Auscast Literature Channel Auscast Network

When a car veers off the road with devastating consequences, the small wheatbelt town of Garringarup is left reeling, but no one's worlds are more shattered than those of Hannah and Freya, the partners of the passengers. On a day when wedding bells should have been ringing, their lives are torn apart by the web of lies the accident has exposed.
Think Jodi Picoult meets Liane Moriaty and you have an idea of the fast-paced, page turning ethical dilemmas explored by Fiona Lowe in “The Accident”.
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Dumped by her husband of twenty-five years, Jo Peck—smart, successful and sixty—is totally floored. She’s hurt, angry and devastated…but not for long! In this candid memoir Jo discovers the comfort and support of friends, newly forged connections with extended family, good therapy…and internet dating!
 
Annie loved Jo’s raunchy rediscovery of self because, as Jo explained, “The unvarnished truth is very compelling”.
 
Guests
Fiona Lowe, author of 37 books. Her latest is “The Accident”
Jo Peck author of “Suddenly Single at Sixty”
Our random reader is Sameer
Other books that get a mention
Samir mentions “Master of the Game” by Sidney Sheldon, “Le Miserables” by Victor Hugo, “Cultural Heritage of India” six volumes gathered under the guidance of the Ramakrishna Institute of Culture.
Sarah mentions “The Animals in that Country” by Laura Jean McKay.Annie mentions “Long Island” by Colm Toibin. He is the author of 7 books, including “Brooklyn”.
 
INSTAGRAM
@fionaloweaustralianauthor
@text_publishing
@goyougoodthing57
@harpercollinsaustralia
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The outwardly comfortable life of mother and wife, Winona Dalloway, has dark currents running beneath. "Thunderhead" is her interior monologue as she navigates the everyday acts of collecting the children from school, shopping and preparing for a dinner party when in fact she is a woman in peril. A homage to Virginia Woolf’s "Mrs Dalloway", "Thunderhead" is a reminder of the terror that can lurk unseen in the lives of others.
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Bet Schenk brings a poet’s pared-down style and awareness of the power of language to this story set in a small country town where the local teen hero is actually anything but - and his brother knows the truth. "The Most Famous Boy in Town" is billed as teen fiction but it’s a story for all ages.
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Our regular leading literary light Kylie Cardell reviews "Lioness" by Emily Perkins, winner of the 2024 New Zealand Ockham Book Awards.
Guests
Miranda Darling, author and poet
Bel Schenk, author and poet
Kylie Cardell, Associate Professor , English and Creative Writing, Flinders University
 
INSTAGRAM
@mirandadarling13
@belschenk
@kyliecardell
@scribepub
Spineless Wonders Press https://shortaustralianstories.com.au/
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In a move away from investigative journalism and her previous deep diving non-fictiontitles, Louise Milligan delves into crime fiction with debut novel, Pheasants Nest.It tells the story of Kate Delaney, a journalist who finds herself bound and gagged andbeing driven somewhere by a strange man. As someone haunted by the crimes she hashad to report on, Kate knows her chances of survival are slight.
Guest:Louise Milligan
INSTAGRAM@milliganreports
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Miles Franklin Award winner, Shankari Chandran takes Cath to Cinnamon Gardens, an aged care home established by Tamil refugees and now run by their daughter. It’s run with love and dignity and has become an oasis for its culturally diverse residents…but the tensions of past wars and the prejudices of present day Australia which have long remained at a simmer ultimately boil over.
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Associate Professor Lisa Bennett shares her passion for stories soaked in mist and old magic with “Storyland”; a masterful, unique and utterly compelling illustrated mythology of Britain. Be transported to a time when England was considered the furthest outpost on any map and half remembered characters such as Brutus, Albina, Scota and Bladud roamed the earth …and our imaginations.
Guests
Shankari Chandran, author of “Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens” which won the 2023 Miles Franklin Award. She’s also the author of “Song of the Sun God” and “The Barrier”.
Associate Professor Lisa Bennett, from the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University discusses “Storyland; A new mythology of Britain” by Amy Jeffs.
 
Other books that get a mention
“Wild; Tales from Early Medieval Britain” by Amy Jeffs, “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, “The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman and “Pheasant’s Nest” by Louise Milligan.
 
INSTAGRAM
@Ultimopress
@Hachetteaus
@lisalhannett
@amyjeffs_author
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Poetry seems a solitary pursuit but not for well knownAustralian poets Peter Bakowski and Ken Bolton - they recently released two new collections ‘On Luck Street’ and ‘Waldo’s Game’ in which they have collaborated from afar, co-telling stories using  a ’call and respond’ writing technique.
And former ABC broadcaster Mike Ladd has made a career as a poet and also helped put poetry on the map with the long running radio program ‘Poetica’ - he makes the case for why poetry should matter to us all. 
 
Guests
Peter Bakowski
Ken Bolton 
Mike Ladd
 
 
Annie mentions the poems ‘Funeral Blues’ by  WH Auden and ‘The Second Coming’ by WB Yeats
 
Peter and Ken read selections from ‘On Luck Street” and ‘Waldo’s Game’
Mike Ladd reads “The End and the Beginning” by Polish poet Wisława Szymborska and his own recently penned poem ‘Prove that You’re a Human’ .
 
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Molly Schmidt’s Salt River Road is a searing account of grief and redemption set in the big sky/small town landscapes of south west WA..Racism, poverty and country town politics are all part of life in country Western Australia in the 1970’s. But for the Tetley family all that matters is that they have lost their beloved mother Elena, and they are all falling apart…and in danger of losing the farm that is their livelihood.Through the eyes of teenage siblings Rose and Frank the reader experiences thedangerously deep grief of losing a parent. Then comes a slow redemption through their connection with two local Noongar elders, and a reconciliation with events from the past.
Guest:Molly Schmidt, author and recipient of the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award
INSTAGRAM@molly.elizabeth.schmidt@fremantlepress
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