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For many years, Irish writer Paul Lynch was a household name…in France. And while his work was popular in translation, and received numerous French literary awards, it was still considered niche. This all changed in 2023, following the release of Prophet Song, which was critically lauded and eventually won the holy grail of English language literary awards: the Booker Prize. This week we return to the Melbourne Writers’ Festival to hear a conversation between Michael and Paul about how Paul became a writer, and why he doesn’t think Prophet Song is a political novel.

Reading list:
Red Sky in Morning, Paul Lynch, 2013
The Black Snow, Paul Lynch, 2014
Grace, Paul Lynch, 2017
Beyond the Sea, Paul Lynch, 2020
Prophet Song, Paul Lynch, 2023

The Prisoner of Zenda, Anthony Hope, 1894
King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard, 1885
The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy, 1886

The Heart in Winter, Kevin Barry, 2024

You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 

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Guest: Paul Lynch.

Leslie Jamison is celebrated for her ability to link the personal to the cultural to the critical in ways that resonate and move and connect with readers. She first did it with The Empathy Exams – an essay, then a best-selling, award-winning collection. Now she is back with a new book, Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, a memoir about rebuilding a life after the end of a marriage. This week, Michael sits down with Leslie to discuss this latest work and what it means to be many things – a teacher, an artist, a lover and a mother. 

Reading list:
The Gin Closet, Leslie Jamison, 2010
The Empathy Exams, Leslie Jamison, 2014
The Recovering, Leslie Jamison, 2018
Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, Leslie Jamison, 2024

Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick, 1979
Fragile Creatures, Khin Myint, 2024

You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 

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Guest: Leslie Jamison

In 2015, Viet Thanh Nguyen was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, The Sympathizer. Now, nearly a decade later, the book has been adapted into an HBO miniseries of the same name. This week, Michael sits down with Viet for a conversation about his latest book, A Man with Two Faces, which expands beyond the familiar beats of memoir, and features the author’s trademark interest in the broader political and colonial implications of the personal.

Reading list:
The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2014
The Committed, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2021
A Man of Two Faces, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2023

Dune, Frank Herbert, 1965
Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth,1968 

Quarterly Essay: Highway to Hell, Joëlle Gergis, 2024 

You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 

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Guest: Viet Thanh Nguyen

It was 2014 when Bruce Pascoe went from being a prolific, yet relatively unknown writer, to public enemy #1 in Australia’s culture wars. That was the year that Bruce published his now infamous book, Dark Emu, and its re-examination of accepted historical accounts of pre-invasion Australia. This week, he joins Michael for a discussion about his new novel Imperial Harvest and shares why he still believes we need the messiness of democracy.

Reading list:
Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe, 2014
Imperial Harvest, Bruce Pascoe, 2024

Time’s Monster, Priya Satia, 2020
The Ministry of Time, Kellyanne Bradley, 2024

You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 

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Guest: Bruce Pascoe

Writer, artist, and filmmaker Miranda July has a devoted – even rabid – following, through her writing, her work on the screen, and her collaborative art projects. Her debut 2007 collection of short stories No One Belongs Here More Than You was a publishing sensation, and her debut film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, won the Palme D’Or at Cannes Film Festival. This week, she and Michael discuss her new novel, All Fours, which explores desire, intimacy, dance, and an often overlooked part of the ageing process.

Reading list:
Books
No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July, 2007
The First Bad Man, Miranda July, 2019
All Fours, Miranda July, 2024

Short Stories
‘Roy Spivey’, Miranda July, 2009 (The New Yorker)
‘The Metal Bowl’, Miranda July, 2017 (The New Yorker)

‘Women Have Been Misled About Menopause’, Susan Dominus, 2023 (The New York Times)
What Fresh Hell Is This?, Heather Corinna, 2021
Long Island, Colm Tóibín, 2024

You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 

Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter
Guest: Miranda July

Across half a dozen novels, Andrew O’Hagan has made a name for himself as an author of delicacy and grace, painting the community he comes from, in Scotland’s west, with tenderness and wry, affectionate humour. His latest, Caledonian Road, follows art historian Campbell Flynn. A man who is at a turning point and is about to come up against his own downfall. This week, Michael sits down with Andrew for a conversation about the Dickensian world he has created in his new novel and why he considers it his most optimistic book yet.

Reading list:
Our Fathers, Andrew O’Hagan, 1999
Be Near Me, Andrew O’Hagan, 2006
Mayflies, Andrew O’Hagan, 2020
Caledonian Road, Andrew O’Hagan, 2024

Lives of Girls and Women, Alice Munro, 1971 
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Alice Munro, 2001
Dear Life, Alice Munro, 2012

You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 

Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter
Guest: Andrew O’Hagan