Why Booker Prize winner David Szalay once thought Flesh was a vulgar title and why he's glad he kept it. He joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival to discuss his award winning novel and its complicated relationship to masculinity. With the fall of the USSR, the novel charts István's changing fortunes from his humble beginnings in Hungary to a lavish life in the UK. David also tells Claire about why his first Booker Prize award ceremony for All that Man Is in 201...
May 24, 2026•41 min
Why Siri Hustvedt wants Paul Auster to return as a ghost. American novelist and essayist Siri Hustvedt speaks with Claire Nichols about her partner of 43 years, writer and poet Paul Auster . When Auster died in 2024 from complications of lung cancer, Hustvedt began writing in the depths of grief. Her new memoir, Ghost Stories , reflects on a life both with and without him, offering rare insight into their creative partnership. It draws on journal entries, correspondence between the two, and lett...
May 17, 2026•30 min
Lee Lai has won the 2026 Stella Prize for her graphic novel Cannon , marking the first time a graphic novel has been awarded the $60,000 prize. She tells Claire Nichols why she was surprised to win and why the project of growing up is never finished. Running since 2013, the Stella Prize is an Australian award for women and non-binary writers. The judges praised Lai for her "elegant artistry" that "evokes horror and poignancy, shock and delight, and Cannon is an incontestable reminder that — in t...
May 13, 2026•11 min
What do fate and past lives reveal about who we are? Claire Nichols speaks with Veronica Roth and Amitav Ghosh on Seek the Traitor's Son and Ghost Eye. Award-winning, Indian-born American author Amitav Ghosh explores the mysteries of past lives in his latest novel Ghost Eye . Drawing on international case studies of reported reincarnation, Ghosh brings these stories to life through a narrative set in 1960s Calcutta. When a three-year-old girl from a wealthy, strictly vegetarian family wakes up i...
May 10, 2026•41 min
Readers have lovingly followed the fictional lives of Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton for more than a decade. Now their creator, Elizabeth Strout introduces a new character to embrace and Claire Nichols finds out why. Plus Amanda Lohrey explains her fascination with the belief in aliens. Artie Dam is an unassuming Massachusetts high school history teacher who seems to have it all, but is facing internal turmoil, even doubting the notion of free will. As Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth S...
May 03, 2026•40 min
British poet, performer and novelist Kae Tempest explains why writing his second novel, Having Spent Life Seeking, was so necessary and Michael Winkler tells Claire Nichols why life might be better as a dog. Michael Winkler's second novel, Griefdogg follows his lauded genre-bending debut Grimmish about a boxer and a talking goat. It also made Australian literary history in 2022 as the first self-published novel to ever be shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Griefdogg is about a ma...
Apr 26, 2026•41 min
David Malouf was a giant of Australian writing who was known and loved for his iconic debut novel, Johnno, about a young Brisbane man during World War 2; a book partly inspired by his own life. In a career spanning more than 50 years, David wrote plays, poetry, libretto, and more novels, including The Great World, and his Booker Prize shortlisted, Remembering Babylon. And today, on this special episode of The Book Show, we're remembering David who has died at the age of 92. Claire Nichols revisi...
Apr 23, 2026•24 min
Twins separated by the role of a dice, the rise of AI, and a mystery behind lives trying to hold it together in a lonely fractured world. These are just a few of the themes discussed with Claire Nichols about A Rising of the Lights , the latest darkly comic novel from the Booker Prize shortlisted author Steve Toltz. Ian Kemish has used his considerable knowledge as a former Australian diplomat to write a debut that is ultimately about compassion. In Two Islands a young man flees the Balkan confl...
Apr 20, 2026•41 min
Steve Toltz talks to Claire Nichols about his comic novel A Rising of the Lights, and former diplomat Ian Kemish reflects on his tender debut, Two Islands, exploring the long tail of war. Twins separated by the role of a dice, the rise of AI, and a mystery behind lives trying to hold it together in a lonely fractured world. These are just a few of the themes discussed with Claire Nichols about A Rising of the Lights , the latest darkly comic novel from the Booker Prize shortlisted author Steve T...
Apr 20, 2026•41 min
A fun wild ride here on the Book Show where Claire Nichols embraces the silly with Shaun Micallef and K-Pop with Chinese American writer Jenny Tinghui Zhang. Jenny Tinghui Zhang has tapped into the K-Pop phenomenon with her latest novel Superfan . A knock-off American K-Pop group are set to make history, but at what cost to them and their loyal fans? It's an affectionate but covert satire on obsession, loneliness and fame. And prepare for supreme silliness and a lot of blood letting when comedia...
Apr 13, 2026•41 min
For this Easter special an opportunity to revisit Yael van der Wouden the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction winner. Her celebrated debut The Safekeep also made the 2024 Booker Prize shortlist. The Safekeep is set in the Netherlands, 15 years after the end of World War II and is about an uptight woman, an unpredictable house guest, loneliness, repression and desire. The novel confronts the prevailing narrative about the Dutch experience of World War II and its treatment of Jewish people. Claire Nich...
Apr 06, 2026•55 min
Debra Adelaide reflects on her pain and helplessness in the wake of writer and friend, Gabrielle Carey's death, and Emma Styles aptly takes Claire Nichols to the beach to discuss her thriller The Shark. Australian author Debra Adelaide's latest book is her most personal to date. As she reveals to Claire Nichols, writing When I am 64 was a way of coming to terms with the death, at age 64, of writer Gabrielle Carey, most known as the co-author of Puberty Blues. It's neither memoir nor fiction, but...
Mar 29, 2026•41 min
Irish author of Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín shares with Claire Nichols the stories that have shaped his latest collection that travels continents and times, and Patmeena Sabit tests assumptions about the death of a young woman in her inventive novel, Good People. Who do you believe? Colm Tóibín 's collection of short stories, The News from Dublin is a glimpse into people living a life away from their homeland, from sisters wanting to return to Catalonia, the undocumented worker facing a decision, a mo...
Mar 22, 2026•41 min
Irish author Colm Tóibín shares with Claire Nichols the stories that have shaped his latest collection that travels continents and times. The News from Dublin is a glimpse into people living a life away from their homeland, from sisters wanting to return to Catalonia, the undocumented worker facing a decision, a mother receiving shocking news of the death of a son or the haunted Irishman seeking anonymity in Spain. Using the noise and commentary around the death of a young woman, Afghan-born, Ca...
Mar 22, 2026•41 min
This is Where the Serpent Lives from Pakistani-US writer Daniyal Mueenuddin , is an elegy to a changing Pakistan where contemporary life and technology jostles with feudal social hierarchy, privilege, corruption and ambition. The protagonist in Australian writer Claire Thomas 's latest novel On Not Climbing Mountains travels through grief on Swiss trains through the Alpine Way. It's a journey that inspires art, stories and captures moments of connection....
Mar 15, 2026•41 min
Howard Jacobson joins Claire Nichols to unpack Howl, and Australian authors Eva Hornung and Omar Musa discuss their latest novels. Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson has long written about Jewish identity, but only recently has he begun describing himself as a Jewish writer. He says the shift was prompted by the protests in England after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. His darkly comic novel, Howl , explores the Gaza conflict from a Jewish perspective and he reflects on the promise of fic...
Mar 08, 2026•54 min
In his new novel, Nonesuch, British author Francis Sufford introduces a fabulously spiky heroine fighting fascism and mysterious moving statues during London's Blitz. Plus, bestselling author Kathy Lette is in Australia touring her latest novel The Sisterhood Rules and urges women to embrace a "sensational second act" with plenty of laughter along the way. British author Francis Spufford, is celebrated for his historical fiction but Nonesuch marks his first foray into fantasy. Set in World War I...
Mar 01, 2026•40 min
Your favourite fiction authors share the story behind their latest books.
Feb 22, 2026•41 min
Tayari Jones, author of the Women's Prize-winning An American Marriage, returns with Kin, a work of historical fiction that illuminates the inner lives of two motherless girls growing up in the American South during the Jim Crow era. And former Survivor contestant Steven Fishbach reveals the hidden world of reality television in his debut novel, Escape. In her new novel Kin , award‑winning American author Tayari Jones unpacks her parents' experiences living under segregation in the American Sout...
Feb 22, 2026•41 min
A stolen kiss propels Patrick Ryan's American epic, Buckeye, which traces the loves, loss and lies of two Ohio couples. And Sita Walker on her inventive debut novel, In a Common Hour, which unfolds over a single school lunch break as a troubled but beloved teacher confronts his demons. Patrick Ryan 's bestselling sixth book, Buckeye , traces America's shifting social landscape from the end of World War II to the Vietnam War and explores the idea of the "kind lie". At its heart are two Ohio coupl...
Feb 15, 2026•41 min
American author George Saunders reflects on why death is such fertile ground for fiction and how it shapes his haunting new novel Vigil. Plus, Australian writer Michael Mohammed Ahmad discusses writing through childhood trauma in his courageous and confronting novel Bugger. Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders ( Lincoln in the Bardo ) talks about his haunting new novel Vigil . Beginning with an angel's fall to Earth to usher an oil tycoon toward death, the book continues Saunders' explora...
Feb 08, 2026•41 min
Doctor‑turned‑memoirist‑turned‑comedian Adam Kay makes his fiction debut with A Particularly Nasty Case, a medical murder mystery set inside a hospital. And Perth based author Jay Martin discusses her debut novel, Boom Town Snap, a story that shifts between the snowfields of Canada and outback Western Australia. Adam Kay's medical memoir, This Is Going to Hurt, was a global bestseller and made Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century list. Now, Kay has released his first novel, A Parti...
Feb 01, 2026•40 min
Bestselling author Trent Dalton reveals how The Wizard of Oz appears in every book he's written — from Boy Swallows Universe to his latest novel, Gravity Let Me Go. Plus, Wicked author Gregory Maguire revisits the inspiration behind his iconic series with the release of Elphie: A Wicked Childhood. Australia's favourite novelist , Trent Dalton joins Claire Nichols in front of a Perth crowd to discuss why his personal story is such a rich source of inspiration in his storytelling and also how imag...
Jan 25, 2026•52 min
Philip Pullman's 30 year enchantment with his heroine Lyra Belacqua and His Dark Materials continues with The Rose Field. And Zoe Terakes takes a queer view of the Ancient Greek myths in Eros. Northern Lights, the first book in Philip Pullman' s beloved fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, was published in 1995 and the series has gone on to define him. His new book is the latest in a companion trilogy he started in 2017, The Book of Dust. The last instalment, The Rose Field , has been billed as t...
Jan 18, 2026•41 min
From Sydney Writers Festival , two bestselling writers, David Nicholls and Liane Moriarty, reveal what it's like to see their stories go from the page to the screen. The British writer David Nicholls is best known for his novel One Day , which has been adapted to film and to television. While Australia's Liane Moriarty has seen every one of her books optioned for the screen and hit the big time with the starry TV adaptation of her novel Big Little Lies . David and Liane also discuss their latest...
Jan 11, 2026•55 min
God of Small Things author Arundhati Roy on her monstrous mother and becoming a writer, Colum McCann dives into the digital age with Twist and Penobscot Indian Nation writer Morgan Talty on his story of family bonds, Fire Exit. Arundhati Roy is a giant of literature. She's published two novels, including the Booker Prize-winning The God of Small Things and is a prolific author of non-fiction, much of which confronts injustice in her home country of India. Her latest book is a memoir, Mother Mary...
Jan 04, 2026•54 min
British author Samantha Harvey joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival for a revelatory conversation about dreams, insomnia and publishing a book she didn't expect to write. Her 2024 Booker Prize winning novel, Orbital can be described as a "space pastoral" and it's about six astronauts on the International Space Station contemplating the wonder and beauty of the earth. First broadcast 9 June 2025. Presenter: Claire Nichols Producer: Sarah L'Estrange Sound engine...
Dec 28, 2025•55 min
Irish writer Marian Keyes joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival and they spoke about how Marian became a writer when she was in the depths of despair. Marian also acknowledged the wisdom she's gained in a sometimes tumultuous life. Marian's 16th novel, My Favourite Mistake (Penguin), is another story about one of her beloved Walsh sisters, a family she's been writing about for 30 years. First broadcast 11 May 2025 Presenter: Claire Nichols Producer: Sarah L'Est...
Dec 21, 2025•55 min
Ocean Vuong's dazzling follow up to his debut On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Charlotte McConaghy's urgent Wild Dark Shore and David Malouf reflects on a life of writing. The Emperor of Gladness is the latest novel from the Vietnam born, American-based writer Ocean Vuong who made his name with his 2019 novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous . His new novel, The Emperor of Gladness , takes you to a forgotten, rundown town in Connecticut called East Gladness which is a place of overgrown lawns and...
Dec 14, 2025•55 min
Bri Lee, Madeleine Gray and Kate Mildenhall break the mould with their new books about fraying families, frightening futures and creepy animals in Seed, Chosen Family and The Hiding Place. These three authors have made a splash with their previous books and they joined each other in Perth with The Book Show host, Claire Nichols, to share the joy — and angst — of writing fiction and the challenge of creating believable worlds. Madeleine Gray is the author of Green Dot and her new book is Chosen F...
Dec 07, 2025•55 min
