The Book Show

British author Onyi Nwabineli explores the scars of a child influencer in Allow Me to Introduce Myself, Ella Baxter writes back to her stalker in Woo Woo, and Melanie Cheng's The Burrow, a gentle novel about grief and a rabbit. Onyi Nwabineli is a British novelist who tackles the minefield of mumfluencers and child stars in her second novel, Allow Me to Introduce Myself. It's about former child influencer, Anuri, who's now 25 and still dealing with the legacy of her childhood being shared on social media.Australian visual artist and author Ella Baxter writes back to her stalker in her second novel Woo Woo (her first was New Animal), about a visual artist who confronts her stalker in the most powerful way she knows, through her art.The Burrow is the latest novel by Melbourne writer and GP Melanie Cheng, and follows her award winning books Australia Day and Room for a Stranger. The Burrow is about a grieving family who bring a rabbit into their home. Will it be a witness to a family healing or to a family falling further apart?

Today we take to you to two writers festivals: In Perth, Laura Jean McKay, Laurie Steed and Chemutai Glasheen reflect on what it means to bring their convictions to the page, and by the seaside in Sorrento, Victoria, poet, essayist and short story writer Nam Le retraces his roots as a storyteller.At the Perth Festival Writers Weekend, Claire Nichols spoke to three authors whose recent short story collections unapologetically focus on their respective passions. Laura Jean McKay writes about non-human animals in her collection Gunflower and in her Miles Franklin shortlisted novel The Animals in That Country. Kenyan born, WA based writer Chemutai Glasheen's collection of young adult short stories, I Am the Mau, explores human rights and life in Africa. And Perth based author, Laurie Steed focuses on relationships and male vulnerability in his collection Greater City Shadows.And at the Sorrento Writers Festival, Sarah L'Estrange spoke to writer Nam Le about his collection of poetry 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem as well as his writing journey and how he wrote his celebrated short story collection, The Boat (2008).

Bestselling author of Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam explores money obsession in his novel Entitlement, plus Jock Serong gets magical in Cherrywood and writer-doctor Jumaana Abdu's debut novel, Translations.American author, Rumaan Alam's bestselling last book, Leave the World Behind, was adapted to the screen starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke. His new book is Entitlement and while it explores themes of power, race and class it also begs us to ask ourselves "does money really buy happiness?" Set in New York, it's about a young, middle class black woman, who's hired to help an old rich white man give away his billions. Rumaan also reflects on what the success of Leave the World Behind has given him as a writer.Australian author Jock Serong's seventh novel Cherrywood is a mystery touched with a hint of magic and is a divergence from his previous, heavily researched fiction about Bass Strait and Australia's colonial past (The Settlement, Perseverance and The Burning Island). Cherrywood is a story about trees, love and grand follies and is a braided narrative about an early 20th century Scottish industrialist and a successful (but miserable) lawyer in 1990s Melbourne.Doctor-turned-writer, Jumaana Abdu's debut novel, Translations, is about a woman who wants a small, quiet life but who discovers life doesn't always work out as planned. Jumaana explains how she wrote the novel while she was studying medicine and also, how Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre was an inspiration. 

Richard Osman has followed up his bestselling crime series The Thursday Murder Club with a new series, the first instalment is We Solve Murders. Plus Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar explains how dreams are woven into his novel Martyr! and Dylin Hardcastle on their novel that began with the idea of a kiss.Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club and its sequels are so popular that a screen adaptation is underway. Not content with this success, Richard has begun a new crime series with a book called We Solve Murders. He explains who he writes for, why he prefers to stay home and watch snooker over jet setting, and why he calls himself a writer first and foremost.Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American poet whose debut novel Martyr! has been championed by former US President Barack Obama in his 2024 Summer Reading List. The novel follows Cyrus Shams who's in his late 20s and is struggling with addiction and sobriety and channels his existential doubts into a poetry project about martyrdom. Lisa Simpson and Rumi also make cameos in the story.The Australian writer Dylin Hardcastle's new book is A Language of Limbs. It's set in the 1970s and it's about the parallel lives of two women: one, a young queer woman who embraces her desires and her attraction to women and another who rejects them, in the hope of a more so-called 'conventional' life. Is it a sliding-doors narrative or are they different people?

Elif Shafak, a celebrated British-Turkish author, explores nature's storytelling power in her new novel, tracing water’s role through time. Kaliane Bradley discusses her bestselling time-travel saga that caught Barack Obama's eye, blending history and love amidst contemporary challenges. Nicola Moriarty dives into family drama with 'Every Last Suspect,' revealing layers of character and societal expectations. Together, they illuminate the interconnectedness of water, identity, and creativity, especially in an era of climate crisis and emotional apathy.

Meena Kandasamy is an Indian born poet, novelist, rebel and activist who's been threatened and harassed for her writing. From the Byron Writers Festival she explains why she keeps going despite the threats.  She is also celebrated for her innovative approach to storytelling. Her debut novel The Gypsy Goddess (2015) was about the 1968 massacre of Dalit agricultural workers. Her book When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife is about her own experience of domestic violence. Her latest work is a collection of poetry called Tomorrow Someone Will Arrest You. She told Claire Nichols about the importance of ego as a writer, her family background raised in a house of academics and rebels and the challenge of being an activist. 

Award-winning author Evie Wyld on her new book The Echoes, and why there are so many sharks in her fiction. Plus, Catherine McKinnon's epic war novel To Sing of War and Jordan Prosser's band road trip novel, Big Time.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.Catherine McKinnon is a playwright, critic and novelist. Her second novel Storyland was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin. Catherine's third book, To Sing of War, is set during World War 2 and asks what makes this war different. It's a braided story that threads multiple perspectives from characters in different places, including the Australians fighting against the Japanese in New Guinea and those developing of the atomic bomb in New Mexico, USA.Big Time is the debut novel from Australian screenwriter-turned novelist Jordan Prosser. It's a band road trip story set in a futuristic, fascist Australia where a popular drug gives users a glimpse of their future.August is Australian Poetry Month and to celebrate Radio National is bringing you brand new poems commissioned by Red Room Poetry. Laura Panopoulos is a Tasmanian-based poet who also runs Silver Words, a monthly open mic spoken word event in Hobart. Laura's poem is called Perimeter of Rectangles. For more information about Poetry Month, visit Red Room Poetry.

Booker Prize shortlisted Nigerian author Chigozie Obioma joined Claire Nichols at Byron Writers Festival to discuss his latest novel The Road to the Country about civil war in Nigeria.Now based in the US, Chigozie Obioma's first two novels The Fishermen (2015) and An Orchestra of Minorities (2019) were shortlisted for The Booker Prize. His third novel The Road to the Country is about the Biafran War that tore through Nigeria from 1967 to 1970. At the Byron Writers Festival, he reflected on the idea imparted by his mother that 'stories of war are never complete', why she hasn't read his book and tells Claire Nichols what it was like growing up in a large family. 

For Science Week, The Book Show goes intergalactic in a star themed episode. Ceridwen Dovey, Alicia Sometimes, Nardi Simpson, Max Barry and Emily St John Mandel explore how celestial tales reveal deep truths about our lives on earth.From the fabulously weird stories about space junk in Only the Astronauts (Ceridwen Dovey) to the star dust fuelled poetry of Stellar Atmospheres (Alicia Sometimes) we pay tribute to the connections between the night sky and literature.Books and authors mentioned:Song of the Crocodile by Nardi SimpsonOnly the Astronauts by Ceridwen DoveyStellar Atmospheres by Alicia SometimesProvidence by Max BarrySea of Tranquillity by Emily St John Mandel

Hollywood star Keanu Reeves and British science fiction author China Miéville reveal how they collaborated to to write the novel The Book of Elsewhere. Plus, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, author of Fleishman Is In Trouble and Indigenous Australian author, Anita Heiss.The Book of Elsehwere (Del Rey) is based on a comic book series that Keanu Reeves developed called BRZRKR. It's gory and it's novelisation by science fiction guru China Miéville is just as gory. Claire finds how how and why they worked together on this project.New York writer, Taffy Brodesser-Akner talks about the difficult second novel. She had a dream run with her debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and was adapted to the screen. Her second novel, Long Island Compromise (Wildfire), is the saga of the Fletcher family who are a rich, Jewish family that has lived through an unimaginable ordeal and come out the other side, or have they?And Indigenous Australian author Anita Heiss has a new work of historical fiction called Dirrayawadha which is centred around the Wiradjuri Wars. These were the violent conflicts in and around Bathhurst between the Wiradjuri people and white settlers in the 1800s.