on her own life growing up at the TAB and why she turned to this personal story now.
Some inspiration for ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century: we revisit The Thursday Murder Club by the British writer and TV personality Richard Osman which has been a massive hit since it was published in 2020, with three sequels and a movie adaptation out now starring Helen Mirren. Here on The Book Show Claire Nichols spoke to Richard right when the book was first published.
Cast your vote in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books here.
Gail Jones is one of our most prolific and celebrated authors. Her novels have been shortlisted and awarded for many of the big literary awards but she's done something different in her latest book by writing a crime novel. In The Name of the Sister a freelance journalist investigates the story of a nameless woman who's turned up on the side of the road in Broken Hill, unable to speak and clearly damaged by some sort of abuse. Gail reflects on a life in literature and why she became a writer later in life.
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Top 100 Books with Colum McCann, Kate Grenville and Kaliane Bradley
31 augustus 2025 · 54 min
Discover the favourite books from the 21st century of Colum McCann, Kate Grenville and Kaliane Bradley who share their best reads for ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books. Lees meer
The Book Show producer Sarah L'Estrange spoke to three acclaimed authors at Melbourne Writers Festival in the lead up to ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books countdown. Go here to vote for your favourite book of the last 25 years.
Guests:
Colum McCann is an Irish author of eight novels including Let the Great World Spin and Apeirogon and his latest is Twist which is a tale about disconnection in this hyper connected world.
Kate Grenville is the author of over 15 books of fiction and non-fiction, including her Orange Prize winning book The Idea of Perfection, The Secret River and her latest book, Unsettled, explores the personal story behind The Secret River.
Kaliane Bradley is a British-Cambodian writer and editor whose bestselling debut novel The Ministry of Time is a time travel novel about immigration, history and romance.
Panel's top reads of the 21st century:
Kate Grenville
Mateship With Birds by Carrie Tiffany
Anything Can Happen, by Susan Hampton
Olive Cotton, a Life in Photography by Helen Ennis
The Biggest Estate on Earth by Bill Gammage
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright
Kaliane Bradley
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
Landbridge by Y-Dang Troeung
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Grief Is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter
Colum McCann
Ulysses by James Joyce
True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Aidiche
(and Gilead by Marilynne Robinson)
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R.F. Kuang goes to hell with Katabasis
24 augustus 2025 · 54 min
Yellowface author R.F. Kuang returns to speculative fiction with her latest novel Katabasis, a campus novel set in hell. Plus Australian author Moreno Giovannoni's second novel The Immigrant challenges the idea that Italian immigrants of his parent's generation had better lives in Australia. Lees meer
While R.F. Kuang had a global hit with Yellowface — her 2023 satirical novel about race and publishing — Rebecca was already an acclaimed fantasy writer and she returns to this territory with her new book, Katabasis. It's a campus novel set in hell about magic and romance. Rebecca also tells Claire Nichols why she loves fantasy, why she has a "dumb" phone and shares her idea of the good life.
Australian writer Moreno Giovannoni explains the background to his second novel The Immigrants (his first book is The Fireflies of Autumn) and shares his memories of his immigrant childhood, and the parents who came to Australia from Italy for a so-called 'better life'.
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Gary Shteyngart, Jennifer Mills and Rhett Davis ask what's next
17 augustus 2025 · 54 min
Russian born US writer Gary Shteyngart imagines a future America with strong parallels to Russia in Vera, or Faith, Adelaide based author Jennifer Mills' latest novel Salvage rockets into space after ecological collapse, and Geelong author Rhett Davis on Aborescence about people who want to become trees. Lees meer
Gary Shteyngart is the Russian-born, American-based author of novels including Absurdistan, Super Sad True Love Story and Our Country Friends. His latest book Vera, or Faith, is about a precocious child living in near future America, where cars have attitude and equality is under threat. Gary talks about the worrying parallels between the USA and Russia and the precarious state of immigrants in the country.
Jennifer Mills (Dyschronia and The Airways) is one of the most exciting experimental writers in Australia. Her latest novel, Salvage, is a propulsive novel about sisterhood, space and what happens after ecological collapse. She also talks about wanting her books to be of use to readers.
And staying with the environmental theme, Geelong based author Rhett Davis's second book Arborescence continues his fascination with trees that featured in his debut, Hovering. Arborescence is about a movement of people who want to grow roots and become trees (and they do, in their billions)! It's also about the absurdity of modern-day life.
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Florence Knapp and Brandon Jack on the power of a name
10 augustus 2025 · 54 min
Florence Knapp's debut novel The Names is a sliding doors story about the naming of a child and has been a surprise success (for her). Plus Brandon Jack, former Aussie Rules Football player on his novel Pissants about the players who don't win glory on the field and how they get their nicknames. Lees meer
Florence Knapp's hugely popular debut novel The Names explores the power of a name. Starting in 1980s England, it's a sliding doors story about the seismic impacts of a woman's choice of name for her newborn son. Florence also talks about dealing with the unexpected success of her first book.
And something a bit different, a novel by former Aussie Rules Football player, Brandon Jack, who played for the Sydney Swans (finishing in 2017). Pissants tells the story of a ragtag group of fringe AFL players making bad choices and getting into trouble. Brandon talks about his shift from football to fiction, why nicknames are important for team spirit and having Helen Garner (Australian literary royalty) as a fan. Read this article for more background about the writing of Pissants.
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Amy Bloom, Ben Markovits and Barbara Truelove on love, basketball and monsters
3 augustus 2025 · 54 min
Amy Bloom on her latest novel I'll Be Right Here about an unconventional chosen family, Ben Markovits goes on the road with his Booker Prize longlisted novel The Rest of Our Lives and Barbara Truelove's bonkers book about Dracula in space, Of Monsters and Mainframes. Lees meer
Amy Bloom is the American author of ten books (including White Houses) and her new historical novel, I'll Be Right Here, begins in wartime Paris and follows an unconventional, chosen family into the 21st century. The famous French author Collette has a cameo role too. Amy Bloom also shares the two things that matter to her most and why she writes about love in all its forms.
Of Monsters and Mainframes is the debut novel of the Australian author and game designer Barbara Truelove. It's a genre mash of science fiction and pulp horror and is largely narrated by a sentient spaceship.
The Rest of Our Lives is the 12th novel by British-American writer Benjamin Markovits and has recently been longlisted for the Booker Prize. It follows Tom, who's in a middle aged rut, as he sets out on a road trip across America and visits people from his past. Ben also talks about his failed career as a professional basketball player, the parallels between basketball and writing, and how a health crisis enriched the writing of this latest book.
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Ben Okri, Jana Wendt and Thomas Vowles on heartbreak, new beginnings and queer Melbourne
27 juli 2025 · 54 min
Booker Prize-winning Nigerian author Ben Okri on his novella Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-Hearted, Australian journalist Jana Wendt on turning to fiction with her short story collection, The Far Side of the Moon and Australian writer Thomas Vowles shares why he's drawn to challenging stories in Our New Gods. Lees meer
Ben Okri is a Nigerian born, UK based writer who won the1991Booker Prize for his novel The Famished Road. His new novel has the wonderful title Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-Hearted. It takes us to a dreamlike masked ball in the south of France, a night of magic and mistaken identity. To attend this festival, you have to have had your heart smashed by love. Ben Okri shares the influence of Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot on his imagination and how he thinks of himself as a "listening board" as an artist.
Jana Wendt is one of Australian best-known journalists and now has a new string to her bow. She's just published her first work of fiction, The Far Side of the Moon and other stories. While the stories, for the most part, are not linked her characters are almost exclusively older people remembering past loves, successes and failures. Jana Wendt shared with Claire Nichols why she made the shift from fact to fiction.
Screenwriter and novelist Thomas Vowles talks about the pain that inspired his first novel, Our New Gods which is about a lost, gay young man whose longing to belong exposes him to deception and exploitation. It's set in Melbourne's queer scene, between share houses, bath houses and the pool and The Book Show's Sarah L'Estrange visits him in his own share house from where he "watches the world go by".
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"Shimmering" and "strikingly new" — Siang Lu wins Miles Franklin Literary Award
24 juli 2025 · 24 min
“Shimmering” and “strikingly new”—Siang Lu takes out the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award with Ghost Cities, his razor-sharp satire of the film world. With humour and absurdity as his tools, Lu boldly tackles race, racism, and the stories we tell (and sell) on screen. Lees meer
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John Boyne, Maggie Stiefvater and Laura Elvery on hope, enemy diplomats and Florence Nightingale
20 juli 2025 · 54 min
John Boyne concludes his challenging series The Elements with Air, US writer Maggie Stiefvater takes you to a luxury hotel for enemy diplomats in The Listeners and Laura Elvery imagines Florence Nightingale on her deathbed in Nightingale. Lees meer
John Boyne is the prolific Irish author of over 20 books including The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The History of Loneliness and The Heart's Invisible Furies. His latest writing project is a series of novellas called The Elements with the books Water, Earth, Fire and now, Air. The four books are all connected by the difficult theme of child abuse with the latest - and last - instalment ending the series on a note of hope. John shares why this is personal territory for him and why he's found strength in talking about it.
The Listeners is the first adult novel by American author Maggie Stiefvater who has made her name as a successful writer of young adult fiction. The Listeners is set during World War Two in the Blue Ridge Mountains in America's east, when luxury hotels were turned into detention centres for diplomats from Germany, Italy and Japan and where prisoners were cared for and served by American hotel staff. Maggie also shares her life as a rev-head!
In her debut novel Nightingale, Brisbane author Laura Elvery takes on the iconic 19th century figure of Florence Nightingale who revolutionised nursing in the blood bath of the Crimean War. Laura has fictionalised Florence on her death bed at 90 when there's a knock on the door. The novel follows Laura's award-winning collection of short stories called Ordinary Matter about the few women who've have won Nobel Prizes for science.
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From a debut to two-time winner — the Miles Franklin shortlist is here
13 juli 2025 · 54 min
From Miles Franklin prize veteran Michelle de Kretster to debut novelist Winnie Dunn, we bring you all six of the shortlisted authors in this round-up of their celebrated books. Lees meer
This year's shortlist features a book set in an Ancient Chinese dynasty, a collection of linked short stories and a debut by the first ever published Australian Tongan novelist. The works traverse topics of migration, home, rebellion and feminist theory and all are in contention for the prestigious $60 000 prize.
The 2025 shortlisted works and authors:
Chinese Postman by Brian Castro
Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser
Dirt Poor Islanders by Winnie Dunn
Compassion by Julie Janson
Ghost Cities by Siang Lu
Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane
The 2025 winner will be announced on 24 July.
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Ocean Vuong and Fleur McDonald reimagine Connecticut and Kalgoorlie
6 juli 2025 · 54 min
US poet, Ocean Vuong says when he was growing up "being a writer was like being a unicorn" but now he's published his second novel The Emperor of Gladness. Plus, Esperance based author Fleur McDonald reinvents herself in the harsh WA landscape of Kalgoorlie with her novel, The Prospect. Lees meer
The Emperor of Gladness is the latest novel from the Vietnam born, American-based writer Ocean Vuong who made his name with his 2019 novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. His new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, takes you to a forgotten, rundown town in Connecticut called East Gladness which is a place of overgrown lawns and trampled weeds, of potholes and roadkill. Ocean shares why he thinks his latest book is self-indulgent (and that's ok), how he came to writing from business school and why his mother never knew that he dropped out of college to study literature.
Australian novelist Fleur McDonald is 25 books into her writing career but as well as writing page-turning novels, she's also lived an incredible life and founded the WA organisation DV Assist which is aimed at rural victims of domestic violence. Fleur is based in Esperance - on the southern coast of Western Australia - but her new book, The Prospect, takes the reader inland to Kalgoorlie, a gold mining town, which even today holds tight to its frontier sensibility.
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Esther Freud has a lot to say about sisters
29 juni 2025 · 54 min
Esther Freud mines her family story to discover new truths in My Sister and Other Lovers, Dominic Amerena asks what is the price of ambition in I Want Everything and Madeleine Watts returns to a story of water and climate catastrophe in her road trip novel Elegy, Southwest. Lees meer
Esther Freud is a novelist known for her famous family as the daughter of the painter Lucien Freud and great grand-daughter of Sigmund Freud. Esther's family stories have fuelled her work from the beginning, with the semi-autobiographical Hideous Kinky, but it's not the famous men of her family who inspire her, instead, it's the women. Her new book, My Sister and Other Lovers, revisits characters from Hideous Kinky, as they make their way into adulthood and try to come to terms with their past.
I Want Everything is the debut novel of Australian author Dominic Amerena. It's about an ambitious writer who wants to make a name for himself but doesn't want to do the work to get there. He thinks he's won the jackpot when he discovers the true identity of a fictional, great Australian author who went to ground after the success of her novels in the 1970s. He decides he will be the one to resurrect her career even if it means sacrificing his moral compass to achieve the fame he desperately wants.
Elegy, Southwest is a road trip novel by the Berlin-based Australian writer Madeleine Watts, whose novel The Inland Sea was shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin. This novel, set in the USA, is also about water as well as love, grief and climate catastrophe.
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Yael van der Wouden on sex, history and an incredible year
22 juni 2025 · 54 min
Fresh off her 2025 Women’s Prize win, Yael van der Wouden talks The Safekeep—the novel that’s got everyone buzzing. It caps a stellar run for Yael, who also made the Booker shortlist last year with her debut.
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Catherine Chidgey, Kevin Wilson and Josephine Rowe on history, travel and an almost saint
15 juni 2025 · 54 min
New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey asks, what if World War II had ended differently in her latest novel The Book of Guilt. Plus Kevin Wilson sends his characters on an American road trip in Run for the Hills and Australian author Josephine Rowe on her moving and slender novel, Little World. Lees meer
What if the second world war had ended differently? This idea and more are explored in Catherine Chidgey's latest novel The Book of Guilt which is set long after the end of the war in 1970s England. Catherine is a New Zealand writer best known for her novels The Wish Child and Remote Sympathy which are also about World War II and she reveals her interest in this dark period in European history dates to her time at high school.
Run for the Hills is the latest novel by American author Kevin Wilson and it features his trademark quirkiness and heart. It's about a group of newly discovered siblings who take a road trip across the US to confront their father for abandoning them. Kevin says the seeds for this novel were sown in his previous novel, Now is Not the Time to Panic.
Australian author Josephine Rowe shares her approach to crafting a slim but clever book, Little World, which is about three people, seemingly disconnected over time and geography that's drawn together through a connection to the body of an almost saint.
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Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey loosens the reins
8 juni 2025 · 54 min
Samantha Harvey didn’t mean to write a space novel—but Orbital won the Booker. At the 2025 Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival, she talks dreams, insomnia, and crafting a plotless “space pastoral” that’s anything but ordinary.
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Alan Hollinghurst and Charlotte Wood on gay lives and celebrity nuns
1 juni 2025 · 54 min
Booker Prize winner Alan Hollinghurst reflects on writing about gay lives and Booker Prize shortlisted author Charlotte Wood explains what it's like to not win the prestigious prize. Lees meer
British writer Alan Hollinghust won the 2004 Booker Prize for his novel The Line of Beauty about a gay man living in 1980s Britain. His latest novel, Our Evenings, is about another queer man but this story spans a much longer period of British history and follows Dave Win for 60 years as he navigates his life as a gay, biracial man. Alan was a guest of Sydney Writers Festival.
The Australian writer Charlotte Wood shortlisted for the 2024 Booker for her novel Stone Yard Devotional about an atheist woman who retreats to a nunnery in the Australian bush. It was the first time in 10 years that an Australian was shortlisted for the prize. Claire Nichols spoke to Charlotte at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival, WA.
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Liane Moriaty and David Nicholls on small screen success
25 mei 2025 · 54 min
From Sydney Writers Festival, two bestselling writers, David Nicholls and Liane Moriarty, reveal what it's like to see their stories go from the page to the screen. Lees meer
The British writer David Nicholls is best known for his novel One Day, which has been adapted to film and to television.
While Australia's Liane Moriarty has seen every one of her books optioned for the screen and hit the big time with the starry TV adaptation of her novel Big Little Lies.
David and Liane also discuss their latest novels, You Are Here and Here One Moment.
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Kaliane Bradley, Rumaan Alam, success and 'sexy dead guys'
18 mei 2025 · 54 min
Kaliane Bradley shares the serious side to her obsession with muttonchops and time travel, with her book The Ministry of Time, and Rumaan Alam reflects on the success of his novels, Entitlement and Leave the World Behind which was adapted to the screen starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke. Lees meer
British Cambodian author Kaliane Bradley shares the inspiration behind her hit 2024 debut The Ministry of Time. It's a time travel novel that began during lockdown when Kaliane became obsessed with the failed 19th century Franklin Arctic Expedition and one of the officers on board who sported seductive muttonchops and a twinkle in his eye.
Rumaan Alam is the American author of four novels but is most known for his 2020 end-of-the-world thriller Leave the World Behind. He followed it up with Entitlement which is about a young black woman working for very rich, old white man. Both works explore the similar territory of race, power and privilege.
Kaliane Bradley and Rumaan Alam spoke to Claire Nichols at Melbourne Writers Festival.
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Marian Keyes — "I have lived many lives"
12 mei 2025 · 54 min
Irish writer Marian Keyes, the queen of commercial fiction, explains why she fetishes family, the getting of wisdom and writing books she wants to read. Lees meer
Marian joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival and they spoke about how Marian became a writer when she was in the depths of despair. Marian also acknowledged the wisdom she's gained in a sometimes tumultuous life.
Marian's 16th novel, My Favourite Mistake (Penguin), is another story about one of her beloved Walsh sisters, a family she's been writing about for 30 years.
In other news, find out more about Radio National's Top 100 Books countdown.
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Eimear McBride, Tasma Walton and James Bradley on stormy weather and broken families
4 mei 2025 · 54 min
Irish writer Eimear McBride revisits favourite characters on a rainy night, actor-turned-writer Tasma Walton dredges up a family story of abduction and James Bradley's crime novel about climate catastrophe. Lees meer
Irish writer Eimear McBride is a past winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction whose writing is celebrated for its originality and inventive use of language. In her latest novel, The City Changes its Face (Faber), Eimear revisits the main characters of her second novel The Lesser Bohemians about actors Stephen and Eily's love affair despite the 20 year age gap. Eimear tells Claire Nichols she was drawn back to their story because they're everything she loves to write about. Listen to Claire's 2020 interview with Eimear about her previous novel, Strange Hotel.
Actor-turned-writer, Tasma Walton (The Twelve, Mystery Road), explains the personal story behind her second novel I Am Nannertgarrook (Bundyi) which is about the abduction of one of her Boonwurrung Indigenous ancestors by sealers.
Australian author James Bradley is no stranger to the burgeoning genre of cli-fi (climate fiction) but his novel Landfall (Penguin) marks his first foray into crime. It's set in a near future Sydney devastated by climate change when a child has gone missing as a dangerous storm approaches.
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Mother fault lines with Betty Shamieh, Debra Oswald and Naima Brown
27 april 2025 · 54 min
Palestinian American playwright Betty Shamieh turns to fiction in Too Soon, a nuanced and lusty story of three generations of Palestinian women and the times that shape them. Australian author and TV screen writer Debra Oswald follows the eventful life of a gritty, strong woman in One Years of Betty. And in her biting satire Mother Tongue, Naima Brown asks, if you could change your life, could you live with what you left behind? Lees meer
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Chigozie Obioma on kindness, big families and the Biafran War
20 april 2025 · 54 min
Booker Prize shortlisted Nigerian author Chigozie Obioma joined Claire Nichols at Byron Writers Festival to discuss his latest novel The Road to the Country about civil war in Nigeria. Lees meer
Now based in the US, Chigozie Obioma's first two novels The Fishermen (2015) and An Orchestra of Minorities (2019) were shortlisted for The Booker Prize. His third novel The Road to the Country is about the Biafran War that tore through Nigeria from 1967 to 1970.
At the Byron Writers Festival, he reflected on the idea imparted by his mother that 'stories of war are never complete', why she hasn't read his book and tells Claire Nichols what it was like growing up in a large family.
First Broadcast 19 August 2024
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Gregory Maguire has another Wicked tale to tell
13 april 2025 · 54 min
American writer Gregory Maguire joins Claire Nichols in a rare and revealing conversation about the evolution of his Wicked series that inspired the popular musical and movies. Once again, with Elphie: A Wicked Childhood, Gregory draws on the iconic Wizard of Oz characters and settings, this time concentrating on the childhood years of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Also, meet Nuzo Onoh, who is described as the African Queen of Horror. An award-winning Nigerian British writer, her latest novel, Where the Dead Brides Gather, is a tale of ghostly brides and a supernatural child. Lees meer
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Charlotte McConaghy on The Wild Dark Shore
6 april 2025 · 54 min
A small family lives on a remote island, the father a caretaker for the world's seeds. Then in the rising seas, a woman is washed up to shore. Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore is a mystery, a story of love, and a warning. Melbourne-based writer Sean Wilson offers an empathetic glimpse into the fractured mind of an elderly woman with dementia in his novella, You Must Remember This. And Chris Flynn, in his latest speculative fiction Orpheus Nine begins at a regional junior soccer game where something very weird is happening, and the world is changed forever. Lees meer
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Roisin O'Donnell and a woman on the run
30 maart 2025 · 54 min
A mother escapes a controlling husband. But that is just the beginning. Nesting, the debut novel from award-winning Irish writer Roisin O'Donnell takes us to the next step, finding a safe home. Lees meer
Also, English Ghanaian author Maame Blue, who now lives in Melbourne, on the struggles of uncovering memories in her novel The Rest of You, and in Love Unedited Australian author Caro Llewellyn explores a passionate romance between an editor and a writer.
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Laila Lalami, Steven MinOn and Madeleine Ryan on mining dreams, a walking corpse and a very bad day
23 maart 2025 · 54 min
Award-winning Moroccan American author Laila Lalami imagines a world where the most intimate aspects of life are mined for data in her speculative fiction, The Dream Hotel. Australian Chinese writer Steve MinOn goes on a generational discovery tour with a corpse in his debut novel First Name Second Name. And Madeleine Ryan's The Knowing reflects on the anxieties of modern life and ambition. Lees meer
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Bernhard Schlink, Vincenzo Latronico and Diana Reid on transitions, ennui and memory
17 maart 2025 · 55 min
A story of finding family, Bernhard Schlink's latest novel The Granddaughter, examines the lingering impact of a divided Germany and the rise of the far right. Italian author and translator Vincenzo Latronico chronicles an expat couple living in Berlin and their search for authenticity in an age of social media in his novella Perfection. Also, Diana Reid's Signs of Damage, is a gripping psychological study of memory, trauma, and blurred morals, set in idyllic locations in Europe. Lees meer
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Rachel Kushner on writing spies, anarchists and Neanderthals
10 maart 2025 · 55 min
American writer Rachel Kushner joins Claire Nichols on the stage at Adelaide Writers Week for a conversation about the Booker-shortlisted Creation Lake, her latest philosophical and darkly funny novel involving French eco-activists, a bold and ruthless infiltrator, and a cave-dwelling idealist. Lees meer
Recorded at Adelaide Writers Week 2025.
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Colum McCann, Robert Lukins and Jane Yang on repair, the ultra-rich and bound feet
3 maart 2025 · 56 min
In his latest book Twist, New York-based Irish writer Colum McCann dives into the digital age, travelling deep under the ocean into a tangled world of ruptured fibrous connections, its human cost, and repair. And Robert Lukins' Somebody Down There Likes Me takes an acerbic look at the downfall of a rich Connecticut family. Also, Jane Yang tells a story of female empowerment in her historical novel Lotus Shoes, which includes the ancient Chinese practice of binding the feet of young girls. Lees meer