Alle afleveringen
250 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Morgan Talty on family, blood and belonging
24 februari 2025 · 18 min
Penobscot Indian Nation writer Morgan Talty's Fire Exit is a story of family bonds that go beyond bloodlines. Lees meer
Charles is a white man who must not only confront his past but decide whether to reveal his identity to the daughter he watches from across the river that borders the Native American Reservation of the Penobscot people.
A compassionate account of family, love, and connections, it also explores the complications that may arise from truth-telling.
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My Biggest Book 06 | Markus Zusak on The Book Thief
22 februari 2025 · 37 min
In this final episode of My Biggest Book, where prominent authors reflect on their defining books, Markus Zusak reminisces about the literary phenomenon that is The Book Thief. Lees meer
The story of Liesel, a feisty German girl who finds power in stealing books in a world where words and ideas can both save and destroy lives is full of unforgettable characters and magic moments.
Markus Zusak reflects on the family stories about life in Austria and Germany during WW 11 told around the kitchen table and how even classroom writing exercises inspired a book that is still popular 20 years after publication.
And the entire series of My Biggest Book is now available on the ABC Listen App. Audrey Niffenegger on The Time Traveler's Wife, Hanif Kureishi on The Buddha of Suburbia, Emma Donoghue on Room, Nikki Gemmell on The Bride Stripped Bare, and Roddy Doyle on The Commitments.
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When Makassar and Yolnu peoples met, a long history told in A Piece of Red Cloth
17 februari 2025 · 21 min
The Yolnu people of the Northern Territory had a fruitful trading relationship with the Makassar people from Indonesia long before Australia was colonised. Yolnu people would even visit Makassar, some never returned. Lees meer
In A Piece of Red Cloth, Arnhem Land writer Leonie Norrington, who has collaborated with three elders from the region, including Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, evokes some of the stories told about the relationships formed and cultural exchanges. But there are tensions. Some Yolnu people are suspicious of the intentions of the Makassar traders, alcohol is free-flowing and Yolnu women are particularly vulnerable.
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My Biggest Book 05 | Roddy Doyle on The Commitments
15 februari 2025 · 34 min
In this episode of My Biggest Book, where prominent authors reminisce about the book that defined their career, Roddy Doyle reflects on the times and difficulties of publishing The Commitments. Lees meer
A comic novel about a group of Irish youth who form a soul band, it's a brash and honest portrayal of working-class Dublin. It was rejected by numerous publishers, but Roddy persisted by self publishing.
The Commitments became a hit, was made into a successful film and stage play. It also formed a trilogy about the same community, including The Snapper and The Van.
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Eowyn Ivey on Alaska, bears and magic
10 februari 2025 · 21 min
Eowyn Ivey is best known for her magical debut novel, The Snow Child, a book set in her home state of Alaska. Lees meer
Her new book, Black Woods Blue Sky is also set in the beautiful and rugged wilds of Alaska, with magic and an unusual love story at its core, featuring a single mother finding tenderness in the unexpected. But does this love come at a cost?
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My Biggest Book 04 | Nikki Gemmell on The Bride Stripped Bare
8 februari 2025 · 34 min
For journalist and writer Nikki Gemmell her Biggest Book was a huge commercial success, but it had a sensational effect on her life and work. Lees meer
The Bride Stripped Bare delves into the secret life of a married woman, her frustrations, longings and sexual fantasies with graphic details of her encounters. The woman in her 30s has mysteriously disappeared and her body never found. Like her unnamed character, Nikki Gemmell wanted to embrace what she saw as the subversive freedom of anonymity, when it was first published in 2003. As Nikki tells Claire, her life was stripped bare after it was leaked that she was the author.
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Juhea Kim: City of Night Birds
3 februari 2025 · 21 min
Claire speaks to Juhea Kim about her latest novel which centres around an elite Russian ballet dancer returning to the stage after a serious injury. Lees meer
The City of Night Birds is a meditation on the purity and pain of artistic expression but also investigates its purpose in a fractured world.
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My Biggest Book 03 | Emma Donoghue on Room
1 februari 2025 · 35 min
In this episode of My Biggest Book, where prominent authors ponder their breakthrough novels, Emma Donaghue recalls her 2010 novel Room. Lees meer
Inspired by the famous Fritzl case, it's about a boy and his mother held captive in a small room, the only world the child, Jack, has ever known.
The book was shortlisted for the Booker and in 2015 the film version was released. That adaptation was also written by Emma Donoghue, and it won an Oscar for Brie Larson, who played Jack's mother, Ma. But these accolades came later in her writing career and Emma has some sage advice for younger authors.
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David Baldacci; Sara Haddad's novella The Sunbird
27 januari 2025 · 21 min
David Baldacci is the bestselling writer of heroes like Mickey Gibson and Aloysius Archer. He's written 50 books for adults as well as novels for younger readers. Some of his stories have been made into blockbuster movies or TV series. His latest, To Die For, features undercover agent Travis Devine as he faces his biggest challenge yet, protecting a 12 year old girl. Lees meer
At just over 75 pages, Sara Haddad's The Sunbird, a parable about a Palestinian woman in her 80s haunted by an attack on her hometown is concise and passionate. So much so that a group of prominent Australian writers sent the novella as part of suggested educational reading about conflict in the Middle East to every MP in the country.
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My Biggest Book 02 | Hanif Kureishi on The Buddha of Suburbia
25 januari 2025 · 33 min
There's an extra element to this second episode of My Biggest Book, where some of the world's biggest authors reminisce about their all-time biggest books. Lees meer
Hanif Kureishi's comedic novel The Buddha of Suburbia, about a father and a mixed race teenager growing up in the suburbs of 1970's South London won awards and was adapted to a successful TV series.
Following the devastating accident that left him a tetraplegic and in a wheelchair, Hanif Kureishi now has a very different perspective. In a colourful and spirited conversation he describes how this accident two years ago transformed his views both on this debut novel as well as the themes and approaches to his current writing, including his memoir Shattered.
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The prolific Alexander McCall Smith
19 januari 2025 · 16 min
Look in any library or book shop at any time of year and there's bound to be a newly released Alexander McCall Smith novel on the shelf. Most known for his No 1 Ladies' Detectives Agency Series, the 44 Scotland Series, and even books for children, he also writes standalone novels. Hear how he uses the seasons to write up to five books a year, including one of the latest, The Winds from Further West, Polygon. Lees meer
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My Biggest Book 01 | Audrey Niffenegger on The Time Traveler's Wife
18 januari 2025 · 37 min
What is it like to write a book that changes your life? Some of the world’s biggest authors reminisce about their all-time biggest books – the novels that changed their lives. Lees meer
In the first of this breakthrough series Audrey Niffenegger reflects on her debut novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife. The 2003 book, about time-travelling librarian Henry and his artist wife Clare, was an instant bestseller. It’s been adapted to the screen twice, as a film in 2009 and a TV series in 2022.
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Summer reading with Andrew O'Hagan and Evie Wyld
13 januari 2025 · 54 min
Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan explains why finishing his latest novel Caledonian Road was like "landing 65 planes on the tarmac" and award-winning author Evie Wyld on her new book The Echoes, and why there are so many sharks in her fiction. Lees meer
Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan's latest book Caledonian Road (Faber and Faber) is a big in length and Dickensian scope. It's an exploration of life in London — a world of intellectuals and elites, Russian oligarchs and human traffickers, rappers, DJs, wellness assistants and those who seek to shake up the whole rotten system. First broadcast 22 April 2024.
Evie Wyld is one of the few Australian writers to win both the Miles Franklin and the Stella Prizes (the Miles for All the Birds, Singing, and the Stella for The Bass Rock). She is drawn to the paranormal and gothic in her fiction and this atmosphere imbues her new book, The Echoes, which is partly narrated by a ghost. Evie shares her go to writing tip (yes, it has to do with sharks) and the appeal of the TV series Neighbours when she was growing up in England. First broadcast 25 August 2024.
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Summer reading with Anne Enright
6 januari 2025 · 54 min
At Adelaide Writers' Week, Booker Prize-winner Anne Enright speaks about the contradictions at the heart of families. Lees meer
Anne joined Claire Nichols in front of a live audience to talk about her latest book The Wren, The Wren. It's about a straight-laced mum, her-free-spirit daughter and the poet father who left them in the lurch.
Anne also shared insights about her other books including Actress, The Gathering (Booker Prize winner 2007) and Making Babies. And she offered her theory on why Irish poets don't drink!
First broadcast Monday 11 March 2024.
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Summer Reading with Celeste Ng
30 december 2024 · 54 min
From Sydney Writers' Festival, American author Celeste Ng shares how her latest novel Our Missing Hearts explores one of her deepest fears. Lees meer
Celeste Ng is known for her dark realist novels, Everything I Never Told You, and Little Fires Everywhere (which was adapted to the screen in 2020).
Our Missing Hearts is set in a dystopian, near-future America, where anti-Asian sentiment has peaked, books are disappearing from the shelves, and children are being taken away from their families.
It's a chilling world but as Claire Nichols discovers at this Sydney Writers' Festival event, there is also hope in art, poetry, and family.
First Broadcast 3 June 2024
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Summer reading with Tim Winton, Kaliane Bradley and Siang Lu
23 december 2024 · 54 min
Tim Winton explains his urgency for writing about climate change in his new novel Juice, Kaliane Bradley on her bestseller The Ministry of Time which has attracted Barack Obama's attention and Siang Lu's ambitious and complicated novel Ghost Cities. Lees meer
Tim Winton shares the anger and frustration that compelled him to write his latest novel Juice. It's set in a future north-Australia where resources are scarce and people are scarred by the sun and spend months living underground to escape the heat. Winton reflects on the sense of urgency he feels around climate change and the role of fiction to address big topics. First broadcast 21 August 2024.
The Ministry of Time by British-Cambodian author Kaliane Bradley is listed on former US president Barack Obama annual summer reading list this year. It's a time travel novel in which a handful of (mostly) fictional historical characters who've been transplanted from their time period to a near future England. It's about love, refugees, bureaucracy and the doomed Franklin Arctic expedition. First broadcast 9 September 2024.
Siang Lu is the author of the silly but serious novel The Whitewash which was a satire, presented as an oral history, about the making of a disastrous movie. Siang's second novel Ghost Cities is equally ambitious, complicated and fun as it weaves between a storyline set in the modern day and another set in ancient China. First broadcast 24 June 2024.
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Summer reading with Melissa Lucashenko
16 december 2024 · 54 min
At Adelaide Writers' Week, Melissa Lucashenko explains how understanding that "all history is fiction" allowed her to write her historic novel Edenglassie. Lees meer
Melissa Lucashenko is known for creating unforgettable, feisty modern women in her fiction. There's Kerry Salter from her Miles Franklin winning novel Too Much Lip and Jo Breen, from her earlier acclaimed novel, Mullumbimby.
But with her new book, Melissa has stepped into a new world. Edenglassie is about Brisbane before it was Brisbane in the mid-19th century when Aboriginal people still outnumbered white settlers, and everything was about to change.
Melissa Lucashenko joined The Book Show's Claire Nichols on stage at the 2024 Adelaide Writers' Week.
First Broadcast 1 April 2024
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Niall Williams and Nick Harkaway on Christmas miracles and special fathers
9 december 2024 · 54 min
Irish writer Niall Williams's latest novel Time of the Child celebrates the miracles of everyday life. Also, meet Nick Harkaway the son of David Cornwall AKA John le Carre, who is continuing his father's legacy in fictional espionage with Karla's Choice. Lees meer
Irish writer Niall Williams is the the author of the bestselling novels This is Happiness and the History of Rain and his latest is already a bestseller too and returns to his favourite fictional setting, the parish of Faha. Time of the Child is a feel-good book in which an abandoned baby is found in the run up to Christmas 1962.
Nick Harkaway is the son of the famous British author John Le Carré (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold) but he's also an author in his own right. In Karla's Choice he's taken on the task of continuing his father's iconic character, George Smiley who's a spy at the fictional M16-like agency known as the Circus. In this book, Nick's created an origin story for Smiley's great enemy. He shares fond memories of his father and admits to listening to his father's audiobooks at university.
To end the year, Claire Nichols and Sarah L'Estrange also share their favourite reads of the year.
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Will Self gets personal about his mother
2 december 2024 · 54 min
British writer Will Self reveals the extent of his "mother-worship" in his writing which has culminated in his latest novel, Elaine. The book was inspired by his mother's own diaries. Actor and comedian Steph Tisdell has added "novelist" to her resume with her young adult novel, The Skin I'm In, and Kylie Mirmohamadi's novel Diving, Falling is about a grieving woman of a 'certain age' whose life is about to get messy. Lees meer
What would you do if you found your mother's diaries under her bed? British writer, Will Self is the author of many novels including Great Apes, How the Dead Live and Umbrella. His new book Elaine is a no-holds barred novel about his mother. It's based on her actual diaries from the 1950s which divulge details about her mental illness and sex life. Will reflects on the ethics of writing about her diaries (he says go for it) and how his mother fundamentally influenced him as a writer. He also tells Claire Nichols that he regrets his mother never had the opportunity to read any of his novels.
Steph Tisdell is an actor (Bump, Total Control) and comedian and now she's also a novelist. The Skin I'm In for young adult readers is about Layla, an Aboriginal girl in her last year of school with a lot to figure out.
Kylie Mirmohamadi is a Melbourne based academic whose recent research has explored Jane Austen and Brontë-sister fandom. Her debut novel Diving, Falling is contemporary fiction about a middle aged woman who must reckon with her past after the death of her larger than life painter husband and learn how to forge a new life in his absence.
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Alan Moore's delirious new fantasy The Great When
25 november 2024 · 54 min
Comic book legend, Alan Moore has renounced comics for novels and his new book The Great When uncovers a secret, fictional London. Rosalie Ham returns with a prequel to her bestselling novel The Dressmaker, and why Tigest Girma wrote a black vampire novel. Lees meer
British author Alan Moore has created iconic comics including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He has since distanced himself from comics, however, and today puts his creative energy into being a magician and novelist. His new novel, The Great When is set in the years after World War Two, and imagines a secret London hidden within the city. Alan shares his wonder about our endless imagination and his memories of post-war England.
Australian author Rosalie Ham returns to some of her characters in The Dressmaker series which began in 2000 and was later made into a film starring Kate Winslet and Judy Davis. It was followed by The Dressmaker's Secret and now the prequel is out, called Molly. The action starts in 1914 Melbourne against the backdrop of the first world war at a time of uncomfortable corsets and protests for women's suffrage. Sarah L'Estrange visits Rosalie Ham in her Melbourne home to find out more about her creative process.
Tigest Girma is an Ethiopian writer based in Melbourne and her debut novel Immortal Dark is about vampires, race and revenge. And in September the novel hit number one on the New York Times young adult hardcover bestseller list which is an amazing achievement for a debut Australian novelist.
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Roddy Doyle and the character who's stayed with him
18 november 2024 · 54 min
Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle returns to the character Paula Spencer who first appeared in his fiction in the 1990s, we visit author of The Wedding Forecast Nina Kenwood in her seaside childhood home and Michelle de Kretser pushes the boundaries of fiction in Theory and Practice. Lees meer
Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist and Booker Prize winner (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha). His latest novel is the last in a trio of books that he began almost 30 years ago. In 1996 he published The Woman Who Walked into Doors, where he introduced the character of Paula Spencer. Paula was a young woman living with a violent husband. He brought her back in the 2006 novel, named, Paula Spencer. Now she and her daughter Nicola are back in The Women Behind the Door. Roddy speaks about why writing difficult conversations is so satisfying as a novelist.
Australian rom-com author Nina Kenwood takes The Book Show to her childhood home in the Victorian seaside village of Queenscliffe where her love of reading and writing was fostered. Nina explains why the main character in her latest novel, The Wedding Forecast is also a writer and how Nina focuses as much on getting the comedy right as the romance in her fiction.
Michelle de Kretser is a two-time winner of the Miles Franklin literary award and is one of our country's most celebrated authors. Lately, Michelle has been set on redefining what exactly a novel can be. Theory and Practice is advertised as a novel but its narrator bears a strong resemblance to the author. Is it a novel, a memoir or something else altogether?
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Pod extra with Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey
13 november 2024 · 19 min
This year's winner of the Booker Prize is British author Samantha Harvey for her fifth novel, Orbital. The Booker judges were unanimous in their decision. Lees meer
Orbital is set in the International Space Station and takes a bird's eye view of the earth as it orbits the world over a 24 hour period. The reader meets six astronauts and cosmonauts as they grapple with big questions of family, faith and grief, as well as mundane matters of domestic life in the space station.
Samantha Harvey spoke to The Book Show's Sarah L'Estrange about her long running interest in space and how she wanted to write about it "as our one remaining wilderness".
Here is more information about the award winning book.
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Garry Disher, Emily Maguire and David Dyer on a milestone, a myth and the moon landing
11 november 2024 · 54 min
Australian crime writer Garry Disher has been writing for almost 50 years but has only recently been able to make a living and now he's published his 60th book, Sanctuary. Emily Maguire explores the medieval urban legend of a female pope in Rapture and in his novel, This Kingdom of Dust, David Dyer imagines what might've happened if the Apollo 11 mission didn't go to plan. Lees meer
Australian crime-writing legend, Garry Disher has just published his 60th book in a career that ranges over four decades and began at a time when the cultural cringe towards Australian crime fiction meant it wasn't as popular as it is today. His latest novel Sanctuary draws on a side character, Grace, from his Peninsula Crime novels, that he couldn't let go. Garry shares how his love of writing began in childhood when his father told nightly bedtime stories with cliff hangers.
David Dyer's first novel, The Midnight Watch, was about the tragedy of the Titanic, and his second novel takes up another iconic event of the 20th century, the 1969 moon landing. In This Kingdom of Dust David imagines an alternative ending for the Apollo 11 mission.
Australian author Emily Maguire's latest novel, Rapture, is a work of historical fiction and is a sharp turn for Emily, who has made her name with contemporary novels, including Love Objects and her Miles Franklin shortlisted novel, An Isolated Incident. Rapture takes up the story of Joan, the female Pope. According to the legend, Pope Joan disguised herself as a man, followed a lover to a monastery and ended up rising to the throne of St Peter.
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Your ultimate guide to the Booker Prize
4 november 2024 · 54 min
For the first time in a decade, an Australian writer, Charlotte Wood has made the Booker Prize shortlist with her novel Stone Yard Devotional. Hear from Charlotte and the other shortlisted writers, including Rachel Kushner and Percival Everett, and find out who we think will win. Lees meer
The Booker Prize is the most prestigious writing prize in the English speaking world and is open to books written in English, and published in England or Ireland in the last year. The winner takes home £50000 and expect a life-changing increase in book sales.
Claire Nichols and Sarah L'Estrange speak to all of the shortlisted authors:
James by Percival Everett
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
Held by Anne Michaels
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
The winner of the Booker Prize will be announced on November 13, Australian time.
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Robbie Arnott, Fiona McFarlane and Malcolm Knox on wild cats, crime and satire
28 oktober 2024 · 54 min
A wild puma stalks through Robbie Arnott's haunting new novel, Dusk, Fiona McFarlane's homage to true crime podcasts in Highway 13 and Malcolm Knox raises the stakes in a Soviet era political thriller, The First Friend. Lees meer
Australian author Robbie Arnott has published four novels, and two of them — The Rain Heron and Limberlost — have been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. His latest novel, Dusk, is a Western and it's about two siblings who are on the trail of a wild puma that's been terrorising local graziers. Robbie tells Claire about his fascination with the natural world and why he aims to capture animals "as they are, not what we want them to be".
Highway 13 is a crime novel with a difference, it's about the ripple effects of a serial killer's crimes - but not the crime itself - and is the fourth book by Australian born, US based author Fiona McFarlane. It's loosely based on the case of Australian serial killer Ivan Milat but is structured as interlinked stories about the murderer's former neighbours, the sister of his former wife and the brother of one of his victims. There's even a story written in the style of a true crime podcast.
Malcolm Knox is an award winning Australian journalist and novelist and his latest book The First Friend is a Soviet era satirical thriller. It draws on Malcolm's own interest in Russian fiction and history. It's a lesson in how to raise the literary stakes for fictional characters.
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Tim Winton's call to action in Juice
21 oktober 2024 · 54 min
Tim Winton explains his urgency for writing about climate change in his new novel Juice, beware the evil eye in Matia, the debut novel of West Australian writer Emily Tsokos Purtill and singer-songwriter turned novelist, Nardi Simpson, explains the ambition of her second novel The Belburd. Lees meer
Tim Winton shares the anger and frustration that compelled him to write his latest novel Juice. It's set in a future north Australia where resources are scarce and people are scarred by the sun and spend months living underground to escape the heat. He reflects on the sense of urgency he feels around climate change and the role of fiction to address big topics. This is what Radio National critics had to say about Juice.
From a West Australian literary veteran to a debut novelist, Claire Nichols visits Emily Tsokos Purtill in Perth. Emily's novel Matia tracks four generations of Greek-Australian women, and the dark prophecy that hangs over all of them.
Nardi Simpson is a singer-songwriter turned novelist. Her award winning debut was Song of the Crocodile and her new book The Belburd is similarly ambitious. In one story strand there's a young poet in modern-day Australia and in the other is a sprite swimming through a cosmic ocean with the mythical Mother Eel.
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Grande Dames Pat Barker and Kate Atkinson
14 oktober 2024 · 54 min
Former Booker Prize winner Pat Barker grapples with the lot of Cassandra in her latest Ancient Greek novel, The Voyage Home and Life After Life author, Kate Atkinson, returns to her famous character Jackson Brodie in Death at the Sign of The Rook. Plus debut novelist Raeden Richardson on the importance of Melbourne's iconic Degraves Street in The Degenerates. Lees meer
Booker Prize winner Pat Barker is renowned for her World War One Regeneration trilogy. Her latest series draws on the mythology of the Ancient Greek Trojan War (Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy) to re-imagine the lives of the women often sidelined in these myths. The latest, The Voyage Home, inhabits the plight of prophetess Cassandra, who's destined to never be believed. Pat reflects on the urgency she feels to write and why she's drawn to the tragedy of Clytemnestra.
Kate Atkinson is another legend of British fiction who's celebrated for her books Life After Life, A God in Ruins and Transcription. Kate also writes crime fiction and has released the sixth novel in her Jackson Brodie series, Death at the Sign of The Rook. It's set at a manor house where a murder mystery show is underway. She tells Claire how a character she imagined 20 years ago finally made it into this book.
Melbourne author Raeden Richardson describes his debut novel The Degenerates as a love letter to the city. It's about a woman known as Mother Pulse who gives new life to the stories of social outcasts. Raeden takes The Book Show to the iconic Degraves Street, one of the key landmarks in the book and explains how its multi layered history influenced the story.
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Onyi Nwabineli, Ella Baxter and Melanie Cheng on Mumflencers, stalkers and rabbits
7 oktober 2024 · 54 min
British author Onyi Nwabineli explores the scars of a child influencer in Allow Me to Introduce Myself, Ella Baxter writes back to her stalker in Woo Woo, and Melanie Cheng's The Burrow, a gentle novel about grief and a rabbit. Lees meer
Onyi Nwabineli is a British novelist who tackles the minefield of mumfluencers and child stars in her second novel, Allow Me to Introduce Myself. It's about former child influencer, Anuri, who's now 25 and still dealing with the legacy of her childhood being shared on social media.
Australian visual artist and author Ella Baxter writes back to her stalker in her second novel Woo Woo (her first was New Animal), about a visual artist who confronts her stalker in the most powerful way she knows, through her art.
The Burrow is the latest novel by Melbourne writer and GP Melanie Cheng, and follows her award winning books Australia Day and Room for a Stranger. The Burrow is about a grieving family who bring a rabbit into their home. Will it be a witness to a family healing or to a family falling further apart?
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Writing with an agenda — Laura Jean McKay, Laurie Steed and Chemutai Glasheen
30 september 2024 · 54 min
Today we take to you to two writers festivals: In Perth, Laura Jean McKay, Laurie Steed and Chemutai Glasheen reflect on what it means to bring their convictions to the page, and by the seaside in Sorrento, Victoria, poet, essayist and short story writer Nam Le retraces his roots as a storyteller. Lees meer
At the Perth Festival Writers Weekend, Claire Nichols spoke to three authors whose recent short story collections unapologetically focus on their respective passions. Laura Jean McKay writes about non-human animals in her collection Gunflower and in her Miles Franklin shortlisted novel The Animals in That Country. Kenyan born, WA based writer Chemutai Glasheen's collection of young adult short stories, I Am the Mau, explores human rights and life in Africa. And Perth based author, Laurie Steed focuses on relationships and male vulnerability in his collection Greater City Shadows.
And at the Sorrento Writers Festival, Sarah L'Estrange spoke to writer Nam Le about his collection of poetry 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem as well as his writing journey and how he wrote his celebrated short story collection, The Boat (2008).
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Rumaan Alam — why we don't talk about money
23 september 2024 · 54 min
Bestselling author of Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam explores money obsession in his novel Entitlement, plus Jock Serong gets magical in Cherrywood and writer-doctor Jumaana Abdu's debut novel, Translations. Lees meer
American author, Rumaan Alam's bestselling last book, Leave the World Behind, was adapted to the screen starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke. His new book is Entitlement and while it explores themes of power, race and class it also begs us to ask ourselves "does money really buy happiness?" Set in New York, it's about a young, middle class black woman, who's hired to help an old rich white man give away his billions. Rumaan also reflects on what the success of Leave the World Behind has given him as a writer.
Australian author Jock Serong's seventh novel Cherrywood is a mystery touched with a hint of magic and is a divergence from his previous, heavily researched fiction about Bass Strait and Australia's colonial past (The Settlement, Perseverance and The Burning Island). Cherrywood is a story about trees, love and grand follies and is a braided narrative about an early 20th century Scottish industrialist and a successful (but miserable) lawyer in 1990s Melbourne.
Doctor-turned-writer, Jumaana Abdu's debut novel, Translations, is about a woman who wants a small, quiet life but who discovers life doesn't always work out as planned. Jumaana explains how she wrote the novel while she was studying medicine and also, how Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre was an inspiration.
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Richard Osman's new crime-fighting team
16 september 2024 · 55 min
Richard Osman has followed up his bestselling crime series The Thursday Murder Club with a new series, the first instalment is We Solve Murders. Plus Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar explains how dreams are woven into his novel Martyr! and Dylin Hardcastle on their novel that began with the idea of a kiss. Lees meer
Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club and its sequels are so popular that a screen adaptation is underway. Not content with this success, Richard has begun a new crime series with a book called We Solve Murders. He explains who he writes for, why he prefers to stay home and watch snooker over jet setting, and why he calls himself a writer first and foremost.
Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American poet whose debut novel Martyr! has been championed by former US President Barack Obama in his 2024 Summer Reading List. The novel follows Cyrus Shams who's in his late 20s and is struggling with addiction and sobriety and channels his existential doubts into a poetry project about martyrdom. Lisa Simpson and Rumi also make cameos in the story.
The Australian writer Dylin Hardcastle's new book is A Language of Limbs. It's set in the 1970s and it's about the parallel lives of two women: one, a young queer woman who embraces her desires and her attraction to women and another who rejects them, in the hope of a more so-called 'conventional' life. Is it a sliding-doors narrative or are they different people?
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Elif Shafak and the water that connects us
9 september 2024 · 54 min
Celebrated British-Turkish author Elif Shafak follows a single drop of water through history in her novel There are Rivers in the Sky, Kaliane Bradley on her bestseller The Ministry of Time which has attracted Barack Obama's attention and Nicola Moriarty's latest domestic drama Every Last Suspect. Lees meer
Elif Shafak is a British-Turkish author and activist. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World and for the Women's Prize for her novel, The Island of Missing Trees. Her new novel, There are Rivers in the Sky, is an epic in which three key stories are connected by raindrops, rivers and water.
The Ministry of Time by British-Cambodian author Kaliane Bradley is listed on former US president Barack Obama annual summer reading list this year. It's a time travel novel in which a handful of (mostly) fictional historical characters who've been transplanted from their time period to a near future England. It's about love, refugees, bureaucracy and the doomed Franklin Arctic expedition.
The Moriarty sisters — Liane, Jaclyn and Nicola — are a powerhouse family in Australian publishing. Each sister is a successful author in their own right, including the youngest Nicola. In her latest family drama, Every Last Suspect, as a woman lies dying she decides to use her final moments to figure out who did it.
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Meet Meena Kandasamy: poet, novelist, rebel
2 september 2024 · 54 min
Meena Kandasamy is an Indian born poet, novelist, rebel and activist who's been threatened and harassed for her writing. From the Byron Writers Festival she explains why she keeps going despite the threats. Lees meer
She is also celebrated for her innovative approach to storytelling. Her debut novel The Gypsy Goddess (2015) was about the 1968 massacre of Dalit agricultural workers. Her book When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife is about her own experience of domestic violence. Her latest work is a collection of poetry called Tomorrow Someone Will Arrest You.
She told Claire Nichols about the importance of ego as a writer, her family background raised in a house of academics and rebels and the challenge of being an activist.
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Evie Wyld's writing tip: put a shark in it
26 augustus 2024 · 54 min
Award-winning author Evie Wyld on her new book The Echoes, and why there are so many sharks in her fiction. Plus, Catherine McKinnon's epic war novel To Sing of War and Jordan Prosser's band road trip novel, Big Time. Lees meer
Evie Wyld is one of the few Australian writers to win both the Miles Franklin and the Stella Prizes (the Miles for All the Birds, Singing, and the Stella for The Bass Rock). She is drawn to the paranormal and gothic in her fiction and this atmosphere imbues her new book, The Echoes, which is partly narrated by a ghost. Evie shares her go to writing tip (yes, it has to do with sharks) and the appeal of the TV series Neighbours when she was growing up in England.
Catherine McKinnon is a playwright, critic and novelist. Her second novel Storyland was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin. Catherine's third book, To Sing of War, is set during World War 2 and asks what makes this war different. It's a braided story that threads multiple perspectives from characters in different places, including the Australians fighting against the Japanese in New Guinea and those developing of the atomic bomb in New Mexico, USA.
Big Time is the debut novel from Australian screenwriter-turned novelist Jordan Prosser. It's a band road trip story set in a futuristic, fascist Australia where a popular drug gives users a glimpse of their future.
August is Australian Poetry Month and to celebrate Radio National is bringing you brand new poems commissioned by Red Room Poetry. Laura Panopoulos is a Tasmanian-based poet who also runs Silver Words, a monthly open mic spoken word event in Hobart. Laura's poem is called Perimeter of Rectangles. For more information about Poetry Month, visit Red Room Poetry.
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Chigozie Obioma on kindness, big families and the Biafran War
19 augustus 2024 · 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.
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Looking to the stars with Ceridwen Dovey, Emily St John Mandel and more
12 augustus 2024 · 54 min
For Science Week, The Book Show goes intergalactic in a star themed episode. Ceridwen Dovey, Alicia Sometimes, Nardi Simpson, Max Barry and Emily St John Mandel explore how celestial tales reveal deep truths about our lives on earth. Lees meer
From the fabulously weird stories about space junk in Only the Astronauts (Ceridwen Dovey) to the star dust fuelled poetry of Stellar Atmospheres (Alicia Sometimes) we pay tribute to the connections between the night sky and literature.
Books and authors mentioned:
Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson
Only the Astronauts by Ceridwen Dovey
Stellar Atmospheres by Alicia Sometimes
Providence by Max Barry
Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St John Mandel
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Keanu Reeves and China Miéville write a book together
5 augustus 2024 · 54 min
Hollywood star Keanu Reeves and British science fiction author China Miéville reveal how they collaborated to to write the novel The Book of Elsewhere. Plus, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, author of Fleishman Is In Trouble and Indigenous Australian author, Anita Heiss. Lees meer
The Book of Elsehwere (Del Rey) is based on a comic book series that Keanu Reeves developed called BRZRKR. It's gory and it's novelisation by science fiction guru China Miéville is just as gory. Claire finds how how and why they worked together on this project.
New York writer, Taffy Brodesser-Akner talks about the difficult second novel. She had a dream run with her debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and was adapted to the screen. Her second novel, Long Island Compromise (Wildfire), is the saga of the Fletcher family who are a rich, Jewish family that has lived through an unimaginable ordeal and come out the other side, or have they?
And Indigenous Australian author Anita Heiss has a new work of historical fiction called Dirrayawadha which is centred around the Wiradjuri Wars. These were the violent conflicts in and around Bathhurst between the Wiradjuri people and white settlers in the 1800s.
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Pod extra: Alexis Wright makes literary history
1 augustus 2024 · 23 min
Alexis Wright is the 2024 winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Praiseworthy. She makes history as the only writer to have won both the Stella and Miles Franklin awards twice each. Lees meer
Alexis first won the Miles Franklin in 2007 for her epic novel Carpentaria. Like that novel, Praiseworthy (Giramondo) - which also won the 2024 Stella Prize - is an epic told on a grand scale. It's about a fictional town, a haze cloud, injustice, Indigenous land rights, global warming, and donkeys.
Alexis told Claire Nichols that there's "a lot of nutrition in a good story" and in this pod extra, she explains her vision for Australian fiction and why writing this novel was daunting.
Listen to The Book Show's guide to the Miles Franklin shortlist here.
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Meet Samantha Shannon's biggest critic: herself
29 juli 2024 · 54 min
Samantha Shannon has such power as a bestselling writer that she's reissued her fantasy Bone Season series with new edits. In a revealing conversation she tells Claire Nichols what it takes to reach such heights. Lees meer
Samantha Shannon was just 20 when she won a six-figure publishing deal for this series. She also has another series on the go called Roots of Chaos which begins with the bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree.
Samantha Shannon spoke to Claire Nichols at the recent Sydney Writers Festival to find out how she's navigated being published from such a young age, the challenge of being compared to J.K. Rowling and the influence of the film DragonHeart on her beginnings as a fantasy author.
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Meet the authors on the 2024 Miles Franklin shortlist
22 juli 2024 · 54 min
'Flabbergasted' and 'surprised' — ahead of the winner announcement, the Miles Franklin shortlisted writers tell you about their books and what it means to be on the shortlist. Lees meer
The Miles Franklin is the most prestigious writing prize in Australia and is awarded to a novel of "the highest literary merit that presents Australian life in any of its phases".
This year's shortlisted works cover themes of art, obsession, colonialism, time, fathers, and the self.
These are the authors - and their books - in contention for the $60 000 prize:
Hossein Asgari, Only Sound Remains (Puncher & Wattmann)
Jen Craig, Wall (Puncher & Wattmann)
Andre Dao, Anam (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Random House)
Gregory Day, The Bell of the World (Transit Lounge)
Sanya Rushdi, Hospital (Giramondo Publishing)
Alexis Wright, Praiseworthy (Giramondo Publishing)
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R.O. Kwon's ambitions and desires
15 juli 2024 · 54 min
American author R.O. Kwon's novel, Exhibit, explores the taboo topic of female desire; Jenny Ackland exacts feminist revenge in Hurdy Gurdy and Jessie Tu's Honeyeater is a story of translation and miscommunication. Lees meer
Korean-born, American author R.O. Kwon is not afraid of topic topics. She's behind the bestselling 2018 novel The Incendiaries and is co-editor of a story collection called Kink. Her new novel Exhibit is about two women who run deep with desire and find in each other a way to get what they want. Reese explains why this novel was such a challenge to write.
Hurdy Gurdy is the third novel by Melbourne writer Jenny Ackland whose previous novel Little Gods was shortlisted for the Stella Prize. Hurdy Gurdy imagines a future Australia ravaged by climate change and poverty and follows an all-female travelling circus while a conservative preacher trails them with his warmings of fire and brimstone. Jenny shows off her writing space to The Book Show where she also records her podcast My Mum's Bad Diaries.
Continuing the theme of female desire, Jessie Tu made a splash with her debut novel A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing which centred a young woman and her various desires. Jessie's new novel The Honeyeater is about a young translator, her complicated relationship with her mum and an even more complicated relationship with a married man. Jessie shares why she was thinking about her mother while writing this book.
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Writer to writer with Claire G Coleman and Dylan Coleman
8 juli 2024 · 54 min
For NAIDOC week, Indigenous speculative fiction author Claire G Coleman chats to Dylan Coleman about her novel Mazin Grace republished as a UQP First Nations Classic. Also, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Graham Akhurst speak about their latest books. Lees meer
Ali Cobby Eckermann is a Yankunytjatjara woman, a member of the stolen generations, and one of Australia's major living poets. In 2017 she was awarded the Windham Campbell prize which is the richest writing prize in the world. She discusses her latest verse novel, She is The Earth which is a story of recovery amongst nature. It's also an award winner and at the 2024 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards it won the Indigenous Writers Prize and the overall Book of the Year. This interview was first published in 2023.
Claire G Coleman is a writer of essays and non-fiction and is the author of three genre bending novels — Terra Nullius, The Old Lie and Enclave. Most recently, Claire has written the introduction to the novel Mazin Grace by Dylan Coleman which was first published in 2011 and has just been republished as part of the UQP First Nations Classics series. Claire G Coleman finds out more about the background to Dylan Coleman's novel.
Graham Akhurst is an academic, Fulbright scholar and Kokomini writer and his debut YA novel Borderland (UWAP) is a thriller about an Indigenous teen who has visions of a terrifying dog man. He tells Sarah L'Estrange about the extensive sensitivity reading he commissioned for his novel. This interview was first published in 2023.
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Bri Lee and Liam Pieper take down celebrity art
1 juli 2024 · 54 min
Australian writers Bri Lee and Liam Pieper's latest novels expose the unholy connection between money, art and power. Lees meer
Bri Lee is the author of the bestselling 2018 memoir Eggshell Skull and she's the author of two other works of non-fiction, Who Gets to Be Smart and Beauty. Her debut novel The Work is about two characters who represent old and new art but who become embroiled in scandal and controversy.
Liam Pieper is the author of five books including his memoir The Feel Good Hit of the Year and his novels The Toymaker and Sweetness and Light. He's also a ghostwriter. His latest novel is Appreciation and it's a satire about a darling of the art scene who is cancelled and is encouraged to resurrect his career by writing a memoir.
They spoke to Sarah L'Estrange at Melbourne Writers' Festival 2024.
Journalist Molly Schmidt shares her coming-of-age debut novel Salt River Road (Fremantle Press) which is about two siblings dealing with grief and loss. Molly Schmidt won the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award for an unpublished manuscript. This interview was first published in 2023.
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Kevin Kwan wrote a book about weddings, just don't invite him to one
24 juni 2024 · 54 min
Weddings of the ultra-rich get the Kevin Kwan treatment in his novel Lies and Weddings, Siang Lu's ambitious and complicated novel Ghost Cities and West Australian author Annie de Monchaux's surprising link to Hollywood. Lees meer
Kevin Kwan is the author behind the juggernaut trilogy that began with Crazy Rich Asians which explored the lives of the ultra-ultra rich. His new book is called Lies and Weddings and it's travel-in-a-book as you follow the ultra rich to weddings around the world.
Siang Lu is the author of the silly but serious novel The Whitewash which was a satire, presented as an oral history, about the making of a disastrous movie. Siang's second novel is Ghost Cities and it's equally ambitious, complicated and fun as it weaves between a storyline set in the modern day and another set in ancient China.
And meet West Australian author Annie de Monchaux. Her first novel Audrey's Gone AWOL takes inspiration from the older women in Annie's own life and the years she has spent living in France.
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Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch and his fear of mediocrity
17 juni 2024 · 54 min
Two authors at the top of their game: Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch reveals how his award winning novel Prophet Song came into being and Booker longlisted author Karen Jennings' complicated love letter to South Africa. Lees meer
The Irish writer Paul Lynch is the reigning Booker winner and won the prize for his beautiful, brutal fifth novel Prophet Song. It's about a civil war in modern-day Ireland that has echoes with other conflicts around the world. Paul Lynch tells Claire Nichols that he wants readers to be transported by his fiction and why his biggest fear as a writer is mediocrity.
South African author Karen Jennings shares her hopes for the future of the rainbow nation. Crooked Seeds is Karen's seventh book and follows her 2021 Booker Prize longlisted novel An Island. In Crooked Seeds, she paints a portrait of a crumbling country. The main character - a middle aged white woman - feels like she's been left behind since the historic 1994 elections that brought an end to Apartheid. She's bitter and resentful and can only move forward by confronting the past.
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Jeanette Winterson and Kate Grenville on the gift of writing
10 juni 2024 · 55 min
Jeanette Winterson asks how AI will give new meaning to ghost stories and Kate Grenville reflects on a lifetime of writing and how accepting failure has been key to her success. Lees meer
Jeanette Winterson is best known for her novels Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, The Stone Gods and Frankissstein. Her long fascination with mortality, religion and technology have come together in a new book of short stories, Night Side of the River (Jonathan Cape), which considers what technology might mean for the future of ghost stories. First broadcast 2 October 2023
Celebrated Australian author Kate Grenville (Secret River, A Room Made of Leaves) won the prestigious Orange Prize for her novel The Idea of Perfection in 2001, that prize is now called the Women's Prize for Fiction and Kate is again shortlisted for the award with her latest novel, Restless Dolly Maunder (Text), her fictional biography of her grandmother. Producer, Sarah L'Estrange visited Kate in her Melbourne worker's cottage to discuss her writing career. First broadcast 21 August 2023
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Celeste Ng — "Every one of my books starts with a question"
3 juni 2024 · 54 min
American author Celeste Ng shares how her latest novel Our Missing Hearts explores one of her deepest fears. Lees meer
Celeste Ng is known for her dark realist novels, Everything I Never Told You, and Little Fires Everywhere (which was adapted to the screen in 2020).
Our Missing Hearts is set in a dystopian, near future America, where anti-Asian sentiment has peaked, books are disappearing from the shelves, and children are being taken away from their families.
It's a chilling world but as Claire Nichols discovers at this Sydney Writers' Festival event, there is also hope in art, poetry, and family.
Celeste Ng also discusses book banning in the US and you can find out more about this worrying trend on The Book Show's new series Banned Books.
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Shankari Chandran, Stuart Turton and Julie Janson on refuge, failure and outlaws
27 mei 2024 · 54 min
Shankari Chandran's follow up to her Miles Franklin award winning book, British author Stuart Turton's complicated murder mystery and Julie Janson's ironically named novel Compassion. Lees meer
Shankari Chandran won the 2023 Miles Franklin for her novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens. Her new novel Safe Haven asks readers to confront the reality of Australia's immigration detention system: the lives of the detainees, the guards, the doctors, and the communities that welcome asylum seekers, sometimes to then see them taken away.
British writer Stuart Turton has a reputation for risky ideas. His hit novel The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was described as 'Gosford Park meets Groundhog Day'. His latest The Last Murder at the End of the World is also a murder mystery with a twist – it's set on an island that is home to the last remaining humans on the planet and every person on the island has a voice in their head, who is also the narrator of this story. It's a wild, propulsive ride.
Julie Janson is a Burruberongal woman of the Darug Aboriginal nation. Her first, historical novel Benevolence, was about a young Aboriginal woman growing up in the New South Wales colony. Now Julie has written a sequel Compassion, inspired by her great-great grandmother.
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Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn sequel
20 mei 2024 · 37 min
One of Colm Toibin's most beloved books is Brooklyn and now he's written a sequel, Long Island. Lees meer
Brooklyn was first published in 2009 and it's about Eilis, a young woman who leaves Ireland for America in the 1950s. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize, won the Costa Novel Award and was adapted to the screen in 2015. Now there's a sequel, called Long Island, (Picador) set years later in the 1970s when Eilis is again faced with a family dilemma.
Australian author Michelle Johnston takes you deep into the basement of the Perth hospital where she works and writes and which was the inspiration for the setting of her novel, Tiny Uncertain Miracles (first broadcast 6 February 2023).
And in the final episode of Banned Books, the focus is again on Iran but there's an Australian connection. Iran's Kafka like book censorship is causing authors to flee, including writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia and is the author of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree which is banned in Iran.
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Banned Books 05: Censorship in Iran
18 mei 2024 · 20 min
Iran's Kafka like book censorship is causing authors to flee, including writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia. Lees meer
Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide.
In this last episode, writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia and is the author of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree which is banned in Iran.
Guests:
Shokoofeh Azar - Iranian born, Australian based journalist and author The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, shortlisted for the International Booker and Stella Prize.
Alireza Abiz - Iranian born, UK based scholar, poet and translator. He's the author of Censorship of Literature in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Politics and Culture since 1979
Nassim Khadem - ABC journalist. Provided reading from The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree