Short story collections reveal the fragile beauty of human experience in Salman Rushdie’s The Eleventh Hour, Liadan Ní Chuinn’s Everyone Still Here, Morgan Talty’s Night of the Living Rez, and Tony Birch’s Pictures of You. Then we shift gears and crank up the suspense with a look at some new crime fiction, including the icy new instalment in the phenomenally successful The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Millennium series, the brainchild of late author Stieg Larsson, and now written by Karin Smirnoff; plus, a sharp round-up of some recent Australian releases. BOOKS  Short story collections:  Salman Rushdie, The Eleventh Hour, Jonathan Cape  Liadan Ní Chuinn, Everyone Still Here, Granta  Tony Birch, Pictures of You, UQP  Morgan Talty, Night of the Living Rez, Scribe   Crime:  Karin Smirnoff, The Girl with Ice in her Veins (translated from the Swedish by Sarah Death), Maclehose Press  Michael Brissenden, Dust, Affirm Press  Garry Disher, Mischance Creek, Text  Chris Hammer, Legacy, Allen & Unwin  Kerry Greenwood, Murder in the Cathedral, Allen & Unwin  Jane Harper, Last One Out, Macmillan   Michael Connelly, The Proving Ground, Allen & Unwin  Abir Mukherjee, The Burning Grounds, Harvill Secker  GUESTS Johan Gabrielsson, Host of the Noir Hear This podcast. Documentary maker. His film Climate Changers is available on the streaming platfrom DocPlay, and has an upcoming screening in Sydney   Professor Sue Turnbull, Crime fiction reviewer, academic, and co-author of Migrants, Television and Australian Stories: A New History OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, works Henning Mankell, works John Ajvide Lindquist, The Writing in the Water; The Room in the Ground  Christian Kracht, Kracht x 3; The Dead   Ulf Kvensler, Sarek Sam Guthrie, The Peak CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Hamish Camilleri and Harvey O'Sullivan Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown

This week, Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green take a look at Thomas Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket - a cryptic plunge into paranoia and power, where nothing is quite what it seems. Plus, Olivia Laing’s The Silver Book, a shimmering meditation on the cinema scene in 1970s Italy, and Jeanette Winterson’s One Aladdin Two Lamps, which re-imagines duality and the stories we tell ourselves. BOOKS Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon (Jonathan Cape)  The Silver Book by Olivia Laing (Hamish Hamilton)  One Aladdin Two Lamps by Jeanette Winterson (Penguin Random House) GUESTS Huw Griffiths — Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School in English and Writing at the University of Sydney Claire Mabey — Founder of New Zealand’s literary festival Verb Wellington, books editor at The Spinoff, and author of the award-winning middle-grade novel The Raven's Eye Runaways. Its sequel, The Raven’s Eye Rebellion, is due in April next year. OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Naomi Arnold, Northbound Nadine Huder, Slowing the Sun Thomas Mann, Death in Venice Seán Hewitt, Open Heaven Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials trilogy - The Rose Field Ruby Tandoh, All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now CREDITS Presenter, Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green Producer, Cassie McCullagh and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Beth Stewart Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown  

Stories of love, friendship, and the ties that bind - with a dash of dirt and darkness in three new works of fiction...Madeleine Gray's Chosen Family, a sharp exploration of friendship, love, and what it means to grow up when life gets messy; Chris Kraus' The Four Spent The Day Together, an autofiction-ish journey through a fractured America; and Graeme Macrae Burnet's Benbecula, where secrets unravel on the windswept shores of the Outer Hebrides.   BOOKS  Graeme Macrae Burnet, Benbecula, Text  Madeleine Gray, Chosen Family, Summit Books  Chris Kraus, The Four Spent the Day Together, Scribe  GUESTS  Nicola Heath, ABC Arts journalist; editor of ABC Online monthly book review column Patrick Carey, writer and content maker who works at Sydney Theatre Company  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Mary McCarthy, The Group Dylin Hardcastle, A Language of Limbs David Owen Kelly, Host City Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore Andrew Pippos, The Transformations Helen Whybrow, Salt Stones  James Rebanks, The Shepherd's Life Maggie Mackellar, works Andrew Miller, A Land in Winter  Lisa Tuttle, My Death  A.S. Byatt, Possession   Edmund White, The Married Man Muriel Spark, A Far Cry from Kensington    CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Tegan Nicholls, Antonia Gauci and Tim Jenkins Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie are back in the studio, introducing a line-up of October releases that span continents, centuries, and genres, kicking off with an Australian story set in the world of print journalism in Andrew Pippos' The Transformations. Then, we head to India with Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, a grand tale shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize. And finally, we travel back to 16th-century Denmark, where the spectre of witch trials looms large in Olga Ravn's The Wax Child. BOOKS Andrew Pippos, The Transformations — Picador Kiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny — Hamish Hamilton Olga Ravn, The Wax Child — Viking Penguin (Translated from Danish by Martin Aitken) GUESTS Scott Stephens — Editor of ABC’s Religion & Ethics online and co-host of The Minefield on Radio National (with Waleed Aly) Beejay Silcox — Critic and writer OTHER BOOKS AND WRITERS MENTIONED George Eliot, Middlemarch EM Forster, Howard's End Charles Dickens, works Ernest Hemingway, works Leo Tolstoy, works Fyodor Dostoevsky, works Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter Jeanette Winterson, The Daylight Gate Geraldine Brooks, Year of Wonders Jenni Fagan, Hex Ceridwen Dovey, Only the Astronauts Chris Flynn, Here be Leviathans Josephine Rowe, Little World Angela O'Keefe, Night Blue Hannah Kent, Burial Rites Lydia Davis, Into the Weeds Inger Sigrun Brodey, Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness J.M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimopulos, Speaking in Tongues J.M. Coetzee, The Pole Toni Morrison, works Karl Ove Knausgaard, works Lydia Davis, Into the Weeds Joy Williams, works Lily King, Heart the Lover Michael Winkler, Grimmish; Grief Dog Devoney Looser, Wild For Austen Sofie Laguna, The Underworld  The Rose Field (The Book of Dust: Volume 3), Philip Pullman  Margaret Atwood, Book of Lives Patti Smith, Bread of Angels  Mick Herron, Clown Town Claire-Louise Bennett, Big Kiss Bye-Bye Brandon Taylor, Minor Black Figures John Irving, Queen Esther Catherine Newman, Wreck Eleanor Elliott Thomas, Do We Deserve This Thomas Pynchon, Shadow Ticket Olivia Laing, The Silver Book Jeanette Winterson, One Aladdin Two Lamps Madeleine Gray, Chosen Family Chris Krauss, The Four Spent the Day Together Graeme Macrae Burnet, Benbecula CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Beth Stewart and Ann Marie Debettencor Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Join us for a lively Top 100 Books of the 21st Century after-party! Following last weekend’s extraordinary two-day countdown, this event recaps the results of over 288,000 votes cast by readers across Australia. Kate, Cassie, and special guests will unpack the trends, surprises, and insights that reveal what Australians are reading — and why.  Plus, the countdown is not over. We're revealing the books that almost cracked the Top 100! GUESTS Michaela Kalowski, Curator and Top 100 Producer Gavin Williams, Owner - Matilda Bookshop in the Adelaide Hills; Chair - BookPeople  Maryanne Vagg, Librarian, Warrnambool Library Download a printable list of The Ones That Got Away Listen to the Top 100 Books countdown. CREDITS Presenter, Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans Producer, Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans, Michaela Kalowski, Shevonne Hunt, Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Simon Branthwaite, Beth Stewart Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown  

Joining Kate and Cassie on stage at Brisbane Writers Festival, authors Eric Puchner, Toni Jordan, Patrick Holland, and Zeynab Gamieldien discuss their most recent novels and the books and writers who inspire them. With voting cast for our Top 100 Books of the Century, these writers make the case for their favourites. GUESTS Eric Puchner, novelist, academic, and short story writer, whose books include the collections Last Day on Earth and Music Through the Floor, and the novels Model Home and (his latest) Dream State Toni Jordan, a writer whose novels include Nine Days, Our Tiny, Useless Hearts, Prettier If She Smiles More, Dinner with the Schnabels . . . and her latest, Tenderfoot Patrick Holland is a writer and academic, and author of eight books, including the novel The Mary Smokes Boys and – his latest – Oblivion. He lives between Hong Kong and Brisbane  Zeynab Gamieldien is a writer whose first novel, The Scope of Permissibility, won the inaugural WestWords/Ultimo Prize (for emerging writers from Western Sydney); and her second novel, Learned Behaviours, has just been published BOOKS MENTIONED BY ERIC PUCHNER James Salter, Light Years Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad Joy Williams, works Willa Cather, My Ántonia Jhumpa Lahiri, A Temporary Matter Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping Evan S. Connell, Mrs. Bridge César Aira, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter BOOKS MENTIONED BY TONI JORDAN Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones Trent Dalton, Boy Swallows Universe Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall Zadie Smith, White Teeth Alexis Wright, Carpentaria Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet Richard Ford, Canada BOOKS MENTIONED BY PATRICK HOLLAND Yasunari Kawabata, Snow Country Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights Ernest Hemingway, 88 Poems Leah Swann, Bearings Felix Calvino, works Brian Castro, works Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian; All the Pretty Horses Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji BOOKS MENTIONED BY ZEYNAB GAMIELDIEN Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake Tara June Winch, The Yield Hisham Matar, The Return; My Friends Anne Enright, The Gathering Colm Tóibín, Brooklyn; Long Island Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These Sally Rooney, Intermezzo OTHER BOOKS AND WRITERS MENTIONED J.G. Ballard, works Graham Greene, The Quiet American David Malouf, works Patrick White, works Curtis Sittenfeld, Show Don't Tell David Mitchell, works CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans Sound engineer, Steve Fieldhouse Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown  

We look at some compelling new memoirs, including Mandy Sayer’s No Dancing in the Lift, a tribute to her jazz drummer father, capturing the grit of Kings Cross and the grace of caregiving. Elizabeth Gilbert’s All the Way to the River recounts her intense love story with Rayya Elias, confronting addiction and devotion. Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me reflects on her formidable mother’s legacy - equal parts shelter and storm, and S. Shakthidharan’s Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath offers a tender, multi-generational journey from Sri Lanka to Western Sydney. BOOKS Mandy Sayer, No Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir, Transit Lounge Elizabeth Gilbert, All the Way to the River: Love, Loss and Liberation, Bloomsbury Arundhati Roy, Mother Mary Comes to Me, Hamish Hamilton SHAKTI Shakthidharan, Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath, Powerhouse Publishing     GUESTS Melanie Tait, Playwright. Her latest, How To Plot a Hit in Two Days, plays at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney until 11 October. Roanna Gonsalves, novelist and academic; editor of the literary journal, Southerly   OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Hannah Kent, Always Home, Always Homesick Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal Elizabeth Strout, works Jenny Hocking, Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History; His Time Sarah Malik, Desi Girl: On Feminism, Race, Faith and Belonging CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Micky Grossman and Ann Marie Debettencor Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

What are your favourite poems of the last 25 years? The ones that you turn to, couplets memorised and shared, the lines that leapt from the page or stage. Poetry that both defined and defied space and time, whether it rhymed or not. Join Kate Evans, as she is joined by acclaimed author and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke, Stella Prize-winning poet and academic Sarah Holland-Batt, much-loved broadcaster and author Daniel Browning, and best-selling author and journalist Julia Baird to discuss and read some of the poems that have shone brightest for each of them this century, as well as how the art-form has evolved. This event was presented at the State Library of NSW in partnership with Red Room Poetry. POETS AND POETRY MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Warsan Shire, Home Adam Zagajewski, Try to Praise the Mutilated World Graeme Dixon, Six Feet of Land Rights Gwen Harwood, In the Park Anonymous Rose,  Broken World Zora Howard and Joshya Bennett, Still Life with Police Sirens Ali Cobby Eckermann, works Simon Armitage, The Shout Evelyn Araluen, decolonial poetics (avant gubba) Candy Royale, works Max Porter, works CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans Producer, Kate Evans, Lisa Needham Sound engineer, Ann Marie Debettencor Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown  

This week’s episode explores three new books. First up, Patricia Lockwood’s Will There Ever Be Another You, a third-person autofiction-ish tale that includes a family trip to Scotland, grief and fairies. Then we head to the American frontier for blood-soaked vengeance and vampires in Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Finally, Nell Stevens’ The Original takes us into a world of art forgeries, lost sons, con-artists and the tangled truths behind paintings. BOOKS Patricia Lockwood, Will There Ever Be Another You, Bloomsbury Circus Stephen Graham Jones, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Titan Books Nell Stevens, The Original, Scribner GUESTS Paul Daley, journalist, essayist, and novelist – who writes for the Guardian, and whose books include the non-fiction Beersheba and On Capitalism, and the novels Jesustown and The Leap Tom Wright, playwright and dramaturg. Artistic Associate, Belvoir St Theatre. His latest play, Troy, has just finished its run at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre PAUL DALEY'S TOP 100 LIST Percival Everett, The Trees Robin Robertson, The Long Take TOM WRIGHT'S TOP 100 LIST Martin Crimp, The City Ella Hickson, The Writer OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Donal Ryan, The Spinning Heart Eric Puchner, Dream State Julio Cortazar, Hopscotch CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, John Jacobs and Micky Grossman Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

We get stuck into some new fiction, starting with Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know, a meditation on a future shaped by climate disaster and memory. We’re joined by Australian authors Madeleine Gray and Gretchen Shirm to take a look at Miranda Darling’s Fireweather, a poetic story of breakdown and resistance,  and Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk’s House of Day, House of Night, a dreamy blend of folklore and philosophy. BOOKS Ian McEwan, What We Can Know, Jonathan Cape Miranda Darling, Fireweather, Scribe Olga Tokarczuk, House of Day, House of Night, (Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones), Text GUESTS Gretchen Shirm, is a novelist and literary critic whose books include Having Cried Woolf and The Crying Room. Her latest, Out of the Woods, was published in April  Madeleine Gray, is a critic, arts writer, and novelist whose debut novel, Green Dot, was published in 2023, and whose latest novel, Chosen Family, will be out in November  GRETCHEN SHIRM'S TOP 100 LIST Rachel Cusk, Outline trilogy Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be Vigdis Hjorth, Will and Testament Tara June Winch, Swallow the Air MADELEINE GRAY'S TOP 100 LIST Ali Smith, How To Be Both Evelyn Araluen, Dropbear Jessica Love, Julian is a Mermaid OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway Helen Garner, works Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait Erin Hortle, A Catalogue of Love Michelle Arrow, The Seventies: The personal, the political and the making of modern Australia A.S. Byatt, Possession James Fenton, works Richard Holmes, Footsteps Robert Louis Stevenson, works CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Roi Huberman and Tim Jenkins Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

In the year of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, this lively and thought-provoking discussion explores her life, legacy, and literary brilliance — her novels are charming, sure, but also radical, political, witty, and entertaining. Presented in partnership with the State Library of NSW, this event brings together Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with Scott Stephens from Radio National's The Minefield, and Sophie Gee, English Professor at Princeton, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow in the humanities at the University of Sydney, and co-host of the Secret Life of Books podcast, for a conversation that delves into Austen’s sharp observations on friendship, ambition, money, love, power, and equality. CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh, Scott Stephens, Sophie Gee Producer: Kate Evans, Amanda Roberts Sound engineer: John Jacobs Executive producer: Muditha Dias  

Australian poet, artist, hip hop musician and author, Omar Musa, tells a story of Australia and Borneo, forests and fathers, in his new novel Fierceland.  An American saga of love, war, and complicated families in Patrick Ryan’s Buckeye, and experimental British author Geoff Dyer returns with Homework, a look back on his childhood and coming of age in sixties and seventies England. BOOKS  Omar Musa, Fierceland, Penguin Random House  Geoff Dyer, Homework: A Memoir, Canongate  Patrick Ryan, Buckeye, Bloomsbury  GUESTS  Andy Griffiths, bestselling children’s author whose works include the Treehouse series, and his latest, You & Me series (You & Me and the Peanut Butter Beast has just been released)  Geordie Williamson, literary critic for The Australian, The Saturday Paper, and publisher (Picador/ Pan Macmillan). His latest book is on Alexis Wright, in Black Ink’s Writers on Writers series  ANDY GRIFFITH'S TOP 100 LIST Kate Grenville, The Secret River Lech Blaine, Australian Gospel Robert Skinner, I'd Rather Not GEORDIE WILLIAMSON'S TOP 100 LIST Cormac McCarthy, The Road Alexis Wright, Carpentaria OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Frank Moorhouse, Dark Palace Hannah Kent, Burial Rites Daniel Kehlmann, The Director CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Roi Huberman Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

An Australian story of the tender, eager lives of greyhounds and their owners in Tenderfoot by Australian author Toni Jordan. Dark academia in Yellowface author R.F. Kuang’s new fantasy novel, Katabasis. Sport, miracles, and the Amish, in Ron Rindo’s Life, and Death, and Giants. BOOKS  Toni Jordan, Tenderfoot, Hachette  R.F. Kuang, Katabasis, Harper Voyager  Ron Rindo, Life, and Death, and Giants, Pan Macmillan  GUESTS  Seth Robinson, writer, producer, and lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He is also co-hosting a new podcast with Tony Birch – Unfolded – in which writers take apart short stories to see what makes them work.  Michael McGirr, writer, reviewer, and mission director at Caritas Australia. His own books include Ideas to Save Your Life, Books that Saved my Life, and The Story of a Road  MICHAEL'S TOP 100 LIST Patriot by Alexei Navalny.   This is Happiness by Niall Williams  Apeirogon by Colum McCann  King by Jonathan Eig  People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks  Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright  Emily Wilson’s Translation of the Odyssey  The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton  Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung  The Fig Tree by Arnold Zable SETH'S TOP 100 LIST Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver  The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt  Educated, Tara Westover  Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton  Less, Andrew Sean Greer  The Overstory, Richard Powers  Still Life, Sarah Winman   The Passage (Trilogy), Justin Cronin  Station 11, Emily St John Mandel  James, Percival Everett   OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Melissa Lucashenko, Too Much Lip Gillian Mears, Foal's Bread Kim Scott, That Deadman Dance Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Tony Birch, Pictures of You Behrouz Boochani, No Friend but the Mountains Charles Dickens, David Copperfield Lucia Berlin, A Manual for Cleaning Women CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Roi Huberman Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

The Bookshelf continues to explore new fiction, beginning in this episode with Ruins by Amy Taylor, a plunge into holiday chaos during a simmering summer in Greece. Maria Reva’s Endling takes us to Ukraine, where an eccentric scientist is breeding rare snails. And, Leif Enger’s I Cheerfully Refuse...dystopia with a twist. BOOKS  Amy Taylor, Ruins, Allen & Unwin  Maria Reva, Endling, Virago  Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse, Grove Press  GUESTS  Mark Mordue, music writer, journalist, and poet – whose books include Boy On Fire: The Young Nick Cave  Robert Goodman, critic who writes regularly for the Newtown Review of Books and on his website, Pile by the Bed OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro The Hare with Amber Eyes, Edmund de Waal On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan Louise Erdrich, works Lanny, Max Porter The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Shehan Karunatilaka By Night in Chile; 2666, Roberto Bolaño Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey  Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie Chronicles, Bob Dylan  Just Kids, Patti Smith  Road Series, Hugo Race  Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, Will Hermes  Perdido Street Station, China Mieville  Babel; Yellowface; Katabasis, R.F. Kuang The Animals in That Country, Laura Jean McKay  The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation, Charlotte Beradt The White Hotel, D.M. Thomas Salvage, Jennifer Mills Juice, Tim Winton Arborescence; Hovering, Rhett Davis Deaf Republic, Ilya Kaminsky CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, John Jacobs and Tegan Nicholls Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie discuss Vera, or Faith, Gary Shteyngart’s new novel about a ten-year-old Korean-American girl growing up in a dystopian United States. Alongside guest critics, they also look at The Bombshell by Darrow Farr, which traces the radicalisation of a young French woman in Corsica, and The Slip by Lucas Schaefer, the story of a missing teenage boy and the transformative power of boxing. Books: Darrow Farr, The Bombshell, Atlantic Lucas Schaefer, The Slip, Simon & Schuster Gary Shteyngart, Vera, or Faith, Atlantic  GUESTS Sarah Gilbert, writer and documentary producer; head of UTS Impact Studios, which makes the literary podcast Fully Lit. Her first book of non-fiction - Unconventional Women: The story of the last Blessed Sacrament Sisters in Australia - came out last year Michael Winkler, critic and novelist. His book, Grimmish, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2022. His novel Griefdogg will be published next year  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Brian Castro, Chinese Postman Michelle de Krestser, works Marilynne Robinson, Gilead Denis Johnson, Train Dreams Carys Davies, West Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend O. Henry, The Last Leaf Loïc Wacquant, Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City series Rhett Davis, Arborescence Raaza Jamshed, What Kept You Alexis Wright, Carpentaria CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, John Jacobs and Tegan Nicholls Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Australian author Rhett Davis re-imagines the everyday in his novels. In his latest, Arborescence, ordinary people begin transforming into trees. Is it a cult? Performance art? Or something else entirely? Also on the show: Guest reviewer Roanna Gonsalves discusses Saraswati, the debut novel by Gurnaik Johal, which winds its narrative around a sacred and possibly mythical river in North India. And, Kate Evans speaks with Irish writer Colm Tóibín, delving into the literary influences that have shaped his work.  BOOKS  Rhett Davis, Arborescence, Hachette  Gurnaik Johal, Saraswati, Serpent’s Tail  Colm Toibin, works  GUESTS  Roanna Gonsalves is a writer, teacher of creative writing at UNSW, and editor of the literary journal, Southerly  Colm Toibin, Irish novelist and essayist – whose books include The Blackwater Lightship, Nora Webster, Brooklyn, The Master, The Magician – and his latest, Long Island. He spoke to Kate Evans at the 2025 Sydney Writers Festival  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Jane Austen, works Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 Italo Calvino, The Baron in the Trees J.R.R. Tolkein, works Malcolm Knox The First Friend Raaza Jamshed, What Kept You Georgia Rose Phillips, The Bearcat Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge Henry James, works Thomas Mann, works James Baldwin, works CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Simon Branthwaite  Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A critical assessment of the shortlist and winner of Australia’s most prestigious literary award, The Miles Franklin Literary Award. Kate and Cassie are joined by guests, scholar and literary biographer (and former judge of the MFLA) Bernadette Brennan; and critic and publisher, Geordie Williamson. BOOKS Brian Castro, Chinese Postman, Giramondo Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice, Text Winnie Dunn, Dirt Poor Islanders, Hachette  Julie Janson, Compassion, Magabala Books Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13, Allen & Unwin Siang Lu, Ghost Cities, UQP (WINNER) GUESTS Bernadette Brennan, literary scholar; former judge for the Miles Franklin Literary Award   Geordie Williamson, chief literary critic, The Australian; publisher, Picador  CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Roi Huberman Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Parties, scandals, sex, love, families, friendship, death – these books have, as they say, all the things. Nell Zink’s Sister Europe moves through one night in Berlin, while Amy Bloom’s I’ll Be Right Here sweeps through 80 years of history, and in James Frey’s Next to Heaven, the beautiful and rich fall apart rather spectacularly. BOOKS  Nell Zink, Sister Europe, Penguin Viking  Amy Bloom, I’ll Be Right Here, Granta  James Frey, Next to Heaven, Swift  GUESTS  Shannon Burns, writer and member of the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice at the University of Adelaide. His memoir, Childhood, was published in 2022  Suzanne Leal, writer and literary interviewer. She writes for both adults and children, and her novels include Deceptions, The Watchful Wife and The Teacher’s Secret. Her latest, The Year We Escaped, was published last month OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED James Frey, works Raynor Winn, The Salt Path Colette, works Yuan Yang, Private Revolutions Lenora Thaker, The Pearl of Tagai Town Peter Grose, A Good Place to Hide Pablo Neruda, The Captain's Verses Robert Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony Brian Castro, Chinese Postman JANE AUSTEN EVENT Still Turning Heads at 250: Jane Austen’s Enduring Charm ABC Radio National's The Bookshelf & The Minefield join forces with a literary scholar & the State Library of NSW on Austen the professional. Book your spot here  CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Tegan Nicholls and Emrys Cronin Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown  

Stories of the sea – and a great white whale in Xiaolu Guo's Call Me Ishmaelle; Hungry ghosts and kitchen mishaps in Daria Lavelle's NYC set novel Aftertaste; and the latest Australian crime fiction (of which there is a lot!) BOOKS  AUSTRALIAN CRIME FICTION:  Mark Brandi, Eden  Paul Daley, The Leap  Sam Guthrie, The Peak  Angie Faye Martin, Melaleuca   Michael Robotham, White Crow  Tanya Scott, Stillwater  Matthew Spencer, Broke Road  Xiaolu Guo, Call Me Ishmaelle, Chatto & Windus  Daria Lavelle, Aftertaste, Bloomsbury  GUESTS  Mark Dunn, historian whose latest book is The Convict Valley: The Bloody Struggle on Australia's Early Frontier  Danielle Bagnato, writer and book critic – whose work appears in The Big Issue  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment Alice Oseman, Radio Silence Torrey Peters, Detransition, Baby Douglas Stewart, Young Mungo Herman Melville, Moby Dick Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Richard Flanagan, Question 7 V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue Catherine Webb, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August Sayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman; Vanishing World Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Simon Branthwaite and Roi Huberman Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A panel of international authors discuss the current state of the art of fiction. The latest Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey, Rumaan Alam, Torrey Peters, and Robbie Arnott find connections in their writing and their bookshelves. PANELLISTS Samantha Harvey, an English writer whose five novels include The Wilderness, Dear Thief, and the 2024 Booker Prize winner, Orbital. Her non-fiction work is The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping Rumaan Alam, an American writer whose five novels include Rich and Pretty, Leave the World Behind and Entitlement. Torrey Peters, an American writer of novels, short stories and novellas, including her debut novel Detransition, Baby and a new collection, Stag Dance. Robbie Arnott, an Australian writer whose novels are Flames, The Rain Heron, Limberlost and Dusk. ------------------------ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain George Orwell, 1984 Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven Melanie Cheng, The Burrow Helen Garner, The Children’s Bach Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go Edward St Aubyn, Parallel Lines ------------------------ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans Producer, Kate Evans & Salome Lines-Morison Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite & Timothy Jenkins Executive Producer, Rhiannon Brown