The Bookshelf

Werewolves running nightclubs in Berlin, Supernatural Sydney, witches with attitude and a whole slew of terrific fantasy recommendations from writer Maria Lewis

On Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, Ken Follett’s The Evening and the Morning and Edmund White’s A Saint from Texas

It was the Summer where everything changed: Meg Rosoff, her new novel and the bookshelf that made her

From dragons and mythical origin stories to adventures in the stars, fantasy and SF writer Christopher Paolini has plenty to say about how his genre works

Two writers on this podcast extra edition of the Bookshelf, both of whom write very broadly in a ‘Northern’ English tradition. Sarah Moss and Ian McGuire speak (separately) with Kate Evans

On Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies, Eley Williams’ The Liar’s Dictionary, Pip Williams’ The Dictionary of Lost Words and Rose Tremain’s Islands of Mercy

Raymond E Feist on writing, and reading, fantasy fiction. World building, foundational texts, and how the genre has changed

Stage and screen actor Dugald Bruce Lockhart has now turned to fiction. Here, he reveals the books – and plays – that made him

The city of New York is coming alive, but its enemies are against it. Urban fantasy, overturning racist narratives, and some very large genre tentacles

Mauritian writer Kester Grant on her fantasy novel The Court of Miracles (inspired by Victor Hugo) and the books that have shaped her

Biographer, critic and novelist Nicholas Shakespeare on his latest novel (The Sandpit) and the books and writers that shaped him

On Jock Serong's The Burning Island, Sarah Moss's Summerwater and Ian McGuire's The Abstainer with writers Aoife Clifford and Emily Maguire

Michaela Kalowski and Kate Evans read Sam Coley’s State Highway One, Jasper Fforde’s The Constant Rabbit and Rebecca Dinerstein Knight’s Hex with writers Christopher Raja and Karina Kilmore

On Nicholas Shakespeare's The Sandpit, Nguyẽ̂n Phan Qué̂ Mai's The Mountains Sing and Amanda Lohrey's The Labyrinth

Imbi Neeme's The Spill, Victoria Hannan's Kokomo and Steven Conte's The Tolstoy Estate with writers Gina Inverarity and Roger Pulvers

The winner of this year's Miles Franklin's Literary Award, Tara June Winch's The Yield; and the debut novel of the benefactor of the Award, Miles Franklin' 1901 novel My Brilliant Career

On Samanta Schweblin's Little Eyes, Daisy Johnson's Sisters and Luke Horton's The Fogging with reviewers Jessie Tu (A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing) and Mark Sutton

On Ottessa Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands, Megha Majumdar's A Burning and Catherine Noske on the Australian gothic tradition

On Kate Grenville’s A Room Made of Leaves, David Mitchell’s Utopia Avenue and Frances Cha’s If I Had Your Face

Reading Lawrence Wright’s pandemic thriller The End of October with crime writers Candice Fox and Ben Hobson

Crank up the poetry find a chair for your music (and how ageing is dealt with in dystopian fiction).

Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s The Discomfort of Evening, Sreedhevi Iyer’s The Tiniest House of Time and Me Myshelf and I with Kawai Strong Washburn.

On Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Patsy, Ingrid Persaud’s Love after Love and Sujata Massey’s A Murder at Malabar Hill

On Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half, Patrick Allington’s Rise and Shine and Martha Wells’ Network Effect (A Murderbot novel). Eating emotions in the books we read

Australian fiction discussed with academic and critic Bernadette Brennan and novelist Robert Lukins, on Joan London’s The Golden Age & Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus