Best Peter J Mann Podcasts (2024)

1
'Death by suicide? Division as a default setting in America' by Timothy J. Lynch 11:43

4h ago11:43

11:43

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Timothy J. Lynch considers whether the United States is on the path to a second civil war, as forecast by Nick Bryant in The Forever War: America’s unending conflict with itself. In his book, Bryant, a former BBC Washington correspondent, argues that hate and paranoia form a central core of the American experience. Timot…

1
‘Mitty Lee-Brown: artist in exile: From a boarding house in Woollahra to Sri Lanka’ by Nick Hordern 13:54

2d ago13:54

13:54

On this week’s ABR Podcast, Nick Hordern tells the story of Mitty Lee-Brown, the Australian artist who went into self-imposed exile in 1968 to Ceylon, which in 1972 became Sri Lanka. Nick Hordern is a former diplomat and journalist, and the author of several books, including World War Noir: Sydney’s Unpatriotic War. Listen to ‘Mitty Lee-Brown: arti…

1
'Pascoe's vision: Musings on life and Country' by Seumas Spark 10:28

8d ago10:28

10:28

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Seumas Spark reviews Black Duck: A year at Yumburra by Bruce Pascoe with Lyn Harwood. Spark writes: ‘Black Duck is two things: a record of a year in the life of the farm, and a collection of musings on life and Country’. Seumas Spark is an historian at Monash University. Listen to Spark’s ‘Pascoe's vision: Musings on lif…

1
‘Bloodstone: The day they blew up Mount Tom Price’ by Nicole Hasham 36:01

9d ago36:01

36:01

In this week’s ABR Podcast, we feature the third-place winner in this year’s Calibre Essay Prize, Nicole Hasham’s ‘Bloodstone: The day they blew up Mount Tom Price’. In preparation for the essay, Walkley Award-winning journalist Nicole Hasham travelled to the site of Wakathuni, the Pilbara mountain also known as Tom Price that was blown up in 1974 …

1
Peter Rose reviews 'Hazzard and Harrower: The letters' edited by Brigitta Olubas and Susan Wyndham 25:23

23d ago25:23

25:23

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Peter Rose reviews Hazzard and Harrower: The letters, edited by Brigitta Olubas and Susan Wyndham. The correspondence between writers Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower ran from 1966 to 2008 and, in its unedited form, amounted to 400,000 words. Editors Susan Wyndham Brigitta Olubas have trimmed it down: ‘For the time…

1
'Copyright and its discontents: Frank Moorhouse's battle to defend authors' by Matthew Lamb 11:25

1M ago11:25

11:25

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Frank Moorhouse biographer Matthew Lamb tells of his subject’s battle to defend Australian authors and the founding of Copyright Agency in 1974. Listen to Matthew Lamb with ‘Copyright and its discontents: Frank Moorhouse’s battle to defend authors’, published in the June issue of ABR. See omnystudio.com/listener for priv…

1
Natasha Sholl's 'Hold your nerve' 22:11

1M ago22:11

22:11

Last month ABR announced the winner, runner-up and third-place recipient of the 2024 Calibre Essay Prize. In this week’s podcast we are delighted to present the 2024 Calibre runner-up, ‘Hold Your Nerve’, by Melbourne writer Natasha Sholl. Natasha Sholl is a writer and lapsed lawyer. Her work has appeared in publications including The Guardian, The …

1
Tony Hughes d’Aeth reviews On Kim Scott: Writers on writers by Tony Birch 11:14

1M ago11:14

11:14

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Tony Hughes d’Aeth reviews On Kim Scott: Writers on writers by Tony Birch. The book is the latest instalment in Black Inc.’s ‘Writers on Writers’ series. Tony Hughes-d’Aeth is Professor in English and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia and the author of several books including the recently published …

1
Tracey Slaughter's ‘why your hair is long & your stories short’ 46:27

2M ago46:27

46:27

With the publication of the May issue, ABR was delighted to announce the winner of the 2024 Calibre Essay Prize. Tracey Slaughter – from Aotearoa New Zealand – has become the first overseas writer to claim the Calibre Prize with her essay ‘why your hair is long & your stories short’. We are thrilled Tracey Slaughter could join the ABR Podcast to re…

1
Scott Stephens reviews Crimes of the Cross by Anne Manne 17:02

2M ago17:02

17:02

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Scott Stephens reviews a book by Anne Manne: Crimes of the Crimes of the Cross: The Anglican paedophile network of Newcastle, its protectors and the man who fought for justice. Why is narcissism a central theme for a book about child sexual abuse? Stephens writes: ‘without the capacity or willingness to be attentive to t…

1
Patrick Mullins reviews ‘Bad Cop: Peter Dutton’s strongman politics’ by Lech Blaine 11:28

2M ago11:28

11:28

This week on the ABR Podcast we review a profile of opposition leader Peter Dutton. Bad Cop: Peter Dutton’s strongman politics by Lech Blaine is the ninety-third issue of the BlackInc Quarterly Essay. In his review of Bad Cop, political biographer Patrick Mullins begins by comparing Dutton to another cop-turned-politician in Bill Hayden. Listen to …

1
Micheal Shmith reviews The Cancer Finishing School by Peter Goldsworthy 10:26

3M ago10:26

10:26

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Michael Shmith reviews a memoir from poet, novelist, librettist, and Adelaide GP Peter Goldsworthy. The book’s title is The Cancer Finishing School. Shmith begins by observing that doctors aren’t supposed to become incurably ill, before immediately recognising this as the useless delusion of a patient. Michael Shmith is …

1
Gregory Day 'The Neighbour's Beans' 22:37

3M ago22:37

22:37

In this week’s ABR podcast we feature one of the winners of the 2011 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. Gregory Day’s ‘The Neighbour’s Beans’ was joint winner of the prize that year with Carrie Tiffany’s ‘Before He Left the Family’. Gregory Day commented at the time that ‘the short story form encourages an intense display of the writer’s craft…

1
Frank Bongiorno on how the Albanese government is travelling 16:44

3M ago16:44

16:44

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Frank Bongiorno assesses the Albanese government, which has recently completed the first half of its first term in office. Frank Bongiorno is Professor of History at the Australian National University, President of the Australian Historical Association, and the author of books including Dreamers and Schemers: A political…

1
Sascha Morrell reviews 'Frank Moorhouse: Strange paths' by Mathew Lamb 22:01

3M ago22:01

22:01

In this week’s ABR Podcast Sascha Morrell reviews Matthew Lamb’s biography, Frank Moorhouse: Strange paths. Mathew Lamb might be the ideal reader for Moorhouse’s archive and seems to match Moorhouse’s capacity for telling the truth ‘bit by bit’, wink by nudge. Sascha Morrell is a regular ABR contributor and a Lecturer in Literary Studies at Monash …

1
'The Great Red Whale', an essay by Michael Winkler 42:43

4M ago42:43

42:43

On this week’s ABR Podcast, we return to the winner of the 2016 Calibre Essay Prize, Michael Winkler’s ‘The Great Red Whale’. As ABR remarked at the time, ‘This excoriating yet remarkably subtle meditation is also a tribute to consolations: landscape, specifically the desert of Central Australia, and literature, notably Moby-Dick.’ Here is Michael …

1
Scott Stephens reviews Kevin Hart's book on contemplation 13:09

4M ago13:09

13:09

This week on the ABR Podcast we consider a poetics of contemplation with Scott Stephens. In his review of Kevin Hart’s book on reading and thinking, Lands of Likeness, Stephens writes, ‘there is no desire to consume the object of contemplation; what there is, is a longing to understand’. Scott Stephens is the ABC’s Religion & Ethics online editor a…

1
Pramoedya Ananta Toer and the Buru Quartet by Nathan Hollier 25:07

5M ago25:07

25:07

This week on the ABR Podcast we tell the story behind Indonesia’s twentieth-century literary masterpiece, the Buru Quartet, a set of novels that began life in a jail cell. The Buru novels were written by Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, widely considered a potential winner of the Nobel Prize. Nathan Hollier, publisher at Australian National…

1
'Sleepers', a short story by Cate Kennedy 21:30

5M ago21:30

21:30

In this week’s episode of the ABR Podcast we revisit Cate Kennedy’s short story ‘Sleepers’, which won second prize in the 2010 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. ‘Sleepers’ was also included in Kennedy’s 2012 short-story collection Like a House on Fire. Cate Kennedy is an award-winning writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Listen to Cate …

1
Stuart Kells reviews 'Alan Joyce and Qantas' 13:00

5M ago13:00

13:00

This week on the ABR Podcast we look at Qantas with business writer and historian Stuart Kells. In his review of Alan Joyce and Qantas: The trials and transformation of an Australian icon by Peter Harbison, Kells notes that the company’s declining reputation extends beyond the area of substandard customer service. Stuart Kells is Adjunct Professor …

1
An essay on the lives of ‘ordinary’ migrants by Ebony Nilsson 16:00

6M ago16:00

16:00

In this week’s ABR Podcast, historian Ebony Nilsson tracks the lives of mid-century migrant Australians with the aid of ASIO and CIA files. Ebony Nilsson is a Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University, the current ABR Laureate Fellow, and recently published her first book, Displaced Comrades: Politics and Surveillance in the Lives of So…

1
Kevin Foster reviews David McBride's whistleblower memoir 13:19

6M ago13:19

13:19

This week’s ABR Podcast features Kevin Foster’s straight-shooting review of whistleblower David McBride’s memoir The Nature of Honour, which begins: ‘Sometimes, for the faithful, it doesn’t do to look too closely into the life of your chosen idol.’ Foster’s books include Don’t Mention the War: The Australian Defence Force, the media and the Afghan …

1
Peter Porter Poetry Prize 2024 Shortlist 30:26

6M ago30:26

30:26

Welcome back to the ABR Podcast. We begin 2024 with the Peter Porter Poetry Prize. First presented in 2005, the Porter Prize is one of the world’s leading competitions for a new poem in English. It is worth a total of $10,000, of which the overall winner will receive $6,000. This episode of the ABR Podcast features the five shortlisted poets readin…

1
The referendum and John Howard’s long political shadow 12:06

7M ago12:06

12:06

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Joel Deane argues that one person more than any other is the reason why more than sixty per cent of voters said No in the Voice referendum. Former prime ministers, he says, haunt Australian politics like Hamlet’s Ghost. Joel Deane is a poet, novelist and speechwriter. Listen to Joel Deane’s ‘A maddening country: The long…

1
Will we ever have another referendum? 15:30

7M ago15:30

15:30

This week’s ABR Podcast is a reflection on the future of referendums in the aftermath of the Voice. Constitutional scholar Anne Twomey argues that referendums in Australia are now an endangered species and reminds us of the original intent behind them. Anne Twomey is a Professor Emerita of the University of Sydney and was a member of the Constituti…

1
'The Morning Belongs to Us', an essay by Siobhan Kavanagh 16:28

8M ago16:28

16:28

This ABR Podcast features one of the eleven shortlisted entries in the 2023 Calibre Essay Prize, ‘The Morning Belongs to Us’, by Siobhan Kavanagh. The 2024 Calibre Essay Prize, worth a total of $10,000, is now open for entries and will be closed on the 22nd of January 2024. Full details can be found on the ABR website. Listen to Siobhan Kavanagh’s …

1
Jelena Dinić pays tribute to Charles Simic 12:57

8M ago12:57

12:57

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Jelena Dinić pays tribute to Charles Simic, the Yugoslavian-born American poet, essayist, and translator, who died earlier this year. After her own poetry received an award in 2020, Jelena Dinić initiated a correspondence with Simic in Serbian, two writers ‘born in a country that doesn’t exist anymore’. Jelena Dinić’s wr…

1
Marilyn Lake reviews 'My Grandfather’s Clock' by Graeme Davison 11:24

9M ago11:24

11:24

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Marilyn Lake reviews My Grandfather’s Clock: Four centuries of a British-Australian family by historian Graeme Davison. Lake argues that Davison has produced an ‘uncommonly good family history’, in part because of the broader history he tells. Marilyn Lake is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in History at the University o…

1
Catriona Menzies-Pike reviews Question 7 by Richard Flanagan 11:07

9M ago11:07

11:07

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Catriona Menzies-Pike reviews Richard Flanagan’s new hybrid work Question 7. Menzies-Pike argues that Flanagan’s ‘sweeping engagement with history ultimately brings the author back to himself’ in ways that limit understanding of the present tense. Catriona Menzies-Pike is a literary critic and former editor of the Sydney…

1
Zora Simic reviews Graeme Turner’s The Shrinking Nation 11:16

9M ago11:16

11:16

On this week’s ABR Podcast historian Zora Simic reviews Graeme Turner’s new book, The Shrinking Nation: How we got here and what can be done about it. Simic argues that state-of-the-nation books ‘can capture the Zeitgeist, but always run the risk of being outrun by history itself’. Zora Simic is a Senior Lecturer in History and Gender Studies at th…

1
Julian V. McCarthy on unleashing clean energy 16:07

9M ago16:07

16:07

On this week’s ABR Podcast, Julian V. McCarthy reviews Powering Up: Unleashing the clean energy supply chain by Alan Finkel. McCarthy endorses Finkel’s claim that conceptually and technically the solution is simple – ‘electrify everything’ – as well as his judgement that this transformation will require considerable social, economic, and political …

1
Killing for Country – David Marr, Mark McKenna and Georgina Arnott in conversation 34:37

9M ago34:37

34:37

This week, on the ABR podcast, we feature a special conversation between author and journalist David Marr, historian Mark McKenna and ABR’s Georgina Arnott, recorded in the middle of September 2023, one month out from the Voice referendum. The subject was David Marr’s new book, Killing for Country: A family story, which takes the reader to early ni…

1
A Voice to parliament, not a Voice in parliament 12:32

10M ago12:32

12:32

In this week’s ABR Podcast, we hear from Melissa Castan and Lynette Russell on the history and mechanics behind the Voice to parliament, the subject of next week's referendum. Melissa Castan is a Professor of Law at Monash University and the Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. Lynette Russell is Sir John Monash Distinguished Profess…

1
Penny Russell reviews Kate Grenville's Restless Dolly Maunder 10:00

10M ago10:00

10:00

This week on the ABR Podcast historian Penny Russell reviews Kate Grenville’s new book, a fictional account of her maternal grandmother. In Restless Dolly Maunder, Grenville reckons with the life of a woman who left no written records but whose memory she carries from her childhood. Penny Russell is Professor Emerita at The University of Sydney and…

1
Des Manderson on the 1963 Yirrkala Bark Petition 22:12

10M ago22:12

22:12

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Professor Desmond Manderson takes us back sixty years to the 1963 Yirrkala Bark Petition drafted by Yolngu leader Yunupingu. The Yirrkala petition called for constitutional recognition of Indigenous rights and can be seen as an antecedent to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Desmond Manderson is Director of the Centre …

1
Sarah Ogilvie's The Melbourne Dictionary People 15:40

10M ago15:40

15:40

In this week’s ABR Podcast, Sarah Ogilvie explores the mystery behind the Oxford English Dictionary’s (1928) Australian lexicon. Ogilvie, a former Director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre, tells us about the Melbourne Dictionary People, a group of nineteenth and early-twentieth century Melburnians who contributed Australianisms for the…

1
Joel Deane on The Great Australian Intemperance 33:08

11M ago33:08

33:08

This week on the ABR Podcast, we have Joel Deane with The Great Australian Intemperance, his essay on rising economic and political insecurity as reflected in the My Place movement, conspiracy theories, neo-Nazis, and ‘sovereign citizen’ groups. Joel Deane is a poet, novelist, journalist, and speechwriter. Listen to Deane’s The Great Australian Int…

1
Twenty years of the Porter Poetry Prize 33:51

11M ago33:51

33:51

This week on the ABR Podcast we celebrate twenty years of the Peter Porter Poetry Prize with readings from six winners. We invited these poets to reflect on the prize and their winning poems. Hear fresh readings from Judith Beveridge, A. Frances Johnson, Damen O’Brien, Sara M. Saleh, Alex Skovron and Judith Bishop. The 2024 Porter Prize, worth a to…

1
Jonathan Green on Walter Marsh’s biography of Rupert Murdoch 11:52

11M ago11:52

11:52

In this week’s ABR Podcast, writer and broadcaster Jonathan Green reviews Walter Marsh’s illuminating biography of the young Rupert Murdoch. Green explains that there is every reason ‘to get to the bottom of Rupert Murdoch’ given the media mogul’s far-reaching influence. Listen to Jonathan Green with ‘ONE MAN CONTROL: An enthralling study of the yo…

1
2023 Jolley Short Story Prize shortlist, Episode Three: ‘Our Own Fantastic’ by Uzma Aslam Khan 31:05

12M ago31:05

31:05

This week on the ABR Podcast, we celebrate the 2023 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize shortlist over three episodes. In each episode, one of the three shortlisted authors will read their story. The overall winner of the Jolley Prize will be announced at an online ceremony on August 17. Proceeding in alphabetical order, Episode Three features ‘…

1
2023 Jolley Short Story Prize shortlist, Episode Two: ‘The Mannequin’ by Rowan Heath 28:33

12M ago28:33

28:33

This week on the ABR Podcast, we celebrate the 2023 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize shortlist over three episodes. In each episode, one of the three shortlisted authors will read their story. The overall winner of the Jolley Prize will be announced at an online ceremony on August 17. Proceeding in alphabetical order, Episode Two features ‘Th…

1
2023 Jolley Short Story Prize shortlist, Episode One: ‘Black Wax’ by Winter Bel 32:42

12M ago32:42

32:42

This week on the ABR Podcast, we celebrate the 2023 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize shortlist over three episodes. In each episode, one of the three shortlisted authors will read their story. The overall winner of the Jolley Prize will be announced at an online ceremony on August 17. Proceeding in alphabetical order, Episode One features Win…

1
James Ley on J.M. Coetzee’s Life and Times of Michael K 13:53

12M ago13:53

13:53

On this week’s ABR podcast, critic and essayist James Ley reflects on J.M. Coetzee’s Life and Times of Michael K, forty years after its publication. Coetzee’s fourth and Booker Prize-winning novel was his landmark work, explains Ley. This was despite it receiving criticism for supposedly eliding the political realities of Apartheid South Africa by …

1
Kevin Foster on Nick McKenzie’s bracing reportage 16:40

12M ago16:40

16:40

On this week’s ABR Podcast, Kevin Foster reviews Crossing the Line, journalist Nick McKenzie’s account of the defamation trial, Ben Roberts-Smith versus Fairfax. Kevin Foster is Associate Professor at Monash University and the author of numerous articles and books on the Australian media’s treatment of Afghanistan. Listen to him read ‘Nick McKenzie…

1
Geordie Williamson reviews J.M. Coetzee’s The Pole and Other Stories 13:07

1y ago13:07

13:07

This week, on the ABR podcast, literary critic and editor Geordie Williamson reviews J.M. Coetzee’s new short story collection, The Pole and Other Stories. At the age of eighty-three Coetzee has again proved himself a ‘true and loving creator’, argues Williamson, by denying his characters endings or wholeness – ‘the great lie of art’. Listen to Geo…

1
Ebony Nilsson on the ALP’s uneasy history with immigration 17:26

1y ago17:26

17:26

In this week’s ABR Podcast, we revisit the Australian Labor Party’s long and uneasy relationship with immigration. Dr Ebony Nilsson, a research fellow at the Australian Catholic University, argues that while the ALP no longer looks like a ‘happy white men’s club’, its policies on immigration reflect a longstanding ambivalence around race. Listen to…

1
Bain Attwood on the 1967 and 2023 referendums 25:17

1y ago25:17

25:17

This episode of the ABR Podcast looks at the history behind this year’s referendum on an Indigenous Voice to parliament and Indigenous constitutional recognition. Bain Attwood, Professor of History at Monash University, considers the 1967 referendum on Aboriginal rights, and how that ‘yes’ campaign differed from today’s. Listen to Bain Attwood with…

1
David Rolph on Ben Roberts-Smith 13:02

1y ago13:02

13:02

On this week’s ABR Podcast hear leading defamation scholar David Rolph discuss recent proceedings in the Federal Court relating to the reputation of Ben Roberts-Smith, a decorated soldier accused of war crimes in Afghanistan. David Rolph is a Professor of Law at Sydney University and the author of several books, including Reputation, Celebrity and …

1
'Slut Trouble' by Beejay Silcox 24:23

1y ago24:23

24:23

This week on the ABR Podcast we revisit a shortlisted story from the 2016 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize: ‘Slut Trouble’ by Beejay Silcox. The provocatively titled story was republished in The Best Australian Stories 2017. Beejay is an ABR critic and the newly minted director of the Canberra Writers Festival. Listen to her read ‘Slut Troubl…

1
John Zubrzycki on Modi’s India 15:03

1y ago15:03

15:03

This year marks seventy-five years of Indian independence from Britain. The anniversary coincides with India’s Presidency of the G20 summit, which will take place in New Delhi this September. This week on the ABR Podcast, we hear from John Zubrzycki, who argues that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is using the G20 platform to articulate a new f…

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Peter J Mann Podcasts

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