The Book Show

Booker winner George Saunders on his short story addiction, Inga Simpson on the great Australian cricket novel and pandemic fiction for kids.

Alex Miller and Patricia Cornwell talk about ageing and fiction and their novels A Brief Affair and Livid, and we explore the line between fact and fiction with historical novelists Jock Serong, Eleanor Limprecht and Sienna Brown.

Actor Joseph Paterson shines a spotlight on Black British history, Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk's Ottoman Empire saga and Australian Fiona McFarlane goes in search of a lost boy in 1883.

Graham Norton, Diana Reid and Holly Throsby discuss why they enjoy writing about women in fiction. Graham Norton's fourth novel Forever Home is about a woman saying a slow goodbye to her partner (and wondering about a weird smell in the basement). Diana Reid's second novel Seeing Other People unapologetically explores the anxieties of young, educated women in Sydney and musician Holly Throsby's novel Clarke is partly inspired by the case of Lynette Dawson, who famously went missing from her family home in the 1980s.

Ian Rankin's detective John Rebus has been part of the literary world for 35 years and now his 24th Rebus novel has just landed, A Heart Full of Headstones. Discover the hard centre of Victoria Hannan's new novel Marshmallow and find out what an ear prostitute is with Singaporean writer Clarissa Goenawan's Watersong.

Barbara Kingsolver explains her connection to Charles Dickens and why her latest Demon Copperhead is set in Appalachia, USA. Sophie Cunningham's almost 20 year grapple with her latest book This Devastating Fever and apples, orchards and rabbits in Tasmanian author Robbie Arnott's third novel, Limberlost.

Shehan Karunatilaka is the winner of the 2022 Booker Prize for his book The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. He spoke to The Book Show about setting the novel during the Sri Lankan Civil War and the importance of bearing witness to its horrors. 

Three literary superstars share the inspiration for their books and how to give a character a good ending: Holly Ringland, Elizabeth Strout and Jane Harper. They discuss their books The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding, Oh William! and Exiles.

Former winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction Kamila Shamsie and Booker Prize-shortlisted author NoViolet Bulawayo reflect on the demise of dictators in their respective countries Pakistan and Zimbabwe and the impact this has had on their lives. Shamsie's new novel is Best of Friends, while Bulawayo has been shortlisted for her book Glory. Also, Australian author Chris Womersley revisits 90s haunts in inner city Melbourne for his gritty novel The Diplomat.

Finding joy in fiction with Pulitzer winner Andrew Sean Greer whose lovable character Arthur Less returns in Less is Lost and Craig Silvey's Runt, a book for children and adults young at heart. And the joy of being on the Booker Prize shortlist with Shehan Karunatilaka whose satire The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is set in 1989 during the Sri Lankan Civil War.