The Book Show

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The Book Show Podcast

Your favourite fiction authors share the story behind their latest books.

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    Elif Shafak and the water that connects us

    Celebrated British-Turkish author Elif Shafak follows a single drop of water through history in her novel There are Rivers in the Sky, Kaliane Bradley on her bestseller The Ministry of Time which has attracted Barack Obama's attention and Nicola Moriarty's latest domestic drama Every Last Suspect. Elif Shafak is a British-Turkish author and activist. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World and for the Women's Prize for her novel, The Island of Missing Trees. Her new novel, There are Rivers in the Sky, is an epic in which three key stories are connected by raindrops, rivers and water.  The Ministry of Time by British-Cambodian author Kaliane Bradley is listed on former US president Barack Obama annual summer reading list this year. It's a time travel novel in which a handful of (mostly) fictional historical characters who've been transplanted from their time period to a near future England. It's about love, refugees, bureaucracy and the doomed Franklin Arctic expedition. The Moriarty sisters — Liane, Jaclyn and Nicola — are a powerhouse family in Australian publishing. Each sister is a successful author in their own right, including the youngest Nicola. In her latest family drama, Every Last Suspect, as a woman lies dying she decides to use her final moments to figure out who did it.

    54 min

  2. 2 SEPT

    Meet Meena Kandasamy: poet, novelist, rebel

    Meena Kandasamy is an Indian born poet, novelist, rebel and activist who's been threatened and harassed for her writing. From the Byron Writers Festival she explains why she keeps going despite the threats.   She is also celebrated for her innovative approach to storytelling. Her debut novel The Gypsy Goddess (2015) was about the 1968 massacre of Dalit agricultural workers. Her book When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife is about her own experience of domestic violence. Her latest work is a collection of poetry called Tomorrow Someone Will Arrest You.  She told Claire Nichols about the importance of ego as a writer, her family background raised in a house of academics and rebels and the challenge of being an activist.

    54 min

  3. 26 AUG

    Evie Wyld's writing tip: put a shark in it

    Award-winning author Evie Wyld on her new book The Echoes, and why there are so many sharks in her fiction. Plus, Catherine McKinnon's epic war novel To Sing of War and Jordan Prosser's band road trip novel, Big Time. Evie Wyld is one of the few Australian writers to win both the Miles Franklin and the Stella Prizes (the Miles for All the Birds, Singing, and the Stella for The Bass Rock). She is drawn to the paranormal and gothic in her fiction and this atmosphere imbues her new book, The Echoes, which is partly narrated by a ghost. Evie shares her go to writing tip (yes, it has to do with sharks) and the appeal of the TV series Neighbours when she was growing up in England. Catherine McKinnon is a playwright, critic and novelist. Her second novel Storyland was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin. Catherine's third book, To Sing of War, is set during World War 2 and asks what makes this war different. It's a braided story that threads multiple perspectives from characters in different places, including the Australians fighting against the Japanese in New Guinea and those developing of the atomic bomb in New Mexico, USA. Big Time is the debut novel from Australian screenwriter-turned novelist Jordan Prosser. It's a band road trip story set in a futuristic, fascist Australia where a popular drug gives users a glimpse of their future. August is Australian Poetry Month and to celebrate Radio National is bringing you brand new poems commissioned by Red Room Poetry. Laura Panopoulos is a Tasmanian-based poet who also runs Silver Words, a monthly open mic spoken word event in Hobart. Laura's poem is called Perimeter of Rectangles. For more information about Poetry Month, visit Red Room Poetry.

    54 min

  4. 19 AUG

    Chigozie Obioma on kindness, big families and the Biafran War

    Booker Prize shortlisted Nigerian author Chigozie Obioma joined Claire Nichols at Byron Writers Festival to discuss his latest novel The Road to the Country about civil war in Nigeria. Now based in the US, Chigozie Obioma's first two novels The Fishermen (2015) and An Orchestra of Minorities (2019) were shortlisted for The Booker Prize. His third novel The Road to the Country is about the Biafran War that tore through Nigeria from 1967 to 1970.  At the Byron Writers Festival, he reflected on the idea imparted by his mother that 'stories of war are never complete', why she hasn't read his book and tells Claire Nichols what it was like growing up in a large family.

    54 min

  5. 12 AUG

    Looking to the stars with Ceridwen Dovey, Emily St John Mandel and more

    For Science Week, The Book Show goes intergalactic in a star themed episode. Ceridwen Dovey, Alicia Sometimes, Nardi Simpson, Max Barry and Emily St John Mandel explore how celestial tales reveal deep truths about our lives on earth. From the fabulously weird stories about space junk in Only the Astronauts (Ceridwen Dovey) to the star dust fuelled poetry of Stellar Atmospheres (Alicia Sometimes) we pay tribute to the connections between the night sky and literature. Books and authors mentioned: Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson Only the Astronauts by Ceridwen Dovey Stellar Atmospheres by Alicia Sometimes Providence by Max Barry Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St John Mandel

    54 min

  6. 5 AUG

    Keanu Reeves and China Miéville write a book together

    Hollywood star Keanu Reeves and British science fiction author China Miéville reveal how they collaborated to to write the novel The Book of Elsewhere. Plus, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, author of Fleishman Is In Trouble and Indigenous Australian author, Anita Heiss. The Book of Elsehwere (Del Rey) is based on a comic book series that Keanu Reeves developed called BRZRKR. It's gory and it's novelisation by science fiction guru China Miéville is just as gory. Claire finds how how and why they worked together on this project. New York writer, Taffy Brodesser-Akner talks about the difficult second novel. She had a dream run with her debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and was adapted to the screen. Her second novel, Long Island Compromise (Wildfire), is the saga of the Fletcher family who are a rich, Jewish family that has lived through an unimaginable ordeal and come out the other side, or have they? And Indigenous Australian author Anita Heiss has a new work of historical fiction called Dirrayawadha which is centred around the Wiradjuri Wars. These were the violent conflicts in and around Bathhurst between the Wiradjuri people and white settlers in the 1800s.

    54 min

  7. 1 AUG

    Pod extra: Alexis Wright makes literary history

    Alexis Wright is the 2024 winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Praiseworthy. She makes history as the only writer to have won both the Stella and Miles Franklin awards twice each. Alexis first won the Miles Franklin in 2007 for her epic novel Carpentaria. Like that novel, Praiseworthy (Giramondo) - which also won the 2024 Stella Prize - is an epic told on a grand scale. It's about a fictional town, a haze cloud, injustice, Indigenous land rights, global warming, and donkeys.  Alexis told Claire Nichols that there's "a lot of nutrition in a good story" and in this pod extra, she explains her vision for Australian fiction and why writing this novel was daunting.  Listen to The Book Show's guide to the Miles Franklin shortlist here.

    23 min

  8. 29 JUL

    Meet Samantha Shannon's biggest critic: herself

    Samantha Shannon has such power as a bestselling writer that she's reissued her fantasy Bone Season series with new edits. In a revealing conversation she tells Claire Nichols what it takes to reach such heights. Samantha Shannon was just 20 when she won a six-figure publishing deal for this series. She also has another series on the go called Roots of Chaos which begins with the bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree. Samantha Shannon spoke to Claire Nichols at the recent Sydney Writers Festival to find out how she's navigated being published from such a young age, the challenge of being compared to J.K. Rowling and the influence of the film DragonHeart on her beginnings as a fantasy author.

    54 min
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About

Your favourite fiction authors share the story behind their latest books.

Information

  • Creator
    ABC listen
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2024
  • Episodes
    405
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All right reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Book Show

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