The Bookshelf

An Australian story of the tender, eager lives of greyhounds and their owners in Tenderfoot by Australian author Toni Jordan. Dark academia in Yellowface author R.F. Kuang’s new fantasy novel, Katabasis. Sport, miracles, and the Amish, in Ron Rindo’s Life, and Death, and Giants.BOOKS Toni Jordan, Tenderfoot, Hachette R.F. Kuang, Katabasis, Harper Voyager Ron Rindo, Life, and Death, and Giants, Pan Macmillan GUESTS Seth Robinson, writer, producer, and lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He is also co-hosting a new podcast with Tony Birch – Unfolded – in which writers take apart short stories to see what makes them work. Michael McGirr, writer, reviewer, and mission director at Caritas Australia. His own books include Ideas to Save Your Life, Books that Saved my Life, and The Story of a Road MICHAEL'S TOP 100 LISTPatriot by Alexei Navalny. This is Happiness by Niall Williams Apeirogon by Colum McCann King by Jonathan Eig People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright Emily Wilson’s Translation of the Odyssey The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung The Fig Tree by Arnold ZableSETH'S TOP 100 LISTDemon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt Educated, Tara Westover Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton Less, Andrew Sean Greer The Overstory, Richard Powers Still Life, Sarah Winman The Passage (Trilogy), Justin Cronin Station 11, Emily St John Mandel James, Percival Everett OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEMelissa Lucashenko, Too Much LipGillian Mears, Foal's BreadKim Scott, That Deadman DanceKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeGabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and TomorrowTony Birch, Pictures of YouBehrouz Boochani, No Friend but the MountainsCharles Dickens, David CopperfieldLucia Berlin, A Manual for Cleaning WomenCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

The Bookshelf continues to explore new fiction, beginning in this episode with Ruins by Amy Taylor, a plunge into holiday chaos during a simmering summer in Greece. Maria Reva’s Endling takes us to Ukraine, where an eccentric scientist is breeding rare snails. And, Leif Enger’s I Cheerfully Refuse...dystopia with a twist.BOOKS Amy Taylor, Ruins, Allen & Unwin Maria Reva, Endling, Virago Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse, Grove Press GUESTS Mark Mordue, music writer, journalist, and poet – whose books include Boy On Fire: The Young Nick Cave Robert Goodman, critic who writes regularly for the Newtown Review of Books and on his website, Pile by the BedOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDNever Let Me Go, Kazuo IshiguroThe Hare with Amber Eyes, Edmund de WaalOn Chesil Beach, Ian McEwanLouise Erdrich, worksLanny, Max PorterThe Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Shehan KarunatilakaBy Night in Chile; 2666, Roberto BolañoLeviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey Ancillary Justice, Ann LeckieChronicles, Bob Dylan Just Kids, Patti Smith Road Series, Hugo Race Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, Will Hermes Perdido Street Station, China Mieville Babel; Yellowface; Katabasis, R.F. KuangThe Animals in That Country, Laura Jean McKay The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation, Charlotte BeradtThe White Hotel, D.M. ThomasSalvage, Jennifer MillsJuice, Tim WintonArborescence; Hovering, Rhett DavisDeaf Republic, Ilya KaminskyCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John Jacobs and Tegan NichollsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie discuss Vera, or Faith, Gary Shteyngart’s new novel about a ten-year-old Korean-American girl growing up in a dystopian United States. Alongside guest critics, they also look at The Bombshell by Darrow Farr, which traces the radicalisation of a young French woman in Corsica, and The Slip by Lucas Schaefer, the story of a missing teenage boy and the transformative power of boxing.Books:Darrow Farr, The Bombshell, AtlanticLucas Schaefer, The Slip, Simon & SchusterGary Shteyngart, Vera, or Faith, Atlantic GUESTSSarah Gilbert, writer and documentary producer; head of UTS Impact Studios, which makes the literary podcast Fully Lit. Her first book of non-fiction - Unconventional Women: The story of the last Blessed Sacrament Sisters in Australia - came out last yearMichael Winkler, critic and novelist. His book, Grimmish, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2022. His novel Griefdogg will be published next year OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDBrian Castro, Chinese PostmanMichelle de Krestser, worksMarilynne Robinson, GileadDenis Johnson, Train DreamsCarys Davies, WestPeter Carey, True History of the Kelly GangHilary Mantel, Wolf HallElena Ferrante, My Brilliant FriendO. Henry, The Last LeafLoïc Wacquant, Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice BoxerArmistead Maupin, Tales of the City seriesRhett Davis, ArborescenceRaaza Jamshed, What Kept YouAlexis Wright, CarpentariaCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John Jacobs and Tegan NichollsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Australian author Rhett Davis re-imagines the everyday in his novels. In his latest, Arborescence, ordinary people begin transforming into trees. Is it a cult? Performance art? Or something else entirely? Also on the show: Guest reviewer Roanna Gonsalves discusses Saraswati, the debut novel by Gurnaik Johal, which winds its narrative around a sacred and possibly mythical river in North India. And, Kate Evans speaks with Irish writer Colm Tóibín, delving into the literary influences that have shaped his work. BOOKS Rhett Davis, Arborescence, Hachette Gurnaik Johal, Saraswati, Serpent’s Tail Colm Toibin, works GUESTS Roanna Gonsalves is a writer, teacher of creative writing at UNSW, and editor of the literary journal, Southerly Colm Toibin, Irish novelist and essayist – whose books include The Blackwater Lightship, Nora Webster, Brooklyn, The Master, The Magician – and his latest, Long Island. He spoke to Kate Evans at the 2025 Sydney Writers Festival OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJane Austen, worksFiona McFarlane, Highway 13Italo Calvino, The Baron in the TreesJ.R.R. Tolkein, worksMalcolm Knox The First FriendRaaza Jamshed, What Kept YouGeorgia Rose Phillips, The BearcatGustave Flaubert, Madame BovaryThomas Hardy, The Mayor of CasterbridgeHenry James, worksThomas Mann, worksJames Baldwin, worksCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Simon Branthwaite Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A critical assessment of the shortlist and winner of Australia’s most prestigious literary award, The Miles Franklin Literary Award. Kate and Cassie are joined by guests, scholar and literary biographer (and former judge of the MFLA) Bernadette Brennan; and critic and publisher, Geordie Williamson.BOOKSBrian Castro, Chinese Postman, GiramondoMichelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice, TextWinnie Dunn, Dirt Poor Islanders, Hachette Julie Janson, Compassion, Magabala BooksFiona McFarlane, Highway 13, Allen & UnwinSiang Lu, Ghost Cities, UQP (WINNER)GUESTSBernadette Brennan, literary scholar; former judge for the Miles Franklin Literary Award Geordie Williamson, chief literary critic, The Australian; publisher, Picador CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Parties, scandals, sex, love, families, friendship, death – these books have, as they say, all the things. Nell Zink’s Sister Europe moves through one night in Berlin, while Amy Bloom’s I’ll Be Right Here sweeps through 80 years of history, and in James Frey’s Next to Heaven, the beautiful and rich fall apart rather spectacularly.BOOKS Nell Zink, Sister Europe, Penguin Viking Amy Bloom, I’ll Be Right Here, Granta James Frey, Next to Heaven, Swift GUESTS Shannon Burns, writer and member of the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice at the University of Adelaide. His memoir, Childhood, was published in 2022 Suzanne Leal, writer and literary interviewer. She writes for both adults and children, and her novels include Deceptions, The Watchful Wife and The Teacher’s Secret. Her latest, The Year We Escaped, was published last monthOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJames Frey, worksRaynor Winn, The Salt PathColette, worksYuan Yang, Private RevolutionsLenora Thaker, The Pearl of Tagai TownPeter Grose, A Good Place to HidePablo Neruda, The Captain's VersesRobert Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and HarmonyBrian Castro, Chinese PostmanJANE AUSTEN EVENTStill Turning Heads at 250: Jane Austen’s Enduring CharmABC Radio National's The Bookshelf & The Minefield join forces with a literary scholar & the State Library of NSW on Austen the professional. Book your spot here CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls and Emrys CroninExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Stories of the sea – and a great white whale in Xiaolu Guo's Call Me Ishmaelle; Hungry ghosts and kitchen mishaps in Daria Lavelle's NYC set novel Aftertaste; and the latest Australian crime fiction (of which there is a lot!)BOOKS AUSTRALIAN CRIME FICTION: Mark Brandi, Eden Paul Daley, The Leap Sam Guthrie, The Peak Angie Faye Martin, Melaleuca Michael Robotham, White Crow Tanya Scott, Stillwater Matthew Spencer, Broke Road Xiaolu Guo, Call Me Ishmaelle, Chatto & Windus Daria Lavelle, Aftertaste, Bloomsbury GUESTS Mark Dunn, historian whose latest book is The Convict Valley: The Bloody Struggle on Australia's Early Frontier Danielle Bagnato, writer and book critic – whose work appears in The Big Issue OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDLeo Tolstoy, War and PeaceFyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and PunishmentAlice Oseman, Radio SilenceTorrey Peters, Detransition, BabyDouglas Stewart, Young MungoHerman Melville, Moby DickJoseph Conrad, Heart of DarknessRichard Flanagan, Question 7V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRueCatherine Webb, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry AugustSayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman; Vanishing WorldCharlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark ShoreCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Simon Branthwaite and Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

What’s the state of fiction today? Four brilliant minds—Samantha Harvey (UK), Rumaan Alam (USA), Torrey Peters (USA), and Robbie Arnott (AUS)—tackle the question live at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. Expect bold takes, big ideas, and a few surprises.

The same question is at the heart of three very different international novels on The Bookshelf this week, “What really happened”…To a WWI soldier who has forgotten his name and identity in The Remembered Soldier by Dutch author Anjet Daanje?To a fortune teller for the elite class in Ben Okri’s Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-hearted?When four high achieving American boys entered a cave, and one emerged terribly hurt, In Sameer Pandya’s Our Beautiful Boys?Keep scrolling for a full list of all books mentioned on this week's program.BOOKSAnjet Daanje, The Remembered Soldier (translated from the Dutch by David McKay), Scribe Ben Okri, Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-hearted, Apollo Sameer Pandya, Our Beautiful Boys, Bloomsbury GUESTS Tom Wright, theatre writer and adapter, and Artistic Associate at Belvoir Street Theatre.Bronwyn Rivers, researcher and novelist whose debut, The Reunion was released this year. She also has a PhD on the 19th century novel.OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDBronwyn Rivers, The ReunionMax Porter, Grief is the Thing With FeathersJoan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging RockBen Okri, The Famished RoadWilliam Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s DreamT. S. Eliot, The Waste LandWilliam Shakespeare, As You Like ItT. S. Eliot, The Hollow MenBen Okri, The Freedom ArtistE. M. Forster, A Passage to IndiaChristos Tsiolkas, The SlapCurzio Malaparte, The SkinOlga Tokarczuk, The Books of JacobVictor Hugo, Les MisérablesHerman Melville, Moby-DickOlga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the DeadKazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the SunIan McEwan, Machines Like MeWilkie Collins, The Woman in WhiteKate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie NovelCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans & Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans & Salome Lines-MorisonSound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite & Tegan NichollsExecutive Producer, Rhiannon Brown

What would make a great Australian sporting novel? Our guests discuss translating the love of the game, footy nicknames, and intense team culture in ex-AFL player Brandon Jack’s Pissants.And making sport of the Melbourne literary scene, Dominic Amarena’s debut novel I Want Everything is a clever, celebratory satire. Kate and Cassie also review the 2025 International Booker Prize winner Heart Lamp, a collection of short stories from southern India. Meanwhile, back home, The Miles Franklin shortlist has been announced.Miles Franklin Literary Award Shortlist:Brian Castro, Chinese Postman Michelle de Kretser, Theory & PracticeWinnie Dunn, Dirt Poor IslandersJulie Janson, CompassionSiang Lu, Ghost CitiesFiona McFarlane, Highway 13BOOKSBanu Mushtaq, Heart Lamp: selected stories (translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhashti), Scribe Brandon Jack, Pissants, Summit Books Australia Dominic Amarena, I Want Everything, Summit Books Australia GUESTS James Button, writer, editor and journalist, whose books include Comeback: The Fall and Rise of Geelong, and Speechless: A Year in my Father's Business, about his time working as a speechwriter for Kevin Rudd and what that taught him about his own father's life, John Button, Minister for Industry in the Hawke and Keating Governments. Beejay Silcox, writer, literary critic, and regular interviewer at writers’ festivals. -----------OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJames Button, Comeback: The Fall and Rise of GeelongJames Button, Speechless: A Year in my Father’s BusinessJane Austen, Sense and SensibilityRita Bullwinkel, HeadshotBrandon Jack, 28Leigh Matthews, Accept the ChallengeIrvine Welsh, TrainspottingChuck Palahniuk, Fight ClubHelen Garner, The SeasonDavid Williamson, The ClubJun'ichirō Tanizaki, The Makioka SistersHalldór Laxness, Independent PeopleGeorge Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), MiddlemarchR. F. Kuang, YellowfaceR. F. Kuang, KatabasisLucas Schaefer, The SlipDavid Remnick, King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero-----------CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans & Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans & Salome Lines-MorisonSound Engineer, Roi Huberman & Dylan PrinsExecutive Producer, Rhiannon Brown

The latest best-selling novels from Taylor Jenkins-Reid (Atmosphere) and Fredrik Backman (My Friends) explore 1980s astronauts, ambition and romance; and teenage anguish, friendship and art. Emotive and cinematic, how often is popular fiction written for the screen?Speaking of the screen, screenwriter Thomas Vowles’ debut novel Our New Gods takes us on a twisted psychological thriller through gay saunas, bush doofs, and the grit of Melbourne’s queer scene.BOOKSThomas Vowles, Our New Gods, UQPFredrik Backman, My Friends (Translated from Swedish by Neil Smith), Simon and SchusterTaylor Jenkins-Reid, Atmosphere, Hutchinson Heinemann(Keep scrolling to see all other books mentioned on the program)GUESTSTegan Bennett-Daylight, author and teacher of creative writing, whose books include the novels Bombora and What Falls Away; the essay collection, The Details; the short story collection, Six Bedrooms; and the Young Adult novels Royals and (her latest) How to Survive 1985. She’s a Bookshelf regular.Richard Aedy, longtime Radio National colleague (whose programs included The Money and Life Matters); now producing a podcast for the Productivity Commission: The ProdCast; Also a Bookshelf regular. OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDTaylor Jenkins-Reid, Daisy Jones & The SixHolden Sheppard, King of DirtBret Easton Ellis, The ShardsTegan Bennett-Daylight, RoyalsTegan Bennett-Daylight, How to Survive 1985Fredrik Backman, A Man Called OveFredrik Backman, BeartownFredrik Backman, Anxious PeoplePercival Everett, JamesSamantha Harvey, OrbitalCeridwen Dovey, Only The AstronautsTaylor Jenkins-Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn HugoTaylor Jenkins-Reid, Malibu RisingTaylor Jenkins-Reid, Carrie Soto is Back: A NovelKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeKevin Barry, The Heart in WinterKevin Barry, Night Boat to TangierSarah Holland-Batt, The JaguarMichelle de Krester, Theory & PracticeSharleigh Crittenden, The Un-doing (Published in Island magazine #173)Ben Lerner, The Hatred of PoetryBen Lerner, The Topeka SchoolBen Lerner, Leaving the Atocha StationBen Lerner, 10:04CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans & Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans & Salome Lines-MorisonSound Engineer, John Jacobs & Anne-Marie de BettencorExecutive Producer, Rhiannon Brown

A guide to James Joyce from Irish writer Mary Morrissy, ahead of Bloomsday (16 June); New Zealand writer Becky Manawatu continues to explore howls of pain and compassion in her second novel, Kataraina; and magic realism in the boundaries between life and death, and Eastern Europe, in Helen Marshall's The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death. BOOKSJames Joyce, Ulysses (1922)Mary Morrissy, Penelope Unbound, Banshee PressBecky Manawatu, Kataraina, ScribeHelen Marshall, The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death, Titan Books(Keep scrolling for a list of all other books mentioned on the program)GUESTSMary Morrissy, Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist and teacher of creative writing. Her books include Penelope Unbound — a speculative history of the life of Norah Barnacle, wife of James Joyce. She is currently in Australia and taking part in Bloomsday EventsClaire Mabey, NZ children's author, editor and founder of the Verb Wellington readers and writers festival. Her novel, The Raven's Eye Runaways, has just been named as a finalist in the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young AdultsRobert Goodman, reviewer and literary judge specialising in genre fiction (he's been a judge and organiser for the Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction since 2008; regularly reviews for the Newtown Review of Books — and is one of the most active members of the ABC Book Club Facebook Group). His website is pilebythebed.comOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDAlan Hollinghurst, worksJames Joyce, Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnegan's WakeCatherine Chidgey, The Book of GuiltKazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me GoJennifer Trevelyan, A Beautiful FamilyFrancesca Wade, Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the WarsRay Nayler, Where the Axe is BuriedLuke Arnold, Whisper in the WindEmily Tesh, The IncandescentCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Salome Lines-MorisonSound engineers, JOhn Jacobs and Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Fiction from all over the world, crossing genres, borders and ideas in American crime writer S A Cosby's King of Ashes, a gripping tale of family, smoke, and fire; Irish writer Sean Hewitt’s Open, Heaven, a beautifully woven story about longing, escape and memory; and, first up, The Name of the Sister, the latest from acclaimed Australian literary novelist Gail Jones.BOOKS Gail Jones, The Name of the Sister, Text S A Cosby, King of Ashes, Headline Seán Hewitt, Open, Heaven, Jonathan Cape GUESTS Toby Schmitz, actor, playwright and author – whose historical crime novel The Empress Murders has just been released Steve MinOn, writer whose debut novel First Name Second Name was published in March of this year OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDAlan Hollinghurst, worksDiana Preston, A Higher Form of KillingMartin Amis, Time's ArrowMax Porter, Grief is the Thing with FeathersDahlia de la Cerda, Reservoir BitchesGarth Jones, Black PillsLaura Elvery, NightingaleCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Harvey O'SullivanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie read W.A. writer Holden Sheppard's King of Dirt, a vibrant, gay coming-of-age story set in Geraldton. Plus, Australian author Jennifer Mills' new one, Salvage, in which we enter a very well drawn post apocalyptic Mad Max-ish world; and, Florence Knapp's The Names has been named one of the most anticipated fiction releases of the year, a sliding doors story leading to three different versions of one family's life. Does it live up to the hype?BOOKSHolden Sheppard, King of Dirt, Pantera PressJennifer Mills, Salvage, PicadorFlorence Knapp, The Names, PhoenixGUESTSJohan Gabrielsson, documentary maker currently working on a film about architecture and modernismSeth Robinson, writer, producer, and lecturer at the University of MelbourneOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDTim Winton, JuiceJames Bradley, LandfallCharles Dickens, worksGeoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury TalesHisham Matar: A Month in Siena; The Return: My FriendsAsako Yuzuki, ButterDominic Amerena, I Want EverythingCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Huberman and Tim JenkinsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

What books have shaped the 21st century so far? Recorded live at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival, literary heavyweights Catherine Chidgey (NZ), Mariana Enriquez (Argentina), and Alan Hollinghurst (UK) swap favourites, challenge conventions, and dive into the fiction and non-fiction that’s made a mark—and sparked debate.

A live recording from Melbourne Writers' Festival as Hannah Kent and Beejay Silcox sit down with Kate Evans and Jonathan Green to discuss the latest fiction releases they’re enjoying, loving and being challenged by. BOOKS- Hannah Kent, Always Home, Always Homesick, Picador- Eimear McBride, The City Changes its Face, Faber- Susan Choi, Flashlight, Jonathan Cape- Edward St Aubyn, Parallel Lines, Jonathan Cape- Caryl Phillips, Another Man in the Street, BloomsburyGUESTSHannah Kent, novelist whose books are Burial Rites, The Good People and Devotion – and whose memoir, Always Home, Always Homesick – has just been published.Beejay Silcox, critic and writer. Festival director, literary interviewer and one of the inaugural recipients of the Frank Moorhouse Reading Room writing residencyOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJeffrey Eugenides, MiddlesexMichael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & ClayEric Puchner, Dream StateRebecca Makkai, The Great Believers Emily Maguire, RaptureMariana Enríquez, A Sunny Place for Shady PeopleSusan Hampton, Anything Can Happen

One day lived over and over again with humour, despair and self-improvement is what we’re up against in Danish novelist Solvej Balle’s On The Calculation of Volume, a fictional work in seven volumes, the first volume (the one we’re talking about in this episode), has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Plus, The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong, the poet and novelist famous for On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous; and The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, a portrait of a spiky woman's life expanding through letters.BOOKS Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume l, (translated from the Danish by Barbara J. Haveland), Faber Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness, Jonathan Cape Virginia Evans, The Correspondent, Michael Joseph GUESTS Sarah Holland-Batt, poet, critic and essayist. Professor of Creative Writing and Literary Studies at QUT. Her latest poetry collection The Jaguar was awarded the Stella Prize in 2023 Hilde Hinton is a writer whose books include the novels The Loudness of Unsaid Things, A Solitary Walk on the Moon and her latest, The Opposite of Lonely OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDAnna Funder, WifedomFiona McFarlane worksMichelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice Bram Stoker, Dracula Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian MoleTayari Jones, An American Marriage Alice Walker, The Colour Purple Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin Annie Burrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge seriesNiall Campbell, The Island in the SoundChris Whittaker, All the Colours of the DarkInga Simpson, WillowmanCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Old friends gather together on the coast in Australian writer Luke Horton’s Time Together, Kate and Cassie take a look. Plus, Jo Harkin’s The Pretender, set during the time of the Tudors' ascent it tells the story of a little-known real-life figure; and Laura Elvery’s Nightingale, a re-imagining of the life of Florence Nightingale.BOOKS Luke Horton, Time Together, Scribe Jo Harkin, The Pretender, Bloomsbury Circus Laura Elvery, Nightingale, UQP GUESTS Jane Caro, social commentator, activist, and writer. She has written thirteen books, including three set in the Tudor period, and two crime novels – The Mother and her latest, Lyrebird Michael Cathcart, historian and broadcaster, and host of Radio National’s Stage Show OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDCecil Woodham Smith, Florence NightingaleSarah Wynn Williams, Careless PeopleEric Hoffer, The True BelieverAthol Fugard, Blood KnotCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Roi Huberman, Tim Jenkins, Micky GrossmanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cities that are both flooded and on alert for the next storm in James Bradley’s Landfall. The body of a saint, dreamily and weirdly listening to everyone around her in Western Australia, in Josephine Rowe’s Little World. And from Malaysia, Tash Aw's The South, in which a family has left the city to head to a failing orchard, a story of longing, promise, generations, and misunderstandings BOOKS James Bradley, Landfall, Penguin Josephine Rowe, Little World, Black Inc Tash Aw, The South, Fourth Estate GUESTS Tegan Bennett-Daylight, novelist, teacher, and essayist, whose books include Bombora, What Falls Away, and The Details. Her latest, How to Survive 1985, is a YA novel that will be published in May Rosa Ellen, producer and presenter with Radio National’s Arts team OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDWilla Cather, worksDavid Szalay, FleshGretchen Shirm, Out of the Woods Yuko Tsushima, Territory of Light Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Kappa Kazuo Ishiguro, A Pale View of HillsCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Craig Tilmouth and Isabella TropianoExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Irish writer Niall Williams with Kate Evans at the 2025 Adelaide Writers Week — with a focus on his Faha novels, History of the Rain, This is Happiness and (his latest) Time of the Child.Williams is also a screenwriter, playwright and travel writer — and his first novel, Four Letters of Love, has just been released as a film.He also appeared onstage at AWW with Kate and Cassie, for a special edition of the Bookshelf on books, reading, and influences, with English writer Charlotte Mendelsohn and Australian writer Brian Castro.

Families, secrets, mysteries, war...Kate and Cassie read Eric Puchner’s Dream State, an American saga that spans fifty years and is set against the expansive beauty of Montana; mysterious encounters and marital strife between an actor and an art critic in New York in Katie Kitamura’s Audition, and a World War II story set in an apartment block in Brussels in Alice Austen’s 33 Place Brugmann.BOOKSEric Puchner, Dream State, SceptreKatie Kitamura, Audition, Fern PressAlice Austen, 33 Place Brugmann, BloomsburyGUESTSMark Mordue, music writer, journalist, poet – whose books include Boy on Fire: The Young Nick Cave. He’s also director of the Addi Road Writers Festival – a community festival in Sydney’s Marrickville – coming up on Saturday 17 MayGretchen Shirm, novelist and literary critic – whose books include Having Cried Wolf, The Crying Room and her latest (published this month), Out of the WoodsOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJohn Irving, The World According to GarpSvetlana Alexievich, worksT.S. Eliot, GerontionLucy Sante, I Heard Her Call My NameHan Kang, We Do Not PartJames Bradley, LandfallClinton Heylin, Behind the Shades RevisitedPatrick Holland, OblivionBret Easton Ellis, Less than ZeroCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John Jacobs + Dylan PrinsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cassie McCullagh is on leave this week, so Kate Evans and guests read Lucy Rose’s The Lamb, Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel, and Rachel Morton’s The Sun was Electric Light (with interview extracts from Lucy Rose on body horror and Cumbrian folk traditions, and from Rachel Morton on her move from poetry to prose).BOOKS Rachel Morton, The Sun was Electric Light, UQP Lucy Rose, The Lamb, Weidenfeld & Nicolson Laila Lalami, The Dream Hotel, Bloomsbury GUESTS Roanna Gonsalves, writer, academic, teacher of creative writing. Her collection of short stories, The Permanent Resident, was published in India and South Asia as, Sunita De Souza Goes To SydneyAnnie Coulthard has worked in radio and publishing – and is a dedicated reader OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDMargaret Atwood, The Handmaid's TalePhilip K. Dick, The Minority ReportFranz Kafka, worksMichelle de Krester, Questions of Travel; Theory and PracticeChristopher Isherwood, worksMelanie Cheng, The BurrowAndrew Michael Hurley, Starve AcreElizabeth Jane Howard, We Are For the DarkSanya Rushdi, HospitalJessie Tu, The HoneyeaterFiona McFarlane, Highway 13; The Sun Walks DownEileen Chong, We Speak of FlowersCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Simon BranthwaiteExecutive producer: Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie read three new works of fiction, with the help of two guest reviewers: a novel of ideas, death, love and music, in Australian writer Andrea Goldsmith's The Buried Life; a real train derailment from the 1890s hurtles together rail workers, coffee sellers, anarcho-feminism, art and typewriters in Irish-Canadian writer Emma Donoghue's The Paris Express (read with historical novelist Natasha Lester); and rocknroll choices, career crises and friendship in Australian YA author Claire Zorn's first adult novel, Better Days (read with doco maker and academic, Anna Broinowski).BOOKSAndrea Goldsmith, The Buried Life, Transit LoungeEmma Donoghue, The Paris Express, PicadorClaire Zorn, Better Days, Atlantic BooksGUESTSNatasha Lester, historical novelist whose books include A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald, The Paris Seamstress and The French Photographer. Her latest novel — her ninth — is The Mademoiselle Alliance, and it was published last weekAnna Broinowski is a documentary maker, memoirist and academic at Sydney College of the Arts. Her books include Datsun Angel: A true-story adventure inside the savage heart of 1980s Australia and Please Explain: The rise and fall and rise again of Pauline Hanson. She also works on the films of North Korea and the impact of deep fakesOther books mentioned in the discussion:Sarah Wynne-Williams, Careless PeopleMargaret Atwood, The Blind AssassinYael van der Wouden, The SafekeepCameron Stewart, Why do Horses RunWalter Isaacson, Elon MuskDouglas Rushkoff, Survival of the RichestCREDITS• Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh• Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett• Sound engineers: Emrys Cronin, Simon Branthwaite• Executive producer: Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie discuss bestselling American writer Curtis Sittenfeld’s sharp and observant collection of short stories Show Don’t Tell; You Am I frontman Tim Rogers reads First Name Second Name, an excellent debut from Queensland novelist Steve MinOn, and the ABC’s own Zan Rowe (of Triple J, Double J and Take 5 fame) shares her thoughts on Scottish singer-songwriter (from Belle and Sebastian) Stuart Murdoch’s Nobody’s Empire, a case of life inspiring art.BOOKS Curtis Sittenfeld, Show Don’t Tell, Doubleday Stuart Murdoch, Nobody’s Empire: A Novel, Faber Steve MinOn, First Name Second Name, UQP GUESTS Tim Rogers, lead singer with You Am I and The Hard-Ons, about to launch into a You Am I tour celebrating 30 years of the Hi Fi Way album. Author of DetoursZan Rowe, Double J’s Music Correspondent and host of Friday Mornings; presenter of Take 5 OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDAndrew O'Hagan, MayfliesRobbie Arnott, DuskHannah Kent, worksLech Blaine, Australian GospelHelen Garner, The Season; Monkey GripGeraldine Brooks, Memorial Days; HorseJoan Didion, The Year of Magical ThinkingJennifer Homans, Mr. B Ronald Hugh Morrieson, The ScarecrowFyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and PunishmentCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Craig Tilmouth, Emrys CroninExecutive producer: Rhiannon Brown

This week’s novels takes us to Zanzibar, Budapest and Renaissance Florence with Nobel Prize-winning English-Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Theft; while guest reviewers Tim Ayliffe reads Laurent Binet’s Perspectives; and Siang Lu reads David Szalay’s Flesh.BOOKS Abdulrazak Gurnah, Theft, Bloomsbury Laurent Binet, Perspectives (translated from the French by Sam Taylor), Harvill Secker David Szalay, Flesh, Jonathan Cape GUESTSTim Ayliffe, journalist and crime writer – whose John Bailey series include the books The Enemy Within, Killer Traitor Spy, and The Wrong ManSiang Lu, writes for film and TV and is also the author of the books Ghost Cities and The Whitewash OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDMichael Connelly, works Leon Uris, worksJohn Le Carre, worksStephen King, worksAndrew O'Hagan, Caledonian Road; MayfliesNick Cave and Swan O'Hagan, Faith, Hope and Carnage Sara Foster, When She Was GoneCamille Booker, The Woman in the WavesNatasha Rai, An Onslaught of LightSteve MinOn, First Name Second Name

This edition of the Bookshelf was recorded on stage at Adelaide Writers' Week on Sunday 2 March – with Irish writer Niall Williams (Time of the Child), English writer Charlotte Mendelson (Wife) and all the way from the Adelaide Hills, Australian writer Brian Castro (Chinese Postman). How and when do they do their best reading, what have books meant to them, what are their influences and touchstones? With a surprising swerve or to into the bath and to the funeral of a beloved author.BOOKS MENTIONEDLaurence Sterne, worksJames Joyce, works, UlyssesSamuel Beckett, worksP. W. Joyce, English As We Speak It in IrelandCharles Dickens, Great Expectations; Bleak HouseW.G.Sebald, Rings of Saturn; AusterlitzThomas Bernhard, worksHelen Garner, Diaries; The Children's Bach; Monkey Grip Edna O'Brien, The Country Girls; MemoirHermann Broch, The Death of VirgilSalvatore Satta, The Day of JudgmentSamantha Harvey, Orbital Ceridwen Dovey, Only the AstronautsLouise Glück, worksAnne Carson, worksJelena Dinic, worksAlistair MacLeod, Ireland and Other StoriesJohn McGahern, Amongst WomenPercival Everett, JamesHilary Mantel, Wolf Hall James McBride, The Heaven and Earth Grocery StorePatrick Lane, There is a SeasonAlba de Céspedes, worksElena Ferrante, works

Four women’s lives intertwined between Africa and the USA in Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count. Plus, secrets and trauma in the South of France in Australian novelist Diana Reid’s new one, Signs of Damage; and into the Swedish wilderness to observe a group of seven unlikely people in indie musician turned novelist Annika Norlin’s Colony.BOOKSChimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dream Count, Fourth EstateDiana Reid, Signs of Damage, Ultimo PressAnnika Norlin, Colony, (translated from the Swedish by Alice E. Olsson), ScribeGUESTSPeter Polites, Western Sydney writer whose books include the novels Down the Hume and The Pillars, and the memoir-fiction hybrid, God Forgets About the PoorStephanie Smee is a translator who works from French into English and whose translations include Hannelore Cayre’s The Godmother, Helene Gaudy’s A World with No Shore and Marie-Helene La Fon’s The Son’s StoryOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDChimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun; AmericanaDiana Reid, Love and Virtue; Seeing Other PeopleFiona McGregor, Chemical Palace; IrisJames Parker, Get Me Through the Next Five Minutes: Odes to Being AliveCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Ann Marie Debettencor, Simon BranthwaiteExecutive producer: Rhiannon Brown

Irish writer Colum McCann’s Twist dives deep under the ocean and takes on a charismatic mystery; 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang’s We Do Not Part explores massacres on Jeju Island during (and after) the Korean War, stories actively repressed by both the South Korean and American governments; and Australian novelist Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore takes us to a fictional island between Tasmania and Antarctica, inhabited only by a man and his three children.BOOKSColum McCann, Twist, Bloomsbury Han Kang, We Do Not Part (translated from Korean by e. yaewon & Page Aniyah Morris), Hamish Hamilton Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore, Penguin Random House GUESTSBeejay Silcox, critic, essayist and regular onstage interviewer of writers. Until last week – Director of the Canberra Writers FestivalBernadette Brennan, literary scholar and judge, whose books include literary biographies of Australian Helen Garner and Gillian MearsOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJoseph Conrad, Heart of DarknessSusannah Clarke, PiranesiSarah Manguso, LiarsAlba de Céspedes, No Turning BackCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John JacobsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

An examination of family dynamics through three novels...Adam Haslett’s Mothers and Sons reflects on unspoken stories and familial divides; The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr, set in 1970s Ireland, tells the story of a family that takes in a child washed ashore, and Robert Lukins’ Somebody Down There Likes Me depicts an uber-rich family who gather together as their wealth and corruption begin to unravel.BOOKSAdam Haslett, Mothers and Sons, Hamish HamiltonRobert Lukins, Somebody Down There Likes Me, Allen & UnwinGarrett Carr, The Boy from the Sea, PicadorGUESTSClaire Mabey, founder of NZ’s Verb Wellington literary organisation and writers’ festival; books editor at The Spinoff; writer whose middle-grade children’s book The Raven's Eye Runaways was published last year. And, here's a link to the NZ book awards Claire mentions: https://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/)Jonty Claypole, CEO Red Room Poetry; co-host of podcast The Secret Life of Books; author, Words Fail Us: In Defence of Disfluency OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDPercival Everett, JamesCharles Dickens, David CopperfieldBarbara Kingsolver, Demon CopperheadSamantha Harvey, OrbitalRobert Lukins, The Everlasting Sunday; LovelandF. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great GatsbyHerman Melville, Moby DickShakespeare, HamletEvelyn Waugh, Brideshead RevisitedAudrey Magee, The ColonyPaul Murray, The Bee StingPaul Lynch, Prophet SongColm Toibin, worksNiall Williams, Time of the ChildFiona McFarlane, The Sun Walks DownJames Baldwin, Giovanni's RoomJane Austen, Pride and PrejudiceMarilynne Robinson, GileadSusannah Clarke, PiranesiDamien Wilkins, DeliriousHarriet Baker, Rural HoursCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: John Jacobs, Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Alaska, folktales and mothers and daughters in Eowyn Ivey's Black Woods Blue Sky. Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Anne Tyler is back with Three Days in June, another novel about mothers and daughters; and Italian novelist Vincenzo Latronico's Perfection, a critique of social media and contemporary life.BOOKSEowyn Ivey, Black Woods, Blue Sky, Tinder PressAnne Tyler, Three Days in June, Chatto & WindusVincenzo Latronico, Perfection (translated from the Italian by Sophie Hughes), TextGUESTSAlice Pung, novelist, memoirist and editor. Her books include Unpolished Gem, Laurinda and One Hundred DaysDylin Hardcastle, novelist, artist and screenwriter, currently completing their PhD. Their novels include Below Deck and A Language of Limbs OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDEowyn Ivey, The Snow ChildJohn Marsden, worksAnne Tyler, worksJazz Money, Mark the DawnDavid Owen Kelly, Host CityKirsty Jagger, RoseghettoWeike Wang, Joan is OkayCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Craig Tilmouth, John Jacobs, Tegan NichollsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A story of yearning, belonging, secrets and identity from Native America in Morgan Talty’s Fire Exit; rusted robots, prosthetic limbs, AI and noisy families in Nigerian-American writer Nnedi Okorafor’s Death of the Author; and coercive control and walking on eggshells in Irish writer Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting; and a brief foray into the world of ‘romantasy’ and the international bestseller Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros.BOOKS Morgan Talty, Fire Exit, Scribe Rebecca Yarros, Onyx Storm [Book three in the Fourth Wing/Empyrean series], Piatkus Nnedi Okorafor, Death of the Author, Gollancz Roisín O’Donnell, Nesting, Scribner GUESTS Bruce Isaacs, Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Sydney; and co-host of the podcast Film Versus FilmSarah Gilbert, journalist, Executive Producer, Impact Studios, University of Technology, Sydney. Her latest book is Unconventional Women: The Story of the last Blessed Sacrament Sisters in Australia. She is currently writing a biblio-memoir set in Buenos Aires, and has a podcast coming with Sydney Review of Books called Fully LitOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDNikki May, WahalaDostoevsky, Crime and PunishmentIain Pears, An Instance of the FingerpostUmberto Eco, The Name of the RoseElizabeth Jane Howard, The Cazalet ChroniclesElsa Morante, Lies and SorceryElene Ferrante, worksCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John Jacobs and Harvey O'SullivanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cassie and Kate read Marie-Hélène Lafon’s The Son’s Story, a family story that spans the twentieth-century, full of melancholy beauty and secrets. Crime writer Hayley Scrivenor reads Geoff Parkes’ When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole, a story of small towns, envy and threat in New Zealand; and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson reads Swedish bestseller The Group, by Sigge Eklund, in which art, sun, wealth and beautiful people meet and mingle in Madrid.BOOKSMarie-Hélène Lafon, The Son’s Story (translated from the French by Stephanie Smee), MLPGeoff Parkes, When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole, Penguin Random HouseSigge Eklund, The Group (translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles), Ithaka PressGUESTSHayley Scrivenor, crime writer whose books are Dirt Town and – her latest – Girl FallingJohan Gabrielsson, documentary maker: longtime Australian resident, he was born in SwedenOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDMary McCarthy, The GroupPatricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr RipleyAshley Kalagian Blunt, Cold TruthSara Foster, When She Was GoneSamantha Byres, Dead EndsJames Bridle, Ways of BeingSlavoj Zizek, Too Late To Awaken CREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Huberman, Harvey O'SullivanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie are back for 2025!In this episode, a discussion of Panic by Catherine Jinks, about a young woman looking for a fresh start after posting a drunken rant that went horrifically viral. Novelist George Haddad, and Professor Sue Turnbull, who specialises in crime drama and fiction, are also along, to take a look at new novels by Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran and American author Garth Greenwell.BOOKSCatherine Jinks, Panic, TextGarth Greenwell, Small Rain, PicadorShankari Chandran, Unfinished Business, Ultimo PressGUESTSGeorge Haddad, novelist, artist and lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Western Sydney. His novel Losing Face was published in 2022Sue Turnbull, Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong, who specialises in crime drama and fiction. She is also chief crime fiction reviewer for The Age and SMHOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeAlice Winn, In MemoriamRichard J. Evans, Hitler's PeopleGeorge Eliot, MiddlemarchCaroline Darian, I'll Never Call Him Dad Again: Turning our family trauma of Chemical Submission into a collective fightCurtis Sittenfeld, Show Don't Tell; Romantic Comedy; EligibleGarth Greenwell, CleannessShankari Chandran, Chai Time at Cinnamon GardensKatherine Brabon, Body FriendBen Watt, Patient Alexandros Papadiamantis, The MurderessMichelle de Kretser, Theory and PracticeRonni Salt, Gunnawah Ashley Kalagian Blunt, Cold Truth; Dark ModeKatherena Vermette, The Stranger family trilogyCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Tegan Nicholls, Harvey O'SullivanExecutive producer: Rhiannon Brown

Reading Percival Everett's James, Dylin Hardcastle's Language of Limbs and James McBride's The Heaven and Earth Grocery StoreCassie and literary interviewer Michaela Kalowski discussed Percival Everett's James in a conversation first broadcast on 15 March 2024Kate and Jonathan Green reviewed Dylin Hardcastle's Language of Limbs on 19 July 2024And James McBride spoke to Kate about The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store for Radio National's 2024 Big Weekend of Books

Books you might have missed: from England, Turkey and within the Australian Tongan communityCassie and critic Beejay Silcox agree to disagree over David Nicholls' You Are Here – from a conversation first broadcast on 19 April 2024Kate, Richard Aedy and writer Patrick Carey reviewed Oisín McKenna, Evenings and Weekends on 28 June 2024Cassie, Beejay Silcox and academic Jioji Ravulo read Winnie Dunn's Dirt Poor Islanders on 19 April 2024And Cassie spoke to Turkish-British author Elif Shafak ahead of the publication of her novel There Are Rivers in the Sky, on Radio National's 2024 Big Weekend of Books

Time to reassess your TBR pile – To Be Read, that is – ready for 2025. To help, some of the best books and literary discussions from the past year.Kate and Cassie's review of Rita Bullwinkel's Headshot was first broadcast on 16 August 2024Kate and Richard Aedy's discussion of Catherine McKinnon's To Sing of War was first broadcast on 28 June 2024Cassie and Kate first delved into Rodney Hall's Vortex on 22 August 2024

Ready for some Big Books? Ambition, money, philosophy, bodies and history – all explored through history.Cassie and Tom Wright's review of Andrew O'Hagan's Caledonian Road was first broadcast on 28 March 2024Kate and Cassie with Polish publicist Anna O'Grady, on Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium, was first broadcast on 20 September 2024English writer Francis Spufford spoke to Kate about his novel Cahokia Jazz on Radio National's Big Weekend of Books in June 2024

Catch up on the best books and discussions about them from the last year. A songwriter, a plaintive guitar, time travel and a motel are all in the mix.Kate and Cassie's review of Willie Vlautin's Horse was originally was originally broadcast on 26 July 2024Cassie and Jonathan Green's appraisal of Kaliane Bradley's Ministry of Time was originally broadcast on 30 May 2024Kate, Kate Mildenhall and Beejay Silcox disagreed over Miranda July's All Fours back on 21 June 2024And bookseller David Gaunt and NZ Festival Director Claire Mabey gave their book recommendations on 26 July 2024

Detectives, tea ladies, journos, psychologists – what's the appeal of the crime series and repeat protagonist? Kate Evans with crime writers Michael Robotham, Tim Ayliffe and Amanda Hampson onstage at the BAD Sydney Crime Festival.GUESTSMichael Robotham, internationally bestselling crime writer, whose books include the Joe O'Loughlin series and the Cyrus Haven series. His latest is Storm Child.Tim Ayliffe, journalist and novelist, whose central character is also a media man. John Bailey is his name – and the latest book in that series is The Wrong Man.Amanda Hampson is an author of many novels, whose crime novels, set in the 1960s, feature tea ladies. Her latest is The Cryptic Clue.CRIME SERIES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSIONIan Rankin, Rebus seriesMichael Connelly, Bosch and McEvoy seriesAnne Cleeves, Vera seriesJanet Evanovitch, Stephanie Plum seriesKerry Greenwood, Phryne Fischer seriesStieg Larsson, Lisbeth Salander seriesPeter Høeg, Miss Smilla's Feeling for SnowStephen King's Holly Gibney seriesPatricia Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta seriesMick Herron's Slow HorsesTom Clancy, worksPeter Temple's Jack Irish seriesJohn Le Carre, worksJack Beaumont, Frenchman seriesWalter Mosley, Easy Rawlins seriesAdrian McKinty, Sean Duffy seriesSulari Gentill, Rowland Sinclair seriesCandice Fox, worksSujata Massey, Perveen Mistry seriesChris Hammer, worksCandice Fox, worksDon Winslow, worksPresenter: Kate EvansProducer: Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineers: John Jacobs + Tegan NichollsExecutive Producer: Rhiannon Brown

The best books of 2024 as selected by Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans, Jason Steger, Lev Grossman and Michaela Kalowski. Keep scrolling for a full (and somewhat idiosyncratic) list.GUESTSJason Steger, literary journalist. Former literary editor at the Age and SMH; and regular guest on ABC TV's Tuesday Book Club.Lev Grossman, bestselling American novelist and journalist — whose books include The Magicians trilogy and (his latest), The Bright Sword (an Arthurian tale).Michaela Kalowski, literary interviewer and the curator of Radio National's Big Weekend of BooksBOOK RECOMMENDATIONS(listed according to the person who made the recommendation)Lev Grossman:Percival Everett, JamesPaolo Bacigalupi, NavolaTana French, The HunterKate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the RookM.T. Anderson, NickedKarl Ove Knausgaard, The Third RealmNick Harkaway, Karla's ChoiceCassie McCullagh:Percival Everett, JamesKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeFrancis Spufford, Cahokia JazzCeridwen Dovey, Only the AstronautsMichaela Kalowski's selection (in categories)Uplifting (subject matter or style):Ailsa Piper, For LifeJulia Baird, Bright Shining International:Percival Everett, JamesFrancis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz Australian:Robbie Arnott, Dusk Lexi Freiman, The Book of AynTim Winton, Juice Catherine McKinnon, To Sing of War James Bradley, Deep Water Julian Borger, I Seek a Kind Person Books in Translation:Greek Lessons by Han KangFantasy:Kelly Link, The Book of LoveJason StegerUplifting/ positive:Colm Tóibín, Long IslandMelanie Cheng, The BurrowKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeOther highlightsNick Harkaway, Karla's ChoiceHelen Garner, The SeasonSamantha Harvey, OrbitalHeather Taylor Johnson, Little BitKate EvansPositive/ Joy or beauty:Niall Williams, Time of the ChildHanif Kureishi, ShatteredDeborah Levy, the Position of SpoonsInternational:Francis Spufford, Cahokia JazzAlan Hollinghurst, Our EveningsRichard Powers, PlaygroundIn translation:Olga Tokarczuk, The EmpusiumAustralian:Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13Dylin Hardcastle, A Language of LimbsCatherine McKinnon, To Sing of WarRobbie Arnott, DuskInga Simpson, The ThinningCREDITSPresenters: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineers: Craig Tilmouth, Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive Producer: Rhiannon Brown

What do Kate and Cassie make of Will Self’s Elaine, a portrait of a frustrated fifties housewife, based on his mother's own diaries. Plus, The City and its Uncertain Walls, the much anticipated new novel by Haruki Murakami with a dreamy library in a parallel universe at its centre; and Rosalia Aguilar Solace’s The Great Library of Tomorrow, another novel set in an alternate world that pays tribute to libraries.BOOKSWill Self, Elaine, Grove PressHaruki Murakami, The City and its Uncertain Walls (translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel), Harvill SeckerRosalia Aguilar Solace, The Great Library of Tomorrow, TextGUESTSJon Page, long-time bookseller. General Manager, Dymocks, Sydney CBD store C.S. Pacat, writer whose books include the Dark Rise and Captive Prince series, and the graphic novel Fence series. OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDStephanie Meyers, Twilight seriesSamantha Harvey, OrbitalAsako Yuzuki, ButterGenevieve Cogman, Invisible LibrariesJorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel; Labyrinths Anne Rice, The Vampire ChroniclesChristine Dwyer Hickey, Our London Lives Colum McCann, Apeirogon; TwistCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Craig Tilmouth, Beth StewartExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A focus on literature in translation with special guests Bora Chung and Anton Hur, both of whom are South Korean authors and translators, who translate each others' work, and write outside the system of state-sanctioned literature. Anton translates from Korean into English; Bora translates Russian and Polish works into Korean. In this episode, they describe each others' work, discuss translation, give recommendations, and respond to fellow South Korean writer Han Kang's Nobel Prize in literature.We also meet Chinese podcaster and translator Yu Shi, who has translated Margaret Atwood and Jeanette Winterson's fiction into Mandarin.GUESTSBora Chung, lecturer, fiction writer and translator from South Korea, who translates from Russian and Polish into Korean. Her books include Cursed Bunny (which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize), Your Utopia and Grocery ListAnton Hur, novelist and translator. He translates from Korean into English. His books are Toward Eternity and No One Told Me Not To. He also translated the global phenomenon I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki by Baek Se-heeYu Shi, Chinese podcaster and translator Bora Chung and Anton Hur were in Australia as guests of the Korean Cultural CentreALL BOOKS MENTIONEDHan Kang, The Vegetarian; Human Acts; Greek Lessons; We Do Not PartFyodor Dostoevsky, worksBruno Jasieński, worksBruno Schulz, worksOlga Tokarczuk, worksStanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, worksWitold Gombrowicz, worksMargaret Atwood, The Testaments; The Handmaid’s TaleJeanette Winterson, Oranges are Not the Only FruitStephen King, worksPaul Auster, worksMishima Yukio, worksCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Peter ClimpsonExecutive producer: Rhiannon Brown

Derided, disparaged and cursed to the heavens, book critics are depicted as literature’s grand villains – as frustrated creators and gleeful wreckers. But what do critics really do? And why are they necessary for a healthy literary ecosystem? James Jiang, Beejay Silcox and Christos Tsiolkas join Kate and Cassie as part of a panel discussion at Canberra Writers' Festival - five Aussie critics - making the case for criticism.

At 2025 Adelaide Writers’ Week, Irish author Niall Williams joins Kate Evans to talk Faha, fiction, and Time of the Child—his latest novel. Also a playwright and screenwriter, Williams celebrates the film release of Four Letters of Love, and teams up with Kate, Cassie, Charlotte Mendelsohn, and Brian Castro for a lively Bookshelf special on books, reading, and influence.

The Dressmaker’s backstory, a universe of stars to expand our ideas about nature writing, and fragments and tricks galore: Kate and Cassie read Inga Simpson’s The Thinning, Brian Castro’s Chinese Postman and Rosalie Ham’s Molly with guests Ella Jeffery and Amanda HampsonBOOKSInga Simpson, The Thinning, HachetteBrian Castro, Chinese Postman, GiramondoRosalie Ham, Molly, PicadorGUESTSDr Ella Jeffery, poet and lecturer in Creative Writing at Griffith University, Qld; ABC Radio National ‘Top 5 Arts’ candidate; currently examining insecure housing as a theme in 21st-century literatureAmanda Hampson, novelist whose latest series feature tea ladies in 1960s Sydney . . . solving crime. The first, The Tea Ladies, won the 2024 Danger Award for Best Crime Novel. The second is The Cryptic Clue; and the third – The Deadly Dispute – will be published in April 2025. There will be five in the series.Other books mentioned:Patricia Wrightson, The Nargun and the StarsJohn Marsden, Tomorrow when the War BeganJames Bradley, Deep Water: The World in the OceanRichard Powers, PlaygroundRobert C. O’Brien, Z for ZachariahCormac McCarthy, The Road Miles Franklin, My Brilliant CareerA B Facey, A Fortunate LifeMarcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural LifeRuth Park, works Helen Garner, WorksJohn Birmingham, He Died with a Felafel in his HandAndrew McGahan, worksBernadette Brennan, Brain Castro’s Fiction: The Seductive Play of LanguageCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan, Peter Climpson, Emrys CroninExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

The latest from double Miles Franklin Award winner, Michelle de Kretser, Theory and Practice, a novel that evokes the 1980s and Virginia Woolf. Scottish writer Graeme Macrae Burnet plays a French literary game in A Case of Matricide; and summer days under the light of a strange star in Norway in Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The Third Realm.BOOKSGraeme Macrae Burnet, A Case of Matricide, TextMichelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice, TextKarl Ove Knausgaard, The Third Realm, (Translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken), Harvill SeckerGUESTSClare Monagle, Professor of Mediaeval History, Macquarie University – who specialises in the history of ideas, and theology in the Middle AgesMark Mordue, freelance music writer and poet whose latest book is the biography, Boy on Fire - The Young Nick Cave. He is also co-director of the Addi Road Writers Festival OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Daphne du Maurier, RebeccaHelen Garner, worksC.J. Sansom, Shardlake seriesUmberto Eco, The Name of the Rose Jack Gilbert, Collected PoemsJuno Gemes, Until Justice Comes: Fifty Years of the Movement for Indigenous Rights CREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls, Ann Marie de BettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie read Melanie Cheng’s The Burrow, a pandemic-set novella that details the healing powers of a pet rabbit for a family dealing with tragedy. Plus, Native American writer Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red, a beautifully crafted novel about a love triangle and everyday life in a farming community in North Dakota, and the latest from Yuwaalaraay storyteller Nardi Simpson, The Belburd, a poetic montage of life and death.BOOKS Melanie Cheng, The Burrow, Text Louise Erdrich, The Mighty Red, Corsair Nardi Simpson, The Belburd, Hachette GUESTS Steph Harmon, Culture Editor, The Guardian Tom Wright, theatre writer and adaptor; Associate Director, Belvoir Theatre OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDNardi Simpson, Song of the CrocodileEmeric Pressburger, The Glass PearlsClaire Kilroy, Soldier SailorAlan Murrin, The Coast Road Dan Hogan, Secret Third Thing​CREDITPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Craig Tilmouth, Beth StewartExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Twins, pumas and a colonial western in Robbie Arnott’s Dusk; gay lives, racial politics, class, theatre and exquisite writing, in Alan Hollinghurst’s Our Evenings; and writing between the myths, rumours and religious speculation of a mediaeval woman pope in Emily Maguire's Rapture.BOOKSRobbie Arnott, Dusk, PicadorAlan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings, PicadorEmily Maguire, Rapture, Allen & UnwinGUESTSHuw Griffiths, Associate Professor of English Literature, University of Sydney – with a special interest in Shakespeare and contemporary gay literature. His books include Disavowing Authority in the Shakespeare Classroom and Shakespeare’s Body Parts: Figuring Sovereignty in the History PlaysMeredith Lake, presents Soul Search on ABC Radio National as well as Mornings on ABC Alice Springs. She is also a historian of religion, whose latest book is The Bible in Australia: A Cultural History OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJon Ransom, The GallopersMax Porter, worksCynan Jones, worksArelhekenhe Angkentye - Women’s Talk, Poems of Lyapirtneme from Arrernte Women in Central AustraliaKim Mahood, Craft for a Dry Lake; Position Doubtful; Wandering with IntentCREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Huberman, Ann-Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

The Bookshelf is a program for dedicated readers and those who wished they read more.

Many people have been awaiting the release of Intermezzo, the latest book by Irish writer Sally Rooney, which explores love, grief, growing up, playing chess, understanding and misunderstanding family...Kate and Cassie begin the show with this one, with additional input from millennial author Madeleine Gray. Also, under the sea with Richard Powers in his new novel Playground; and searching the American South with Gayl Jones in The Unicorn Woman, with guidance from historian Ethan Blue.BOOKSSally Rooney, Intermezzo, FaberRichard Powers, Playground, Hutchinson HeinemannGayl Jones, The Unicorn Woman, ViragoGUESTSMadeleine Gray, critic and writer whose debut novel, Green Dot, was published in 2023 and is now being adapted for screen. Winner of the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year at the 2024 ABIAsEthan Blue, Associate Professor of History at the University of W.A., where he specialises in histories of punishment, migration and incarceration. Author of The Deportation Express: A History of America through Forced Removal https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-deportation-express/hardcoverOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDBonnie Garmus, Lessons in ChemistryReginald Rose, Twelve Angry MenMiriam Toews, Women TalkingJulia Langbein, American MermaidRosemarie Garland-Thomson, Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body Neil Stephenson, Termination ShockEleanor Catton. Birnam WoodZora Neal Hurston, There Eyes are Watching GodLangston Hughes, worksW.E.B. Du Bois, worksRichard Wright, worksElla Baxter, Woo WooAnne Carson, Eros the BittersweetPercival Everett, JamesIvan Chaar Lopez, The Cybernetic Border: Drones, Technology, and IntrusionFelicity Amaya Schaeffer, Unsettled Borders: The Militarized Science of Surveillance on Sacred Indigenous LandsFrederick Jamieson, The Political UnconsciousMargaret Drabble, worksThomas Hardy, worksCREDITSCREDITSPresenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullaghProducer: Kate Evans, Sarah CorbettSound engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan, Simon BranthwaiteExecutive producer: Rhiannon Brown