The Book Show

The Yolnu people of the Northern Territory had a fruitful trading relationship with the Makassar people from Indonesia long before Australia was colonised. Yolnu people would even visit Makassar, some never returned. In A Piece of Red Cloth , Arnhem Land writer Leonie Norrington, who has collaborated with three elders from the region, including Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, evokes some of the stor...

In this episode of My Biggest Book, where prominent authors reminisce about the book that defined their career, Roddy Doyle reflects on the times and difficulties of publishing The Commitments. A comic novel about a group of Irish youth who form a soul band, it's a brash and honest portrayal of working-class Dublin. It was rejected by numerous publishers, but Roddy persisted by self publishing. Th...

Eowyn Ivey is best known for her magical debut novel, The Snow Child , a book set in her home state of Alaska. Her new book, Black Woods Blue Sky is also set in the beautiful and rugged wilds of Alaska, with magic and an unusual love story at its core, featuring a single mother finding tenderness in the unexpected. But does this love come at a cost?

For journalist and writer Nikki Gemmell her Biggest Book was a huge commercial success, but it had a sensational effect on her life and work. The Bride Stripped Bare delves into the secret life of a married woman, her frustrations, longings and sexual fantasies with graphic details of her encounters. The woman in her 30s has mysteriously disappeared and her body never found. Like her unnamed chara...

Claire speaks to Juhea Kim  about her latest novel which centres around an elite Russian ballet dancer returning to the stage after a serious injury. The City of Night Birds is a meditation on the purity and pain of artistic expression but also investigates its purpose in a fractured world. 

In this episode of My Biggest Book, where prominent authors ponder their breakthrough novels, Emma Donaghue recalls her 2010 novel Room . Inspired by the famous Fritzl case, it's about a boy and his mother held captive in a small room, the only world the child, Jack, has ever known.  The book was shortlisted for the Booker and in 2015 the film version was released. That adaptation was also written...

David Baldacci is the bestselling writer of heroes like Mickey Gibson and Aloysius Archer. He's written 50 books for adults as well as novels for younger readers. Some of his stories have been made into blockbuster movies or TV series. His latest, To Die For , features undercover agent Travis Devine as he faces his biggest challenge yet, protecting a 12 year old girl. At just over 75 pages, Sara H...

There's an extra element to this second episode of My Biggest Book, where some of the world's biggest authors reminisce about their all-time biggest books. Hanif Kureishi's comedic novel The Buddha of Suburbia , about a father and a mixed race teenager growing up in the suburbs of 1970's South London won awards and was adapted to a successful TV series. Following the devastating accident that left...

Look in any library or book shop at any time of year and there's bound to be a newly released Alexander McCall Smith novel on the shelf. Most known for his No 1 Ladies' Detectives Agency Series, the 44 Scotland Series, and even books for children, he also writes standalone novels. Hear how he uses the seasons to write up to five books a year, including one of the latest, The Winds from Further Wes...

What is it like to write a book that changes your life? Some of the world’s biggest authors reminisce about their all-time biggest books – the novels that changed their lives. In the first of this breakthrough series Audrey Niffenegger reflects on her debut novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife .  The 2003 book, about time-travelling librarian Henry and his artist wife Clare, was an instant bestseller....

Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan explains why finishing his latest novel Caledonian Road was like "landing 65 planes on the tarmac" and award-winning author Evie Wyld on her new book The Echoes, and why there are so many sharks in her fiction. Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan's latest book Caledonian Road (Faber and Faber) is a big in length and Dickensian scope. It's an exploration of life in London...

At Adelaide Writers' Week, Booker Prize-winner Anne Enright speaks about the contradictions at the heart of families. Anne joined Claire Nichols in front of a live audience to talk about her latest book The Wren, The Wre n. It's about a straight-laced mum, her-free-spirit daughter and the poet father who left them in the lurch.  Anne also shared insights about her other books including Actress, Th...

From Sydney Writers' Festival, American author Celeste Ng shares how her latest novel Our Missing Hearts explores one of her deepest fears. Celeste Ng is known for her dark realist novels, Everything I Never Told You, and Little Fires Everywhere (which was adapted to the screen in 2020). Our Missing Hearts is set in a dystopian, near-future America, where anti-Asian sentiment has peaked, books are...

Tim Winton explains his urgency for writing about climate change in his new novel Juice, Kaliane Bradley on her bestseller The Ministry of Time which has attracted Barack Obama's attention and Siang Lu's ambitious and complicated novel Ghost Cities. Tim Winton shares the anger and frustration that compelled him to write his latest novel Juice. It's set in a future north-Australia where resources a...

At Adelaide Writers' Week, Melissa Lucashenko explains how understanding that "all history is fiction" allowed her to write her historic novel Edenglassie. Melissa Lucashenko is known for creating unforgettable, feisty modern women in her fiction. There's Kerry Salter from her Miles Franklin winning novel Too Much Lip and Jo Breen, from her earlier acclaimed novel, Mullumbimby. But with her new bo...

Irish writer Niall Williams's latest novel Time of the Child celebrates the miracles of everyday life. Also, meet Nick Harkaway the son of David Cornwall AKA John le Carre, who is continuing his father's legacy in fictional espionage with Karla's Choice.  Irish writer Niall Williams is the the author of the bestselling novels This is Happiness and the History of Rain and his latest is already a be...

British writer Will Self reveals the extent of his "mother-worship" in his writing which has culminated in his latest novel, Elaine. The book was inspired by his mother's own diaries. Actor and comedian Steph Tisdell has added "novelist" to her resume with her young adult novel, The Skin I'm In, and Kylie Mirmohamadi's novel Diving, Falling is about a grieving woman of a 'certain age' whose life i...

Comic book legend, Alan Moore has renounced comics for novels and his new book The Great When uncovers a secret, fictional London. Rosalie Ham returns with a prequel to her bestselling novel The Dressmaker, and why Tigest Girma wrote a black vampire novel. British author Alan Moore has created iconic comics including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. H...

Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle returns to the character Paula Spencer who first appeared in his fiction in the 1990s, we visit author of The Wedding Forecast Nina Kenwood in her seaside childhood home and Michelle de Kretser pushes the boundaries of fiction in Theory and Practice.    Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist and Booker Prize winner (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha). His latest novel is the last in...

This year's winner of the Booker Prize is British author Samantha Harvey for her fifth novel, Orbital. The Booker judges were unanimous in their decision. Orbital is set in the International Space Station and takes a bird's eye view of the earth as it orbits the world over a 24 hour period. The reader meets six astronauts and cosmonauts as they grapple with big questions of family, faith and grief...

Australian crime writer Garry Disher has been writing for almost 50 years but has only recently been able to make a living and now he's published his 60th book, Sanctuary. Emily Maguire explores the medieval urban legend of a female pope in Rapture and in his novel, This Kingdom of Dust, David Dyer imagines what might've happened if the Apollo 11 mission didn't go to plan. Australian crime-writing...

For the first time in a decade, an Australian writer, Charlotte Wood has made the Booker Prize shortlist with her novel Stone Yard Devotional. Hear from Charlotte and the other shortlisted writers, including Rachel Kushner and Percival Everett, and find out who we think will win. The Booker Prize is the most prestigious writing prize in the English speaking world and is open to books written in En...

A wild puma stalks through Robbie Arnott's haunting new novel, Dusk, Fiona McFarlane's homage to true crime podcasts in Highway 13 and Malcolm Knox raises the stakes in a Soviet era political thriller, The First Friend. Australian author Robbie Arnott has published four novels, and two of them — The Rain Heron and Limberlost — have been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. His latest...

Tim Winton explains his urgency for writing about climate change in his new novel Juice, beware the evil eye in Matia, the debut novel of West Australian writer Emily Tsokos Purtill and singer-songwriter turned novelist, Nardi Simpson, explains the ambition of her second novel The Belburd. Tim Winton shares the anger and frustration that compelled him to write his latest novel Juice. It's set in a...

Former Booker Prize winner Pat Barker grapples with the lot of Cassandra in her latest Ancient Greek novel, The Voyage Home and Life After Life author, Kate Atkinson, returns to her famous character Jackson Brodie in Death at the Sign of The Rook. Plus debut novelist Raeden Richardson on the importance of Melbourne's iconic Degraves Street in The Degenerates. Booker Prize winner Pat Barker is reno...