Program podcast

At the end of the summer holidays, Michael spends one blissful night under the stars with his much-loved wife and children.

Michael, Jenny and the three children move from the small town of Gunning to Melbourne, where Michael starts work as a school teacher.

Michael ponders the similarities between sleep and death, and relates an incident when he was robbed while he was metres away in bed - dead to the world.

Before he became a father, Michael was for many years a Catholic priest.

The arrival of baby twins, less than two years after that of their older sibling, sends Michael McGirr in search of an ancient practice for which bed is the ideal setting. It's called sleep. In this book, both a personal journey and a profound exploration of one of life's true constants, Michael muses on the many benefits of sleep, mourns its demise, and explains aspects of its strange personality. And despite their reluctance to ever all be asleep at the same time, he celebrates the three small children who came to him after a long vocation as a Catholic priest and brought him such joy and tiredness.

Years have passed and Anna has moved to Melbourne, where she has a successful career, performing and also teaching piano. But the deep bond forged during the many years she spent learning from Mrs Sivan remains.

Anna experiences the joy of performing a concerto with a professional orchestra before a large audience.

Anna forms her chamber ensemble, Seraphim Trio, with whom she plays to this day.

Mrs Sivan insists that Anna must share her knowledge and love of music with the next generation of young pianists.

With her school years about to end, Anna must decide if she wants to pursue a career in music.

Inspired by the teaching of Mrs Sivan, Anna is now setting her sights on a life in music as a professional musician.

Anna's playing begins to be recognised more often in competition and eisteddfods.

Under Mrs Sivan's guidance, Anna's emerging talent is recognised by the Conservatorium. But does she have what it takes to be a concert pianist?

The young Anna is struggling to make sense of all that Mrs Sivan is trying to impart to her about music.

In this remarkable memoir, Anna Goldsworthy recalls her first steps towards a life in music, from childhood lessons with a local jazz muso to international success as a concert pianist. Guided by her teacher Mrs Sivan, who inspires and challenges in equal measure, she discovers passion and ambition, confronts doubt and disappointment, and learns much more than just tone and technique. Writing with wit and affection, Anna captures the hopes and uncertainties of youth, the fear and exhilaration of performing and the complex bonds between teacher and student.

Rick talks about a book that is very close to his heart, and ponders what attracted the author to the disturbing subject matter it covers.

Long an admirer of Graham Greene's writing, Rick finds himself today involved in a case of espionage that seems stranger than anything the master could have written

Now, freed from the burden of reading the texts required to teach literature, Rick is taking great pleasure in exploring different, less academic and formal, forms of writing.

After a period spent teaching Rick decided he couldn't stick academia any more, and threw in his position at the University of Warwick to become the rare book dealer he still is now, thirty years later.

Rick is quite catholic in his tastes. Even though he has a doctorate in English from Oxford, he's open to good writing of all kinds, even that ostensibly written for children.