The Book Show

God of Small Things author Arundhati Roy remembers her difficult mother and how she was shaped as a writer, and Mick Herron on the success of Slow Horses and his repellent but memorable creation, Jackson Lamb. Arundhati Roy is a giant of literature. She's published two novels, including the Booker Prize-winning The God of Small Things and is a prolific author of non-fiction, much of which confront...

Australian author of Addition, Toni Jordan, goes gambling with greyhounds in Tenderfoot, Richard Osman digs up the background to The Thursday Murder Club and critically acclaimed writer, Gail Jones on why she wrote the crime novel, The Name of the Sister. Toni Jordan is the Australian author of eight books including Addition, The Fragments and Dinner with the Schnabels. Her new novel, Tenderfoot ,...

Discover the favourite books from the 21st century of Colum McCann, Kate Grenville and Kaliane Bradley who share their best reads for ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books.   The Book Show producer Sarah L'Estrange spoke to three acclaimed authors at Melbourne Writers Festival in the lead up to ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books countdown. Go here to vote for your favourite book of the last 25 years....

Yellowface author R.F. Kuang returns to speculative fiction with her latest novel Katabasis, a campus novel set in hell. Plus Australian author Moreno Giovannoni's second novel The Immigrant challenges the idea that Italian immigrants of his parent's generation had better lives in Australia. While R.F. Kuang had a global hit with Yellowface — her 2023 satirical novel about race and publishing — Re...

Russian born US writer Gary Shteyngart imagines a future America with strong parallels to Russia in Vera, or Faith, Adelaide based author Jennifer Mills' latest novel Salvage rockets into space after ecological collapse, and Geelong author Rhett Davis on Aborescence about people who want to become trees. Gary Shteyngart is the Russian-born, American-based author of novels including Absurdistan, Su...

Florence Knapp's debut novel The Names is a sliding doors story about the naming of a child and has been a surprise success (for her). Plus Brandon Jack, former Aussie Rules Football player on his novel Pissants about the players who don't win glory on the field and how they get their nicknames. Florence Knapp 's hugely popular debut novel The Names explores the power of a name. Starting in 1980s...

Amy Bloom on her latest novel I'll Be Right Here about an unconventional chosen family, Ben Markovits goes on the road with his Booker Prize longlisted novel The Rest of Our Lives and Barbara Truelove's bonkers book about Dracula in space, Of Monsters and Mainframes.  Amy Bloom is the American author of ten books (including White Houses) and her new historical novel, I'll Be Right Here , begins in...

Booker Prize-winning Nigerian author Ben Okri on his novella Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-Hearted, Australian journalist Jana Wendt on turning to fiction with her short story collection, The Far Side of the Moon and Australian writer Thomas Vowles shares why he's drawn to challenging stories in Our New Gods. Ben Okri is a Nigerian born, UK based writer who won the1991Booker Pri...

“Shimmering” and “strikingly new”—Siang Lu takes out the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award with Ghost Cities, his razor-sharp satire of the film world. With humour and absurdity as his tools, Lu boldly tackles race, racism, and the stories we tell (and sell) on screen.

John Boyne concludes his challenging series The Elements with Air, US writer Maggie Stiefvater takes you to a luxury hotel for enemy diplomats in The Listeners and Laura Elvery imagines Florence Nightingale on her deathbed in Nightingale. John Boyne is the prolific Irish author of over 20 books including The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The History of Loneliness and The Heart's Invisible Furies. Hi...

From Miles Franklin prize veteran Michelle de Kretster to debut novelist Winnie Dunn, we bring you all six of the shortlisted authors in this round-up of their celebrated books. This year's shortlist features a book set in an Ancient Chinese dynasty, a collection of linked short stories and a debut by the first ever published Australian Tongan novelist. The works traverse topics of migration, home...

US poet, Ocean Vuong says when he was growing up "being a writer was like being a unicorn" but now he's published his second novel The Emperor of Gladness. Plus, Esperance based author Fleur McDonald reinvents herself in the harsh WA landscape of Kalgoorlie with her novel, The Prospect. The Emperor of Gladness is the latest novel from the Vietnam born, American-based writer Ocean Vuong who made hi...

Esther Freud mines her family story to discover new truths in My Sister and Other Lovers, Dominic Amerena asks what is the price of ambition in I Want Everything and Madeleine Watts returns to a story of water and climate catastrophe in her road trip novel Elegy, Southwest. Esther Freud is a novelist known for her famous family as the daughter of the painter Lucien Freud and great grand-daughter o...

Fresh off her 2025 Women’s Prize win, Yael van der Wouden talks The Safekeep—the novel that’s got everyone buzzing. It caps a stellar run for Yael, who also made the Booker shortlist last year with her debut.

New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey asks, what if World War II had ended differently in her latest novel The Book of Guilt. Plus Kevin Wilson sends his characters on an American road trip in Run for the Hills and Australian author Josephine Rowe on her moving and slender novel, Little World. What if the second world war had ended differently? This idea and more are explored in Catherine Chidgey's...

Samantha Harvey didn’t mean to write a space novel—but Orbital won the Booker. At the 2025 Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival, she talks dreams, insomnia, and crafting a plotless “space pastoral” that’s anything but ordinary.

Booker Prize winner Alan Hollinghurst reflects on writing about gay lives and Booker Prize shortlisted author Charlotte Wood explains what it's like to not win the prestigious prize. British writer Alan Hollinghust won the 2004 Booker Prize for his novel The Line of Beauty about a gay man living in 1980s Britain. His latest novel, Our Evenings , is about another queer man but this story spans a mu...

From Sydney Writers Festival , two bestselling writers, David Nicholls and Liane Moriarty, reveal what it's like to see their stories go from the page to the screen. The British writer David Nicholls is best known for his novel One Day , which has been adapted to film and to television. While Australia's Liane Moriarty has seen every one of her books optioned for the screen and hit the big time wi...

Kaliane Bradley shares the serious side to her obsession with muttonchops and time travel, with her book The Ministry of Time, and Rumaan Alam reflects on the success of his novels, Entitlement and Leave the World Behind which was adapted to the screen starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke. British Cambodian author Kaliane Bradley shares the inspiration behind her hit 2024 debut The Ministry of T...

Irish writer Marian Keyes, the queen of commercial fiction, explains why she fetishes family, the getting of wisdom and writing books she wants to read.    Marian joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival and they spoke about how Marian became a writer when she was in the depths of despair. Marian also acknowledged the wisdom she's gained in a sometimes tumultuous li...

Irish writer Eimear McBride revisits favourite characters on a rainy night, actor-turned-writer Tasma Walton dredges up a family story of abduction and James Bradley's crime novel about climate catastrophe. Irish writer Eimear McBride is a past winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction whose writing is celebrated for its originality and inventive use of language. In her latest novel, The City Change...

Palestinian American playwright Betty Shamieh turns to fiction in Too Soon, a nuanced and lusty story of three generations of Palestinian women and the times that shape them. Australian author and TV screen writer Debra Oswald follows the eventful life of a gritty, strong woman in One Years of Betty . And in her biting satire Mother Tongue , Naima Brown asks, if you could change your life, could y...

Booker Prize shortlisted Nigerian author Chigozie Obioma joined Claire Nichols at Byron Writers Festival to discuss his latest novel The Road to the Country about civil war in Nigeria. Now based in the US, Chigozie Obioma's first two novels The Fishermen (2015) and An Orchestra of Minorities (2019) were shortlisted for The Booker Prize. His third novel The Road to the Country is about the Biafran...

American writer Gregory Maguire joins Claire Nichols in a rare and revealing conversation about the evolution of his Wicked series that inspired the popular musical and movies. Once again, with Elphie: A Wicked Childhood , Gregory draws on the iconic Wizard of Oz characters and settings, this time concentrating on the childhood years of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Also, meet Nuzo Onoh,...

A small family lives on a remote island, the father a caretaker for the world's seeds. Then in the rising seas, a woman is washed up to shore. Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore is a mystery, a story of love, and a warning. Melbourne-based writer Sean Wilson offers an empathetic glimpse into the fractured mind of an elderly woman with dementia in his novella, You Must Remember This . And Chris...