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Your favourite fiction authors share the story behind their latest books.
388 Episodes
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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 of slaves as ignorant and simple.And Banned Books Episode Four Gender Queer, explores an award winning memoir by an American author that's being challenged in the Australian Federal court in an attempt to ban it.
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 across the US. In Australia, a conservative Queensland activist is seeking to have it banned and is taking the Australian Classification Review Board to the Australian Federal Court over it's unrestricted classification of the memoir.Is the US book banning movement coming to Australia?
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 part of a series where well known authors find the truth behind the legends commissioned by the historical fiction publishing house Birlinn.Jonathan Seidler is no stranger to the complexities of modern relationships. A Sydney writer, journalist and columnist, his work is frequently published in journals and newspapers. He has also written a memoir exploring his family history of mental illness. Jonathan's latest is a novel, All the Beautiful Things You Love which delves into the story beyond the happy ending - how break-ups can define a relationship.
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 series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. Guests: Liang Ge - PHD candidate, Kings College London and expert on danmei/boyslove culture and fiction.Megan Walsh - author of The Subplot: What China Is Reading and Why It Matters.
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 for her novel Carpentaria.
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, death and the Balkan wars. She followed it up with a Western called Inland. With her new novel, Morningside, Obreht has shifted gears again with a dystopian fairy tale set in a flooded future version of what feels a lot like Manhattan.The Stella Prize will be announced this week; it's an annual prize for Australian women and non-binary writers. One of this year's shortlisted authors is Emily O'Grady for her novel, Feast. The book is about an unconventional family meeting in a run-down Scottish castle and was described by the Stella Prize judges as a 'perfect jewel of a novel'.
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 elites, Russian oligarchs and human traffickers, rappers, DJs, wellness assistants and those who seek to shake up the whole rotten system.
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 schoolsGuests: Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give (original 2017 interview)Kasey Meehan, program director for Freedom to Read, PEN AmericaTracie D Hall, former executive director of the American Library AssociationMaxine Beneba Clarke, Australian memoirist, poet, children's book author. Her poem There's a Shelf in the Library is in her latest poetry collection It's the Sound of the Thing.Find the other episodes in the series here.
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.
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