The Bookshelf

Australian author Rhett Davis re-imagines the everyday in his novels. In his latest, Arborescence, ordinary people begin transforming into trees. Is it a cult? Performance art? Or something else entirely? Also on the show: Guest reviewer Roanna Gonsalves discusses Saraswati, the debut novel by Gurnaik Johal, which winds its narrative around a sacred and possibly mythical river in North India. And, Kate Evans speaks with Irish writer Colm Tóibín, delving into the literary influences that have shaped his work. BOOKS Rhett Davis, Arborescence, Hachette Gurnaik Johal, Saraswati, Serpent’s Tail Colm Toibin, works GUESTS Roanna Gonsalves is a writer, teacher of creative writing at UNSW, and editor of the literary journal, Southerly Colm Toibin, Irish novelist and essayist – whose books include The Blackwater Lightship, Nora Webster, Brooklyn, The Master, The Magician – and his latest, Long Island. He spoke to Kate Evans at the 2025 Sydney Writers Festival OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJane Austen, worksFiona McFarlane, Highway 13Italo Calvino, The Baron in the TreesJ.R.R. Tolkein, worksMalcolm Knox The First FriendRaaza Jamshed, What Kept YouGeorgia Rose Phillips, The BearcatGustave Flaubert, Madame BovaryThomas Hardy, The Mayor of CasterbridgeHenry James, worksThomas Mann, worksJames Baldwin, worksCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Simon Branthwaite Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A critical assessment of the shortlist and winner of Australia’s most prestigious literary award, The Miles Franklin Literary Award. Kate and Cassie are joined by guests, scholar and literary biographer (and former judge of the MFLA) Bernadette Brennan; and critic and publisher, Geordie Williamson.BOOKSBrian Castro, Chinese Postman, GiramondoMichelle de Kretser, Theory & Practice, TextWinnie Dunn, Dirt Poor Islanders, Hachette Julie Janson, Compassion, Magabala BooksFiona McFarlane, Highway 13, Allen & UnwinSiang Lu, Ghost Cities, UQP (WINNER)GUESTSBernadette Brennan, literary scholar; former judge for the Miles Franklin Literary Award  Geordie Williamson, chief literary critic, The Australian; publisher, Picador CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Parties, scandals, sex, love, families, friendship, death – these books have, as they say, all the things. Nell Zink’s Sister Europe moves through one night in Berlin, while Amy Bloom’s I’ll Be Right Here sweeps through 80 years of history, and in James Frey’s Next to Heaven, the beautiful and rich fall apart rather spectacularly.BOOKS Nell Zink, Sister Europe, Penguin Viking Amy Bloom, I’ll Be Right Here, Granta James Frey, Next to Heaven, Swift GUESTS Shannon Burns, writer and member of the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice at the University of Adelaide. His memoir, Childhood, was published in 2022 Suzanne Leal, writer and literary interviewer. She writes for both adults and children, and her novels include Deceptions, The Watchful Wife and The Teacher’s Secret. Her latest, The Year We Escaped, was published last monthOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJames Frey, worksRaynor Winn, The Salt PathColette, worksYuan Yang, Private RevolutionsLenora Thaker, The Pearl of Tagai TownPeter Grose, A Good Place to HidePablo Neruda, The Captain's VersesRobert Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and HarmonyBrian Castro, Chinese PostmanJANE AUSTEN EVENTStill Turning Heads at 250: Jane Austen’s Enduring CharmABC Radio National's The Bookshelf & The Minefield join forces with a literary scholar & the State Library of NSW on Austen the professional. Book your spot here CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls and Emrys CroninExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Stories of the sea – and a great white whale in Xiaolu Guo's Call Me Ishmaelle; Hungry ghosts and kitchen mishaps in Daria Lavelle's NYC set novel Aftertaste; and the latest Australian crime fiction (of which there is a lot!)BOOKS AUSTRALIAN CRIME FICTION: Mark Brandi, Eden Paul Daley, The Leap Sam Guthrie, The Peak Angie Faye Martin, Melaleuca  Michael Robotham, White Crow Tanya Scott, Stillwater Matthew Spencer, Broke Road Xiaolu Guo, Call Me Ishmaelle, Chatto & Windus Daria Lavelle, Aftertaste, Bloomsbury GUESTS Mark Dunn, historian whose latest book is The Convict Valley: The Bloody Struggle on Australia's Early Frontier Danielle Bagnato, writer and book critic – whose work appears in The Big Issue OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDLeo Tolstoy, War and PeaceFyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and PunishmentAlice Oseman, Radio SilenceTorrey Peters, Detransition, BabyDouglas Stewart, Young MungoHerman Melville, Moby DickJoseph Conrad, Heart of DarknessRichard Flanagan, Question 7V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRueCatherine Webb, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry AugustSayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman; Vanishing WorldCharlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark ShoreCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Simon Branthwaite and Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A panel of international authors discuss the current state of the art of fiction. The latest Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey, Rumaan Alam, Torrey Peters, and Robbie Arnott find connections in their writing and their bookshelves.PANELLISTSSamantha Harvey, an English writer whose five novels include The Wilderness, Dear Thief, and the 2024 Booker Prize winner, Orbital. Her non-fiction work is The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not SleepingRumaan Alam, an American writer whose five novels include Rich and Pretty, Leave the World Behind and Entitlement.Torrey Peters, an American writer of novels, short stories and novellas, including her debut novel Detransition, Baby and a new collection, Stag Dance.Robbie Arnott, an Australian writer whose novels are Flames, The Rain Heron, Limberlost and Dusk.------------------------OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDThomas Mann, The Magic MountainGeorge Orwell, 1984Emily St. John Mandel, Station ElevenMelanie Cheng, The BurrowHelen Garner, The Children’s BachKazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me GoEdward St Aubyn, Parallel Lines------------------------CREDITSPresenter, Kate EvansProducer, Kate Evans & Salome Lines-MorisonSound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite & Timothy JenkinsExecutive Producer, Rhiannon Brown

The same question is at the heart of three very different international novels on The Bookshelf this week, “What really happened”…To a WWI soldier who has forgotten his name and identity in The Remembered Soldier by Dutch author Anjet Daanje?To a fortune teller for the elite class in Ben Okri’s Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-hearted?When four high achieving American boys entered a cave, and one emerged terribly hurt, In Sameer Pandya’s Our Beautiful Boys?Keep scrolling for a full list of all books mentioned on this week's program.BOOKSAnjet Daanje, The Remembered Soldier (translated from the Dutch by David McKay), Scribe Ben Okri, Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-hearted, Apollo Sameer Pandya, Our Beautiful Boys,  Bloomsbury   GUESTS Tom Wright, theatre writer and adapter, and Artistic Associate at Belvoir Street Theatre.Bronwyn Rivers, researcher and novelist whose debut, The Reunion was released this year. She also has a PhD on the 19th century novel.OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDBronwyn Rivers, The ReunionMax Porter, Grief is the Thing With FeathersJoan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging RockBen Okri, The Famished RoadWilliam Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s DreamT. S. Eliot, The Waste LandWilliam Shakespeare, As You Like ItT. S. Eliot, The Hollow MenBen Okri, The Freedom ArtistE. M. Forster, A Passage to IndiaChristos Tsiolkas, The SlapCurzio Malaparte, The SkinOlga Tokarczuk, The Books of JacobVictor Hugo, Les MisérablesHerman Melville, Moby-DickOlga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the DeadKazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the SunIan McEwan, Machines Like MeWilkie Collins, The Woman in WhiteKate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie NovelCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans & Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans & Salome Lines-MorisonSound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite & Tegan NichollsExecutive Producer, Rhiannon Brown

What would make a great Australian sporting novel? Our guests discuss translating the love of the game, footy nicknames, and intense team culture in ex-AFL player Brandon Jack’s Pissants.And making sport of the Melbourne literary scene, Dominic Amarena’s debut novel I Want Everything is a clever, celebratory satire. Kate and Cassie also review the 2025 International Booker Prize winner Heart Lamp, a collection of short stories from southern India. Meanwhile, back home, The Miles Franklin shortlist has been announced.Miles Franklin Literary Award Shortlist:Brian Castro, Chinese Postman Michelle de Kretser, Theory & PracticeWinnie Dunn, Dirt Poor IslandersJulie Janson, CompassionSiang Lu, Ghost CitiesFiona McFarlane, Highway 13BOOKSBanu Mushtaq, Heart Lamp: selected stories (translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhashti), Scribe Brandon Jack, Pissants, Summit Books Australia  Dominic Amarena, I Want Everything, Summit Books Australia  GUESTS James Button, writer, editor and journalist, whose books include Comeback: The Fall and Rise of Geelong, and Speechless: A Year in my Father's Business, about his time working as a speechwriter for Kevin Rudd and what that taught him about his own father's life, John Button, Minister for Industry in the Hawke and Keating Governments. Beejay Silcox, writer, literary critic, and regular interviewer at writers’ festivals. -----------OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDJames Button, Comeback: The Fall and Rise of GeelongJames Button, Speechless: A Year in my Father’s BusinessJane Austen, Sense and SensibilityRita Bullwinkel, HeadshotBrandon Jack, 28Leigh Matthews, Accept the ChallengeIrvine Welsh, TrainspottingChuck Palahniuk, Fight ClubHelen Garner, The SeasonDavid Williamson, The ClubJun'ichirō Tanizaki, The Makioka SistersHalldór Laxness, Independent PeopleGeorge Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), MiddlemarchR. F. Kuang, YellowfaceR. F. Kuang, KatabasisLucas Schaefer, The SlipDavid Remnick, King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero-----------CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans & Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans & Salome Lines-MorisonSound Engineer, Roi Huberman & Dylan PrinsExecutive Producer, Rhiannon Brown

The latest best-selling novels from Taylor Jenkins-Reid (Atmosphere) and Fredrik Backman (My Friends) explore 1980s astronauts, ambition and romance; and teenage anguish, friendship and art. Emotive and cinematic, how often is popular fiction written for the screen?Speaking of the screen, screenwriter Thomas Vowles’ debut novel Our New Gods takes us on a twisted psychological thriller through gay saunas, bush doofs, and the grit of Melbourne’s queer scene.BOOKSThomas Vowles, Our New Gods, UQPFredrik Backman, My Friends (Translated from Swedish by Neil Smith), Simon and SchusterTaylor Jenkins-Reid, Atmosphere, Hutchinson Heinemann(Keep scrolling to see all other books mentioned on the program)GUESTSTegan Bennett-Daylight, author and teacher of creative writing, whose books include the novels Bombora and What Falls Away; the essay collection, The Details; the short story collection, Six Bedrooms; and the Young Adult novels Royals and (her latest) How to Survive 1985. She’s a Bookshelf regular.Richard Aedy, longtime Radio National colleague (whose programs included The Money and Life Matters); now producing a podcast for the Productivity Commission: The ProdCast; Also a Bookshelf regular.  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDTaylor Jenkins-Reid, Daisy Jones & The SixHolden Sheppard, King of DirtBret Easton Ellis, The ShardsTegan Bennett-Daylight, RoyalsTegan Bennett-Daylight, How to Survive 1985Fredrik Backman, A Man Called OveFredrik Backman, BeartownFredrik Backman, Anxious PeoplePercival Everett, JamesSamantha Harvey, OrbitalCeridwen Dovey, Only The AstronautsTaylor Jenkins-Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn HugoTaylor Jenkins-Reid, Malibu RisingTaylor Jenkins-Reid, Carrie Soto is Back: A NovelKaliane Bradley, The Ministry of TimeKevin Barry, The Heart in WinterKevin Barry, Night Boat to TangierSarah Holland-Batt, The JaguarMichelle de Krester, Theory & PracticeSharleigh Crittenden, The Un-doing (Published in Island magazine #173)Ben Lerner, The Hatred of PoetryBen Lerner, The Topeka SchoolBen Lerner, Leaving the Atocha StationBen Lerner, 10:04CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans & Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans & Salome Lines-MorisonSound Engineer, John Jacobs & Anne-Marie de BettencorExecutive Producer, Rhiannon Brown

A guide to James Joyce from Irish writer Mary Morrissy, ahead of Bloomsday (16 June); New Zealand writer Becky Manawatu continues to explore howls of pain and compassion in her second novel, Kataraina; and magic realism in the boundaries between life and death, and Eastern Europe, in Helen Marshall's The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death. BOOKSJames Joyce, Ulysses (1922)Mary Morrissy, Penelope Unbound, Banshee PressBecky Manawatu, Kataraina, ScribeHelen Marshall, The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death, Titan Books(Keep scrolling for a list of all other books mentioned on the program)GUESTSMary Morrissy, Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist and teacher of creative writing. Her books include Penelope Unbound — a speculative history of the life of Norah Barnacle, wife of James Joyce. She is currently in Australia and taking part in Bloomsday EventsClaire Mabey, NZ children's author, editor and founder of the Verb Wellington readers and writers festival. Her novel, The Raven's Eye Runaways, has just been named as a finalist in the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young AdultsRobert Goodman, reviewer and literary judge specialising in genre fiction (he's been a judge and organiser for the Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction since 2008; regularly reviews for the Newtown Review of Books — and is one of the most active members of the ABC Book Club Facebook Group). His website is pilebythebed.comOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDAlan Hollinghurst, worksJames Joyce, Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnegan's WakeCatherine Chidgey, The Book of GuiltKazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me GoJennifer Trevelyan, A Beautiful FamilyFrancesca Wade, Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the WarsRay Nayler, Where the Axe is BuriedLuke Arnold, Whisper in the WindEmily Tesh, The IncandescentCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Salome Lines-MorisonSound engineers, JOhn Jacobs and Roi HubermanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Fiction from all over the world, crossing genres, borders and ideas in American crime writer S A Cosby's King of Ashes, a gripping tale of family, smoke, and fire; Irish writer Sean Hewitt’s Open, Heaven, a beautifully woven story about longing, escape and memory; and, first up, The Name of the Sister, the latest from acclaimed Australian literary novelist Gail Jones.BOOKS Gail Jones, The Name of the Sister, Text S A Cosby, King of Ashes, Headline Seán Hewitt, Open, Heaven, Jonathan Cape GUESTS Toby Schmitz, actor, playwright and author – whose historical crime novel The Empress Murders has just been released Steve MinOn, writer whose debut novel First Name Second Name was published in March of this year OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDAlan Hollinghurst, worksDiana Preston, A Higher Form of KillingMartin Amis, Time's ArrowMax Porter, Grief is the Thing with FeathersDahlia de la Cerda, Reservoir BitchesGarth Jones, Black PillsLaura Elvery, NightingaleCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Harvey O'SullivanExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown