The Book Club: Frank Moorhouse Retrospective
A year on from the death of Frank Moorhouse, we examine the work of this much-loved yet troubled writer with his biographer Catharine Lumby and colleague Angelo Loukakis.
Sep 01, 2023•1 hr 5 min
The Bookshelf
What are you reading, loving or being challenged by? We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.
Episodes
New fiction from Chris Womersley, Jenny Erpenbeck and Tan Twan Eng: Australia, Germany, Malaysia
Kate and Cassie read Chris Womersley's Ordinary Gods and Monsters, Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos and Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors with critic Declan Fry and novelist Nilima Rao
Aug 25, 2023•54 min
New fiction from Peter Polites, Angela O'Keeffe and Guy Guneratne
Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh read Peter Polites' God Forgets About the Poor, Angela O'Keeffe's The Sitter and Guy Guneratne's Mister Mister with poet Madison Godfrey and journalist and novelist Paul Daley
Aug 18, 2023•54 min
New books by Ann Patchett, Naoise Dolan and Hwang Sok-yong: “Good marriages are never as interesting as bad affairs”
Cassie and Kate read Ann Patchett's Tom Lake, Naoise Dolan's The Happy Couple and Hwang Sok-yong's Mater 2-10 with actor Angourie Rice and novelist Jock Serong
Aug 11, 2023•54 min
The Book Club - Miles Franklin Literary Award 2023 shortlist
Kate, Cassie and guests examine all six finalists for the 2023 miles Franklin Literary Award.
Aug 04, 2023•58 min
Crooked Harlem, corrupt Wellington, bereaved London: books by Colson Whitehead, Emily Perkins and Elizabeth McCracken
Kate and Cassie read Colson Whitehead's Crook Manifesto, Elizabeth McCracken's The Hero of this Book and Emily Perkins' Lioness with poet Miles Merrill and literary scholar Bernadette Brennan
Jul 28, 2023•57 min
A crying room, a road trip and blazing fury: Gretchen Shirm, Richard Ford and Claire Kilroy
Kate Evans and Jonathan Green read Gretchen Shirm's The Crying Room, Richard Ford's Be Mine and Claire Kilroy's Soldier Sailor with historian Peter McPhee and writer Ashley Hay. Cassie McCullagh will be back for the next edition of The Bookshelf.
Jul 21, 2023•54 min
Fiction: The State of the Art
Kate Evans onstage with writers Colson Whitehead, Eleanor Catton, Richard Flanagan and Tracey Lien at the recent Sydney Writers Festival, on the state of the novel.
Jul 13, 2023•54 min
Wifedom, hoarded memories and political road rage: New books by Anna Funder, Jen Craig and Priya Guns
Aboriginal, Chinese-Malaysian and Muslim writer and academic Eugenia Flynn co-hosts the Bookshelf this week with Kate Evans, reading Anna Funder's Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life, Priya Guns' Your Driver is Waiting and Jen Craig's Wall with novelists Max Easton (The Magpie Wing) and Amy Taylor (Search History)
Jul 07, 2023•54 min
The Book Club: The Greek Myths
What is it about the Greek myths that make them so adaptable, reusable, ever popular – and up for all manner of rewrites?
Jun 30, 2023•54 min
Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist 2023: pod extra interview special
Interviews with all six shortlisted authors for the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award from RN's The Bookshelf and Book Show (in alphabetical order). The shortlist was announced on 20 June; the winner will be announced on 25 July.
Jun 29, 2023
Gay saunas, dog walking and an extravagant lie: new fiction from R F Kuang, Dennis Altman and Briohny Doyle
Stealing a manuscript, walking your grief along coastal edges and underhand behaviour at an international AIDS conference: Kate and Cassie read Dennis Altman's Death in the Sauna, R F Kuang's Yellowface and Briohny Doyle's Why We Are Here with guests Benjamin Law and Lee Kofman
Jun 23, 2023•54 min
Strangers and Saints: Katherena Vermette and Benjamin Myers
A story of wandering pilgrims, woman brewers, stonemasons and eels – in the North of England from the 7th century until now; and Métis-Michif women in Canada across the twentieth and into the twenty-first century: Kate Evans speaks with Katherena Vermette about The Strangers (recorded at the 2023 Brisbane Writers Festival) and Benjamin Myers about Cuddy
Jun 16, 2023
Politicians, ghosts and sad girls: books by Lorrie Moore, Robert Gott and Pip Finkemeyer
Naked politicians, roadtrips with the dead, and funny-sad girls in Berlin: Kate and Cassie read Robert Gott's Naked Ambition, Lorrie Moore's I am Homeless if this is not My Home and Pip Finkemeyer's Sad Girl Novel with critics Jessie Tu and Madeleine Gray.
Jun 09, 2023•54 min
The Book Club - Romantic Comedy
Step aboard this Book Club edition of The Bookshelf which is hopelessly devoted to the genre of Romantic Comedy.
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 2 min
From the Sydney Writers Festival with Shehan Karunatilaka, Jason Reynolds and Grace Chan
Kate and Cassie recorded this edition of The Bookshelf onstage at the Sydney Writers Festival on Friday 26 May 2023 with writers Shehan Karunatilaka, Jason Reynolds and Grace Chan
May 26, 2023•54 min
Grifters, pilgrims and scribes: new fiction from Emma Cline, Benjamin Myers and Robyn Cadwallader
Kate and Cassie read Benjamin Myers' Cuddy, Robyn Cadwallader's The Fire and the Rose and Emma Cline's The Guest with mediaeval historian Clare Monagle and novelist Laura McPhee-Brown
May 19, 2023•54 min
History, identity, doppelgangers: new fiction from Deborah Levy, André Dao and Catherine Lacey
Kate and Cassie read Deborah Levy's August Blue, André Dao's Anam and Catherine Lacey's Biography of X with guests writer and curator Sheila Ngọc Phạm and theatre writer Tom Wright. Histories, family stories, identities, doppelgangers, secrets and lies.
May 12, 2023•1 hr
Poetry, jumpers, islands: new fiction from John Kinsella, Justin Cronin, Jente Posthuma
Kate and Cassie read John Kinsella’s Cell Night: A Verse Novel, Jente Posthuma’s What I’d Rather Not Think About and Justin Cronin’s The Ferryman with poet and novelist Omar Sakr and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson
May 05, 2023•54 min
The Book Club: Salman Rushdie
When Salman Rushdie was attacked in Chautauqua, New York in August last year, Victory City, his latest novel, was already finished. Some say it's not only a return to form, but also uncannily prophetic.
Apr 28, 2023•58 min
New books by Max Porter, Han Kang and Yan Lianke
Reading Max Porter's Shy, Han Kang's Greek Lessons and Yan Lianke's Heart Sutra with writers (and writers-in-translation, both) Linda Jaivin and Ennis Ćehić
Apr 22, 2023•58 min
A bookbinder, Andy Warhol's typist and the cleverest woman in the world
Reading Pip Williams' The Bookbinder of Jericho, Juan Gómez-Jurado's Red Queen and Nicole Flattery's Nothing Special with writers Ashley Kalagian Blunt and Joanna Horton
Apr 14, 2023•54 min
Dystopia, satire, gladiators and gardeners: new fiction from Eleanor Catton and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Savage explorations of the present, using different literary forms, in two new novels. Kate and Cassie are joined by guests film academic Bruce Isaacs and NZ literary leader Claire Mabey, to read Booker Prize winning novelist Eleanor Catton's latest, Birnam Wood, and American writer Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Chain-Gang All-Stars.
Apr 06, 2023•54 min
The Book Club - weather in fiction with Hannah Kent and Robbie Arnott
A journey through the myriad of ways weather presents itself in fiction for this monthly edition of The Book Club.
Mar 31, 2023•54 min
Mermaids, man overboard and more: new fiction from Julia Langbein and Stephanie Bishop
Reading Julia Langbein's comedic take on Hollywood's ruthless screen industry in American Mermaid, and Stephanie Bishop's The Anniversary, a watery mystery about creative tension and desire.
Mar 24, 2023•1 hr
Sleuths, silence, secrets: new fiction from Rebecca Makkai, Carole Hailey and Sebastian Barry
Reading award-winning novelist Rebecca Makkai's I Have Some Questions For You, along with The Silence Project by Carole Hailey. Plus, an interview with much-loved Irish novelist Sebastian Barry.
Mar 17, 2023•1 hr
Freedom, family and an all-consuming love: new fiction from Anindita Ghose, Vigdis Hjorth and Alice Nelson
Reading Anindita Ghose's bestseller The Illuminated and Is Mother Dead by Norwegian author Vigdis Hjorth with guest reviewers Maria Takolander and Suma Iyer, and an interview with Australian author Alice Nelson.
Mar 10, 2023•1 hr
Podcast extra: Infidelity and compassion: changing morality in 19th century fiction
Novels about infidelity can be cautionary tales but also reveal changing attitudes
Mar 06, 2023•23 min
The Book Club: Infidelity
Is there a more enduring theme in literature? From the ancient greats to bestseller romances, it's been the subject of both untold anguish and fascination. Why is it that we never seem to tire of this all-too-human experience?
Mar 03, 2023•54 min
Raucous aunts, warriors and dragons, Queer Nigeria and more: new fiction
A Sydney WorldPride edition of the Bookshelf, as Kate and Cassie are joined by guests George Haddad and C S Pacat to read Samantha Shannon's A Day of Fallen Night and K Ming Chang's Gods of Want (with comments from both these writers); and Arinze Ifeakandu (God's Children Are Little Broken Things) on queer lives and writing in Nigeria.
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr