Book It In
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Bo Seo on how to have a good argument
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At a time when our society is growing increasingly divided, world champion debater Bo Seo argues that we shouldn’t be aiming for fewer disagreements...
Rachel Franks on colonial Australia’s noseless hangman
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Robert ‘Nosey Bob’ Howard sparked both fear and fascination as the longest-serving executioner in New South Wales. Paul Daley speaks with Rachel F...
Jennifer Down on why we need to read about trauma
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The winner of the 2022 Miles Franklin Award, Jennifer Down, had only one rule when she set out to write about a fictional survivor of child sexual abu...
Jilda Andrews and John Carty on Aboriginal art and what it means to belong
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
People who devote their lives to preserving Aboriginal culture and heritage are often caught between local communities and the legacies of museums. Yu...
Evelyn Araluen on the dark side of Blinky Bill
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For many Australians, classic children’s book characters like Blinky Bill and Snugglepot and Cuddlepie represent innocent adventures in the bush. Bu...
Siang Lu on who gets to be a Hollywood hero
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Movie buff Siang Lu watched hundreds of movies for his debut novel The Whitewash, including many where white actors played characters of colour. Resea...
SL Lim on rage, revenge and unfairness
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
SL Lim’s award-winning novel, Revenge, follows the life of Yannie, a protagonist who watches her brother live a life of prosperity while they go wit...
Brigid Delaney on how the Stoics taught her not to worry
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018, Brigid Delaney experimented with the idea of living like a Stoic. From relinquishing things out of her control to practising voluntary hardsh...
Paul Cleary on land rights, native title and big mining
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Cleary documents the Yindjibarndi community’s resistance and fight against Fortescue Mining Group. It’s an ongoing David versus Goliath story...
Omar Musa on using humour to talk about racism, colonialism and inequality
22 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Drawing on a printmaking technique he learned from punk-rock climate activists in Borneo, Malaysian Australian author and poet Omar Musa wrestles with...
Hannah Kent on challenging shame through historical fiction
15 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hannah Kent’s novel, Devotion, is a queer love story that is set in a pious, nineteenth century religious community. In resisting the narrative of s...
Craig Sherborne on love, death and complicated mothers
08 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Craig Sherborne’s novel The Grass Hotel tells the story of caring for a mother who is declining with dementia. He talks to Paul Daley about his own ...
Yumna Kassab on how we imagine Australia in literature
01 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Australiana is a novel set in a nameless town in rural Australia, where Yumna Kassab explores interconnected experiences of inequality. In doing so, s...
Chelsea Watego on sovereignty, survival and self-determination in the colony | Book It In podcast
25 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Daley speaks to Chelsea Watego about why she says ‘fuck hope’ and why she wants to take her book, Another Day in the Colony, to Aboriginal re...
Heidi Everett on foxes, care and language of the mental health system
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Based on more than four decades of lived experience in the public mental health system, Heidi Everett uses the lyricism of music and the drawings of a...
Emily Bitto on gender and the hero’s quest
27 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a road trip prompted by an Australian man’s imagination of America, Emily Bitto explores the literary trope of the masculine hero’s quest – t...
Marion Frith on hope in the aftermath of war
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Daley talks to Marion Frith about how she wrote a novel about life after loss and human resilience in the midst of trauma – by telling the stor...
Debi Marshall on the popularity of true crime
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Through personal tragedy and time spent telling the stories of victims, investigative crime journalist Debi Marshall says she’s found that closure d...
Rawah Arja on how to get inside the mind of a teenage boy
06 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rawah Arja was determined to write a YA novel for – and about – teenage boys in Western Sydney. She tells Zoya Patel about how she created a story...
Tony Birch on writing true characters in fiction
30 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Daley talks to Tony Birch about finding affection on the so-called margins of the inner city, the injustice of climate change and Blak humour. Bi...
Kathryn Heyman on fury, trauma and personal transformation
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Features editor Lucy Clark talks to Kathryn Heyman about the indignities that women endure throughout their lives and the craft of writing a memoir
Alice Pung on writing as work
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In conversation with Zoya Patel, Alice Pung talks about the writing life and having a separate job – while also navigating the publishing industry a...
Tara June Winch and Thomas Mayor on Indigenous masculinity
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dear Son is a searing anthology of letters by First Nations fathers and sons. Two of Australia’s best authors discuss the tenderness and strength of...
Introducing: Book It In
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What do books tell us about the world we live in? Join Guardian Australia features editor Lucy Clark, author and journalist Paul Daley, and writer and...