Episoder
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Alaska, folktales and mothers and daughters in Eowyn Ivey's Black Woods Blue Sky. Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Anne Tyler is back with Three Days in June, another novel about mothers and daughters; and Italian novelist Vincenzo Latronico's Perfection, a critique of social media and contemporary life.
BOOKS
Eowyn Ivey, Black Woods, Blue Sky, Tinder Press
Anne Tyler, Three Days in June, Chatto & Windus
Vincenzo Latronico, Perfection (translated from the Italian by Sophie Hughes), Text
GUESTS
Alice Pung, novelist, memoirist and editor. Her books include Unpolished Gem, Laurinda and One Hundred Days
Dylin Hardcastle, novelist, artist and screenwriter, currently completing their PhD. Their novels include Below Deck and A Language of Limbs
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDEowyn Ivey, The Snow ChildJohn Marsden, worksAnne Tyler, worksJazz Money, Mark the DawnDavid Owen Kelly, Host CityKirsty Jagger, RoseghettoWeike Wang, Joan is Okay
CREDITS
Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Craig Tilmouth, John Jacobs, Tegan NichollsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown -
A brief foray into the world of ‘romantasy’ and the international bestseller Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros. A story of yearning, belonging, secrets and identity from Native America in Morgan Talty’s Fire Exit; rusted robots, prosthetic limbs, AI and noisy families in Nigerian-American writer Nnedi Okorafor’s Death of the Author; and coercive control and walking on eggshells in Irish writer Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting.
BOOKS
Morgan Talty, Fire Exit, Scribe
Rebecca Yarros, Onyx Storm [Book three in the Fourth Wing/Empyrean series], Piatkus
Nnedi Okorafor, Death of the Author, Gollancz
Roisín O’Donnell, Nesting, Scribner
GUESTS
Bruce Isaacs, Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Sydney; and co-host of the podcast Film Versus Film
Sarah Gilbert, journalist, Executive Producer, Impact Studios, University of Technology, Sydney. Her latest book is Unconventional Women: The Story of the last Blessed Sacrament Sisters in Australia. She is currently writing a biblio-memoir set in Buenos Aires, and has a podcast coming with Sydney Review of Books called Fully Lit
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED
Nikki May, Wahala
Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
Iain Pears, An Instance of the Fingerpost
Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
Elizabeth Jane Howard, The Cazalet Chronicles
Elsa Morante, Lies and Sorcery
Elene Ferrante, works
CREDITS
Presenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John Jacobs and Harvey O'SullivanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown -
Manglende episoder?
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Cassie and Kate read Marie-Hélène Lafon’s The Son’s Story, a family story that spans the twentieth-century, full of melancholy beauty and secrets. Crime writer Hayley Scrivenor reads Geoff Parkes’ When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole, a story of small towns, envy and threat in New Zealand; and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson reads Swedish bestseller The Group, by Sigge Eklund, in which art, sun, wealth and beautiful people meet and mingle in Madrid.
BOOKS
Marie-Hélène Lafon, The Son’s Story (translated from the French by Stephanie Smee), MLP
Geoff Parkes, When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole, Penguin Random House
Sigge Eklund, The Group (translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles), Ithaka Press
GUESTS
Hayley Scrivenor, crime writer whose books are Dirt Town and – her latest – Girl Falling
Johan Gabrielsson, documentary maker: longtime Australian resident, he was born in Sweden
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED
Mary McCarthy, The Group
Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley
Ashley Kalagian Blunt, Cold Truth
Sara Foster, When She Was Gone
Samantha Byres, Dead Ends
James Bridle, Ways of Being
Slavoj Zizek, Too Late To Awaken
CREDITS
Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Huberman, Harvey O'SullivanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown -
Kate and Cassie are back for 2025 to discuss Panic by Catherine Jinks, about a young woman looking for a fresh start after posting a drunken rant that went horrifically viral. Novelist George Haddad, and Professor Sue Turnbull, who specialises in crime drama and fiction, are also along, to take a look at new novels by Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran and American author Garth Greenwell.
BOOKS
Catherine Jinks, Panic, Text
Garth Greenwell, Small Rain, Picador
Shankari Chandran, Unfinished Business, Ultimo Press
GUESTS
George Haddad, novelist, artist and lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Western Sydney. His novel Losing Face was published in 2022
Sue Turnbull, Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong, who specialises in crime drama and fiction. She is also chief crime fiction reviewer for The Age and SMH
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeAlice Winn, In MemoriamRichard J. Evans, Hitler's PeopleGeorge Eliot, MiddlemarchCaroline Darian, I'll Never Call Him Dad Again: Turning our family trauma of Chemical Submission into a collective fightCurtis Sittenfeld, Show Don't Tell; Romantic Comedy; EligibleGarth Greenwell, CleannessShankari Chandran, Chai Time at Cinnamon GardensKatherine Brabon, Body FriendBen Watt, Patient Alexandros Papadiamantis, The MurderessMichelle de Kretser, Theory and PracticeRonni Salt, Gunnawah Ashley Kalagian Blunt, Cold Truth; Dark ModeKatherena Vermette, The Stranger family trilogy
CREDITS
Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Tegan Nicholls, Harvey O'SullivanExecutive producer: Rhiannon Brown -
Reading Percival Everett's James, Dylin Hardcastle's Language of Limbs and James McBride's The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
Cassie and literary interviewer Michaela Kalowski discussed Percival Everett's James in a conversation first broadcast on 15 March 2024
Kate and Jonathan Green reviewed Dylin Hardcastle's Language of Limbs on 19 July 2024
And James McBride spoke to Kate about The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store for Radio National's 2024 Big Weekend of Books
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Books you might have missed: from England, Turkey and within the Australian Tongan community
Cassie and critic Beejay Silcox agree to disagree over David Nicholls' You Are Here – from a conversation first broadcast on 19 April 2024
Kate, Richard Aedy and writer Patrick Carey reviewed Oisín McKenna, Evenings and Weekends on 28 June 2024
Cassie, Beejay Silcox and academic Jioji Ravulo read Winnie Dunn's Dirt Poor Islanders on 19 April 2024
And Cassie spoke to Turkish-British author Elif Shafak ahead of the publication of her novel There Are Rivers in the Sky, on Radio National's 2024 Big Weekend of Books
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Time to reassess your TBR pile – To Be Read, that is – ready for 2025. To help, some of the best books and literary discussions from the past year.
Kate and Cassie's review of Rita Bullwinkel's Headshot was first broadcast on 16 August 2024
Kate and Richard Aedy's discussion of Catherine McKinnon's To Sing of War was first broadcast on 28 June 2024
Cassie and Kate first delved into Rodney Hall's Vortex on 22 August 2024
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Ready for some Big Books? Ambition, money, philosophy, bodies and history – all explored through history.
Cassie and Tom Wright's review of Andrew O'Hagan's Caledonian Road was first broadcast on 28 March 2024
Kate and Cassie with Polish publicist Anna O'Grady, on Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium, was first broadcast on 20 September 2024
English writer Francis Spufford spoke to Kate about his novel Cahokia Jazz on Radio National's Big Weekend of Books in June 2024
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Catch up on the best books and discussions about them from the last year. A songwriter, a plaintive guitar, time travel and a motel are all in the mix.
Kate and Cassie's review of Willie Vlautin's Horse was originally was originally broadcast on 26 July 2024
Cassie and Jonathan Green's appraisal of Kaliane Bradley's Ministry of Time was originally broadcast on 30 May 2024
Kate, Kate Mildenhall and Beejay Silcox disagreed over Miranda July's All Fours back on 21 June 2024
And bookseller David Gaunt and NZ Festival Director Claire Mabey gave their book recommendations on 26 July 2024
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Detectives, tea ladies, journos, psychologists – what's the appeal of the crime series and repeat protagonist? Kate Evans with crime writers Michael Robotham, Tim Ayliffe and Amanda Hampson onstage at the BAD Sydney Crime Festival.
GUESTS
Michael Robotham, internationally bestselling crime writer, whose books include the Joe O'Loughlin series and the Cyrus Haven series. His latest is Storm Child.
Tim Ayliffe, journalist and novelist, whose central character is also a media man. John Bailey is his name – and the latest book in that series is The Wrong Man.
Amanda Hampson is an author of many novels, whose crime novels, set in the 1960s, feature tea ladies. Her latest is The Cryptic Clue.
CRIME SERIES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION
Ian Rankin, Rebus series
Michael Connelly, Bosch and McEvoy series
Anne Cleeves, Vera series
Janet Evanovitch, Stephanie Plum series
Kerry Greenwood, Phryne Fischer series
Stieg Larsson, Lisbeth Salander series
Peter Høeg, Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow
Stephen King's Holly Gibney series
Patricia Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta series
Mick Herron's Slow Horses
Tom Clancy, works
Peter Temple's Jack Irish series
John Le Carre, works
Jack Beaumont, Frenchman series
Walter Mosley, Easy Rawlins series
Adrian McKinty, Sean Duffy series
Sulari Gentill, Rowland Sinclair series
Candice Fox, works
Sujata Massey, Perveen Mistry series
Chris Hammer, works
Candice Fox, works
Don Winslow, works
Presenter: Kate Evans
Producer: Kate Evans + Sarah Corbett
Sound engineers: John Jacobs + Tegan Nicholls
Executive Producer: Rhiannon Brown
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The best books of 2024 as selected by Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans, Jason Steger, Lev Grossman and Michaela Kalowski. Keep scrolling for a full (and somewhat idiosyncratic) list.
GUESTS
Jason Steger, literary journalist. Former literary editor at the Age and SMH; and regular guest on ABC TV's Tuesday Book Club.
Lev Grossman, bestselling American novelist and journalist — whose books include The Magicians trilogy and (his latest), The Bright Sword (an Arthurian tale).
Michaela Kalowski, literary interviewer and the curator of Radio National's Big Weekend of Books
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
(listed according to the person who made the recommendation)
Lev Grossman:
Percival Everett, James
Paolo Bacigalupi, Navola
Tana French, The Hunter
Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook
M.T. Anderson, Nicked
Karl Ove Knausgaard, The Third Realm
Nick Harkaway, Karla's Choice
Cassie McCullagh:
Percival Everett, James
Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time
Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz
Ceridwen Dovey, Only the Astronauts
Michaela Kalowski's selection (in categories)
Uplifting (subject matter or style):
Ailsa Piper, For Life
Julia Baird, Bright Shining
International:
Percival Everett, James
Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz
Australian:
Robbie Arnott, Dusk
Lexi Freiman, The Book of Ayn
Tim Winton, Juice
Catherine McKinnon, To Sing of War
James Bradley, Deep Water
Julian Borger, I Seek a Kind Person
Books in Translation:
Greek Lessons by Han Kang
Fantasy:
Kelly Link, The Book of Love
Jason Steger
Uplifting/ positive:
Colm Tóibín, Long Island
Melanie Cheng, The Burrow
Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of Time
Other highlights
Nick Harkaway, Karla's Choice
Helen Garner, The Season
Samantha Harvey, Orbital
Heather Taylor Johnson, Little Bit
Kate Evans
Positive/ Joy or beauty:
Niall Williams, Time of the Child
Hanif Kureishi, Shattered
Deborah Levy, the Position of Spoons
International:
Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz
Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings
Richard Powers, Playground
In translation:
Olga Tokarczuk, The Empusium
Australian:
Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13
Dylin Hardcastle, A Language of Limbs
Catherine McKinnon, To Sing of War
Robbie Arnott, Dusk
Inga Simpson, The Thinning
CREDITS
Presenters: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh
Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett
Sound engineers: Craig Tilmouth, Ann Marie Debettencor
Executive Producer: Rhiannon Brown
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What do Kate and Cassie make of Will Self’s Elaine, a portrait of a frustrated fifties housewife, based on his mother's own diaries. Plus, The City and its Uncertain Walls, the much anticipated new novel by Haruki Murakami with a dreamy library in a parallel universe at its centre; and Rosalia Aguilar Solace’s The Great Library of Tomorrow, another novel set in an alternate world that pays tribute to libraries.
BOOKS
Will Self, Elaine, Grove Press
Haruki Murakami, The City and its Uncertain Walls (translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel), Harvill Secker
Rosalia Aguilar Solace, The Great Library of Tomorrow, Text
GUESTS
Jon Page, long-time bookseller. General Manager, Dymocks, Sydney CBD store
C.S. Pacat, writer whose books include the Dark Rise and Captive Prince series, and the graphic novel Fence series.
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED
Stephanie Meyers, Twilight seriesSamantha Harvey, OrbitalAsako Yuzuki, ButterGenevieve Cogman, Invisible LibrariesJorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel; Labyrinths Anne Rice, The Vampire ChroniclesChristine Dwyer Hickey, Our London Lives Colum McCann, Apeirogon; Twist
CREDITS
Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Craig Tilmouth, Beth StewartExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown
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A focus on literature in translation with special guests Bora Chung and Anton Hur, both of whom are South Korean authors and translators, who translate each others' work, and write outside the system of state-sanctioned literature. Anton translates from Korean into English; Bora translates Russian and Polish works into Korean. In this episode, they describe each others' work, discuss translation, give recommendations, and respond to fellow South Korean writer Han Kang's Nobel Prize in literature.
We also meet Chinese podcaster and translator Yu Shi, who has translated Margaret Atwood and Jeanette Winterson's fiction into Mandarin.
GUESTS
Bora Chung, lecturer, fiction writer and translator from South Korea, who translates from Russian and Polish into Korean. Her books include Cursed Bunny (which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize), Your Utopia and Grocery List
Anton Hur, novelist and translator. He translates from Korean into English. His books are Toward Eternity and No One Told Me Not To. He also translated the global phenomenon I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki by Baek Se-hee
Yu Shi, Chinese podcaster and translator
Bora Chung and Anton Hur were in Australia as guests of the Korean Cultural Centre
ALL BOOKS MENTIONEDHan Kang, The Vegetarian; Human Acts; Greek Lessons; We Do Not PartFyodor Dostoevsky, worksBruno Jasieński, worksBruno Schulz, worksOlga Tokarczuk, worksStanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, worksWitold Gombrowicz, worksMargaret Atwood, The Testaments; The Handmaid’s TaleJeanette Winterson, Oranges are Not the Only FruitStephen King, worksPaul Auster, worksMishima Yukio, works
CREDITS
Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Peter ClimpsonExecutive producer: Rhiannon Brown -
Derided, disparaged and cursed to the heavens, book critics are depicted as literature’s grand villains – as frustrated creators and gleeful wreckers. But what do critics really do? And why are they necessary for a healthy literary ecosystem? James Jiang, Beejay Silcox and Christos Tsiolkas join Kate and Cassie as part of a panel discussion at Canberra Writers' Festival - five Aussie critics - making the case for criticism.
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Niall Williams’ Time of the Child might just be the big ‘feel-good book of the year’—but there’s more to it than that. This is a beautifully written Irish story, full of ordinary lives described in painfully funny detail. Also, Scottish writer Ali Smith and her too-real-to-be-allegorical Gliff; and in Alan Moore's The Great When, we're presented with a hallucinatory vision of an alternative London, anchored in post-World War ll realism.
BOOKS
Ali Smith, Gliff, Hamish Hamilton
Alan Moore, The Great When, Bloomsbury
Niall Williams, Time of the Child, Bloomsbury
GUESTS
Garth Nix, sci-fi and fantasy writer whose books include the Old Kingdom series, Angel Mage , and The Left-Handed Booksellers of London; his latest is a middle-grade novel, We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord
Chris Hammer, crime writer whose books include Scrublands, Silver, and The Tilt. His latest, featuring his characters Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic is The Valley
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDKazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me GoAldous Huxley, Brave New WorldClaire Keegan, Small Things Like TheseFintan O'Toole, We Don't Know OurselvesLarry McMurtry, Lonesome DoveChris Whittaker, We Begin at the EndC.S. Robertson, The Trials of Marjorie Crowe
CREDITS
Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Craig Tilmouth, Ann-Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown -
The Dressmaker’s backstory, a universe of stars to expand our ideas about nature writing, and fragments and tricks galore: Kate and Cassie read Inga Simpson’s The Thinning, Brian Castro’s Chinese Postman and Rosalie Ham’s Molly with guests Ella Jeffery and Amanda HampsonBOOKSInga Simpson, The Thinning, HachetteBrian Castro, Chinese Postman, GiramondoRosalie Ham, Molly, PicadorGUESTSDr Ella Jeffery, poet and lecturer in Creative Writing at Griffith University, Qld; ABC Radio National ‘Top 5 Arts’ candidate; currently examining insecure housing as a theme in 21st-century literatureAmanda Hampson, novelist whose latest series feature tea ladies in 1960s Sydney . . . solving crime. The first, The Tea Ladies, won the 2024 Danger Award for Best Crime Novel. The second is The Cryptic Clue; and the third – The Deadly Dispute – will be published in April 2025. There will be five in the series.Other books mentioned:Patricia Wrightson, The Nargun and the StarsJohn Marsden, Tomorrow when the War BeganJames Bradley, Deep Water: The World in the OceanRichard Powers, PlaygroundRobert C. O’Brien, Z for ZachariahCormac McCarthy, The Road Miles Franklin, My Brilliant CareerA B Facey, A Fortunate LifeMarcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural LifeRuth Park, works Helen Garner, WorksJohn Birmingham, He Died with a Felafel in his HandAndrew McGahan, worksBernadette Brennan, Brain Castro’s Fiction: The Seductive Play of Language
CREDITS
Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan, Peter Climpson, Emrys CroninExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown
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The latest from double Miles Franklin Award winner, Michelle de Kretser, Theory and Practice, a novel that evokes the 1980s and Virginia Woolf. Scottish writer Graeme Macrae Burnet plays a French literary game in A Case of Matricide; and summer days under the light of a strange star in Norway in Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The Third Realm.
BOOKS
Graeme Macrae Burnet, A Case of Matricide, Text
Michelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice, Text
Karl Ove Knausgaard, The Third Realm, (Translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken), Harvill Secker
GUESTS
Clare Monagle, Professor of Mediaeval History, Macquarie University – who specialises in the history of ideas, and theology in the Middle Ages
Mark Mordue, freelance music writer and poet whose latest book is the biography, Boy on Fire - The Young Nick Cave. He is also co-director of the Addi Road Writers Festival
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Daphne du Maurier, RebeccaHelen Garner, worksC.J. Sansom, Shardlake seriesUmberto Eco, The Name of the Rose Jack Gilbert, Collected PoemsJuno Gemes, Until Justice Comes: Fifty Years of the Movement for Indigenous Rights
CREDITS
Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls, Ann Marie de BettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown -
Kate and Cassie read Melanie Cheng’s The Burrow, a pandemic-set novella that details the healing powers of a pet rabbit for a family dealing with tragedy. Plus, Native American writer Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red, a beautifully crafted novel about a love triangle and everyday life in a farming community in North Dakota, and the latest from Yuwaalaraay storyteller Nardi Simpson, The Belburd, a poetic montage of life and death.
BOOKS
Melanie Cheng, The Burrow, Text
Louise Erdrich, The Mighty Red, Corsair
Nardi Simpson, The Belburd, Hachette
GUESTS
Steph Harmon, Culture Editor, The Guardian
Tom Wright, theatre writer and adaptor; Associate Director, Belvoir Theatre
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDNardi Simpson, Song of the CrocodileEmeric Pressburger, The Glass PearlsClaire Kilroy, Soldier SailorAlan Murrin, The Coast Road Dan Hogan, Secret Third Thing
CREDIT
Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Craig Tilmouth, Beth StewartExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown -
Twins, pumas and a colonial western in Robbie Arnott’s Dusk; gay lives, racial politics, class, theatre and exquisite writing, in Alan Hollinghurst’s Our Evenings; and writing between the myths, rumours and religious speculation of a mediaeval woman pope in Emily Maguire's Rapture.
BOOKS
Robbie Arnott, Dusk, Picador
Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings, Picador
Emily Maguire, Rapture, Allen & Unwin
GUESTS
Huw Griffiths, Associate Professor of English Literature, University of Sydney – with a special interest in Shakespeare and contemporary gay literature. His books include Disavowing Authority in the Shakespeare Classroom and Shakespeare’s Body Parts: Figuring Sovereignty in the History Plays
Meredith Lake, presents Soul Search on ABC Radio National as well as Mornings on ABC Alice Springs. She is also a historian of religion, whose latest book is The Bible in Australia: A Cultural History
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJon Ransom, The GallopersMax Porter, worksCynan Jones, worksArelhekenhe Angkentye - Women’s Talk, Poems of Lyapirtneme from Arrernte Women in Central AustraliaKim Mahood, Craft for a Dry Lake; Position Doubtful; Wandering with Intent
CREDITS
Presenter, Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Huberman, Ann-Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown -
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