The Book Show

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

  1. HACE 1 D

    Debra Adelaide on the life and death of Gabrielle Carey

    Australian author Debra Adelaide's latest book is her most personal to date. As she reveals to Claire Nichols, When I am 64 was written as an autofiction to give her more freedom to reflect on her lifelong close friendship as well as coming to terms with the death, at age 64, of writer Gabrielle Carey, most known as the co-author of Puberty Blues.  If this conversation raises issues with you or those close to you Lifeline 13 11 14 In her latest thriller The Shark, Emma Styles takes the reader to the height of a Perth summer. It's hot and as she tells Claire Nichols, a season sizzling with danger. But who is the Shark circling on the beach and how can two teenage girls net them?

    41 min

  2. 22 MAR

    Colm Tóibín can't stop naming his characters Paul

    Irish author Colm Tóibín shares with Claire Nichols the stories that have shaped his latest collection that travels continents and times. The News from Dublin is a glimpse into people living a life away from their homeland, from sisters wanting to return to Catalonia, the undocumented worker facing a decision, a mother receiving shocking news of the death of a son or the haunted Irishman seeking anonymity in Spain. Using the noise and commentary around the death of a young woman, Afghan-born, Canadian based author Patmeena Sabit speaks with Claire Nichols on the ways she draws on her family roots and academic research to not just tell a story, but test assumptions around migrant communities. Good People is about a courageous Afghan family living the American dream, but cultural tensions, gossip, envy and conjecture swirl around following the death of their daughter.

    41 min

  3. 15 MAR

    Daniyal Mueenuddin's changing Pakistan

    This is Where the Serpent Lives from Pakistani-US writer Daniyal Mueenuddin, is an elegy to a changing Pakistan where contemporary life and technology jostles with feudal social hierarchy, privilege, corruption and ambition. The protagonist in Australian writer Claire Thomas's latest novel On Not Climbing Mountains travels through grief on Swiss trains through the Alpine Way. It's a journey that inspires art, stories and captures moments of connection.

    41 min

  4. 8 MAR

    Howard Jacobson embraces being a Jewish writer

    Howard Jacobson joins Claire Nichols to unpack Howl, and Australian authors Eva Hornung and Omar Musa discuss their latest novels. Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson has long written about Jewish identity, but only recently has he begun describing himself as a Jewish writer. He says the shift was prompted by the protests in England after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. His darkly comic novel, Howl, explores the Gaza conflict from a Jewish perspective and he reflects on the promise of fiction to foster debate about this long running conflict. Award‑winning Australian author Eva Hornung continues her exploration of our fragile bond with nature in her new novel, The Minstrels, where a dramatic landscape becomes the site of tragedy for siblings, Gem and Will. Eva tells Claire how learning an Indigenous language shaped the book and how her love of farm machinery also found its way into the narrative. Poet, visual artist, hip-hop musician and author Omar Musa finds magic in Italian beads, vengeful ghosts and the sound of the Borneo forest in his second novel. Fierceland exposes the dark side of Malay politics and the palm oil trade but is also a story of family and love. It also won the 2026 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for fiction. First broadcast 12 October 2025

    54 min

  5. 1 MAR

    Francis Spufford's Nonesuch shows World War II as you've never it seen before

    In his new novel, Nonesuch, British author Francis Sufford introduces a fabulously spiky heroine fighting fascism and mysterious moving statues during London's Blitz. Plus, bestselling author Kathy Lette is in Australia touring her latest novel The Sisterhood Rules and urges women to embrace a "sensational second act" with plenty of laughter along the way. British author Francis Spufford, is celebrated for his historical fiction but Nonesuch marks his first foray into fantasy. Set in World War II London, the story includes demons, living statues, and a heroine who doesn't play nice. Francis discusses the fun of writing flawed female heroines - and villains - and why he wants to subvert his readers' expectations about World War II fiction. Kathy Lette, the bestselling Australian author who burst onto the literary scene at just 17 with the iconic Puberty Blues, returns with her 21st book, The Sisterhood Rules. The novel celebrates the power of the sisterhood through the story of estranged twin sisters unexpectedly reunited when their mother goes missing. Kathy Lette talks with Claire about her lifelong writing journey, her signature pun‑filled humour, and why she delights in writing novels that mirror the stages of a woman's life (from puberty to menopause).

    40 min

  6. 22 FEB

    Tayari Jones on absent mothers and the American South

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

    41 min

  7. 15 FEB

    Patrick Ryan and Sita Walker on seances, secrets and school rooms

    A stolen kiss propels Patrick Ryan's American epic, Buckeye, which traces the loves, loss and lies of two Ohio couples. And Sita Walker on her inventive debut novel, In a Common Hour, which unfolds over a single school lunch break as a troubled but beloved teacher confronts his demons. Patrick Ryan's bestselling sixth book, Buckeye, traces America's shifting social landscape from the end of World War II to the Vietnam War and explores the idea of the "kind lie". At its heart are two Ohio couples whose lives become irrevocably intertwined when a secret is left to fester for decades. Patrick shares how the story began with an unbelievable anecdote about his grandmother and he reflects on how his own experience as a gay man shaped the narrative. Brisbane based English teacher Sita Walker brings classroom life to the page in her spellbinding debut novel, In a Common Hour. It explores the fragile bonds between students and teachers and the unexpected revelations that unfold over one lunchtime, when they scatter into the forest bordering the school and are forced to reckon with their actions. Read this profile of Sita Walker.

    41 min

  8. 8 FEB

    George Saunders on angels and the afterlife

    American author George Saunders reflects on why death is such fertile ground for fiction and how it shapes his haunting new novel Vigil. Plus, Australian writer Michael Mohammed Ahmad discusses writing through childhood trauma in his courageous and confronting novel Bugger. Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo) talks about his haunting new novel Vigil. Beginning with an angel's fall to Earth to usher an oil tycoon toward death, the book continues Saunders' exploration of mortality and the strange spaces between worlds. Saunders explains the challenge of writing this novel and why he enjoys getting stuck. Michael Mohammed Ahmad is a fearless Australian writer known for placing his own life at the centre of his work. He is best known for his acclaimed autobiographical trilogy — The Tribe, The Lebs, and The Other Half of You — and as the founder of the Sweatshop Literacy Movement in Western Sydney. Ahmad discusses his unflinching new novel, Bugger, a confronting exploration of child sexual abuse that draws on his own lived experience.

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

Ficha técnica

  • Creado por
    ABC Australia
  • Años en activo
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodios
    408
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Derechos de autor
    © Copyright 2026, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All right reserved.
  • Sitio web del podcast
    The Book Show

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