The Book Show

Jeanette Winterson asks how AI will give new meaning to ghost stories and Kate Grenville reflects on a lifetime of writing and how accepting failure has been key to her success. Jeanette Winterson is best known for her novels Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, The Stone Gods and Frankissstein. Her long fascination with mortality, religion and technology have come together in a new book of short stori...

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 disappearing from the shelve...

Shankari Chandran's follow up to her Miles Franklin award winning book, British author Stuart Turton's complicated murder mystery and Julie Janson's ironically named novel Compassion. Shankari Chandran won the 2023 Miles Franklin for her novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens. Her new novel Safe Haven asks readers to confront the reality of Australia's immigration detention system: the lives of the d...

One of Colm Toibin's most beloved books is Brooklyn and now he's written a sequel, Long Island. Brooklyn was first published in 2009 and it's about Eilis, a young woman who leaves Ireland for America in the 1950s. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize, won the Costa Novel Award and was adapted to the screen in 2015. Now there's a sequel, called Long Island , (Picador) set years later in the 1970s...

Iran's Kafka like book censorship is causing authors to flee, including writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia. Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide.  In this last episode, writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia and is the author of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree which is banned in Iran. Guests:  Shokoofeh Azar - Iranian born, A...

Percival Everett, a prolific author known for his versatility across various genres and styles, reinterprets an American classic novel. Percival Everett, a prolific author known for his versatility across various genres and styles, reinterprets the American classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,  James, (Pan Macmillan) shifts the focus to Huck's enslaved companion, Jim, challenging the portrayal...

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is the most banned book in the USA and now it's  being challenged in the courts in Australia.  Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide.  This episode explores Gender Queer, an illustrated memoir which details Maia Kobabe's experience of coming out as non-binary and asexual. The book has been banned in school and public libraries acr...

Crime writer Val McDermid investigates Scotland's most famous female character to reveal a very different Lady Macbeth. And Sydney writer Jonathon Seidler delves into the story beyond the happy ending and how breakups can define a relationship. Crime writer Val McDermid investigates Scotland’s most famous female character to reveal a very different Lady Macbeth.   Queen Macbeth: Darkland Tales is...

Webfiction is a gargantuan platform for writers in China but authors of male to male fiction - known as the danmei or boyslove genre - are experiencing a censorship crackdown and some writers have been imprisoned for their writing.  This episode is about Occupied by Tianyi – a boyslove/danmei novel whose author was sentenced to 10 years jail in China for indecency in 2018. Banned Books is a new se...

Alexis Wright has won the 2024 Stella Prize, for her novel, Praiseworthy. The novel is an Aboriginal fable, about a fictional town, a haze cloud, a haze cloud, land rights, global warming, and donkeys. Judges described Praiseworthy as 'genre-bending' and 'canon-breaking'.  Alexis Wright previously won the Stella in 2018 for her non-fiction collective memoir Tracker. She also won the Miles Franklin...

Author of The Tiger's Wife Téa Obreht reterns with Morningside, a dystopian fairy tale, and Stella Prize-shortlisted author Emily O'Grady on the rotten characters in her novel Feast. Téa Obreht won The Women's Prize for Fiction — then called the Orange Prize — for her debut novel, The Tiger's Wife and at the time she was the youngest ever winner of the award. It was a family saga, about doctors, d...

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie inspired riots in England and book burnings in India; death threats, murders and a fatwa; and ultimately, a devastating physical attack on Salman Rushdie in 2022.  Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. This episode revisits how one book inspired so much hatred and violence.  

Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan explains why finishing his latest novel Caledonian Road was like "landing 65 planes on the tarmac"; plus a teaser for the first in our Banned Books series, starting in America. Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan's (Faber and Faber) latest book Caledonian Road is a big one in length and Dickensian scope. It's an exploration of life in London — a world of intellectuals and...

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was inspired by the black lives matter movement and explores police brutality — so why is it being taken off library shelves in the US? Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide.   The series begins in America where books about race and racism have become a lightning rod for censorship in public libraries and state schools Guests:...

Booker-shortlisted author Sunjeev Sahota argues that class is more important than identity, Vanessa Chan draws on her grandmother's stories of Japanese occupied Malaya and Winnie Dunn channels her own experience of growing up Tongan in Western Sydney.

Known for his sumptuous novel Call Me By My Name, André Aciman's latest book also explores love and beauty in Italy. Plus, Indian author Anjali Joseph on the allure of Assam, India, which is known for its unique cultural heritage.

At Adelaide Writers' Week, Melissa Lucashenko explains how understanding that "all history is fiction" allowed her to write her historic novel Edenglassie.

Award winning Australian journalist Louise Milligan on her debut crime novel inspired by police and PTSD and Pulitzer Prize winning Jane Smiley on why she wants her books to be banned and her latest novel A Dangerous Business.

Bestselling American author Jonathan Lethem explains why he returned to Brooklyn in his fiction after 20 years. 

At Adelaide Writers' Week, Booker-winner Anne Enright speaks about the contradictions at the heart of families.

RF Kuang speaks about her bestseller Yellowface and Nam Le, Australian author of The Boat, explains why his latest is a book of poetry.

Award-winning literary translator Jennifer Croft imagines what happens when translators get together in a primeval forest, Imbi Neeme's exploration of misophonia and Mykaela Saunders' love-hate relationship with Mad Max.

Jasper Fforde's sequel to Shades of Grey, Amy Brown introduces us to Miles Franklin's sister and Leo Vardiashvili's missing persons quest through the forests of Georgia.

Bestselling American author Kristin Hannah digs into the little known stories of US nurses during the Vietnam War, Jodi McAlister's comic take on The Bachelor and Sharlene Allsopp reckons with Australia's history.

Pulitzer Prize winning Libyan author Hisham Matar on friendship in political exile and British author Ela Lee on the power of friendship at times of personal crisis.