Comic book legend, Alan Moore has renounced comics for novels and his new book The Great When uncovers a secret, fictional London. Rosalie Ham returns with a prequel to her bestselling novel The Dressmaker, and why Tigest Girma wrote a black vampire novel.British author Alan Moore has created iconic comics including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He has since distanced himself from comics, however, and today puts his creative energy into being a magician and novelist. His new novel, The Great When is set in the years after World War Two, and imagines a secret London hidden within the city. Alan shares his wonder about our endless imagination and his memories of post-war England.Australian author Rosalie Ham returns to some of her characters in The Dressmaker series which began in 2000 and was later made into a film starring Kate Winslet and Judy Davis. It was followed by The Dressmaker's Secret and now the prequel is out, called Molly. The action starts in 1914 Melbourne against the backdrop of the first world war at a time of uncomfortable corsets and protests for women's suffrage. Sarah L'Estrange visits Rosalie Ham in her Melbourne home to find out more about her creative process.Tigest Girma is an Ethiopian writer based in Melbourne and her debut novel Immortal Dark is about vampires, race and revenge. And in September the novel hit number one on the New York Times young adult hardcover bestseller list which is an amazing achievement for a debut Australian novelist.

Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle returns to the character Paula Spencer who first appeared in his fiction in the 1990s, we visit author of The Wedding Forecast Nina Kenwood in her seaside childhood home and Michelle de Kretser pushes the boundaries of fiction in Theory and Practice.   Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist and Booker Prize winner (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha). His latest novel is the last in a trio of books that he began almost 30 years ago. In 1996 he published The Woman Who Walked into Doors, where he introduced the character of Paula Spencer. Paula was a young woman living with a violent husband. He brought her back in the 2006 novel, named, Paula Spencer. Now she and her daughter Nicola are back in The Women Behind the Door. Roddy speaks about why writing difficult conversations is so satisfying as a novelist.Australian rom-com author Nina Kenwood takes The Book Show to her childhood home in the Victorian seaside village of Queenscliffe where her love of reading and writing was fostered. Nina explains why the main character in her latest novel, The Wedding Forecast is also a writer and how Nina focuses as much on getting the comedy right as the romance in her fiction.Michelle de Kretser is a two-time winner of the Miles Franklin literary award and is one of our country's most celebrated authors. Lately, Michelle has been set on redefining what exactly a novel can be. Theory and Practice is advertised as a novel but its narrator bears a strong resemblance to the author. Is it a novel, a memoir or something else altogether?

This year's winner of the Booker Prize is British author Samantha Harvey for her fifth novel, Orbital. The Booker judges were unanimous in their decision.Orbital is set in the International Space Station and takes a bird's eye view of the earth as it orbits the world over a 24 hour period. The reader meets six astronauts and cosmonauts as they grapple with big questions of family, faith and grief, as well as mundane matters of domestic life in the space station.Samantha Harvey spoke to The Book Show's Sarah L'Estrange about her long running interest in space and how she wanted to write about it "as our one remaining wilderness".Here is more information about the award winning book. 

Australian crime writer Garry Disher has been writing for almost 50 years but has only recently been able to make a living and now he's published his 60th book, Sanctuary. Emily Maguire explores the medieval urban legend of a female pope in Rapture and in his novel, This Kingdom of Dust, David Dyer imagines what might've happened if the Apollo 11 mission didn't go to plan.Australian crime-writing legend, Garry Disher has just published his 60th book in a career that ranges over four decades and began at a time when the cultural cringe towards Australian crime fiction meant it wasn't as popular as it is today. His latest novel Sanctuary draws on a side character, Grace, from his Peninsula Crime novels, that he couldn't let go. Garry shares how his love of writing began in childhood when his father told nightly bedtime stories with cliff hangers.David Dyer's first novel, The Midnight Watch, was about the tragedy of the Titanic, and his second novel takes up another iconic event of the 20th century, the 1969 moon landing. In This Kingdom of Dust David imagines an alternative ending for the Apollo 11 mission. Australian author Emily Maguire's latest novel, Rapture, is a work of historical fiction and is a sharp turn for Emily, who has made her name with contemporary novels, including Love Objects and her Miles Franklin shortlisted novel, An Isolated Incident. Rapture takes up the story of Joan, the female Pope. According to the legend, Pope Joan disguised herself as a man, followed a lover to a monastery and ended up rising to the throne of St Peter.

For the first time in a decade, an Australian writer, Charlotte Wood has made the Booker Prize shortlist with her novel Stone Yard Devotional. Hear from Charlotte and the other shortlisted writers, including Rachel Kushner and Percival Everett, and find out who we think will win.The Booker Prize is the most prestigious writing prize in the English speaking world and is open to books written in English, and published in England or Ireland in the last year. The winner takes home £50000 and expect a life-changing increase in book sales.Claire Nichols and Sarah L'Estrange speak to all of the shortlisted authors:James by Percival EverettOrbital by Samantha HarveyCreation Lake by Rachel KushnerHeld by Anne MichaelsThe Safekeep by Yael van der WoudenStone Yard Devotional by Charlotte WoodThe winner of the Booker Prize will be announced on November 13, Australian time.

A wild puma stalks through Robbie Arnott's haunting new novel, Dusk, Fiona McFarlane's homage to true crime podcasts in Highway 13 and Malcolm Knox raises the stakes in a Soviet era political thriller, The First Friend.Australian author Robbie Arnott has published four novels, and two of them — The Rain Heron and Limberlost — have been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. His latest novel, Dusk, is a Western and it's about two siblings who are on the trail of a wild puma that's been terrorising local graziers. Robbie tells Claire about his fascination with the natural world and why he aims to capture animals "as they are, not what we want them to be".Highway 13 is a crime novel with a difference, it's about the ripple effects of a serial killer's crimes - but not the crime itself - and is the fourth book by Australian born, US based author Fiona McFarlane. It's loosely based on the case of Australian serial killer Ivan Milat but is structured as interlinked stories about the murderer's former neighbours, the sister of his former wife and the brother of one of his victims. There's even a story written in the style of a true crime podcast. Malcolm Knox is an award winning Australian journalist and novelist and his latest book The First Friend is a Soviet era satirical thriller. It draws on Malcolm's own interest in Russian fiction and history. It's a lesson in how to raise the literary stakes for fictional characters. 

Tim Winton explains his urgency for writing about climate change in his new novel Juice, beware the evil eye in Matia, the debut novel of West Australian writer Emily Tsokos Purtill and singer-songwriter turned novelist, Nardi Simpson, explains the ambition of her second novel The Belburd.Tim Winton shares the anger and frustration that compelled him to write his latest novel Juice. It's set in a future north Australia where resources are scarce and people are scarred by the sun and spend months living underground to escape the heat. He reflects on the sense of urgency he feels around climate change and the role of fiction to address big topics. This is what Radio National critics had to say about Juice.From a West Australian literary veteran to a debut novelist, Claire Nichols visits Emily Tsokos Purtill in Perth. Emily's novel Matia tracks four generations of Greek-Australian women, and the dark prophecy that hangs over all of them.Nardi Simpson is a singer-songwriter turned novelist. Her award winning debut was Song of the Crocodile and her new book The Belburd is similarly ambitious. In one story strand there's a young poet in modern-day Australia and in the other is a sprite swimming through a cosmic ocean with the mythical Mother Eel.

Former Booker Prize winner Pat Barker grapples with the lot of Cassandra in her latest Ancient Greek novel, The Voyage Home and Life After Life author, Kate Atkinson, returns to her famous character Jackson Brodie in Death at the Sign of The Rook. Plus debut novelist Raeden Richardson on the importance of Melbourne's iconic Degraves Street in The Degenerates.Booker Prize winner Pat Barker is renowned for her World War One Regeneration trilogy. Her latest series draws on the mythology of the Ancient Greek Trojan War (Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy) to re-imagine the lives of the women often sidelined in these myths. The latest, The Voyage Home, inhabits the plight of prophetess Cassandra, who's destined to never be believed. Pat reflects on the urgency she feels to write and why she's drawn to the tragedy of Clytemnestra.Kate Atkinson is another legend of British fiction who's celebrated for her books Life After Life, A God in Ruins and Transcription. Kate also writes crime fiction and has released the sixth novel in her Jackson Brodie series, Death at the Sign of The Rook. It's set at a manor house where a murder mystery show is underway. She tells Claire how a character she imagined 20 years ago finally made it into this book. Melbourne author Raeden Richardson describes his debut novel The Degenerates as a love letter to the city. It's about a woman known as Mother Pulse who gives new life to the stories of social outcasts. Raeden takes The Book Show to the iconic Degraves Street, one of the key landmarks in the book and explains how its multi layered history influenced the story.

British author Onyi Nwabineli explores the scars of a child influencer in Allow Me to Introduce Myself, Ella Baxter writes back to her stalker in Woo Woo, and Melanie Cheng's The Burrow, a gentle novel about grief and a rabbit. Onyi Nwabineli is a British novelist who tackles the minefield of mumfluencers and child stars in her second novel, Allow Me to Introduce Myself. It's about former child influencer, Anuri, who's now 25 and still dealing with the legacy of her childhood being shared on social media.Australian visual artist and author Ella Baxter writes back to her stalker in her second novel Woo Woo (her first was New Animal), about a visual artist who confronts her stalker in the most powerful way she knows, through her art.The Burrow is the latest novel by Melbourne writer and GP Melanie Cheng, and follows her award winning books Australia Day and Room for a Stranger. The Burrow is about a grieving family who bring a rabbit into their home. Will it be a witness to a family healing or to a family falling further apart?

Today we take to you to two writers festivals: In Perth, Laura Jean McKay, Laurie Steed and Chemutai Glasheen reflect on what it means to bring their convictions to the page, and by the seaside in Sorrento, Victoria, poet, essayist and short story writer Nam Le retraces his roots as a storyteller.At the Perth Festival Writers Weekend, Claire Nichols spoke to three authors whose recent short story collections unapologetically focus on their respective passions. Laura Jean McKay writes about non-human animals in her collection Gunflower and in her Miles Franklin shortlisted novel The Animals in That Country. Kenyan born, WA based writer Chemutai Glasheen's collection of young adult short stories, I Am the Mau, explores human rights and life in Africa. And Perth based author, Laurie Steed focuses on relationships and male vulnerability in his collection Greater City Shadows.And at the Sorrento Writers Festival, Sarah L'Estrange spoke to writer Nam Le about his collection of poetry 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem as well as his writing journey and how he wrote his celebrated short story collection, The Boat (2008).

Bestselling author of Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam explores money obsession in his novel Entitlement, plus Jock Serong gets magical in Cherrywood and writer-doctor Jumaana Abdu's debut novel, Translations.American author, Rumaan Alam's bestselling last book, Leave the World Behind, was adapted to the screen starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke. His new book is Entitlement and while it explores themes of power, race and class it also begs us to ask ourselves "does money really buy happiness?" Set in New York, it's about a young, middle class black woman, who's hired to help an old rich white man give away his billions. Rumaan also reflects on what the success of Leave the World Behind has given him as a writer.Australian author Jock Serong's seventh novel Cherrywood is a mystery touched with a hint of magic and is a divergence from his previous, heavily researched fiction about Bass Strait and Australia's colonial past (The Settlement, Perseverance and The Burning Island). Cherrywood is a story about trees, love and grand follies and is a braided narrative about an early 20th century Scottish industrialist and a successful (but miserable) lawyer in 1990s Melbourne.Doctor-turned-writer, Jumaana Abdu's debut novel, Translations, is about a woman who wants a small, quiet life but who discovers life doesn't always work out as planned. Jumaana explains how she wrote the novel while she was studying medicine and also, how Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre was an inspiration. 

Richard Osman has followed up his bestselling crime series The Thursday Murder Club with a new series, the first instalment is We Solve Murders. Plus Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar explains how dreams are woven into his novel Martyr! and Dylin Hardcastle on their novel that began with the idea of a kiss.Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club and its sequels are so popular that a screen adaptation is underway. Not content with this success, Richard has begun a new crime series with a book called We Solve Murders. He explains who he writes for, why he prefers to stay home and watch snooker over jet setting, and why he calls himself a writer first and foremost.Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American poet whose debut novel Martyr! has been championed by former US President Barack Obama in his 2024 Summer Reading List. The novel follows Cyrus Shams who's in his late 20s and is struggling with addiction and sobriety and channels his existential doubts into a poetry project about martyrdom. Lisa Simpson and Rumi also make cameos in the story.The Australian writer Dylin Hardcastle's new book is A Language of Limbs. It's set in the 1970s and it's about the parallel lives of two women: one, a young queer woman who embraces her desires and her attraction to women and another who rejects them, in the hope of a more so-called 'conventional' life. Is it a sliding-doors narrative or are they different people?

Celebrated British-Turkish author Elif Shafak follows a single drop of water through history in her novel There are Rivers in the Sky, Kaliane Bradley on her bestseller The Ministry of Time which has attracted Barack Obama's attention and Nicola Moriarty's latest domestic drama Every Last Suspect.Elif Shafak is a British-Turkish author and activist. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World and for the Women's Prize for her novel, The Island of Missing Trees. Her new novel, There are Rivers in the Sky, is an epic in which three key stories are connected by raindrops, rivers and water. The Ministry of Time by British-Cambodian author Kaliane Bradley is listed on former US president Barack Obama annual summer reading list this year. It's a time travel novel in which a handful of (mostly) fictional historical characters who've been transplanted from their time period to a near future England. It's about love, refugees, bureaucracy and the doomed Franklin Arctic expedition.The Moriarty sisters — Liane, Jaclyn and Nicola — are a powerhouse family in Australian publishing. Each sister is a successful author in their own right, including the youngest Nicola. In her latest family drama, Every Last Suspect, as a woman lies dying she decides to use her final moments to figure out who did it.

Meena Kandasamy is an Indian born poet, novelist, rebel and activist who's been threatened and harassed for her writing. From the Byron Writers Festival she explains why she keeps going despite the threats.  She is also celebrated for her innovative approach to storytelling. Her debut novel The Gypsy Goddess (2015) was about the 1968 massacre of Dalit agricultural workers. Her book When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife is about her own experience of domestic violence. Her latest work is a collection of poetry called Tomorrow Someone Will Arrest You. She told Claire Nichols about the importance of ego as a writer, her family background raised in a house of academics and rebels and the challenge of being an activist. 

Award-winning author Evie Wyld on her new book The Echoes, and why there are so many sharks in her fiction. Plus, Catherine McKinnon's epic war novel To Sing of War and Jordan Prosser's band road trip novel, Big Time.Evie Wyld is one of the few Australian writers to win both the Miles Franklin and the Stella Prizes (the Miles for All the Birds, Singing, and the Stella for The Bass Rock). She is drawn to the paranormal and gothic in her fiction and this atmosphere imbues her new book, The Echoes, which is partly narrated by a ghost. Evie shares her go to writing tip (yes, it has to do with sharks) and the appeal of the TV series Neighbours when she was growing up in England.Catherine McKinnon is a playwright, critic and novelist. Her second novel Storyland was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin. Catherine's third book, To Sing of War, is set during World War 2 and asks what makes this war different. It's a braided story that threads multiple perspectives from characters in different places, including the Australians fighting against the Japanese in New Guinea and those developing of the atomic bomb in New Mexico, USA.Big Time is the debut novel from Australian screenwriter-turned novelist Jordan Prosser. It's a band road trip story set in a futuristic, fascist Australia where a popular drug gives users a glimpse of their future.August is Australian Poetry Month and to celebrate Radio National is bringing you brand new poems commissioned by Red Room Poetry. Laura Panopoulos is a Tasmanian-based poet who also runs Silver Words, a monthly open mic spoken word event in Hobart. Laura's poem is called Perimeter of Rectangles. For more information about Poetry Month, visit Red Room Poetry.

Booker Prize shortlisted Nigerian author Chigozie Obioma joined Claire Nichols at Byron Writers Festival to discuss his latest novel The Road to the Country about civil war in Nigeria.Now based in the US, Chigozie Obioma's first two novels The Fishermen (2015) and An Orchestra of Minorities (2019) were shortlisted for The Booker Prize. His third novel The Road to the Country is about the Biafran War that tore through Nigeria from 1967 to 1970. At the Byron Writers Festival, he reflected on the idea imparted by his mother that 'stories of war are never complete', why she hasn't read his book and tells Claire Nichols what it was like growing up in a large family. 

For Science Week, The Book Show goes intergalactic in a star themed episode. Ceridwen Dovey, Alicia Sometimes, Nardi Simpson, Max Barry and Emily St John Mandel explore how celestial tales reveal deep truths about our lives on earth.From the fabulously weird stories about space junk in Only the Astronauts (Ceridwen Dovey) to the star dust fuelled poetry of Stellar Atmospheres (Alicia Sometimes) we pay tribute to the connections between the night sky and literature.Books and authors mentioned:Song of the Crocodile by Nardi SimpsonOnly the Astronauts by Ceridwen DoveyStellar Atmospheres by Alicia SometimesProvidence by Max BarrySea of Tranquillity by Emily St John Mandel

Hollywood star Keanu Reeves and British science fiction author China Miéville reveal how they collaborated to to write the novel The Book of Elsewhere. Plus, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, author of Fleishman Is In Trouble and Indigenous Australian author, Anita Heiss.The Book of Elsehwere (Del Rey) is based on a comic book series that Keanu Reeves developed called BRZRKR. It's gory and it's novelisation by science fiction guru China Miéville is just as gory. Claire finds how how and why they worked together on this project.New York writer, Taffy Brodesser-Akner talks about the difficult second novel. She had a dream run with her debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and was adapted to the screen. Her second novel, Long Island Compromise (Wildfire), is the saga of the Fletcher family who are a rich, Jewish family that has lived through an unimaginable ordeal and come out the other side, or have they?And Indigenous Australian author Anita Heiss has a new work of historical fiction called Dirrayawadha which is centred around the Wiradjuri Wars. These were the violent conflicts in and around Bathhurst between the Wiradjuri people and white settlers in the 1800s.

Alexis Wright is the 2024 winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel Praiseworthy. She makes history as the only writer to have won both the Stella and Miles Franklin awards twice each.Alexis first won the Miles Franklin in 2007 for her epic novel Carpentaria. Like that novel, Praiseworthy (Giramondo) - which also won the 2024 Stella Prize - is an epic told on a grand scale. It's about a fictional town, a haze cloud, injustice, Indigenous land rights, global warming, and donkeys. Alexis told Claire Nichols that there's "a lot of nutrition in a good story" and in this pod extra, she explains her vision for Australian fiction and why writing this novel was daunting. Listen to The Book Show's guide to the Miles Franklin shortlist here. 

Samantha Shannon has such power as a bestselling writer that she's reissued her fantasy Bone Season series with new edits. In a revealing conversation she tells Claire Nichols what it takes to reach such heights.Samantha Shannon was just 20 when she won a six-figure publishing deal for this series. She also has another series on the go called Roots of Chaos which begins with the bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree.Samantha Shannon spoke to Claire Nichols at the recent Sydney Writers Festival to find out how she's navigated being published from such a young age, the challenge of being compared to J.K. Rowling and the influence of the film DragonHeart on her beginnings as a fantasy author. 

'Flabbergasted' and 'surprised' — ahead of the winner announcement, the Miles Franklin shortlisted writers tell you about their books and what it means to be on the shortlist.The Miles Franklin is the most prestigious writing prize in Australia and is awarded to a novel of "the highest literary merit that presents Australian life in any of its phases".This year's shortlisted works cover themes of art, obsession, colonialism, time, fathers, and the self.These are the authors - and their books - in contention for the $60 000 prize:Hossein Asgari, Only Sound Remains (Puncher & Wattmann)Jen Craig, Wall (Puncher & Wattmann)Andre Dao, Anam (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Random House)Gregory Day, The Bell of the World (Transit Lounge)Sanya Rushdi, Hospital (Giramondo Publishing)Alexis Wright, Praiseworthy (Giramondo Publishing)

American author R.O. Kwon's novel, Exhibit, explores the taboo topic of female desire; Jenny Ackland exacts feminist revenge in Hurdy Gurdy and Jessie Tu's Honeyeater is a story of translation and miscommunication.Korean-born, American author R.O. Kwon is not afraid of topic topics. She's behind the bestselling 2018 novel The Incendiaries and is co-editor of a story collection called Kink. Her new novel Exhibit is about two women who run deep with desire and find in each other a way to get what they want. Reese explains why this novel was such a challenge to write.Hurdy Gurdy is the third novel by Melbourne writer Jenny Ackland whose previous novel Little Gods was shortlisted for the Stella Prize. Hurdy Gurdy imagines a future Australia ravaged by climate change and poverty and follows an all-female travelling circus while a conservative preacher trails them with his warmings of fire and brimstone. Jenny shows off her writing space to The Book Show where she also records her podcast My Mum's Bad Diaries.Continuing the theme of female desire, Jessie Tu made a splash with her debut novel A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing which centred a young woman and her various desires. Jessie's new novel The Honeyeater is about a young translator, her complicated relationship with her mum and an even more complicated relationship with a married man. Jessie shares why she was thinking about her mother while writing this book. 

For NAIDOC week, Indigenous speculative fiction author Claire G Coleman chats to Dylan Coleman about her novel Mazin Grace republished as a UQP First Nations Classic. Also, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Graham Akhurst speak about their latest books.Ali Cobby Eckermann is a Yankunytjatjara woman, a member of the stolen generations, and one of Australia's major living poets. In 2017 she was awarded the Windham Campbell prize which is the richest writing prize in the world. She discusses her latest verse novel, She is The Earth which is a story of recovery amongst nature. It's also an award winner and at the 2024 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards it won the Indigenous Writers Prize and the overall Book of the Year. This interview was first published in 2023.Claire G Coleman is a writer of essays and non-fiction and is the author of three genre bending novels — Terra Nullius, The Old Lie and Enclave. Most recently, Claire has written the introduction to the novel Mazin Grace by Dylan Coleman which was first published in 2011 and has just been republished as part of the UQP First Nations Classics series. Claire G Coleman finds out more about the background to Dylan Coleman's novel.Graham Akhurst is an academic, Fulbright scholar and Kokomini writer and his debut YA novel Borderland (UWAP) is a thriller about an Indigenous teen who has visions of a terrifying dog man. He tells Sarah L'Estrange about the extensive sensitivity reading he commissioned for his novel. This interview was first published in 2023.

Australian writers Bri Lee and Liam Pieper's latest novels expose the unholy connection between money, art and power.Bri Lee is the author of the bestselling 2018 memoir Eggshell Skull and she's the author of two other works of non-fiction, Who Gets to Be Smart and Beauty. Her debut novel The Work is about two characters who represent old and new art but who become embroiled in scandal and controversy.Liam Pieper is the author of five books including his memoir The Feel Good Hit of the Year and his novels The Toymaker and Sweetness and Light. He's also a ghostwriter. His latest novel is Appreciation and it's a satire about a darling of the art scene who is cancelled and is encouraged to resurrect his career by writing a memoir.They spoke to Sarah L'Estrange at Melbourne Writers' Festival 2024.Journalist Molly Schmidt shares her coming-of-age debut novel Salt River Road (Fremantle Press) which is about two siblings dealing with grief and loss. Molly Schmidt won the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award for an unpublished manuscript. This interview was first published in 2023.

Weddings of the ultra-rich get the Kevin Kwan treatment in his novel Lies and Weddings, Siang Lu's ambitious and complicated novel Ghost Cities and West Australian author Annie de Monchaux's surprising link to Hollywood.Kevin Kwan is the author behind the juggernaut trilogy that began with Crazy Rich Asians which explored the lives of the ultra-ultra rich. His new book is called Lies and Weddings and it's travel-in-a-book as you follow the ultra rich to weddings around the world. Siang Lu is the author of the silly but serious novel The Whitewash which was a satire, presented as an oral history, about the making of a disastrous movie. Siang's second novel is Ghost Cities and it's equally ambitious, complicated and fun as it weaves between a storyline set in the modern day and another set in ancient China.And meet West Australian author Annie de Monchaux. Her first novel Audrey's Gone AWOL takes inspiration from the older women in Annie's own life and the years she has spent living in France.

Two authors at the top of their game: Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch reveals how his award winning novel Prophet Song came into being and Booker longlisted author Karen Jennings' complicated love letter to South Africa.The Irish writer Paul Lynch is the reigning Booker winner and won the prize for his beautiful, brutal fifth novel Prophet Song. It's about a civil war in modern-day Ireland that has echoes with other conflicts around the world. Paul Lynch tells Claire Nichols that he wants readers to be transported by his fiction and why his biggest fear as a writer is mediocrity.South African author Karen Jennings shares her hopes for the future of the rainbow nation. Crooked Seeds is Karen's seventh book and follows her 2021 Booker Prize longlisted novel An Island. In Crooked Seeds, she paints a portrait of a crumbling country. The main character - a middle aged white woman - feels like she's been left behind since the historic 1994 elections that brought an end to Apartheid. She's bitter and resentful and can only move forward by confronting the past.

Jeanette Winterson asks how AI will give new meaning to ghost stories and Kate Grenville reflects on a lifetime of writing and how accepting failure has been key to her success.Jeanette Winterson is best known for her novels Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, The Stone Gods and Frankissstein. Her long fascination with mortality, religion and technology have come together in a new book of short stories, Night Side of the River (Jonathan Cape), which considers what technology might mean for the future of ghost stories. First broadcast 2 October 2023Celebrated Australian author Kate Grenville (Secret River, A Room Made of Leaves) won the prestigious Orange Prize for her novel The Idea of Perfection in 2001, that prize is now called the Women's Prize for Fiction and Kate is again shortlisted for the award with her latest novel, Restless Dolly Maunder (Text), her fictional biography of her grandmother. Producer, Sarah L'Estrange visited Kate in her Melbourne worker's cottage to discuss her writing career. First broadcast 21 August 2023

American author Celeste Ng shares how her latest novel Our Missing Hearts explores one of her deepest fears. Celeste Ng is known for her dark realist novels, Everything I Never Told You, and Little Fires Everywhere (which was adapted to the screen in 2020).Our Missing Hearts is set in a dystopian, near future America, where anti-Asian sentiment has peaked, books are disappearing from the shelves, and children are being taken away from their families.It's a chilling world but as Claire Nichols discovers at this Sydney Writers' Festival event, there is also hope in art, poetry, and family.Celeste Ng also discusses book banning in the US and you can find out more about this worrying trend on The Book Show's new series Banned Books.

Shankari Chandran's follow up to her Miles Franklin award winning book, British author Stuart Turton's complicated murder mystery and Julie Janson's ironically named novel Compassion.Shankari Chandran won the 2023 Miles Franklin for her novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens. Her new novel Safe Haven asks readers to confront the reality of Australia's immigration detention system: the lives of the detainees, the guards, the doctors, and the communities that welcome asylum seekers, sometimes to then see them taken away.British writer Stuart Turton has a reputation for risky ideas. His hit novel The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was described as 'Gosford Park meets Groundhog Day'. His latest The Last Murder at the End of the World is also a murder mystery with a twist – it's set on an island that is home to the last remaining humans on the planet and every person on the island has a voice in their head, who is also the narrator of this story. It's a wild, propulsive ride.Julie Janson is a Burruberongal woman of the Darug Aboriginal nation. Her first, historical novel Benevolence, was about a young Aboriginal woman growing up in the New South Wales colony. Now Julie has written a sequel Compassion, inspired by her great-great grandmother.

One of Colm Toibin's most beloved books is Brooklyn and now he's written a sequel, Long Island.Brooklyn was first published in 2009 and it's about Eilis, a young woman who leaves Ireland for America in the 1950s. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize, won the Costa Novel Award and was adapted to the screen in 2015. Now there's a sequel, called Long Island, (Picador) set years later in the 1970s when Eilis is again faced with a family dilemma.Australian author Michelle Johnston takes you deep into the basement of the Perth hospital where she works and writes and which was the inspiration for the setting of her novel, Tiny Uncertain Miracles (first broadcast 6 February 2023).And in the final episode of Banned Books, the focus is again on Iran but there's an Australian connection.  Iran's Kafka like book censorship is causing authors to flee, including writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia and is the author of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree which is banned in Iran.

Iran's Kafka like book censorship is causing authors to flee, including writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia.Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. In this last episode, writer Shokoofeh Azar who now lives in Australia and is the author of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree which is banned in Iran.Guests: Shokoofeh Azar - Iranian born, Australian based journalist and author The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, shortlisted for the International Booker and Stella Prize.Alireza Abiz - Iranian born, UK based scholar, poet and translator. He's the author of Censorship of Literature in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Politics and Culture since 1979Nassim Khadem - ABC journalist. Provided reading from The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree

Percival Everett, a prolific author known for his versatility across various genres and styles, reinterprets an American classic novel.Percival Everett, a prolific author known for his versatility across various genres and styles, reinterprets the American classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, James, (Pan Macmillan) shifts the focus to Huck's enslaved companion, Jim, challenging the portrayal of slaves as ignorant and simple.And Banned Books Episode Four Gender Queer, explores an award winning memoir by an American author that's being challenged in the Australian Federal court in an attempt to ban it.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is the most banned book in the USA and now it's  being challenged in the courts in Australia. Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. This episode explores Gender Queer, an illustrated memoir which details Maia Kobabe's experience of coming out as non-binary and asexual. The book has been banned in school and public libraries across the US. In Australia, a conservative Queensland activist is seeking to have it banned and is taking the Australian Classification Review Board to the Australian Federal Court over it's unrestricted classification of the memoir.Is the US book banning movement coming to Australia?

Crime writer Val McDermid investigates Scotland's most famous female character to reveal a very different Lady Macbeth. And Sydney writer Jonathon Seidler delves into the story beyond the happy ending and how breakups can define a relationship.Crime writer Val McDermid investigates Scotland’s most famous female character to reveal a very different Lady Macbeth.  Queen Macbeth: Darkland Tales is part of a series where well known authors find the truth behind the legends commissioned by the historical fiction publishing house Birlinn.Jonathan Seidler is no stranger to the complexities of modern relationships. A Sydney writer, journalist and columnist, his work is frequently published in journals and newspapers. He has also written a memoir exploring his family history of mental illness. Jonathan's latest is a novel,  All the Beautiful Things You Love which delves into the story beyond the happy ending  - how break-ups can define a relationship. 

Webfiction is a gargantuan platform for writers in China but authors of male to male fiction - known as the danmei or boyslove genre - are experiencing a censorship crackdown and some writers have been imprisoned for their writing. This episode is about Occupied by Tianyi – a boyslove/danmei novel whose author was sentenced to 10 years jail in China for indecency in 2018.Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide. Guests: Liang Ge - PHD candidate, Kings College London and expert on danmei/boyslove culture and fiction.Megan Walsh - author of The Subplot: What China Is Reading and Why It Matters.

Alexis Wright has won the 2024 Stella Prize, for her novel, Praiseworthy. The novel is an Aboriginal fable, about a fictional town, a haze cloud, a haze cloud, land rights, global warming, and donkeys. Judges described Praiseworthy as 'genre-bending' and 'canon-breaking'. Alexis Wright previously won the Stella in 2018 for her non-fiction collective memoir Tracker. She also won the Miles Franklin for her novel Carpentaria.

Author of The Tiger's Wife Téa Obreht reterns with Morningside, a dystopian fairy tale, and Stella Prize-shortlisted author Emily O'Grady on the rotten characters in her novel Feast.Téa Obreht won The Women's Prize for Fiction — then called the Orange Prize — for her debut novel, The Tiger's Wife and at the time she was the youngest ever winner of the award. It was a family saga, about doctors, death and the Balkan wars. She followed it up with a Western called Inland. With her new novel, Morningside, Obreht has shifted gears again with a dystopian fairy tale set in a flooded future version of what feels a lot like Manhattan.The Stella Prize will be announced this week; it's an annual prize for Australian women and non-binary writers. One of this year's shortlisted authors is Emily O'Grady for her novel, Feast. The book is about an unconventional family meeting in a run-down Scottish castle and was described by the Stella Prize judges as a 'perfect jewel of a novel'.

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie inspired riots in England and book burnings in India; death threats, murders and a fatwa; and ultimately, a devastating physical attack on Salman Rushdie in 2022. Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide.This episode revisits how one book inspired so much hatred and violence.  

Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan explains why finishing his latest novel Caledonian Road was like "landing 65 planes on the tarmac"; plus a teaser for the first in our Banned Books series, starting in America.Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan's (Faber and Faber) latest book Caledonian Road is a big one in length and Dickensian scope. It's an exploration of life in London — a world of intellectuals and elites, Russian oligarchs and human traffickers, rappers, DJs, wellness assistants and those who seek to shake up the whole rotten system.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was inspired by the black lives matter movement and explores police brutality — so why is it being taken off library shelves in the US?Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide.  The series begins in America where books about race and racism have become a lightning rod for censorship in public libraries and state schoolsGuests: Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give (original 2017 interview)Kasey Meehan, program director for Freedom to Read, PEN AmericaTracie D Hall, former executive director of the American Library AssociationMaxine Beneba Clarke, Australian memoirist, poet, children's book author. Her poem There's a Shelf in the Library is in her latest poetry collection It's the Sound of the Thing.Find the other episodes in the series here.

Booker-shortlisted author Sunjeev Sahota argues that class is more important than identity, Vanessa Chan draws on her grandmother's stories of Japanese occupied Malaya and Winnie Dunn channels her own experience of growing up Tongan in Western Sydney.

Known for his sumptuous novel Call Me By My Name, André Aciman's latest book also explores love and beauty in Italy. Plus, Indian author Anjali Joseph on the allure of Assam, India, which is known for its unique cultural heritage.

At Adelaide Writers' Week, Melissa Lucashenko explains how understanding that "all history is fiction" allowed her to write her historic novel Edenglassie.

Award winning Australian journalist Louise Milligan on her debut crime novel inspired by police and PTSD and Pulitzer Prize winning Jane Smiley on why she wants her books to be banned and her latest novel A Dangerous Business.

Bestselling American author Jonathan Lethem explains why he returned to Brooklyn in his fiction after 20 years. 

At Adelaide Writers' Week, Booker-winner Anne Enright speaks about the contradictions at the heart of families.

RF Kuang speaks about her bestseller Yellowface and Nam Le, Australian author of The Boat, explains why his latest is a book of poetry.

Award-winning literary translator Jennifer Croft imagines what happens when translators get together in a primeval forest, Imbi Neeme's exploration of misophonia and Mykaela Saunders' love-hate relationship with Mad Max.