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ABC Australia

The Book Show

Michael Winkler tells Claire Nichols why life might be better as a dog, particularly if you're middle aged and depressed like the main character in his new novel, Griefdogg. And British poet, performer and novelist Kae Tempest explains why he "writes what he can't bear to admit" in his second novel Having Spent Life Seeking.

Michael Winkler's second novel, Griefdogg follows his lauded genre-bending debut Grimmish about a boxer and a talking goat. It also made Australian literary history in 2022 as the first self-published novel to ever be shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Griefdogg is about a man who makes the unexpected decision to live as the family pet when the pressures of modern life get too much for him; in the conversation, Michael reflects on the appeal of "a dog's life".

Kae Tempest is a British musician, poet, playwright and novelist who - since he was a teenager - has built an international reputation in rap and spoken word poetry. Kae's second novel, Having Spent Life Seeking follows Rothko who's newly released from prison and has returned to the hometown where everything fell apart. Claire also speaks to Kae about the challenges of writing a novel while maintaining a demanding schedule of live performances and musical projects.

Michael Winkler's Griefdogg and Kae Tempest pours his heart out

David Malouf was a giant of Australian writing who was known and loved for his iconic debut novel, Johnno, about a young Brisbane man during World War 2; a book partly inspired by his own life.

In a career spanning more than 50 years, David wrote plays, poetry, libretto, and more novels, including The Great World, and his Booker Prize shortlisted, Remembering Babylon.

And today, on this special episode of The Book Show, we're remembering David who has died at the age of 92.

Claire Nichols revisits her very special interview with David in 2025 in which he discusses his early life, sharing books with his mother, that first novel and the benefits of a daily walk on the beach.

This interview was first broadcast on 25 September 2025.

Vale David Malouf

Twins separated by the role of a dice, the rise of AI, and a mystery behind lives trying to hold it together in a lonely fractured world. These are just a few of the themes discussed with Claire Nichols about A Rising of the Lights, the latest darkly comic novel from the Booker Prize shortlisted author Steve Toltz.

Ian Kemish has used his considerable knowledge as a former Australian diplomat to write a debut that is ultimately about compassion. In Two Islands a young man flees the Balkan conflict to an isolated island on the west coast of Scotland. What does he find there and is he safe?

Steve Toltz rolls the dice

A fun wild ride here on the Book Show where Claire Nichols meets American Chinese writer Jenny Tinghui Zhang who has tapped into the K-Pop phenomenon with her latest novel Superfan. A knock-off American K-Pop group are set to make history, but at what cost to them and their loyal fans? It's an affectionate but covert satire on obsession, loneliness and fame.

And prepare for supreme silliness and a lot of blood letting when Shaun Micallef debates vampires, zombie slaves and a cast of dead historical figures. His new book De'ath Takes a Holiday is a unique perspective on the Gothic romance horror where the harbinger of Dracula attempts mortality.

K-Pop thrills and Vampire kills with Jenny Tinghui Zhang and Shaun Micallef

For this Easter special an opportunity to revisit Yael van der Wouden the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction winner.

Her celebrated debut The Safekeep also made the 2024 Booker Prize shortlist. The Safekeep is set in the Netherlands, 15 years after the end of World War II and is about an uptight woman, an unpredictable house guest, loneliness, repression and desire. The novel confronts the prevailing narrative about the Dutch experience of World War II and its treatment of Jewish people.

Claire Nichols spoke to Yael at the Sydney Writers Festival in 2025

This conversation was first broadcast 23 June 2025

Yael van der Wouden on sex, history and an incredible year

Australian author Debra Adelaide's latest book is her most personal to date. As she reveals to Claire Nichols, When I am 64 was written as an autofiction to give her more freedom to reflect on her lifelong close friendship as well as coming to terms with the death, at age 64, of writer Gabrielle Carey, most known as the co-author of Puberty Blues. 

If this conversation raises issues with you or those close to you Lifeline 13 11 14

In her latest thriller The Shark, Emma Styles takes the reader to the height of a Perth summer. It's hot and as she tells Claire Nichols, a season sizzling with danger. But who is the Shark circling on the beach and how can two teenage girls net them?

Debra Adelaide on the life and death of Gabrielle Carey

Irish author Colm Tóibín shares with Claire Nichols the stories that have shaped his latest collection that travels continents and times. The News from Dublin is a glimpse into people living a life away from their homeland, from sisters wanting to return to Catalonia, the undocumented worker facing a decision, a mother receiving shocking news of the death of a son or the haunted Irishman seeking anonymity in Spain.

Using the noise and commentary around the death of a young woman, Afghan-born, Canadian based author Patmeena Sabit speaks with Claire Nichols on the ways she draws on her family roots and academic research to not just tell a story, but test assumptions around migrant communities. Good People is about a courageous Afghan family living the American dream, but cultural tensions, gossip, envy and conjecture swirl around following the death of their daughter.

Colm Tóibín can't stop naming his characters Paul

This is Where the Serpent Lives from Pakistani-US writer Daniyal Mueenuddin, is an elegy to a changing Pakistan where contemporary life and technology jostles with feudal social hierarchy, privilege, corruption and ambition.

The protagonist in Australian writer Claire Thomas's latest novel On Not Climbing Mountains travels through grief on Swiss trains through the Alpine Way. It's a journey that inspires art, stories and captures moments of connection.

Daniyal Mueenuddin's changing Pakistan

Howard Jacobson joins Claire Nichols to unpack Howl, and Australian authors Eva Hornung and Omar Musa discuss their latest novels.

Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson has long written about Jewish identity, but only recently has he begun describing himself as a Jewish writer. He says the shift was prompted by the protests in England after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. His darkly comic novel, Howl, explores the Gaza conflict from a Jewish perspective and he reflects on the promise of fiction to foster debate about this long running conflict.

Award‑winning Australian author Eva Hornung continues her exploration of our fragile bond with nature in her new novel, The Minstrels, where a dramatic landscape becomes the site of tragedy for siblings, Gem and Will. Eva tells Claire how learning an Indigenous language shaped the book and how her love of farm machinery also found its way into the narrative.

Poet, visual artist, hip-hop musician and author Omar Musa finds magic in Italian beads, vengeful ghosts and the sound of the Borneo forest in his second novel. Fierceland exposes the dark side of Malay politics and the palm oil trade but is also a story of family and love. It also won the 2026 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for fiction. First broadcast 12 October 2025

Howard Jacobson embraces being a Jewish writer

In his new novel, Nonesuch, British author Francis Sufford introduces a fabulously spiky heroine fighting fascism and mysterious moving statues during London's Blitz. Plus, bestselling author Kathy Lette is in Australia touring her latest novel The Sisterhood Rules and urges women to embrace a "sensational second act" with plenty of laughter along the way.

British author Francis Spufford, is celebrated for his historical fiction but Nonesuch marks his first foray into fantasy. Set in World War II London, the story includes demons, living statues, and a heroine who doesn't play nice. Francis discusses the fun of writing flawed female heroines - and villains - and why he wants to subvert his readers' expectations about World War II fiction.

Kathy Lette, the bestselling Australian author who burst onto the literary scene at just 17 with the iconic Puberty Blues, returns with her 21st book, The Sisterhood Rules. The novel celebrates the power of the sisterhood through the story of estranged twin sisters unexpectedly reunited when their mother goes missing. Kathy Lette talks with Claire about her lifelong writing journey, her signature pun‑filled humour, and why she delights in writing novels that mirror the stages of a woman's life (from puberty to menopause).

K-Pop thrills and Vampire kills with Jenny Tinghui Zhang and Shaun Micallef

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