There's a war on truth, and the liars are winning. So goes the warning of veteran investigative journalist Stephen Davis about the state of our media landscape. In his new book, Truthteller, Stephen reveals the 'toolbox' of methods used by governments and corporations to mislead the public and dodge accountability. Here he tells Angus Dalton fascinating stories from his life as a journalist, from M16 agents and Russian threats to an unresolved case of alleged murder in Sydney, and how we foot-so...
Apr 04, 2019•33 min
Chocolate serves as a muse for many a writer, but did you know that the arrival of the delicious elixir in England catalysed a movement towards a more literate, engaged and sober society? For this episode of the Good Reading Podcast, historical fiction author Karen Brooks joins Angus Dalton to tell us more about chocolate's transformation of 17th-century London and her new novel, The Chocolate Maker's Wife. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK Listen on Google Podcasts: bit.ly/2MXSxQ8 Find...
Mar 28, 2019•29 min
In her first book for adults since 2004, 'Gravity is the Thing', treasured children's author Jaclyn Moriarty writes about a mysterious self-help book called 'The Guidebook' that is sent to selected mailboxes one chapter at a time. Jaclyn joins Angus Dalton in this episode to talk about getting sucked in to self-help, why she would like an external committee to be in control of her life, and why she has a bone to pick with her sister, Liane Moriarty. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK Lis...
Mar 26, 2019•30 min
Archivist and curator Vanessa Finney unearths Australia's earliest natural history photographs in Capturing Nature, her new book that reveals how scientific photography began at the Australian museum. From tiny inch-long fish to whale skeletons as long as buses, the museum's camera captured thousands of extraordinary images that have never been seen by the public. Angus Dalton heads to the museum to meet Vanessa and find out how photography revolutionised scientific understanding of nature and i...
Mar 22, 2019•25 min
In his first series for adults, Canberra writer Jack Heath has created a compelling character who works as a consultant for the FBI and has a very peculiar palate ... In this episode, Jack sits down with Angus Dalton to talk about Hangman and its new sequel, Hunter, getting published as a teenager, the ethical questions that surround cannibalism, and whether he'd mind being devoured upon dying. Yeah, things get weird. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK Listen on Google Podcasts: bit.ly/2...
Mar 22, 2019•40 min
As a writer, Simon Cleary brings art and creativity up alongside experiences of war. In his latest novel, The War Artist, a Brigadier called James Phelan escorts the body of a young soldier home from Afghanistan. Struggling to adapt back to civilian life, an encounter with a tattoo artist named Kira changes Phelan permanently - both inside and out. Simon joined Angus Dalton to talk about the legacy of the Afghanistan War, PTSD, and the significance of tattoos in this episode of the Good Reading ...
Mar 19, 2019•34 min
Peggy Frew's Hope Farm was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Stella Prize. The Melbourne writer and ARIA Award-winning musician is back with Islands, a novel about a family in crisis that covers many generations, viewpoints and timelines. In this episode, Peggy tells Angus Dalton about creative doubt, running into the ocean in her undies, and 'the big, enormous, sprawling mess' of family. Listen on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2NGVDYK Listen on Google Podcasts: bit.ly/2MXSxQ8...
Mar 12, 2019•34 min
At a local playground where his daughter was playing, writer Jeremy N Smith met a woman who turned out to be a cybersecurity expert and a seasoned hacker. They got talking about her life and Jeremy quickly became fascinated. His new book, 'Breaking and Entering: The extraordinary story of a hacker called Alien', is the result of that chance meeting. It's a fascinating profile of a daring hacker, a deep-dive into the history of cybersecurity, and a troubling wake-up call for those of us who'd rat...
Feb 18, 2019•32 min
If given the chance, would you adjust the past to avoid a terrible tragedy in the future? And if you went back in time 20 years and tracked down a younger version of yourself, what kind of person would you find? These questions are central to Jennifer Spence's new novel, The Lost Girls. Stella slips back in time to 1997 and must disguise herself in the past, resist changing her family's fate, and attempt to get back to the present. We spoke to the author about time travel, the innocence of 1997,...
Feb 13, 2019•32 min
Jacqueline Kent was working as a book editor when she was assigned a set of humorous short stories by Kenneth Cook, author of the classic horror novel Wake in Fright. Her dealings with Cook resulted in a 'volcanic' relationship and a brief marriage between two lovers of words. Jacqueline writes beautifully about her time with Ken in her new memoir, Beyond Words. In this episode, Angus Dalton asks Jacqueline about the enduring legacy of Wake in Fright, a butterfly farm, and the changes she's watc...
Feb 07, 2019•35 min
Yotam Ottolenghi is universally admired for a cooking style that is complex, layered, and brimming with freshness and colour. Unfortunately that can sometimes lead to a lot of preparation and even more washing up. In his latest book, 'Simple', Ottolenghi proves that cooking his way doesn’t have to be so challenging. On the advice of his sister, Ottolenghi has created a book of recipes for the time poor or the outright lazy using a set of 10 fundamental ingredients. Gregory Dobbs asks about the p...
Feb 03, 2019•29 min
Punk rocker Dave Warner and documentary maker Alan Carter on how writing crime can result in being listed as a suspect for a cold-case murder and why Australian and New Zealand crime books are as much a force of nature as Scandi noir. Alan Carter is the author of the Cato Kwong thriller series and the standalone novel 'Marlborough Man'. His latest book is 'Heaven Sent': http://bit.ly/2SRB1zh Dave Warner's first book, 'City of Light' won the WA Premier's Book Award. His latest books are 'Before i...
Jan 13, 2019•40 min
Pip Drysdale grew up in Africa and Australia, moved to New York when she was 20 to act in indie films and theatre, got married in a black dress and divorced at 22. In this podcast she chats to Emma Harvey about bad break-ups, method writing, and the Machiavellian men that inspired her thriller, The Sunday Girl. More about The Sunday Girl: http://bit.ly/2snOseN Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/good-reading-podcast/id1402922430?mt=2
Jan 07, 2019•18 min
Food history in Australia is divided into two eras: BG and AG (Before Garlic and After Garlic). In his new book, The Getting of Garlic, veteran food writer John Newton delves into how Australia foodies got over their fear of this now ubiquitous ingredient. He also lays out how we moved from a country of charcoal chops and mushy peas to the creators of a vibrant, 'mongrel' cuisine with influences from across the globe. And what's so special about a pie floater? The Getting of Garlic: http://bit.l...
Dec 10, 2018•22 min
In 1981 Frauke Bolten-Boshammer left her beloved Germany to begin a farm with her husband, Frederich, in the isolated town of Kununurra in the Kimberley. Tragedy soon followed, and Frauke was left alone to run a farm and raise a family in the Western Australian outback. But a discovery of global significance made by geologists nearby changed the course of Frauke's life forever. 'A Diamond in the Dust' is the story of how Frauke pioneered an outback diamond empire and put a tiny outback town on t...
Nov 26, 2018•25 min
In his new book, 'New Jerusalem', historian Paul Ham casts his research net back some 500 years, to examine, in graphic detail, events in early 16th century Europe during the time of the Reformation. Gregory Dobbs talks to Paul ham about the rise of the Melchiorite sect and the bloody siege of the Westphalian town of Munster. He explores the blasphemy, depravity, and grisly death of Christendom’s most defiant sect, and finds many parallels in today’s modern world. 'New Jerusalem': http://bit.ly/...
Nov 22, 2018•28 min
Lee Child sells one of his Jack Reacher thriller novels once every 20 seconds. There are at least 100 million copies of his books in print. The legendary thriller writer joins Angus Dalton to discuss Tom Cruise's recently announced departure from the Jack Reacher film franchise, the exact reasons why books are always better than movie, and how the death of Child's father led to one of the most personal Reacher thrillers yet. He also touches on air conditioning, why we have Rupert Murdoch to than...
Nov 20, 2018•26 min
'Our mother had a dark heart feeling'. So begins Karen Foxlee's new children's novel, Lenny's Book of Everything, a story of the beetle-obsessed Lenny Spink, a boy who can't stop growing, and an encyclopedia that broadens their entire world. Karen Foxlee joins Angus Dalton to talk about her luminous, unforgettably moving book, and how her writing life began with sheets of butcher's paper in an outback mining town. Find out more about Lenny's Book of Everything: http://bit.ly/2qS4igT
Nov 19, 2018•20 min
On 7 February, 2009, hundreds of bushfires tore across Victoria, taking 173 lives and destroying over 300 000 hectares of bushland and private property. In this podcast, we sit down with with Walkley Award-winning author and journalist Chloe Hooper to speak about her new book ‘The Arsonist’, a captivating and haunting retelling of the Black Saturday bushfires through the eyes of those who were there, as well as the subsequent investigation and trial of firebug Brendan Sokaluk. Chloe shares her o...
Nov 15, 2018•22 min
What do you get when you put the story of history's greatest pandemic in the hands of the Queen of Crime? Something truly un-put-downable. Minette Walters had sold over 25 million crime thriller novels when she stopped writing in 2007. In the midst of a 10-year hiatus, she made a grisly discovery in her town near Dorset, UK. That discovery inspired her new series about the Black Death that follows a heretical young woman, Lady Anne, as she defies the church to protect her people. Books mentioned...
Nov 14, 2018•31 min
'Seven Deadly Sins (And one very naughty fruit)' is an irreverent romp through gastronomical history. Comedian and presenter Mikey Robins serves up bizarre anecdotes about food from around the world that all relate to a deadly sin - from greed and gluttony to lust and envy. Hear Mikey tell some outrageous foodie stories, both from the book and hilarious yarns he couldn't quite fit in. Mikey exclusively tells us the recipe for the cocktail named after him, tells the 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Cl...
Nov 01, 2018•37 min
Lynette Noni is the author of the fantasy YA series 'The Medoran Chronicles' and 'Whisper', a novel about a girl called Jane Doe who has been locked away and experimented on for years. Olivia, Connor and Jenna from NSW's Central Coast Grammar School jumped behind the microphone and quizzed Lynette on everything from the hard hitting (how on earth do you write a book in just 26 days?!) to the hilarious (would you rather a leg-sized finger or a finger-sized leg?). Find out more about Lynette's boo...
Oct 29, 2018•23 min
Stephanie Alexander, who has sold half a million copies of her book The Cook's Companion, introduces the young and the uninitiated to good food with her new book, The Cook's Apprentice: Tips, Techniques and Recipes for New Foodies. The legendary cook tells Gregory Dobbs about attacking pomegranates, her lamentations about modern eating habits, and how teaching her father to bake bread turned his life around. Find out more about Stephanie's new book: http://bit.ly/2ynZXWM
Oct 22, 2018•15 min
In 2016, Archibald Prize-winning artist Ben Quilty travelled with Richard Flanagan to places where the Syrian refugee crisis was peaking. He had no idea what to make of the experience until he met a young girl named Heba, and asked her to draw him a picture of her home. Find out more about Home: Drawings by Syrian Children - http://bit.ly/2R8ew81
Oct 22, 2018•26 min
As ABC political correspondent Laura Tingle put the finishing touches on her latest Quarterly Essay, 'Follow the Leader: Democracy and the rise of the strongman', Canberra descended into chaos. Dutton challenged, Turnbull fell, Morrison won. After some lightning-fast edits, the updated essay came out in the wake of the turmoil, and it examines Australian politics and the leaders of Germany, America, and China in order to answer the question in the minds of many: What the hell is going on? Angus ...
Oct 07, 2018•37 min
For a guy who once thought that books were excruciatingly tedious, John Purcell has made quite the career from selling, reading, and writing them. He opened his own secondhand bookshop in his 20s, wrote a trilogy of bestselling erotica novels, and is now the Head of Books at Australian online bookshop, Booktopia. As part of that job, he's quizzed over a thousand of the world's brightest, bestselling writers. Here John tells Angus Dalton about his oddball bookshop customers, how Catch-22 and 50 S...
Oct 04, 2018•33 min
Singer-songwriter Holly Throsby took Aussie fiction lovers by storm in 2016 with her debut novel, Goodwood. Her latest book, Cedar Valley, came to form because she couldn't quite leave the world of her first book. Here Holly talks to Emma Harvey about quintessential Australian 'dagginess', Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and why a book tour is a hell of a lot better (though slightly less rock and roll) than a music tour. Goodwood: http://bit.ly/2ReZyxL Cedar Valley: http://bit.ly/2zJCdxi
Oct 01, 2018•28 min
For this episode of the Good Reading Podcast, we hand over the mic to three Year 9 students of Brigidine College in Sydney. Together they quiz YA fantasy author Wanda Wiltshire on her 'Betrothed' series, and have a discussion about love triangles, the character traits of strength and independence, Sarah J Maas and other favourite books, and advice for aspiring writers. Find out more about the book series here: http://bit.ly/2wzMIBB
Sep 03, 2018•20 min
‘It all started when a kid died.’ Meg Gatland-Veness is the author of the new Young Adult novel ‘I Had Such Friends’, a bold and heartfelt debut that is earning comparisons to ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and ‘Thirteen Reasons Why.’ In this podcast, Meg chats to Good Reading about growing up on Jaclyn Moriarty and Melina Marchetta, being a high school drama teacher, and why she believes it’s important to be upfront and honest in YA fiction. Read more about 'I Had Such Friends': http://bit.l...
Aug 23, 2018•14 min
Whether you're in need of a solid knock-knock joke, a cringeworthy pun, a hilarious yarn or a weird factoid you can whip out at a family barbecue, the Worland brothers are here to help. Triple M radio host Gus Worland and his brother, writer Steve Worland, have created 'The Bloke-a-saurus: Jokes for blokes, fair dinkum funnies and true blue Aussie wisdom'. Ranging from groan-inducing corkers, mortifying dad jokes and side-splitting yarns (like the time Gus blew over 15 grand of Hugh Jackman's cr...
Aug 13, 2018•27 min
