The Bookshelf

Three novels and an illustrator who uses his pencil like a sword

On Aravind Adiga's Amnesty, Richard Flanagan's The Living Sea of Waking Dreams and Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet

On Laura Jean McKay, The Animals in that Country, Curtis Sittenfeld, Rodham and Mieko Kawakami, Breasts and Eggs - and putting Jane Harper's The Dry on screen

Some of the best books and discussions about them from 2020: on Robbie Arnott's The Rain Heron, Michael Christie's Greenwood and Polly Samson's A Theatre for Dreamers and Andrew O'Hagan on the Bookshelf that Made Him

Novelist Jock Serong, music writer and broadcaster Stuart Coupe and bookseller and literary judge Fiona Stager join Cassie and Kate for more book recommendations

Reading recommendations from Jessie Tu, Stephen Romei, Suzanne Leal, Kate and Cassie.

American fantasy writer Naomi Novik on her latest novel, A Deadly Education, and the Bookshelf that Made Her

On fantasy foundational texts, finding books from childhood in booksales and libraries, and the lure of imaginary bookshops

On Gail Jones' Our Shadows and Randolph Stow's The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea with guests writer Ailsa Piper and historian Frank Bongiorno

Writer Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Piranesi) with Kate Evans, on the bookshelf that shaped her, why statues are fascinating, and creating a world out of ruins and seawater

On Sayaka Murata's Earthlings, Ayad Akhtar's Homeland Elegies and Thomas McMullan's The Last Good Man

Fantasy writer and former literary critic Lev Grossman speaks to Kate Evans about his foundational texts and wider reading in fantasy and elsewhere; and they go on a magical train journey courtesy of his new children's novel, The Silver Arrow

On Philip Salom’s The Fifth Season, Tiffany McDaniel’s Betty and William Boyd’s Trio

The author of Here We Are, Last Orders, Mothering Sunday, Waterland and so many more joins Kate Evans to talk reading, writing, influences and why a book he first read as a twenty year old was just so important

On Andrew Pippos’ Lucky’s, Kate Mildenhall’s The Mother Fault and Karen Wyld’s Where the Fruit Falls

Ceridwen Dovey’s Life After Truth, Don Delillo’s The Silence and Martin Amis’ Inside Story: A novel with critics Tegan Bennett Daylight and Geordie Williamson

Malcolm Knox’s Bluebird and Tim Winton’s Breath under scrutiny with surfwriter Stuart Nettle and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson

On Sofie Laguna’s Infinite Splendours, Nardi Simpson’s Song of the Crocodile and Nicolas Mathieu’s And Their Children After Them with writers Sam Coley and Mykaela Saunders

Richard Flanagan's The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, Avni Doshi's Burnt Sugar, and Cassie meets bestselling author Ken Follett.

Writer Andrew O’Hagan on autobiographical fiction, an old copy of Dickens’ David Copperfield, why J M Barrie’s Peter Pan is so important, and other books that have shaped him and his latest novel, Mayflies

Trent Dalton's All Our Shimmering Skies, Marilynne Robinson's Jack, and Craig Silvey for Me, Myshelf and I.

Chris Riddell is an illustrator, cartoonist and novelist. Here, he discusses collaboration, reading, influences, poetry and why he draws political cartoons instead of shouting at the radio

Elena Ferrante's new novel The Lying Life of Adults, and the 1958 classic, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard

American novelist Sue Miller discusses both her latest novel, Monogamy, and the bookshelf that shaped her

On Craig Silvey’s Honeybee, Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom and Sue Miller’s Monogamy