ArtsBooks

The Book Show

ABC Australia

Your favourite fiction authors share the story behind their latest books.

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22 episodes
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Avg 37 min
English

Episodes 22

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Sunday · 40 min
The Big Little Lies sequel Liane Moriarty never planned to write
Liane Moriarty reveals why she finally wrote the Big Little Lies sequel after being very resistant. And Garth Nix combines mystery with science fiction in his latest novel, Massif. After the success of the Big Little Lies TV adaptation starring Reece Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, Liane Moriarty brings the story back home to Sydney with the sequel Big Little Truths. Set ten years after the events of the first novel, it's the same group of school mums but the focus has shifted from primary to h
August 16 · 40 min
Slumdog Millionaire's Vikas Swarup wants to get your attention
Indian author Vikas Swarup explains the key to his success with Slumdog Millionaire; he believes his new book has a winning premise too. Plus venture capitalist turned novelist Jessy Wu's Good Intentions. Former Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's debut novel Q&A was a hit with with readers around the world and was adapted into the blockbuster film Slumdog Millionaire. His fourth novel, The Girl With the Seven Lives, opens with a gun pressed to a woman's head as she recounts a tumultuous life marked
August 9 · 40 min
Meg Mason's Sorrow and Bliss follow up is about obsession
In Sophie, Standing There bestselling author Meg Mason channels the good and bad of writers' festivals and author fandom. Plus, Bobuq Sayed's journey from Afghanistan to the US via Perth; their novel No God But Us is about two gay men in Istanbul and their dreams of a better life. Meg Mason's third novel Sophie, Standing There is an exploration of a lonely book lover who develops an obsession with a superstar author. Meg tells Claire Nichols about her own experience of fandom (from both sides)
August 5 · 22 min
Omar Musa celebrates his 2026 Miles Franklin win for Fierceland
Discover why the forests sing in Fierceland, Omar Musa's Miles Franklin Literary Award winning novel. Poet, visual artist, hip-hop musician and author Omar Musa finds magic in Italian beads, vengeful ghosts and the sound of the Borneo forest in his award winning novel, Fierceland. The Miles Franklin judges described Fierceland as "a psychologically layered and storied reckoning with the world we have inherited." In this bonus episode Claire Nichols congratulates Omar and revisits her earlier c
August 2 · 40 min
Dave Eggers draws on his lifelong friendships in Contrapposto
Why American author Dave Eggers' new novel Contrapposto has taken over 20 years to write. Plus Australian writer Maria Takolander explains the link between Elon Musk, her son and her novel The End of Romance. Firstly, Dave Eggers is the celebrated author of the memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and his many novels, including The Circle and You Shall Know Our Velocity! There are also children's books and he's the founder of the publishing house and literary journal McSweeney's. B
July 26 · 40 min
We've read every book on the 2026 Miles Franklin shortlist. Who will win?
From hopping zombies to singing forests and a lot of queer characters, we break down the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist and pick our favourites from strong contenders including Randa Abdel-Fattah, Omar Musa and more. The Miles Franklin is Australia's most prestigious literary award. It carries a cash prize of $60,000 and the winning author goes in to the history books alongside previous winners including Thea Astley, Tim Winton, Peter Carey, Melissa Lukashenko and the 2025 winner
July 19 · 40 min
Mick Herron and the losers, misfits and boozers of Slow Horses
Mick Herron reveals how the first of his Slow Horses series almost didn't get published. He joined Claire Nichols and a packed audience at the State Library of Western Australia, to discuss this famous series and his latest thriller. The now hugely successful series is about a batch of failed MI5 operatives, led reluctantly by Jackson Lamb, a grumpy, unkempt former cold-war era super spy. The mismatched group are shunted into a rundown building called Slough House and expected to eventually sli
July 12 · 40 min
Spritz and bubble tea with Andrew Sean Greer and Naomi Ishiguro
Pulitzer Prize-winner Andrew Sean Greer makes the case for the 'charm novel' with his latest, Villa Coco, about an eccentric Italian baroness and a young American in rural Tuscany. And, as Naomi Ishiguro tells Claire Nichols she channels Japanese folklore, anime, Pokémon as well as themes of migration, slavery and corruption in Rainshadow Orphans, the first of a fantasy trilogy. Andrew Sean Greer reveals how his time at an Italian writers' retreat lead by an unforgettable aristocrat inspir
July 5 · 40 min
Holden Sheppard brings footy out of the closet
Holden Sheppard grew up gay and closeted in the regional town of Geraldton, WA and now he writes characters like himself into his award winning books — Invisible Boys and Yeah the Boys. Plus for NAIDOC week, Kalkadoon writer John Morrissey tells Claire Nichols about his debut science fiction Bird Deity. Holden Sheppard's bestselling novel Invisible Boys was adapted to the screen and now its sequel, Yeah the Boys has a TV deal in the works too. The stories follow three teenage boys who love foot
June 28 · 40 min
Bryan Brown comes bob-bob-bobbin' along
Settle in for some classic storytelling with actor Bryan Brown who's written his third novel, Hidden. Plus Angela O'Keefe tells Claire Nichols about Phantom Days, a book about a book. Bryan Brown has been a fixture of our screens since the 1970s but he recently became a writer too. In 2021 his first book of short stories, Sweet Jimmy came out and he's now penned two novels including his latest, The Hidden. He joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival and shared hi
June 21 · 40 min
Why Flashlight's Susan Choi can't stop writing about her dad
How Susan Choi took her own family — and dialled up the tension — in her Booker shortlisted novel, Flashlight. Flashlight traces the fallout from the disappearance of Serk, a Japanese born Korean on his family, including his American wife and daughter. In the process, the novel powerfully traverses the intersecting 20th century histories of Japan, Korea and the US. Susan Choi joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival.
June 14 · 40 min
How Maggie O'Farrell's inner 'neek' came out with Land
Fresh from the Oscars for Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell joins Claire Nichols to discuss her book Land. Plus, Robert Forster of iconic indie band The Go-Betweens shares the musical influences behind his debut novel Songwriters on the Run. Maggie O'Farrell is best known for her novels Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait and her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am. Her new novel Land takes place soon after the 19th century Irish famine and follows an Irish map maker and his son as they take part in the first official ma
June 7 · 54 min
Yann Martel flips the script on a Greek classic
In Son of Nobody, Yann Martel tells Claire Nichols how he reimagines The Iliad, shifting the epic from heroic legend to life as an ordinary foot soldier. Twenty-five years after Life of Pi changed his life, he also reflects on the enduring power of myth, storytelling, and why animals continue to resonate in fiction. Yann spoke to Claire Nichols at the Sydney Writers Festival.
May 31 · 40 min
Why joy matters in Ann Patchett's Whistler
Bestselling author Ann Patchett joins Claire Nichols to discuss her novel Whistler and its unexpected take on step-parents, while Romy Ash unpacks her intimate, sexy and strange new book, Mantle. American author Ann Patchett is the bestselling author of Commonwealth, Bel Canto and Tom Lake. She tells Claire Nichols how her own experience of growing up in a large, blended family influenced her new novel Whistler which is about a reunion between a woman and her stepfather, 40 years after losing t
May 24 · 40 min
Booker Prize winner David Szalay on the risk and reward of writing Flesh
Why Booker Prize winner David Szalay once thought Flesh was a vulgar title and why he's glad he kept it. He joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival to discuss his award winning novel and its complicated relationship to masculinity. With the fall of the USSR, the novel charts István's changing fortunes from his humble beginnings in Hungary to a lavish life in the UK. David also tells Claire about why his first Booker Prize award ceremony for All that Man Is in
May 17 · 30 min
Siri Hustvedt's love letter to Paul Auster
Why Siri Hustvedt wants Paul Auster to return as a ghost. American novelist and essayist Siri Hustvedt speaks with Claire Nichols about her partner of 43 years, writer and poet Paul Auster. When Auster died in 2024 from complications of lung cancer, Hustvedt began writing in the depths of grief. Her new memoir, Ghost Stories, reflects on a life both with and without him, offering rare insight into their creative partnership. It draws on journal entries, correspondence between the two, and lette
May 13 · 11 min
Lee Lai's graphic novel makes Stella Prize history
Lee Lai has won the 2026 Stella Prize for her graphic novel Cannon, marking the first time a graphic novel has been awarded the $60,000 prize. She tells Claire Nichols why she was surprised to win and why the project of growing up is never finished. Running since 2013, the Stella Prize is an Australian award for women and non-binary writers. The judges praised Lai for her "elegant artistry" that "evokes horror and poignancy, shock and delight, and Cannon is an incontestable reminder that — in t
May 10 · 40 min
Can we escape fate? Veronica Roth and Amitav Ghosh on past lives and destiny
What do fate and past lives reveal about who we are? Claire Nichols speaks with Veronica Roth and Amitav Ghosh on Seek the Traitor's Son and Ghost Eye. Award-winning, Indian-born American author Amitav Ghosh explores the mysteries of past lives in his latest novel Ghost Eye. Drawing on international case studies of reported reincarnation, Ghosh brings these stories to life through a narrative set in 1960s Calcutta. When a three-year-old girl from a wealthy, strictly vegetarian family wakes up i
May 3 · 40 min
Elizabeth Strout and Amanda Lohrey on aliens and a man called Artie
Readers have lovingly followed the fictional lives of Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton for more than a decade. Now their creator, Elizabeth Strout introduces a new character to embrace and Claire Nichols finds out why. Plus Amanda Lohrey explains her fascination with the belief in aliens. Artie Dam is an unassuming Massachusetts high school history teacher who seems to have it all, but is facing internal turmoil, even doubting the notion of free will. As Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth
April 26 · 40 min
Kae Tempest and Michael Winkler talk poetry and pooches
British poet, performer and novelist Kae Tempest explains why writing his second novel, Having Spent Life Seeking, was so necessary and Michael Winkler tells Claire Nichols why life might be better as a dog. Michael Winkler's second novel, Griefdogg follows his lauded genre-bending debut Grimmish about a boxer and a talking goat. It also made Australian literary history in 2022 as the first self-published novel to ever be shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Griefdogg is about a m

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