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The Book Show

ABC listen•www.abc.net.au
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Books
Your favourite fiction authors share the story behind their latest books.
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Episodes

Home, art and love with Kate Morton, Stephanie Bishop and Zoya Patel

Bestselling Australian author Kate Morton's personal story of home and her latest novel Homecoming, Stephanie Bishop's psycho thriller The Anniversary and Zoya Patel's story of a migrant family torn apart by a romantic relationship which took inspiration from her own, difficult experience.

Jun 12, 2023•54 min

Don Winslow, plus Fakes and Frauds #5 Wanda Koolmatrie hoax

My Own Sweet Time was a memoir said to be written by Wanda Koolmatrie, a member of the Aboriginal stolen generation. But it was a hoax and this final episode of Fakes and Frauds explores its long lasting impacts. Plus, American author Don Winslow explains why he's stepping away from writing fiction.

May 29, 2023•1 hr 2 min

Trees in fiction with Richard Powers, Hannah Kent, Elif Shafak and more

Richard Powers, Hannah Kent, Elif Shafak and Michael Christie all use trees in their fiction to touch on themes of roots and connections, growth and rebirth, the family tree. But as our climate changes, is the way novelists use trees also changing to make the natural world the star of the story?

May 22, 2023•54 min

Eleanor Catton, plus Fakes and Frauds #3 Mutant Message Down Under

Cannibalism, telepathy and celibacy are just some of the false claims Marlo Morgan made in her 1990s new age hit, Mutant Message Down Under, meet the Indigenous activists who campaigned against the book in the latest episode of Fakes and Frauds. And Eleanor Catton on her Macbeth inspired satire, Birnam Wood.

May 08, 2023•1 hr 3 min

Curtis Sittenfeld, plus Fakes and Frauds #2 Norma Khouri

Find out how to catch a con-artist in this episode of Fakes and Frauds that delves into the fake memoir of Norma Khouri. And American author Curtis Sittenfeld on the Saturday Night Live inspiration for her latest novel, Romantic Comedy.

May 01, 2023•1 hr 1 min

Lessons in life, mortality and love from Julian Barnes

British Booker winner Julian Barnes's latest novel, Elizabeth Finch, is about a life-changing teacher and he tells the audience at the Sydney Writers Festival that "you become a writer by not being the child of a writer".

Apr 10, 2023•54 min

Bookbinding and ghost towns with Pip Williams and Dominic Smith

The smell of books and Italian cooking are celebrated in the latest novels by bestselling Australian authors Pip Williams and Dominic Smith. Pip Williams' follow up to The Dictionary of Lost Words revisits Oxford as the setting for her wartime drama, The Bookbinder of Jericho. And Dominic Smith's Return to Valetto explores the people who choose to stay in crumbling Italian ghost towns.

Apr 03, 2023•54 min

Margaret Atwood on witches, cats and a lifetime of writing

Literary titan, Margaret Atwood on the death of her beloved husband, the influence of George Orwell and the pleasures of ageing. Her latest book is a collection of short stories, Old Babes in the Wood. Also, another Canadian writer Jessica Johns on her debut, Bad Cree.

Mar 12, 2023•1 hr

Grief, plague and Star Trek with Sequoia Nagamatsu

American writer Sequoia Nagamatsu shares stories from his childhood growing up in Hawaii, his love of Star Trek, how environmentalism fuels his writing and how being Japanese American has shaped him. His debut novel is How High We Go in the Dark and he was a guest of the Perth Festival Writers Weekend.

Mar 05, 2023•1 hr

Love, lust and ghosts: celebrating queer fiction

For Sydney WorldPride, we celebrate queer writers telling queer stories – the funny, the heartbreaking and the spooky. We’ve searched The Book Show archive to bring you highlights from Andrew Sean Greer, Val McDermid, Alan Hollinghurst, Jennifer Mills, S.J Norman, S.L Lim and Holden Sheppard.

Feb 19, 2023•1 hr

Ballet, bodies and grief with Meg Howrey, Inga Simpson and Dinuka McKenzie

A trio of books by women about bodies, ballet, grief and working mothers. Meg Howrey on They're Going to Love You, Inga Simpson on Kath O'Connor's posthumous debut novel Inheritance, and Dinuka McKenzie on the physical pain of being a breastfeeding mother returning to the police force.

Feb 12, 2023•1 hr

Small-town murder with Julie Janson and Stuart MacBride

Two very different crime fiction writers, Australian Indigenous author Julie Janson and Scottish writer Stuart MacBride imagine grisly scenarios in their books Madukka: The River Serpent and The Dead of Winter. Also Briony Stewart's re-imagining of Frente's 90s hit song Accidentally Kelly Street as a children's book.

Jan 29, 2023•1 hr

Bret Easton Ellis and Paul Jennings come to terms with fame and ego

Bret Easton Ellis and Paul Jennings have been very successful writers for 40 years and although they're very different writers - Bret Easton Ellis is best known for American Psycho and Paul Jennings for his children's books - they both discuss how they've navigated the benefits and pitfalls of fame.

Jan 22, 2023•1 hr

Tim Winton on a life of accidents, successes, and the business of 'useless beauty'

It's been 40 years since Tim Winton published his first novel, An Open Swimmer. Today he is the beloved writer of 29 books, a four-time Miles Franklin winner (for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and an incomparable observer of the Western Australian landscape. For the Big Weekend of Books, he joined The Book Show's Claire Nichols and a live audience at the ABC studios in Perth.

Jan 15, 2023•1 hr

"Hardest thing I've ever written" — Heather Rose shares tales from her extraordinary life

Australian novelist Heather Rose lost her brother in a tragic accident when she was just 12 years old. In her memoir Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here, she shares how her grief and curiosity led her on a lifelong search for the extraordinary. Also, Wiradjuri activist-turned-author Yvonne Weldon on her love story Sixty-Seven Days and Thomas Keneally tackles a tricky subject in his historic novel Fanatic Heart.

Dec 11, 2022•1 hr