The Book Show

Irish author Colm Tóibín shares with Claire Nichols the stories that have shaped his latest collection that travels continents and times. The News from Dublin is a glimpse into people living a life away from their homeland, from sisters wanting to return to Catalonia, the undocumented worker facing a decision, a mother receiving shocking news of the death of a son or the haunted Irishman seeking anonymity in Spain.Using the noise and commentary around the death of a young woman, Afghan-born, Canadian based author Patmeena Sabit speaks with Claire Nichols on the ways she draws on her family roots and academic research to not just tell a story, but test assumptions around migrant communities. Good People is about a courageous Afghan family living the American dream, but cultural tensions, gossip, envy and conjecture swirl around following the death of their daughter.

 This is Where the Serpent Lives from Pakistani-US writer Daniyal Mueenuddin, is an elegy to a changing Pakistan where contemporary life and technology jostles with feudal social hierarchy, privilege, corruption and ambition.The protagonist in Australian writer Claire Thomas's latest novel On Not Climbing Mountains travels through grief on Swiss trains through the Alpine Way. It's a journey that inspires art, stories and captures moments of connection.

Howard Jacobson joins Claire Nichols to unpack Howl, and Australian authors Eva Hornung and Omar Musa discuss their latest novels.Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson has long written about Jewish identity, but only recently has he begun describing himself as a Jewish writer. He says the shift was prompted by the protests in England after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. His darkly comic novel, Howl, explores the Gaza conflict from a Jewish perspective and he reflects on the promise of fiction to foster debate about this long running conflict.Award‑winning Australian author Eva Hornung continues her exploration of our fragile bond with nature in her new novel, The Minstrels, where a dramatic landscape becomes the site of tragedy for siblings, Gem and Will. Eva tells Claire how learning an Indigenous language shaped the book and how her love of farm machinery also found its way into the narrative.Poet, visual artist, hip-hop musician and author Omar Musa finds magic in Italian beads, vengeful ghosts and the sound of the Borneo forest in his second novel. Fierceland exposes the dark side of Malay politics and the palm oil trade but is also a story of family and love. It also won the 2026 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for fiction. First broadcast 12 October 2025

In his new novel, Nonesuch, British author Francis Sufford introduces a fabulously spiky heroine fighting fascism and mysterious moving statues during London's Blitz. Plus, bestselling author Kathy Lette is in Australia touring her latest novel The Sisterhood Rules and urges women to embrace a "sensational second act" with plenty of laughter along the way.British author Francis Spufford, is celebrated for his historical fiction but Nonesuch marks his first foray into fantasy. Set in World War II London, the story includes demons, living statues, and a heroine who doesn't play nice. Francis discusses the fun of writing flawed female heroines - and villains - and why he wants to subvert his readers' expectations about World War II fiction.Kathy Lette, the bestselling Australian author who burst onto the literary scene at just 17 with the iconic Puberty Blues, returns with her 21st book, The Sisterhood Rules. The novel celebrates the power of the sisterhood through the story of estranged twin sisters unexpectedly reunited when their mother goes missing. Kathy Lette talks with Claire about her lifelong writing journey, her signature pun‑filled humour, and why she delights in writing novels that mirror the stages of a woman's life (from puberty to menopause).

Tayari Jones, author of the Women's Prize-winning An American Marriage, returns with Kin, a work of historical fiction that illuminates the inner lives of two motherless girls growing up in the American South during the Jim Crow era. And former Survivor contestant Steven Fishbach reveals the hidden world of reality television in his debut novel, Escape.In her new novel Kin, award‑winning American author Tayari Jones unpacks her parents' experiences living under segregation in the American South. The book follows two motherless girls whose tightly bound childhood eventually gives way to very different futures. Tayari also reflects on growing up in the post-Jim Crow American South and how reproductive rights have fundamentally changed women's lives.Former Survivor contestant, Stephen Fishbach was the self-declared nerd and fan favourite during his 2009 and 2015 appearances on the American series. But he always wanted to be a writer and now he's released his first novel Escape. Unsurprisingly, it's about a reality show on an island but in this game, the stakes are higher and the producers will go to any lengths to create groundbreaking TV.

A stolen kiss propels Patrick Ryan's American epic, Buckeye, which traces the loves, loss and lies of two Ohio couples. And Sita Walker on her inventive debut novel, In a Common Hour, which unfolds over a single school lunch break as a troubled but beloved teacher confronts his demons.Patrick Ryan's bestselling sixth book, Buckeye, traces America's shifting social landscape from the end of World War II to the Vietnam War and explores the idea of the "kind lie". At its heart are two Ohio couples whose lives become irrevocably intertwined when a secret is left to fester for decades. Patrick shares how the story began with an unbelievable anecdote about his grandmother and he reflects on how his own experience as a gay man shaped the narrative.Brisbane based English teacher Sita Walker brings classroom life to the page in her spellbinding debut novel, In a Common Hour. It explores the fragile bonds between students and teachers and the unexpected revelations that unfold over one lunchtime, when they scatter into the forest bordering the school and are forced to reckon with their actions. Read this profile of Sita Walker.

George Saunders, Booker Prize-winning author known for ghostly, inventive fiction, and Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Australian writer and Sweatshop founder noted for candid autobiographical novels, discuss death, angels, and moral ambiguity. They explore a fallen angel guiding a dying oil tycoon, ghosts widening narrative scope, and confronting childhood trauma through a 24-hour, present-tense tale.

Doctor‑turned‑memoirist‑turned‑comedian Adam Kay makes his fiction debut with A Particularly Nasty Case, a medical murder mystery set inside a hospital. And Perth based author Jay Martin discusses her debut novel, Boom Town Snap, a story that shifts between the snowfields of Canada and outback Western Australia.Adam Kay's medical memoir, This Is Going to Hurt, was a global bestseller and made Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century list. Now, Kay has released his first novel, A Particularly Nasty Case, a crime story that blends his medical background with fiction. Set inside a hospital, the book follows a doctor‑turned‑detective who might be one of the most unreliable narrators you'll ever meet.Jay Martin's first novel Boom Town Snap follows Georgie from Western Australia to the Canadian oil fields in pursuit of her dreams and love life (mirroring Jay's own journey). All the while, she grapples with working in the mining sector as her values pull her towards a different lifestyle.

Bestselling author Trent Dalton reveals how The Wizard of Oz appears in every book he's written — from Boy Swallows Universe to his latest novel, Gravity Let Me Go. Plus, Wicked author Gregory Maguire revisits the inspiration behind his iconic series with the release of Elphie: A Wicked Childhood.Australia's favourite novelist, Trent Dalton joins Claire Nichols in front of a Perth crowd to discuss why his personal story is such a rich source of inspiration in his storytelling and also how imagination became a form of escape during a difficult childhood growing up in crime‑affected 1980s Brisbane. His latest novel, Gravity Let Me Go is about a middle-aged crime journalist and the incredible murder mystery that lands in his letterbox. Wicked author Gregory Maguire revisits the inspiration behind his landmark 1995 novel Wicked, which re‑imagined The Wizard of Oz through the eyes of the so‑called Wicked Witch of the West, exploring her childhood and life before Dorothy arrived in Oz. Thirty years on, and with the Wicked film adaptation continuing its global success, Maguire speaks to Claire Nichols about returning to the world of Oz with the release of Elphie: A Wicked Childhood. This interview was first broadcast 14 April 2025, listen to the full interview here.

Philip Pullman's 30 year enchantment with his heroine Lyra Belacqua and His Dark Materials continues with The Rose Field. And Zoe Terakes takes a queer view of the Ancient Greek myths in Eros.Northern Lights, the first book in Philip Pullman's beloved fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, was published in 1995 and the series has gone on to define him. His new book is the latest in a companion trilogy he started in 2017, The Book of Dust. The last instalment, The Rose Field, has been billed as the final adventure for his heroine Lyra Belacqua. Philip also tells Claire about his time in Woomera, SA, in the 1950s and whether he'll be able to step away from Lyra's story.Australian actor-turned author Zoe Terakes (Wentworth, Talk to Me, Marvel) takes a fresh look at Greek myths in their first book of short stories, Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers, and brings the queer and trans undertones of these stories into the spotlight.Find Radio National's Arts Hour interview with Randa Abdel-Fattah on the ongoing implications of the cancellation of Adelaide Writers' Week here.