From the Lighthouse

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein we will be releasing recordings from the FrankenReads event at Macquarie University in September. ​This week's recording features the following presentations: ​ “The Tangled World of Frankenstein and Conflict of Laws” by Harry Melkonian ​  “Frankenstein in Hyperspace: The Return of Twenty-first-century Digital Technologies to the Or...

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein we will be releasing recordings from the FrankenReads event at Macquarie University in September. This week's recording features the following presentations: “’My Beloved Sister’: The Other Family in Frankenstein” by Lee O’Brien 'Using “the living animal” to re-animate “lifeless clay”: The role of vivisection in the creation of Fran...

Sensation! Scandal! Murder! Bigamy! A femme fatale! This book has it all! This week, Stephanie and Lee are reading one of the nineteenth-century's favourite sensation fictions: Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret.

The Big Sleep is a classic of crime noir: the kind of fiction that transports you to a seedy LA gin joint in the 1940s. This week, Lee and Stephanie discuss femme fatales, Marlowe, gangsters, and slightly nonsensical plots.

Truman Capote brought true crime to literature with his "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood. In this podcast, Lee and Stephanie discuss a lesser-known piece of Capote non-fiction, the short story "The Handcarved Coffins". They discuss murderers, the line between truth and fiction, and a car full of snakes. 

Meredith Lake, award-winning historian, traces the impact of the Bible on Australian culture, from Tony Abbott's misuse of the Bible to discredit the science of climate change to the distinctively Australian irreverence for authority that saw the coining of the expressions 'bible-basher' and 'wowser'. Join Michelle Hamadache as she interviews Meredith Lake about the complex ways the Bible and its...

Part colonial history, part biography of James Porter, a convict transported to Van Diemen's Land under the rule of the tyrannical Governor Arthur, The Ship that Never War is a story of human tenacity and ingenuity in the face of unimaginably harsh conditions. Join Michelle Hamadache as she talks with Adam Courtenay about the incredible but true story of a group of convicts who stole a brand new s...

Alison Lyssa, playwright, writer and poet, discusses her groundbreaking feminist play Pinball. Pinball, a play about a young lesbian couple fighting the patriarchy for custody of one of the women's son, was labelled 'feminist chauvinist piggery' in the Australian Press in the 80s when it was first performed. Now a set-text in universities in the UK and re-staged by Duck Duck Goose in 2014, Pinball...

Lexi Freiman's debut novel, Inappropriation, is a hilarious biting satire on identity politics, social media, high school, cyborgs, and pretty much everything else you can imagine. This week, Stephanie chats to Lexi about her novel, writing funny books, feminism, and high school formals. 

Emily Bronte was born on 30 July 1818: 200 years ago this month. To celebrate her 200th birthday, Stephanie was joined by Dr Lee O'Brien to discuss the Bronte myth, Wuthering Heights, poetry, and dogs.

Meera Atkinson's Traumata is an innovative mix of memoir and cultural criticism, in the vein of Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts. This week, Stephanie chats to Meera about writing about trauma, the #metoo movement, and the possibility of change.   For more info visit our website at:  https://www.fromthelighthouse.org

Mary Shelley's life was just made for the screen. Or was it? This week, Stephanie heads off to the movies with Dr Kirstin Mills to see the new Mary Shelley film, and they give their verdict.

English Department student Tiana Visnjic reviews George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo in this creative podcast produced as an assessment task for the unit ENGL303 Narrative and the Novel.

English Department student Alison Key reviews Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair in this creative podcast produced as an assessment task for the unit ENGL303 Narrative and the Novel.

Just as our Contemporary Literature students were reading Junot Diaz, allegations of sexual harassment against the author emerged at the Sydney Writers Festival. Stephanie talked to three students from the class - Joanna Catsanos, Juliette Kaado and Jasmine Joyan - to discuss their reactions to the revelations. 

Stephanie interviews Dr Jodi McAlister, Lecturer at Deakin University and graduate of Macquarie University, at the 2018 IASPR Conference. They talk about her research on The Bachelor, romance novels, and more. 

Stephanie interviews Associate Professor Kim Wilkins, Associate Professor Lisa Fletcher and Dr Beth Driscoll, who are the keynote speakers for the IASPR's (International Association for the Study of Popular Romance) seventh international conference on Popular Romance Studies.

Chaucer is often called the Father of English Literature, but what do you really know about this? This week, Stephanie is joined by Professor Louise d'Arcens to discuss Chaucer's life, work, the Cecily Champagne case, and oddly enough, Chaucerian porn.

English Department student Jeremy Nigro reviews Hanya Yanagihara's novel The People in the Trees in this creative podcast produced as an assessment task for the unit ENGL303 Narrative and the Novel.

English Department student Alice Kouzmenko reviews Jane Austen's novel Emma in this creative podcast produced as an assessment task for the unit ENGL303 Narrative and the Novel.

English Department student Rebecca McMartin reviews Margaret Atwood's novel The Edible Woman in this creative podcast produced as an assessment task for the unit ENGL303 Narrative and the Novel

Remorse plays an important part in Australia’s criminal justice system, impacting both sentencing and parole. Kate Rossmanith’s book, Small Wrongs, explores remorse in all its complexity. Join Michelle Hamadache as she talks with Kate about researching and writing her compelling new release. For more info visit our website at:  https://www.fromthelighthouse.org

Christopher Marlowe, the big Renaissance playwright before Shakespeare, was murdered on May 30, 1593. To mark the 425th anniversary of his death, Stephanie is joined by Professor Tony Cousins to talk about his life, his plays, and why he became so popular in the 1980s. 

If you follow true crime news, you'll know that the Golden State Killer was recently arrested, over forty years after his crime spree began. This week, Jimmy and Stephanie discuss the book that many people believe was responsible for renewed interest in this case: Michelle McNamara's posthumously published I'll Be Gone in the Dark. 

Sydney Writers' Festival is definitely the best week of the year! This week, Stephanie and Michelle pour over the 2018 program, and pick their highlights, from ancient Greek epic to young Australian poets.