The Bookshelf

Kate and Cassie on stage at the 2025 Brisbane Writers Festival with authors Eric Puchner, Toni Jordan, Patrick Holland, and Zeynab Gamieldien, discussing their most recent novels and the books and writers who inspire them. This discussion was recorded in front of a live audience, just ahead of our Top 100 Books of the Century.It was first broadcast on Friday 17 October 2025GUESTSEric Puchner, novelist, academic, and short story writer, whose books include the collections Last Day on Earth and Music Through the Floor, and the novels Model Home and (his latest) Dream StateToni Jordan, a writer whose novels include Nine Days, Our Tiny, Useless Hearts, Prettier If She Smiles More, Dinner with the Schnabels . . . and her latest, TenderfootPatrick Holland is a writer and academic, and author of eight books, including the novel The Mary Smokes Boys and — his latest — Oblivion. He lives between Hong Kong and BrisbaneZeynab Gamieldien is a writer whose first novel, The Scope of Permissibility, won the inaugural WestWords/Ultimo Prize (for emerging writers from Western Sydney); and her second novel, Learned Behaviours, has just been publishedBOOKS MENTIONED BY ERIC PUCHNER•    James Salter, Light Years•    Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad•    Joy Williams, works•    Willa Cather, My Ántonia•    Jhumpa Lahiri, A Temporary Matter•    Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping•    Evan S. Connell, Mrs. Bridge•    César Aira, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape PainterBOOKS MENTIONED BY TONI JORDAN•    Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones•    Trent Dalton, Boy Swallows Universe•    Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall•    Zadie Smith, White Teeth•    Alexis Wright, Carpentaria•    Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet•    Richard Ford, CanadaBOOKS MENTIONED BY PATRICK HOLLAND•    Yasunari Kawabata, Snow Country•    Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights•    Ernest Hemingway, 88 Poems•    Leah Swann, Bearings•    Felix Calvino, works•    Brian Castro, works•    Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse•    Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian; All the Pretty Horses•    Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of GenjiBOOKS MENTIONED BY ZEYNAB GAMIELDIEN•    Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake•    Tara June Winch, The Yield•    Hisham Matar, The Return; My Friends•    Anne Enright, The Gathering•    Colm Tóibín, Brooklyn; Long Island•    Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These•    Sally Rooney, IntermezzoOTHER BOOKS AND WRITERS MENTIONED•    J.G. Ballard, works•    Graham Greene, The Quiet American•    David Malouf, works•    Patrick White, works•    Curtis Sittenfeld, Show Don't Tell•    David Mitchell, worksCREDITS•    Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh•    Producer, Kate Evans + Sarah Corbett•    Sound engineer, Steve Fieldhouse + Harvey O'Sullivan•    Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown

The Bookshelf's Kate Evans and the Book Show's Claire Nichols joined forces onstage at the 2025 Sydney Writers Festival — with a panel of international writers — to talk favourite and influential books from the 21st century, in the lead up to the inaugural Top 100 Books countdown of the twenty-first century. This live broadcast happened in May 2025 — with Emirati poet Afra Atiq, English chronicler of gay lives, Alan Hollinghurst, Argentinian purveyor of all things dark and surprising, Mariana Enriquez, and New Zealand novelist with a dystopian edge, Catherine Chidgey.This discussion was first broadcast live on Friday 23 May 2025For more details of the final Top 100 Books of the 21st Century countdown, follow the link hereBOOKS MENTIONED in this programALAN HOLLINGHURSTAlice Munro, RunawayDavid Szalay, All That Man IsPeter Carey, True History of the Kelly GangBryan Washington, LotClaire Keegan, Small Things Like These; FosterMARIANA ENRIQUEZCormac McCarthy, The RoadDennis Cooper, The SlutsJorge Luis Borges, worksHoracio Castellanos Moya, SenselessnessCATHERINE CHIDGEYJoan Didion, The Year of Magical ThinkingJohn D'Agata and Jim Fingal, The Lifespan of a FactMelissa Lucashenko, EdenglassieAnna Smaill, The ChimeOTHERSPaul Lynch, Prophet SongKate Grenville, The Secret RiverSarah Winman, Still LifeMarkus Zusak, The Book ThiefMelissa Lucashenko, Too Much LipDonna Tartt, The GoldfinchAnn Patchett, Bel CantoHilary Mantel, Wolf HallPip Williams, The Dictionary of Lost WordsTrent Dalton, Lola in the MirrorRobbie Arnott, LimberlostAmor Towles, A Gentleman in MoscowGeraldine Brooks, Year of WonderMin Jin Lee, PachinkoVirginia Woolf, To the LighthouseCREDITS•    Presenter: Kate Evans, Claire Nichols•    Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett•    Sound engineer: Emrys Cronin, Hamish Camilleri, Harvey O'Sullivan•    Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Why aren't you reading more poetry? Perhaps you don't know where to begin — in which case, listen here, for a guide.Join Kate Evans, as she is joined by acclaimed author and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke, Stella Prize-winning poet and academic Sarah Holland-Batt, much-loved broadcaster and author Daniel Browning, and best-selling author and journalist Julia Baird to discuss and read some of the poems that have shone brightest for each of them this century, as well as how the art-form has evolved.This event was presented at the State Library of NSW in partnership with Red Room Poetry.This event was first broadcast on 3 October 2025POETS AND POETRY MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE•    Warsan Shire, Home•    Adam Zagajewski, Try to Praise the Mutilated World•    Graeme Dixon, Six Feet of Land Rights•    Gwen Harwood, In the Park•    Anonymous Rose, Broken World•    Zora Howard and Joshya Bennett, Still Life with Police Sirens•    Ali Cobby Eckermann, works•    Simon Armitage, The Shout•    Evelyn Araluen, decolonial poetics (avant gubba)•    Candy Royale, works•    Max Porter, worksCREDITSPresenter, Kate EvansProducer, Kate Evans, Lisa NeedhamSound engineer, Ann Marie Debettencor + Harvey O'SullivanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Colm Tóibín onstage at the 2025 Sydney Writers Festival with The Bookshelf's Kate Evans — on fiction, fridges, rain, hinges, melodrama, reading, and why he can't write American dialogue so every character he writes has to be Irish (except, of course, when they're Thomas Mann and family). This is a conversation that begins in his hometown of Enniscorthy, site of his novels Nora Webster, The Blackwater Lightship, Brooklyn and Long Island — and the site of his memories and overheard conversations — and moves on to his bookshelves, writing, and the story of a tongue. Really.

In the year of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, this lively and thought-provoking discussion explores her life, legacy, and literary brilliance — her novels are charming, sure, but also radical, political, witty, and entertaining.Presented in partnership with the State Library of NSW, this event brings together Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh from The Bookshelf, with Scott Stephens from Radio National's The Minefield, and Sophie Gee, English Professor at Princeton, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow in the humanities at the University of Sydney, and co-host of the Secret Life of Books podcast, for a conversation that delves into Austen’s sharp observations on friendship, ambition, money, love, power, and equality.This program was first broadcast on 12 September 2025CREDITSPanellists: Kate Evans, Cassie McCullagh, Scott Stephens, Sophie GeeProducer: Kate Evans, Amanda RobertsSound engineer: John JacobsEditors: Muditha Dias, Rhiannon Brown

It's Christmas, 1962, and a baby is born . . . and left behind, in Ireland. This all takes place in the fictional town of Faha, a place created by write Niall Williams in his novels History of the Rain, This is Happiness and (his latest, and the one featuring said baby) Time of the Child.Niall Williams spoke to The Bookshelf's Kate Evans onstage at the 2025 Adelaide Writers Week.(A longer version of this discussion was broadcast on Friday 18 April 2025. You can listen to it here:The Bookshelf Easter Special: Irish writer Niall Williams — ABC listenPresenter/ Producer: Kate EvansSound engineer: Harvey O'SullivanArts Editor: Rhiannon Brown

Whodunnit, whydunit, and where in time was all of it done — in an historical crime fiction special for our Summer Bookshelf. Kate Evans, onstage at the 2025 BAD Sydney Crime Festival, with novelists Nilima Rao (the story of an Indian police officer in Fiji in the 1910s), Michael Burge (religious communities and Jenolan caves in the 1850s), and Lainie Anderson (women policing Adelaide in the 1910s).This discussion was recorded at the site of one of Australia's oldest lending libraries — the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts.BOOKSNilima Rao, A Shipwreck in Fiji, Echo PublishingMichael Burge, The Watchnight, HistriaLainie Anderson, Murder on North Terrace, HachetteGUESTSNilima Rao, creator of the Akal Singh series set in Fiji — whose latest, and second in the series, is A Shipwreck in FijiMichael Burge, journalist and novelist whose books include Tank Water and Dirt Trap — and his latest, The WatchnightLainie Anderson, also a journalist and novelist, and creator of the Kate Cocks series of novels set in Adelaide — the second of which is Murder on North Terrace. She has also written a PhD on the real historical figure of Kate CocksPresenter/ Producer: Kate EvansSound engineers: Timothy Jenkins, Harvey O'SullivanArts Editor: Rhiannon Brown

Trent Dalton (Gravity Let Me Go, Boy Swallows Universe), Heather Rose (A Great Act of Love, Bruny) and Garry Disher (the Peninsula Crimes and Hirsch series) name some of their favourite books, and the titles may delight and surprise you. Hosted by Kate and Cassie as part of this year's Canberra Writers' Festival.TRENT DALTON'S PICKSGeraldine Brooks, Year of WondersSteve Toltz, A Fraction of the WholeJohn Steinbeck, Grapes of WrathHEATHER ROSE'S PICKSTom Robbins, Still Life with WoodpeckerVirginia Woolf, OrlandoPeter Carey, The Fat Man in History; IllywhackerHaruki Murakami, The Wind Up Bird ChronicleWilliam Faulkner, Light in AugustJohn Steinbeck, Of Mice and MenToni Morrison, BelovedDavid Mitchell, Cloud AtlasGeorge Eliot, MiddlemarchGARRY DISHER'S PICKSRussell Braddon, The Naked IslandNicolas Monsarrat, The Cruel SeaRaymond Carver, worksRichard Ford, worksEvan Connell, Mrs BridgeColm Toibin, BrooklynAlice Munro, worksRon Rash, worksCormac McCarthy, Child of GodHelen Garner, The Children's BachKingsley Amis, worksClaire Keegan, worksJohn Sandford, worksMichael Connelly, worksIan Rankin, worksOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDStephen King, The Life of ChuckHannah Kent, DevotionJames Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManDorothy Dunnett, Lymond ChroniclesRichard Stark, Parker seriesDonald E. Westlake, Dortmunder seriesLloyd Jones, Mr Pip

The best books of 2025 as selected by Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans and a panel of bookish guests - Jason Steger, Jon Page and Robert Goodman. Keep scrolling for a full list...GUESTS Jason Steger, arts journalist. Former book editor of the Age & SMH, and panellist on ABC TV’s Book Club Jon Page, long time bookseller with Pages and Pages bookshop, former General Manager of Dymocks Sydney – and now, book-buyer for W.H. Smith Robert Goodman, reviewer and literary judge specialising in genre fiction; regularly reviews for the Newtown Review of Books. His website is pilebythebed.com Jason Steger's PicksOn-air:Flesh by David SzalayYou Must Remember This by Sean WilsonThe Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran DesaiLong Island by Colm TóibínMy Father Bryce by Adam CourtenayRunt and the Diabolical Dognapping by Craig SilveyExtras:My Sister and Other Lovers by Esther FreudJon Page's PicksOn-air:Buckeye by Patrick RyanUnbury the Dead by Fiona HardyFlashlight by Susan ChoiI Want Everything by Dominic AmarenaOne Day Everyone Will Have Been Against This by Omar El AkkadExtras:A Beautiful Family by Jennifer TrevelyanThe Body Next Door by Zane LovittThe Emperor of Gladness by Ocean VuongThe Rose Field [Book of Dust, Vol. 3] by Philip PullmanThe Names by Florence KnappRobert Goodman's PicksOn-air:Salvage by Jennifer MillsPicks and Shovels by Cory DoctorowWe Do Not Part by Han KangEden by Mark BrandiKing Sorrow by Joe HillShroud by Adrian TchaikovskyExtras:The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno GarciaEsperance by Adam OyebanjiWhere the Axe is Buried by Ray NaylerPerfection by Vincenzo LatronicoLion Hearts by Dan JonesRapture by Emily MaguireUnbury the Dead by Fiona HardyThe Impossible Thing by Belinda BauerThe Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd RobinsonHotel Ukraine by Martin Cruz SmithThe Hollow Girl by Lynn YeowartThe White Crow by Michael RobothamStillwater by Tanya ScottThe Reunion by Bronwyn RiversThe Peak by Sam GuthrieThe Seventh Floor by David McCloskyCasualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-SharmaCassie McCullagh's PicksOn-air:Dream State by Eric PuchnerTheft by Abdulrazak GurnahThe Transformations by Andrew PipposArborescence by Rhett DavisWhat We Can Know by Ian McEwanOn the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej BalleExtras:The Silver Book by Olivia LaingDancing in the Lift by Mandy SayerKate Evans' PicksOn-air:Mother Mary Come to Me by Arundhati RoyAlways Home, Always Homesick by Hannah KentMemorial Days by Geraldine BrooksThe Dream Hotel by Laila LalamiThe Remembered Soldier by Anjet DaanjeTwist by Colum McCannLandfall by James BradleyThe Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham JonesFierceland by Omar MusaChosen Family by Madeleine GrayExtras:On the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej BalleWe Do Not Part by Han KangThe Wax Child by Olga RavnTheft by Abdulrazak GurnahWhat We Can Know by Ian McEwanFlashlight by Susan ChoiI Want Everything by Dominic AmarenaCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Craig Tilmouth and Tegan NichollsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Superstars of the literary and musical world this week: Margaret Atwood’s new memoir; Hannah Kent’s critical readings; Stuart Coupe’s musical knowledge; Bob Dylan . . . OK, well he’s not exactly on the show, but he’s the subject of MUCH literary speculation in a buzzy new release by New Yorker Sam Sussman. Also – the voice of the wind howls, laughs and taunts its subjects, in an inventive piece of writing from Sarah Hall.BOOKS Sam Sussman, Boy from the North Country, Grove Press Sarah Hall, Helm, Faber Margaret Atwood, Books of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts, Chatto & Windus GUESTS Hannah Kent, novelist and memoirist whose books include Burial Rites, The Good People, Devotion and – most recently - Always Home, Always Homesick: A Love Letter to IcelandStuart Coupe, music writer and promoter whose books include Roadies: The Secret History of Australian Rock’n’ Roll; Shake Some Action: My Life In Music, (and Other Stuff); and – most recently – Saffron Incorporated: The First King Of King Of The Cross And Fifty Years Of Sex, Murder, Music And Mayhem OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDThe Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman, Niko StratisHarley Loco, Rayya EliasHappy Doll series, Jonathan AmesAll the Way to the River, Elizabeth GilbertThe History of Sound, Ben ShattuckLinea Maja Ernst, Waist Deep (translated by Sherilyn Hellberg)Deborah Levy, Hot MilkHeart the Lover, Lily KingBread of Angels, Patti SmithCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Hubermann and Harvey O'SullivanArts editor, Rhiannon Brown