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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.
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Weird fiction writer China Miéville's surprising collaboration with Keanu Reeves
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Kate and Cassie discuss Choice by Booker-shortlisted author Neel Mukherjee, a bleak, powerful and viciously funny novel about a publisher at war with his industry and himself. Plus, guest critic Ailsa Piper on The Echoes by Miles Franklin winning author Evie Wyld...set between London and rural Australia it's part love story, part ghost story; and B…
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Willy Vlautin's The Horse: drenched in twangy music and heartbreak
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Award-winning U.S. author Willy Vlautin's The Horse is his poignant new novel about the life of a lonely country musician in Nevada and his chance encounter with a half blind horse. Plus, bookseller David Gaunt reviews Ammar Kalia's A Person Is a Prayer, one family's story of migration from Kenya and India to the UK; and Wellington based critic and…
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Dylin Hardcastle's A Language of Limbs: emotionally true, structurally complex
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Kate Evans and Jonathan Green with guests Pip Williams and Sarah Bailey read Dylin Hardcastle's A Language of Limbs, Lev Grossman's The Bright Sword, Valeria Usala's A Woman in Sardinia and Jean-Baptiste del Amo's The Son of Man. Australian fiction, novels in translation, secrets and violence, cities and regions, queer love and emotional truths, an…
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Awfully Rich: Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Long Island Compromise and more
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Money, kidnapping, reality TV, politics, corruption, families, love, and betrayal in all three books on this edition of The Bookshelf. Kate Evans and Jonathan Green, with guests Farz Edraki and Johan Gabrielsson, read Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Long Island Compromise, Porochistaa Khakpour's Tehrangeles and Patrick Holland's Oblivion. Awfully rich, ric…
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Fairytales are at play in Julia Phillips' Bear
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The band is back together! Join Cassie and Kate as they head to an island off North America in Julia Phillips’ Bear, plus two Australian novels – Jessie Tu’s The Honeyeater and Finegan Kruckemeyer’s The End and Everything Before It. BOOKS Julia Phillips, Bear, Scribe Jessie Tu, The Honeyeater, Allen & Unwin Finegan Kruckemeyer, The End and Everythi…
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Catherine McKinnon's To Sing of War takes us to PNG during WW ll
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Kate Evans is joined by guest host Richard Aedy to discuss Catherine McKinnon's To Sing of War, a novel of love, war and friendship. Plus, two debut novels... Big Time by Jordan Prosser, set in a not-too-distant future Australia where pop music is propaganda, and Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna, set during a heatwave in London as tensions an…
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A new fiction title from bestselling author Bruce Pascoe
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Kate Evans returns with guest reviewers to discuss Bruce Pascoe’s Imperial Harvest, an epic of brutality and imperialism; along with Jenny Ackland’s Hurdy Gurdy, a circus saga set in a near-future Australia; and Miranda July’s All Fours, which looks at one woman's quest for a very unique kind of freedom. BOOKS Bruce Pascoe, Imperial Harvest, Melbou…
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Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos, winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize
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Cassie and Kate discuss Jenny Erpenbecks' Kairos (winner of the 2024 International Booker Prize) with critic Declan Fry - originally broadcast August 2023 when the book was first published; and interviews with writers A K Blakemore (The Glutton), Daniel Mason (North Woods) and Gretchen Shirm (The Crying Room) by Kate Evans. BOOKS Jenny Erpenbeck, K…
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In Parade Rachel Cusk blurs reality and fiction
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Cassie and Tom Wright read The Parade by Rachel Cusk, her first since 2018’s Kudos, the final part of the acclaimed Outline trilogy. Once again, Cusk questions the very nature of truth. James Ley joins to discuss Ceridwen Dovey’s new collection of short stories, Only the Astronauts, which takes us off-planet and into the “lives” of the objects that…
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Kaliane Bradley's extraordinary time travel love story
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Cassie and Jonathan Green review The Ministry of Time by debut British-Cambodian novelist Kaliane Bradley, a heads up, it's brilliant. Michael Brissenden reviews Crooked Seeds by South African writer Karen Jennings, a crime mystery set in Cape Town. Nicole Abadee looks at The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry, a story that takes us to 1891 and a grim …
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Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch joins an all-star panel from SWF
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Cassie and Claire Nichols team up on stage at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival to grill some huge literary stars on their reading lives: Irish Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch, U.S. bestseller Celeste Ng, and Australia’s Christos Tsoilkas. GUESTS Paul Lynch, internationally acclaimed, prize-winning author of five novels including the 2023 Booker …
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A new novel from Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran
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Cassie and Jonathan Green review Safe Haven by 2023 Miles Franklin winner Shankari Chandran, Table For Two by Amor Towles (author of A Gentleman In Moscow), and Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan of Crazy Rich Asians fame. BOOKS Safe Haven, Shankari Chandran (Ultimo Press) Lies and Weddings, Kevin Kwan (Penguin) Table for Two, Amor Towles (Penguin) GU…
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Cassie and guest host Tom Wright discuss Claire Messud's This Strange Eventful History, about a family torn apart by war, geography, politics and religion, over the course of three generations. Plus, guests Claire Mabey and Shannon Burns review new fiction from Sarah Perry and Alan Murrin. BOOKS This Strange Eventful History, Claire Messud (Hachett…
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Colm Tóibín's long awaited sequel to Brooklyn
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Cassie and Jonathan Green discuss Colm Tóibín's eagerly awaited new novel Long Island. Star reviewers Madeleine Gray and Benjamin Law discuss buzzy new fiction from Siang Lu (Ghost Cities), and Rachel Khong (Real Americans). BOOKS Long Island, Colm Toibin (Pan Macmillan) Ghost Cities, Siang Lu (UQP) Real Americans, Rachel Khong (Penguin) GUESTS Ben…
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Cassie and Jonathan Green look at Until August, the lost novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and guest reviewers Hannah Kent and Roanna Gonsalves discuss powerful new fiction out of Iceland and the UK.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Cassie and guest host Beejay Silcox read new work by One Day sensation David Nicholls.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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A never before published novel from Charmian Clift
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Cassie, Tom Wright and guests look at The End of the Morning, the never-before-published novel by the Australian writer Charmian Clift, who died in 1969. Plus, The Alternatives by Ireland’s Caoilinn Hughes, and Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, about the consequences of colonisation and the forced assimilation of Native Americans, which is already g…
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Bri Lee's The Work explores art, ambition, privilege and power
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Michaela Kalowski and Cassie look at The Work by Bri Lee, plus new novels from Call Me By Your Name author Andre Aciman, and a work of speculative fiction by Mykaela Saunders.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Andrew O'Hagan's Caledonian Road is "majestic"
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Cassie and guest host Tom Wright take a look at the exceptional new novel from award-winning Scottish writer Andrew O'Hagan, plus, a genre bending mystery from Stuart Turton and a clever new thriller set in Edinburgh.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Téa Obreht, Asako Yuzuki, Steven Carroll: dystopia, butter, murder
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Cassie and Jonathan read Orange Prize winner Téa Obreht’s The Morningside, a dystopian coming-of-age story, plus, a Japanese bestseller and a new post-war literary crime series.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Reimagining Huckleberry Finn, a talking fox, art and alienation
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Reimagining Huckleberry Finn, alienation and a talking fox in this edition of The Bookshelf.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Three new Australian novels! Iain Ryan, Amy Brown, Sharlene Allsopp
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Cassie and Jonathan Green review three new Australian novels with guest star Claire Nichols and novelist Graham Akhurst.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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A Trans-Tasman edition: Myfanwy Jones, Anna Smaill and Sulari Gentill
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Cassie and co-host Tom Wright review two new Australian novels, and from across the ‘Dutch',By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Meditations on writing: Gail Jones, Jennifer Croft and a new anthology edited by Margaret Atwood
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Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green review a literary project edited by Margaret Atwood, and new work by Gail Jones and Jennifer Croft.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Dreams and nightmares: Leo Vardiashvili, Teju Cole, Matthew Blake
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Cassie and guest host (and playwright) Tom Wright review three new works of fiction.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Mysteries and meta-physical thrillers: Kemper Donovan, Mike McCormack and Alex Michaelides
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Mysteries and twists galore in new work by Kemper Donovan and best-selling British-Cypriot author Alex Michaelides; and award-winning Irish novelist Mike McCormack's follow up to Solar Bones.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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New fiction from Francis Spufford, Hisham Matar and Kiley Reid
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Cassie McCullagh and Michaela Kalowski review new novels including Francis Spufford's Cahokia Jazz, Hisham Matar's My Friends and Kiley Reid's Come and Get It.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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We're back for 2024 featuring new novels from Katherena Vermette, Dolly Alderton and Jonathan Lethem
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The Bookshelf is back for 2024 reviewing the latest from Katherena Vermette, Dolly Alderton and Jonathan Lethem.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Summer Reads: history remade, futures reimagined
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Reclaiming and retelling Australian history, where time is both stilled and circular, in Melissa Lucashenko's Edenglassie; and commenting on the past through alternative futures, in Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Chain-Gang All-Stars, Catherine Lacey's Biography of X and Carole Hailey's The Silence Project.…
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Summer Reads: True Crime, historical injustice, NZ satire and God's Teeth
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The Bookshelf is a program for dedicated readers and those who wished they read more.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Summer Reads: from Aphra Behn to Max Porter
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Restoration political satire, Mediaeval rumour, eco-terrorism in New Zealand and a young man with a mixtape full of angst. Reading Max Porter's Shy, Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood, Robyn Cadwallader's The Fire and the Rose with guests Clare Mabey and Clare Monagle; and an introduction to the writing of Aphra Behn from novelist Karen Brooks (The Escap…
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Summer reading: heists, horses, Harlem, Ireland, rage
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Looking for books to rock you back on your heels? You've come to the right place. Kate and Cassie read Deborah Levy's August Blue, Colson Whitehead's Crook Manifesto, Elizabeth McCracken's The Hero of this Book and Claire Kilroy's Soldier Sailor, with Miles Merrill, Bernadette Brennan, Jonathan Green and Ashley Hay…
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Summer Reads: Impossible creatures, an Indian thriller and love in a cherry orchard
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Best books from the year, and some new interviews too. Kate and Cassie read Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake and Deepti Kapoor’s Age of Vice with guest crime specialist Sue Turnbull (and an extended conversation with Kapoor), and fantasy and the imagination with scholar and children’s author Katherine Rundell and her Impossible Creatures.…
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Romance, crime, adventure: Summer reading recommendations
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Melanie Saward joins Kate for a genre-filled reading recommendation discussion of romance, the pseudonymous crime fiction of Australian author George Johnston (with Derham Groves), and historical fiction of the Hundred Years War with Dan Jones. What will you read over Summer?By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Best Books of 2023: What to read now, next and over Summer
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Kate, Cassie and three reading guests (critic Beejay Silcox, Books Editor Jason Steger and kids' author Tristan Bancks) on the books they've loved, the books they'd recommend, the books to give to a friend, the books to read over Summer (and yes, there is a list).By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Bad Art Mother: Canberra Writers Festival Book Club pod extra
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Kate Evans onstage for the Bookshelf and Canberra Writers Festival with CWF Artistic Director and critic Beejay Silcox, and novelist Edwina Preston, on Edwina's novel Bad Art Mother . . . and art, writing, motherhood, poetry and all the rest.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Are you a crime fiction thriller fan? Those stories that get your heart racing and keep you awake all night? Even if you only dip into the genre once in a blue moon, you'll want to join us for a lively thriller themed Book Club with two top-notch crime fiction afficiandoes.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Reading the end of the world: Naomi Alderman, Michael Cunningham, Nicholas Jose, Katherine Brabon
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Kate and Cassie read Nicholas Jose's The Idealist, Michael Cunningham's Day, Naomi Alderman's The Future and Katherine Brabon's Body Friend with guests Eugen Bacon (Serengotti) and Mireille Juchau (The World Without Us)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Lucy Treloar, Tony Birch, Paul Auster, A K Blakemore: Books to chew on
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Kate and Cassie read Lucy Treloar’s Days of Innocence and Wonder, Paul Auster’s Baumgartner, Tony Birch’s Women and Children and A K Blakemore’s The Glutton with academic Bruce Isaacs and writer Laura ElveryBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Memory, history, ghosts and parrots: Richard Flanagan, Sigrid Nunez, Jayne Anne Phillips
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Kate and Cassie read Richard Flanagan's Question 7, Jayne Anne Phillips' Night Watch and Sigrid Nunez's The Vulnerables with guests novelist Eleanor Limprecht and writer Patrick CareyBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Book Club: Historical Fiction with Jesmyn Ward's Let Us Descend and Zadie Smith's The Fraud
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A monthly Book Club edition looking at works by two major literary names that add to the growing body of work attempting to address the past.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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New novels from Christos Tsiolkas, Amanda Lohrey, David Diop and Siân Hughes
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Kate and Cassie read Christos Tsiolkas' The In-Between, Siân Hughes' Pearl, Amanda Lohrey's The Conversion and David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return with guests critic and literary judge James Ley and novelist and podcaster Kate Mildenhall. Translation, shame, lamentations, renovation and love.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Jellyfish, beauty, betrayal and Camelot: new fiction
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Kate and Cassie read Victoria Gosling's Bliss and Blunder, Sophie Keetch's Morgan is my Name, Joel Deane's Judas Boys and Mona Awad's Rouge with novelist A J Betts and theatre writer Tom WrightBy Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Melissa Lucashenko, Charlotte Wood and Bryan Washington: powerful new fiction
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Kate and Cassie read Melissa Lucashenko's Edenglassie, Charlotte Wood's Stone Yard Devotional and Bryan Washington's Family Meal with guests Meredith Lake (Soul Search) and writer Sam Twyford-Moore (Castmates: Australian actors in Hollywood and at Home).By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Three major new works - Trent Dalton, Paul Harding and Suzie Miller
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Three major new works to delve into in this episode, by Trent Dalton, Paul Harding and Suzie Miller.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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In this edition of The Book Club we look at the art, and the science, of the short story with three brand new and intriguing Australian collections.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Lauren Groff, Daniel Mason and Anna Kate Blair: fables, trees, history and art
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Kate and Cassie read Lauren Groff's The Vaster Wilds, Daniel Mason's North Woods and Anna Kate Blair's The Modern with writer Maggie Mackellar (Graft) and the Art Show's Rosa Ellen. Survival, hunger, lush landscapes, ambition, art, history . . . with a surprising side of beetles, apples, wedding dresses and frozen fish.…
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Novels by Anne Enright, Paul Lynch and Emma Donoghue: love, pain, politics and Ireland
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Reading yet more extraordinary fiction from Irish novelists (OK Emma Donoghue actually now lives in Canada, but she's originally Irish): Kate and Cassie on Paul Lynch's Prophet Song, Anne Enright's The Wren, The Wren, and Emma Donoghue's Learned by Heart with guests critic and novelist Gretchen Shirm and poet Beth Spencer…
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Bringing the Past to Life: with Geraldine Brooks, Pip Williams and Sally Colin-James
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Kate Evans discusses historical fiction onstage at the Sydney Writers Festival with Geraldine Brooks (Horse, Year of Wonders, March), Pip Williams (The Bookbinder of Jericho, The Dictionary of Lost Words) and Sally Colin-James)By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Book Club: Frank Moorhouse Retrospective
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A year on from the death of Frank Moorhouse, we examine the work of this much-loved yet troubled writer with his biographer Catharine Lumby and colleague Angelo Loukakis.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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