The Bookshelf

Avsnitt

• Art, apocalypse and country people 17.07.2026 1h 2min

  Dave Eggers explores the messy intersection of art, friendship and growing up in Contrapposto, while Daniel Mason's Country People follows an academic family into a Vermont landscape full of stories, obsessions and believers in worlds beneath the earth. Then Maria Takolander's The End of Romance imagines life after collapse, where survival, motherhood and hope take unexpected forms. Joining Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are our regular reviewers, novelist Madeleine Gray and musician Tim Rogers.  Plus, playwright and novelist George Kemp shares three favourite Australian books ahead of the ABC's Top 100 Australian Books countdown. Books discussed Contrapposto - Dave Eggers Country People - Daniel Mason The End of Romance - Maria Takolander Cloudstreet - Tim Winton The Sun Walks Down - Fiona McFarlane Cold Enough for Snow - Jessica Au Guest recommendations Dream Girls - Hannah Goldstein Brother of the More Famous Jack - Barbara Trapido The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark Riverboy - Jim Ewing A Suitable Man - Jock Serong Fifty Beating Wonders - Dr Michelle Johnston Flights - Olga Tokarczuk  Credits Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound, Micky Grossman and Tegan Nicholls Arts editor, Sarah L' Estrange
• Laura McPhee Browne, Leïla Slimani, Kris Kneen & Bruce Pascoe's favourite Aus books 10.07.2026 59min

  This week on The Bookshelf, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh discuss new novels including Laura McPhee-Browne's Worry Doll, a story of desire, obsession and uncertainty; Leïla Slimani's I'll Take the Fire, the acclaimed French-Moroccan writer's rich, politically charged exploration of family, memory and identity; and Kris Kneen's Rite of Spring, an eerie island novel where strange creatures lurk in the mist. Joining the program are regular reviewers, bestselling crime writer Michael Robotham and novelist and academic Roanna Gonsalves. Plus, as ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books Countdown approaches, writer and historian Bruce Pascoe shares three Australian books he loves. Books discussed Worry Doll, Laura McPhee-Browne I'll Take the Fire, Leïla Slimani (translated by Sam Taylor) Rite of Spring, Kris Kneen Benang: From The Heart, Kim Scott Every Secret Thing, Marie Munkara Mullumbimby, Melissa Lucashenko Guest recommendations Whistler, Ann Patchett The Hunter, Tana French Tomb of Sand, Geetanjali Shree   Credits Presenter: Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer: Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound: Craig Tilmouth and Micky Grossman Arts editor: Sarah L'Estrange
• Melbourne Writers' Festival with Hannah Kent and Beejay Silcox 03.07.2026 53min

  A live recording from the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival, with guests Hannah Kent and Beejay Silcox. Hannah Kent, Always Home, Always Homesick (Picador) Eimear McBride, The City Changes Its Face (Faber) Susan Choi, Flashlight (Jonathan Cape) Edward St Aubyn, Parallel Lines (Jonathan Cape) Caryl Phillips, Another Man in the Street (Bloomsbury) Guests Hannah Kent is the author of the novels Burial Rites, The Good People and Devotion. Her latest book is the memoir, Always Home, Always Homesick Beejay Silcox is a critic, writer, festival director and literary interviewer Other Books Mentioned Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Eric Puchner, Dream State Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers Emily Maguire, Rapture Mariana Enríquez, A Sunny Place for Shady People Susan Hampton, Anything Can Happen
• The Bookshelf’s best: Four standout novels from the past year 26.06.2026 53min

  We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.
• Zan Rowe and Madeleine Gray review: Chris Ames/Fiona Mozley/Niamh Campbell 19.06.2026 53min

  Cassie McCullagh is joined by Jonathan Green this time, for a wide-ranging hour of new fiction, from Australia and beyond. First, Fiona Mozley’s unsettling Awake Awake, where a young woman begins to suspect her grandfather may have killed Adolf Hitler, Zan Rowe weighs in. Then, Irish writer Niamh Campbell’s Make Strange, a quietly eerie novel about a four-year-old asking impossible questions, including whether she’s lived before...Madeleine Gray gives her verdict. And we begin with a striking new Australian voice in the short story collection I Made This Just For You by Chris Ames. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Elmet; Hot Stew, by Fiona Mozley What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan The Ruiners, by Ellena Savage The Shepherd's Life; A Place of Tides, by James Rebanks The Animators; Returns and Exchanges, by Kayla Rae Whitaker Fruit Fly, by Josh Silver Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart ~ CREDITS Presenter, Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green Producer, Cassie McCullagh and Sarah Corbett Sound, Antonia Gauci and Ann Marie Debettencor Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown
• Michael Robotham and Roanna Gonsalves review: Andrew Sean Greer/Ilka Tampke/Michael Pedersen 12.06.2026 54min

  From a sun-drenched Tuscan reset with a side of style advice (Andrew Sean Greer's Villa Coco via Michael Robotham), to Ilka Tampke’s How To Love the World, a tender take on parenting and the pull of the bush (guided by Roanna Gonsalves), and throw in a windswept lighthouse on the edge of the world with Michael Pedersen’s Muckle Flugga. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Charles Bukowski, works Andrew Sean Greer, Less Graham Greene, Travels with My Aunt Patrick Dennis, Auntie Mame Steve Toltz, works Ilka Tampke, Skin; Songwoman Debra Adelaide,When I Am Sixty-Four David Sedaris, The Land and Its People; Me Talk Pretty One Day Rashida Murphy, Old Ghosts; The Historian's Daughter Olga Ravn, The Wax Child; The Employees ~ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Tegan Nicholls and Harvey O'Sullivan Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown
• Hannah Kent and Tom Wright review: Maggie O'Farrell/Ann Patchett/Christine Balint 05.06.2026 54min

  Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are joined by regulars Hannah Kent and Tom Wright to talk new fiction from three major voices: Maggie O’Farrell’s Land, an expansive novel set in famine-era Ireland that traces memory, myth and the imprint of history on place; Ann Patchett’s Whistler, a sharp story of family, lost fathers and the long shadow of childhood; and Christine Balint’s A Single Witness, which follows a teenage girl confronting her community and the law in 18th-century Italy. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Maggie O'Farrell, works Ann Patchett, works Christine Balint, works George R.Stewart, Names On The Land  Sumner Locke Elliott’s Careful, He Might Hear You  Tusiata Avia, Big Fat Brown Bitch  Dominic Hoey, 1985 Ingrid Horrocks, All Her Lives: Nine Stories Tāme Iti, MANA ~ CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound: Micky Grossman, Isabella Tropiano Arts editor: Rhiannon Brown
• Beejay Silcox & Bernadette Brennan review: Doireann Ní Ghríofa/Chloe Wilson/Deborah Levy 29.05.2026 54min

  Kate Evans is joined by Bernadette Brennan and Beejay Silcox to talk three striking new releases: Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s Said the Dead, a haunting, archive-rich exploration of a derelict Irish asylum; Chloe Wilson’s The Thornbacks, a darkly comic debut of morticians, dating apps and unsettling female entanglements; and Deborah Levy’s My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, a playful meditation on literary life in Paris.  ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Amitav Ghosh, Ghost-Eye Susan Choi, Flashlight  S.A. Cosby, works Doireann Ní Ghríofa, A Ghost in the Throat  Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle Angela Carter, Wise Children Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides Daisy Johnson, Sisters Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister the Serial Killer Deborah Levy, works Kim Scott, Benang Alexis Wright, Carpentaria Francesca Wade, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas  Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain, Bone Horn Erin Vincent. Fourteen Ways of Looking Claire Thomas, On Not Climbing Mountains Gwendoline Riley, The Palm House Chloe Wilson, Hold Your Fire Robin Robertson, The Long Take Joseph Furphy, Such is Life Elizabeth Jolley, works ~ CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound: Antonia Gauci Arts editor: Rhiannon Brown
• Launching ABC Radio National’s 2026 Top 100 Books countdown at SWF 22.05.2026 54min

  The Bookshelf comes to you from a sold out session at Sydney Writers’ Festival, for a conversation that brings together an exceptional line-up: acclaimed novelist and poet Tony Birch, Miles Franklin Award-winning author Siang Lu, and internationally celebrated writer Lily King. Together, with Cassie, Kate and special guest Claire Nichols from The Book Show, they mark the launch of ABC Radio National’s 2026 Top 100 Books countdown, this year turning the spotlight on the very best of Australian writing, fiction and non-fiction, across all time. ~ ABC RADIO NATIONAL TOP 100 AUSTRALIAN BOOKS COUNTDOWN https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/top-100-books-2026/106621398 ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY LILY KING Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds Shirley Hazzard, The Transit of Venus; The Evening of the Holiday Kate Grenville, The Idea of Perfection Christina Stead, The Man Who Loved Children ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY TONY BIRCH William Dick, A Bunch of Ratbags Ruth Park, works Colin Johnson, Wild Cat Falling Kenneth Cook, Wake in Fright Frank Hardy, Power Without Glory Peter Carey, American Dreams; Crabs Pi O, 24 Hours: Ulysses in Fitzroy ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY SIANG LU Nam Le, The Boat Michael Winkler, Grimmish Peter Carey, The True History of the Kelly Gang Helen Garner, Monkey Grip Charlotte Wood, Stone Yard Devotional ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY CASSIE MCCULLAGH Miles Franklin, My Brilliant Career Peter Temple, Broken Shore Peter Carey, The Fat Man in History ~  BOOKS MENTIONED BY KATE EVANS Ethel Turner, Seven Little Australians Florence James and Dymphna Cusack, Come in Spinner Peter Carey, Illywhacker; Oscar and Lucinda ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY CLAIRE NICHOLS The Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book Mem Fox, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Kim Scott, works Tim Winton, works Josephine Wilson, Extinctions ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED  Tim Winton, Cloudstreet Trent Dalton, Boy Swallows Universe Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore Sally Morgan, My Place Archie Roach, Tell Me Why Jimmy Barnes, Working Class Boy Ruby Langford Ginibi, Don’t Take Your Love to Town Thea Astley, works Helen Garner, The Children's Bach; The Spare Room Melina Marchetta, Looking for Alibrandi Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North; Question 7 Madeleine St John, Ladies in Black Shankari Chandran, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens Ruth Park, Playing Beatie Bow Andrew McGahan, Praise Markus Zusak, The Book Thief Robbie Arnott, Limberlost Hannah Kent, Burial Rites Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding A.B. Facey, A Fortunate Life David Malouf, Johnno  Jane Harper, The Dry ~ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh, Claire Nichols Producer, Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound, Harvey O'Sullivan Arts Editor, Rhiannon Brown
• Madeleine Gray & Tim Rogers review: Wayne Marshall/Ellena Savage/Lena Dunham/Douglas Stuart 15.05.2026 54min

  We head by rackety ferry to Scotland in John of John, the latest, quietly devastating novel from Shuggie Bain author Douglas Stuart. Henry Lawson reimagined - brawling poets, strange tunnels, time loops, and a warped tussle between city and bush in Wayne Marshall’s Henry Goes Bush, reviewed by You Am I's Tim Rogers. From there, novelist Madeleine Gray turns her eye to Lena Dunham’s sharp, self‑aware memoir Famesick, before moving to Ellena Savage’s The Ruiners, which shifts between a Melbourne lobster shack and a smoke‑wreathed Greek island. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Norman Lindsay, Bohemians of the Bulletin Ruth Park, Playing Beatie Bow Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist: Essays Lena Dunham, Not That Kind of Girl Joan Didion, works Eve Babitz, works Ellena Savage, Blueberries Charles Dickens, works Charmian Clift, works George Johnston, works Michael Winkler, Griefdogg Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch Colum McCann, Apeirogon Steve MinOn, First Name Second Name Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie James Bailey, Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark Lee Lai, Cannon ~ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Craig Tilmouth and Roi Huberman Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown
• Robert Forster & Geordie Williamson review: Elizabeth Strout/Daniel Kehlmann/Portia Elan 08.05.2026 54min

  This week’s Bookshelf features the latest from Elizabeth Strout, creator of Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton, returning with a stand‑alone novel called The Things We Never Say. We’re also reading an ambitious, genre‑bending novel that moves from 1980s gaming culture to far‑future space travel, and Daniel Kehlmann’s The Director, a German novel in translation that explores film, power and propaganda. Joining us to review are Geordie Williamson - critic, publisher and writer; and Robert Forster - singer‑songwriter, founding member of The Go‑Betweens, memoirist and brand new novelist with Songwriters on the Run. ~ REVIEWERS Robert Forster and Geordie Williamson ~ BOOKS Daniel Kehlmann, The Director (translated from the German by Ross Benjamin), Riverrun Elizabeth Strout, The Things We Never Say, Viking Penguin   Portia Elan, Homebound, Chatto & Windus Caro Claire Burke, Yesteryear, Fourth Estate  ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Daniel Kehlmann, works Elizabeth Strout, My Name is Lucy Barton The Boundless Deep, Richard Holmes Johnno, David Malouf Keeley Jobe, The Endling Ana Paula Maia, On Earth as It Is Beneath ~ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound, Craig Tilmouth and Roi Huberman Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown
• Hannah Kent & Tom Wright review: Amanda Lohrey/Deepa Anappara + International Booker 01.05.2026 58min

  In this episode, superstar reviewer Hannah Kent tackles the rugged terrain of a journey that edges towards the Tibetan border in Deepa Anappara's The Last of Earth, and theatre writer Tom Wright ponders extraterrestrial encounters in Amanda Lohrey's new one, Capture. Plus, Kate and Cassie take a look at two titles on the International Booker Prize shortlist, from France and Bulgaria, one follows a not‑very‑successful witch who weeps tears of blood; and the other is the story of a woman in Albania who switches genders through an ancient ritual. ~ BOOKS  Marie NDiaye, The Witch, translated from the French by Jordan Stump, MacLehose Press  Rene Karabash, She Who Remains, translated from the Bulgarian by Izidora Angel, Peirene Press  Deepa Anappara, The Last of Earth, One World  Amanda Lohrey, Capture, Text ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED David Malouf, works Chloe Dalton, Raising Hare Laura McPhee Brown, Worry Doll  Ranginui Walker, Struggle Without End  Patricia Walker, Potiki  Cameron Sullivan, The Red Winter ~ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Bella Tropiano and Hamish Camilleri Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown     
• Tony Birch & Beejay Silcox review: Inga Simpson/Asako Yuzuki/Helen Bain 24.04.2026 1h 8min

  This week The Bookshelf leans into the wild as Kate Evans and guests are circled by stories of wolves, wild boar and witches, along with the final year of celebrated poet Sylvia Plath and a sensual story of food and obsession from Japan. Kate is joined by regular guests, the novelist, poet and Professor of Australian literature Tony Birch; and critic Beejay Silcox, who arrives fresh from the U.K. ready to talk literary pilgrimages and bookish souvenirs. Plus, a bonus discussion on this year's Stella Prize shortlist. ~ BOOKS REVIEWED Inga Simpson, Once We Were Wildlife: Stories, Hachette Sarah Walker, The Water Takes, Summit Books Asako Yuzuki, Hooked, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton, Fourth Estate Helen Bain, The Daffodil Days, Bloomsbury Sally O’Reilly, Hagtale, Scribe ~ 2026 Stella Prize shortlist Evelyn Araluen, The Rot, UQP Geraldine Brooks, Memorial Days, Hachette Miranda Darling, Fireweather, Scribe Lee Lai, Cannon, Giramondo Marika Sosnowski, 58 Facets: On violence and the Law, Melbourne University Press   Tasma Walton, I am Nannertgarrook, Simon & Schuster NOTE: the winner will be announced on 13 May  ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Ian McEwan, What We Can Know Cormac McCarthy, The Road Kim Scott, Dead Man Dance John Higgs, Lynchian: The Spell of David Lynch Asako Yuzuki, Butter Mieko Kawakami, Breasts and Eggs Sayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman; Earthlings Emi Yagi, Diary of a Void Colum McCann, works Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 Guillaume Lecasble, Lobster  Lucie Rico, Fowl Eulogies Robin Robertson, The Long Take Jenni Fagan, The Delusions James Alistair Henry, Pagans Laurie Colwin, Shine On Bright and Dangerous Object Tracy Chevalier, Burning Bright  ~ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound, Roi Huberman and Tegan Nicholls Arts Editor, Rhiannon Brown
• Tim Rogers & Madeleine Gray review: Amitav Ghosh/Edwina Preston/Gwendoline Riley 17.04.2026 54min

  In this episode, Kate and Cassie are joined by celebrated novelist Madeleine Gray and rock icon Tim Rogers for a wide-ranging discussion looking at three works of contemporary fiction: Indian writer Amitav Ghosh’s Ghost Eye, a meditation on reincarnation and climate change; Australian writer and musician Edwina Preston’s Sororicidal, a sharp novel of sisterhood and rivalry; and English stylist Gwendoline Riley’s The Palm House, a disquieting portrait of modern life in London. BOOKS Amitav Ghosh, Ghost-Eye (John Murray) Edwina Preston, Sororicidal (Picador) Gwendoline Riley, The Palm House (Picador) REVIEWERS Madeleine Gray — writer and critic, author of Green Dot and Chosen Family Tim Rogers — singer‑songwriter, actor and writer; frontman of You Am I and the Hard‑Ons, currently on a solo tour OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Britney Spears memoir Sinéad O'Connor, memoir Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca Edwina Preston, Not Just a Suburban Boy; Bad Art Mother Simon Mason, DI Wilkins Mysteries Clive James, Unreliable Memoirs Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore Wayne Marshall, Henry Goes Bush Larry McMurtry, works Joe Boyd, And The Roots of Rhythm Remain CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound, Antonia Gauci and Micky Grossman Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown
• Michael Robotham & Geordie Williamson review: Steve Toltz/Ben Lerner/Siân Hughes 10.04.2026 1h

  Memory, lost conversations and almost-fathers-and sons in Ben Lerner's Transcription; children divided by the throw of a dice, and that's just the start of it, in Steve Toltz's A Rising of the Lights; no such thing as unskilled labour, in Siân Hughes' No Such Thing as Monday, where a woman works as a drycleaner, trying desperately to rid herself of the stains of her childhood; new crime releases, and an Australian in Hollywood is reconsidered. Kate and Cassie with reviewers Michael Robotham and Geordie Williamson. BOOKS Ben Lerner, Transcription, Granta Steve Toltz, A Rising of the Lights, Penguin Siân Hughes, No Such Thing as Monday, Penguin Tana French, The Keeper, Viking Penguin Candice Fox, Redbelly Crossing, Penguin Patricia A. O'Brien, Errol Flynn: The true story of Australia's Hollywood Icon, Allen & Unwin [Keep scrolling for other books and writers mentioned in the discussion] GUESTS Michael Robotham is an internationally-acclaimed crime writer whose books include the Joseph O'Loughlan and Evie Cormac series. His latest novel is The White Crow — and his next one, Tell Me Something True, will be his first to be set in Australia Geordie Wiliamson is a literary critic, writer and publisher at Picador, whose books include a critical study of Alexis Wright in the Black Inc Writers on Writers series; and The Burning Library — on neglected Australian writers Other books mentioned in the discussion Karl Ove Knausgård, works Rachel Cusk, works W G Sebald, works Alexander Kluge, works David Foster Wallace, works Jonathan Franzen, works Wallace Stevens, works Les Murray, works Saul Bellow, works Philip Roth, works P D James, works Agatha Christie, works Sam Twyford-Moore, Cast Mates: Australian Actors in Hollywood and at Home CREDITS Presenters: Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producers: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett, Tracey Trompf Sound Engineers: Craig Tilmouth, Roi Huberman A/ Arts Editor: Sarah Corbett  
• ~ Festival Special: Irish Writer Colum McCann 03.04.2026 54min

  What does it mean to write using an 'ethical imagination'? Colum McCann onstage with Kate Evans at the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival, on his novels Twist, Apeirogon, TransAtlantic, Let the Great World Spin and many more; and his work with the social justice storytelling movement, Narrative Four. Presenter/ Producer: Kate Evans Sound Engineers: Simon Branthwaite, Antonia Gauci Acting Arts Editor: Sarah L'Estrange
• Yann Martel, Debra Adelaide and Fiona Kelly McGregor - from myth to mid‑century Sydney 03.04.2026 54min

  This week The Bookshelf revisits the Trojan War from the ground up in Yann Martel’s Son of Nobody, moves through friendship and loss in Debra Adelaide’s When I Am Sixty‑Four, and dives into queer Sydney in the 1940s with Fiona Kelly McGregor’s The Trap.  BOOKS Fiona Kelly McGregor, The Trap, Picador Debra Adelaide, When I Am Sixty-Four, UQP Yann Martel, Son of Nobody, Text GUESTS Tom Wright, theatre writer and adaptor; Artistic Associate, Belvoir Theatre Hannah Kent, novelist, scriptwriter and memoirist, whose books include Burial Rites, Devotion and Always Home Always Homesick OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet Delia Falconer, works Peter Cornell, The Ways of Paradise  Ingrid Horrocks, All Her Lives: Nine Stories CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound, Craig Tilmouth and Hamish Camilleri Arts editor, Sarah L'Estrange
• Short fiction from Louise Erdrich; essays by Alex Miller; and a surreal comic tale from Michael Winkler 27.03.2026 54min

  A rich mix of voices and stories in short fiction from acclaimed Native American writer Louise Erdrich; essays and memories from two‑time Miles Franklin Award winner Alex Miller; bleakly funny childhood tales by English author Mark Haddon; and, from Michael Winkler, a surreal and darkly comic story about a man who decides he’d rather be the family dog. BOOKS  Michael Winkler, Griefdogg, Text  Louise Erdrich, Python’s Kiss: Stories, Corsair  Alex Miller, Journey to the End of Time, Allen & Unwin  Mark Haddon, Leaving Home: A Memoir in Full Colour, Chatto & Windus  GUESTS  Shannon Burns, writer and critic from Adelaide, whose first book Childhood: a memoir, was published in 2022  Tony Birch, poet, writer, and Professor of Australian Literature at Melbourne University. His latest book is the short story collection Pictures of You  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Grimmish, Michael Winkler Act of the Damned; Fado Alexandrino, António Lobo Antunes What We Can Know, Ian McEwan The Transformations, Andrew Pippos  Brawler, Lauren Groff CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett, Ce Benedict Sound: Craig Tilmouth, Antonia Gauci Arts editor: Sarah L' Estrange
• Lanchester, Groff and Costello — reviewed by Hannah Kent and Tim Rogers 20.03.2026 58min

  What if the most talked‑about streaming show of the moment was a mirror reflecting your most private fears and failures? That unnerving question sits at the heart of John Lanchester’s Look What You Made Me Do, a sharp novel about resentment, revenge, money, class and generational unease. Plus: the art of the short story, as Hannah Kent reads and reflects on Lauren Groff’s new collection Brawler; and a woman’s inner life rendered with quiet and devastating precision in Mary Costello’s A Beautiful Loan. BOOKS John Lanchester, Look What You Made Me Do, Faber Lauren Groff, Brawler, Hutchinson Heinemann Mary Costello, A Beautiful Loan, Text GUESTS Hannah Kent, novelist behind the phenomenon Burial Rites + The Good People, Devotion and Always Home, Always Homesick Tim Rogers, author of Detours; frontman of You Am I, The Hard-Ons and various musical escapades. His solo tour Le Charme Defensif kicks off this week OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Andrew O'Hagan, Caledonian Road Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre,  Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights Michelle de Krester, Theory and Practice Jacqueline Maley, Lonely Mouth Erin Somers, The Ten Year Affair  James Joyce, The Dubliners; The Dead  Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain Colm Tóibín, The Magician Steve Hanley, The Big Midweek: Life Inside the Fall CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound: Craig Tilmouth, Antonia Gauci Arts editor; Sarah L'Estrange
• ~ Festival Special: Bringing the past to life with Emily Maguire and Jock Serong 14.03.2026 54min

  A Bookshelf festival special featuring Kate Evans onstage with writers Jock Serong and Emily Maguire on historical fiction, from the 2025 Sydney Writers Festival. GUESTS Emily Maguire is a novelist and essayist whose books include An Isolated Incident and Love Objects, and her latest, Rapture Jock Serong is a novelist and lawyer, whose books include The Rules of Backyard Cricket, On the Java Ridge, the Preservation series, The Settlement, and his latest, Cherrywood CREDITS Presenter/producer, Kate Evans Sound engineer, Roi Huberman Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown