The Bookshelf

Novels from France, Poland and India – with politics, sanatoriums, automata and horror in the mix too. Kate and Cassie read French writer (and provocateur) Michel Houellebecq’s Annihilation (but can they get to the end of the book? There’s the question); while Polish reader and publicist Anna O’Grady joins them to discuss Nobel Prize winning writer Olga Tokarczuk’s The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story; and academic, novelist and memoirist Kári Gislason joins them to review Tania James’ Loot.BOOKSMichel Houellebecq, Annihilation, PicadorOlga Tokarczuk, The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story, TextTania James, Loot, Harvill Secker GUESTSAnna O’Grady, Publicity Director, Simon & Schuster. Born in Poland, both her parents and grandparents were connected with the Polish publishing industryKári Gislason, Professor in Creative Writing & Literary Studies, Queensland University of Technology. His books include The Promise of Iceland, the novel The Sorrow Stone and Saga Land (co-authored with Richard Fidler). His latest is the memoir Running with PiratesOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDThomas Mann, The Magic MountainSamantha Harvey, OrbitalCarys Davis, ClearJennifer Croft, The Extinction of Irena ReyDebra Dank, We Come With This PlaceTegan Bennett Daylight, The DetailsGerald Durrell, My Family and Other AnimalsKarl Over Knausgaard, My Struggle seriesAnna Jacobson, How to Knit a HumanCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Harvey O'Sullivan + Simon BranthwaiteExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Sex parties, corruption and dark dark deeds in not-quite-Nigeria, in Akwaeke Emezi’s Little Rot; aspiration, real estate and misguided philanthropists in New York, in Rumaan Alam’s Entitlement, and ordinary people living extraordinary lives, and all those untold stories, in Elizabeth Strout’s Tell Me Everything. GUESTSGretchen Shirm, critic and writer whose books include the short story collection Having Cried Wolf and the novels Where the Light Falls and The Crying Room.Stephen Long, Senior Fellow at the independent policy research organisation, The Australia Institute. Before that he was a senior reporter for the ABC’s investigative journalism program, Four Corners, as economics correspondent and national finance correspondent.BOOKSAkwaeke Emezi, Little Rot, Faber Rumaan Alam, Entitlement, Riverhead Books Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything, Viking Penguin OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDBarbara Kingsolver, Demon CopperheadTaffy Brodesser-Akner , Long Island CompromisePorochista Khakpour, TehrangelesAndrew O'Hagan, Caledonian RoadAlice Robinson, If You GoSusie Boyt, Love and MissedPaul Lynch, Prophet SongJoseph Stiglitz, The Road to Freedom - Economics and the Good Society CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls + Simon BranthwaiteExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A peripatetic hotel, a paddle steamer of dreams and a dastardly law firm, in Jock Serong’s Cherrywood; one of the 20th century’s top 10 all-star ‘leading’ murderers, and what it might mean to be close to him, in Malcolm Knox’s The First Friend; and spies, caves, lies and Neanderthals in Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake. BOOKS Malcolm Knox, The First Friend, Allen & Unwin Jock Serong, Cherrywood, Fourth Estate Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake, Jonathan Cape GUESTS Roanna Gonsalves, creative writing academic, writer whose books include the short story collection The Permanent Resident Tom Wright, theatre writer and adapter; artistic associate, the Belvoir Theatre OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDPeter Carey, worksJoseph Conrad, Heart of DarknessJames Bradley, Ghost SpeciesJon Baptiste del Amo, Son of ManMichelle de Kretser, Theory and PracticeWilliam Dalrymple, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the WorldJosé Saramago, The Elephant's JourneyAdalbert Stifter, The BachelorsJonathan Raban, Soft CityCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Craig Tilmouth + Ann-Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

An overview of the books of the year so far, what’s coming up for the rest of the year, and the 'to be read' book pile of regret as Kate and Cassie confess all with bookseller Jon Page and literary interviewer and editor of The Monthly Michael Williams.BOOKS MENTIONED BY CASSIEPercival Everett, JamesCeridwen Dovey, Only the AstronautsIain Ryan, The StripGabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeFrancis Spufford, Cahokia JazzElizabeth Strout, Tell Me EverythingRobbie Arnott, worksTim Winton, JuiceBOOKS MENTIONED BY JON PAGESarah J. Maas, Court of Thorns seriesRebecca Yarros, The Empyrean seriesTéa Obreht, The MorningsideMurray Middleton, No Church in the WildGarry Disher, worksJane Harper, The DryChris Hammer, worksChristian White, worksHayley Scrivenor, worksMichael Robotham, worksPeter Temple, worksBarbara Kingsolver, worksHaruki Murakami, worksNagi, Recipe Tin Eats cookbooksJock Serong, CherrywoodElizabeth Strout, Tell Me EverythingTim Winton, JuiceCormac McCarthy, The RoadKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeBOOKS MENTIONED BY KATEFrancis Spufford, Cahokia JazzRodney Hall, VortexDylin Hardcastle, A Language of LimbsFiona McFarlane, Highway 13Catherine McKinnon, To Sing of WarAndrew O'Hagan, Caledonian RoadOlga Tokarczuk, The EmpusiumLouise Erdrich, The Mighty RedJames McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery StoreBOOKS MENTIONED BY MICHAEL WILLIAMSMelissa Lucashenko, EdenglassieTony Birch, Women and ChildrenKate Grenville, Dolly MaunderJonathan Lethem, Brooklyn Crime NovelRebecca Makkai, The Great BelieversNam Le, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese PoemRichard Osman, We Solve Murders seriesSally Rooney, IntermezzoHelen Garner, The SeasonMelanie Cheng, The BurrowAn overview of the books of the year so far, what’s coming up for the rest of the year, and the 'to be read' book pile of regret as Kate and Cassie confess all with bookseller Jon Page and literary interviewer and editor of The Monthly Michael Williams.BOOKS MENTIONED BY CASSIEPercival Everett, JamesCeridwen Dovey, Only the AstronautsIain Ryan, The StripGabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Kaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeFrancis Spufford, Cahokia JazzElizabeth Strout, Tell Me EverythingRobbie Arnott, DuskTim Winton, JuiceBOOKS MENTIONED BY JON PAGESarah J. Maas, Court of Thorns seriesRebecca Yarros, The Empyrean seriesJonathan Lethem, Brooklyn Crime NovelTéa Obreht, The MorningsideMurray Middleton, No Church in the WildGarry Disher, worksJane Harper, The DryChris Hammer, worksChristian White, worksHayley Scrivenor, worksMichael Robotham, worksPeter Temple, worksBarbara Kingsolver, worksHaruki Murakami, worksNagi Maehashi, Recipe Tin Eats seriesJock Serong, CherrywoodElizabeth Strout, Tell Me EverythingTim Winton, JuiceCormac McCarthy, The RoadKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeBOOKS MENTIONED BY KATEFrancis Spufford, Cahokia JazzDylin Hardcastle, A Language of LimbsFiona McFarlane, Highway 13Catherine McKinnon, To Sing of WarAndrew O'Hagan, Caledonian RoadOlga Tokarczuk, The EmpusiumLouise Erdrich, The Mighty RedJames McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery StoreBOOKS MENTIONED BY MICHAEL WILLIAMSMelissa Lucashenko, EdenglassieTony Birch, Women and ChildrenKate Grenville, Restless Dolly MaunderJonathan Lethem, Brooklyn Crime NovelRebecca Makkai, The Great BelieversNam Le, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese PoemRichard Osman, We Solve Murders seriesSally Rooney, IntermezzoHelen Garner, The SeasonMelanie Cheng, The BurrowCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Beth Stewart + Emrys CroninExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Stories of Northern Soul, pigs trotters in performance art and politics in the subtropical 1950s come to life in three new works of fiction including Vortex, the new novel from 88 year old Rodney Hall, twice winner of the Miles Franklin Award; Woo Woo, by another Australian writer, Ella Baxter; and Rare Singles, the latest from English writer and journalist Benjamin Myers.BOOKSRodney Hall, Vortex, PicadorElla Baxter, Woo Woo, Allen & UnwinBenjamin Myers, Rare Singles, BloomsburyGUESTSGretchen Shirm, critic, novelist and teacher of creative writing. Her books include Having Cried Wolf, Where the Light Falls and The Crying Room. (Her book Out of the Woods will be published next year)Stuart Coupe, music writer and promoter. His books include Roadies: The Secret History of Australian Rock N Roll; biographies of Paul Kelly, Tex Perkins and Michael Gudinski; and the memoir, Shake Some Action. (He is currently writing a history of the Australian entertainment industry and its links to organised crime)OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJonathan Lethem, worksNick Hornsby, worksWalter Moseley, worksÉdouard Louis, Change; The End of EddyKate Jennings, Snake Bud Smith, TeenagerWilly Vlautin, The HorseCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan NichollsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie read Rita Bullwinkle's Headshot, a luminous debut that follows eight teenage girl boxers in Reno, Nevada. Crime writer Michael Robotham discusses Chris Whitaker’s All the Colours of the Dark – a story with a one-eyed boy, missing children, and a character who may or may not be an hallucination, and a nod to True Crime and Australia’s dark history in Fiona McFarlane’s Highway 13, with critic Beejay Silcox.BOOKSRita Bullwinkel, Headshot, DB OriginalsFiona McFarlane, Highway 13, Allen & UnwinChris Whitaker, All the Colours of the Dark, OrionGUESTSBeejay Silcox, critic, essayist and director of the Canberra Writers FestivalMichael Robotham, internationally bestselling crime writer whose books include the Joe O’Loughlin series and the Cyrus Haven series. His latest is Storm ChildOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDStephen King, worksDavid Owen Kelly, Host CityRebecca Makkai, The Great BelieversRodney Hall, VortexMichael Winkler, GrimmishJ.P. Pomare, Seventeen Years LaterColm Tóibín, Long IslandCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Beth Stewart + Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

What does the 2024 Miles Franklin shortlist tell us about our shared imagination? Bernadette Brennan and Geordie Williamson join Kate and Cassie to examine the winner, Alexis Wright's epic novel Praiseworthy, and all the finalists for Australia’s most prestigious literary prize.BOOKSWINNER:Alexis Wright, Praiseworthy (Giramondo)REST OF SHORTLIST:Hossein Asgari, Only Sound Remains (Puncher & Wattmann)Jen Craig, Wall (Puncher & Wattmann)André Dao, Anam (Hamish Hamilton)Gregory Day, The Bell of the World (Transit Lounge)Sanya Rushdi, Hospital, (Giramondo)GUESTSBernadette Brennan, literary scholar, biographer, and former judge of the Miles FranklinGeordie Williamson, literary critic and publisherCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls and Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Bruce Isaacs on weird fiction novelist China Mievelle's The Book of Elsewhere, a genre-bending epic written in collaboration with Hollywood star Keanu Reeves. Plus, guest critic Ailsa Piper on The Echoes by Miles Franklin winning author Evie Wyld...set between London and rural Australia it's part love story, part ghost story, and Kate and Cassie discuss Choice by Booker-shortlisted author Neel Mukherjee, a bleak, powerful and viciously funny novel about a publisher at war with his industry and himself. BOOKSNeel Mukherjee, Choice, Atlantic BooksEvie Wyld, The Echoes, VintageKeanu Reeves & China Miéville, The Book of Elsewhere, Del ReyGUESTSAilsa Piper, writer and performer whose latest book is For Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying – and FlyingBruce Isaacs, Associate Prof of Film Studies at the University of Sydney; and co-host of the podcast Film Versus FilmOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDSarah Winman, Still LifeEdna O'Brien, Girls in Their Married BlissThomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49Alfred Bester, The Stars My DestinationTed Chiang, Stories of Your Life and OthersCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls and Nathan TurnbullExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Award-winning U.S. author Willy Vlautin's The Horse is his poignant new novel about the life of a lonely country musician in Nevada and his chance encounter with a half blind horse. Plus, bookseller David Gaunt reviews Ammar Kalia's A Person Is a Prayer, one family's story of migration from Kenya and India to the UK; and Wellington based critic and curator Claire Mabey looks at Laurence Fearnley's At The Grand Glacier Hotel, which follows a stormy family holiday set on New Zealand's South Island.BOOKSWilly Vlautin, The Horse, FaberAmmar Kalia, A Person is a Prayer, Oldcastle BooksLaurence Fearnley, At the Grand Glacier Hotel, PenguinGUESTSDavid Gaunt, co-owner, Gleebooks, Sydney – independent bookshop [and one of the founding board members of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation]Claire Mabey, NZ based books editor and critic; founder of Verb Wellington readers and writers festival, co-curator of the writers program at the Aotearoa Festival of the Arts – and she has just written her first novel for children, The Raven’s Eye RunawaysOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDPatrick O'Brian, Aubrey–Maturin seriesAnita Brookner, Hotel du LacEvie Wyld, The EchoesKatherine Rundell, Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John DonneSinead Gleeson, HagstoneCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Russell StapletonExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate Evans and Jonathan Green with guests Pip Williams and Sarah Bailey read Dylin Hardcastle's A Language of Limbs, Lev Grossman's The Bright Sword, Valeria Usala's A Woman in Sardinia and Jean-Baptiste del Amo's The Son of Man. Australian fiction, novels in translation, secrets and violence, cities and regions, queer love and emotional truths, and a hint of fantasy.BOOKSDylin Hardcastle, A Language of Limbs, PicadorLev Grossman, The Bright Sword, Del RayValeria Usala, A Woman in Sardinia (trans from the Italian by Katherine Gregor), TextJean-Baptiste del Amo, The Son of Man (trans from the French by Frank Wynne), TextGUESTSPip Williams, writer whose novels include The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder of Jericho [Adelaide studios]Sarah Bailey, crime writer whose books include The Dark Lake, The Housemate and – her latest, released in February this year – Body of Lies [Melb studios]OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED:Shubnam Khan, The Djinn Waits 100 YearsItalo Calvino, If On a Winter's Night a TravellerJ P Pomare, Seventeen Years LaterFrederick Backman's BeartownArthuriads (an incomplete list)Thomas Mallory, Le Morte D'ArthurMary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (The Crystal Cave etc)T H White's Once and Future King + seriesMarion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of AvalonMark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtGuy Gavriel Kay, Fionavar Tapestry/ The Darkest Road trilogyM K Hume's Merlin Emrys trilogyVictoria Gosling, Bliss and BlunderSophie Keetch, Morgan is my NameCREDITS• Presenter, Kate Evans + Jonathan Green• Producer, Kate Evans + James Pattison• Sound engineer, Roi Huberman + Simon Branthwaite• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Money, kidnapping, reality TV, politics, corruption, families, love, and betrayal in all three books on this edition of The Bookshelf. Kate Evans and Jonathan Green, with guests Farz Edraki and Johan Gabrielsson, read Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Long Island Compromise, Porochistaa Khakpour's Tehrangeles and Patrick Holland's Oblivion. Awfully rich, richly awful.BOOKSTaffy Brodesser-Akner, Long Island Compromise, WildfirePorochistaa Khakpour, Tehrangeles: A Novel, Ultimo PressPatrick Holland, Oblivion, Transit LoungeGUESTSFarz Edraki, Iranian-Australian writer and producer. Presenter of the ABC audio series, 'Days Like These'Johan Gabrielsson, Swedish-born, Sydney-based filmmaker – and Bookshelf regularOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJonathan Franzen, The CorrectionsMarcel Proust, In Search of Lost TimeHossein Asgari, Only Sound RemainsLouisa May Alcott, Little WomenTaffy Brodesser-Akner, Fleishman is in TroubleKaveh Akbar, Martyr!James Joyce, UlyssesGraham Greene, The Quiet AmericanGraham Greene, A Burnt-Out CaseClaire Keegan, Walk the Blue FieldsClaire Keegan, AntarcticaJames Salter, worksJonathan Franzen, worksPhilip Roth, worksMiranda July, All FoursClive James, Poetry NotebookNiklas Turner Olovzon, Iceberg

The band is back together! Join Cassie and Kate as they head to an island off North America in Julia Phillips’ Bear, plus two Australian novels – Jessie Tu’s The Honeyeater and Finegan Kruckemeyer’s The End and Everything Before It.BOOKSJulia Phillips, Bear, ScribeJessie Tu, The Honeyeater, Allen & UnwinFinegan Kruckemeyer, The End and Everything Before It, TextGUESTSTom Wright, theatre writer and literary adaptor; Artistic Associate at Belvoir TheatreNicole Abadee, books writer for the Good Weekend, interviewer at festivals, and Board Member, Indigenous Literacy Foundation OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJulia Phillips, Disappearing EarthJessie Tu, A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous ThingBen Okri, The Freedom ArtistRobbie Arnott, Limberlost; The Rain HeronWillem Frederik Hermans, Beyond Sleep Catherine Newman, Sandwich; We All Want Impossible ThingsClare Lombardo, Same as it Ever Was​CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Russell Stapleton + Beth StewartExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate Evans is joined by guest host Richard Aedy to discuss Catherine McKinnon's To Sing of War, a novel of love, war and friendship. Plus, two debut novels... Big Time by Jordan Prosser, set in a not-too-distant future Australia where pop music is propaganda, and Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna, set during a heatwave in London as tensions and secrets come to a head over one life-changing weekend.BOOKSCatherine McKinnon, To Sing of War, Fourth EstateJordan Prosser, Big Time, UQPOisín McKenna, Evenings and Weekends, Fourth EstateGUESTSMark Mordue, poet and music writer/ rock journalist. His books include Boy on Fire – the Young Nick Cave, and the poetry collection Darlinghurst Funeral Rites. He’s also co artistic director of the Addison Road Writers Festival in SydneyPatrick Carey, writer and digital producer; manages content at the Sydney Theatre CompanyOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDPaul Lynch, Prophet SongCatherine McKinnon, StorylandKai Bird and Martin J Sherwin, American PrometheusGeorge Orwell, 1984Charles Dickens, Bleak HouseVirginia Woolf, Mrs DallowayAndrew O'Hagan, Caledonian RoadJon Fosse, Aliss at the Fire; SeptologyKarl Ove Knausgaard, The Wolves of Eternity J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the RyeMischa Berlinski, Fieldwork Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers; The Mars RoomEric Newby, A Short Walk in the Hindu KushCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans + Richard AedyProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Nathan Turnbull + Beth StewartExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate Evans returns with guest reviewers to discuss Bruce Pascoe’s Imperial Harvest, an epic of brutality and imperialism; along with Jenny Ackland’s Hurdy Gurdy, a circus saga set in a near-future Australia; and Miranda July’s All Fours, which looks at one woman's quest for a very unique kind of freedom.BOOKSBruce Pascoe, Imperial Harvest, Melbourne BooksJenny Ackland, Hurdy Gurdy, Allen & UnwinMiranda July, All Fours, CanongateGUESTSBeejay Silcox, writer, critic and literary judge. Artistic Director, Canberra Writers Festival; chair of the Stella Prize 2024Kate Mildenhall, writer whose latest novel is The Hummingbird EffectOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDMargaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale; Oryx and CrakeJane McGonigal, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything Emily St John Mandel, Station ElevenClaire G. Coleman, Terra NulliusAlexis Wright, PraiseworthyCharlotte Wood, The Natural Way of ThingsNaomi Alderman, The PowerLisa Taddeo, Three WomenDavid Owen Kelly, Host CityScott Alexander Howard, The Other ValleyCatherine McKinnon, To Sing of WarRichard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North Sharlene Allsopp, The Great UndoingCREDITSPresenter, Kate EvansProducer, Kate Evans + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Russell Stapleton + Beth StewartExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cassie and Kate discuss Jenny Erpenbecks' Kairos (winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize) with critic Declan Fry - originally broadcast August 2023 when the book was first published; and interviews with writers A K Blakemore (The Glutton), Daniel Mason (North Woods) and Gretchen Shirm (The Crying Room) by Kate Evans.BOOKSJenny Erpenbeck, Kairos, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann, GrantaA K Blakemore, The Glutton, GrantaDaniel Mason, North Woods, John MurrayGretchen Shirm, The Crying Room, Transit Lounge.GUESTSDeclan Fry, poet, essayist and critic – who regularly reviews for the Age/ SMH, the Guardian and ABC Arts online.A K Blakemore, English poet and writer whose novels are The Manningtree Witches and The GluttonDaniel Mason, American writer, physician and academic, whose novels include The Piano Tuner, The Winter Soldier, A Registry of my Passage Upon the Earth and North WoodsGretchen Shirm, Australian essayist, critic, novelist and shortstory writer whose books are Having Cried Wolf, Where the Light Falls and The Crying RoomCREDITSPresenter/ Producer: Kate EvansSound Engineer: Ann-Marie De BettencorExecutive Producer: Rhiannon Brown

Cassie and Tom Wright read The Parade by Rachel Cusk, her first since 2018’s Kudos, the final part of the acclaimed Outline trilogy. Once again, Cusk questions the very nature of truth.James Ley joins to discuss Ceridwen Dovey’s new collection of short stories, Only the Astronauts, which takes us off-planet and into the “lives” of the objects that humans have sent into space.Gretchen Shirm reviews Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti, constructed of sentences culled from 10 years of her journal writing and arranged, yes, alphabetically.GUESTSGretchen Shirm, critic and writer whose books include the short story collection Having Cried Wolf and the novels Where the Light Falls and The Crying RoomJames Ley, critic and literary judge. Deputy Books and Ideas Editor at The Conversation; former editor, Sydney Review of Books; one of the judges of the Miles Franklin Literary AwardBOOKSRachel Cusk, Parade (Allen and Unwin)Ceridwen Dovey, Only the Astronauts (Penguin)Sheila Heti, Alphabetical Diaries (Allen and Unwin)OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJohn Milton, Paradise Lost William S. Burroughs, worksVladimir Sorokin, worksSalmon Rushdie, KnifeAdele Dumont, The PullingCREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh + Tom WrightProducer, Cassie McCullagh + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Simon Branthwaite + Beth SpencerExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cassie and Jonathan Green review The Ministry of Time by debut British-Cambodian novelist Kaliane Bradley, a heads up, it's brilliant.Michael Brissenden reviews Crooked Seeds by South African writer Karen Jennings, a crime mystery set in Cape Town.Nicole Abadee looks at The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry, a story that takes us to 1891 and a grim winter in a small mining town of immigrant Irish workers in the Rocky Mountains. BOOKSThe Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley (Hachette)Crooked Seeds, Karen Jennings (Text)The Heart in Winter, Kevin Barry (Allen and Unwin)GUESTSNicole Abadee, books writer, podcaster and festival moderator who regularly interviews at writers festivals and literary events. Contributor to Good Weekend magazineMichael Brissenden, award-winning journalist and author. His latest book is a crime thriller novel called SmokeOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDCormac McCarthy, worksPaul Lynch, worksSebastian Barry, workJoseph O'Connor, works Malcolm Knox, The First FriendClaire Messud, This Strange Eventful HistoryCREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh + Jonathan GreenProducer, Cassie McCullagh + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Huberman + Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cassie and Claire Nichols team up on stage at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival to grill some huge literary stars on their reading lives: Irish Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch, U.S. bestseller Celeste Ng, and Australia’s Christos Tsoilkas.GUESTSPaul Lynch, internationally acclaimed, prize-winning author of five novels including the 2023 Booker Prize Winner Prophet SongCeleste Ng, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You, Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing HeartsChristos Tsiolkas, author of eight novels, including the international bestseller The Slap. His latest is The In-BetweenBOOKS AND WRITERS MENTIONEDColm Tóibín, worksGustave Flaubert, worksGraham Greene, worksMarcel Proust, worksVirginia Woolf, works E.M. Forster, worksFlannery O'Connor, worksJoseph Conrad, TyphoonPatrick White, worksFyodor Dostoevsky, The Possessed; Crime and Punishment; The Brothers KaramazovLeo Tolstoy, Anna KareninaAlexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte CristoVladimir Nabokov, worksRobbie Arnott, LimberlostJohn Steinbeck, The BreakfastSaul Bellow, HerzogToni Morrison, The Bluest EyeWilliam Faulkner, worksCharles Dickens, worksWilliam Shakespeare, worksMarguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of HadrianStendahl, The Red and the BlackHannah Kent, DevotionPeter Polites, God Forgets About the PoorChristos also mentioned the film criticism of Pauline Kael)CREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh + Claire NicholsProducer, Cassie McCullagh + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Beth Stewart + David Le MayExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cassie and Jonathan Green review Safe Haven by 2023 Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran, Table For Two by Amor Towles (author of A Gentleman In Moscow), and Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan of Crazy Rich Asians fame.BOOKSSafe Haven, Shankari Chandran (Ultimo Press)Lies and Weddings, Kevin Kwan (Penguin)Table for Two, Amor Towles (Penguin)GUESTSJennifer Wong, Chinese-Australian writer and comedian. She’s the presenter of Chopsticks or Fork?, a six-part AACTA-nominated ABC series on Chinese restaurants in regional AustraliaSam Twyford-Moore, writer and cultural historian whose latest book is Castmates: Australian actors in Hollywood and at HomeOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDRoald Dahl, worksJohn Cheever, worksO Henry, worksPaul Auster, worksKirstin Chen, CounterfeitGrace D. Li, Portrait of a ThiefGeoff Dyer, The Ongoing MomentCREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh + Jonathan GreenProducer, Cassie McCullagh + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Isabella Tropiano + Simon BranthwaiteExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cassie and guest host Tom Wright discuss Claire Messud's This Strange Eventful History, about a family torn apart by war, geography, politics and religion, over the course of three generations. Plus, guests Claire Mabey and Shannon Burns review new fiction from Sarah Perry and Alan Murrin.BOOKSThis Strange Eventful History, Claire Messud (Hachette)Enlightenment, Sarah Perry (Penguin)The Coast Road, Alan Murrin (Bloomsbury)GUESTSShannon Burns, writer, critic, and member of The JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice at the University of Adelaide. His book Childhood: A Memoir is published by Text and has just been shortlisted for the NSW Premiers' Literary Awards Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-FictionClaire Mabey, Founder of Verb Wellington and books editor at The Spinoff (NZ online culture and news site). Her first book, a middle grade novel called The Raven's Eye Runaways will be published in JulyOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDEdna O'Brien, Byron in LoveJavier Marías, A Heart So WhiteNicholas John Turner, Let the Boys PlayLauren Groff, The Vaster WildsLouise Wallace, AshMax Porter, worksCREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh + Tom WrightProducer, Cassie McCullagh + Sarah Corbett + Barbara HeggenSound engineer, Hamish Camilleri + Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cassie and Jonathan Green discuss Colm Tóibín's eagerly awaited new novel Long Island. Star reviewers Madeleine Gray and Benjamin Law discuss buzzy new fiction from Siang Lu (Ghost Cities), and Rachel Khong (Real Americans). BOOKSLong Island, Colm Toibin (Pan Macmillan)Ghost Cities, Siang Lu (UQP)Real Americans, Rachel Khong (Penguin)GUESTSBenjamin Law, writer, columnist, screenwriter. His work includes The Family Law and WellmaniaMadeleine Gray, arts writer, critic and PhD candidate in English Literature. Her debut novel is Green Dot (A&U)OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDHaruki Murakami, worksSarah Firth, Eventually Everything ConnectsHelen Garner, worksJoan Didion, worksDylin Hardcastle, A Language of LimbsJessie Tu, The HoneyeaterJessica Au, Cold Enough For SnowMadison Godfrey, Dress RehearsalsCREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh + Jonathan GreenProducer, Cassie McCullagh + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Craig Tilmouth + Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Cassie and Jonathan Green look at Until August, the lost novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and guest reviewers Hannah Kent and Roanna Gonsalves discuss powerful new fiction out of Iceland and the UK.

Cassie and guest host Beejay Silcox read new work by One Day sensation David Nicholls.

Cassie, Tom Wright and guests look at The End of the Morning, the never-before-published novel by the Australian writer Charmian Clift, who died in 1969. Plus, The Alternatives by Ireland’s Caoilinn Hughes, and Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, about the consequences of colonisation and the forced assimilation of Native Americans, which is already generating high praise.BOOKSThe End of the Morning, Charmian Clift (New South)Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange (Penguin Random House)The Alternatives, Caoilinn Hughes (A&U)GUESTSNicole Abadee, Books writer, podcaster and festival moderator who regularly interviews at writers festivals and literary events. Contributor to Good Weekend magazine. Paul Daley, Walkley award-winning columnist for The Guardian who regularly writes on Indigenous affairs. He is also a novelist, short story writer, essayist and playwright. His latest novel is JesustownOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDGeroge Johnston, Meredith TrilogyRandolph Stow, The Merry-Go-Round in the SeaHal Porter, The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony Sumner Locke Elliott, Careful He Might Hear YouHazzard and Harrower (Edited by Brigitta Olubas, Susan Wyndham)Shankari Chandran, Safe Haven James Bradley, Deep WaterHenry Handel Richardson, Maurice GuestIvy Compton-Burnett, The Present and the PastCREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh + Tom WrightProducer, Cassie McCullagh + Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Craig Tilmouth + Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Michaela Kalowski and Cassie look at The Work by Bri Lee, plus new novels from Call Me By Your Name author Andre Aciman, and a work of speculative fiction by Mykaela Saunders.

Cassie and guest host Tom Wright take a look at the exceptional new novel from award-winning Scottish writer Andrew O'Hagan, plus, a genre bending mystery from Stuart Turton and a clever new thriller set in Edinburgh.

Cassie and Jonathan read Orange Prize winner Téa Obreht’s The Morningside, a dystopian coming-of-age story, plus, a Japanese bestseller and a new post-war literary crime series.

Reimagining Huckleberry Finn, alienation and a talking fox in this edition of The Bookshelf.

Cassie and Jonathan Green review three new Australian novels with guest star Claire Nichols and novelist Graham Akhurst.

Cassie and co-host Tom Wright review two new Australian novels, and from across the ‘Dutch',

Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green review a literary project edited by Margaret Atwood, and new work by Gail Jones and Jennifer Croft.

Cassie and guest host (and playwright) Tom Wright review three new works of fiction.

Mysteries and twists galore in new work by Kemper Donovan and best-selling British-Cypriot author Alex Michaelides; and award-winning Irish novelist Mike McCormack's follow up to Solar Bones.

Cassie McCullagh and Michaela Kalowski review new novels including Francis Spufford's Cahokia Jazz, Hisham Matar's My Friends and Kiley Reid's Come and Get It.

The Bookshelf is back for 2024 reviewing the latest from Katherena Vermette, Dolly Alderton and Jonathan Lethem.

Reclaiming and retelling Australian history, where time is both stilled and circular, in Melissa Lucashenko's Edenglassie; and commenting on the past through alternative futures, in Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Chain-Gang All-Stars, Catherine Lacey's Biography of X and Carole Hailey's The Silence Project.

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

Restoration political satire, Mediaeval rumour, eco-terrorism in New Zealand and a young man with a mixtape full of angst. Reading Max Porter's Shy, Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood, Robyn Cadwallader's The Fire and the Rose with guests Clare Mabey and Clare Monagle; and an introduction to the writing of Aphra Behn from novelist Karen Brooks (The Escapades of Tribulation Johnson)

Looking for books to rock you back on your heels? You've come to the right place. Kate and Cassie read Deborah Levy's August Blue, Colson Whitehead's Crook Manifesto, Elizabeth McCracken's The Hero of this Book and Claire Kilroy's Soldier Sailor, with Miles Merrill, Bernadette Brennan, Jonathan Green and Ashley Hay

Best books from the year, and some new interviews too. Kate and Cassie read Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake and Deepti Kapoor’s Age of Vice with guest crime specialist Sue Turnbull (and an extended conversation with Kapoor), and fantasy and the imagination with scholar and children’s author Katherine Rundell and her Impossible Creatures.

Melanie Saward joins Kate for a genre-filled reading recommendation discussion of romance, the pseudonymous crime fiction of Australian author George Johnston (with Derham Groves), and historical fiction of the Hundred Years War with Dan Jones. What will you read over Summer?

Kate, Cassie and three reading guests (critic Beejay Silcox, Books Editor Jason Steger and kids' author Tristan Bancks) on the books they've loved, the books they'd recommend, the books to give to a friend, the books to read over Summer (and yes, there is a list).

Kate Evans onstage for the Bookshelf and Canberra Writers Festival with CWF Artistic Director and critic Beejay Silcox, and novelist Edwina Preston, on Edwina's novel Bad Art Mother . . . and art, writing, motherhood, poetry and all the rest.

Are you a crime fiction thriller fan? Those stories that get your heart racing and keep you awake all night? Even if you only dip into the genre once in a blue moon, you'll want to join us for a lively thriller themed Book Club with two top-notch crime fiction afficiandoes.

Kate and Cassie read Nicholas Jose's The Idealist, Michael Cunningham's Day, Naomi Alderman's The Future and Katherine Brabon's Body Friend with guests Eugen Bacon (Serengotti) and Mireille Juchau (The World Without Us)

Kate and Cassie read Lucy Treloar’s Days of Innocence and Wonder, Paul Auster’s Baumgartner, Tony Birch’s Women and Children and A K Blakemore’s The Glutton with academic Bruce Isaacs and writer Laura Elvery

Kate and Cassie read Richard Flanagan's Question 7, Jayne Anne Phillips' Night Watch and Sigrid Nunez's The Vulnerables with guests novelist Eleanor Limprecht and writer Patrick Carey

A monthly Book Club edition looking at works by two major literary names that add to the growing body of work attempting to address the past.

Kate and Cassie read Christos Tsiolkas' The In-Between, Siân Hughes' Pearl, Amanda Lohrey's The Conversion and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return with guests critic and literary judge James Ley and novelist and podcaster Kate Mildenhall. Translation, shame, lamentations, renovation and love.

Kate and Cassie read Victoria Gosling's Bliss and Blunder, Sophie Keetch's Morgan is my Name, Joel Deane's Judas Boys and Mona Awad's Rouge with novelist A J Betts and theatre writer Tom Wright