Australian writer Jessie Tu says the question of female likeability should no longer exist and it's an idea she explores in her fiction. In this in-depth conversation, she also discusses child prodigies, music, racism and even Sex and the City.
There are name generators for new parents and authors alike, so how do writers choose names for their fictional characters? Many authors, including Tony Birch, Garth Nix and Mirandi Riwoe share their stories.
Andy Weir is most famous for The Martian, the science-heavy Mars survival story that was made in to a hit film starring Matt Damon, and now he's back now with a new book, Project Hail Mary. Journalist Jacqueline Maley on motherhood and ethics in her debut and the final in Michael Mohammed Ahmad's trilogy featuring his alter-ego, Bani Adam.
Lisa Taddeo attracted worldwide attention with her 2019 non-fiction book, Three Women, which explored the depths of three real women's sexual desires. Now Lisa has taken that insight into the female experience, and put it in to a novel called Animal. We also take a look at how authors name their heroes and villains, and visit Perth-based children's author Shirley Marr at her favourite writing location.
The privilege of writing about the loss of a child: Women's Prize shortlisted author Patricia Lockwood on No One Is Talking About This which is laugh-out-loud funny in the first half, and is cry-out-loud devastating in the second half. And Sincerely, Ethel Malley in which Stephen Orr resuscitates the great Australian literary hoax of Ern Malley but with a twist: he reimagines a life for Ern's made-up sister, a woman called Ethel.
Indian American writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, has made her name writing fiction in English, but in recent years she has been writing in Italian including her latest, Whereabouts, which she also translated into English. Also, Ella Baxter on how her writing relates to her artistic practice making death shrouds and philosopher Hugh Breakey on his philosophical romance The Beautiful Fall.
