Episodes
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In this episode, a recording taken from the launch of historian Lisa MacKinney’s book, Dressed in Black: The Shangri-Las and Their Recorded Legacy. MacKinney marshals an impressive array of new evidence to tell the story of the Shangri-Las, one of the most significant-and most misunderstood-pop groups of the 1960s.
Sisters Mary and Betty Weiss, together with twins Mary Ann and Marguerite Ganser, were schoolgirls when they formed the Shangri-Las in 1963, and had a meteoric rise to fame with songs like "Leader of the Pack" and "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." Their career was cut short for reasons largely beyond their control, derailed by the machinations of Mafia-linked record executives, and heartbreak and tragedy followed.
Equally importantly, Dressed in Black radically rewrites the accepted narrative of the Shangri-Las' place in rock history. As young women, they were permitted little agency within a male-dominated industry that viewed teenagers as fodder to be manipulat-ed and exploited by producers, songwriters, and label owners. For decades, this has served as an excuse for critics to deny the musical input of the group members, to trivialize the Shangri-Las as a "girl group," and to assign their work a lesser rank in the canon of "authentic" rock and roll. MacKinney's great achievement here is to foreground the Shangri-Las' considerable abilities and musicality, and establish the centrality of their performance of their songs to the group's underappreciated artistic achievement. -
In this episode, a recording taken from the launch of Irma Gold's novel Shift.
Gusty and gripping, tender and deeply compassionate, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township in South Africa, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines, to offer bold, big-hearted hope.
In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us, and ourselves. -
Episodes manquant?
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In this episode, a recording taken from the launch of the anthology, Someone Like Me. In the book, edited by Clem Bastow and Jo Case, 25 Autistic gender-diverse and women writers explore their experiences – and explode stereotypes.
This groundbreaking anthology ranges from sex, living room dance parties and the natural world to eating disorders, all-encompassing passions and religion. Autistic people of all kinds are invited to find company in these pages – and maybe even see themselves, too.
The book was launched by ABC Radio National’s Hilary Harper and the event featured readings from several contributors. -
In this episode, a conversation with a Readings favourite, Diana Reid, author of the new novel, Signs of Damage.
The Kelly family’s idyllic holiday in the South of France is disturbed when Cass, a thirteen-year-old girl, goes missing. She’s discovered several hours later with no visible signs of injury. Everyone present dismisses the incident as a close brush with tragedy. Sixteen years later, at a funeral for a member of the Kelly family, Cass collapses. The present and the past start to collide as buried secrets come to light and old doubts resurface. What really happened to Cass in the South of France? And what’s wrong with her now?
A gripping tale of unravelling memories and moral ambiguities, Signs of Damage wrestles with the difference between understanding other people, and trying to explain them. -
In this episode we have a conversation with acclaimed author, Kate Grenville, to discuss her most recent book, Unsettled.
Grenville is no stranger to the past. Her success and fame as a writer exploded when she published The Secret River in 2005, a bestseller based on the story of her convict ancestor, an early settler on the Hawkesbury River. More than two decades on, and following the defeat of the Voice referendum, Grenville is still grappling with what it means to descend from people who were, as she puts it, “on the sharp edge of the moving blade that was colonisation”. So she decided to go on a kind of pilgrimage, back through the places her family stories happened, and put the stories and the First People back into the same frame, on the same country, to try to think about those questions. This gripping book is the result of that journey. -
In this episode, a conversation recorded at the launch of Shapeshifting, a wide-ranging collection of nonfiction by First Nations writers co-edited by Jeanine Leane and Ellen van Neerven. With Evelyn Araluen and contributors.
These lyric essays push the boundaries of nonfiction beyond the biographical or the academic, with pieces that experiment with form and embark on carefully crafting and re-crafting interventions that both challenge and expand existing genre structures. -
In this episode, a conversation with academic Kate Fitz-Gibbon, and author of Our National Crisis.
In this book, Fitz-Gibbon explains why violence against women and children is not a series of isolated incidents but a pervasive, systemic issue. The impacts of this violence on individuals, families and communities are wide-ranging and can be long-term. Addressing domestic, family and sexual violence requires a national effort across the full spectrum of prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing. -
In this episode of the Readings Kids podcast, a conversation with Lisa Fuller, winner of The Readings YA Prize in 2020, and author of the new book, Washpool.
In Fuller’s new work of middle grade fiction, the world looked as though it had been drawn in weird crayon colours ... There were no bird calls. No distant rustling of animals in the scrub. No breeze teasing the tops of the trees. Everything was still. Bella is shy and thoughtful. Her big sister, Cienna, is popular and brave. One thing they have in common is their love for Washpool, the local swimming spot. But one weekend when they dive into Washpool, Bella and Cienna surface in the strange new world of Muse. -
In this episode, a discussion about music and why it matters in our lives. Leading the conversation is Dr. Shain Shapiro, author of the book This Must Be The Place: How Music Can Make Your City.
To discuss live music and culture in Melbourne, pre- and post-Covid, Shapiro was joined by Helen Marcou, cofounder and owner of Bakehouse Studios, Patrick Donovan, former CEO of Music Victoria, and Kirsty Rivers, former director of Creative Australia, now with SoundStory. -
In this episode, a conversation with author Melanie Cheng, a winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, and author of the book, The Burrow.
Amy, Jin and Lucie are leading isolated lives in their partially renovated, inner city home. They are not happy, but they are also terrified of change. When they buy a pet rabbit for Lucie, and then Amy's mother, Pauline, comes to stay, the family is forced to confront long-buried secrets. Will opening their hearts to the rabbit help them to heal or only invite further tragedy?
The Burrow tells an unforgettable story about grief and hope. With her characteristic compassion and eye for detail, Melanie Cheng reveals the lives of others – even of a small rabbit. -
In this episode, a conversation with New York Times-bestselling author Neal Shusterman. Shusterman’s newest book, All Better Now, is a young adult thriller about a world where happiness is contagious but the risks of catching it may be just as dangerous as the cure. Three teens from very different backgrounds who’ve had their lives upended in very different ways find themselves at the center of a power play that could change humanity forever.
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In this episode, a conversation with Sara Haddad, author of the novella, The Sunbird.
Haddad’s book follow’s Nabila Yasmeen, a woman in her eighties. She lives alone with over a hundred plants that she keeps in pots because she can’t bear to put them in the ground. In June of 1948, as a six-year-old girl, she was expelled with her family from their village in Palestine. Now she carries the weight of that expulsion with her, and her past and present are one.
Told in two timeframes, The Sunbird is a modern parable that tells the story of millions who just want to go home. -
In this episode, a conversation with Tess Woods, author of The Venice Hotel.
When the lives of four very different women become entangled in a boutique Venice hotel, dark secrets unravel and not everyone who checked into the hotel will check out again.
The Venice Hotel explores the powerful bonds that develop between women in times of crisis, and the healing power of female connection. -
In this episode, Ryan Shelton and Josh van Cuylenburg of The Imperfects podcast detail their new project, My Imperfect Life: A Novel Journal Written by You, the Listener, the Reader, the Writer.
On The Imperfects, with Hugh van Cuylenburg, the hosts talk to a variety of interesting people who vulnerably share their own struggles and imperfections, or expertly pass on their wisdom on the subject of imperfection, all with the aim of finding some valuable takeaways we can all apply to our own imperfect lives.
With 100 questions inspired by episodes from 2024 on The Imperfects, My Imperfect Life is an introduction to vulnerability, allowing you to unpack your own imperfect life and be more vulnerable with yourself. -
In this episode, a conversation with Raeden Richardson, author of The Degenerates.
Following the interwoven lives of four characters across India, Australia and the United States, this novel takes root in Melbourne and brings its streets, shopping centres and laneways to life with astounding originality.
In propulsive prose, The Degenerates summons the power of storytelling, disrupts conventional narratives and pays tribute to those lives often lost in the margins. -
In this episode, a conversation with Nina Kenwood, author of The Wedding Forecast.
The writer of two successful young adult novels, this new book is the perfect aged-up addition to Kenwood’s bibliography. Laugh-out-loud funny with chemistry that jumps off the page, The Wedding Forecast ought to be the feel-good romcom of the summer. -
In today’s episode, an instalment of the Readings Kids Podcast, and an interview with Tigest Girma, author of Immortal Dark.
The first in a new fantasy trilogy, Readings’ own Angela Crocombe wrote that Immortal Dark is ‘a fascinating world incorporating African myth and characters, who just happen to live in close proximity with vampires,’ and that ‘it features sophisticated writing with compelling, three-dimensional characters and intricate world-building.’
Orphan Kidan Adane is the heiress to a fallen House of humans bound to vampiric creatures known as draniacs. As a human, it is her responsibility to study and nurture the relationships between draniacs and humans at Uxlay University. But when her sister is kidnapped and Kidan suspects that her own house draniac, the enigmatic Susenyos, is to blame, she heads down a violent path towards vengeance, willing to hurt anyone who stands in her way. -
In this episode, a conversation with acclaimed sex expert Georgia Grace.
Grace’s new book, The Modern Guide to Sex, is the ultimate handbook for experiencing full-body pleasure, sexual confidence and fulfilling relationships. It's a new go-to sex guide for everyone.
Featuring full-colour illustrations of anatomy and techniques, as well as practical, therapeutic support on navigating communication, common sexual concerns and exploration, this book is all about making sex pleasurable, inclusive and shame-free. It will change the way you think, feel and experience sex for the better. -
In this episode, we have a conversation with award-winning author, Robbie Arnott. Be it The Rain Heron, Limberlost or Flames, Arnott’s highly regarded and very successful novels have captivated readers, and his newest book, Dusk, is no different.
In the distant Tasmanian highlands, a puma named Dusk is killing shepherds. Down in the lowlands, twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt. As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there's far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they're forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and deeply personal. -
In this episode, a recording taken from an in-store event with Anita Heiss, an author, poet, cultural activist and social commentator.
Heiss’ most recent book, Dirrayawadha, is a groundbreaking historical novel about resistance, resilience and love during the frontier wars. Set in the early 19th century, the book focuses on resistance leader Windradyne, a remarkable figure, and Heiss surrounds him with fascinating figures otherwise lost to history.
With irresistible imagination and verve, as well as a deep desire for truth telling, Anita Heiss’s novels are an effort in re-peopling our collective past. - Montre plus
