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The Book Show

There are name generators for new parents and authors alike, so how do writers choose names for their fictional characters? Many authors, including Tony Birch, Garth Nix and Mirandi Riwoe share their stories.

How do authors name their fictional characters?

Australian writer Jessie Tu says the question of female likeability should no longer exist and it's an idea she explores in her fiction. In this in-depth conversation, she also discusses child prodigies, music, racism and even Sex and the City.

Pod Extra with Jessie Tu on the lessons of loneliness

You've heard of Nordic Noir but what about Scandi Blanc? Bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith has taken the noir out Swedish crime fiction in his latest series starring the warm-hearted detective Ulf Varg. 

Also, writer Jessie Tu on her preoccupation with loneliness and a big sweeping narrative about a fictional female pilot who goes missing in the act with US author Maggie Shipstead.

'There are no bodies' — Alexander McCall Smith on his version of Scandi crime fiction

Emma Jane Unsworth examines 21st century women in all their conflicted, messy glory in this in-depth interview about her books including Adults and Animals.

Emma Jane Unsworth on the 'messy, punky stuff' of women's lives and bodies

Indigenous author Larissa Behrendt questioned whether to include a First Nations lawyer in her latest novel, but she says it felt more authentic given it's a world she knows intimately. Her novel, After Story, explores grief, family and literary travel. 

Also, Kim Scott on the legacies of history that have inspired his works and Alice Pung's first novel for adults, One Hundred Days, is about a pregnant teenager and her controlling mother.

'We are where we are because of resilience' — Larissa Behrendt's book about grief, family and literary travel

Ahead of the Miles Franklin Award announcement, we preview the shortlist and find overlapping themes of migration, violence, fractured families and climate change. 

Aravind Adiga, Amanda Lohrey, Andrew Pippos, Daniel Davis Wood, Madeleine Watts and Robbie Arnott also reflect on what their novels say about Australia today.

What does the Miles Franklin shortlist say about Australia?

Amanda Lohrey has been announced as the 2021 winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award for The Labyrinth. Amanda tells Claire Nichols that her aim was to write a narrative that felt like a meditative walk into and out of a labyrinth.

Pod extra with 2021 Miles Franklin winner Amanda Lohrey

US author Rumaan Alam’s Leave The World Behind is a timely novel about isolation, fear, class and racism. 

Also, the 20-something women who are starring in coming of age novels and Rawah Arja's Punchbowl Boys High drama The F Team.

What happens when the internet cuts out? Rumaan Alam on his prescient domestic thriller

Esther Freud's mother had babies at a time when many unwed mothers in the UK and Ireland had their children taken away. Freud says, 'When I thought about the situation of my mother, it struck me how alone and dangerous her situation was'. In I Couldn't Love You More, she imagines if her mother had been forced into one or Ireland's notorious mother and baby homes.

Also David Allan-Petale on writing his first book, Locust Summer, on the road, and Jamie Marina Lau's second novel, Gunk Baby, about a young woman about to open a Chinese ear cleaning business.

'My mother kept this secret for so long' — Esther Freud imagines a different path for her mother

'Your self worth as an Indian child is totally connected with how well you do in these all encompassing exams'. Rahul Raina's satire about fame, fraud and the All India exam system in How to Kidnap the Rich.

Also Mark Brandi on his love of dogs, family and why he wears earmuffs to write and Katherine Brabon's exploration of the Japanese phenomenon of hikikomori in The Shut Ins.

Rahul Raina's satire about fame, fraud and Indian TV

Claire speaks to Juhea Kim about her latest novel which centres around an elite Russian ballet dancer returning to the stage after a serious injury.

The City of Night Birds is a meditation on the purity and pain of artistic expression but also investigates its purpose in a fractured world.

Juhea Kim: City of Night Birds

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