The Book Show

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. 

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 was also written by Emma Donoghue, and it won an Oscar for Brie Larson, who played Jack's mother, Ma. But these accolades came later in her writing career and Emma has some sage advice for younger authors.

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 75 pages, Sara Haddad's The Sunbird, a parable about a Palestinian woman in her 80s haunted by an attack on her hometown is concise and passionate. So much so that a group of prominent Australian writers sent the novella as part of suggested educational reading about conflict in the Middle East to every MP in the country.

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 accident that left him a tetraplegic and in a wheelchair, Hanif Kureishi now has a very different perspective. In a colourful and spirited conversation he describes how this accident two years ago transformed his views both on this debut novel as well as the themes and approaches to his current writing, including his memoir Shattered.

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 from Further West, Polygon.

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 instant bestseller. It’s been adapted to the screen twice, as a film in 2009 and a TV series in 2022. 

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 of life in London — a world of intellectuals and elites, Russian oligarchs and human traffickers, rappers, DJs, wellness assistants and those who seek to shake up the whole rotten system. First broadcast 22 April 2024.Evie Wyld is one of the few Australian writers to win both the Miles Franklin and the Stella Prizes (the Miles for All the Birds, Singing, and the Stella for The Bass Rock). She is drawn to the paranormal and gothic in her fiction and this atmosphere imbues her new book, The Echoes, which is partly narrated by a ghost. Evie shares her go to writing tip (yes, it has to do with sharks) and the appeal of the TV series Neighbours when she was growing up in England. First broadcast 25 August 2024.

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 including Actress, The Gathering (Booker Prize winner 2007) and Making Babies. And she offered her theory on why Irish poets don't drink!First broadcast Monday 11 March 2024.

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 peaked, books are disappearing from the shelves, and children are being taken away from their families.It's a chilling world but as Claire Nichols discovers at this Sydney Writers' Festival event, there is also hope in art, poetry, and family.First Broadcast 3 June 2024

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 where resources are scarce and people are scarred by the sun and spend months living underground to escape the heat. Winton reflects on the sense of urgency he feels around climate change and the role of fiction to address big topics. First broadcast 21 August 2024.The Ministry of Time by British-Cambodian author Kaliane Bradley is listed on former US president Barack Obama annual summer reading list this year. It's a time travel novel in which a handful of (mostly) fictional historical characters who've been transplanted from their time period to a near future England. It's about love, refugees, bureaucracy and the doomed Franklin Arctic expedition. First broadcast 9 September 2024.Siang Lu is the author of the silly but serious novel The Whitewash which was a satire, presented as an oral history, about the making of a disastrous movie. Siang's second novel Ghost Cities is equally ambitious, complicated and fun as it weaves between a storyline set in the modern day and another set in ancient China. First broadcast 24 June 2024.