The Book Show

Feb 02 2025 244 ep. 49 mins 650
The Book Show Podcast artwork

Your favourite fiction authors share the story behind their latest books.

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Juhea Kim: City of Night Birds

Feb 02 2025 20 mins  
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.

My Biggest Book 03 | Emma Donoghue on Room

Feb 01 2025 35 mins  
In this episode of My Biggest Book, where prominent authors ponder their breakthrough novels, Emma Donaghue recalls her 2010 novel Room. Inspired by the famous Fritzl case, it's about a boy and his mother held captive in a small room, the only world the child, Jack, has ever known. The book was shortlisted for the Booker and in 2015 the film version was released. That adaptation

David Baldacci; Sara Haddad's novella The Sunbird

Jan 26 2025 21 mins  
David Baldacci is the bestselling writer of heroes like Mickey Gibson and Aloysius Archer. He's written 50 books for adults as well as novels for younger readers. Some of his stories have been made into blockbuster movies or TV series. His latest, To Die For, features undercover agent Travis Devine as he faces his biggest challenge yet, protecting a 12 year old girl. At just over

My Biggest Book 02 | Hanif Kureishi on The Buddha of Suburbia

Jan 25 2025 33 mins  
There's an extra element to this second episode of My Biggest Book, where some of the world's biggest authors reminisce about their all-time biggest books. Hanif Kureishi's comedic novel The Buddha of Suburbia, about a father and a mixed race teenager growing up in the suburbs of 1970's South London won awards and was adapted to a successful TV series. Following the devastating a

The prolific Alexander McCall Smith

Jan 19 2025 16 mins  
Look in any library or book shop at any time of year and there's bound to be a newly released Alexander McCall Smith novel on the shelf. Most known for his No 1 Ladies' Detectives Agency Series, the 44 Scotland Series, and even books for children, he also writes standalone novels. Hear how he uses the seasons to write up to five books a year, including one of the latest, The Winds

My Biggest Book 01 | Audrey Niffenegger on The Time Traveler's Wife

Jan 18 2025 37 mins  
What is it like to write a book that changes your life? Some of the world’s biggest authors reminisce about their all-time biggest books – the novels that changed their lives. In the first of this breakthrough series Audrey Niffenegger reflects on her debut novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife. The 2003 book, about time-travelling librarian Henry and his artist wife Clare, was an

Summer reading with Andrew O'Hagan and Evie Wyld

Jan 12 2025 54 mins  
Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan explains why finishing his latest novel Caledonian Road was like "landing 65 planes on the tarmac" and award-winning author Evie Wyld on her new book The Echoes, and why there are so many sharks in her fiction. Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan's latest book Caledonian Road (Faber and Faber) is a big in length and Dickensian scope. It's an exploration o

Summer reading with Anne Enright

Jan 05 2025 54 mins  
At Adelaide Writers' Week, Booker Prize-winner Anne Enright speaks about the contradictions at the heart of families. Anne joined Claire Nichols in front of a live audience to talk about her latest book The Wren, The Wren. It's about a straight-laced mum, her-free-spirit daughter and the poet father who left them in the lurch. Anne also shared insights about her other books incl

Summer Reading with Celeste Ng

Dec 29 2024 54 mins  
From Sydney Writers' Festival, American author Celeste Ng shares how her latest novel Our Missing Hearts explores one of her deepest fears. Celeste Ng is known for her dark realist novels, Everything I Never Told You, and Little Fires Everywhere (which was adapted to the screen in 2020). Our Missing Hearts is set in a dystopian, near-future America, where anti-Asian sentiment has

Summer reading with Tim Winton, Kaliane Bradley and Siang Lu

Dec 22 2024 54 mins  
Tim Winton explains his urgency for writing about climate change in his new novel Juice, Kaliane Bradley on her bestseller The Ministry of Time which has attracted Barack Obama's attention and Siang Lu's ambitious and complicated novel Ghost Cities. Tim Winton shares the anger and frustration that compelled him to write his latest novel Juice. It's set in a future north-Australia