The Bookshelf

Ahead of this week's RN Book Club on Patricia Highsmith, her biographer Richard Bradford answers questions from readers and members of the ABC Book Club Facebook Group. An intriguing woman, and a writer who places you inside the perspective of her dark and disquieting characters

Kate and Cassie read Michael Mohammed Ahmad's The Other Half of You, Cassandra Austin's Like Mother and Suyi Davies Okungbowa's Son of the Storm with writers Monica Dux and Eugen Bacon

Ern Malley was the poet at the centre of Australia's most famous literary hoaxes: an invented poet, supposedly discovered by his sister, Ethel. Well, Ethel has been revived and rediscovered, made solid by the novelist Stephen Orr in his Sincerely, Ethel Malley. Kate and Cassie are joined by Debra Oswald and Gavin Williams as they read this and new novels by Jhumpa Lahiri and Imbolo Mbue

Writer and translator Subhash Jaireth tracks his life through both countries and bookshelves, from India to the (then) Soviet Union and onto Australia, with many countries and literary traditions in between. He speaks to Kate Evans about where reading and books have taken him.

Writer Krissy Kneen and podcaster Mike Williams join Cassie and Kate as they discuss Rahul Raina's How to Kidnap the Rich, Jamie Marina Lau's Gunk Baby and Jasper Gibson's The Octopus Man. An Indian satire, a contemporary not-quite-dystopian shopping centre, and following the voice of a tentacled deity. Three new works of fiction.

India's first woman lawyer practiced, against the odds, in the 1920s. Novelist Sujata Massey used that woman as inspiration for her fictional character, Perveen Mistry, amateur sleuth in a country bursting with change. Sujata Massey speaks to Kate Evans about her own writing and the bookshelf that shaped her. Reading recommendations abound.

Novelist Bram Presser and comparative literature academic Rebecca Suter join Kate and Cassie to talk about Kazuo Ishiguro's latest novel, Klara and the Sun, in light of all his other novels. And yes, the quality of light, shining down on this Artificial Friend - Robot Girl - is one of the many things at stake in this bookish discussion

It's been a long time since Kate and Cassie have seen either writers or readers in person, but here we all are . . .

Fighting aliens with bows arrows, reading the Encyclopedia Brittanica, and why he's drawn to historical fiction. Former Governor General Peter Cosgrove speaks to Kate Evans about books, reading, history, political biography and writing memoir

Kate and Cassie discuss Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking About This, Peace Adzo Medie's His Only Wife and Marco Missiroli's Fidelity with writer Sefakor Zikpi and journalist Penelope Green, while Jacqueline Maley reflects on the books that sit beside her own new novel, The Truth About Her

Maria Dahvana Headley knows how to write - and read - monsters. And in doing both she remakes them, as she explains to Kate Evans

Fame, fate, a fair bit of love lost and serial killers in this week's edition of The Bookshelf.

Novelist Steven Carroll speaks with Kate Evans about both the books and publishing history imbedded in his novel O

Language specialist Tiger Webb joins Kate while Cassie is away this week, to discuss Blair James' Bernard and Pat, Patricia Engel's Infinite Country and Haruki Murakami's short story collection First Person Singular - with novelist Ronnie Scott and scholar Dominique Hecq

Fiona Mozley's latest novel, Hot Stew, buzzes and rumbles with history, change, gangsters and sex workers. She speaks to Kate Evans about the books that have shaped her

Reading Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Committed and Nam Le's The Boat with Dai Le and Nathalie Nguyen

English writer Francis Spufford speaks to Kate Evans about his latest novel, Light Perpetual, and the books that shaped it and him

Archaeologist Estelle Lazer and writer Patrick Carey join Kate and Cassie to read books layered with history and story. Trevor Shearston's Australian novel, The Dig and English writer Fiona Mozley's Hot Stew. Also, the bookshelf and reading recommendations of Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Open Water

Robert Jones Jr's novel The Prophets is the story of a defiant love story enacted on a slave plantation in the American south. The author speaks to Kate Evans about the books that have shaped it and him, and those works that his writing acts to resist.

Kate and Cassie are joined by journalist Brooke Boney and academic Nicole Moore as they read Edward St Aubyn's Double Blind, Lisa Harding's Bright Burning Things and Steven Carroll's O

Daisy Buchanan is an English columnist, books podcaster and novelist. She speaks to Kate Evans about her latest novel, about reading sexy books, about writing greed and desire, and about the books that have shaped her.

Novelist Susan Johnson and journalist Avani Dias join Cassie and Kate as they read Ella Baxter's New Animal and Francis Spufford's Light Perpetual; and Artistic Director of the Sydney Writers' Festival, Michael Williams, explains Debutante Balls and the program of the (forthcoming) Sydney Writers' Festival

Max Porter answers readers' questions about his latest book, The Death of Francis Bacon (this is the full version of his conversation with Kate Evans, which you may have seen as an online video/ Zoom interview)

Cassie and Kate are joined by artist Paul Ryan and art-historian and novelist Katherine Kovacic as they discuss art in fiction, with a focus on Max Porter's The Death of Francis Bacon and Dominic Smith's The Last Painting of Sara de Vos.

Writer Simon Winchester (The Surgeon of Crowthorne, The Map that Changed the World, Land etc) read a book at the age of almost-22 that changed everything about his life. He speaks to Kate Evans about the books that have shaped him