From the Lighthouse
Episodes
FrankenReads @ Macquarie Session 2: New Perspectives on Frankenstein
13 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein we will be releasing recordings from the FrankenReads event at Macquarie Univers...
FrankenReads @ Macquarie Session 1: Revisiting Frankenstein
30 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein we will be releasing recordings from the FrankenReads event at Macquarie University ...
A Sensational Book: Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret
16 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sensation! Scandal! Murder! Bigamy! A femme fatale! This book has it all! This week, Stephanie and Lee are reading one of the nineteenth-century's f...
Femme Fatales, Marlowe and Gangsters: The (slightly) Nonsensical Plots of Chandler's The Big Sleep
02 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Big Sleep is a classic of crime noir: the kind of fiction that transports you to a seedy LA gin joint in the 1940s. This week, Lee and Stephanie d...
Murderers, Truth vs. Fiction, and a car full of snakes in Truman Capote's "The Handcarved Coffins"
18 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Truman Capote brought true crime to literature with his "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood. In this podcast, Lee and Stephanie discuss a lesser-known pi...
Meredith Lake's The Bible in Australia: A fascinating history of the part the Bible played in shaping Australia
04 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Meredith Lake, award-winning historian, traces the impact of the Bible on Australian culture, from Tony Abbott's misuse of the Bible to discredit the...
Adam Courtenay's The Ship that Never Was
21 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Part colonial history, part biography of James Porter, a convict transported to Van Diemen's Land under the rule of the tyrannical Governor Arthur, T...
Pinballs and Boiling Frogs: An interview with Australian feminist playwright Alison Lyssa
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Alison Lyssa, playwright, writer and poet, discusses her groundbreaking feminist play Pinball. Pinball, a play about a young lesbian couple fighting...
Lexi Freiman's Inappropriation
01 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Lexi Freiman's debut novel, Inappropriation, is a hilarious biting satire on identity politics, social media, high school, cyborgs, and pretty much e...
The Myth, the Heights, the Poetry and the Dogs: 200 Years of Emily Bronte
24 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Emily Bronte was born on 30 July 1818: 200 years ago this month. To celebrate her 200th birthday, Stephanie was joined by Dr Lee O'Brien to discuss th...
Trauma and the Possibility of Change: An Interview with Meera Atkinson
18 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Meera Atkinson's Traumata is an innovative mix of memoir and cultural criticism, in the vein of Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts. This week, Stephanie ch...
From the Filmhouse with Stephanie and Kirstin: Reviewing Mary Shelley (2018)
10 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Shelley's life was just made for the screen. Or was it? This week, Stephanie heads off to the movies with Dr Kirstin Mills to see the new Mary Sh...
How do you solve a problem like Junot Diaz?
03 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Just as our Contemporary Literature students were reading Junot Diaz, allegations of sexual harassment against the author emerged at the Sydney Writer...
Bonus Episode: Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair with Alison Key
03 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
English Department student Alison Key reviews Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair in this creative podcast produced as an assessment task for the unit EN...
Bonus Episode: George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo with Tiana Visnjic
03 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
English Department student Tiana Visnjic reviews George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo in this creative podcast produced as an assessment task for th...
Bonus Episode - IASPR Interview with Jodi McAlister
29 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Stephanie interviews Dr Jodi McAlister, Lecturer at Deakin University and graduate of Macquarie University, at the 2018 IASPR Conference. They talk ab...
Bonus Episode - Interview with IASPR Keynote Speakers
29 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Stephanie interviews Associate Professor Kim Wilkins, Associate Professor Lisa Fletcher and Dr Beth Driscoll, who are the keynote speakers for the IA...
From Raptus to Porn: Celebrating 675 Years of Geoffrey Chaucer
26 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Chaucer is often called the Father of English Literature, but what do you really know about this? This week, Stephanie is joined by Professor Louise d...
Bonus Episode: Hanya Yanagihara's The People in the Trees with Jeremy Nigro
25 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
English Department student Jeremy Nigro reviews Hanya Yanagihara's novel The People in the Trees in this creative podcast produced as an assessment ta...
Bonus Episode: Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman with Rebecca McMartin
19 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
English Department student Rebecca McMartin reviews Margaret Atwood's novel The Edible Woman in this creative podcast produced as an assessment task f...
Bonus Episode: Jane Austen's Emma with Alice Kouzmenko
19 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
English Department student Alice Kouzmenko reviews Jane Austen's novel Emma in this creative podcast produced as an assessment task for the unit ENGL3...
Kate Rossmanith: Small Wrongs: Remorse and the criminal justice system
12 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Remorse plays an important part in Australia’s criminal justice system, impacting both sentencing and parole. Kate Rossmanith’s book, Small Wrongs...
The Life and Death of Christopher Marlowe
29 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Christopher Marlowe, the big Renaissance playwright before Shakespeare, was murdered on May 30, 1593. To mark the 425th anniversary of his death, Step...
I'll Be Gone in the Dark: or The Golden State Killer's Walk into the Light
16 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you follow true crime news, you'll know that the Golden State Killer was recently arrested, over forty years after his crime spree began. This week...
SWF 2018 - Our Top Picks
24 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sydney Writers' Festival is definitely the best week of the year! This week, Stephanie and Michelle pour over the 2018 program, and pick their highlig...
A WoMAN of no Importance: 125 Years of Comedy, Tragedy and Confusing Aestheticism
17 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Is Oscar Wilde's play about a woman of no importance or a man of no importance? To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the play, Stephanie and Lee disc...
Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal: The Works of Jeanette Winterson
04 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Jeanette Winterson is one of the UK's most beloved and challenging writers. This week, Stephanie and Michelle discuss Winterson's long career, from th...
Hamlet: The Indecisively Complicated Prince of Denmark
27 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To be or not to be? Is that the question? This week, Stephanie is joined by Professor Tony Cousins to discuss one of Shakespeare's most popular plays....
Medicine, Literature, Interceptionality, and Literary Gate-Keeping: An Interview with Michelle Cahill
20 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Stephanie and Michelle interview Michelle Cahill, writer and managing director of the literary journal Mascara. In this wide-ranging discu...
The Women's Prize for Fiction 2018 Longlist Show
14 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The longlist for the Women's Prize was released on March 8, International Women's Day. This week, Stephanie and Michelle discuss the longlist: the boo...
Handsome, Clever, Rich and Bored: The Mixed Blessings of Jane Austen's Emma
06 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence. Or ...
Generation Women: Suvi Derkenne on the Importance of Women's Voices
27 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Generation Women is a storytelling event where women from all walks of life tell stories and celebrate women's voices. This week, Stephanie talks to M...
Netflix's adaption of Atwood's Alias Grace: It may be binge-worthy but is it rant-worthy?
20 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Margaret Atwood's 1996 novel Alias Grace was recently made into a television adaptation, available on Netflix and starring Sarah Gadon as Grace Marks,...
Valentine's Day Special: The Wretched Cant of Love
14 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Are you a Valentine's Day sap or a grinch? This week, Stephanie, Michelle and Jimmy are joined by Associate Professor Hsu-Ming Teo to talk about all t...
The Benefits of Rejection Goals: A Discussion with Ashley Kalagian Blunt
06 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Why does this week's guest set rejection goals? This week, Stephanie and Michelle chat to Ashley Kalagian Blunt about her work as a writer. They discu...
Creative Writing Alumna Claire Catacouzinos' Tips for Young Writers
30 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How does a young writer start their writing career? This week, Stephanie interviews Creative Writing alumna and talented writer Claire Catacouzinos ab...
Special Event: A Day of Literature, Music & Culture at M on the Bund
30 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A special From the Lighthouse presentation: an evening of poetry and song in China! Featuring Toby Davidson, Jane Messer and Hsu-Ming Teo reading th...
The Life of a Creative Mind: A Discussion with Associate Professor Marcelle Freiman
23 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
One of the perks of working in an English department is getting to work alongside writers. This week, Stephanie and Michelle are joined by Associate ...
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that you need not have an excuse to pod about Pride and Prejudice
16 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do we really need an excuse to talk about Pride and Prejudice? Stephanie is joined by Dr Lee O'Brien and Dr Geoff Payne to talk about everybody's favo...
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Poet of Poets
09 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In a year of big Romantic anniversaries, Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias" celebrates 200 years since its publication on 11 January 2018. To celebra...
Best Books of 2017
02 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What were your best books of 2017? This week, Stephanie and Michelle contemplate their year in reading. For more info visit our website at: https://w...
Sing, O Muse, of the books we loathe: Literary Confessions pt. 1
26 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What books do you absolutely hate? What books have you pretended to have read? Which books are you ashamed of loving? This week, Stephanie, Michelle ...
Elf, Rudolph, Mannequin Mom, Mr Hanky, and the Osmonds - it must be the Christmas Show!
19 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Christmas is a time for...escaping family by watching television and reading? This week, Stephanie, Michelle and Jimmy discuss their favourite Christm...
The Novel and the Navy: Celebrating 200 Years of Jane Austen's Persuasion and Northanger Abbey
12 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jane Austen's novels Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously in December 1817. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of these novel...
On Speedy Death and the Golden Age of Gladys Mitchell
05 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gladys Mitchell is one of the most entertaining of the Golden Age detective novelists. However, she's relatively little known today. This week, Stepha...
The Power of Love, or Why We Read Romance Novels
28 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Romance fiction is often unfairly maligned as silly and escapist, largely because of its association with a female readership, but in terms of popul...
A Killer Obsession: The Latest Adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express
21 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie's best-known mysteries, and a new film adaptation directed and starring Kenneth Branagh is in c...
Murder, they Spoke: The Rise of True Crime Podcasts and Documentaries
14 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Since the podcast Serial was released in 2014 (#freeAdnan), the public appetite for true crime documentaries and podcasts seems unquenchable. This wee...
How Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea has Ruined Mr. Rochester Forever
07 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Jean Rhys's lyrical, beautiful novel Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequel of sorts to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, focusing on the story of Mr. Rochester's...
A Time for Lear: The Rise in Popularity of Shakespeare's King Lear
31 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
King Lear is one of Shakespeare's most beloved plays, but also one of his bleakest. This week, Stephanie and Michelle are joined by Shakespearean scho...
The Spoooooky Halloween Show
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Do you like spoooooky novels? Tv shows? Movies? Podcasts? Why do we like to be scared, anyway? To celebrate Halloween, Stephanie and Jimmy are joined ...
20 Years a Slay: A Celebration of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Buffy is the greatest television show of all time. At least, that's what Stephanie, Dr Kirstin Mills and Dr Lorin Schwarz think. This week, they dis...
Kazuo Ishiguro: An Artist of the Nobel World
17 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Kazuo Ishiguro was recently awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. This week, Stephanie, Michelle and Jimmy commend the Nobel Prize committee fo...
The 2017 Man Booker Prize Shortlist Show
10 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Between the two of them, Stephanie and Michelle have read the Man Booker Prize shortlist, as well as most of the longlist. This week, Stephanie and Mi...
A Pain in the Neck: Celebrating 125 Years of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
03 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We can't stop talking about Sherlock. To celebrate 125 years since the publication of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Stephanie and Jimmy are join...
Men Know Best but Women Know Better: The Ever-Lasting Appeal of George Eliot's Middlemarch
26 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
George Eliot's novel Middlemarch is often featured in lists of the best novels of all time, and it continues to be a favourite of literary critics an...
A 300 Year Old Goth: Horace Walpole and The Castle of Otranto
19 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Castle of Otranto was the first Gothic novel: the novel that started the craze for the Gothic that's never ceased since. On Horace Walpole's 300t...
The 2017 Man Booker Prize Longlist Show
11 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Man Booker Dozen (otherwise known as the longlist) is about to be whittled down to six. On the eve of the shortlist announcement, Stephanie and Mi...
From Former Student to New York Times Bestseller: Liane Moriarty and Big Little Lies
05 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies was a New York Times bestseller, and now it's an award-nominated HBO series starring Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Ki...
A Kindred Spirit: The World of Anne of Green Gables
29 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Are you a kindred spirit? Are you of the race that knows Joseph, as Miss Cornelia would say? If you understand those references, you're probably as bi...
Francis Webb: The Best Australian Poet You've Never Heard Of
22 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Francis Webb is the best Australian poet you've never heard of. At least, that's what Dr Toby Davidson thinks. This week, Stephanie and Michelle discu...
Romance Heroes, Dog Sidekicks and Beau Brummell: The Regency Romance Novels of Georgette Heyer
15 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Georgette Heyer wrote crime and historical novels, but is most widely known for her best-selling and beloved Regency romances. Stephanie is joined on ...
You know nothing, HBO: Medievalism, and the racial and sexual politics of Game of Thrones
01 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
To say Game of Thrones is popular is to wildly understate the case: the first episode of the most recent series caused Foxtel to (temporarily) crash. ...
Remembering Jane: Is Austen really, "the greatest novelist the world has ever seen"?
17 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death on July 18, 1817, Stephanie and Michelle are joined by Dr Geoff Payne to talk all things Austen. They...
25 Years later and we're still Looking for Alibrandi
05 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Melina Marchetta's young adult novel Looking for Alibrandi was published 25 years ago this year. The novel has become a landmark piece of Australian c...
S-Town: Stories of Time and Madness
20 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Are podcasts the new novels? Stephanie, Michelle and Jimmy podcast on a podcast: S-Town, the new hit show from the team that bought you Serial and Th...
13 Reasons Why: An Exploration of Suicide or Revenge?
07 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why, based on the popular book of the same name by Jay Asher, has attracted a huge amount of controversy because of its...
Congress for Cultural Freedom or: How the CIA Fought the Cold War by Focusing on Literature
24 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why was the CIA involved in literature? Stephanie and Michelle talk to Dr Alys Moody about the Congress for Cultural Freedom, a CIA-funded group that ...
Harry Potter and the Silent Intertexts
10 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why is Harry Potter the global sensation that it is, twenty years after the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone? Stephanie and Mic...
SWF - Our Top Festival Picks
03 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Stephanie and Michelle love going to the Sydney Writers' Festival, and they think you should too. We talk about Macquarie University's involvement in ...
The Handmaid's Tale : Offred the Unman of Atwood's Dystopic Future or the woMan of Today's Feminist Nightmare
26 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On the eve of the new television adaptation, Stephanie and Michelle discuss Margaret Atwood's feminist classic, The Handmaid's Tale. Why does this nov...
Two Contemporary American Novels: The Sellout and The Underground Railroad
11 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Beatty's The Sellout and Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad are two of the most talked about American titles of the past few years, wit...
We Need to Talk About Eurus: A Critique/Defence of BBC's Sherlock
31 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The fourth season of the BBC adaptation of Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch recently aired. So what did our hosts think? We join special guest Dr. J...
Best Books of 2016
01 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What was your favourite book of 2016? Stephanie and Michelle discuss their top three picks.