Amy Bloom, Ben Markovits and Barbara Truelove on love, basketball and monsters
Amy Bloom on her latest novel I'll Be Right Here about an unconventional chosen family, Ben Markovits goes on the road with his Booker Prize longlisted novel The Rest of Our Lives and Barbara Truelove's bonkers book about Dracula in space, Of Monsters and Mainframes. Amy Bloom is the American author of ten books (including White Houses) and her new historical novel, I'll Be Right Here, begins in wartime Paris and follows an unconventional, chosen family into the 21st century. The famous French author Collette has a cameo role too. Amy Bloom also shares the two things that matter to her most and why she writes about love in all its forms.Of Monsters and Mainframes is the debut novel of the Australian author and game designer Barbara Truelove. It's a genre mash of science fiction and pulp horror and is largely narrated by a sentient spaceship. The Rest of Our Lives is the 12th novel by British-American writer Benjamin Markovits and has recently been longlisted for the Booker Prize. It follows Tom, who's in a middle aged rut, as he sets out on a road trip across America and visits people from his past. Ben also talks about his failed career as a professional basketball player, the parallels between basketball and writing, and how a health crisis enriched the writing of this latest book.
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Ben Okri, Jana Wendt and Thomas Vowles on heartbreak, new beginnings and queer Melbourne
Booker Prize-winning Nigerian author Ben Okri on his novella Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-Hearted, Australian journalist Jana Wendt on turning to fiction with her short story collection, The Far Side of the Moon and Australian writer Thomas Vowles shares why he's drawn to challenging stories in Our New Gods.Ben Okri is a Nigerian born, UK based writer who won the1991Booker Prize for his novel The Famished Road. His new novel has the wonderful title Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-Hearted. It takes us to a dreamlike masked ball in the south of France, a night of magic and mistaken identity. To attend this festival, you have to have had your heart smashed by love. Ben Okri shares the influence of Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot on his imagination and how he thinks of himself as a "listening board" as an artist.Jana Wendt is one of Australian best-known journalists and now has a new string to her bow. She's just published her first work of fiction, The Far Side of the Moon and other stories. While the stories, for the most part, are not linked her characters are almost exclusively older people remembering past loves, successes and failures. Jana Wendt shared with Claire Nichols why she made the shift from fact to fiction.Screenwriter and novelist Thomas Vowles talks about the pain that inspired his first novel, Our New Gods which is about a lost, gay young man whose longing to belong exposes him to deception and exploitation. It's set in Melbourne's queer scene, between share houses, bath houses and the pool and The Book Show's Sarah L'Estrange visits him in his own share house from where he "watches the world go by".
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"Shimmering" and "strikingly new" — Siang Lu wins Miles Franklin Literary Award
First time Miles Franklin shortlistee, Siang Lu has won the prestigious book prize for his second novel Ghost Cities which is inventive, complex and satirical.He will receive $60 000 and share a seat in Australian literary history alongside luminaries Kim Scott, Thea Astely and Michelle de Kretser (two-time winner and fellow 2025 shortlistee). The prize judges said Ghost Cities "redefines what Australian literature can be". Ghost Cities is about narrator Xiang Lu who's been branded a #BadChinese and is drawn into the weird and duplicitous world of Baby Bao, a tyrannical director who's using one of China's modern "ghost cities" as the set for his latest film. There's also a second narrative interwoven throughout the book which is set in ancient China and has a mythological style.Ghost Cities follows Lu's 2022 first novel, The Whitewash, which is also a satire about film and both books use humour and absurdity to confront questions of race and racism.Listen to The Book Show's Miles Franklin shortlist episode to hear from all of the authors on the 2025 list.
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John Boyne, Maggie Stiefvater and Laura Elvery on hope, enemy diplomats and Florence Nightingale
John Boyne concludes his challenging series The Elements with Air, US writer Maggie Stiefvater takes you to a luxury hotel for enemy diplomats in The Listeners and Laura Elvery imagines Florence Nightingale on her deathbed in Nightingale.John Boyne is the prolific Irish author of over 20 books including The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The History of Loneliness and The Heart's Invisible Furies. His latest writing project is a series of novellas called The Elements with the books Water, Earth, Fire and now, Air. The four books are all connected by the difficult theme of child abuse with the latest - and last - instalment ending the series on a note of hope. John shares why this is personal territory for him and why he's found strength in talking about it.The Listeners is the first adult novel by American author Maggie Stiefvater who has made her name as a successful writer of young adult fiction. The Listeners is set during World War Two in the Blue Ridge Mountains in America's east, when luxury hotels were turned into detention centres for diplomats from Germany, Italy and Japan and where prisoners were cared for and served by American hotel staff. Maggie also shares her life as a rev-head!In her debut novel Nightingale, Brisbane author Laura Elvery takes on the iconic 19th century figure of Florence Nightingale who revolutionised nursing in the blood bath of the Crimean War. Laura has fictionalised Florence on her death bed at 90 when there's a knock on the door. The novel follows Laura's award-winning collection of short stories called Ordinary Matter about the few women who've have won Nobel Prizes for science.
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From a debut to two-time winner — the Miles Franklin shortlist is here
From Miles Franklin prize veteran Michelle de Kretster to debut novelist Winnie Dunn, we bring you all six of the shortlisted authors in this round-up of their celebrated books.This year's shortlist features a book set in an Ancient Chinese dynasty, a collection of linked short stories and a debut by the first ever published Australian Tongan novelist. The works traverse topics of migration, home, rebellion and feminist theory and all are in contention for the prestigious $60 000 prize. The 2025 shortlisted works and authors:Chinese Postman by Brian CastroTheory & Practice by Michelle de KretserDirt Poor Islanders by Winnie DunnCompassion by Julie JansonGhost Cities by Siang LuHighway 13 by Fiona McFarlaneThe 2025 winner will be announced on 24 July.
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