The Bookshelf

We look at some compelling new memoirs, including Mandy Sayer’s No Dancing in the Lift, a tribute to her jazz drummer father, capturing the grit of Kings Cross and the grace of caregiving. Elizabeth Gilbert’s All the Way to the River recounts her intense love story with Rayya Elias, confronting addiction and devotion. Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me reflects on her formidable mother’s legacy - equal parts shelter and storm, and S. Shakthidharan’s Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath offers a tender, multi-generational journey from Sri Lanka to Western Sydney.BOOKSMandy Sayer, No Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir, Transit LoungeElizabeth Gilbert, All the Way to the River: Love, Loss and Liberation, BloomsburyArundhati Roy, Mother Mary Comes to Me, Hamish HamiltonSHAKTI Shakthidharan, Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath, Powerhouse Publishing  GUESTSMelanie Tait, Playwright. Her latest, How To Plot a Hit in Two Days, plays at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney until 11 October.Roanna Gonsalves, novelist and academic; editor of the literary journal, Southerly  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDHannah Kent, Always Home, Always HomesickJeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Can Be NormalElizabeth Strout, worksJenny Hocking, Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History; His TimeSarah Malik, Desi Girl: On Feminism, Race, Faith and BelongingCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Micky Grossman and Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

What are your favourite poems of the last 25 years? The ones that you turn to, couplets memorised and shared, the lines that leapt from the page or stage. Poetry that both defined and defied space and time, whether it rhymed or not.Join Kate Evans, as she is joined by acclaimed author and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke, Stella Prize-winning poet and academic Sarah Holland-Batt, much-loved broadcaster and author Daniel Browning, and best-selling author and journalist Julia Baird to discuss and read some of the poems that have shone brightest for each of them this century, as well as how the art-form has evolved.This event was presented at the State Library of NSW in partnership with Red Room Poetry.POETS AND POETRY MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEWarsan Shire, HomeAdam Zagajewski, Try to Praise the Mutilated WorldGraeme Dixon, Six Feet of Land RightsGwen Harwood, In the ParkAnonymous Rose,  Broken WorldZora Howard and Joshya Bennett, Still Life with Police SirensAli Cobby Eckermann, worksSimon Armitage, The ShoutEvelyn Araluen, decolonial poetics (avant gubba)Candy Royale, worksMax Porter, worksCREDITSPresenter, Kate EvansProducer, Kate Evans, Lisa NeedhamSound engineer, Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

This week’s episode explores three new books. First up, Patricia Lockwood’s Will There Ever Be Another You, a third-person autofiction-ish tale that includes a family trip to Scotland, grief and fairies. Then we head to the American frontier for blood-soaked vengeance and vampires in Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Finally, Nell Stevens’ The Original takes us into a world of art forgeries, lost sons, con-artists and the tangled truths behind paintings.BOOKSPatricia Lockwood, Will There Ever Be Another You, Bloomsbury CircusStephen Graham Jones, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Titan BooksNell Stevens, The Original, ScribnerGUESTSPaul Daley, journalist, essayist, and novelist – who writes for the Guardian, and whose books include the non-fiction Beersheba and On Capitalism, and the novels Jesustown and The LeapTom Wright, playwright and dramaturg. Artistic Associate, Belvoir St Theatre. His latest play, Troy, has just finished its run at Melbourne’s Malthouse TheatrePAUL DALEY'S TOP 100 LISTPercival Everett, The TreesRobin Robertson, The Long TakeTOM WRIGHT'S TOP 100 LISTMartin Crimp, The CityElla Hickson, The WriterOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDDonal Ryan, The Spinning HeartEric Puchner, Dream StateJulio Cortazar, HopscotchCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John Jacobs and Micky GrossmanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

We get stuck into some new fiction, starting with Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know, a meditation on a future shaped by climate disaster and memory. We’re joined by Australian authors Madeleine Gray and Gretchen Shirm to take a look at Miranda Darling’s Fireweather, a poetic story of breakdown and resistance,  and Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk’s House of Day, House of Night, a dreamy blend of folklore and philosophy.BOOKSIan McEwan, What We Can Know, Jonathan CapeMiranda Darling, Fireweather, ScribeOlga Tokarczuk, House of Day, House of Night, (Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones), TextGUESTSGretchen Shirm, is a novelist and literary critic whose books include Having Cried Woolf and The Crying Room. Her latest, Out of the Woods, was published in April Madeleine Gray, is a critic, arts writer, and novelist whose debut novel, Green Dot, was published in 2023, and whose latest novel, Chosen Family, will be out in November GRETCHEN SHIRM'S TOP 100 LISTRachel Cusk, Outline trilogySheila Heti, How Should a Person BeVigdis Hjorth, Will and TestamentTara June Winch, Swallow the AirMADELEINE GRAY'S TOP 100 LISTAli Smith, How To Be BothEvelyn Araluen, DropbearJessica Love, Julian is a MermaidOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDEleanor Catton, The RehearsalVirginia Woolf, Mrs DallowayHelen Garner, worksMaggie O'Farrell, Hamnet, The Marriage PortraitErin Hortle, A Catalogue of LoveMichelle Arrow, The Seventies: The personal, the political and the making of modern AustraliaA.S. Byatt, PossessionJames Fenton, worksRichard Holmes, FootstepsRobert Louis Stevenson, worksCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Huberman and Tim JenkinsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

In the year of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, this lively and thought-provoking discussion explores her life, legacy, and literary brilliance — her novels are charming, sure, but also radical, political, witty, and entertaining.Presented in partnership with the State Library of NSW, this event brings together Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with Scott Stephens from Radio National's The Minefield, and Sophie Gee, English Professor at Princeton, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow in the humanities at the University of Sydney, and co-host of the Secret Life of Books podcast, for a conversation that delves into Austen’s sharp observations on friendship, ambition, money, love, power, and equality.CREDITSPanellists: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh, Scott Stephens, Sophie GeeProducer: Kate Evans, Amanda RobertsSound engineer: John JacobsExecutive producer: Muditha Dias

Australian poet, artist, hip hop musician and author, Omar Musa, tells a story of Australia and Borneo, forests and fathers, in his new novel Fierceland.  An American saga of love, war, and complicated families in Patrick Ryan’s Buckeye, and experimental British author Geoff Dyer returns with Homework, a look back on his childhood and coming of age in sixties and seventies England.BOOKS Omar Musa, Fierceland, Penguin Random House Geoff Dyer, Homework: A Memoir, Canongate Patrick Ryan, Buckeye, Bloomsbury GUESTS Andy Griffiths, bestselling children’s author whose works include the Treehouse series, and his latest, You & Me series (You & Me and the Peanut Butter Beast has just been released) Geordie Williamson, literary critic for The Australian, The Saturday Paper, and publisher (Picador/ Pan Macmillan). His latest book is on Alexis Wright, in Black Ink’s Writers on Writers series ANDY GRIFFITH'S TOP 100 LISTKate Grenville, The Secret RiverLech Blaine, Australian GospelRobert Skinner, I'd Rather NotGEORDIE WILLIAMSON'S TOP 100 LISTCormac McCarthy, The RoadAlexis Wright, CarpentariaOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDFrank Moorhouse, Dark PalaceHannah Kent, Burial RitesDaniel Kehlmann, The DirectorCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

An Australian story of the tender, eager lives of greyhounds and their owners in Tenderfoot by Australian author Toni Jordan. Dark academia in Yellowface author R.F. Kuang’s new fantasy novel, Katabasis. Sport, miracles, and the Amish, in Ron Rindo’s Life, and Death, and Giants.BOOKS Toni Jordan, Tenderfoot, Hachette R.F. Kuang, Katabasis, Harper Voyager Ron Rindo, Life, and Death, and Giants, Pan Macmillan GUESTS Seth Robinson, writer, producer, and lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He is also co-hosting a new podcast with Tony Birch – Unfolded – in which writers take apart short stories to see what makes them work. Michael McGirr, writer, reviewer, and mission director at Caritas Australia. His own books include Ideas to Save Your Life, Books that Saved my Life, and The Story of a Road MICHAEL'S TOP 100 LISTPatriot by Alexei Navalny.  This is Happiness by Niall Williams Apeirogon by Colum McCann King by Jonathan Eig People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright Emily Wilson’s Translation of the Odyssey The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung The Fig Tree by Arnold ZableSETH'S TOP 100 LISTDemon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt Educated, Tara Westover Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton Less, Andrew Sean Greer The Overstory, Richard Powers Still Life, Sarah Winman  The Passage (Trilogy), Justin Cronin Station 11, Emily St John Mandel James, Percival Everett  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEMelissa Lucashenko, Too Much LipGillian Mears, Foal's BreadKim Scott, That Deadman DanceKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeGabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and TomorrowTony Birch, Pictures of YouBehrouz Boochani, No Friend but the MountainsCharles Dickens, David CopperfieldLucia Berlin, A Manual for Cleaning WomenCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

The Bookshelf continues to explore new fiction, beginning in this episode with Ruins by Amy Taylor, a plunge into holiday chaos during a simmering summer in Greece. Maria Reva’s Endling takes us to Ukraine, where an eccentric scientist is breeding rare snails. And, Leif Enger’s I Cheerfully Refuse...dystopia with a twist.BOOKS Amy Taylor, Ruins, Allen & Unwin Maria Reva, Endling, Virago Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse, Grove Press GUESTS Mark Mordue, music writer, journalist, and poet – whose books include Boy On Fire: The Young Nick Cave Robert Goodman, critic who writes regularly for the Newtown Review of Books and on his website, Pile by the BedOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDNever Let Me Go, Kazuo IshiguroThe Hare with Amber Eyes, Edmund de WaalOn Chesil Beach, Ian McEwanLouise Erdrich, worksLanny, Max PorterThe Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Shehan KarunatilakaBy Night in Chile; 2666, Roberto BolañoLeviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey Ancillary Justice, Ann LeckieChronicles, Bob Dylan Just Kids, Patti Smith Road Series, Hugo Race Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, Will Hermes Perdido Street Station, China Mieville Babel; Yellowface; Katabasis, R.F. KuangThe Animals in That Country, Laura Jean McKay The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation, Charlotte BeradtThe White Hotel, D.M. ThomasSalvage, Jennifer MillsJuice, Tim WintonArborescence; Hovering, Rhett DavisDeaf Republic, Ilya KaminskyCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John Jacobs and Tegan NichollsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie discuss Vera, or Faith, Gary Shteyngart’s new novel about a ten-year-old Korean-American girl growing up in a dystopian United States. Alongside guest critics, they also look at The Bombshell by Darrow Farr, which traces the radicalisation of a young French woman in Corsica, and The Slip by Lucas Schaefer, the story of a missing teenage boy and the transformative power of boxing.Books:Darrow Farr, The Bombshell, AtlanticLucas Schaefer, The Slip, Simon & SchusterGary Shteyngart, Vera, or Faith, Atlantic GUESTSSarah Gilbert, writer and documentary producer; head of UTS Impact Studios, which makes the literary podcast Fully Lit. Her first book of non-fiction - Unconventional Women: The story of the last Blessed Sacrament Sisters in Australia - came out last yearMichael Winkler, critic and novelist. His book, Grimmish, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2022. His novel Griefdogg will be published next year OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDBrian Castro, Chinese PostmanMichelle de Krestser, worksMarilynne Robinson, GileadDenis Johnson, Train DreamsCarys Davies, WestPeter Carey, True History of the Kelly GangHilary Mantel, Wolf HallElena Ferrante, My Brilliant FriendO. Henry, The Last LeafLoïc Wacquant, Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice BoxerArmistead Maupin, Tales of the City seriesRhett Davis, ArborescenceRaaza Jamshed, What Kept YouAlexis Wright, CarpentariaCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, John Jacobs and Tegan NichollsExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Australian author Rhett Davis re-imagines the everyday in his novels. In his latest, Arborescence, ordinary people begin transforming into trees. Is it a cult? Performance art? Or something else entirely? Also on the show: Guest reviewer Roanna Gonsalves discusses Saraswati, the debut novel by Gurnaik Johal, which winds its narrative around a sacred and possibly mythical river in North India. And, Kate Evans speaks with Irish writer Colm Tóibín, delving into the literary influences that have shaped his work. BOOKS Rhett Davis, Arborescence, Hachette Gurnaik Johal, Saraswati, Serpent’s Tail Colm Toibin, works GUESTS Roanna Gonsalves is a writer, teacher of creative writing at UNSW, and editor of the literary journal, Southerly Colm Toibin, Irish novelist and essayist – whose books include The Blackwater Lightship, Nora Webster, Brooklyn, The Master, The Magician – and his latest, Long Island. He spoke to Kate Evans at the 2025 Sydney Writers Festival OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJane Austen, worksFiona McFarlane, Highway 13Italo Calvino, The Baron in the TreesJ.R.R. Tolkein, worksMalcolm Knox The First FriendRaaza Jamshed, What Kept YouGeorgia Rose Phillips, The BearcatGustave Flaubert, Madame BovaryThomas Hardy, The Mayor of CasterbridgeHenry James, worksThomas Mann, worksJames Baldwin, worksCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Simon Branthwaite Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A critical assessment of the shortlist and winner of Australia’s most prestigious literary award, The Miles Franklin Literary Award. Kate and Cassie are joined by guests, scholar and literary biographer (and former judge of the MFLA) Bernadette Brennan; and critic and publisher, Geordie Williamson.BOOKSBrian Castro, Chinese Postman, GiramondoMichelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice, TextWinnie Dunn, Dirt Poor Islanders, Hachette Julie Janson, Compassion, Magabala BooksFiona McFarlane, Highway 13, Allen & UnwinSiang Lu, Ghost Cities, UQP (WINNER)GUESTSBernadette Brennan, literary scholar; former judge for the Miles Franklin Literary Award  Geordie Williamson, chief literary critic, The Australian; publisher, Picador CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Parties, scandals, sex, love, families, friendship, death – these books have, as they say, all the things. Nell Zink’s Sister Europe moves through one night in Berlin, while Amy Bloom’s I’ll Be Right Here sweeps through 80 years of history, and in James Frey’s Next to Heaven, the beautiful and rich fall apart rather spectacularly.BOOKS Nell Zink, Sister Europe, Penguin Viking Amy Bloom, I’ll Be Right Here, Granta James Frey, Next to Heaven, Swift GUESTS Shannon Burns, writer and member of the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice at the University of Adelaide. His memoir, Childhood, was published in 2022 Suzanne Leal, writer and literary interviewer. She writes for both adults and children, and her novels include Deceptions, The Watchful Wife and The Teacher’s Secret. Her latest, The Year We Escaped, was published last monthOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJames Frey, worksRaynor Winn, The Salt PathColette, worksYuan Yang, Private RevolutionsLenora Thaker, The Pearl of Tagai TownPeter Grose, A Good Place to HidePablo Neruda, The Captain's VersesRobert Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and HarmonyBrian Castro, Chinese PostmanJANE AUSTEN EVENTStill Turning Heads at 250: Jane Austen’s Enduring CharmABC Radio National's The Bookshelf & The Minefield join forces with a literary scholar & the State Library of NSW on Austen the professional. Book your spot here CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls and Emrys CroninExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Stories of the sea – and a great white whale in Xiaolu Guo's Call Me Ishmaelle; Hungry ghosts and kitchen mishaps in Daria Lavelle's NYC set novel Aftertaste; and the latest Australian crime fiction (of which there is a lot!)BOOKS AUSTRALIAN CRIME FICTION: Mark Brandi, Eden Paul Daley, The Leap Sam Guthrie, The Peak Angie Faye Martin, Melaleuca  Michael Robotham, White Crow Tanya Scott, Stillwater Matthew Spencer, Broke Road Xiaolu Guo, Call Me Ishmaelle, Chatto & Windus Daria Lavelle, Aftertaste, Bloomsbury GUESTS Mark Dunn, historian whose latest book is The Convict Valley: The Bloody Struggle on Australia's Early Frontier Danielle Bagnato, writer and book critic – whose work appears in The Big Issue OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDLeo Tolstoy, War and PeaceFyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and PunishmentAlice Oseman, Radio SilenceTorrey Peters, Detransition, BabyDouglas Stewart, Young MungoHerman Melville, Moby DickJoseph Conrad, Heart of DarknessRichard Flanagan, Question 7V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRueCatherine Webb, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry AugustSayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman; Vanishing WorldCharlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark ShoreCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Simon Branthwaite and Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

What’s the state of fiction today? Four brilliant minds—Samantha Harvey (UK), Rumaan Alam (USA), Torrey Peters (USA), and Robbie Arnott (AUS)—tackle the question live at the 2025 Sydney Writers’ Festival. Expect bold takes, big ideas, and a few surprises.

The same question is at the heart of three very different international novels on The Bookshelf this week, “What really happened”…To a WWI soldier who has forgotten his name and identity in The Remembered Soldier by Dutch author Anjet Daanje?To a fortune teller for the elite class in Ben Okri’s Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-hearted?When four high achieving American boys entered a cave, and one emerged terribly hurt, In Sameer Pandya’s Our Beautiful Boys?Keep scrolling for a full list of all books mentioned on this week's program.BOOKSAnjet Daanje, The Remembered Soldier (translated from the Dutch by David McKay), Scribe Ben Okri, Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-hearted, Apollo Sameer Pandya, Our Beautiful Boys,  Bloomsbury   GUESTS Tom Wright, theatre writer and adapter, and Artistic Associate at Belvoir Street Theatre.Bronwyn Rivers, researcher and novelist whose debut, The Reunion was released this year. She also has a PhD on the 19th century novel.OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDBronwyn Rivers, The ReunionMax Porter, Grief is the Thing With FeathersJoan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging RockBen Okri, The Famished RoadWilliam Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s DreamT. S. Eliot, The Waste LandWilliam Shakespeare, As You Like ItT. S. Eliot, The Hollow MenBen Okri, The Freedom ArtistE. M. Forster, A Passage to IndiaChristos Tsiolkas, The SlapCurzio Malaparte, The SkinOlga Tokarczuk, The Books of JacobVictor Hugo, Les MisérablesHerman Melville, Moby-DickOlga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the DeadKazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the SunIan McEwan, Machines Like MeWilkie Collins, The Woman in WhiteKate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie NovelCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans & Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans & Salome Lines-MorisonSound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite & Tegan NichollsExecutive Producer, Rhiannon Brown