Episodes
-
A.W. Hammond in Conversation
In this episode, a recording taken at Readings Carlton and the Melbourne launch of crime writer A. W. Hammond’s new book, Penitent, a morally charged thriller about, among many things, guilt, conscience and duty. When Father Tom Morgan hears the confession of a murderer, he is faced with an...
-
Miriam Sved in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Miriam Sved, author of a new novel, Illuminated Ruins. For Uri and Lujza Weiss, life in the British colony of Hong Kong is a tailored mask. The two are Hungarian Jewish doctors who escaped the wreckage of Europe in the 1930s only to endure Japanese occupation…
more -
Olivia De Zilva, Winner of the 2026 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, in Conversation
In this special episode, we're delighted to share a conversation with Olivia De Zilva, whose novel, Plastic Budgie, has been named the winner of the 2026 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. The Readings Prize has been celebrating outstanding new Australian writing since The New Australian...
-
Poetry Reading: Andy Jackson
In this episode, a recording taken from the launch of poet Andy Jackson’s new collection, Askew. Jackson was joined by three other poets – Tim Loveday, Angela Costi and Rachael Wenona Guy – to read selections from Askew, and to present one of their own works, too. Following his acclaimed...
-
Sally Young in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with historian and award-winning author Sally Young, who has a new book that delves into late-nineteenth century Melbourne and Australia’s most infamous political crime, The Curious Case of the Stolen Mace. In 1891, the sacred symbol of the Victorian Parliament…
more -
Christopher Raja in Conversation
In this episode, a recording taken from the launch of Christopher Raja’s new novel, Eye of the Needle, where Raja was joined in conversation by fellow novelist, Raeden Richardson. In 1882 a young Afghan named Kadir lands in Port Augusta. He has arrived with six camels to make his fortune, and so...
-
David McKay in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with David McKay, a literary translator. McKay has produced the newly published English-language version of Dutch author Anjet Daanje’s The Song of Stork and Dromedary, a masterful, multi-award-winning book inspired by the life and work of Emily Brontë – acclaimed…
more -
Louise Kennedy in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Louise Kennedy, the prize-winning author of Trespasses, who returns with a new book, Stations, a devastating story of love and friendship, and a tender portrait of the choices we blithely make when we are young, unaware that the consequences will reverberate...
-
Bruce Pascoe in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Bruce Pascoe, author of the ground-breaking book Dark Emu, and an Aboriginal farmer and writer of other works of literary fiction, poetry, essays and children’s literature. Pascoe has returned with a new work of non-fiction, The European Mind. In this book,...
-
Lara Pawson in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Lara Pawson, author of Spent Light, a startling new hybrid book – fiction, memoir, history, essay – which grants us a perspective on the world with fresh eyes, and implores us to not look away. An unnamed woman contemplates the toaster she’s inherited from a...
-
Min Jin Lee in Conversation
In today's episode, a conversation with Min Jin Lee, the acclaimed author of the major global bestseller Pachinko, who has returned with American Hagwon – a breathtaking contemporary epic that follows one family as they reckon with ambition and moderation, love and loyalty, personal dreams and...
-
Michael Dulaney in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with writer and reporter Michael Dulaney, author of a new nonfiction book, Sentinels. Humans have long observed animals for advanced warnings of danger – but what can they tell us about the growing threat of contagion in the age of climate change? Diseases today...
-
Margot McGovern in Conversation
In this episode, another instalment of the Readings Kids Podcast, with Margo McGovern, author of Our Dark Unravelling, a thrilling modern gothic tale. When Jude Sinclair is killed in a hunting accident, Lyssa and George feel like their lives have been upended. George is angry – she and Jude have...
-
Poetry Reading: Friday Night Poets
In this episode, a recording taken from a sold-out Friday Night Poets session, held at Readings Carlton and hosted by Tim Loveday. This event featured readings from the poets Anders Villani, Andrew Sutherland and Paris Rosemont. Enjoyed what you heard? Click here to purchase Anders Villani's...
-
James Crawford in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with broadcaster and writer James Crawford, author of The Vanishing Earth: A Journey Through the Last Days of Abundance, a deeply reported journey into the scarred landscapes of global extraction. Humanity has remade the Earth with astonishing speed. In the last...
-
Tamara Moss in Conversation
In this episode, a special conversation with Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction writer Tamara Moss, author of a new book, Five Voices, a thrilling and addictive YA murder mystery. ‘Five Voices’ is the highly popular podcast founded by five friends – Rosie, William, Simone, Zac, and Ocean – who...
-
Anna Heyward in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Anna Heyward, animal behavioural scientist and New Yorker writer, and author of a new memoir: Living with Freddie, a book about seeing the world from the point of view of man's best – and oft misunderstood – friend, the dog. When Anna Heyward adopted a rescued...
-
Alice Pung in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Alice Pung, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of her landmark memoir, and a bona fide modern Australian classic, Unpolished Gem. In a wonderland called Footscray, a girl named Alice and her Chinese-Cambodian family pursue the Australian Dream – Asian…
more -
Robyn Dennison in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with novelist Robyn Dennison, author of a new crime novel, In Plain Sight. This story follows Detective Lara Wilton, a sex-crimes detective who returns to her home town to investigate disturbing photographs found on a USB. But the twin sisters at the centre of the...
-
The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize Shortlist
In this episode, we’re presenting conversations with Readings booksellers who have participated in judging this year’s Readings New Australian Fiction Prize. With the shortlist of works announced today, we thought it would be a great opportunity to share reflections and observations from judges...
-
Poetry Reading: Ghayath Almadhoun & Ender Başkan
In this episode, something special from our archive. Last year, Readings Carlton hosted Syrian-Palestinian poet Ghayath Almadhoun for a reading and conversation with another poet, Readings bookseller Ender Başkan. Fluid and unselfconscious, Ghayath Almadhoun writes love poems in the shape of...
-
Kids Podcast: Suzy Zail in Conversation
In this episode, another instalment of the Readings Kids Podcast, hosted by Readings Prize and Readings Foundation coordinator Angela Crocombe. Angela was joined by members of the Teen Advisory Board for a discussion with Suzy Zail, author of A New Kind of Beautiful, a moving YA novel about love,...
-
Tom Griffiths in Conversation
In this episode, a recording taken from the Melbourne launch of Tom Griffiths’ new book, Alice’s dreaming, an astonishing work of history about a girl and the Indigenous world she encountered. Early last century, Alice Duncan-Kemp grew up on a remote Queensland cattle station. Later she would…
more -
Amanda Curtin in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Amanda Curtin, author of a new novel – Six Days. Daniel, an expatriate Australian who has lived in Paris for more than forty years, has made a mess of his life and is trying to atone, to become the ‘good man’ his friend Marcelline believes him to be. But...
-
The Comics Question: Aki Fukuoka in Conversation with Bernard Caleo
In this episode, another instalment of the Comics Question, where Bernard Caleo discusses comics, graphic novels, and the place they inhabit within the broader books and publishing world. Bernard was joined by Aki Fukuoka, children’s book illustrator and graphic novelist, who has worked on over…
more -
Lenny Robinson in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Lenny Robinson, author of And in the Morning, a prismatic gem of a debut novel that reflects the experiences of women across three wars and the damage done to the men they love. In the winter of 1919, Lily and her three-year-old son, Ted, rush through the...
-
Simon Reynolds in Conversation
In today's episode, a conversation with Simon Reynolds, acclaimed music writer and journalist, and author of a new book, Still in a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984-1994. Twenty years after his acclaimed postpunk best-seller, Rip It Up and Start Again, Simon Reynolds...
-
Jordan Prosser in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation recorded at the Melbourne launch of Jordan Prosser’s new work of fiction/sci-fi, Blue Giant, an unruly eulogy for millennial optimism – and a deranged love letter to a generation torn between helplessness and selfishness. Abby always believed she was destined for...
-
Avigayl Sharp in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Avigayl Sharp, author of a blisteringly funny and transcendently deranged debut novel for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Patricia Lockwood and George Saunders. In Offseason, our fiercely observant but self-deluded narrator finds herself teaching at an all-girls...
-
Mirandi Riwoe in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Mirandi Riwoe, the award-winning, bestselling author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain, and of a new book, the story of an Irish-Chinese family over four generations in Australia, A Short History of Longans. It’s the winter of 2049 and Daniel is elderly and long...
-
The Comics Question: Trace Balla in Conversation with Bernard Caleo
In this episode, another instalment of the Comics Question, where Bernard Caleo discusses comics, graphic novels, and the place they inhabit within the broader books and publishing world. Bernard was joined by Trace Balla, a much-loved Australian children's book writer, illustrator, and author of...
-
Rachel E. Menzies & Ross G. Menzies in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with two psychologists; father-and-daughter duo Rachel E. Menzies and Ross G. Menzies, the authors of a new book, Being: Why it's harder to be human than a hamster or a herring. Being human is hard. From early childhood, we start to become aware of the difficulties...
-
Joanne Wallis & Jack Corbett in Conversation
In this episode, a recording taken from the launch of Joanne Wallis and Jack Corbett’s co-authored book ‘Neighbours: Australia and the Pacific’, in which they detail a new vision for our country and our region. Australia has a long history in the Pacific. Many Australians might have forgotten it,...
-
Chris Ames in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Chris Ames, author of a debut collection of short stories, I Made This Just For You. The characters in this book are perfect avatars of modern life. They work in tech, take designer drugs, assemble IKEA furniture, pursue beauty matching, and rehabilitate their...
-
The Comics Question: Bernard Caleo on graphic novels for kids
In today's episode, another instalment of the Comics Question, where Bernard Caleo discusses comics, graphic novels, and the place they inhabit within the broader books and publishing world. This week, Bernard is joined by Readings’ children's book division manager, Kim Gruschow. This month of...
-
Maria Takolander in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with novelist and poet Maria Takolander, author of The End of Romance, a new work of dystopian fiction. It is the future, and the earth has seemingly refused to cooperate with humanity, producing only thorn-bearing plants and caustic fogs in abundance. Life is hard...
-
Laura McPhee-Browne in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with writer, social worker and counsellor Laura McPhee-Browne, author of the novel Worry Doll, a thrilling exploration of love and desire – obsessive, all-consuming, and impossible to look away from. On an ordinary day, two women meet on a train. Heloise – the…
more -
Madeleine Gray in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Madeleine Gray, author of Chosen Family – a queer, epic literary novel for all readers by the award-winning author of the internationally acclaimed bestseller Green Dot. Books about friendship are not often described as love stories, but this is one. Nell…
more -
Tony Albert in conversation
In today's episode, a recording taken from the Melbourne launch of Tony Albert’s incredible new art book, Not A Souvenir, a landmark monograph that celebrates an artist, curator and cultural leader, whose work reshapes how we see Aboriginal identity, urging a more honest and hopeful vision of...
-
Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff in conversation
In this episode, we have a conversation with Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff, co-authors of Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed. Who on earth is Elon Musk and what is he doing? Is he a hero, a villain, or does he swing constantly between those two poles? According to the constant media gush driven...
-
Australian fiction favourites from our booksellers
In this week's episode, we're doing something a little different. As Readings celebrates Australian Fiction throughout June, we're turning to the people who spend every day talking about books: our booksellers. Australian writers have shaped our literary culture and found readers around the…
more -
Griffith Review 92 contributors in conversation
In this episode, a conversation with two contributors to Griffith Review 92. Griffith Review is a quarterly literary journal, with every edition exploring a different theme, bringing together long-form critical and analytical non-fiction and creative writing from the finest emerging and…
more -
Steve Toltz in conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Steve Toltz, Booker-shortlisted author, and the writer of a new audacious, comic lament for a world that no longer knows itself – a novel titled A Rising of the Lights. In a reeling world of fraudsters and hypnotists, sleep talkers and estranged twins, false...
-
Patrick Marlborough in conversation
In this episode, a conversation with writer and comedian Patrick Marlborough, author of Nock Loose. Set in the fictional coastal town of Bodkins Point, where an annual ultra-violent medieval festival has warped local history and identity for generations, it follows retired Olympian archer and...
-
Y.M. Abdel-Magied in conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Y.M. Abdel-Magied, author, writer, commentator and the mind behind a new book, At Sea. Expert driller Zainab is called to take charge of a high-stakes oil rig operation. Unable to resist the opportunity, she leaves behind her pregnant sister and heads offshore...
-
Doireann Ní Ghríofa in conversation
In this episode, a conversation with award-winning poet and writer Doireann Ni Ghriofa, author of a new book, Said the Dead. In the city of Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby has always flinched as she passes the place. Had she lived...
-
Susan Tomes in conversation
In this episode, some different introduction music. This is Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat minor, Op. 9, No. 1 (from 1832), and the reason is that today’s conversation is with Susan Tomes, a celebrated pianist, an author of Nocturnes and the Fascination of Night Music, an engrossing history...
-
Lisa Gorton in Conversation
In this episode, a conversation with poet and novelist Lisa Gorton. Mirror Landscape: New and Selected Poems is a tribute to Gorton’s achievement, and it brings together in one volume poems published over the past twenty years, from her first collection Press Release to her most recent Mirabilia....
-
Yann Martel in conversation
In this episode, a conversation with Yann Martel, winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize, and author of a new novel, Son of Nobody. In this new book, we meet Harlow Donne, who sacrificed his life to the study of the Classical world. When he is invited to Oxford University to work on an obscure...
-
Antoinette Lattouf in conversation
In this episode, a conversation with journalist and human rights advocate Antoinette Lattouf, the author of a new book, Women Who Win: Celebrating Courage, Conviction and Change. In this book, Lattouf highlights and speaks with women who defied expectations and shattered cultural and legal…
more