Final Draft - Great Conversations

2SER 107.3FM
  • 4.8 (22)
  • Books
  • Updated Weekly

Great conversations with authors from Australia and around the world.

  1. 6 hrs ago ·  Bonus

    Book Club - Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore

    ​Charlotte McConaghy is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the novels Wild Dark Shore, Once There Were Wolves, and Migrations. Wild Dark Shore is the Literary Fiction Book of the Year at THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS 2026. Shearwater Island has a dark history. Pillaged for its natural resources, the island saw the massacre of hundreds of thousands of whales, seals and penguins to prop up the energy needs of industrialising countries. Since those dark days the island has become a miracle of environmental renewal only to see itself threatened again by rising sea levels that could see it vanish forever.  Rowan has risked everything to get to Shearwater Island, and the wildest storm in years may just claim that price.  When she is dragged lifeless from the water she wakes to find herself in the middle of the Salt family, the last residents of the island. Dominic and his children are racing against the ocean to rescue the contents of Shearwater’s Seed Vault. It’s a noble mission but Rowan questions why the scientists and researchers would abandon it to a caretaker and his children. Everyone on Shearwater has secrets and trust is in short supply but Rowan must decide quickly whether hers are in direct conflict with Dominic and whatever he is keeping from her. Wild Dark Shore is a novel that confronts us with our humanity in the face of climate destruction. When Rowan arrives on Shearwater she finds a family fully immersed in the ecosystem of the island. Dom keeps the infrastructure running against all odds, much in the same way he desperately tries to keep his kids around him as a single dad. His eldest Raff struggles to understand how to be a man after living the last eight years on the island. Fen is more at home in the water and Orly has known nothing but the wilds of Shearwater his whole life. As Rowan struggles to know who to trust she must reconcile herself to the fact she is at their mercy. Can she discover the secret of Shearwater before it’s all too late. Wild Dark Shore makes much of its Gothic set up and wild setting. We are give a narrowed cast of characters in extremis and watch as they circle each other warily. With suspicion as a guiding principle we are offered the possibility of a dark heart whilst also shown the love and attention they carry for the island and it’s welfare. Even as the human drama plays out we are confronted with the broader ecological catastrophe that plagues not only the central characters but the wider world they are only superficially separated from. The grievances they carry against each other start to pale in comparison to the challenges they must face as the weather continues to change. I found this a satisfying read both for its central mystery but also for its dealing with feelings of hopelessness and climate grief. As we see more frequent and worsening natural disasters we are going to need books like Wild Dark Shore to help us work through how we might possibly understand our place in it all

    4 min

  2. 4 days ago

    Melissa Manning’s Frogsong

    The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Melissa Manning’s debut story collection, Smokehouse, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction. Melissa joins us today with her new novel Frogsong. Caro and Danny have always been a pair, from their earliest years by the waterhole. And so it is no surprise they become a couple and plan a life through uni and beyond. But life is rarely that simple and Caro finds herself wondering what happened to the young man she fell in love with. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

    35 min

  3. 22 May

    Sam Elliott’s Haze

    The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Sam Elliott is a writer and podcaster. He’s the host of ‘The Write Way’, and joins us today with his debut novel Haze. The fires ringing the town of Broughlet should be Constable Dahlia Turner’s main concern as she drives from house to house warning residents to evacuate.  Instead the town’s people are threatening their own destruction as a local industrialist clashes with a secretive church in the hills. Now Dahlia has found the bodies of her two closest friends in the wreckage of their home, murdered. Their child is missing and the fires are drawing closer. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

    33 min

  4. 15 May

    Emily Gale’s The Wild Unknown

    The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Emily has worked in the children’s book industry for over 25 years. Her writing includes I Am Out With Lanterns (2018), Elsewhere Girls (2021) and Outlaw Girls (2024).  Emily is joining us with her new novel The Wild Unknown Eddie’s not looking forward to the changes that will come in the lead up to high school. When a local boy goes missing it’s the perfect distraction as Eddie and his best friend Kit decide they could succeed where the police haven’t and start their own investigation.  Despite finding some clues and a weird fossil down by the river their investigation is going nowhere. Except now Kit’s fallen ill and strange things are happening with Eddie’s body… Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

    34 min

  5. 8 May

    Brendan Colley’s The Season for Flying Saucers

    The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Brendan Colley’s first novel The Signal Line won the Unpublished Manuscript Prize in the 2019 Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Awards, and was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and The Age Book of the Year. Today Brendan joins us with his new novel The Season for Flying Saucers. When the lights appear on the first night of summer Hobart is abuzz. It’s shaping up to be a good season. Noah is skeptical. Life is spiraling more than a little for him; estranged from his family, his wife has left and he’s just been fired from his job. There’s really nothing to leave behind if they do come to get him. But weird has followed Noah ever since that night twelve years ago when they took his father, and this Season for Flying Saucers is shaping up to be a doozy. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

    49 min

  6. 3 May

    Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s Bugger

    The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement, the author of four novels, including The Lebs (2018) and The Other Half of You (2021), both shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. He’s also perhaps the most welcomed guest on Final Draft, where we first welcomed him around twelve years ago and have had many chats since. Today's show has a Content Warning for discussion of sexual abuse Lifeline's 24-hour telephone crisis line is available on 13 11 14 Bugger follows a day in the life of ten-year-old Hamoodi and explores the intersections of his vulnerability; within his school, within his family and within his own developing conception of self. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

    51 min

  7. 23 Apr

    Tim Ayliffe's Dark Desert Road

    The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Tim Ayliffe is a journalist and author. Tim is the author of the standalone novel, Dark Desert Road, and the ‘John Bailey’ series. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

    31 min

  8. 16 Apr

    Alan Fyfe’s The Cross Thieves

    The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Alan Fyfe is a maker of stories and poems who lives on unceded Noongar country. Alan’s joining us today with his new novel The Cross Thieves When his brother punched a wall and stalked off with a pair of scissors, Pell knew nothing good was coming but he followed Gark anyway. Now the brothers are on the run, hungry and carrying the metal cross of a man they’d sworn to kill.  And the night is still young… Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

    35 min
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4.8
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Great conversations with authors from Australia and around the world.

Information

  • Creator
    2SER 107.3FM
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    400
  • Rating
    Explicit

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