Booksmart

In this episode of Booksmart, hosts Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King sit down with Sydney-based professional fangirl Cazzie Ahmed (@filmgirlcazzie). Ahmed tells us how harnessing her long-standing affinity for pop culture has helped her build a loyal network of more than 12k followers and a side hustle that is swiftly becoming a 5-9 outside of her already full-time 9-5 career. The girls discuss t...

In this hotly anticipated book club episode, Sunny and Allie review the most talked-about book of the year: 'Yesteryear' by Caro Claire Burke. This debut fiction novel draws on our growing cultural fascination with "tradwife" influencers, the alarming rise of conservative values among young women, and the "angry women" who can't bring themselves to look away from th...

In this bonus episode of Booksmart , hosts Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King react to Prime Video's television adaptation of Carley Fortune's popular young adult romance novel, 'Every Summer After'. The show, titled 'Every Year After' , dropped this week, hot on the heels of the streamer's very successful adaptation of Elle Kennedy's 'Off Campus' series, but...

In this episode of Booksmart, hosts Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King sit down with seasoned Australian journalist and television presenter Georgie Tunny on the launch day of her debut novel, Over to You . Over to You follows three best friends — Carter, Naya, and Greta — as they navigate the competitive Australian media industry while trying to hold their friendship together. Tunny draws on her m...

In this very special mini episode of Booksmart , Sunny is joined by the brains behind Netflix’s adaptation of 'Remarkably Bright Creatures', author and executive producer Shelby Van Pelt and Director and writer Olivia Newman. This conversation sees Sunny talk to these incredible minds about the book-to-screen adaptation process, the difficulty of grounding a story about an octopus in reali...

In their fourth book club episode, Sunny and Allie review 'My Dear You' by Rachel Khong. The book is a collection of ten short stories, written in as many years, exploring race, connection, transformation, and grief. Khong's protagonists compel us to confront some of life's biggest questions, hidden beneath the veil of unusual, paranormal scenarios. Here, Sunny and Allie reconsider...

The original hockey romance has finally gotten its own TV adaptation. In this episode, Sunny and Allie review episodes 1-7 of Prime Video's new 'Off Campus' series, based on the best-selling novels by Elle Kennedy. But unlike their prior discussions on book adaptations, only Allie has read the books the adaptation is based on (and trust me, she's read them enough for the both of us...

In this very chaotic Booksmart special, Allie holds Sunny hostage to explain all thirteen books in the ever-expanding 'Off Campus' universe by Canadian author Elle Kennedy ahead of season one of the screen adaptation dropping on Prime Video on May 12. Elle Kennedy is one of the pioneers of the contemporary sports romance novel. Her first hockey romance novel, ‘The Deal’, was released in 2015, year...

Move over Sylvia Plath, a new foundational feminist author has entered the chat. Dee Salmin, esteemed radio presenter and modern dating, sex, and love expert, has released her debut book, ‘It’s Not Love, Actually’. From ‘Boy Sober’ to ‘Femcels’ and the timeless question of ‘are the straights okay?, she tackles myriad topics present in the lives of young folk in 2026. In this episode of Booksmart,...

This is not a drill. Gus Everett has been found (DEAD). Sunny and Allie have convened interstate for an emergency Booksmart recording in response to the news that Patrick Schwarzenegger will be the leading man in 20th Century Studios’ adaptation of Beach Read by beloved author Emily Henry. Spoiler: like the rest of the internet, they’re not happy. Listen to find out why. 

In their third book club episode, Sunny and Allie review  ‘If I Ruled the World’  by Amy DuBois Barnett. The book, which has been compared to  ‘Devil Wears Prada’  and  ‘Empire’,  takes readers on a wild and immersive journey through cut-throat NYC in the late 90s based on DuBois Barnett’s real-life experiences working as a Black editor at major American magazines. It’s a messy, honest love letter...

What happens when a devoted reader and book content creator gets a book deal? Hosts Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King explore this and more with their first guest, new author Lily Crozier, who released her gothic Beauty & The Beast retelling 'Vow of Eternal Night' earlier this month. Join them as they discuss working in publishing, writing redeemable yet convincing villains, and debate...

What makes a good romance novel? What turns it from a read that that simply fills your time, into something occupying your mind, day and night, eliciting giggling and the kicking of one's feet? THAT is the question that Booksmart sets out to answer in today's episode, using B.K. Borison's And Now, Back to You as a case study. This episode is brought to you by QBD Books, bringing books to readers f...

Does depicting taboo relationships automatically mean endorsing them? Does having an interesting personal story automatically make you a good storyteller? And further, how does an author follow up a seminal debut? These are the central questions that Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King set out to answer in today's episode of Booksmart, using writer and former child actor Jennette McCurdy's f...

Welcome to our first book club episode, where we delve into the wonderful and traumatic world of Yulin Kuang and How to End a Love Story. Kuang is an author, director, and screenwriter, known for the adaptation of People We Meet on Vacation. Today’s episode sees hosts Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King discuss all things trauma bonds, pretty privilege, and if this book is actually a love story.

What do book-to-screen adaptations owe their readers? And further, what makes a good adaptation? Should the goal of any adaptation be to appease existing fandoms or attract new ones? These are the central questions that Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King set out to answer in today’s episode of Booksmart, using Emily Henry’s 'People We Meet on Vacation', recently released on Netflix, as thei...

In the final episode of Booksmart for the year, Soaliha Iqbal sits down with acclaimed writer Zeynab Gamieldien to unpack her powerful new novel, Learned Behaviours .  A gripping literary mystery set between western Sydney and the sharply stratified world of the legal profession, the novel follows Zaid Saban: a young man on the cusp of becoming a barrister, whose carefully curated life is disrupte...

In this week’s episode of Booksmart , host Soaliha Iqbal sits down with award-winning author, artist, and screenwriter Dylin Hardcastle - the creative force behind Below Deck , Breathing Underwater , Running Like China , and the critically acclaimed A Language of Limbs , winner of the 2023 Kathleen Mitchell Award and longlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize (casually).  Together, they dive deep into t...

In this episode of Booksmart , Soaliha sits down with internationally acclaimed author Mona Awad to dive into the world of her cult classic Bunny and its highly anticipated sequel, We Love You, Bunny, that has just been released (get your copy STAT!) ICYMI: first published in 2019, Bunny became an instant literary sensation -named a Best Book of the Year by TIME , Vogue , and the New York Public L...

In this episode of Booksmart , Randa Abdel-Fattah sits down with Soaliha for a powerful conversation that spans her brand-new novel Discipline , the controversies rocking Australia’s literary scene, and the realities of racism and resistance today across the country and beyond.  Together, they unpack Randa’s decision to speak out against the Bendigo Writers Festival - where more than 50 writers an...

In this week's episode of Booksmart, Soaliha Iqbal sits down with writer Natalia Figueroa Barroso to talk about her extraordinary debut novel Hailstones Fell without Rain . Of Uruguayan descent with Charrúa, Yoruba and Iberian origins, Natalia was born on Dharug Ngura and raised between her birthland and her homeland. A member of Sweatshop Literacy Movement (who we are huge fans of too!), her...

In this week's episode of Booksmart, we’re joined by the wonderful Nicky Gonzalez, the author of one of this year’s most haunting debuts, Mayra - a novel that brims with tension, longing, and the sticky heat of Florida’s swamplands. Set in the sultry, surreal wilds of the Everglades, Nicky’s novel dives deep into the complicated terrain of female friendship. The novel explores the intoxicatin...

The Nile brought them life, but the Nile was not their friend. When a little boy drowns in the treacherous currents of the Nile, the search for his body unearths calamity and disaster, and exposes forgotten secrets buried for generations in a small northern Sudanese village. Three women try to make their way through a world that wants to keep them back, separated from each other by time but bound...

Not to hype this week's book too much....but Soaliha has confirmed that Candice Chung's new memoir Chinese Parents Don't Say I Love You is one of the best books she has read this year. So, PSA: Go and buy this book, stat.  Candice is a writer, editor, and a former restaurant reviewer for The Sun-Herald - and is a founding member of Diversity in Food Media Australia, which supports a...

Meet Anne-Marie Te Whiu (Te Rarawa): a poet, editor and cultural producer - who is making BIG waves in the literary world. It was an honour to have her join us on the podcast this week. ICYMI: Anne-Marie has released Mettle , a remarkable and impressive debut collection of poems that speak to the complexity of family, identity and the proud legacy of Māori language and culture. Her collection of p...