Cassie McCullough

I mean, there's so much to like in it and what he's done is incredible, but I think he's still there.

I think the author is present when maybe we needed a little less of him in the space.

But having said that, I did laugh out loud at the wedding speech.

We won't say anything more about that.

Take me out tonight Where there's music and there's people in the young and the light

This is The Bookshelf on ABC Radio National and on the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your high-quality podcasts.

I'm Cassie McCullough here with Kate Evans, the old softie, and now it's time to meet our guests.

Suzanne Leal is with us, a repeat offender, a novelist.

Her latest one is The Deceptions and she's a regular visitor here at The Bookshelf.

Hello, Suzanne.

That's fantastic.

What's come up recently in discussion?

Now, I am excited.

Have I got this right?

Because finally, that incredibly valuable resource is available to the public.

Is that the case?

Or the graveyard, as some people are calling it.

Oh, we wouldn't be so rude, surely.

Here on the Bookshelf on Radio National, we think it might actually be the year of the dictionary because there are plenty of them around right now.

Tara June Winch's The Yield, which of course won the Miles Franklin Literary Award this year, has a Wiradjuri dictionary at the heart of it.