One of Colm Toibin's most beloved books is Brooklyn and now he's written a sequel, Long Island. Brooklyn was first published in 2009 and it's about Eilis, a young woman who leaves Ireland for America in the 1950s. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize, won the Costa Novel Award and was adapted to the screen in 2015. Now there's a sequel, called Long Island , (Picador) set years later in the 1970s when Eilis is again faced with a family dilemma. Australian author Michelle Johnston takes you deep...
May 20, 2024•37 min
Iran's Kafka like book censorship is causing authors to flee, including writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia. Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. In this last episode, writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia and is the author of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree which is banned in Iran. Guests: Shokoofeh Azar - Iranian born, Australian based journalist and author The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, shortlisted for the Int...
May 18, 2024•20 min
Percival Everett, a prolific author known for his versatility across various genres and styles, reinterprets an American classic novel. Percival Everett, a prolific author known for his versatility across various genres and styles, reinterprets the American classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, James, (Pan Macmillan) shifts the focus to Huck's enslaved companion, Jim, challenging the portrayal of slaves as ignorant and simple. And Banned Books Episode Four Gender Queer, explores an award winni...
May 13, 2024•28 min
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is the most banned book in the USA and now it's being challenged in the courts in Australia. Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. This episode explores Gender Queer, an illustrated memoir which details Maia Kobabe's experience of coming out as non-binary and asexual. The book has been banned in school and public libraries across the US. In Australia, a conservative Queensland activist is seeking to have it banned and is taking...
May 11, 2024•27 min
Crime writer Val McDermid investigates Scotland's most famous female character to reveal a very different Lady Macbeth. And Sydney writer Jonathon Seidler delves into the story beyond the happy ending and how breakups can define a relationship. Crime writer Val McDermid investigates Scotland’s most famous female character to reveal a very different Lady Macbeth. Queen Macbeth: Darkland Tales is part of a series where well known authors find the truth behind the legends commissioned by the histor...
May 06, 2024•42 min
Webfiction is a gargantuan platform for writers in China but authors of male to male fiction - known as the danmei or boyslove genre - are experiencing a censorship crackdown and some writers have been imprisoned for their writing. This episode is about Occupied by Tianyi – a boyslove/danmei novel whose author was sentenced to 10 years jail in China for indecency in 2018. Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. Guests: Liang Ge - PHD candidate, Kings Colleg...
May 04, 2024•18 min
Alexis Wright has won the 2024 Stella Prize, for her novel, Praiseworthy. The novel is an Aboriginal fable, about a fictional town, a haze cloud, a haze cloud, land rights, global warming, and donkeys. Judges described Praiseworthy as 'genre-bending' and 'canon-breaking'. Alexis Wright previously won the Stella in 2018 for her non-fiction collective memoir Tracker. She also won the Miles Franklin for her novel Carpentaria.
May 02, 2024•20 min
Author of The Tiger's Wife Téa Obreht reterns with Morningside, a dystopian fairy tale, and Stella Prize-shortlisted author Emily O'Grady on the rotten characters in her novel Feast. Téa Obreht won The Women's Prize for Fiction — then called the Orange Prize — for her debut novel, The Tiger's Wife and at the time she was the youngest ever winner of the award. It was a family saga, about doctors, death and the Balkan wars. She followed it up with a Western called Inland. With her new novel, Morni...
Apr 29, 2024•44 min
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie inspired riots in England and book burnings in India; death threats, murders and a fatwa; and ultimately, a devastating physical attack on Salman Rushdie in 2022. Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. This episode revisits how one book inspired so much hatred and violence.
Apr 27, 2024•24 min
Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan explains why finishing his latest novel Caledonian Road was like "landing 65 planes on the tarmac"; plus a teaser for the first in our Banned Books series, starting in America. Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan's (Faber and Faber) latest book Caledonian Road is a big one in length and Dickensian scope. It's an exploration of life in London — a world of intellectuals and elites, Russian oligarchs and human traffickers, rappers, DJs, wellness assistants and those who se...
Apr 22, 2024•33 min
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was inspired by the black lives matter movement and explores police brutality — so why is it being taken off library shelves in the US? Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. The series begins in America where books about race and racism have become a lightning rod for censorship in public libraries and state schools Guests: Angie Thomas , author of The Hate U Give (original 2017 interview) Kasey Meehan , program director fo...
Apr 20, 2024•24 min
Booker-shortlisted author Sunjeev Sahota argues that class is more important than identity, Vanessa Chan draws on her grandmother's stories of Japanese occupied Malaya and Winnie Dunn channels her own experience of growing up Tongan in Western Sydney.
Apr 15, 2024•54 min
Known for his sumptuous novel Call Me By My Name, André Aciman's latest book also explores love and beauty in Italy. Plus, Indian author Anjali Joseph on the allure of Assam, India, which is known for its unique cultural heritage.
Apr 08, 2024•54 min
At Adelaide Writers' Week, Melissa Lucashenko explains how understanding that "all history is fiction" allowed her to write her historic novel Edenglassie.
Mar 31, 2024•54 min
Award winning Australian journalist Louise Milligan on her debut crime novel inspired by police and PTSD and Pulitzer Prize winning Jane Smiley on why she wants her books to be banned and her latest novel A Dangerous Business.
Mar 24, 2024•54 min
Bestselling American author Jonathan Lethem explains why he returned to Brooklyn in his fiction after 20 years.
Mar 17, 2024•54 min
At Adelaide Writers' Week, Booker-winner Anne Enright speaks about the contradictions at the heart of families.
Mar 10, 2024•54 min
RF Kuang speaks about her bestseller Yellowface and Nam Le, Australian author of The Boat, explains why his latest is a book of poetry.
Mar 03, 2024•54 min
Award-winning literary translator Jennifer Croft imagines what happens when translators get together in a primeval forest, Imbi Neeme's exploration of misophonia and Mykaela Saunders' love-hate relationship with Mad Max.
Feb 25, 2024•54 min
Jasper Fforde's sequel to Shades of Grey, Amy Brown introduces us to Miles Franklin's sister and Leo Vardiashvili's missing persons quest through the forests of Georgia.
Feb 18, 2024•54 min
Bestselling American author Kristin Hannah digs into the little known stories of US nurses during the Vietnam War, Jodi McAlister's comic take on The Bachelor and Sharlene Allsopp reckons with Australia's history.
Feb 11, 2024•54 min
Pulitzer Prize winning Libyan author Hisham Matar on friendship in political exile and British author Ela Lee on the power of friendship at times of personal crisis.
Feb 04, 2024•54 min
Kiley Reid's follow up to Such a Fun Age in a campus novel that she says isn't a campus novel, Rachael Johns' love story about a woman called Bridget Jones and Iain Ryan's hardboiled take on Gold Coast corruption in the 1980s.
Jan 28, 2024•54 min
Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham's latest novel Day explores a bromance, Madeleine Gray on writing a funny "sad girl novel" and Jessica Zhan Mei Yu on Sylvia Plath and up-ending the coming of age story.
Jan 21, 2024•54 min
My Own Sweet Time was a memoir said to be written by Wanda Koolmatrie, a member of the Aboriginal stolen generations. But it was a hoax and this episode of Fakes and Frauds explores the long lasting impacts of the hoax particularly on Aboriginal Australian writers.
Jan 16, 2024
Pip Williams' follow up to her bestselling novel The Dictionary of Lost Words, Josh Kemp on how bushwalking helps his writing and the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award winner, Shankari Chandran.
Jan 14, 2024•54 min
The Helen Demidenko scandal tore the Australian literary community apart in the 1990s. This episode of Fakes and Frauds charts the rise and downfall of Helen Demidenko and the impacts on the book world.
Jan 08, 2024•41 min
Is there such thing as an Irish voice in fiction?
Jan 07, 2024•54 min
Cannibalism, telepathy and celibacy are just some of the false claims about Australian Aboriginal people that Marlo Morgan made in her 1990s new age hit, Mutant Message Down Under, and this episode of Fakes and Frauds exposes the lies.
Jan 02, 2024•34 min
Booker winner Ian McEwan explores his 1960s childhood in his latest novel and reigning Booker winner Paul Lynch on his unflinching dystopian novel set in Ireland.
Dec 31, 2023•54 min
