From the Lighthouse

This week, Stephanie is joined by two special guests, Rita Jane Dashwood of Ghent University and Kelly Gardiner, to discuss Kelly and Sharmini Kumar's new book, Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective.

Join Michelle as she discusses Susan Francis's new novel Revelation Beach. The novel unflinchingly searches for answers to the brutal murders of the journalists known as the Balibo Five; its publication date coincides with the 50th Anniversary of their deaths. Revelation Beach is Susan Francis's second book. Her first, The Love that Remains was a Varuna PIP finalist. Trigger warning: This podcast discusses a violent period of history, the Indonesian invasion of Timor Leste, and includes references to state-condoned torture and rape.

Stephanie Russo talks to the bestselling novelist Lev Grossman about his 2024 novel The Bright Sword, a retelling of the Arthurian legends after the death of King Arthur.

Stephanie Russo chats with Ellie Crookes about her upcoming book, Joans of Arc Worldwide.

For this episode, Michelle is thrilled to interview the 2024 Penguin Literary Prize winner and recent Macquarie University Master of Creative Writing graduate on her fantastic new novel, The Occupation. This recording is part of Chloe's book launch event held at Macquarie University on 5th August 2025. 

Join Michelle as she talks with science fiction author Dr Chris Kulp about his latest novel Lost Origins: Book 1 The Majestic Chronicles, a rollicking space opera with heart and AI. Chris is a professor of physics at the University of Lycoming and the 2022 winner of the Mike Resnick Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Short Story by a New Author. His fiction has appeared in Galaxy's Edge magazine. He has also co-authored nearly 30 scientific articles and one textbook. 

This week Michelle and Jimmy interview Nebula-nominated author, Yaroslav Barsukov, about his new novel, Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory. Join them as they explore the intricacies and intrigues of this critically acclaimed genre-defying novel.

This week, Stephanie interviews the prolific novelist Harry Turtledove, known as the Master of Alternate History. They discuss alternate history as a genre, how to do historical research when you're writing alternative history, and why alternative histories are so relevant right now.

Join Michelle as she discusses The Other Side of Daylight, a new and collected poetry collection by prize-winning poet, novelist and essayist David Brooks.   Bio David Brooks has written numerous works of fiction, poetry, philosophy and criticism. His The Cold Front won the 1983 Anne Elder Award for the best first collection of poetry, the Sydney Morning Herald described his The Book of Sei (1985) as ‘the most exciting debut in Australian short fiction since Peter Carey’ and his collection The Balcony (2008) as ‘an electrical performance’, and he has recently been termed ‘one of Australia’s most important writers’, ‘one of the quiet masters of Australian poetry’, ‘a master of the short lyric poem’, and ‘a great contemporary poet’. From 2000-2018 he was co-editor of Southerly, and from 2000-2013 ran the graduate writing program at the University of Sydney. A long-standing vegan and animal rights activist, he lives in the Blue Mountains with rescued sheep. His latest works are The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems (UQP, 2024), Animal Dreams (essays; Sydney Univ. Press, 2021) and Turin: Approaching Animals (meditations; Brandl & Schlesinger, 2021). Three books, Ice Storm: A Slovenian Suite (Sanje [Ljubljana]), A.D. Hope: remembering a relationship (Brandl & Schlesinger), and Essay on Rights of Non-human Animals (Sanje [Ljubljana]), are forthcoming in 2025.

Michelle chats with Dr Toby Davidson, editor of Francis Webb's Collected Poems, about the comic element in his poetry of the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Webb (1925 - 73) is an enigma, a postwar prodigy respected by some of the loftiest names in Australian poetry - Judith Wright, Gwen Harwood, Les Murray, Robert Adamson - but largely unknown to the general public. 2025 marks 100 years since the poet's birth, and the Francis Webb Centenary will be marked with essays, podcasts and tribute readings to shine a fresh light on this North Sydney genius who astonished his contemporaries with his white-hot talent and fierce questioning of social norms, both of which are immediately evident in his character sketches, Shakespearean clowns and spiky satirical ripostes.    Francis Webb Centenary homepage (hosted by UWA Publishing): https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/blogs/marginalia/centenary-of-major-australian-poet-francis-webb?srsltid=AfmBOooROr-1QfHD21zlUOLgdi1IveEr8AHUiZBW-VA5gVwNxG3SwIU9   Ian Dickson's 2022 recital of 'A Drum for Ben Boyd' from the Australian Book Review podcast, introduced by ABR poetry editor John Hawke: https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/podcast/760-the-abr-podcast/8039-on-the-australian-poet-francis-webb-the-abr-podcast-66

Michelle talks to author and NASA astrophysicist Alan Smale about his science fiction series Apollo Rising. Alan also wrote the alternate history trilogy Clash of Eagles. Lachlan Marnoch, Macquarie University PhD researcher in astrophysics and science fiction writer and reader, helps Michelle navigate the terrain of 'hard' sci-fi.

This week Michelle and Dr James Mackenzie discuss the controversial, highly acclaimed, and highly divisive film, The Substance. Join them as they discuss intertextuality, body horror, and the universality of this phenomenal film. If you haven't seen the film yet, it is highly recommended that you watch the film first before listening to this podcast as James and Michelle will be discussing spoilers!

Join Michelle as she talks Romance and writing with award-winning author and academic at Flinders University, Amy Matthews. Amy also writes as Amy T. Matthews and hosts two podcasts Word Docs and Love on Campus. As Amy Barry, she is also the author of the beloved Old West Romance series, The McBrides of Montana.

Join Michelle as she talks with prize-winning author Katerina Gibson about her new novel The Temperature. Katerina Gibson (1994) is a writer and bookseller living in Naarm. Her debut collection Women I Know won the 2023 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, the Steele Rudd Award, and was shortlisted for the Glenda Adams Prize for New Writing. Her stories have appeared in HEAT, Granta, Overland, The Griffith Review, the Lifted Brow, Meanjin, and New Australian Fiction, among other places. Her story ‘Fertile Soil’ was the Pacific region winner of the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and was later translated into Italian. Katerina was named SMH 2023 Best Young Australian Novelist. Her debut novel The Temperature is forthcoming with Scribner in September 2024. Katerina is represented by Caitlan Cooper-Trent at Curtis Brown: [email protected] https://www.katerinagibson.com/

Join us today for a live recording of Dr Mykaela Saunders' Always Will Be Book Launch. Mykaela discussed her prize-winning book with Michelle, and the event was held at the Writers and Readers Lounge, Macquarie University, Wallumatta, Dharug Country. 

Join Michelle as she talks with prize-winning author, poet and theorist, Michelle Cahill. Daisy and Woolf was published to much critical acclaim in 2022 by Hachette. It's now on the cusp of publication in India. An anticolonial reframing of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, Michelle Cahill puts 'the dark, adorable' Eurasian side-character Daisy front and centre in this stunning novel. For mroe information on Michelle Cahill, please visit her website: https://michellecahill.com/

Join Michelle as she talks with author Kyra Geddes about writing and publishing The Story Thief, a novel about a young woman growing up in Sydney during the 1920s, and her connection to the iconic Henry Lawson short story, 'The Drover's Wife'.

This week, Stephanie, Michelle and Jimmy are joined by Faculty Executive Director, Dr Neil Durrant to discuss his new book, Nietzsche's Renewal of Ancient Ethics, which explores the importance of contest in friendships. 

As part of this year's MQ PACE project, Michelle Council interviews journalist and best-selling author, Clémence Michallon, about her novel, The Quiet Tenant.

This week, Stephanie is joined by Dr Adrian Renzo of Macquarie University and Dr Liz Guiffre of UTS to discuss their new book Kylie, on Kylie Minogue's self-titled debut album, which was recently released by Bloomsbury's 33 and 1/3 series.

In this episode of From the Lighthouse, Michelle talks with Sam Twyford-Moore about his latest book, Cast Mates that delves into Australian cinema and the actors who made it at home and in Hollywood.

As part of this year's MQ PACE project on Indigenous Australian Fiction, Kate Milne discusses Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss (pronounced "Hice") and Nardi Simpson's Song of the Crocodile.

As part of this year's MQ PACE project on Indigenous Australian Fiction, Jasmine Oke discusses Claire G. Coleman's Enclave with Indigenous artist and Macquarie University alumnus, Dylan Barnes. 

As part of this year's MQ PACE project on Indigenous Australian Fiction, Annie Paterson discusses Claire G. Coleman's The Old Lie as an example of Indigenous Speculative Fiction genre. 

Join Michelle as she interviews Clint Caward as he discusses his award-winning novel Love Machine.   Clint Caward is a novelist and freelance writer who has written for Overland, Meanjin, Southerly and reviews books for national publications. He has been awarded multiple domestic and international residences, been shortlisted for The Walter Stone Life Writing Award and won The Jim Hamilton Unpublished Manuscript Award. His novel Love Machine is published by Penguin. He currently teaches novel writing at Macquarie University.

This week we celebrate the 175th Anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre! In this episode, Gothic Literature specialist Kirstin Mills is joined by Master of Research candidate Rachel Baldacchino to explore what makes this Victorian novel and its many adaptations so enduringly popular.

Bruna Gomes, Australian-Brazilian poet, talks to Michelle about how to write poems and find inspiration, even during difficult times.   Bruna Gomes is an Australian-Brazilian novelist and poet. Her writing plants cultural and emotional history with new seeds. She is the author of How to Disappear (Encircle, 2021) and Triple Citizenship (Encircle, 2022). Her work is featured in various online journals, such as the Cordite Review, Dodging the Rain, The Pangolin Review, Paper Crane Journal, Cacti Fur, and The Quarry. In 2022, she was a writer in residence at The Museum of Loss and Renewal in Italy. Bruna was the winner of the 2020 Mosman Youth Awards in Literature. She was the recipient of the Fred Rush Convocation Prize (2022) and the Association of Heads of Independent Girls Schools Prize (2022). She was born in Boston, Massachusetts and lives on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

This week, Michelle talks with Kim Kelly about her latest book, The Rat-Catcher—long-listed for the Australian Historical Fiction Prize.    Kim Kelly is the author of twelve books, including the acclaimed novella Wild Chicory and bestselling novels The Blue Mile and Her Last Words. She is a book editor and reviewer as well, because too much narrative action is never enough. Her latest novella, The Rat Catcher: A Love Story, was shortlisted for Viva La Novella 2021, and longlisted for the 2022 Australian Historical Fiction prize. The Rat Catcher is published by Brio Books.  Kim lives and writes on Wiradjuri Country, in central-western New South Wales.  The Rat Catcher is available in paperback and ebook and can be purchased from Booktopia here. The audiobook is available now. Find out more about Kim and her work here.

Ned Bukarica interviews Emma Batchelor on her first novel Now That I See You.

Tessa Lunney, author of the Kiki Button historical espionage series, talks with Michelle Hamadache about Paris, plotting and how the present can galvanise the past when writing historical fiction.

Join Professor Hsu-Ming Teo as she explores the student perspective on reading Queer YA Romances, with special guests, Teyah Miller and Courtney Boulais. 

As part of this year's MQ Student Writers’ Festival, Teyah Miller, Courtney Boulais and Courtney Howell discuss Rhiannon Wilde's Henry Hamlet’s Heart and Sophie Gonzales' Perfect On Paper as examples of contemporary Queer YA Fiction. 

As part of this year's MQ Student Writers’ Festival, Kobra Sayyadi and Matilda Harrisson interview Stuart Everly-Wilson on his first novel, Low Expectations.

As part of this year's MQ Student Writers’ Festival, Kobra Sayyadi and Matilda Harrisson interview Alice Pung on her new novel, One Hundred Days.

As part of this year's MQ Student Writers’ Festival, Jason Chen and Jessica Jarrett discuss Claire Zorn's When We Are Invisible and John Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began as examples of the Dystopian Bush genre. 

As part of this year's MQ Student Writers’ Festival, Lili Watkins-Murphy and Ahrya Reddy discuss Amy Reed's The Nowhere Girls and Candice Carty-Williams' Queenie as examples of the impact of the #MeToo movement in fiction. 

As part of this year's MQ Student Writers’ Festival, Jasmine Van Vliet talks to Jimmy about the genre of Indigenous Futurism as seen in Claire G. Coleman's Terra Nullius and Ambelin Kwaymullina's The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf. 

In this week's episode of From the Lighthouse, Michelle talks to award-winning short story writer, Michelle Cahill, about 'A Wall of Water' from the short story collection Letter to Pessoa. The two Michelles talk about the power of little worlds and just what a short story can do.

This week, Stephanie, Michelle and Jimmy Zoomed up to discuss Kazuo Ishiguro's latest novel, Klara and the Sun. Is it a brilliant but messy work, a difficult but rewarding experience, or an emotional but somewhat flawed masterpiece? Join them as they discuss this highly divisive novel.

Dr Thomas Baudinette is a Lecturer in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature, and is an anthropoligst who specialises in Asian queer cultures. He joins Dr Stephanie Russo to discuss his research into Japanese Boys Love, Thai Boys Love, and K-Pop. To find out more about Dr Thomas Baudinette, visit his PURE profile https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/tom-baudinette and personal webpage https://thomasbaudinette.wordpress.com/.

Join Dr Stephanie Russo, Dr Michelle Hamadache and Dr Jimmy Van for a discussion on the French film Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2018).

A conversation and Creative Writing masterclass with Felicity Castagna, hosted by Associate Professor Hsu-Ming Teo

A HSC Enrichment Session with Professor Louise d'Arcens on the poetry of Kenneth Slessor (Common English Module: Texts and Human Experiences)

A HSC Enrichment Session with Associate Professor Paul Sheehan on the play The Crucible (Common English Module: Texts and Human Experiences)

A HSC Enrichment Session with Professor Louise d'Arcens on The Tempest and the novel Hag-Seed (Advanced English Module: Texts and Conversations)

A HSC Enrichment Session with Dr Ryan Twomey on the film The Truman Show (Standard English Module: Close Study of Texts)

A HSC Enrichment Session with Dr Stephanie Russo on the novel Emma (Advanced English Module: Critical Study of Literature)

A HSC Enrichment Session with Associate Professor Paul Sheehan on the poetry of T.S. Eliot (Advanced English Module: Critical Study of Literature)

A HSC Enrichment Session with Dr Stephanie Russo on Richard III and the film Looking for Richard (Advanced English Module: Textual Conversations)

A HSC Enrichment session with Dr Geoffrey Payne on the poetry of John Keats and the film Bright Star (Advanced English Module: Textual Conversations)