The Bookshelf

Begin your reading year with Peter Goldsworthy, Sarah Bailey and Anna Krien

03 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Reading influences and recommendations from three Australian novelists

Fantasy with Samantha Shannon, Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

27 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Three fantasy writers share the bookshelves that have shaped them, and some writing insights too.

Book recommendations from Kate Forsyth, Heather Rose and Alex McClintock

20 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Boxing, fairytales and political scandal as three writers share the bookshelves that have shaped them.

The Bookshelf's best books of 2019

13 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A trio of readers join Kate and Cassie with their reading recommendations.

New fiction from Ben Lerner, Marcy Dermansky and Curdella Forbes

06 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Novelist Graeme Simsion and reviewer Nicole Abadee on Marcy Dermansky's Very Nice and Curdella Forbes' A Tall History of Sugar, and reading America i...

Pod Extra: Poet Lemn Sissay and the many foster children of literature

04 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A podcast special edition of the Bookshelf, in which English poet and writer Lemn Sissay reveals his life and history as a child in care, and connect...

Pod Extra: Charlotte Wood's The Weekend

03 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In this podcast extra edition of The Bookshelf, writer Charlotte Wood talks to Kate Evans about writing friendship, ageing, grief and joy.

Leah Purcell's novel The Drover's Wife and crime with Garry Disher, Emma Viskic and Jessica Chapnik Kahn

29 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

From stage to screen to page, Leah Purcell has taken Henry Lawson's 1890s story of a lone woman in a tough landscape and remade it as her own in The ...

New books from Julian Barnes, Petina Gappah and Niall Williams

22 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Rewriting the end of the 19th century in London; rewriting colonial Africa from the inside; and lighting up Faha, Ireland

André Aciman's Find Me, Inez Baranay's Turn Left at Venus and Zimbabwean literature

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What will fans of André Aciman's Call Me By Your Name make of his follow-up novel, Find Me?

Reading Los Angeles with Michael Connelly plus new Australian fiction

08 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Crime writing dominates this week's show, with Garry Disher's novel Peace and Michael Connelly (Bosch) sharing his own bookshelf. And reading novella...

New books by Paul Lynch, Erin Morgenstern and Mary Costello

01 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Fantasy writer Garth Nix and arts journalist Martin Portus join Cassie and Kate to discuss a collection of water-filled novels: Beyond the Sea, The S...

On Christos Tsiolkas' Damascus, Helen Phillips' The Need and the books on Chris Hammer's bookshelf

25 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie with guests Meredith Lake (Soul Search), Karen Viggers (The Orchardist's Daughter) and Chris Hammer (Scrubland, Silver) as they discu...

The Bookshelf at the State Library of NSW

18 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie onstage with writers Holden Sheppard (Invisible Boys) and Roanna Gonsalves (The Permanent Resident), and Mitchell Librarian Richard N...

Books from Tishani Doshi, Katherine Rundell, Roger Pulvers and David Nicholls

15 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Book influences and recommendations from India, Russia, Japan, Australia, the USA and more, in a podcast extra edition of The Bookshelf

Political satire, historical fiction and short stories

11 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Political satire from Ian McEwan and Heather Rose, a short story collection by Zadie Smith and the state of historical fiction with Robert Gott and E...

The bookshelves of Jessie Burton, Corey White and Dominic Smith

08 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Me Myshelf and I, as novelists Jessie Burton and Dominic Smith (The Electric Hotel), and comedian Corey White, reveal the books and reading that has ...

New novels from Philip Pullman, Favel Parrett and Nino Haratischvili

04 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On Philip Pullman's The Secret Commonwealth, Favel Parrett's There Was Still Love and Nino Haratischvili's The Eighth Life (For Brilka)

New books by Edna O'Brien, Etgar Keret and Benjamin Myers

27 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie are joined by writer Chloe Higgins and interviewer Michaela Kalowski as they discuss Edna O'Brien's Girl, Benjamin Myers' The Offing ...

On Ann Patchett's The Dutch House, Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other and Emma Donoghue's Akin

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Autoethnographer and storyteller Denise Chapman and shortstory writer Amanda O'Callaghan join Kate and Cassie as they discuss Ann Patchett's The Dutc...

On Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, Elizabeth Strout's Olive, Again, Peter Goldsworthy's Minotaur and Alvydas Šlepikas's In the Shadow of Wolves

13 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Novelist Hannah Kent and literary academic Stephen Knight join Cassie and Kate as they discuss four new novels: Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, Eli...

New fiction from Deborah Levy, Andrew McGahan and Claire G Coleman

06 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Bookseller Jon Page and historian Clare Corbould join Cassie and Kate as they discuss Deborah Levy's The Man Who Saw Everything, the late Andrew McGa...

On Salman Rushdie's Quichotte, Lucy Treloar's Wolfe Island, Lisa Taddeo's Three Women and the state of Oz crime

30 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Guests Susan Wyndham, Krissy Kneen and Catherine du Peloux Menagé join Kate and Cassie as they travel across America with Salman Rushdie, onto a cru...

New fiction from Ben Hobson, Carolina Setterwall and Kate Forsyth plus an exhortation re reading

23 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Katherine Rundell makes the case for Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are so Old and Wise, and Meg Keneally and Johan Gabrielsso...

Novels by Téa Obreht, Wai Chim and Vasily Grossman (and a booklist from Julia Phillips)

16 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A Western, a war saga and a plate of dumplings. Téa Obreht's Inland, Vasily Grossman's Stalingrad, Wai Chim's The Surprising Power of a Good Dumplin...

On Alix Nathan's The Warlow Experiment, David Nicholls' Sweet Sorrow and Lisa See's The Island of Sea Women

09 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Bri Lee and broadcaster Joey Watson join Kate and Cassie to talk new fiction by Alix Nathan, David Nicholls and Lisa See, while novelist Lenny...

Reading the Counterculture

02 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Three music writers and a whole lotta books.

Kathryn Hind's Hitch, Herman Koch's The Ditch and Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

26 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Writers Luke Carman and Laura Elizabeth Woollett join Kate and Cassie to review new novels from Australia, the USA and the Netherlands.

On Joyce Carol Oates' My Life As a Rat, Peter Polites' The Pillars and Me Myshelf and I with Sulari Gentill

19 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Critic and digital producer Patrick Carey joins Kate and Cassie as they discuss Joyce Carol Oates' My Life As a Rat and Peter Polites' The Pillars, w...

Monsters in fiction with Sarah Perry

12 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Literary monsters with gothic writer Sarah Perry, an over-the-top monster in Thomas Harris' new novel Cari Mora, and a monstrous system in Philip Ke...

New fiction from Ocean Vuong, Colson Whitehead and Sarah Hopkins

05 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Incarceration, possibility and punishment in fiction. Historian Ethan Blue and commentator Mark Sutton join Cassie and Kate to discuss new fiction fr...

On Tara June Winch's The Yield, Tony Birch's The White Girl and Julia Phillips' Disappearing Earth

28 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Novelists Malla Nunn and Aoife Clifford join Cassie and Kate to review new novels from Tara June Winch, Tony Birch and Julia Phillips

On Dominic Smith's The Electric Hotel, Roque Larraquy's Comemadre, Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island and the reading habits of Robert Forster and Fiona McGregor

21 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Musician and writer Robert Forster (solo artist, ex-Go Betweens), and novelist and performance artist Fiona McGregor (A Novel Idea) join Kate and Cas...

Bookshelf Podcast Extra with Damian Barr, Andrea Goldsmith, Nguyen Phan Que Mai, Simon Cleary and Emma Ashmere

19 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Bonus interviews and book recommendation from novelists Damian Barr, Andrea Goldsmith, Simon Cleary and Emma Ashmere and poet and filmmaker Nguyen Ph...

On Damian Barr's You Will Be Safe Here, Chip Cheek's Cape May and Alex Landrigan's Crossings

14 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Novelists Emma Ashmere and Simon Cleary join Kate and Cassie to discuss new fiction by Damian Barr, Chip Cheek and Alex Landrigan; and Damian Barr hi...

On James Ellroy's This Storm, Tishani Doshi's Small Days and Nights and Elizabeth Cook's Lux

07 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Cassie and Kate are joined by literary academic Rodney Taveira and historian and RN colleague Meredith Lake as they discuss new fiction from the noir...

On Susan Choi's Trust Exercise, Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls and Richard Anderson's Boxed

31 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Brett Evans and Anthea Taylor join Cassie and Kate to discuss new novels by Susan Choi, Elizabeth Gilbert and Richard Anderson, and Irish writer Caol...

On Jeanette Winterson's Frankissstein, Guzel Yakhina's Zuleikha and Annaleese Jochems, Baby

24 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie are joined by writers Lee Kofman and Rozanna Lilley as they discuss Jeanette Winterson's playful homage Frankissstein, Guzel Yakhina'...

Podcast Extra on traumatic reading, Chris Womersley's bookshelf and Julianne Schultz's digital futures

23 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean if reading becomes an endurance test in the face of trauma? Critic Beejay Silcox asks what it means to read books that are pointles...

On Ali Smith's Spring, Mark Haddon's The Porpoise, Laila Lalami's The Other Americans & how digital is disrupting reading

17 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans is joined by broadcaster Sarah Kanowski, writer Justine Hyde and Catherine Keenan from The Story Factory to discuss new fiction from Ali S...

Podcast extra on Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree and Jay Kristoff and Amie Kauffman's Aurora Rising

16 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In this podcast extra edition of The Bookshelf, Kate Evans talks to English fantasy writer Samantha Shannon about the bookshelf that made her and Sha...

On Rohan Wilson's Daughter of Bad Times, Hallie Rubenhold's The Five and Kauffman & Kristoff's YA SF Aurora Rising

10 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Fictionalising both the future and the past, with the help of Antony Funnell and the dystopian novel Daughter of Bad Times by Rohan Wilson, the YA SF...

The Bookshelf Live from the Sydney Writers Festival

03 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On Friday 3 May Kate and Cassie present the Bookshelf live onstage from the Sydney Writers Festival with guests English novelist Max Porter, American...

Podcast extra on NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Les Murray, translation in China and Holly Throsby's bookshelf

01 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A podcast only edition of the Bookshelf, in which Kate Evans talks to Suzanne Leal about this week's NSW Premier's Literary Awards, to Chinese acquis...

On T C Boyle's Outside Looking In, Don Winslow's The Border and Simon Cleary's The War Artist

26 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Crime writer Andy Muir and cultural historian Catie Gilchrist join Kate Evans and Mark Sutton as they discuss T C Boyle's Outside Looking In, Don Win...

On Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me and Joanne Harris's The Strawberry Thief, and the bookshelves of Caro Llewellyn and Dervla McTiernan

19 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Consciousness and artificial intelligence in Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me, a life defined by books and reading with Caro Llewellyn, writing Irish po...

On Siri Hustvedt's Memories of the Future, Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive, the Stella Prize and the reading habits of Jenny Brockie and Sam Twyford-Moore

12 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist and television presenter Jenny Brockie, and writer Sam Twyford-Moore, join Kate and Cassie to review Siri Hustvedt's Memories of the Futur...

On Max Porter's Lanny, Alexander Chee's Edinburgh, Dave Eggers' The Parade and Katherine Kovacic's Bookshelf

05 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Novelists Jamie Marina Lau and Belinda Castles join Kate and Cassie as they talk about Max Porter's Lanny, Alexander Chee's Edinburgh and How to Writ...

Novels by Andrea Goldsmith, Sarah Moss, Niviaq Korneliussen, Felicity McLean and José Luís Peixoto

29 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Critic Kate Jinx and ABC RN producer of audio fiction Sophie Townsend join Cassie and Kate as they discuss Andrea Goldsmith's Invented Lives, Sarah M...

On Leah Kaminsky's The Hollow Bones, Ben Marcus's Notes from the Fog, Julie Keys, The Artist’s Portrait, Katherine Kovacic, Painting in the Shadows and Andrea Goldsmith on books

22 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Writers Ceridwen Dovey and Kelly Gardiner join Kate and Cassie to talk new books, and Andrea Goldsmith reveals how reading has allowed her to be 'pri...

On Mark Brandi's The Rip, Dervla McTiernan's The Scholar, Leïla Slimani's Adèle and Mohammed Hanif's Red Birds

15 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Crime fiction specialist Sue Turnbull and reviewer Nicole Abadee join Kate and Cassie as they ponder, among other things, whether liking a character ...

On Carrie Tiffany's Exploded View, Peggy Frew's Islands, Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones and the Six and the bookshelf that made Karen Viggers

08 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Novelist and translator Tiffany Tsao and music industry specialist Leanne de Souza join Cassie and Kate in a show that features four novels by women,...

On Melissa Harrison's All Among the Barley, Nana Kwama Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black and Emiliano Monge's Among the Lost

01 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Writer and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke and bookseller and academic Elias Greig join Cassie and Kate to talk reading, throwing books through windows and...

On Sigrid Nunez's The Friend, Will Dean’s Red Snow and Karen Thompson Walker's The Dreamers

22 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Writers Chris Hammer (Scrublands) and John Connell (The Cow Book) join Cassie and Kate to talk new fiction

Reading Roberto Bolaño's The Spirit of Science Fiction and Delphine de Vigan's Loyalties plus the bookshelves of Lynda La Plante and Ferenc Barnás

15 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Novelist Mirandi Riwoe and sound engineer Tim Jenkins join Kate Evans to talk new fiction from Latin American writer Roberto Bolaño and French novel...

On Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Debra Adelaide's Zebra, Tessa Hadley's Late in the Day and what's on David Stratton's bookshelf

08 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Novelist Trent Jamieson and writer Patrick Carey join Cassie and Kate to discuss new fiction from Marlon James, Debra Adelaide and Tessa Hadley, whil...

On Caoilinn Hughes' Orchid & the Wasp, Steven Carroll's The Year of the Beast, John Lanchester's The Wall and Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Result

01 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jacqueline Kent, Robert Lukins and Michael Cathcart join Cassie and Kate to examine new fiction from Caoilinn Hughes, Steven Carroll, John Lanchester...

On Summer reading and Ben Okri's The Freedom Artist, Chigozie Obioma's An Orchestra of Minorities and Søren Sveistrup's The Chestnut Man

25 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie are back with bookseller Anna Lowe, arts journalist Melanie Kembrey and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson to reveal their best nove...

What Morris Gleitzman read on the factory floor, being amanuensis to Will Self, talking to Sofie Laguna, and a bit of Finnish Weird

18 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

New interviews with writer Matthew de Abaitua (Self and I) and Sofie Laguna (The Choke), and revisiting the Finnish Weird of Laura Lindstedt's Oneiro...

Are you a rereader? And other thoughts for a Summer Bookshelf

11 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why Cassie rereads Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, while Kate returns to 20th C novelists like Michael Ondaatje and A S Byatt. Also, talking Berlin no...

Do you have book-shaped New Year's reading resolutions?

04 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

New revelations of the bookshelves that made them, from novelists Patrick de Witt and Lisa Ireland; while Cassie talks to Christos Tsiolkas about rea...

If you dog-ear your books, you're part of a long tradition

28 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

On this Summer Edition of the Bookshelf, Kate hears about the long history of dog-earing books and discovers it wasn't an abhorred practice until the...

Summer reading with Tayari Jones' An American Marriage, Peter Cochrane's The Making of Martin Sparrow and talking to Tara Westover about her memoir Educated

21 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

New material as well as some of the best books of the year, on The Bookshelf's Summer series. Tara Westover reflects on the books that shaped her, in...

Podcast extra edition: with Viv Albertine, Jessie Burton and Jorge Carrion

19 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans talks books and writing with Viv Albertine - former punk guitarist from The Slits turned memoirist, as well as Jessie Burton whose latest ...

Best reads of the year from Stuart Coupe, Nicole Abadee, Trent Jamieson and Cassie & Kate

14 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Literary fiction, short stories, music writing and SF and fantasy: Kate and Cassie sit down with a trio of readers, to discuss their best reads of 20...

What are the best books Trent Dalton, Shaun Prescott and Amelia Lush have read this year?

07 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Novelists Trent Dalton and Shaun Prescott, and professional reader Amelia Lush, join Kate and Cassie to talk about their best reads of the year.

Reading Sydney Noir, finding plague pits in the backyard with Minette Walters, Anne Summers on fiction and new journalism and Sally Rippin's bookshelf

05 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A podcast extra edition of the Bookshelf in which Cassie talks Sydney Noir with John Dale, Mandy Sayer and Mark Dapin; Kate talks to children's autho...

On Graham Norton's A Keeper, R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries and Georgina Harding's Land of the Living with David Hunt, Aoife Clifford and Anne Summers

30 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh talk new books with historian David Hunt and crime writer Aoife Clifford. The books in front of them? Graham Norton's...

New fiction from Patrick Gale, Minette Walters, Rick Gekoski and Amitava Kumar

23 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Reading and disagreeing about Patrick Gale's Take Nothing With You, Rick Gekoski's A Long Island Story and Amitava Kumar's Immigrant, Montana with Ka...

Podcast Extra edition: with Fiona Wright, Kimberley Knight, Stephanie Bishop and Moreno Giovannoni

20 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

You did what with your salad spinner? Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh continue their bookish conversation with poet Fiona Wright and historian Kimber...

On Anna Burns' Milkman, Esi Edugyan's Washington Black and Philip Teir's The Summer House

16 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie are joined by essayist Fiona Wright and historian Kimberley Knight as they discuss Anna Burns' Irish novel Milkman, Esi Edugyan's sto...

RN Armistice 100 The Bookshelf podcast extra: On Robert Graves' Good-Bye to All That and a coda for Vera Brittain

10 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with Jean Moorcoft Wilson on the life of British war poet and novelist, Robert Graves; and a postscript on the life of writer and peac...

RN Armistice 100: Australian WWI fiction, Indian writing & Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth

09 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

How has the First World War been fictionalised, in Australia, over the past century? And what about the Indian experience, with 1.5 million soldiers ...

New fiction from Andrew Miller, Anne Tyler and Victor LaValle

02 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

On Andrew Miller's Now We Shall be Entirely Free, Anne Tyler's Clock Dance and Victor LaValle's The Changeling, with novelists Jane Rawson and John T...

On Krissy Kneen's Wintering, Les Zig's August Falling, Margaret Morgan's The Second Cure, Ilka Tampke's Songwoman and more

26 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie are joined by historian Ruth Balint, crime writer Peter Cotton and Science Fiction reader George Williams to discuss fiction by Kriss...

On Haruki Murakami's Killing Commendatore, Sarah Perry's Melmoth and Kristina Olsson's own bookshelf

19 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Cassie and Kate are joined by TV writer and Dylanologist Mark Sutton to discuss Murakami's mammoth Killing Commendatore and Sarah Perry's gothic Melm...

On Kristina Olsson's Shell, Markus Zusak's Bridge of Clay and Prayaag Akbar's Leila

12 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie talk books with novelist Suzanne Leal and translator and memoirist Vicki Laveau-Harvie. Kristina Olsson's reimagining of the building...

Reading habits, influences and recommendations from Australian novelists Emma Viskic, Melissa Lucashenko, Chris Hammer and Christian White

05 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Writers and their reading: novelist Melissa Lucashenko (Too Much Lip) and crime writers Emma Viskic (And Fire Came Down), Chris Hammer (Scrublands) a...

On books by J M Coetzee, Kate Morton, Sebastian Faulks, Rebecca O'Connor and John Connell

28 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie speak to novelist Ceridwen Dovey about J M Coetzee, encounter very different ghosts in the latest novels of Sebastian Faulks (Paris E...

New novels from Louis de Bernières, Kate Atkinson, Andrew Sean Greer and Rebecca Lim

21 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie discuss Louis de Bernières' So Much Life Left Over, Kate Atkinson's Transcription, Andrew Sean Greer's Still and Rebecca Lim's The R...

On Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls, Patrick de Witt's French Exit and the Australian Reading Hour

14 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie are joined by lawyer and novelist Andreas Heger and publisher and writer Phillipa McGregor to discuss the latest books by Pat Barker ...

Short stories from Robert Drewe, Curtis Sittenfeld, Roxane Gay, Lauren Groff, William Trevor & John Edgar Wideman

07 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with rather a lot of short stories, and the reader reviewers Roanna Gonsalves, Brett Evans and Michael Dulaney

On Sally Rooney's Normal People and Stephanie Bishop's Man Out of Time (just for starters)

31 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with reader Patrick Carey, editor of the Australian Book Review Peter Rose, writer and translator Tiffany Tsao and a ...

Vale Crimewriter Peter Corris: Cliff Hardy has made his exit

30 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Corris was known as the Godfather of Australian crime. He wrote more than forty Cliff Hardy novels, as well as works of history, co-authored bi...

On Anna Seghers' The Seventh Cross, Tiffany Tsao's Under Your Wings and books by Edward St Aubyn and Roland Schimmelpfennig

24 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are joined by arts journalist Martin Portus, literary scholar Helen Groth and historian Clare Monagle to talk fiction...

On Melissa Broder's The Pisces, Audrey Schulman's Theory of Bastards and V S Naipaul - with writers Felicity Castagna, Margo Lanagan and Khalid Warsame

17 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with novels about animals, sex and research (and a few other things)

On crime writer Ann Cleeves, Laura Elizabeth Woollett's Beautiful Revolutionary, Simon Mawer's Prague Spring and A People's History of the Vampire Uprising

10 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with crime writer Ann Cleeves, historian David Hunt, memoirist Vicki Laveau-Harvie and bookseller Jennifer Stephens -...

On Melissa Lucashenko's Too Much Lip, Chris Hammer's Scrublands and Gregory Day's A Sand Archive

03 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with literary academic Nicole Moore and the Sydney Story Factory's Catherine Keenan on Melissa Lucashenko's Too Much ...

On Mario Vargas Llosa, Libby Page's The Lido, Sharlene Teo's Ponti and Tim Ayliffe's The Greater Good

27 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie disagree (again!) about Mario Vargas Llosa's The Neighbourhood, writers Bridie Jabour and Sheila Pham review debut novels by Libby Pa...

On Tara Isabella Burton's Social Creature, Barry Hill's Reason and Lovelessness, Natasha Lester's The Paris Seamstress and Sunni Overend's The Rules of Backyard Croquet

20 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are at loggerheads this week over Tara Isabella Burton's Social Creature, and you'll hear from the American writer he...

On Rachel Cusk's Kudos, Maria Tumarkin's Axiomatic and Kim Scott's bookshelf

13 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Novelists Mireille Juchau and Susan Johnson join Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh to discuss Rachel Cusk's Kudos and Maria Tumarkin's Axiomatic; and K...

Barbara Kingsolver, Alexander McCall Smith and why some novelists disappear

06 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh with what Alexander McCall Smith reads (hint, there's a collection of poetry in his pocket), why Barbara Kingsolver r...

On Enza Gandolfo's The Bridge, Hallgrímur Helgason's The Woman at 1000 Degrees, The Book Ninja & Michael Robotham's The Other Wife

29 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Writers, readers and reviewers Michael Robotham, Robyn Annear, Antony Funnell, Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus join Kate Evans to talk books books books....

On Peter Cochrane's The Making of Martin Sparrow, Willy Vlautin's Don't Skip Out on Me, Meg Wolitzer's The Female Persuasion and Sally Seltmann's bookshelf

22 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie are joined by readers and reviewers, historian Stephen Gapps, novelist Peggy Frew and essayist Michael Dulaney.

Poet A F Harrold; Claire G Coleman, Melanie Cheng and Felicity Castagna telling 'home truths' through fiction; and SF writer Jay Kristoff

15 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

English poet and children's book author A F Harrold reveals how libraries have shaped him; writers Melanie Cheng, Felicity Castagna and Claire G Cole...

On Helen Garner, Jim Crace's The Melody, Charles Frazier's Varina, Nathaniel Rich's King Zeno, Kit de Waal's The Trick to Time & Danny Denton

08 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Never in the short history of The Bookshelf has there been so much loathing for a novel! Which is the book that will generate so much dislike and des...

Aminatta Forna's Happiness, Emily O'Grady's The Yellow House, Meena Kandasamy's When I Hit You, Joseph Cassara's The House of Impossible Beauties and Westwords

01 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate and Cassie discuss Aminatta Forna's Happiness, Emily O'Grady's The Yellow House, Meena Kandasamy's When I Hit You, Joseph Cassara's The House of...

Raymond E Feist's King of Ashes, Kate Mosse's The Burning Chambers and Lisa Genova's Every Note Played

25 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are joined by George Williams on Raymond E Feist's King of Ashes, by Fiona Lowe on Kate Mosse's The Burning Chambers ...

Christos Tsiolkas on Patrick White, Stuart Coupe on Irvine Welsh's Dead Men's Trousers, Eleanor Limprecht on Alicia Drake's I Love You Too Much and Jonathan Green on Meanjin's short fiction collection

18 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh have a great stack of books and readers to share with you: Christos Tsiolkas on Patrick White, Stuart Coupe on Irvine...

On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.

11 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are joined by journalist Stephen Romei as they disagree over Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, by novelist Suzanne Leal to...