The Book Show

Kiley Reid's follow up to Such a Fun Age in a campus novel that she says isn't a campus novel, Rachael Johns' love story about a woman called Bridget Jones and Iain Ryan's hardboiled take on Gold Coast corruption in the 1980s.

Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham's latest novel Day explores a bromance, Madeleine Gray on writing a funny "sad girl novel" and Jessica Zhan Mei Yu on Sylvia Plath and up-ending the coming of age story.

My Own Sweet Time was a memoir said to be written by Wanda Koolmatrie, a member of the Aboriginal stolen generations. But it was a hoax and this episode of Fakes and Frauds explores the long lasting impacts of the hoax particularly on Aboriginal Australian writers.

Pip Williams' follow up to her bestselling novel The Dictionary of Lost Words, Josh Kemp on how bushwalking helps his writing and the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award winner, Shankari Chandran.

The Helen Demidenko scandal tore the Australian literary community apart in the 1990s. This episode of Fakes and Frauds charts the rise and downfall of Helen Demidenko and the impacts on the book world.  

Is there such thing as an Irish voice in fiction? 

Cannibalism, telepathy and celibacy are just some of the false claims about Australian Aboriginal people that Marlo Morgan made in her 1990s new age hit, Mutant Message Down Under, and this episode of Fakes and Frauds exposes the lies. 

Booker winner Ian McEwan explores his 1960s childhood in his latest novel and reigning Booker winner Paul Lynch on his unflinching dystopian novel set in Ireland.

Find out how to catch a con-artist in this episode of Fakes and Frauds that delves into the fake memoir Forbidden Love by Norma Khouri 20 years after the book was first published. 

The two winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction are both about money but at opposite ends of the spectrum — Barbara Kingsolver's is about poverty while Hernán Diaz's is about astronomical wealth. 

Fakes and Frauds is a new series that unpacks famous Australian literary scandals. The first and most recent controversy was the discovery of plagiarism in the work of award winning Australian writer John Hughes. Find out how the plagiarism was uncovered and why it matters.

Australian writers Anna Funder and Paul Jennings on what it takes to be a writer.

Naomi Alderman takes on tech giants and survivalists in a novel that imagines the end of the world, and an atheist joins a monastery in Charlotte Wood's meditative new book.

Miles Franklin winner Amanda Lohrey asks where we find community in our secular world, Matthew Reilly's latest adventure and the restorative power of the pool with Katherine Brabon.

Paul Lynch is the 2023 Booker Prize winner for his novel Prophet Song. Prophet Song (Bloomsbury) is an unflinching dystopian novel set in Ireland where a populist government has taken control and becoming increasingly authoritarian. Activists are being disappeared and the main character Eilish Stack is trying to keep her family together. Paul Lynch spoke to the Book Show's Sarah L'Estrange about t...

Booker winner Richard Flanagan on why writing his latest book Question 7 "felt like a strange dream". Also, the artist's muse in fiction and how a mistake led to Laura Jean McKay's latest book.   

Two very different writers explore the dynamics of family and violence: Tony Birch in a 1960s working class, Catholic family and Christos Tsiolkas in middle-aged gay relationships.

In the lead up to the 2023 Booker Prize award, we dive into the six shortlisted novels and meet the authors.

Brisbane is in the spotlight with Melissa Lucashenko exploring the early days of the colony in time for the city's bicentenary and debut novelist Melanie Saward's story of a troubled teen with an attraction to fire.

Things are getting spooky on The Book Show, as we explore ghostly fiction. Booker winner Shehan Karunatilaka and Australian Steve Toltz will imagine the afterlife with their beyond-the-grave novels. Jennifer Mills, SJ Norman and Kevin Jared Hosein will tell you about the ghosts haunting their books, and Josh Kemp and Michelle Johnston will take you to the ghost towns that inspired their fiction.

Three authors on the spirits and spirituality at the heart of their novels - award winning US author Jesmyn Ward's lyrical novel about slavery, Indigenous author Graham Akhurt's terrifying dog man in his debut novel, and Anna McGahan on her former membership of a Pentecostal church that informs her Vogel Literary Award winning book. 

Bestselling fantasy author Cassandra Clare draws on her Jewish background in her first novel for adults, Kareem Abdulrahman on translating Kurdish Iraqi author Bachtyar Ali and Mirandi Riwoe's jasmine drenched historical novel.

Trent Dalton's foray into Brisbane's underworld in his third novel, Leah Kaminsky's story of dolls and exile and Peter Polities on mothers and sons. 

Two writers imagine how technology will shape our future: Jeanette Winterson talks about how AI will give new meaning to ghost stories and Australian writer Kate Mildenhall imagines an algorithm to save the world.

Sebastian Faulks on what makes us human, Emily Perkins takes on female rage and Jane Harrison digs into Australian history to bring us The Visitors.