The Readings Podcast

Епизоди

• 
  Anna Heyward in Conversation 11.09.2026 29мин

  In this episode, a conversation with Anna Heyward, animal behavioural scientist and New Yorker writer, and author of a new memoir: Living with Freddie, a book about seeing the world from the point of view of man's best – and oft misunderstood – friend, the dog. When Anna Heyward adopted a rescued Italian greyhound, she was thrilled to bring a dog into her life. But Freddie, she quickly realised, had severe separation anxiety, unable to be left alone for more than thirty seconds without crying uncontrollably, biting his own tail or scratching at his body. While some would have given the dog back, writing him off as a 'bad dog', Anna transformed her life. She took Freddie to work and hid him from her boss. Her social life withered. Her relationship with her fiancé began to flounder. She dedicated her life to entering the mind of her dog. As Anna observed Freddie's behaviour, she began to experience the world as he did: the quality of light, the timbre of sound; a leaf falling from a tree. And she changed – but not in the way you might expect. This is a meditation on what it means to be bad or good, on how much we can – or should – try to alter another being's behaviour, and on what is possible to know about another mind. But at its heart, Living With Freddie is a beautiful portrait of the relationship between a human and a dog. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9780733654800/living-with-freddie--anna-heyward--2026--9780733654800
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  Alice Pung in Conversation 08.09.2026 32мин

  In this episode, a conversation with Alice Pung, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of her landmark memoir, and a bona fide modern Australian classic, Unpolished Gem. In a wonderland called Footscray, a girl named Alice and her Chinese-Cambodian family pursue the Australian Dream – Asian style. Armed with an ocker accent, Alice dives head-first into schooling, romance and the getting of wisdom. Her mother becomes an Aussie battler – an outworker, that is. Her father embraces the miracle of franchising and opens an electrical-appliance store. And every day her grandmother blesses Father Government for giving old people money. Unpolished Gem is a book rich in comedy, a loving and irreverent portrait of a family, its everyday struggles and bittersweet triumphs, and a longstanding Readings favourite. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781760645762/unpolished-gem--alice-pung--2026--9781760645762
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  Robyn Dennison in Conversation 04.09.2026 30мин

  In this episode, a conversation with novelist Robyn Dennison, author of a new crime novel, In Plain Sight. This story follows Detective Lara Wilton, a sex-crimes detective who returns to her home town to investigate disturbing photographs found on a USB. But the twin sisters at the centre of the case are guarding secrets of their own, and without their cooperation, the investigation can go nowhere. Exploring the complicated relationship between evidence, justice and personal agency, In Plain Sight is a gripping literary crime novel about the constraints of the law and the blurred boundaries between professional and personal lives. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781923670068/in-plain-sight--robyn-dennison--2026--9781923670068
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  The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize Shortlist 31.08.2026 42мин

  In this episode, we’re presenting conversations with Readings booksellers who have participated in judging this year’s Readings New Australian Fiction Prize. With the shortlist of works announced today, we thought it would be a great opportunity to share reflections and observations from judges about their favourite books from this year’s shortlist. The Readings Prize has been celebrating outstanding new Australian writing since the prize was first awarded in 2014, and we’re incredibly proud of the impact we’ve had as champions of emerging authors in that time. This year’s winner will be announced Tuesday 27 October, and there will be a live celebration, but until then, do listen in to hear from our booksellers on the shortlisted books for this year’s prize. Enjoy what you heard? Head to the Readings website to check out the books mentioned in this episode: https://www.readings.com.au/news/the-readings-new-australian-fiction-prize-2026-shortlist
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  Poetry Reading: Ghayath Almadhoun & Ender Başkan 28.08.2026 24мин

  In this episode, something special from our archive. Last year, Readings Carlton hosted Syrian-Palestinian poet Ghayath Almadhoun for a reading and conversation with another poet, Readings bookseller Ender Başkan. Fluid and unselfconscious, Ghayath Almadhoun writes love poems in the shape of nightmares:, andI have brought you a severed hand is a surreal mix of absurd humour, heteroerotic lust and dead seriousness. Caught between two exiles, the one inherited from his Palestinian father and the one he chose and lives, Almadhoun attempts to explain water and tame hope. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781739843120/i-have-brought-you-a-severed-head--ghayath-almadhoun--2025--9781739843120
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  Kids Podcast – Suzy Zail in Conversation 25.08.2026 39мин

  In this episode, another instalment of the Readings Kids Podcast, hosted by Readings Prize and Readings Foundation coordinator Angela Crocombe. Angela was joined by members of the Teen Advisory Board for a discussion with Suzy Zail, author of A New Kind of Beautiful, a moving YA novel about love, loss, and the beauty in the things we can't always see. Paige Wilding has her future mapped out – the Year 10 Art prize. Graduation. A coveted spot in an elite art school in New York. But when she's diagnosed with an incurable eye disease, the perfect life she’s planned starts to blur. She makes a choice to keep her condition secret and live louder, love wilder, and paint like her life depends on it. Only her best friend Jazz knows the truth, and is helping her cram a lifetime of colour into a single year. But as her sight fades and she’s forced to give up painting, it’s Zac, her rival for the art prize, who helps Paige find a way back to her art and a new kind of beautiful; messy and imperfect but also raw, unfiltered and fiercely alive. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781760653743/a-new-kind-of-beautiful--suzy-zail--2026--9781760653743
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  Tom Griffiths in Conversation 25.08.2026 40мин

  In this episode, a recording taken from the Melbourne launch of Tom Griffiths’ new book, Alice’s dreaming, an astonishing work of history about a girl and the Indigenous world she encountered. Early last century, Alice Duncan-Kemp grew up on a remote Queensland cattle station. Later she would write down her childhood memories of learning from Aboriginal women and men at home on their own Country. In her books, she evoked a rich parallel universe of storytelling and lore, which she felt privileged to witness. She also spoke of an informal local treaty that curbed the violence of the frontier. What are we to make of 'Alice's dreaming' today? Master historian and writer Tom Griffiths takes us into – and beyond – this revelatory encounter. Through it we glimpse the turmoil of a complex and tragic frontier, and a remarkable story of survival and cultural resilience. In recent years, the Mithaka people Alice lived among and wrote about have reclaimed their Country, drawing in part on her writing to support their claims. Alice's dreaming shows how moving, intimate – and unexpected – history can be. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781760646240/alices-dreaming--tom-griffiths--2026--9781760646240
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  Amanda Curtin in Conversation 21.08.2026 33мин

  In this episode, a conversation with Amanda Curtin, author of a new novel – Six Days. Daniel, an expatriate Australian who has lived in Paris for more than forty years, has made a mess of his life and is trying to atone, to become the ‘good man’ his friend Marcelline believes him to be. But Marcelline has disappeared, the quotidian world has been tipped out of balance and Daniel makes an error of judgment that places at risk everything he values. The novel’s six-day narrative, set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the winter of 2012, expands into lifetimes, histories, as interconnecting stories weave through Daniel’s. Stories of abandonment and fractured families, rape and coercion, addiction, ambition, loss and grief, are told in moments and set within the context of war and occupation, the revolutionary sixties, riots in a Catalan town in the south of France, a grassroots movement to make visible the invisible homeless. The personal stitched into, and inseparable from, the political. And throughout, the constant of footsteps and pawpatter as Daniel and his old dog walk the streets of one of the most idealised and romanticised cities on earth. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781764239745/six-days--amanda-curtin--2026--9781764239745
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  The Comics Question: Aki Fukuoka in Conversation with Bernard Caleo 18.08.2026 38мин

  In this episode, another instalment of the Comics Question, where Bernard Caleo discusses comics, graphic novels, and the place they inhabit within the broader books and publishing world. Bernard was joined by Aki Fukuoka, children’s book illustrator and graphic novelist, who has worked on over 80 children’s books, most notably including Sally Rippin’s beloved Billie B Brown series. The two met to discuss the newest iteration in this series, a first graphic novel collaboration for Rippin and Fukuoka, and how, for Aki, this form of children’s illustration is inextricably linked to another illustrated storytelling tradition, that of Japanese comics, or Manga. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781761216404/spooky-house-volume-1--sally-rippin--2026--9781761216404
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  Lenny Robinson in Conversation 14.08.2026 36мин

  In this episode, a conversation with Lenny Robinson, author of And in the Morning, a prismatic gem of a debut novel that reflects the experiences of women across three wars and the damage done to the men they love. In the winter of 1919, Lily and her three-year-old son, Ted, rush through the streets of Melbourne to welcome home Lily’s husband, Bert, who has spent the last four years fighting with the Light Horse in the Middle East. Twenty-three years later, as the same city awaits a Japanese invasion, Frankie, a young servicewoman on a night’s leave, meets an airman, Ed, at a dance. Almost three decades on, as Melbourne convulses with anti-war protests, single mother Fran prepares a funeral for her only son, a young conscript killed in Vietnam. And in the Morning is a novel about war and the ways in which its tragedies, both great and small, transform the intimate lives of the mothers, wives and lovers who must live with its consequences. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9780702268847/and-in-the-morning--lenny-robinson--2026--9780702268847
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  Simon Reynolds in Conversation 11.08.2026 47мин

  In today's episode, a conversation with Simon Reynolds, acclaimed music writer and journalist, and author of a new book, Still in a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984-1994. Twenty years after his acclaimed postpunk best-seller, Rip It Up and Start Again, Simon Reynolds tells the tale of what happened next: the underground explosion of noisepop, shoegaze, slacker rock and grunge that reverberated through the mid-Eighties into the early Nineties. Capturing the musical exhilaration of the era along with the alienation of youth during a period of ascendant conservative politics and glitzy mainstream pop, Still in a Dream celebrates a golden age of guitar reinvention, a second psychedelia of mind-blowing sounds pioneered by bands like My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. In Britain, groups like Cocteau Twins and Slowdive escaped into shimmering dreamworlds while American underground rockers like Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement blended apathy and urgency into thrilling noise. A propulsive and personal account from a journalist who covered this music in real time from the frontlines, Still in a Dream vividly recreates a period that was the last blast for the analogue culture of vinyl records and music papers, before the Internet changed everything. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781399618373/still-in-a-dream--simon-reynolds--2026--9781399618373
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  Jordan Prosser in Conversation 07.08.2026 42мин

  In this episode, a conversation recorded at the Melbourne launch of Jordan Prosser’s new work of fiction/sci-fi, Blue Giant, an unruly eulogy for millennial optimism – and a deranged love letter to a generation torn between helplessness and selfishness. Abby always believed she was destined for great things. But her dream career as an industry-disrupting fashion designer went up in smoke, and her aspirations to become a world-renowned yogi and/or save the endangered tigers proved equally fruitless. She’s in her early thirties, suffering the unbearable burdens of adulthood and anonymity, when she wakes up after a drunken bender with an all-new, all-consuming purpose in life: to be the first person on Mars. Perfect timing – Danish tech entrepreneur Tor Skovgaard is currently recruiting for a one-way mission to colonise the red planet. Abby knows this is it: her last-ditch bid for fame and glory. And if she can’t be humanity’s saviour … she’ll settle for being its martyr. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9780702269240/blue-giant--jordan-prosser--2026--9780702269240
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  Avigayl Sharp in Conversation 04.08.2026 40мин

  In this episode, a conversation with Avigayl Sharp, author of a blisteringly funny and transcendently deranged debut novel for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Patricia Lockwood and George Saunders. In Offseason, our fiercely observant but self-deluded narrator finds herself teaching at an all-girls boarding school in a remote coastal town. In between manic lectures that veer from Charles Dickens's Bleak House to the childhood maltreatment of her beloved Iosif Stalin and the generational legacy of the Holocaust, she implicates everyone she meets in her quest to pin down where exactly her own life went wrong. Avigayl Sharp was interviewed by author Raeden Richardson, to discuss this new book, process and craft, and the role of the novel in contemporary consciousness and culture. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781399637015/offseason--avigayl-sharp--2026--9781399637015
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  Mirandi Riwoe in Conversation 30.07.2026 24мин

  In this episode, a conversation with Mirandi Riwoe, the award-winning, bestselling author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain, and of a new book, the story of an Irish-Chinese family over four generations in Australia, A Short History of Longans. It’s the winter of 2049 and Daniel is elderly and long isolated. Soon after yet another devastating storm, this time destroying his beloved longan tree, he finds his fragile peace threatened by a growing friendship with a widowed neighbour and the appearance of a young reporter digging into a shameful event buried deep in his past. As the novel moves back to autumn 2000 and then to summer 1949 and finally to the spring of the mid-nineteenth century, Daniel's family's history unspools, until we meet a Chinese bushranger, Ah Yang. Intriguing and beautifully written, this dazzling novel unravels the secrets and memories of an Irish-Chinese family to explore what it means to belong to place, to ancestors, to ourselves – spanning centuries and generations. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9780702269004/a-short-history-of-longans--mirandi-riwoe--2026--9780702269004
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  The Comics Question: Trace Balla in Conversation with Bernard Caleo 28.07.2026 22мин

  In this episode, another instalment of the Comics Question, where Bernard Caleo discusses comics, graphic novels, and the place they inhabit within the broader books and publishing world. Bernard was joined by Trace Balla, a much-loved Australian children's book writer, illustrator, and author of an extraordinary, inspiring and hope-filled graphic novel, Treeshape. This beautiful book tells the story of young Trace's awakening to the preciousness of the environment, including her participation in the protests against uranium mining at Jabiluka in the 1980s. Channelling her gift for visual storytelling, Trace reveals emotional truths, shares her commitment to environmental activism, highlights trees that have been meaningful in her life, and explores her deep appreciation of place and connection with First Nations peoples. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781761181252/treeshape--trace-balla--2026--9781761181252
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  Rachel E. Menzies & Ross G. Menzies in Conversation 24.07.2026 28мин

  In this episode, a conversation with two psychologists; father-and-daughter duo Rachel E. Menzies and Ross G. Menzies, the authors of a new book, Being: Why it's harder to be human than a hamster or a herring. Being human is hard. From early childhood, we start to become aware of the difficulties we must all inevitably face. We will battle an inner critic across the entirety of our life. We will never truly know those around us, and time will destroy all we create. Death becomes a reality, and we cannot escape the knowledge that it is coming for us all. These are the problems of being. In this book, the two Menzies – Rachel and Ross – explore what it means to be human, and our shared need for love, meaning and self-understanding. They highlight the power of hope, the role of purpose in wellbeing, and how acceptance is key to a more authentic and joyful life. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781761471438/being--rachel-e-menzies-ross-g-menzies--2026--9781761471438
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  Joanne Wallis & Jack Corbett in Conversation 20.07.2026 35мин

  In this episode, a recording taken from the launch of Joanne Wallis and Jack Corbett’s co-authored book ‘Neighbours: Australia and the Pacific’, in which they detail a new vision for our country and our region. Australia has a long history in the Pacific. Many Australians might have forgotten it, but the region has not forgotten us. This book provides an alternative way Australia might relate to its Pacific neighbours. It replaces amnesia with storytelling that emphasises common ancestors, interests and language. It replaces Australian ambivalence with recognition, humility and respect. It does not seek to wish away the realities of asymmetry and hierarchy between Australia and Pacific Island countries, but instead outlines how Australia can work more productively within them. It argues that Australia can only work towards being a better neighbour if it understands its history in the Pacific Islands, and the ideas that have guided its foreign policy in the region for the last two centuries. Tracing the many dimensions of that past engagement, it provides an up-to-date account, written by two highly experienced experts. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781760645571/australias-pacific-history--joanne-wallis-jack-corbett--2026--9781760645571
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  Chris Ames in Conversation 17.07.2026 35мин

  In this episode, a conversation with Chris Ames, author of a debut collection of short stories, I Made This Just For You. The characters in this book are perfect avatars of modern life. They work in tech, take designer drugs, assemble IKEA furniture, pursue beauty matching, and rehabilitate their reputations – all while grappling with a perilous sense of unease, held hostage by economic forces beyond their control. I Made This Just for You lives in weird and flirts with normal. The stories explore the tension between authenticity and performance, as characters navigate the anxieties of modern parenthood, the disorienting nature of loss and memory, and the absurd, often dystopian, intersection of the digital and the real. This savage, sideways collection asks: How do we measure the distance between two people? How can we thrive within our own ceaseless routines? And how are we still drawn together, in spite of our messy, broken ways of knowing? Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781761154782/i-made-this-just-for-you--chris-ames--2026--9781761154782
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  The Comics Question: Bernard Caleo on graphic novels for kids 10.07.2026 37мин

  In today's episode, another instalment of the Comics Question, where Bernard Caleo discusses comics, graphic novels, and the place they inhabit within the broader books and publishing world. This week, Bernard is joined by Readings’ children's book division manager, Kim Gruschow. This month of July, Readings is both promoting in-store and offering discounts off a broadened array of Graphic Novels, Comics and other related forms of storytelling. Ahead of some marquee releases scheduled for this year, Bernard sat down with Readings’ Kids Buyer Kim Gruschow to point to some favourites and a brief chronology of the graphic novel form in Australia. Like what you heard? Shop our July graphic novel sale here: https://www.readings.com.au/collections/australian-graphic-novels-for-kids
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  Maria Takolander in conversation 10.07.2026 29мин

  In this episode, a conversation with novelist and poet Maria Takolander, author of The End of Romance, a new work of dystopian fiction. It is the future, and the earth has seemingly refused to cooperate with humanity, producing only thorn-bearing plants and caustic fogs in abundance. Life is hard for those who still inhabit urban communities. For those who have chosen to live ‘off-grid’ it is subsistence at best, but at least there is some kind of independence. A woman and her son live alone, surviving as scavengers. Even so, the boy must attend military school like all the other boys. In time he will be shipped off with the rest of them to a distant planet – the Promised Land – to fight the colonising war that is touted as humanity’s only hope. By chance, the woman meets a young man who has avoided this fate, despite his lack of physical impairment. It appears that he comes from a place of sanctuary. Can he lead her back there – and help her to save her son? In taut, evocative prose, Maria Takolander has conjured an eerie and compelling story of desolation and hope that resonates in the imagination. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase the book: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781925355093/the-end-of-romance--maria-takolander--2026--9781925355093