One of the longest-running books shows on Australian radio, Final Draft is a space on the air where big names of arts and culture sit cheek-by-jowl with those just beginning to make their mark. Produced in the hope of inspiring generous, open-minded reading and discussion, the show features guests and writing from around Australia and the world.
Each week we serve up a mix of interviews with writers, reviews of new, classic and cult titles, readings of original work, short features and documentaries, and news about literary events, prizes and publishing opportunities.
Past guests include novelists, film-makers, journalists, historians, illustrators, activists, scientists, publishers, critics, poets and producers. A few examples: Anna Funder, Vikram Chandra, David Rakoff, Mark Mordue, Kim Gamble, Abbas El-Zein, Jennifer Mills, Amanda Lohrey, Shaun Tan, Ira Glass, Richard J Frankland, Christos Tsiolkas, Alice Pung, L K Holt, Max Barry, Ross Gibson, Don Watson, Peter Goldsworthy, Augusten Burroughs, Gary Bryson, Karen Knight, Arnold Zable, Tom Griffiths, Ouyang Yu, Maria Tumarkin, Frank Moorhouse, Cate Kennedy, Alex Miller, John Hirst, Naldo Rei, Chloe Hooper, David Stratton, Tina Matthews, Phillip Gourevitch, Joe Bageant, Heather O'Neill, Najaf Mazari, Robert Hillman, etc, etc.
The show is produced in the studios of 2SER-FM in Sydney by Jeanavive McGregor, Neda Vanovac, Madeleine James, Rochelle Fernandez, Catriona Menzies-Pike, Jay Fracaro, and Kim Tan.
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For this show, we go on two different journeys across Asia with two restless women bitten by the travel bug. Kim Barker did 'The Taliban Shuffle' as Afghanistan and Pakistan correspondent for the Chicago Tribune for eight years from 2001. She lived a high-pressure life chasing suicide bombings and rigged elections. She spoke to Neda Vanovac about bluffing her way through and never losing her fear. Steph Liong brings us the story of Australian writer Carolyn Shine, who thought moving continents w...
This week we're talking dystopias. Think apocalypse, societal collapse, and totalitarianism. Neda Vanovac looks at the wave of young readers gorging themselves on dystopian fiction. Catriona Menzies-Pike talks all things grim and J.G. Ballard, author of Crash and Empire of the Sun. Leaving all things dystopian for a bit, Kim Tan talks to Toby Leon about the television adaptaion of The Slap, based on the book by Christos Tsiolkas. Young Adult Dystopias, featuring Alison Stewart's Days Like This, ...
About a month ago, Final Draft had a lovely opportunity to record the winner and highly commended poets of the Blake Poetry Prize. There is something quite magic about poetry read aloud, but particularly of a poet reading their own work – phrases and words well considered by tongue and by pen. And tonight we get to hear them over the airwaves. We hear Sydney based poet, Fiona Wright reading her poem The Fox Man. And we speak with poets Robert Adamson and Todd Turner – as well as listen to their ...
This week, two authors who deal in intrigue, bravery and betrayal under authoritarian regimes. First we hear from Joseph Braude, the first ever journalist allowed to embed with a unit of the Moroccan police. And then, Rochelle Fernandez chats with Anna Funder about her latest novel, All that I am – set in the beginning of the Nazi rise to power. Joseph Braude, The Honoured Dead: A Story Of Friendship, Murder and the Underbelly of the Arab World, published by Scribe. Interview by Neda Vanovac. An...
This week we’re dedicating the first part of the show to poetry. Sydney-based poet Rob Wilson has spent the last few years working on a book of poetry called 6am in the Universe by poet Benjamin Frater, and he recently talked to Final Draft’s Madeleine James about the process of writing and editing the book. And before we go this evening, a look at a brand new project – The Rereaders is a literary and cultural podcast featuring Sam Twyford-Moore, Rebecca Giggs and Fiona Wright. Rob Wilson, 6am i...
Tonight a show all about re-visiting and re-imagining Australian history, we talk with two authors who have taken inspiration from key figures and events in the history of this country for their new novels. First up, the controversial dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975 is the basis of Nicholas Hasluck new political thriller, Neda Vanovac speaks with him about family, politics and the Cold War. We also hear from author and actor, Peter Docker about his second novel, The Waterboys, ...
Last week was Australian book week, now in its 66th year. Tonight we will be airing an interview of a different sort to celebrate. Final Drafter Martin Hewetson and his eight year old daughter, Eve Hewetson interview young adult author, Richard Newsome. We also hear from Paris based journalist now author, Caroline Brothers about her first novel Hinterland about the almost invisible, dangerous journey many children from war-torn Afghanistan and Somalia make across Europe in search of a better lif...
This week we are exploring the wonderful world of crime fiction – the crims, the heists and the cops that catch them. Most of the time we draw our crime reading from the international fare – dominated for a long time by the Brits, we cut our teeth on Agatha Christie and moved on to the proper novels of PD James, there are the delicious tales of Donna Leon’s Venetian Brunetti series, the terrifying tales of Swedish Henning Mankle. But what about Aussie fiction? Drawing on our criminal past and th...
This week a show centered on the art of reviews. Each and every reader ends up with a bit of a reviewer in them – what we love or hate, what we recommend or never finish – is very personal, very different. We hear from Jay Fracaro on world of the music producer Rick Rubin and Rochelle Fernandez’s review of Sonia Faleiro’s book Beautiful thing that investigates the underworld of Mumbai’s bar girls. And we cosy up with Final Drafter Madeleine James, her mother and sister and a crackling fire to fi...
This week we are taking a look at the continuing growth of online literary magazines and what it offers the young, the loyal and the down and out. We speak with those behind a mysterious new literary project devoted to TV called the Channelling and we meet Mark Mordue, who was tired of bloodless travel writing and devoted his issue of an online magazine to bringing it back to life. We also revisit an interview from earlier this year with Ivor Indyk about the end of his magazine HEAT and the poss...
Jul 04, 2011•30 min
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