The Bookshelf

Literary monsters with gothic writer Sarah Perry, an over-the-top monster in Thomas Harris' new novel Cari Mora, and a monstrous system in Philip Kerr's Metropolis

Incarceration, possibility and punishment in fiction. Historian Ethan Blue and commentator Mark Sutton join Cassie and Kate to discuss new fiction from Colson Whitehead (The Nickel Boys), Ocean Vuong (On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous) and Sarah Hopkins (The Subjects)

Novelists Malla Nunn and Aoife Clifford join Cassie and Kate to review new novels from Tara June Winch, Tony Birch and Julia Phillips

Musician and writer Robert Forster (solo artist, ex-Go Betweens), and novelist and performance artist Fiona McGregor (A Novel Idea) join Kate and Cassie to talk books, reading, reviews and (in a surprising confluence of fictional themes) silent film in the first decade of the twentieth century

Bonus interviews and book recommendation from novelists Damian Barr, Andrea Goldsmith, Simon Cleary and Emma Ashmere and poet and filmmaker Nguyen Phan Que Mai

Novelists Emma Ashmere and Simon Cleary join Kate and Cassie to discuss new fiction by Damian Barr, Chip Cheek and Alex Landrigan; and Damian Barr himself comes along to talk about the books that have shaped him

Cassie and Kate are joined by literary academic Rodney Taveira and historian and RN colleague Meredith Lake as they discuss new fiction from the noir-ish James Ellroy, the biblical Elizabeth Cook and the dog-obsessed Tishani Doshi

Brett Evans and Anthea Taylor join Cassie and Kate to discuss new novels by Susan Choi, Elizabeth Gilbert and Richard Anderson, and Irish writer Caolinn Hughes reveals the books that have shaped her.

Kate and Cassie are joined by writers Lee Kofman and Rozanna Lilley as they discuss Jeanette Winterson's playful homage Frankissstein, Guzel Yakhina's Russian epic Zuleikha and Annaleese Jochems' dark New Zealand debut, Baby

What does it mean if reading becomes an endurance test in the face of trauma? Critic Beejay Silcox asks what it means to read books that are pointlessly distressing. Also, gothic Australian writer Chris Womersley on the bookshelf that made him, an extended interview with Julianne Schultz and reading recommendations from Sarah Kanowski, Justine Hyde and Catherine Keenan

Kate Evans is joined by broadcaster Sarah Kanowski, writer Justine Hyde and Catherine Keenan from The Story Factory to discuss new fiction from Ali Smith, Mark Haddon and Laila Lalami; and Julianne Schultz from the Griffith Review reflects on reading for 'digital natives'.

In this podcast extra edition of The Bookshelf, Kate Evans talks to English fantasy writer Samantha Shannon about the bookshelf that made her and Shannon's latest novel, The Priory of the Orange Tree; while authors of Aurora Rising Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, speak about the practicalities of writing collaboratively and why laughter matters.

Fictionalising both the future and the past, with the help of Antony Funnell and the dystopian novel Daughter of Bad Times by Rohan Wilson, the YA SF Aurora Rising by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff (#loveOzYA) and the battle between history and fiction with historian Hallie Rubenhold and The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

On Friday 3 May Kate and Cassie present the Bookshelf live onstage from the Sydney Writers Festival with guests English novelist Max Porter, American writer Alexander Chee and Nigerian novelist Oyinkan Braithwaite.

A podcast only edition of the Bookshelf, in which Kate Evans talks to Suzanne Leal about this week's NSW Premier's Literary Awards, to Chinese acquisitions editor Li Kangqin about reading in China, and novelist Holly Throsby reveals the bookshelf that made her.

Crime writer Andy Muir and cultural historian Catie Gilchrist join Kate Evans and Mark Sutton as they discuss T C Boyle's Outside Looking In, Don Winslow's The Border and Simon Cleary's The War Artist

Consciousness and artificial intelligence in Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me, a life defined by books and reading with Caro Llewellyn, writing Irish police procedurals in Perth with Dervla McTiernan, and a longtime fan of Joanne Harris reviews her latest novel.

Journalist and television presenter Jenny Brockie, and writer Sam Twyford-Moore, join Kate and Cassie to review Siri Hustvedt's Memories of the Future and Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive, and Louise Swinn from the Stella Prize for writing by Australian women comes along to discuss this year's selection

Novelists Jamie Marina Lau and Belinda Castles join Kate and Cassie as they talk about Max Porter's Lanny, Alexander Chee's Edinburgh and How to Write an Autobiographical Novel and Dave Eggers' The Parade. And crime writer Katherine Kovacic reveals the Bookshelf that Made Her.

Critic Kate Jinx and ABC RN producer of audio fiction Sophie Townsend join Cassie and Kate as they discuss Andrea Goldsmith's Invented Lives, Sarah Moss's Ghost Wall, Niviaq Korneliussen's Crimson and Felicity McLean's The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone, while Portuguese writer José Luís Peixoto reveals the books that have influenced him.

Writers Ceridwen Dovey and Kelly Gardiner join Kate and Cassie to talk new books, and Andrea Goldsmith reveals how reading has allowed her to be 'privately wild'.

Crime fiction specialist Sue Turnbull and reviewer Nicole Abadee join Kate and Cassie as they ponder, among other things, whether liking a character (or not) impacts a reader's sense of literary merit.

Novelist and translator Tiffany Tsao and music industry specialist Leanne de Souza join Cassie and Kate in a show that features four novels by women, for International Women's Day.

Writer and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke and bookseller and academic Elias Greig join Cassie and Kate to talk reading, throwing books through windows and (specifically) Melissa Harrison's All Among the Barley, Nana Kwama Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black and Emiliano Monge's Among the Lost

Writers Chris Hammer (Scrublands) and John Connell (The Cow Book) join Cassie and Kate to talk new fiction