ABC Australia

The Bookshelf

Arts EN ↓ 520 episodes

What are you reading, loving or being challenged by? We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.

Author

ABC Australia

Episodes

On Anna Burns' Milkman, Esi Edugyan's Washington Black and Philip Teir's The Summer House 16.11.2018 54:06

Kate and Cassie are joined by essayist Fiona Wright and historian Kimberley Knight as they discuss Anna Burns' Irish novel Milkman, Esi Edugyan's story of slavery and escape Washington Black and a Finnish novel of claustrophobic decay, The Summer House. Oh, and there are saints and tears in the mix too.

RN Armistice 100 The Bookshelf podcast extra: On Robert Graves' Good-Bye to All That and a coda for Vera Brittain 10.11.2018 34:10

A conversation with Jean Moorcoft Wilson on the life of British war poet and novelist, Robert Graves; and a postscript on the life of writer and peace activist Vera Brittain.

RN Armistice 100: Australian WWI fiction, Indian writing & Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth 09.11.2018 53:59

How has the First World War been fictionalised, in Australia, over the past century? And what about the Indian experience, with 1.5 million soldiers at war: has that story entered its popular imagination?

New fiction from Andrew Miller, Anne Tyler and Victor LaValle 02.11.2018 53:57

On Andrew Miller's Now We Shall be Entirely Free, Anne Tyler's Clock Dance and Victor LaValle's The Changeling, with novelists Jane Rawson and John Tesarsch and literary academic David Ellison. (Speaking with Kate Evans on her lonesome this week, while Cassie McCullagh is away.)

On Krissy Kneen's Wintering, Les Zig's August Falling, Margaret Morgan's The Second Cure, Ilka Tampke's Songwoman and more 26.10.2018 53:57

Kate and Cassie are joined by historian Ruth Balint, crime writer Peter Cotton and Science Fiction reader George Williams to discuss fiction by Krissy Kneen, Les Zig, Margaret Morgan, Peter F Hamilton and Sayaka Murata

On Haruki Murakami's Killing Commendatore, Sarah Perry's Melmoth and Kristina Olsson's own bookshelf 19.10.2018 53:57

Cassie and Kate are joined by TV writer and Dylanologist Mark Sutton to discuss Murakami's mammoth Killing Commendatore and Sarah Perry's gothic Melmoth, while novelist Kristina Olsson (Shell) reveals the bookshelf that made her.

On Kristina Olsson's Shell, Markus Zusak's Bridge of Clay and Prayaag Akbar's Leila 12.10.2018 53:57

Kate and Cassie talk books with novelist Suzanne Leal and translator and memoirist Vicki Laveau-Harvie. Kristina Olsson's reimagining of the building of the Sydney Opera House (Shell), Markus Zusak's ramshackle family story (Bridge of Clay) and Prayaag Akbar's dystopian tale of 'purity' (Leila).

Reading habits, influences and recommendations from Australian novelists Emma Viskic, Melissa Lucashenko, Chris Hammer and Christian White 05.10.2018 53:59

Writers and their reading: novelist Melissa Lucashenko (Too Much Lip) and crime writers Emma Viskic (And Fire Came Down), Chris Hammer (Scrublands) and Christian White (Nowhere Child)

On books by J M Coetzee, Kate Morton, Sebastian Faulks, Rebecca O'Connor and John Connell 28.09.2018 53:58

Kate and Cassie speak to novelist Ceridwen Dovey about J M Coetzee, encounter very different ghosts in the latest novels of Sebastian Faulks (Paris Echo) and Kate Morton (The Clockmaker's Daughter), and encounter both cows and awkward teens in Irish fiction

New novels from Louis de Bernières, Kate Atkinson, Andrew Sean Greer and Rebecca Lim 21.09.2018 53:57

Kate and Cassie discuss Louis de Bernières' So Much Life Left Over, Kate Atkinson's Transcription, Andrew Sean Greer's Still and Rebecca Lim's The Relic of the Blue Dragon, with writer Sam Twyford-Moore and academic Zora Simic.

On Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls, Patrick de Witt's French Exit and the Australian Reading Hour 14.09.2018 53:57

Kate and Cassie are joined by lawyer and novelist Andreas Heger and publisher and writer Phillipa McGregor to discuss the latest books by Pat Barker and Patrick de Witt, while Morris Gleitzman tells Cassie about the Australian Reading Hour and the bookshelf that made him.

Short stories from Robert Drewe, Curtis Sittenfeld, Roxane Gay, Lauren Groff, William Trevor & John Edgar Wideman 07.09.2018 53:59

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with rather a lot of short stories, and the reader reviewers Roanna Gonsalves, Brett Evans and Michael Dulaney

On Sally Rooney's Normal People and Stephanie Bishop's Man Out of Time (just for starters) 31.08.2018 53:56

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with reader Patrick Carey, editor of the Australian Book Review Peter Rose, writer and translator Tiffany Tsao and a whole lot of books.

Vale Crimewriter Peter Corris: Cliff Hardy has made his exit 30.08.2018 15:44

Peter Corris was known as the Godfather of Australian crime. He wrote more than forty Cliff Hardy novels, as well as works of history, co-authored biography and many more (ninety books at least)

On Anna Seghers' The Seventh Cross, Tiffany Tsao's Under Your Wings and books by Edward St Aubyn and Roland Schimmelpfennig 24.08.2018 53:56

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are joined by arts journalist Martin Portus, literary scholar Helen Groth and historian Clare Monagle to talk fiction.

On Melissa Broder's The Pisces, Audrey Schulman's Theory of Bastards and V S Naipaul - with writers Felicity Castagna, Margo Lanagan and Khalid Warsame 17.08.2018 53:58

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with novels about animals, sex and research (and a few other things)

On crime writer Ann Cleeves, Laura Elizabeth Woollett's Beautiful Revolutionary, Simon Mawer's Prague Spring and A People's History of the Vampire Uprising 10.08.2018 53:56

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with crime writer Ann Cleeves, historian David Hunt, memoirist Vicki Laveau-Harvie and bookseller Jennifer Stephens - and a whole lot of revolutionary novels.

On Melissa Lucashenko's Too Much Lip, Chris Hammer's Scrublands and Gregory Day's A Sand Archive 03.08.2018 53:56

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with literary academic Nicole Moore and the Sydney Story Factory's Catherine Keenan on Melissa Lucashenko's Too Much Lip, Chris Hammer's Scrublands and Gregory Day's A Sand Archive

On Mario Vargas Llosa, Libby Page's The Lido, Sharlene Teo's Ponti and Tim Ayliffe's The Greater Good 27.07.2018 53:56

Kate and Cassie disagree (again!) about Mario Vargas Llosa's The Neighbourhood, writers Bridie Jabour and Sheila Pham review debut novels by Libby Page and Sharlene Teo, and journo and novelist Tim Ayliffe reveals his crime and suspense filled bookshelves

On Tara Isabella Burton's Social Creature, Barry Hill's Reason and Lovelessness, Natasha Lester's The Paris Seamstress and Sunni Overend's The Rules of Backyard Croquet 20.07.2018 53:52

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are at loggerheads this week over Tara Isabella Burton's Social Creature, and you'll hear from the American writer herself. Barry Hill reveals a career shaped by encounters with writers and writing, and Sally Seltman reviews two Australian novels.

On Rachel Cusk's Kudos, Maria Tumarkin's Axiomatic and Kim Scott's bookshelf 13.07.2018 53:56

Novelists Mireille Juchau and Susan Johnson join Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh to discuss Rachel Cusk's Kudos and Maria Tumarkin's Axiomatic; and Kim Scott reveals the bookshelf that shaped him

Barbara Kingsolver, Alexander McCall Smith and why some novelists disappear 06.07.2018 53:59

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with what Alexander McCall Smith reads (hint, there's a collection of poetry in his pocket), why Barbara Kingsolver reads at traffic lights, and Christopher Fowler on The Book of Forgotten Authors

On Enza Gandolfo's The Bridge, Hallgrímur Helgason's The Woman at 1000 Degrees, The Book Ninja & Michael Robotham's The Other Wife 29.06.2018 53:59

Writers, readers and reviewers Michael Robotham, Robyn Annear, Antony Funnell, Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus join Kate Evans to talk books books books.

On Peter Cochrane's The Making of Martin Sparrow, Willy Vlautin's Don't Skip Out on Me, Meg Wolitzer's The Female Persuasion and Sally Seltmann's bookshelf 22.06.2018 53:52

Kate and Cassie are joined by readers and reviewers, historian Stephen Gapps, novelist Peggy Frew and essayist Michael Dulaney.

Poet A F Harrold; Claire G Coleman, Melanie Cheng and Felicity Castagna telling 'home truths' through fiction; and SF writer Jay Kristoff 15.06.2018 53:58

English poet and children's book author A F Harrold reveals how libraries have shaped him; writers Melanie Cheng, Felicity Castagna and Claire G Coleman discuss how fiction might illuminate the most difficult aspects of our national life; and sci-fi and fantasy author Jay Kristoff reflects on the bookshelves that made him.