For the first time in history, it is now within our reach to eradicate extreme poverty on a global scale. In this episode, Peter Singer speaks to both the head and the heart, demonstrating how each of us has the opportunity to make a huge difference in the lives of others, without diminishing the quality of our own. The 10th anniversary revised eBook and celebrity-read audiobook of 'The Life You Can Save' is out today and completely FREE: thelifeyoucansave.org/the-book/ Get involved and start gi...
Dec 03, 2019•25 min
Benjamin Gilmour has been a paramedic for the past twenty years. He has seen his fair share of drama. But the summer of 2008 remains etched in his memory for the very worst reasons. 'The Gap' is a vivid portrait of the lead-up to Christmas; an unflinching, no-holds-barred look at what happens after the triple-zero call is made – the drugs, nightclubs, brothels, drunk rich kids, billionaires, domestic disputes, the elderly, emergency births, even a kidnapping. In this episode, Max Lewis chats to ...
Nov 28, 2019•24 min
For half a lifetime, journalist Martin Scarsden has run from his past. But now there is no escaping. In 'Silver' the follow-up to the bestselling 'Scrublands', Chris Hammer continues the story of Martin Scarsden as he returns to his hometown of Port Silver. Soon he and his new partner Mandy Blonde are embroiled in a brutal murder and a media storm, bringing them face to face with their past. In this episode, Greg Dobbs chats to Chris Hammer fresh from winning the Crime Writers' Association New B...
Nov 21, 2019•17 min
Back when Harry Bosch was just a rookie homicide detective he had an inspiring mentor, John Jack Thompson, who taught him to take the work personally and light the fire of relentlessness for every case. Now John Jack is dead and Harry inherits a murder book that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD 20 years before — the unsolved killing of a troubled young man in an alley used for drug deals.Bosch brings the murder book to Renée Ballard and asks her to help him find what about the case l...
Nov 12, 2019•24 min
Award-winning author of 'The Museum of Modern Love', Heather Rose, is a sixth-generation Tasmanian. In this episode, Emma Harvey sits down with Heather to talk about the importance of engaging with those we disagree with, how she learned to rid ego and romanticism from her craft, and why her explosive new satire ‘Bruny’ is proving more prophetic by the day. 'Bruny' by Heather Rose: bit.ly/32fkj0w 'Igniting the Fire' feature article: bit.ly/2NKHdru
Nov 06, 2019•30 min
[CONTENT WARNING: This podcast discusses issues of mental health and suicide] In a small town, everyone thinks they know you: Charlie is a hardcore rocker, who's not as tough as he looks. Hammer is a footy jock with big AFL dreams, and an even bigger ego. Zeke is a shy over-achiever, never macho enough for his family. But all three boys hide who they really are. When the truth is revealed, will it set them free or blow them apart? Invisible Boys is the debut novel of WA author Holden Sheppard, w...
Oct 28, 2019•28 min
If you'd told Mary Moody when she was 21 that she was going to grow up writing columns about compost, she would have thrown her hands up in horror. In 1971, off the back of a cadetship at Women's Weekly, Mary wanted to become a TV news reporter. Unfortunately for her, in those days, only men were afforded that gig. Instead she forged a diverse career as a 'show-biz' journalist, a 'hippy-dippy' stay-at-home mum, host of ABC TV’s Gardening Australia, bestselling memoirist and finally, an 'accident...
Oct 21, 2019•32 min
'Paris Savages' is a fictional account of events from the late 19th century when human zoos were big business across Europe. It follows the journey of three Indigenous Australians from the Badtjala tribe of Fraser Island who make the perilous journey to Germany and France where they are admired, feared and exploited for mass entertainment masquerading as science and education. In this complex and powerful story, layers of history are carefully peeled back to reveal a hidden world driven by profi...
Oct 15, 2019•23 min
Cilka Klein is just sixteen years old when she is sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Constantly in the shadow of death she quickly learns that survival comes at a price. She eventually finds herself imprisoned in the Russian gulag where survival is no less easy. In this sequel to the international best-seller ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’, Heather Morris explains how this heart-breaking story came to be. Gregory Dobbs talks to Heather about the research, how she found the story and the real person behin...
Oct 02, 2019•18 min
The day after the 2015 Paris terror attacks, twenty-eight-year-old Canadian Jamil Jivani opened the newspaper to find that the men responsible were familiar to him. He didn’t know them, but the communities they grew up in and the challenges they faced mirrored the circumstances of his own life. His book, 'Why Young Men' traces Jivani’s education as an activist fighting one of today’s most dangerous and intractable problems: acts of violence by angry young men. Jivani relates his personal story, ...
Sep 19, 2019•33 min
‘It was cathartic, it was sad, it was humbling, it was joyful. I feel very exposed. But I don’t regret it.’ – Bernadette Agius on writing 'I’m Staying at Richard’s,' a heartwarming memoir on the joys and challenges of raising a son with Down syndrome. In this episode, Bernadette breaks down misconceptions, shares some hilarious memories (like that time Richard unwrapped the entire family’s Christmas presents) and recalls how Richard reacted when he first read the book. I'm Staying At Richard's: ...
Sep 16, 2019•39 min
When she was a young girl, author and animal rights advocate Ondine Sherman wrote a letter to the editor of Animal Liberation magazine vowing that she would dedicate her life and career to improving the lives of animals. In 2019, she has more than made good on that promise, having co-founded the Australian animal protection institute, Voiceless, and published the Animal Allies series, a collection of young adult novels that inspire teenagers to question essential ethical issues. In this episode,...
Sep 09, 2019•29 min
Join Emma Harvey as she chats with the cover star of our September issue, Philippa Gregory, about her spectacular new series that exchanges the prosperity of the royal courts for the tidal marshes of 15th century Southern England. 'Tidelands' by Philippa Gregory: bit.ly/2ZN90eZ Buy any book from Booktopia this month and get FREE access to the digital edition of Good Reading: bit.ly/2jVr7jJ
Sep 03, 2019•39 min
Paullina Simons fans have been waiting in eager anticipation for another book from the prolific and internationally bestselling author of the Tatiana and Alexander series. Now she’s rolling out three at once. In this episode, hosted by Emma Harvey, Paullina shares memories of growing up in Leningrad, drinking raspberry moonshine, and challenging readers' expectations in her genre-defying new trilogy, The End of Forever series. The Tiger Catcher: bit.ly/2HuaFQd A Beggar's Kingdom: bit.ly/2HsRkPk...
Aug 27, 2019•41 min
On Christmas Day in 1957, Ngarrindjeri man Joe Trevorrow admitted his 13-month old son, Bruce, to Adelaide Hospital. Within days, Bruce was living with another family, and Joe would never see his son again. In his new book'A Stolen Life: The Bruce Trevorrow Case',writer and politician Tony Buti meticulously and empathetically chronicles the story of Australia’s first and only successful Stolen Generations claimant, the irreversible anguish of a broken family, and a 13-year battle for justice. In...
Aug 12, 2019•27 min
Last year, Melbourne co-authors Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus enchanted readers everywhere with their hilarious debut rom-com 'The Book Ninja'. Now the powerpair are back to chat about their new book, 'While You Were Reading,' a warm and witty tale of friendship, first dates and beloved second-hand books. In this episode, Ali and Michelle talk to gr's Emma Harvey about balancing friendship with co-authorship, sharing a Kindle account, and sneaking their new novel onto Melbourne's public transport....
Jul 30, 2019•19 min
What was life really like in the early years of the colony of Botany Bay? Upon arrival, convicts and free settlers faced the perils of an unknown continent, thousands of miles from home and with a very uncertain future. This new Australian history shines a light on the illness, the chaos, the delusion and the terror experienced by everyone who arrived on these shores. Gregory Dobbs talks to James Dunk about his new book Bedlam at Botany Bay which traces the history of madness in the early colony...
Jul 02, 2019•28 min
Katherine Rundell has tiptoed along tightropes, piloted small planes, illegally strutted across the rooftops of Oxford, galloped through herds of zebras in Zimbabwe and hunted for tasty piranhas in the Amazon. The Costa Award-winning author tells Angus Dalton how her daring adventures inspire her children’s novels including The Explorer and her new book about a daring heist in 1920s New York, The Good Thieves. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK Listen on Google Podcasts: bit.ly/2MXSxQ8 T...
Jul 01, 2019•26 min
When he was ten years old, Armando Lucas Correa’s grandmother told him: ‘Cuba is going to pay very dearly for what they did to the Jewish refugees.’ She was referring specifically to the 1939 voyage of the St. Louis, an ocean liner that transported 937 Jewish refugees out of Nazi Germany to Havana, Cuba. Upon their arrival, the Cuban government refused to accept the passengers, and the United States and Canada also denied them entry. When the war broke out, 254 St. Louis passengers were killed i...
Jun 25, 2019•26 min
In 1994, location scout Claire Montgomery is trying to secure permission to shoot a TV show at a historic art deco cinema near a country town in Northern Queensland. In 1950, we meet Lena Lee, an ambitious Hollywood actress holding out for bigger roles and better characters, who is challenged by the male-dominated film industry and a scandalous affair. In her decade-spanning new novel The Cinema at Starlight Creek, author Alli Sinclair asks one question: 'How far would you go to follow your drea...
Jun 20, 2019•28 min
Two hundred years from now, people are migrating en masse to the poles to escape soaring temperatures. Fifteen-year-old Finch lives with his father in a near-deserted coasted town south of Sydney. Soon they must follow the great migration south, but before they go, a newly arrived couple become a point of infatuation for young Finch. Craig Ensor's The Warming is a beautifully written story about love and migration, set in an overheated world we could very well be heading towards. The author join...
Jun 10, 2019•30 min
Crossings, the novel billed as the most daring debut in decades, is made up of three compelling stories: a letter written by lyric poet Charles Baudelaire to an illiterate young girl, a noir romance story in wartime Paris that begins in a graveyard and a tale about a woman with paranormal powers. They all weave together to create a stunningly imaginative story about seven lifetimes and two souls. Author Alex Landragin joins Angus Dalton to tell us about his travel writing days in Africa, how he ...
Jun 03, 2019•34 min
The so-called 'discovery' of Australia's world famous fauna is overwhelmingly associated with European men like John Gould and Joseph Banks. But Indigenous Australians had been living alongside these animals for tens of thousands of years, and it was their sophisticated zoological knowledge that allowed European naturalists to bring the attention of the world to Australia's bizarre and brilliant wildlife. Penny Olsen and Lynette Russell join Angus Dalton to chat about their new book, Australia's...
May 31, 2019•36 min
When nomadic Irish author James Delargy experienced the Western Australian outback, something about the landscape enthralled and terrified him. He channelled that awe into 55, a new thriller with a terrifying premise. Two men turn up to a police station with the exact same story of being kidnapped by a serial killer - and each accuses the other of being the murderer. Angus Dalton chats with James to find out how he came to imagine this gripping story. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK L...
May 27, 2019•27 min
If you’ve ever wondered just what Bitcoin is and why you should care about it then Finn Brunton’s new book, Digital Cash: The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, And Technologists Who Built Cryptocurrency, is essential reading for the modern citizen. Gregory Dobbs talks to Finn about the genius and the madness behind the development of cryptocurrency.
May 05, 2019•48 min
The True Story of Maddie Bright by Mary-Rose MacColl follows a young serving girl on Prince Edward’s 1920 tour of Australia, a journalist hunting a story that could rock the literary world, and a reclusive elderly woman in Brisbane with secrets to keep. Mary-Rose MacColl joins Angus Dalton to talk about celebrity, the royals, why lost infants often show up in her stories, and how a baby crow came to make a cameo in her poignant novel. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK Listen on Google P...
Apr 30, 2019•36 min
In Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak, there are five Dunbar brothers living a chaotic suburban existence alongside a border collie, a cat, a pigeon, a mule and a furious goldfish named after the King of Men. Their father, the Murderer, has fled, and their mother, the Mistake Maker, is dead. The Book Thief author joins Angus Dalton to talk about the decade it took to write Bridge of Clay, his reverence for books, and the stories that have made him. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK Listen o...
Apr 16, 2019•43 min
The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is a sharply written literary mystery infused with nostalgia that leaves its readers guessing. Journalist and author Felicity McLean joins Angus Dalton to talk 90s cuisine, the art of ghostwriting, Australian Gothic, and which iconic Aussie actor accidentally catalysed the writing of her novel. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK Listen on Google Podcasts: bit.ly/2MXSxQ8 More about The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone: bit.ly/2GmkCz0
Apr 15, 2019•29 min
As an award-winning writer and a professor working in the realm of pharmacology and medical research, Susan Hurley has been published in both literary magazines and medical research journals. She joins the Good Reading podcast to tell Angus Dalton about her life-saving research, the realms of medicine and biotechnology, and a medical trial that sparked the idea for her new thriller, Eight Lives. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK Listen on Google Podcasts: bit.ly/2MXSxQ8 Find out more ab...
Apr 10, 2019•20 min
Now the author of four novels who works in one of Australia's biggest publishing houses among blockbuster titles like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Boy Swallows Universe, Matt Howard never planned to make a life surrounded by books. In this episode of the Good Reading podcast, Angus Dalton pays a visit to Matt's office to talk about his latest novel, The Time is Now Monica Sparrow, which centres on an aspiring writer, an accidental death, and a guy who takes Marie Kondo way too serious...
Apr 08, 2019•24 min
