Fully Lit

Impact Studios and The Sydney Review of Books
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What is Australian literature today? How does it connect to its roots in our recent and ancient pasts? And where is it headed?  Welcome to Fully Lit: a podcast about Australian writing, where you'll hear a new conversation between authors, critics and readers each fortnight. In our original eight-part series, presented by Anna Funder, presents you'll hear from John Kinsella, Nicholas Jose, Jeanine Leane, Anita Heiss and other luminaries of Australian letters as they dissect the work of Alexis Wright, Peter Carey, Patrick White, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Christina Stead and many more. Fully Lit is brought to you by the Sydney Review of Books, Impact Studios, and the UTS Writing and Publishing program. 

  1. 27. The Long Game: Felicity Castagna and writing Western Sydney

    HÁ 14 H

    27. The Long Game: Felicity Castagna and writing Western Sydney

    In this episode of Fully Lit Live, Felicity Castagna joins writer and producer Sheila Ngoc Pham for a wide‑ranging conversation about writing, class, place, and longevity in the arts. The evening opens with poetry by Lebanese Australian multidisciplinary artist Charnel Rizk, whose work reflects on heritage, land, and survival. What follows is an expansive discussion tracing Felicity Castagna’s journey from early short story writing to award‑winning novels, teaching, and cross‑disciplinary creative work. Together, Felicity and Sheila reflect on Australian literature, the decline of literary study in universities, and the changing role of reading communities outside academia. They explore the idea of “Western Sydney literature” — who it serves, where it falls short, and how writers can resist being pigeonholed while still honouring place and specificity. The conversation also touches on class mobility, migrant identity, writing in dark political times, adaptation for stage and screen, and what it means to sustain a creative life over decades. Felicity shares insights into her upcoming novel Peaches, as well as her approach to teaching, collaboration, and staying creatively engaged beyond the book industry alone. The event was hosted by writer Yumna Kassab. The episode concludes with audience Q&A, considering creativity across disciplines, writing through rage and despair, and the value of slow, sustained artistic work. This event was recorded at the Parramatta Literary Salon #4 on Wednesday 11 March, 2026, an Arts & Cultural Exchange, Parramatta event. Voices Felicity Castagna is a Sydney novelist, essayist, critic and teacher of creative writing. Her essays on books, art, suburbia, home and place are published both here and internationally on platforms such as The Sydney Review of Books, Electric Literature, LitHub, and ABC radio and television. When she’s not writing she spends most of her time talking about books and helping other people to write them. She’s taught everywhere from schools to festivals, art galleries and correctional centres and she has helped to establish, promote and run many writing and storytelling programs, particularly in Western Sydney. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing with The Writing and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University. Felicity has published four novels for adults and young adults including her most recent book, Girls In Boys’ Cars, which received The Victorian and Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and is on its way to becoming a film. She is also the author of No More Boats, a finalist in the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Awards, and The Incredible Here and Now, which won a Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Her next book, Peaches, will be released in 2027. Sheila Ngọc Phạm is an independent Sydney writer, producer and researcher. She writes for a wide range of Australian and international publications, and her work has been recognised with listings in the 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, 2021 Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism and 2021 Woollahra Digital Literary Award. She has produced radio and podcasts for Monocle, ABC Radio National and SBS; worked on screen-based projects and series; and curated exhibitions for the State Library of NSW and Fairfield City Museum and Gallery. Sheila was the inaugural Imago Fellow at the State Library of NSW, examining Australian speculative fiction in the late 20th century, and is currently a researcher of refugee health at the University of Technology Sydney. Charnel Rizk is a Lebanese Australian multidisciplinary artist working across poetry, music, performance, theatre, and writing. She is the co‑owner of Parramatta Artists Studios and founder of the creative platform All The Rizk. Her writing has been featured on SBS and has received international attention. Charnelle is also a practicing speech therapist and is passionate about storytelling, identity, and community‑focused creative collaboration. Credits Fully Lit is made on the Gadigal lands of the Eora nation. Sevan Dermelkonian recorded this episode at the Parramatta Literary Salon #4 on Wednesday 11 March, 2026 and is an Arts & Cultural Exchange, Parramatta event. Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program. Producer: Regina Botros Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang Find more episodes of Fully Lit wherever you get your podcasts.

    1h 12min
  2. 26. Historical present & multilingual musicality: remembering Antigone Kefala

    26 DE MAR.

    26. Historical present & multilingual musicality: remembering Antigone Kefala

    What does it mean to write in a language that isn’t your first — and to transform it completely? Antigone Kefala arrived in Australia from war-torn Europe and went on to reshape Australian literature with prose that was spare, luminous and unflinching. In this episode of Fully Lit Live, recorded at Gleebooks, writers, scholars and close friends reflect on her life, her exile and her modernism — and on the fierce clarity of a voice that refused to belong neatly anywhere. For some of the speakers, Kefala was a literary influence. For others, she was a close friend — someone whose wit, irony and indomitable spirit they continue to miss deeply. Together, they consider her historical present, her multilingual musicality, and her lasting impact on Australian letters. Antigone was a literary original. Voices Hosted by publisher and friend of Antigone, Ivor Indyk, the event brought together: Mireille Juchau — award-winning novelist, essayist and critic, and Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney. Her novels include Machines for Feeling, Burning In, and The World Without Us, which won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction. She wrote the introduction to Antigone Kefala: Collected Fiction. Anna Couani — writer, visual artist and co-director of The Shop Gallery in Glebe. A long-time friend of Kefala, she has written and spoken extensively about her life and work. Brigid Rooney — Professor of English at the University of New South Wales and co-editor (with Elizabeth McMahon) of Antigone Kefala: New Australian Modernities. Her biography of Shirley Hazzard was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Award for Non-Fiction. Lauren Aimee Curtis — novelist and short story writer, author of Dolores and Strangers at the Port, longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and selected for Granta’s Best of Young Australian Novelists. Nikos Papastergiadis - is the Director of the research unit in public cultures, and a Professor in the School of Culture and Communication at The University of Melbourne. Alex Wells — Berlin-based writer and editor, literary editor of The Berliner, whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Paris Review and elsewhere. A long-time advocate for Kefala’s international readership. Vrasidas Karalis — professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies at the University of Sydney, translator and scholar, and an early academic supporter of Kefala’s work. Jim Provencher — poet and long-time friend of Kefala, who reflects on her craft, musicality and uncompromising standards. Credits Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros. This episode was recorded at Gleebooks in Sydney - for more literary events see the Gleebooks events page. Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang. Edited and mixed by Regina Botros. Find more episodes of Fully Lit wherever you get your podcasts. Further reading For those who can’t get enough of Kefala, we recommend Wells’ extended homage, ‘Alien Nation’, recently published in the Sydney Review of Books. Ranging across Kefala’s poetry and fiction, Wells argues for the lasting impact her writing left on Australian literature. Through its attunement to migrants’ sense of displacement, Kefala’s work brought new intensities of poetic vision as well as a heightened sensitivity to the alienating effects of time and language.

    1h 5min
  3. 25. Multilingual homes - from 'My Language, My Country'

    12 DE MAR.

    25. Multilingual homes - from 'My Language, My Country'

    This episode of Fully Lit comes from our friends at the UTS Multicultural Women's Network, and features two poets, Anne Casey and Nadia Niaz, in conversation with host Elaine Laforteza. Both Anne and Nadia challenge the dominance of English in Australia by creating bold, multilingual poetry. What does embracing multilingualism sound like? How do these poets use language to disrupt, to heal, to remember, and to imagine a different, more ethical way of belonging in Australia? This is the second episode in a new series called 'My Language, My Country' - the first series on a new UTS podcast called Change the Story. The series explores the Australian tradition of acknowledging Country, and how that tradition might be enriched by embracing the hundreds of languages spoken in Australia. GuestsEsita Sogotubu hails from Fiji and is the Employability Manager at UTS Careers. Her traditional roots are in Vunuku, Moala, Lau with maternal links to Nayavu, Wainibuka, Tailevu. She is a former international student who has over 15 years experience as a career development practitioner. Nadia Niaz is the author of The Djinn Hunters and the founding editor of the Australian Multilingual Writing Project. Her work explores multilingual creative expression, translation, ‘belonging’ and relationships with place. She is a Lecturer in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Melbourne. Anne Casey is originally from the west of Ireland and now lives in Australia. She is the author of six poetry books. Her work is widely published and awarded internationally, ranking in The Irish Times’ Most Read. She has a PhD from UTS where she teaches creative writing. Prankqueans are an ensemble of artists inspired by ancient Celtic mythology to celebrate all things female and Irish Australian. CreditsThis series was produced on the Lands of the Gadigal People, the Cammeraygal People, the Darug People, and the Guringai People. Host: Elaine Laforteza Producer: Masako Fukui With the support of Jane Curtis, Sarah Gilbert of UTS Impact Studios Tile artwork by Alexandra Morris. This podcast was created by the UTS Multicultural Women’s Network and is part of the broader UTS Acknowledgment of Country in Our Languages project.

    29 min
  4. 24. Writing the Real: Fiction, Work and Witness with Gretchen Shirm and Andrew Pippos

    25 DE FEV.

    24. Writing the Real: Fiction, Work and Witness with Gretchen Shirm and Andrew Pippos

    Recorded live at the 2025 UTS Writers’ Festival, this episode of Fully Lit Live features novelists (and UTS writing alumni) Andrew Pippos and Gretchen Shirm in conversation with Delia Falconer. In The Transformations, Pippos sets a love story inside a newsroom on the brink of digital collapse. What happens to intimacy when the workplace becomes all-consuming? How do you hold onto care, or truth, in an institution built on speed? Shirm’s Out of the Woods, shaped by her time observing war-crimes trials in the Hague, turns to the ethics of witnessing. How is atrocity translated into legal language? What does it mean to listen to testimony day after day? And who carries its weight? From newsrooms to courtrooms, this is a sharp, humane discussion about work, power and the radical patience of long-form storytelling. Fully Lit is produced by Impact Studios at the University of Technology Sydney. Credits Gretchen Shirm is the author of Having Cried Wolf, Where the Light Falls, The Crying Room and her latest, Out of the Woods. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and the University of Queensland Fiction Award. Gretchen teaches in the UTS Writing and Publishing Program. Dr Andrew Pippos is a writer of fiction and narrative nonfiction. His first novel, LUCKY'S (Picador), was published in 2020 and shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin literary award. Transformations is published by Pan Macmillan. He teaches in the UTS Writing and Publishing Program. Dr Delia Falconer is the author of two novels (The Service of Clouds and The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers) and two works of nonfiction (Sydney and Signs and Wonders: Dispatches from a time of beauty and loss), which have been shortlisted for national and international awards across the categories of fiction, nonfiction, innovation, biography, history and research. She is the editor of three cohort-defining collections: The Best Australian Stories 2008, The Best Australian Stories 2009 and The Penguin Book of the Road. Delia's short stories and essays have been widely anthologised, including in the landmark Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature and The Penguin Century of Australian Stories. She has received grants and residencies from the Australia Council, the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, Varuna and Bundanon, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland. Since 2010 Delia has specialised in writing and teaching creative nonfiction, and she is a senior Lecturer in the UTS Writing and Publishing Program. Series Producer: Regina Botros. Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang Fully Lit is an Impact Studios production, in collaboration with the Sydney Review of Books. Mixed by Siobhan Moylan.

    54 min
  5. 23. The Critics’ Report: Freedom, Funding and ‘Social Cohesion’

    12 DE FEV.

    23. The Critics’ Report: Freedom, Funding and ‘Social Cohesion’

    In this episode of Fully Lit Live, we present The Critics Report, an event hosted by the Sydney Review of Books at the State Library of NSW in December 2025. Moderated by SRB deputy editor Tiffany Tsao, the conversation brings together critics, editors and scholars to assess a year that placed unprecedented pressure on Australian arts and cultural institutions — and on the artists and writers who depend upon them. Australia’s 2025 Venice Biennale entrants and Martu writer Karen Wyld, along with journalist Antionette Lattouf, all felt the impact of efforts to set the boundaries of acceptable expression. What are the longer-term effects of these cultural eruptions? And with “social cohesion” high on the political agenda, how might the arts respond? What can the arts tell us about what makes a society cohere in the first place? (Note that our panel took place before Adelaide Writers’ Week imploded, an event that suggests these questions remain urgent, and before the happy news that QUT had stepped up to rescue Meanjin.) The discussion ranges over other important questions, including the role of government and universities as cultural funders, the potential impacts of AI on the arts, and the strain placed on literary journals and critics asked to defend culture while also keeping it alive. Host Tiffany Tsao is Deputy Editor of the Sydney Review of Books. She is a novelist, translator and critic whose work has appeared in major Australian and international publications. Alongside her editorial work at the SRB, she has published multiple novels and is widely recognised for her literary translations from Indonesian to English. Guests Daniel Browning is a Bundjalung and Kullilli writer, journalist and radio broadcaster, and Professor of Indigenous Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of Sydney — a newly established leadership role within the School of Art, Communication and English. He is a former presenter of The Art Show and Arts in 30 on ABC Radio National. Nicholas Croggan is an art historian and critic, and Public Programs Coordinator at the Power Institute at the University of Sydney. He completed his PhD in Art History at Columbia University, New York. Roanna Gonsalves is editor of Southerly, Australia’s oldest literary journal, and a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at UNSW Sydney. She is the author of The Permanent Resident (UWAP), and her novel The Servants will be published in November 2026. James Jiang is Editor of the Sydney Review of Books. Prior to joining the SRB, he was Assistant Editor at Griffith Reviewand Australian Book Review. He holds a PhD in Modernist Literature from the University of Cambridge and has taught in the English and Theatre Studies Program at the University of Melbourne. Credits Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros. Executive Producer: Sarah Gilbert. Mixed by Siobhan Moylan. Find more episodes of Fully Lit wherever you get your podcasts.

    51 min
  6. 22. How to Read a Poem

    29 DE JAN.

    22. How to Read a Poem

    In this episode of Fully Lit Live, we bring you a panel discussion recorded at the Blue Mountains Writers Festival in November 2025. James Jiang, editor of the Sydney Review of Books, hosts Willo Drummond and Hasib Hourani for an exploration of how poems work - in the body, on the page, and in your ears. From a discussion of formative reading experiences to a shared close reading of Emma Lew’s Marshes, this conversation is an intimate encounter with poetry and its enduring value. If you’re a devoted reader of poetry, or someone who is yet to approach it, this episode is for you. GUESTS Hasib Hourani is a Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor, arts worker and educator. His debut book, rock flight, won the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry and the Mary Gilmore Award, and was shortlisted for the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry. Willo Drummond is a poet and lecturer in creative writing. Her debut collection Moon Wrasse was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and commended in the Five Islands Poetry Prize for a First Book of Poetry. James Jiang is a critic and scholar, and editor of the Sydney Review of Books. CREDITS Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros. Executive Producer: Sarah Gilbert Mixed by Siobhan Moylan

    53 min
  7. 21. Geordie Williamson on Alexis Wright

    15 DE JAN.

    21. Geordie Williamson on Alexis Wright

    Alexis Wright’s novels are often thought of as “difficult,” but this episode of Fully Lit Live challenges that label, and asks what that word is really doing. Critic Geordie Williamson is the author of the recent On Alexis Wright, part of Black Ink’s 'Writers on Writers' series. In this conversation with Ivor Indyk, Wright’s publisher and editor at Giramondo, we learn how to read Wright’s books on their own terms — with attention to rhythm, repetition, and scale rather than plot alone. Moving through Carpentaria, The Swan Book, and Praiseworthy, the discussion centres on Wright’s idea of ‘all time’: a narrative field where ancestral, mythic, and present time coexist, and where people, animals, weather systems and spirits all speak. What happens when we make space for Wright’s digressions and tonal shifts, and allow ourselves the time she demands? GUESTS Geordie Williamson has been chief literary critic of The Australian since 2008. He is publisher of the Picador imprint at Pan Macmillan, a former editor of Island Magazine and Best Australian Essays, and author of The Burning Library, a collection of essays on neglected figures from Australian literature. He lives in Hobart. Ivor Indyk is the publisher of the Giramondo book imprint and Whitlam Chair in the Writing & Society Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney. CREDITS This episode is brought to you in partnership with our friends at Gleebooks. Head to the Gleebooks events page to discover more great literary events featuring some of Australia’s best and best known authors. Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros. Executive Producer, Sarah Gilbert. This episode was mixed by Siobhan Moylan. Find more episodes of Fully Lit wherever you get your podcasts.

    50 min
  8. 20. Fully Lit Live: Author, arise! Decolonising Barthes

    11/12/2025

    20. Fully Lit Live: Author, arise! Decolonising Barthes

    In this episode, we return to Roland Barthes’ famous 1967 essay, The Death of the Author. This influential text is often taught as an anti-authoritarian gesture, shifting the power of meaning from the author to the reader. But what happens when we consider Barthes’ ideas alongside the voices of anticolonial writers who, at the same historical moment, were mobilising literature to galvanise communities against oppression? We explore what these debates reveal about contemporary writing’s tendency to blur authorial fact with fiction, and why questions of agency still matter today. The conversation is sparked by Michael Griffiths’ new book, The Death of the Author and Anticolonial Thought, and was recorded live at UTS’ Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges. GuestsMichael Griffiths – Author of The Death of the Author and Anticolonial Thought, Michael is a scholar whose work explores intersections between literary theory and postcolonial studies. Ben Etherington – Academic and writer with expertise in world literature and cultural theory. Elizabeth McMahon – Scholar and author focusing on literature, identity, and critical theory. Graham Akhurst – Academic and author whose work engages with Indigenous storytelling and creative practice. Credits This live event was recorded on Gadigal land, live, at UTS’ Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges on November 27. The event was produced and recorded by Ben Etherington. Fully Lit is an Impact Studios podcast, made in collaboration with the Sydney Review of Books. Its producer is Regina Botros. Executive producers are Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

    1h 16min
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Sobre

What is Australian literature today? How does it connect to its roots in our recent and ancient pasts? And where is it headed?  Welcome to Fully Lit: a podcast about Australian writing, where you'll hear a new conversation between authors, critics and readers each fortnight. In our original eight-part series, presented by Anna Funder, presents you'll hear from John Kinsella, Nicholas Jose, Jeanine Leane, Anita Heiss and other luminaries of Australian letters as they dissect the work of Alexis Wright, Peter Carey, Patrick White, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Christina Stead and many more. Fully Lit is brought to you by the Sydney Review of Books, Impact Studios, and the UTS Writing and Publishing program. 

Informações

  • Criado por
    Impact Studios and The Sydney Review of Books
  • Anos de atividade
    2025 - 2026
  • Episódios
    35
  • Classificação
    Livre
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Impact Studios and The Sydney Review of Books
  • Site do podcast
    Fully Lit

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