In the final episode of Booksmart for the year, Soaliha Iqbal sits down with acclaimed writer Zeynab Gamieldien to unpack her powerful new novel, Learned Behaviours. A gripping literary mystery set between western Sydney and the sharply stratified world of the legal profession, the novel follows Zaid Saban: a young man on the cusp of becoming a barrister, whose carefully curated life is disrupted when the past resurfaces in the form of his former best friend’s diary. As Zaid and Amira, ...

In this week’s episode of Booksmart, host Soaliha Iqbal sits down with award-winning author, artist, and screenwriter Dylin Hardcastle - the creative force behind Below Deck, Breathing Underwater, Running Like China, and the critically acclaimed A Language of Limbs, winner of the 2023 Kathleen Mitchell Award and longlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize (casually). Together, they dive deep into the making of A Language of Limbs - a sweeping, dual-perspective novel set across three decades, f...

In this episode of Booksmart, Soaliha sits down with internationally acclaimed author Mona Awad to dive into the world of her cult classic Bunny and its highly anticipated sequel, We Love You, Bunny, that has just been released (get your copy STAT!) ICYMI: first published in 2019, Bunny became an instant literary sensation -named a Best Book of the Year by TIME, Vogue, and the New York Public Library - and was hailed by the one-and-only Margaret Atwood as “very funny, kind of horrifying and q...

In this episode of Booksmart, Randa Abdel-Fattah sits down with Soaliha for a powerful conversation that spans her brand-new novel Discipline, the controversies rocking Australia’s literary scene, and the realities of racism and resistance today across the country and beyond. Together, they unpack Randa’s decision to speak out against the Bendigo Writers Festival - where more than 50 writers and hosts withdrew in solidarity after a restrictive code of conduct was sent just days before t...

In this week's episode of Booksmart, Soaliha Iqbal sits down with writer Natalia Figueroa Barroso to talk about her extraordinary debut novel Hailstones Fell without Rain. Of Uruguayan descent with Charrúa, Yoruba and Iberian origins, Natalia was born on Dharug Ngura and raised between her birthland and her homeland. A member of Sweatshop Literacy Movement (who we are huge fans of too!), her essays, poems and short stories have been widely published across Meanjin, Overland, Red Room Poetry, ...

In this week's episode of Booksmart, we’re joined by the wonderful Nicky Gonzalez, the author of one of this year’s most haunting debuts, Mayra - a novel that brims with tension, longing, and the sticky heat of Florida’s swamplands. Set in the sultry, surreal wilds of the Everglades, Nicky’s novel dives deep into the complicated terrain of female friendship. The novel explores the intoxicating bond between Ingrid and Mayra - two childhood best friends reunited for a mysterious weekend away th...

The Nile brought them life, but the Nile was not their friend. When a little boy drowns in the treacherous currents of the Nile, the search for his body unearths calamity and disaster, and exposes forgotten secrets buried for generations in a small northern Sudanese village. Three women try to make their way through a world that wants to keep them back, separated from each other by time but bound together by the same river that weaves its way through their lives, giving little but taking mu...

Not to hype this week's book too much....but Soaliha has confirmed that Candice Chung's new memoir Chinese Parents Don't Say I Love You is one of the best books she has read this year. So, PSA: Go and buy this book, stat. Candice is a writer, editor, and a former restaurant reviewer for The Sun-Herald - and is a founding member of Diversity in Food Media Australia, which supports and promotes underrepresented voices in food media. Her new memoir - already receiving rave reviews - ...

Meet Anne-Marie Te Whiu (Te Rarawa): a poet, editor and cultural producer - who is making BIG waves in the literary world. It was an honour to have her join us on the podcast this week. ICYMI: Anne-Marie has released Mettle, a remarkable and impressive debut collection of poems that speak to the complexity of family, identity and the proud legacy of Māori language and culture. Her collection of poetry centres on the resilience and fortitude that has rippled through Anne-Marie's family and Māo...

Khadija Gbla is an absolute force to be reckoned with - and we've been closely following her work for a long time. If she's not on your radar already - Khadija is a leading human rights activist and writer, amongst many other things. She was born in Sierra Leone, spent her youth in Gambia, and, as a teenager, moved to Australia. She is a leading voice and campaigner on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Australia. In the new anthology Someone Like Me, Khadija reflects on her autism diag...

It goes without saying that due to misrepresentations of Autism in media and popular culture, many Autistic people miss out on seeing themselves, their unique experiences and their triumphs, platformed or seen. In the new anthology Someone Like Me, award-winning author Fiona Wright reflects on her experience of anorexia – with the unique perspective of an autism diagnosis in her mid-thirties, and the knowledge as many as half of all people with anorexia may be autistic. Edited by Clem B...

Acclaimed wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta has been mugged by whales, touched by a baby whale and covered in whale snot (just casually - as you do). Pirotta’s enthusiasm and deep knowledge of whales shine through in her book Humpback Highway as she explores a variety of timely topics – from why whale snot and poo are important for us and the ocean to the life cycle of whales, the challenges humans present to these marine giants, and new technologies - so we can see where they swim, li...

Hello, friends - we're back with a really special episode! Soaliha Iqbal got to sit down with Samah Sabawi to discuss Samah's book Cactus Pear For My Beloved. It's a really moving conversation. Samah shares the story of her parents, and many like them, who were born while their parents were being forced to leave their homelands. Cactus Pear For My Beloved is a narrative memoir of her own family's story from before the Nakba in 1978 until now - and draws on Samah's PhD in post memory wit...

TW: Discussion of violence against women We are only 41 weeks into the year — which means we have surpassed the much-quoted statistic of one woman being killed every week in Australia. By the time this podcast is edited and published, it’s probable that another woman will have been killed by an intimate partner. Around the world, a woman is killed every 11 minutes. It was with this heavy heart that Soaliha Iqbal spoke to Kate Fitz-Gibbon, a Professor at Monash University, who has dedicate...

Introducing a **very** different episode this week, just to shake things up here at Booksmart. Because honestly, why not? This week, Tash sits down with the iconic Dr Jen Gunter for an equally iconic conversation. Dr Gunter is also known as "Tik Tok and Twitter's Resident Gynecologist", having used the platform to debunk myths about women's health, amassing a huge following in the process. The Canadian-American gynecologist, New York Times columnist, author and most important truth t...

We're excited to bring you a really special episode this week. Our Editorial & Partnerships Lead Alicia got to sit down with the wonderful Alyssa Huynh for a chat about her new (debut!) book Safe Space. ICYMI: In 2020, Alyssa began sharing her thoughts on racism and connection to cultural identity through her Instagram account @alyssahuynhwritings and quickly gained a following for her commentary and anti-racism advocacy. You might also know Alyssa from her work with publications like Ma...

“I had to relearn how to live after nearly dying. It felt like a rite of passage no-one else had ever experienced, a journey there was no map for, and for so long afterwards, I was lost to myself. This book is for anyone who is interested in knowing more about life. And maybe a little about death, too. " Queensland-based writer Carly-Jay Metcalfe was born with cystic fibrosis, survived a double-lung transplant at the age of twenty-one and faced a rare cancer at the age of thirty. ...

If Dr Mykaela Saunders isn't on your radar, then we are changing that today. Mykaela is a Koori/Goori and Lebanese writer, researcher, editor and teacher. Her incredible speculative fiction collection Always Will Be (casually) won the David Unaipon Award and has taken the literary world by storm. In this new thought-provoking collection, Mykaela poses the question: what might country, community and culture look like in the Tweed if Gooris reasserted their sovereignty? She imagines diffe...

Shankari Chandran was once told that her stories weren't 'Australian enough.' She later went on to win the prestigious Miles Franklin Award - an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". Here at Missing Perspectives, we are huge fans of Shankari - it's actually the second time we've hosted her on our podcast (be sure to listen to our episode on her last book, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens). ...

Everyone. We know we say that every episode of Booksmart is special, but this one is PARTICULARLY so (we promise). And it's poetry too, so even better. This week, Hannah Diviney got to sit down with proud Wiradjuri poet Jeanine Leane to discuss her new work of poetry titled Gawimarra: Gathering. We don't want to spoil the collection, or this discussion, but here's the poetry in a nutshell: 'Gawimarra: Gathering' moves from deeply tender meditations on Country, culture and kinship, to ex...