Amanda Lohrey has been announced as the 2021 winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award for The Labyrinth. Amanda tells Claire Nichols that her aim was to write a narrative that felt like a meditative walk into and out of a labyrinth.

Ahead of the Miles Franklin Award announcement, we preview the shortlist and find overlapping themes of migration, violence, fractured families and climate change. Aravind Adiga, Amanda Lohrey, Andrew Pippos, Daniel Davis Wood, Madeleine Watts and Robbie Arnott also reflect on what their novels say about Australia today.

Indigenous author Larissa Behrendt questioned whether to include a First Nations lawyer in her latest novel, but she says it felt more authentic given it's a world she knows intimately. Her novel, After Story, explores grief, family and literary travel. Also, Kim Scott on the legacies of history that have inspired his works and Alice Pung's first novel for adults, One Hundred Days, is about a pregnant teenager and her controlling mother.

Emma Jane Unsworth examines 21st century women in all their conflicted, messy glory in this in-depth interview about her books including Adults and Animals.

You've heard of Nordic Noir but what about Scandi Blanc? Bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith has taken the noir out Swedish crime fiction in his latest series starring the warm-hearted detective Ulf Varg. Also, writer Jessie Tu on her preoccupation with loneliness and a big sweeping narrative about a fictional female pilot who goes missing in the act with US author Maggie Shipstead.

Australian writer Jessie Tu says the question of female likeability should no longer exist and it's an idea she explores in her fiction. In this in-depth conversation, she also discusses child prodigies, music, racism and even Sex and the City.

There are name generators for new parents and authors alike, so how do writers choose names for their fictional characters? Many authors, including Tony Birch, Garth Nix and Mirandi Riwoe share their stories.

Andy Weir is most famous for The Martian, the science-heavy Mars survival story that was made in to a hit film starring Matt Damon, and now he's back now with a new book, Project Hail Mary.Journalist Jacqueline Maley on motherhood and ethics in her debut and the final in Michael Mohammed Ahmad's trilogy featuring his alter-ego, Bani Adam.

Lisa Taddeo attracted worldwide attention with her 2019 non-fiction book, Three Women, which explored the depths of three real women's sexual desires. Now Lisa has taken that insight into the female experience, and put it in to a novel called Animal.We also take a look at how authors name their heroes and villains, and visit Perth-based children's author Shirley Marr at her favourite writing location.

The privilege of writing about the loss of a child: Women's Prize shortlisted author Patricia Lockwood on No One Is Talking About This which is laugh-out-loud funny in the first half, and is cry-out-loud devastating in the second half.And Sincerely, Ethel Malley in which Stephen Orr resuscitates the great Australian literary hoax of Ern Malley but with a twist: he reimagines a life for Ern's made-up sister, a woman called Ethel.

Indian American writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, has made her name writing fiction in English, but in recent years she has been writing in Italian including her latest, Whereabouts, which she also translated into English. Also, Ella Baxter on how her writing relates to her artistic practice making death shrouds and philosopher Hugh Breakey on his philosophical romance The Beautiful Fall.

Oscar winner, Shaun Tan, tells of his appreciation of seemingly ordinary objects, like a bar of soap, and how he applies mindfulness to his practice as a writer and painter.

Nikki Gemmell wants to challenge herself as a writer so her latest is a colonial gothic horror called The Ripping Tree, written over seven years while raising four children.Meanwhile, Emily Maguire tackles hoarding, consent and climate change in Love Objects, a novel that also celebrates the intense love people can feel for children that are not their own. And Martin McKenzie-Murray explains the inspiration for The Speechwriter, a satire set in the near future featuring rogue, sentient PlayStations.

Egyptian writer Alaa Al Aswany fictionalised account of the Egyptian revolution, Rebecca Lim gives writing advice to Huda Hayek and Madeleine Ryan's neurodiverse character.

Unforgettable school girls with Booker shortlisted author Tsitsi Dangarembga's story of pre-independence Zimbabwe, and another from modern day Australia with Emily Spurr.

Evie Wyld's The Bass Rock has won the 2021 Stella Prize for Australian women's writing.

Meet all six of the Stella Prize shortlisted writers whose books speak to Australia right in this moment.

Booker winner George Saunders shares writing tips from the Russian masters, Debra Oswald's ethical conundrum in The Family Doctor and Pakana man, Adam Thompson's, debut collection Born Into This.

Mexican writer Fernanda Melchor speaks about her novel Hurricane Season which was shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize, Lucy Jago's 17th century scandal and Christy Collins's debut.

Ethan Hawke's fourth novel A Bright Ray of Darkness is about an actor as his world implodes, Tabitha Bird on embracing the magical and Kavita Bedford's coming of age Sydney novel.

Pip Williams's debut novel The Dictionary of Lost Words has been named the Book of the Year for the 2021 Indie Book Awards.

Maria Dahvana Headley has dusted off Beowulf with a new translation and author of The Cry, Helen Fitzgerald, has a new thriller centred around a boarding school.

Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen on his latest novel The Committed, we ask what it takes to write crime fiction and Chloe Wilson's powerful collection of short stories.

The author discusses her latest book The Vanishing Half, the complexities of race relations in America, her writing process and making the cover of Time Magazine.

From artificial intelligence to man's best friend; exploring relationships with beings we may never understand but love nevertheless.

Plus a chat with debut novelist Gary Lonesborough on his book, The Boy From The Mish.

Max Porter joins Claire to talk about his new book The Death of Francis Bacon and why there is a "certain ecstasy" in thinking about the human body as meat.

A historical look at black, queer love; a deep dive into the genre of Royal fiction and a crime novel set in the seedy streets of 1980s Sydney.

A taste of African chick lit, authors confess their love for Dungeons and Dragons and a book that reads like a movie script.

How do you take stories of injustice and rage centred around Black Lives Matter and put them on the page for children?

Two novelists, one Indigenous and one non-Indigenous, talk about the same period of Australia's colonial history.

Scottish writer Andrew O'Hagan speaks about the very personal story behind his coming-of-age novel Mayflies, set in Thatcher's Britain to a background of New Order and The Smiths.

Some of the biggest names from the writing world share their top writing tips.

The 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, Joy Harjo belongs to the Muscogee Creek Nation and is also a musician and playwright.

Meet Celeste Ng author of Little Fires Everywhere, Mammut, the talking fossil, and hear from Pip Williams about her popular debut novel.

Helen Garner on writing in her diary in this troubled year and authors reflect on the impacts of coronavirus on the future of fiction.

In the year that international travel was cancelled, this literary world tour might be the next best thing.

Rumaan Alam's literary thriller, Rawah Arja's Punchbowl Boys High drama and young women star in debut coming of age novels.

What makes someone a mother? Dawn French and Kate Mildenhall explore this question, and we have a writer's hotline with Luke Horton and James Bradley.