Final Draft

Monday 7:00pm - 7:30pm

One of the longest-running books shows on Australian radio, Final Draft is a space on the air where big names of arts and culture sit cheek-by-jowl with those just beginning to make their mark. Produced in the hope of inspiring generous, open-minded reading and discussion, the show features guests, writing, stories and ideas from around Australia and the world.

Each week we serve up a mix of interviews with writers, reviews of new, classic and cult titles, readings of original work, short features and documentaries, and news about literary events, prizes and publishing opportunities.

Click here for podcasts

Past guests include novelists, film-makers, journalists, historians, illustrators, activists, scientists, publishers, critics, poets and producers. Some examples: Anna Funder, Mark Mordue, Goldie Goldbloom, Vikram Chandra, David Rakoff, Abbas El-Zein, Jennifer Mills, John Kinsella, Amanda Lohrey, Shaun Tan, Ira Glass, Richard J Frankland, Christos Tsiolkas, Alice Pung, Steven Amsterdam, L K Holt, Max Barry, Peta Murray, Ross Gibson, Don Watson, Ella Holcombe, Peter Goldsworthy, Augusten Burroughs, Gary Bryson, Karen Knight, Arnold Zable, Tom Griffiths, Ouyang Yu, Maria Tumarkin, Philipp Meyer, Anita Heiss, Amy Espeseth, David Malouf, Frank Moorhouse, Cate Kennedy, Alex Miller, John Hirst, Naldo Rei, Chloe Hooper, Tina Matthews, Phillip Gourevitch, Joe Bageant, Heather O'Neill, Najaf Mazari, Robert Hillman, Tom Cho, John Pilger etc, etc.

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Past shows, guests, books discussed, links etc:

Monday 24 October 2011: Dystopias

This week we're talking dystopias. Think apocalypse, societal collapse, and totalitarianism.

Neda Vanovac looks at the wave of young readers gorging themselves on dystopian fiction.

Catriona Menzies-Pike talks all things grim and J.G. Ballard, author of Crash and Empire of the Sun.

Leaving all things dystopian for a bit, Kim Tan talks to Toby Leon about the television adaptaion of The Slap, based on the book by Christos Tsiolkas.

WYoung Adult Dystopias, featuring Alison Stewart's Days Like This, published by Penguin Books, and Maria V. Snyder's Outside In published by Harlequin Teen. Produced by Neda Vanovac.

J.G. Ballard Fictional Worlds produced by Catriona Menzies-Pike.

The Slap review, produced by Kim Tan.

Monday 10 October 2011: The Blake Poetry Prize

About a month ago, Final Draft had a lovely opportunity to record the winner and highly commended poets of the Blake Poetry Prize. There is something quite magic about poetry read aloud, but particularly of a poet reading their own work – phrases and words well considered by tongue and by pen.

And tonight we get to hear them over the airwaves. We hear Sydney based poet, Fiona Wright reading her poem The Fox Man. And we speak with poets Robert Adamson and Todd Turner – as well as listen to their Blake entries.

Also later tonight – The Rereaders are back and taking on literary magazines.

Blake Poetry Prize 2011 – www.blakeprize.com.au

Winner: Via Negativa, The Divine Dark by Robert Adamson

Highly Commended: The Fox Man by Fiona Wright and Fieldwork by Todd Turner

The Rereaders featuring Sam Twyford-Moore, Rebecca Giggs and Fiona Wright – produced by Jessica Minshall.

Monday 26 September 2011: Joseph Braude and Anna Funder

This week, two authors who deal in intrigue, bravery and betrayal under authoritarian regimes.

First we hear from Joseph Braude, the first ever journalist allowed to embed with a unit of the Moroccan police. And then, Rochelle Fernandez chats with Anna Funder about her latest novel, All that I am – set in the beginning of the Nazi rise to power.

Joseph Braude, The Honoured Dead: A Story Of Friendship, Murder and the Underbelly of the Arab World, published by Scribe. Interview by Neda Vanovac.

Anna Funder, All That I Am, published by Hamish Hamilton – interview by Rochelle Fernandez.

Ben Jenkins and Dominic Knight, National Young Writers Festival – interview by Neda Vanovac. For more information go to: www.youngwritersfestival.org

Monday 19 September 2011: Rob Wilson and the Rereaders

This week we’re dedicating the first part of the show to poetry. Sydney-based poet Rob Wilson has spent the last few years working on a book of poetry called 6am in the Universe by poet Benjamin Frater, and he recently talked to Final Draft’s Madeleine James about the process of writing and editing the book.

And before we go this evening, a look at a brand new project – The Rereaders is a literary and cultural podcast featuring Sam Twyford-Moore, Rebecca Giggs and Fiona Wright.

Rob Wilson, 6am in the Universe by Benjamin Frater published by Grand Parade Poets - interview by Madeleine James.

The Rereaders - Sam Twyford-Moore, Rebecca Giggs and Fiona Wright. For more info go to: www.therereaders.com

Presented by Mark Robinson

Monday 12 September 2011: Re-imagining Australin history

Tonight a show all about re-visiting and re-imagining Australian history, we talk with two authors who have taken inspiration from key figures and events in the history of this country for their new novels.

First up, the controversial dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975 is the basis of Nicholas Hasluck new political thriller, Neda Vanovac speaks with him about family, politics and the Cold War.

We also hear from author and actor, Peter Docker about his second novel, The Waterboys, set in an apocalyptic future in a continent caught up in a violent struggle for control of water. I speak with him about violence, grog and his relationship to Country.

Nicholas Hasluck, The Dismissal - published by Fourth Estate - interviewed by Neda Vanovac

Peter Docker, The Waterboys, published by Freemantle Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 29 August 2011: Australian Book Week

Last week was Australian book week, now in its 66th year.

Tonight we will be airing an interview of a different sort to celebrate. Final Drafter Martin Hewetson and his eight year old daughter, Eve Hewetson interview young adult author, Richard Newsome.

We also hear from Paris based journalist now author, Caroline Brothers about her first novel Hinterland about the almost invisible, dangerous journey many children from war-torn Afghanistan and Somalia make across Europe in search of a better life.

And finally we will hear a review by of Jane Eyre – the book and the latest adaptation to film.

Richard Newsome, The Billionaire's Curse - published by Text Publishing and interview by Eve and Martin Hewetson.

Caroline Brothers, Hinterland - published by Bloomsbury Press and interview by Jeanavive McGregor.

Review of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre by Catriona Menzies-Pike

Monday 22 August 2011: Shape Shifters (rep)

This week we are talking about shape shifters, those books that can shift our ways of looking at a place and one of those unique people who take up many different guises. First up we have our resident music man, Martin Hewertson about the biography of the prolific Alan Lomax, the man who helped to bring us Lead Belly and Woodie Guthrie.

And Madeleine James tells us about a few books that have changed her relationship with Sydney.

We have some great, aching folk tunes to tap along to too.

John Szwed, The Man Who Recorded the World - review by Martin Hewertson.

The Razor & The City, featuring Larry Writer, 'Bumper: The Life and Times of Frank Bumper Farrell', published by Hachette and Delia Falconer's 'Sydney', published by NewSouth Books - produced by Madeleine James.

Music featured on the show from Alan Lomax's Murder House.

First aired 2 May 2011

Monday 15 August 2011: Goldie Goldbloom

This week we are dedicating the show to an Australian author, Goldie Goldbloo. We chat to her about growing up in remote, wheat belt country in Western Australia, the Australian voice in her head, about loss and desire and the ability of fiction to push into the darker, taboo secrets we all carry.

We will be chatting with her about her debut novel The Paperbark Shoe and her latest collection of short stories, We Lose These. And later we will hear a reading from her next novel, working title: The Bearded Lady Falls in Love.

Goldie Goldbloom, The Paperbark Show and We Lose These – published by Freemantle Press

Monday 8 August 2011: The Strange Mr Paul Dirac (rep)

Today is the birthday of one very influential, little-known, very strange man. Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac. The Einstein of Britain. Silent theoretician of the secrets of the universe. Engineer. Physicist. Inventor of the bra. Most people on the street have heard of antimatter, through science fiction and Dan Brown– but those people probably haven't heard of the person who figured antimatter out.

And to celebrate we are replaying this interview with Graham Farmelo, who spent five years studying the life of Dirac, trying to figure out what made him tick.

Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Nija Dalal

First aired 3 May 2010

Monday 1 August 2011: Crime Fiction

This week we are exploring the wonderful world of crime fiction – the crims, the heists and the cops that catch them.

Most of the time we draw our crime reading from the international fare – dominated for a long time by the Brits, we cut our teeth on Agatha Christie and moved on to the proper novels of PD James, there are the delicious adventures of Donna Leon’s Venetian Brunetti series and the terrifying tales of Swedish Henning Mankell. But what about Aussie fiction? Drawing on our criminal past and the harshness of the landscape, Australian crime writers are making their mark.

First up with hear from Derek Hansen who manages to mix comedy, hit men, $3 million bucks and a small drought ravaged town in his novel, A Man You Can Bank On. We'll hear from writer Ross Gibson, who spent five years in the attic of the Justice & Police Museum filtering through half a million crime scene negatives from the 1940s and '50s.

And later in the show we learn about the latest James Bond instalment by Jeffery Deaver.

Derek Hansen, A Man You Can Bank On, published by Hachette – interviewed by Neda Vanovac

Ross Gibson, The Summer Exercise, published by the University of Western Australia Press – interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor.

Jeffery Deaver, Carte Blanche – review by Neda Vanovac.

Show produced by Neda Vanovac and Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 28 March 2011: A glimmer in the darkness (rep)

This week we revisit two interviews with two authors whose writing tackles difficult and traumatic topics but still manage to glimmer in the darkness. We hear from Sophie Laguna about her disturbing and strangely uplifting novel One Foot Wrong and from Lara Fergus about her debut novel, My Sister Chaos.

Sophie Laguna, One Foot Wrong, published by Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Paul Kildea

Lara Fergus, My Sister Chaos, published by Spinifex Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 18 July 2011: New history

We hear from two Australian historians who are choosing to document life in new ways. First up we are meeting South Australian historian, who has written her first piece of fiction based on an old, unsolved murder.

And later in the show Neda Vanovac speaks with Louise Hawson, the woman behind the intriguing and popular Blog 52 Suburbs about Sydney, photography and life online.

Louise Hawson, 52 Suburbs – interviewed by Neda Vanovac

Patricia Sumerling, The Noon Lady of Towitta, published by Wakefield Press – interviewed by Ewart Shaw from Writer’s Radio.

Monday 11 July 2011: Reviews by the fire

This week a show centered on the art of reviews. Each and every reader ends up with a bit of a reviewer in them – what we love or hate, what we recommend or never finish – is very personal, very different.

We hear from Jay Fracaro on world of the music producer Rick Rubin and Rochelle Fernandez’s review of Sonia Faleiro’s book Beautiful thing that investigates the underworld of Mumbai’s bar girls.

And we cosy up with Final Drafter Madeleine James, her mother and sister and a crackling fire to find out about their relationship with books.

Sonia Faleiro, Beautiful Thing, published by Black Inc – review by Rochelle Fernandez

Jake Brown, ‘Rick Rubin in the Studio’, published by ECW Press – review by Jay Fracaro

Fireside chat – produced by Madeleine James

Monday 4 July 2011: Moving online

This week we are taking a look at the continuing growth of online literary magazines and what it offers the young, the loyal and the down and out. We speak with those behind a mysterious new literary project devoted to TV called the Channelling and we meet Mark Mordue, who was tired of bloodless travel writing and devoted his issue of an online magazine to bringing it back to life.

We also revisit an interview from earlier this year with Ivor Indyk about the end of his magazine HEAT and the possibility of its online rebirth.

The Channelling, editors Jacqui Dent and Sam Twyford-Moore - interviewed by Kim Tan.

You can find it online at: http://thechannelling.tumblr.com/

Mark Mordue (ed), The Group, Issue 4 (The Travel Issue), groupmag.blogspot.com - interviewed by Madeleine James (first aired March 2010)

Ivor Indyk, founding editor of Heat magazine: www.giramondopublishing.com/heat/ - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor (first aired Feb 2011)

27 June 2011: Taking Action (rep)

This week we feature two very different segments - but both, in their own way, are about taking action. We speak to Donna Mulhearn who took action that many of us would never consider when she traveled to Baghdad to act as a human shield at the beginning of the Iraq war. And we'll meet poet Astrid Lorange and media artist/programmer Rene Christen, who recently designed an exhibition on interactive poetry, challenging the notion of poetry as static words on a page.

Donna Mulhearn, 'Ordinary Courage', Pier 9 - interviewed by Paul Kildea

Astrid Lorange and Rene Christen, 'Geometries of Attention' - interviewed by Ella O'Keefe

Monday 20 June 2011: It takes two

This week we are talking about literary collaborations. First up Neda Vanovac speaks with Award-winning children’s author Anna Fienberg and illustrator Kim Gamble about fairytales and their 20 years working together.

And we revisit an interview with Glenn Fowler and Christopher Smythe, the real funnymen duo behind a fictitious old codger who successfully spoofed many of this country’s most reputable newspapers.

Illustrating worlds with Kim Gamble and Anna Fienberg – produced by Neda Venovac

Glenn Fowler, Christopher Smythe and Gareth Malone, Dear Editor: The Collected Letters of Oscar Brittle, UNSW Press - interviewed by Nija Dalal (first aired 2009).

Monday 13 June 2011: Leslie Cannold and Angela Carter

Monday 6 June 2011: Being Brave

This week two interviews from the vault about daring to confront our darker, dysfunctional side. Nathan Curnow shares what he learned about fear and courage from ghosts and prison cats, and reads a few of the poems he wrote about the experience too. And novelist and radio producer Gary Bryson chats with Benedict Taylor about his first novel that explores a dysfunctional Glasgow family and the nature of familial love, with the help of a talking turtle.

Gary Bryson, Turtle, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Benedict Taylor; music: Kevin MacLeod (first broadcast November 2008)

Nathan Curnow, The Ghost Poetry Project, Puncher & Wattmann - interviewed by Benedict Taylor (first broadcast January 2010)

Monday 30 May 2011: Penguin Plays Rough with Anna Perera

This week more from the Sydney Writer’s Festival. Final Draft’s Neda Vanovac catches up with Pip Smith, founder of Penguin Play Rough, the popular monthly event that offers writers a forum for reading their short fiction. They chat about being as silly, as crazy, as free and brave as you want with writing.

And we speak with young adult author, Anna Perera, about her latest book on the slums of Egypt ‘The Glass Collector’ and ask her why children should read about difficult subjects.

Anna Perera, 'The Glass Collector', published by HarperCollins - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Pip Smith founder of 'Penguin Plays Rough' - interviews and production by Neda Venovac.

Music – “Come North With Me Baby, Wow” by Belles Will Ring (regular performers at PPR).

Listen to two examples of the wonderful writing antics at these PPR soirees below:

Unfortunately, I Can’t Completely Disregard The Christian God by David Finnigan (8.40 mins)

A Story Response by Amelia Schmidt (5.44 mins)

For more click here: Penguin Plays Rough.

Monday 23 May 2011: The Sydney Writers Festival and Cate Kennedy

Author James Gleick gave the closing address for the Sydney Writer’s Festival – another massive event with 400 Australian and international writers participating in over 300 events.

Gleick, whose work explores the cultural impacts of science and technology was talking about the future of the book and for a festival themed around the power of language, and particularly the power of writers to name, create and shape our world the future of that kind of power.

This week on the show we will be focusing on some of the Aussie talent who attended the festival. We speak with Cate Kennedy about why poetry is still important; and Final Drafter Catriona Menzies Pike talks to some of the people out and about at Walsh Bay over the week.

Cate Kennedy, 'The Taste of River Water’ published by Scribe - interviewd by Jeanavive McGregor

SWF Voxies produced by Catriona Menzies-Pike

This show was presented and produced by Kim Tan

Monday 16 May 2011: Yoram Gross' Animated Life

Tonight on the show the story of the man behind the iconic, cheeky koala, Blinky Bill and the adventures of Dot and The Kangaroo. I spoke with Yoram Gross about his memoir ‘My Animated Life’ of growing up in Nazi occupied Poland - an amazing tale of resourcefulness, survival and tragedy from one of our most iconic animators.

And later we hear from Madeleine James about what she will be checking out at the Sydney Writers Festival.

Yoram Gross, My Animated Life - published by Brandl & Schesinger - produced by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 2 May 2011: Shape Shifters

This week we are talking about shape shifters, those books that can shift our ways of looking at a place and one of those unique people who take up many different guises. First up we have our resident music man, Martin Hewertson about the biography of the prolific Alan Lomax, the man who helped to bring us Lead Belly and Woodie Guthrie.

And Madeleine James tells us about a few books that have changed her relationship with Sydney.

We have some great, aching folk tunes to tap along to too.

John Szwed, The Man Who Recorded the World - review by Martin Hewertson.

The Razor & The City, featuring Larry Writer, 'Bumper: The Life and Times of Frank Bumper Farrell', published by Hachette and Delia Falconer's 'Sydney', published by NewSouth Books - produced by Madeleine James.

Music featured on the show from Alan Lomax's Murder House.

Monday 25 April 2011: War Stories

On ANZAC day, Final Draft revisits a show from 2009 that take a look at some of the less obvious effects of warfare. With journalist and editor, Philip Gourevitch we discuss the abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war in Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004. And with academic and memoirist Mira Crouch we talk about life for civilians in occupied cities. Along the way we find out about the chilling effects of war on language, and the way in which food and eating are transformed by war.

CPhilip Gourevitch, Standard Operating Proceedure: A War Story, Picador - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Mira Crouch, War Fare: Sustenance in Time of Fear and Want, Gavemer - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

First aired 1 June 2009

Monday 18 April 2011: The Kids Are Alright

Tonight we're looking at ways of speaking with children about difficult truths, and at the surprising and confronting lessons children have to teach the grown ups. The prolific and much-loved writer Christobel Mattingley joins us to talk about her latest book. It's a children's illustrated history of Maralinga, produced in collaboration with the traditional owners of the land. Playwright and author Peta Murray has a story to tell us about learning to see oneself through the eyes of a child. And Bruce Williams reports from the frontiers of parenthood, somewhere deep in Cumbersome.

Christobel Mattingley, Maralinga: the Anangu Story, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Bruce Williams, 'Split', Love at Cumbersome Corner, part 19

First aired 18 May 2009

Monday 11 April 2011: Jane Sullivan's Little People

We speak with second time author Jane Sullivan about historical fiction and cabinets of curiosities in her latest novel Little People, based on the the real-life tour of the celebrated troupe of midgets led by General Tom Thumb to Australia in 1870.

We also hear from the editor of Tharunka Magazine about a new writing competition that promises to alleviate some of those student purse strings.

Jane Sullivan, Little People, published by Scribe - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Tharunka Magazine, Editor Kylar Loussikia. For more information about the Non-Fiction Writing Competition go to Tharunka's Facebook page But basically its $800 for the best non-fiction or fictocritical essay, it's judged by two UNSW academics, and entries close July 6.

Monday 4 April 2011: Graphic Novels

Tonight we are taking off our capes and spandex suits to find out whether there is more to graphic novels than superheros and supermutants.

We speaks to one of the men behind Gestalt publishing an independent publishing house in WA and take a look at those graphic novels that have been adapted for screen.

And we chat with UTS lecturer, Rowan Savage about the critically acclaimed and criticised Maus: A survivor’s Tale by Art Speilganman.

Wolfgang Bilsmer, Gestalt publishing - interviewed and produced by Lauren Farrow

Graphic Novels verse Movies - produced by Lauren Farrow

Rowan Savage, UTS Lecturer on Art Speilganman's Maus: A survivor’s Tale published by Apex Novelties - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 28 March 2011: A glimmer in the darkness

This week we revisit two interviews with two authors whose writing tackles difficult and traumatic topics but still manage to glimmer in the darkness. We hear from Sophie Laguna about her disturbing and strangely uplifting novel One Foot Wrong and from Lara Fergus about her debut novel, My Sister Chaos.

Sophie Laguna, One Foot Wrong, published by Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Paul Kildea

Lara Fergus, My Sister Chaos, published by Spinifex Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 21 March 2011: The short story with Leah Swann

Frequent listeners may remember a conversation on the show with one of our regular guests, Georgia Richter from Freemantle Press a few weeks back. We were talking about what was coming up this year and the subject got on to the wonderful, concise sister of the novel – the short story. It’s a difficult form to get right but when done right a good short story can stay with you for days.

A few years ago, author Stephen King wrote an a piece in the New York Times where he mourned the fate of the short story- relegated to the dusty, bottom shelf; self-consciously written aware of the dwindling audience. The result, he wrote were pieces “not quite dead on the page, I won’t go that far, but airless, somehow, and self-referring. These stories felt show-offy rather than entertaining, self-important rather than interesting, guarded and self-conscious rather than gloriously open, and worst of all, written for editors and teachers rather than for readers.” They needed to be liberated from the bottom shelf, he concluded.

Richter – a writer and fan of the medium – predicted a short story come back this year and it seems she might have been on the money. Tonight on the show we speak with Leah Swann about her new collection Bearings published in Affirm Press’ series Long Short Stories.

Also on the show: Nija Dalal's review of Bowl of Cherries, by Millard Kauffman.

Leah Swann, Bearings, Affirm Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor.

Millard Kauffman, Bowl of Cherries, published by McSweeney’s - produced by Nija Dalal (first aired 29 March 2010)

Monday 7 March 2011: International Women's Day

It is the 100 year anniversary of the first International Women’s Day, which was actually first held on the 9th March 1911. 2ser is letting the women take over the airwaves again for another year for International Women’s Day tomorrow so I hope you can tune in. But since the Final Draft misses out, we decided to dedicate our half hour this evening to women writers and women characters – past, present and future.

We have new poetry from Australian Anne Elvey and Final Drafter Lauren Farrow asks a few readers about their favourite leading literary women.

Leading Ladies - produced by Lauren Farrow

Anne Elvey, Claimed by Country, new chapbook from PressPress - interviewed by Cath Kenneally, Radio Adelaide's Writer's Radio

Monday 28 February 2011: Mining the Australian Landscape

This week we are speaking with two authors whose latest novels were influenced by the Australian landscape and interestingly, mines play a big part in both our interviews this evening, as plot enablers and blights on the landscape.

First Madeleine James speaks with Jackie French about ‘A Waltz for Matilda’ a love story between a girl and a land set around Australia’s federation.

And later in the show we talk to Alan Carter about his debut novel Prime Cut. Set in the mining boom town of Hopetoun in south WA, when a headless torso washes up on the beach the investigation reveals the darker side of the quick money of mining, uncovering the exploitation of migrant workers and disturbing an even darker criminal mind.

Jackie French, ‘A Waltz for Matilda’ published by HarperCollins - interview by Madeleine James

Alan Carter, 'Prime Cut' published by Freemantle Press - interview by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 21 February 2011: Long Live the Book?

It seems that the book is always about to die. Death was imminent with the invention of radio, film, television and now the internet. But the book has survived. Some would say, however, that it has survived only just and that books no longer sit at the centre of our culture. Sherman Young – a Media Studies lecturer at Macquarie University – argues exactly this in his book The Book is Dead (Long Live the Book).

He argues that while the book as an object is dead, there are things that books can do, characteristics that they possess, conversations that they allow that must be preserved. Young does want to talk about the future of books – so there’s something.

I know that this is a hard pill to swallow for us book lovers at Final Draft and for you, dear listeners. But with the collapse of two of Australia’s biggest book retailers last week, we thought we should take a look.

Maree McCaskill, the CEO of the Australian Publishers Association - interviewed by Justin Cinque

Georgia Blain, Births Deaths and Marriages, Vintage Books - interviewed by Rochelle Fernadez

Michelle De Kretser, The Lost Dog, Allen & Unwin - interviewed by Jay Fracaro

Monday 14 February 2011: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels

We have a great show for you this evening, and yes we are ignoring the Valentine in the room! First up we talk with Martin Hewetson about the new vogue of cycle writing. There’s new poetry from Adelaide based poet Stephen Brock and I caught up with Fremantle Press’ Georgia Richter about some books to look forward to this year.

Robert Penn, ‘It’s all about the Bike: The pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels’ published by Particular Books - reviewed by Martin Hewetson

Stephen Brock, 'The Night is a Dying Dog' in Friendly Street New Poets 12 - interviewed by Cath Kenneally from Writer’s Radio, Adelaide

Georgia Richter, Editor of adult fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry at Fremantle Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 7 February 2011: We're back!

After a nice summer break we are back recharged with our first show for 2011. Being the first show of a new year, we thought it apt to look forward – to say a sad goodbye to some established faces of the Australian literary scene and discover some of the younger, emerging talent as well.

We will be speaking with 11 year old Rory Burg, who has recently added the Under 18 Poetry category of the John Marsden Prize to his impressive list of awards, about poetry, Norse mythology and the end of the world later in the program.

But first, we are going to hear the why the publication Heat has published it’s final edition – appropriately titled - That’s it for now.

Ivor Indyk, founding editor of Heat magazine: www.giramondopublishing.com/heat/ - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Rory Burg, poet, winner Under 18 Poetry category of the John Marsden Prize, for more information go to: www.expressmedia.org.au - produced by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 31 January 2011: The Poisoner's Handbook (rep)

In the last of our summer favourites this week, we revisit an interview with American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Deborah Blum about her fascination with poisons and her new book, The Poisoner's Handbook. Far from being a guide on how to poisoning an unsuspecting victim, The Poisoner's Handbook tells the story of how modern forensic medicine emerged during the era of Prohibition in the United States and two remarkable men who challenged the New York city, US Government and poisoners alike.

Deborah Blum, American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer, The Poisoner's Handbook, published by Penguin Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Nija Dalal's reflections on mystery novels included excerts from an interview with Derek Nikitas, author of Pyres (first broadcast Mar 2009).

Monday 24 January 2011: Waking the Dead (rep)

We catch up with Chris Womersley about his new Gothic thriller novel Bereft, set after the ruin of the First World War when the Spanish Flu is devastating rural Australia and there are rumors of the end of the world. Final Drafter Madeleine James spends some time in a cemetery in search of her literary heroes. And later in the show we will meet an unlikely action heroine, the latest character by Sydney author Miranda Darling.

Chris Womersley, "Bereft", Scribe Publications - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor.

"Waiting for Beckett" - produced by Madeleine James

Miranda Darling, "The Troika Dolls", Allen & Unwin - interviewed and produced by Natalie Salvo

Monday 17 January 2011: Good Old Fashion American Hospitality (rep)

This week we are heading to the United States in search of some good old fashion American hospitality.

We talk to American author and commentator Joe Bageant about his new book Rainbow Pie: A Redneck Memoir.

And later in the show we will be catching up with Georgia Richter, the Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction and Poetry Publisher at Fremantle Press about her favourite American writers and books. Some of them might be yours so make sure you tune in, download and have a listen.

Joe Bageant, Rainbow Pie: A Redneck Memoir , Scribe Publications www.joebageant.com - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor.

Georgia Richter, Fremantle Press - produced by Jeanavive McGregor

First aired 13 September 2010

Monday 10 January 2011: Ladies and Gentleman, the controversial Lenny Bruce! (rep)

In our fourth summer show we head back to 1962 when the music promoter Lee Gordon bought the American comedian Lenny Bruce to Sydney for what was to be a two week stint.

Bruce was not a comedian in the traditional sense, often labeled a master of satire and a philosopher, his routines or riffs revolved heavily around social stigmas and taboos, especially the use of obscene language. Bruce's time in Sydney - the controversy, the media witch-hunt - has now become legendary however it is also clouded in myth and misunderstanding.

This week we are talking about controversy - those writers, books and performers that make us stand up and take a look at our world, sometimes by shocking us and sometimes when we are not quite ready for it. We talk to Damien Kringas, author of "Lenny Bruce: 13 days in Sydney" and hear Jay Fracaro's review of Emile Zola's classic, Nana - an observation on the downfalls of excess and vanity.

Damien Kringas, Lenny Bruce: 13 Days in Sydney, Independence Jones - interview by Jeanavive McGregor

Emile Zola, Nana, Penguin books - review by Jay Fracaro

First aired 19 July 2010.

Monday 3 January 2011: Between Imagination and Reality (rep)

In our third summer show, we have another favourite from the vault: we're talking with two writers who tread the fine line between imagination and reality in their work. In very different ways, these writers examine the space that lies just beyond imagination and just before the real world, creating works that are somehow intricately wound up with both.

We'll hear from writer Emma Rooksby, whose poems about Australia's landscape and environment often read as remembered experience, but are more often imagined.And we'll talk with writer David Carlin, whose only memories of his father are imagined.

Emma Rooksby, featured in New Poets, Fremantle Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

David Carlin, Our Father Who Wasn't There, Scribe - interviewed by Nija Dalal

First aired 5 April 2010.

Monday 27 December 2010: For the Love of Reading (rep)

In our second show of Final Draft's summer broadcasting - For the Love of Reading

If you listen to Final Draft, we can assume you love to read. You love books, as stories, as objects, as portals to strange worlds. This week, we’re not talking to writers about their books. No, no. This week, we’re talking to readers. That’s right—we are talking to you. Or, people like you... about that thing you love: reading books. And oddly, Shaun Tan just keeps coming up.

Lirio Garduno runs a reading program for detained kids in Mexico, and she knows about getting books into kids' hands, and not just any books. We'll talk to her about her reading program, her favourite books, and her studio, where all her books are kept.

And we have another installment of our Bookshelf Interview series: listeners Adam and Wendy have just moved house and therefore, their book collection as well. They need some order. Lirio Garduno - interviewed by Kat Keefe. Lirio Garduno's blog can be found here. Adam and Wendy – bookshelf interview by Jay Fracaro

First aired 19 April 2010

Monday 20 December 2010: The Strange Mr Paul Dirac (rep)

This week is the start of our summer programming of The Final Draft. We will return in February 2011 but until then enjoy these favourites from our last year.

First up - The Strange Mr. Paul Dirac

This week we are devoting the entire episode to one very influential, little-known, very strange man. Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac. The Einstein of Britain. Silent theoretician of the secrets of the universe. Engineer. Physicist. Inventor of the bra. Most people on the street have heard of antimatter, through science fiction and Dan Brown– but those people probably haven't heard of the person who figured antimatter out.

Graham Farmelo spent five years studying the life of physicist Paul Dirac, trying to figure out what made him tick.

Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Nija Dalal

Monday 13 December 2010: Lara Fergus, My Sister Chaos

Twin sisters, refugees in exile both driven to represent their connections to the old and the new worlds they inhabit – one an obsessive cartographer mapping her house in her new life, the other a painter – devoted to the past and a love lost. When they are reunited the cartographer’s ordered life is thrown into chaos - her precise measurements and control of her past disrupted by her sister.

This is the intriguing premise of My Sister Chaos, from first time author Lara Fergus – a novel concerned with the effects of trauma and exile, the powerful need to belong, with maps, mathematics, music and memory, loss and connection.

Fergus has been a researcher for Amnesty International on women refugees and human rights and her current work deals with policy to prevent violence against women.

We speak with her today on the Final Draft about her book, the metaphor of maps and how sometimes order can come out of chaos.

Lara Fergus, My Sister Chaos, Spinifex Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 6 December 2010: Holiday reading

If you haven't been to your local shopping centre lately then you would be the only person to not know that the holiday season is upon us - the trees are up, bon bons are on sale and some organised people are already buying those gifts! Now don't worry this is NOT a Christmas book show - but we did think we would take a different look at holiday reading. We hear a review of the co-founder of Joy Division and New Order, Peter Hook's sort of memoir about the famous club The Hacienda or FAC 15 - run a bit like the owners were on a prolonged holiday. Madeline James accosts some backpackers and their book bags to see just what tales travellers are in to these days and finally Final Draft has succumbed to Vampire Mania with a review of...Dracula - that's right we still resist that Twilight series.

The Hacienda - How Not To Run A Club, Peter Hook, Simon & Schuster - review by Natalie Salvo

Travellers Tales - interviews with backpackers and production by Madeleine James

Dracula, Bram Stoker - review by Rochelle Fernandez

Monday 29 November 2010: Brian Eno and Jasper Jones

Final Drafter Martin Hewertson comes into the studio for another instalment on music biography- this time talking about the prolific godfather of Ambient music Brian Eno and the latest book on his life and times On Some Faraway Beach by David Sheppard – we will be listening to a few tracks from his vast repertoire and finding out why Martin is such an unabashed fan.

Also we revisit an interview with Craig Silvey about his latest book Jasper Jones, just longlisted for the Impac Dublin Award.

David Sheppard, On Some Faraway Beach, Chicago Review – review by Martin Hewertson

Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones, Allen & Unwin – interview by Jeanavive McGregor (first aired October 11, 2010)

Monday 15 November 2010: Behind the Mask

Today on the show we are looking behind some masks and shedding some light into some areas of life and writing that don't often get much attention. First up we tear off the surgical mask, when we speak with Dr Leah Kaminsky about the need for Doctors to write about their experiences. Dr Kaminsky is the editor and contributing author to the fiction and non-fiction collection, The Pen and the Stethoscope - that looks at the growing trend of doctor-writers. We also speak with Melbourne based translator, Brigid Maher about the about the often overlooked art of translation - particular the difficult joy of translating humour, irony and satire from Italian to English.

Dr Leah Kaminsky, editor, The Pen and the Stethoscope, published by Scribe - interview by Jeanavive McGregor

Brigid Maher, translator, The Countesses of Castello by Melina Agus, published by Scribe - interview by Jeanavive McGregor

Monday 8 November 2010: The Poisoner's Handbook

Have you ever wondered what arsenic does to its victims? Thought about how chloroform was discovered? Or pondered how scientists first worked out how to measure the level of alcohol in a person’s blood? Well American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Deborah Blum did. This week on the Final Draft we are delving into the dark and shady world of poisons and talk to Blum about her latest book, The Poisoner's Handbook. Far from being a guide on how to poisoning an unsuspecting victim, The Poisoner's Handbook tells the story of how modern forensic medicine emerged during the era of Prohibition in the United States and two remarkable men who challenged the New York city, US Government and poisoner's alike.

Deborah Blum, American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer, The Poisoner's Handbook, published by Penguin Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Nija Dalal's reflections on mystery novels included excerts from an interview with Derek Nikitas, author of Pyres (first broadcast Mar 2009).

Monday 1 November 2010: Inheriting Legends

Today on the show we are talking about some legends of writing – a journalist and a lyricist. First up, long time followers of Final Draft will remember Martin Hewertson, one of our fabulous former presenters on the show, he is joining us in the studio to talk about Patti Smith’s autobiography Just Kids – that tells the story of her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe And we revisit an interview with the legendary journalist John Pilger, where he talked to Nija Dalal about the circumstances Australia inherited and how we stand today.

Patti Smith, Just Kids, published by Bloomsbury – review by Martin Hewertson.

John Pilger , A Secret Country, Random House – interviewed by Nija Dalal (first aired 22 March 2010).

Monday 25 October 2010: Getting Started (rep)

This week is all about getting started. We'll hear a little bit about the juggling game involved in writing a novel and making a living, let alone landing a publishing deal from author Aaron King. And we'll talk to children's author, Kareyn Stapyton who has skipped this process and published herself. Finally, in our off the shelf segement we'll be taking a look at the bookshelf of one of the directors of the New Young Writers Festival, Talina McKenzie.

Aaron King – interviewed by Jay Fracaro.

Off the shelf: Talina McKenzie, co-Director of The New Young Writers Festival – interviewed by Rochelle Fernandez.

Kareyn Stapylton, The Terror of Prism Fading, self published - interviewed by Ariane Minc (first aired September 14 2009)

Monday 18 October 2010: Its Alive!

A special freaky edition of the Final Draft in the second and final week of our annual radiothon. And today we are looking at some of the stories and books that explore what we are afraid of as we delve into the world of Horror and Sci-fi fiction. We talk to the President of the Australian Horror Writers Association, Leigh Blackmore. Hear a reading from a terrifying tale by Sydney based writer Kyla Ward, we catch up with a dedicated Sci-fi fan in our regular segment Off the Shelf. And we talk to two of our contributors about their favourite books and Final Draft moments.

Leigh Blackmore, President, the Australian Horror Writers Association

- interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

Kyla Ward reading from her novella "Erina Hearn and the Gods of Death" published in the anthology Macabre. For more information about Kyla Ward click here

Interviews with Contributors - interviews by Madeline James, produced by Angela Welsh.

Off the Shelf interview - produced by Angela Welsh.

Monday 11 October 2010: unlikely friends

Unfortunately due to unfriendly gremlins in the system we were unable to record our first show for the annual subscriber drive. We are working on putting a mock show together for you. Apologies and stay tuned! To subscribe go to www.2ser.com and follow the links

Monday 4 October 2010: Waking the Dead

This week we are waking the dead! We catch up with Chris Womersley about his new Gothic thriller novel Bereft, set after the ruin of the First World War when the Spanish Flu is devastating rural Australia and there are rumors of the end of the world. Final Drafter Madeleine James spends some time in a cemetery in search of her literary heroes. And later in the show we will meet an unlikely action heroine, the latest character by Sydney author Miranda Darling.

Chris Womersley, "Bereft", Scribe Publications - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor

"Waiting for Beckett" - produced by Madeleine James

Miranda Darling, "The Troika Dolls", Allen & Unwin - interviewed and produced by Natalie Salvo

Monday 27 September 2010: The Book That Changed Your Life (rep)

This week on the show, we're talking about the transformative power of literature and we're wheeling out the big guns: Fyodor Doestoevsky, Phillip K Dick and J R R Tolkein. And we're spending time with some of people they changed, from the good citizens of Marrickville to the 'butcher of the Balkans', Slobodan Milosovic.

Andrew Keefe and Gabriel Mordy on The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein - interviewed by Katherine Keefe

Benjamen Walker, 'Remedial Theory'

Emma Miszalski and Jay Fracaro on the books on their shelves - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Monday 20 September 2010: Getting Started

This week is all about getting started. We'll hear a little bit about the juggling game involved in writing a novel and making a living, let alone landing a publishing deal from author Aaron King. And we'll talk to children's author, Kareyn Stapyton who has skipped this process and published herself. Finally, in our off the shelf segement we'll be taking a look at the bookshelf of one of the directors of the New Young Writers Festival, Talina McKenzie.

Aaron King – interviewed by Jay Fracaro.

Off the shelf: Talina McKenzie, co-Director of The New Young Writers Festival – interviewed by Rochelle Fernandez.

Kareyn Stapylton, The Terror of Prism Fading, self published - interviewed by Ariane Minc (first aired September 14 2009)

This week we are delving back into some Cold Cases: crimes from long, long ago. We'll hear from writer Ross Gibson, who spent five years in the attic of the Justice & Police Museum filtering through half a million crime scene negatives from the 1940s and '50s. Beside the images, Gibson constructs the story of a civilian chaplain attached to the Central Street Police Station during the summer of 1946. And we’ll talk to writer Charles Siebert about a French lawyer in the middle ages who made his career defending animals on trial for crimes like infanticide and theft.

Ross Gibson, The Summer Exercises, University of Western Australia Press - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor.

Charles Siebert, Roger's World', Scribe - interviewed by Nija Dalal

Robin Cadwallader, 'I Painted Unafraid', published by Friendly Street, interviewed by Cath Kenneally, Radio Adeliade.

Christos Tsiolkas, 'The Slap', published by Allen & Unwin - review by Rochelle Fernandez

Georgia Richter, the Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction and Poetry Publisher - interviewed by Jeanavive McGregor.

Jill Jones, 'Dark Bright Doors', Wakefield Press.

Donna Green & Liz Minchin, 'Screw Light Bulbs', UWA Publishing.

Elizabeth Weiss, Digital Publishing Director at Allen & Unwin - interviewed by Jaye Smale

The Death of Bunny Munro, Text Publishing - reviewed by Rochelle Fernandez (first aired April 12 2010)

David Gaunt, co-owner Gleebooks - interviewed by Jeanvive McGregor.

22 March 2010: Play the Hand

You know what it’s like when you’re in a situation you don’t have much control over. In times like these, you know what you have to do. You play the hand you’ve got. The cards are chance, but how you play them is what matters. We’re all trying to win. Well this week, we’re looking at people doing just that-- playing the hands they’re dealt.

We’ll hear from Kat Keefe, a contributor currently living in Mexico with a strange roommate named Alfredo, and her efforts to say the right thing in a bizarre situation. We’ll get to know a group of competitive artists all trying to rig the table and beat the house with Jay Fracaro’s review of Anson Cameron’s new novel Stealing Picasso. And we talk with a legend, John Pilger, about the circumstances Australia has inherited; remembering that what really matters, is how you deal with the cards you’ve got.

John Pilger , A Secret History, Random House – interviewed by Nija Dalal

Anson Cameron, Stealing Picasso, Vintage – reviewed by Jay Fracaro

This week we're filling some of the gaps in the Australian literary world. We’ll speak to Michael Farrell about a new poetry anthology which is the first to place the work of gay and lesbian poets alongside each other. And we’ll meet Mark Mordue, who is tired of bloodless travel writing and has devoted his issue of a new online magazine to bringing it back to life. We also feature a short piece by poet and comedian Ben Pobjie.

Michael Farrell & Jill Jones (eds), Out of the Box, Puncher & Wattman - interviewed by Ella O'Keefe

Ben Pobjie, 'The Pitch', This is Not Art Festival, Newcastle, October 2009 (read by Geoff Lemon) - recorded by Nija Dalal. For more on Ben Pobjie, visit http://benpobjie.blogspot.com/

Mark Mordue (ed), The Group, Issue 4 (The Travel Issue), groupmag.blogspot.com - interviewed by Madeleine James

15 February 2010: Super Egos

Has the return to work and study got you down? Protect yourself from the doldrums with some laughs at the law's expense. We meet Bullstrode Whitelocke, a pompous and conceited Sydney lawyer who has written a self-help book on the art of 'lawmanship'. We also probe the darker reaches of the ego with a short story from Shaun Thompson.

Bullstrode Whitelocke (aka Tim Gordon and James Abbott), 'Whitelocke: On Lawmanship', http://www.lawmanship.com/ - interviewed by Paul Kildea

Shaun Thompson, 'Das es, das ich und das uber ich' (reading) - produced by Rochelle Fernandez

Music following Bullstode Whitelocke interview: 'Vexatious Litigation', written and performed by the Vexatious Litigants

08 February 2010: Tell It Again, Sam

With a few modern tweaks, old, familiar tales can become startling, fresh and compelling, and this week we're revisiting a couple of vivid, contemporary re-tellings of myth and legend. We'll get to grips with Angela Carter's dark and raunchy re-workings of traditional faity tales. And we'll sit down with David Malouf to talk about his latest novel, a delicate new iteration of one of the oldest stories around.

This is also the final installment in our series of highlights from 2009. Normal transmission resumes next week. Well, normal-ish: this is the last episode with Benedict Taylor in the host's chair. From next week, you're in Nija Dalal's and Paul Kildea's able hands.

Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage - reviewed by Sara Peel

David Malouf, Ransom, Random House - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

01 February 2010: Whitefellas Listen Up

In the spirit of the recently marked Australia Day or Invasion Day, or whatever you chose to call it, we thought we'd bring you a couple of whitefellas who have done a bang-up job of listening to this country. Two blokes who have given their attention and their respect to the people, the languages, the landscapes and the histories of the wide brown land. One is a linguist - his name is Nick Reid. The other, Michael Cathcart, is an historian. They're both full of insights into bits of the Australian story we don't pay nearly enough attention to. (This is the penultimate show in our summer season of highlights from last year).

Nick Reid, Ngan'gi Dictionary, Australian Linguistics Press - interviewed by Madeleine James (first broadcast December 2009)

Michael Cathcart, The Water Dreamers: the Remarkable History of Our Dry Continent, Text - interviewed by Benedict Taylor (first broadcast August 2009)

25 January 2010: Private Literature

Aldous Huxley once said (and please excuse the old school gender-specific language): 'Every man's memory is his private literature'. This week, as we continue our summer season of highlights from 2009, we're bringing you stories from memories: stories of people taking their private literature and publishing it. As a grown woman Lorraine McGee-Sippell discovered that her memories were only a fraction of her story—she drops by to share the tale of how she discovered the family and the heritage she didn't know she had. Don Walker is best known for writing and performing Cold Chisel songs, but he is also the author of an intriguing memoir, and he phones in to chat about them. And we revisit a sweet and haunting story by poet and writer Ella Holcombe, a story about a moment full of meaning from childhood.

Lorraine McGee-Sippell, Hey Mum, What's a Half-Caste? Magabala Books - interviewed by Katherine Keefe (first broadcast July 2009)

Don Walker, Shots, Black Inc - interviewed by Shamin Fernando (first broadcast June 2009)

Ella Holcombe, 'In the Pines', from Louise Swinn and Zoe Dattner (eds.), The Sleepers Almanac No. 5, Sleepers Publishing - read by Ella Holcombe, produced by Benedict Taylor with assistance from Michelle Bennet, RRR; (first broadcast July 2009)

18 January 2010: CSI Final Draft

This week as our summer season rolls on, we explore the capacity of the novel to get right inside other people’s heads. And not just any heads, but the heads of people capable of doing horrible, twisted, monstrous, criminal things. There’s someone like that in M J Hyland’s latest novel who is nevertheless strangely likeable. We’ll come face-to-face with the monster in the family, in Deborah Forster’s debut novel. And we’ll also find out what happened to a whole genre of novels dedicated to this very task: working out what makes bad people tick.

M J Hyland, This Is How, Text Publishing - interviewed by Benedict Taylor (first broadcast Sep 2009)

Deborah Forster, The Book of Emmett, Random House - reviewed by Jay Fracaro (first broadcast Oct 2009)

Nija Dalal's reflections on mystery novels included excerts from an interview with Derek Nikitas, author of Pyres (first broadcast Mar 2009)

11 January 2010: Brave New Words

This week, as our summer highlights season continues, we’re talking about how words can tie us up in fear, and how they can free us to be brave. Nathan Curnow shares what he learned about fear and courage from ghosts and prison cats, and reads a few of the poems he wrote about the experience too. And Dutch journalist and anthropologist Joris Luyendijk, phones in to chat about the Middle East and the secret life of words.

Nathan Curnow, The Ghost Poetry Project, Puncher & Wattmann - interviewed by Benedict Taylor; music track one and music track two by Kevin MacLeod; Nathan's blog can be found here (first broadcast September 2009)

Joris Luyendijk, Fit to Print: Misrepresenting the Middle East, Scribe (trans. Michelle Hutchinson) - interviewed by Rochelle Fernandez (first broadcast October 2009)

04 January 2010: Rooms Without Views

Happy New Year folks! For the next few weeks we’ll be bringing you some of the best bits of Final Draft’s 2009. This week we’ve got three different takes on the ways in which the freedom of women is enlarged, and taken away. Activist and writer Kathleen Maltzahn joins us to shine a light on the harrowing experience of women who have been trafficked into this country. We’ll introduce you to an old mate of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, the author and proto-feminist Eliza Fenwick. And courstesy of Peta Murray, we’ll get a glimpse of just what a bittersweet bind it can be to be a solo mum.

Kathleen Maltzahn, Trafficked, UNSW Press - interviewed by Paul Kildea (first broadcast March 2009)

Eliza Fenwick, Secresy; or The Ruin on the Rock - reviewed by Nija Dalal (first broadcast August 2009)

Peta Murray, 'Cameraman', from Louise Swinn and Zoe Dattner (eds), The Sleepers Almanac No.5, Sleepers Publishing - read by Peta Murray, produced by Michelle Bennet from RRR in Melbourne and Benedict Taylor (first broadcast May 2009)

28 December 2009: Gaining Ground (rep)

Loyal podcasters, we are sorry to report that the gremlin in the 2ser machine that has PLAGUED us over recent months struck again. We know. We're sick of it too. And we've very sorry. The upshot is we have a slot in the podcast schedule for a goodie from the archives. The episode we've selected is one close to hearts; it helped us win our recent national community radio award, and we hope you don't mind us giving it a second spin.

We're all familiar with those weary platitudes about the journey being the destination. Let's be honest. Some journeys are pretty grim, some are just plain boring, and a few are downright scary. This week we speak with novelist Will Elliot about his journey back from a dark place. We'll hang out on trains and peer over our fellow passengers' shoulders to see what they're reading to while away the journey. And we'll meet a young couple whose journeys have separated them from their beloved books. (First broadcast 10 August 2009).

Train traveller, avid reader and ibis-watcher, James Scanlon - interviewed by Katherine Keefe

Will Elliot, Strange Places: a Memoir of Mental Illness, HarperCollins - interviewed by Sara Peel

Bookshelf interview #4: Nija Dalal and Craig Johnson - interviewed by Benedict Taylor (music: 'Mellow', by Darkroom used under Creative Commons licence Attribution 3.0 Unported)

21 December: Esprit de Christmas

Seasons greetings! It's a good time of year to think about sharing, and, surrounded by material extraganace, it might also be a good idea to consider a few humble pleasures. We'll meet some of the folk behind a library designed to put books in the hands of people with no fixed address. Journalist and film-maker Kim Traill drops by to talk about life in Russia before and after the a glut of post-Soviet consumer dross. And we've wranged an invitation from a hospitable listener into her home to take a peek at her shelves. Safe and happy festivites to all!

Sarah Garnett, the founder of the Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library, and two of the library's volunteers, Di Dickens and David Westgate - interviewed by Rochelle Fernandez. Click here for more information about the Footpath Library. Music: 'The Christmas La La Song' by Sherwin Sleeves (check out Sherwin's site for lots of fine goodies, including the best Christmas tale you'll hear in a long time). Music production by Benedict Taylor.

Kim Traill, Red Square Blues, HarperCollins - interviewed by Sara Peel; music: Kevin MacLeod. Music production by Benedict Taylor.

14 December: Remotely Interested

This week, we're off to remote locations—real and imagined—to see what we can find. We'll learn about linguist Nick Reid's labour of love in the Northern Territory, documenting one of Australia's vibrant indigenous languages. And we'll chat with poet and novelist David Brooks about his latest book, an account of a quixotic quest into uncharted realms of the imagination.

Nick Reid, Ngan'gi Dictionary, Australian Linguistics Press - interviewed by Madeleine James

David Brooks, The Umbrella Club, University of Queensland Press - interviewed by Benedict Taylor; music by Kevin Macleod

07 December: Makes a Great Story...

One of the best things about an adventure is the story you get to tell about it later. This week, we're enjoying a few of these spoils of hardship. We'll find out what the hell possessed writer and publisher Lisa Dempster to hike 1200 mountainous kilometres, by herself, in Japan, at the hottest time of the year. We'll also hang out with Reg Mombasa and reminisce about some of his adventures in art and music. And we'll catch the second and final part of the story we started last week, a tale by Emily Dedakis about exploits of the heart, in New Orleans.

Lisa Dempster, Neon Pilgrim, Aduki Independent Press - interviewed by Benedict Taylor; music: 'My Impure Memories of Osaka', by Gurdonark / CC BY 2.5

Murray Waldren, The Mind and Times of Reg Mombasa, HarperCollins - Reg Mombasa/Chris O'Doherty interviewed by Shamin Fernando

Emily Dedakis, 'Enough: a Nearly True Story' (part two) - read by Emily Dedakis

30 November: A Time and A Place

This week we're exploring the idea of a time and a place for nearly everything. The perfect things can never be re-created, as Katherine Keefe discovers in a story about some very questionable late night nourishment. And Lisa Dempster drops in to discuss Voiceworks magazine growing up and staying young after 21 years, and what growing up means for a young magazine by young people. Tania James has some ideas about time-honoured secrets and mixed-up places in her interesting new novel Atlas of Unknowns; and her characters learn how easy it is to lose themselves when they're in the wrong place. And writer Emily Dedakis proves how hard it is to be in a special place, knowing it can't last forever.

23 November: Charisma, Democracy, History

Democracy and charisma: two of humankind's most wonderful and dangerous inventions. Winston Churchill famously thought that democracy was the worst system of government ever invented...except for all the other ones. Political theorist John Keane is along to second the motion, and guide us through the history of this radical idea. And we trace the history of another idea back to its roots too, with John Potts, the author of a intriguing tale about what charisma has been up to for the last couple of millenia

John Keane, The Life and Death of Democracy, Simon and Schuster - interviewed by Paul Kildea

John Potts, A History of Charisma, Palgrave Macmillan - interviewed by Sara Peel

16 November: Exit Strategies

Face it. Forget about an exit strategy and you can find yourself in an almighty pickle. So tonight, as a public service, we're canvassing a few handy ways to get out of tricky situations (and bad books) with one’s dignity intact. Novelist and journalist Emily Maguire drops in to talk about the drastic exit strategies considered by the characters in her excellent recent novel. We’ll also talk about the exit strategies available when we find ourselves in the middle of a book thinking ‘do I really have to read this tripe?’ And we’ll ponder the exit strategy that vexes writers more than any other – what to write in the last line of a book.

Emily Maguire, Smoke in the Room, Picador - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Charlotte Roche, Wetlands, Grove Atlantic - reviewed by Madeleine James; music by Kevin MacLeod

09 November: Make-Believe (rep)

The gremlin in the 2ser machine struck again, which means that last week’s podcast – the one about traveling with books and Shakespeare’s wife – didn’t go to air. So that’s our radio episode this week. Which means we’ve got a spot in the podcast schedule for another favourite from the archives. We hope you enjoy it and we’ll be back to regular programming next week.

Humans are 'make-believe animals', British essayist William Hazlitt said. We are never so truly ourselves as when we are acting a part, he thought. This week we’re celebrating the power of make-believe. We’ll meet Glenn Fowler and Christopher Smythe, the real funnymen behind a fictitous old codger who successfully spoofed many of this country’s most reputable newspapers. And writer Chris Womersley is along to tell us a story about the bittersweet power of make-believe.

Glenn Fowler, Christopher Smythe and Gareth Malone, Dear Editor: The Collected Letters of Oscar Brittle, UNSW Press - interviewed by Nija Dalal

Chris Womersley, 'The Possibility of Water', Aviva Tuffield (ed), New Australian Stories, Scribe - produced by Benedict Taylor

(First broadcast April 2009)

09 November: Tough Calls

We’re talking about difficult decisions – what to choose, and what to leave out; what to believe and what not to believe. We’ll talk about that most vexing of decisions – what books to stuff in the bag when we go on holiday. We’ll also meet one of the editors of a new anthology of Australian literature, which uses generous definitions of both ‘literature’ and ‘Australian’. And we’ll find out about the very tough call made at the expense of Anne Hathaway, the wife of one William Shakespeare.

'Travelling Books': Mona, Emma and Michelle spoke about the books they take with them when they travel - produced by Rochelle Fernandez; music: Mr. Biggz, 'Vieux Farka Toure - Ana (Mr.Biggz Remix)' 2009 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial

Nicolas Jose (ed), The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Paul Kildea

Germaine Greer, Shakespeare's Wife, Bloomsbury - reviewed by Nija Dalal

26 October: Mothers and Daughters

This week we're talking about relationships between grown-up daughters and their aging mums. We'll hear all about Susan Varga's latest novel, a challenging tale about a daughter learning to let go of a mother who is learning to let go of life itself. And we'll meet musician and writer, Linda Neil, and hear about her journey through the underworld of mental illness with her mother, and about the poignant reconciliation they reached in the process.

Susan Varga, Headlong, UWA Publishing - reviewed by Madeleine James

Linda Neil, Learning How to Breathe, University of Queensland Press - interviewed by Benedict Taylor. The song Linda played was 'Sorry', which is part of her project, 'My Year of Singing Love Songs'.

19 October: Wild Things

We're wild about the second and final week of radiothon! The court of Final Draft sits to determine once and for all whether 'tis nobler in the mind to prefer the book of Where The Wild Things Are, or to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous purists and go for the film version. We also go wild about Margaret Atwood's latest, the long awaited follow-up to Oryx and Crake. Poet Geoff Lemon 'fesses up to some pretty wild shenanigans, and the crowd goes wild for the good folks who helped 2ser into its 31st year.

The Trial of the Wild Things - featured Craig Johnson, Aaron Nyerges and Justin Ellis and was produced by Nija Dalal

Final Draft Year-That-Was Montage II - produced by Benedict Taylor

Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood, Bloomsbury - reviewed by Sara Peel

Geoff Lemon, untitled, recorded at This is Not Art 2009, Newcastle, by Nija Dalal

The low-down on Radiothon is here

12 October: We Heart You

Have we ever told you how beautiful you look with a credit card in your hand and a phone to ear? Yup, it's radiothon time again. That time where you pay peanuts and get all-singing, all-dancing monkeys. And heaps of free stuff. Hear how language messes with our understandings of what the hell is going on in the Middle East. Get acquainted with a couple of readers and find out about the books that were there for them at pivotal moments in their lives. And win books, flights, tickets and our undying gratitude.

Final Draft Year-That-Was Montage - produced by Benedict Taylor

Joris Luyendijk, Fit to Print: Misrepresenting the Middle East, Scribe - interviewed by Rochelle Fernandez

Brenda spoke about Joseph Heller's Catch 22 and Mo spoke about Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian - produced by Katherine Keefe

Click here for more about Radiothon

05 October: Loving Monsters

This week we’re getting cosy with monsters - real monsters, fake monsters, nice monsters and maybe even a few loveable monsters. We find a twisted intimacy with the monster in the family in Deborah Forster’s debut novel. We rehabilitate a remarkable woman unjustly monstered by history. And with writer and thespian Nick Coyle we’ll find out how, if you’ve lost your groove, maybe all you need is a monster.

Deborah Forster, The Book of Emmett, Vintage - reviewed by Jay Fracaro

Nick Coyle, 'The Story of How I Got My Groove Back' - produced by Jay Fracaro and Benedict Taylor. Nick is one third of the theatre trio, Pig Island, and this story was first read at Penguin Plays Rough in July

28 September: Roads Less Travelled (again)

If you tuned in to the broadcast on the 28th of September, you may have noticed we made a boo-boo. We accidentally broadcast ‘The Secret Lives of Chimps and Ghosts’, again. We had an episode full of great stories about getting intimate with monsters all ready to go, but a naughty gremlin in the system had other plans. Sorry about that. Since ‘The Secret Lives’ was already up online, we decided to take this opportunity to re-podcast an earlier episode that had ceased to be available on the internet. We’ll bring you the monsters next week.

This week on the show, Abbas El-Zein tells his story, and what an astonishing tale it is. From the violence and cosmopolitanism of a childhood in civil-war Beirut, we follow Abbas to Baghdad, Paris, Palestine, and Sydney. Along the way, we learn to think about migration as a beautiful mutilation, and find out why Asterix kicks Tintin's ass. Bruce Williams is along too, to tell us about folks in Cumbersome going their separate ways. (Originally broadcast March 2009).

Abbas El-Zein, Leave to Remain: a Memoir, University of Queensland Press - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Bruce Williams, 'Separate Ways', Love at Cumbersome Corner, part 16

21 September: The Secret Lives of Chimps and Ghosts

Chimps and ghosts both have a lot to tell us about being human. Poet Nathan Curnow joins us to talk about how he slept in ten of the most haunted sites in Australia, and then carved a language of fear and guts from the experience. And writer Charles Siebert phones in to talk about the hidden meanings of chimpanzees in retirement homes.

Nathan Curnow, The Ghost Poetry Project, Puncher & Wattmann - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Charles Siebert, Roger's World: toward a new understanding of animals, Scribe Publications - interviewed by Nija Dalal

14 September: The Word Out There

This week it is all about the getting the word out there. We'll meet Kareyn Stapylton, a writer of adventure novels for kids, and hear about her own epic quest, to publish herself. We'll also meet David Henley, the bright spark behind an innovative way for new writers to get their words out there—it's kind of Charles Dickens meets MySpace. And we'll also get the word from out there, with wanderer and writer Nicolas Rothwell.

Rufi Cole read an extract from her novel, The Violin Face, which is serialised in Seizure; music by Kevin MacLeod. David Henley, founder of Seizure, was interviewed by Katherine Keefe. Music during reading from blog: B. Calandra 'Merry Go Round In the Sea', used with permission. To win a free copy of the first issue of Seizure email us.

Kareyn Stapylton, The Terror of Prism Fading, self published - interviewed by Ariane Minc

Nicolas Rothwell, The Red Highway, Black Inc - interviewed by Paul Kildea

07 September: Marvellous Melbourne

The green-eyed monster wants to move to Melbourne, and who can blame him? The Mexicans can boast of some pretty damn fine writers fests, journals and publishers. This week, we pay homage to the city of literature. We nab a couple of fantastic guests of the Melbourne Writers Festival, M J Hyland and Anne Michaels, and get them to shine a little light on some of the things that fiction does particularly well, and the things that perhaps only fiction can do. We've also got details of an exciting new Melbourne-based literary quarterly, and news about a great zine-making workshop that—hurrah!—you don't have to go to Melbourne to attend.

M J Hyland, This Is How, Text Publishing - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Anne Michaels, The Winter Vault, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Rochelle Fernandez

More information about Seven Letter Words here

More information about the zine-making workshop at the NSW Writers Centre, with Vanessa Berry on 24 October here

31 August: Black Politics, Black Culture

From the troubled streets of South London to our own neck of the woods, we're talking about some of the seemingly intractable challenges facing black communities, and we're sampling some interesting and exciting responses to those challenges too. Poet, novelist and DJ Alex Wheatle shares his thoughts about life and politics in Brixton, past and present. Anthropologist Peter Sutton makes some uncomfortable points about the politics of suffering in Aboriginal Australia. Indigenous film-maker, writer and musician, Richard J Frankland introduces us to an inspiring young Koorie fella in his latest book. We get up to speed on a wonderful indigenous literacy project and we take in some tunes from some deadly black MCs.

Alex Wheatle, Dirty South, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Nija Dalal

Peter Sutton, The Politics of Suffering: Indigenous Australia and the end of the liberal consensus, Melbourne University Press - interviewed by Justin Ellis

Richard J. Frankland, Digger J. Jones, Scholastic - interviewed by Benedict Taylor (first broadcast November 2007)

Morganics, Wire MC, Sista Native, BruthaBlak and Local Knowledge, 'Outbackandback', from Morganics 2005 album, Odyssey - not included in podcast for copyright reasons

For more information about Indigenous Literacy Day, on Wednesday 2 September, click here

24 August: Water Dreamers and Poetry With Guts

Two passionate and articulate fellows for you this week. Broadcaster and historian Michael Cathcart is along to talk about the ways in which water has shaped our lives and haunted our imaginations. And poet John Kinsella joins us to talk about poetry with guts.

Michael Cathcart, The Water Dreamers: the Remarkable History of Our Dry Continent, Text - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

John Kinsella (ed), The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry, Penguin - interview by Paul Kildea

Click here for more information about the Red Room Company's event on 27 August, featuring Lionel Fogarty, at the Redfern Community Centre

17 August: It Didn't Kill Me...

They say the things that don’t kill you make you stronger. And it is probably true. But that doesn’t make the hard stuff any easier. This week: stories of people staying in the game despite being dealt a lousy hand. We’ll open a few brutal rejection letters from publishers to authors who went on to make the publishers look pretty stupid. Novelist and radio producer Gary Bryson joins us to talk about his very fine first novel and the odds stacked against its young protagonist. Lana Penrose is along to tell us how she coped with the disintegration of her marriage, and about the therapeutic qualities of rock ‘n roll. And we’ll discover a world of sacrifice and struggle laced with hedonism in the work of British writer Alan Sillitoe.

Read The Examiner's report on famous writers' rejections here

Gary Bryson, Turtle, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Benedict Taylor; music: Kevin MacLeod (first broadcast November 2008)

Lana Penrose, Kickstart My Heart, Penguin - interviewed by Rochelle Fernandez; music: Kevin MacLeod

Alan Sillitoe, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - reviewed by Ben Falkenmire (first broadcast August 2008)

10 August: Gaining Ground

We're all familiar with those weary platitudes about the journey being the destination. Let's be honest. Some journeys are pretty grim, some are just plain boring, and a few are downright scary. This week we speak with novelist Will Elliot about his journey back from a dark place. We'll hang out on trains and peer over our fellow passengers' shoulders to see what they're reading to while away the journey. And we'll meet a young couple whose journeys have separated them from their beloved books.

Train traveller, avid reader and ibis-watcher, James Scanlon - interviewed by Katherine Keefe

Will Elliot, Strange Places: a Memoir of Mental Illness, HarperCollins - interviewed by Sara Peel

Bookshelf interview #4: Nija Dalal and Craig Johnson - interviewed by Benedict Taylor (music: 'Mellow', by Darkroom used under Creative Commons licence Attribution 3.0 Unported)

03 August: Don't Put Me in a Box!

Eliza Fenwick, an English woman, wrote books in the 18th century about gender, liberty and reason. Tom Cho lives in Melbourne and writes about being Whitney Houston's bodyguard, and evil ninjas who destroy call centres. Believe it or not, they have a couple of things in common.

Eliza Fenwick, Secresy; or the Ruin on the Rock - reviewed by Nija Dalal

Tom Cho, Look Who's Morphing, Giramondo - interviewed by Benedict Taylor (more information about Tom's Melbourne Writers' Festival appearances here)

Click here for more information about the Red Room Company's event on 27 August, featuring Lionel Fogarty, at the Redfern Community Centre

Click here for more information about HTML Giant's literary tattoo project

Click here for more information about the CAL Scribe Fiction Prize

27 July: The Great Cusp

This week we're talking about that great cusp in our lives: adolescence. Peter Goldsworthy joins us to talk about the creative and sexual turbulence in the life of his latest young protagonist. We'll hear about death entering young lives in a story from Ella Holcombe. We encounter a unusual and intriguing adolescent in Peter Cameron's latest book. And we witness the dismemberment of a childhood icon!

Ella Holcombe, 'In the Pines' (published in The Sleepers Almanac No.5, Sleepers Publishing)

Peter Goldsworthy, Everything I Knew, Penguin - interviewed by Paul Kildea (first broadcast Feb 2009)

Peter Cameron, Someday this pain will be useful to you, Scribe - reviewed by Arabella Close

Bruce Williams, 'Barbie', Love at Cumbersome Corner (episode 23)

For more information about the Australian literature symposium at the State Library of NSW on 1 August - click here

20 July: Sex: The Good, the Bad and the Sold

It's wall-to-wall sex this week. Find out who won the bad sex awards, and why the wonderfully named publisher of erotica, Kate Copstick, thinks women can't write sex. Get to grips with Angela Carter's dark and raunchy reworkings of old fairy tales. Listen to Jennifer Robertson's story about the yearning, awkward desire of youth. And with historian Rae Frances, discover the real story of how sex has been bought and sold in Australia.

Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, Vintage - reviewed by Sara Peel

Jennifer Robertson, 'Heat', Westerly, v.53 2008 (first broadcast July 2008)

Rae Frances, Selling Sex: a Hidden History of Prostitution, UNSW Press - interviewed by Benedict Taylor (first broadcast November 2008)

13 July: Surfacing

This week we’re talking about things with shiny surfaces: dreams, oceans, celebrities. And we’re talking about the murky things that lie beneath too. Philipp Meyer joins us to talk about his book about the rusted dark side of the American Dream. Kirsty Eager is along as well, to tell a tale about surfing and hidden scars. And we reflect on Michael Jackson’s famously pale surface!

Philipp Meyer, American Rust, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Paul Kildea

Kirsty Eager, Raw Blue, Penguin - interviewed by Rochelle Fernandez

Bruce Williams, 'Sunshine', Love at Cumbersome Corner (episode 22)

06 July: Family Matters

Master criminals have kids too! This week, meet film-maker Oren Siedler and find out what it's like to have a bank robber for a dad. And Lorraine McGee-Sippel shares her story about discovering her biological parents, and her Aboriginal heritage, in middle age.

Lorraine McGee-Sippel, Hey Mum, What's a Half-Caste?, Magabala Books - interviewed by Katherine Keefe

Oren Siedler, Bruce and Me, Random House - click here for more about Oren and her father - interviewed by Sara Peel

Bruce Williams, 'The Ballad of Cumbersome Corner', Love at Cumbersome Corner, episode 21

29 June: Hidden Treasure

'X' marks the spot! We're off in search of hidden treasure. Lesley Jorgensen reads a story about hidden Indian dowries and other treasures squirriled away in unassuming places. We partake of some of the latest booty from the expert excavators of hidden treasure at Going Down Swinging. And we spend time with a real gem: artist Thom Roberts.

Thom Roberts, a member of Studio ARTES and a contributor to Trunk, vol.1 ('Hair') - interviewed by Katherine Keefe

Don Walker and StJAM, 'Country Trains', and Teresia Teawa and Hinemoana Baker, 'Athena and the Breadfruit', Going Down Swinging, No.28

Lesley Jorgensen, 'Pure Gold', from Aviva Tuffield (ed), New Australian Stories, Scribe - produced with assistance from Cath Kennealy from Radio Adelaide

Nominate which literary character you would most like to spend a day at the beach with, and win a year's subscription to Meanjin, here

Click here for more information about the monthly new fiction evening, Penguin Plays Rough

Mary Ablaza's exhibition, 'Me, You and Everyone I Know' opens at Cream, 317 King St Newtown, on Wednesday 1 July, at 6.30pm. Click here for more information.

22 June: Power in Everyday Life

This week we look at the role that power plays in everyday lives. We speak to Chimamanda Adichie, whose work explores the complex power relationships which shape the lives of her characters. And Melbourne author Amy Espeseth drops by to give a reading of her story, 'On a Wire'.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Thing Around Your Neck, HarperCollins - interviewed by Paul Kildea

Amy Espeseth, 'On a Wire', from The Death Mook, Vignette Press - produced with assistance from Michelle Bennetts at RRR in Melbourne

Presented and produced by Paul Kildea

15 June: Sex and Rock 'n Roll

This week we seek some relief from the winter cold with some literary sex and rock ‘n roll. We speak to former Cold Chisel keyboardist, Don Walker, about his life in music. And we speak to some Final Draft listeners about their favourite literary sex scenes.

Literary Sex scene - produced by Rochelle Fernandez

Don Walker, Shots, Penguin - interviewed by Shamin Fernando

Bruce Williams, 'More Sex', Love at Cumbersome Corner, episode 20

Presented and produce by Paul Kildea

08 June: Everyday Places

This week we're talking with two artists and a writer about space, places, and the buildings that affect our lives everyday. The towers that look over us, the pubs where we spend our evenings. Zanny Begg and Keg de Souza talk about their ten-year project archiving the history of Sydney's iconic Redfern neighbourhood and we speak with Jennifer Mills about her debut novel, The Diamond Anchor.

Keg de Souza and Zanny Begg, 'There Goes the Neighbourhood' - interviewed by Nija Dalal

Jennifer Mills, The Diamond Anchor, UQP - interviewed by Benedict Taylor - check out Jennifer's blog here

01 June: War Stories

We all understand the awful toll war takes on the battlefield. This week, we take a look at some of the less obvious effects of warfare. With journalist and editor, Philip Gourevitch we discuss the abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war in Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004. And with academic and memoirist Mira Crouch we talk about life for civilians in occupied cities. Along the way we find out about the chilling effects of war on language, and the way in which food and eating are transformed by war.

Philip Gourevitch, Standard Operating Proceedure: A War Story, Picador - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Mira Crouch, War Fare: Sustenance in Time of Fear and Want, Gavemer - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

25 May: Kafka Rides Again!

Franz Kafka pulled a massive swifty. He was no lonely Nostradamus of middle Europe, scribbling away in unrecognised, solitary genius, as we have been lead to believe. He was connected, calculating careerist, a gung-ho imperialist, and a well-heeled ladies man. He was also a frickin funny bastard. Join us as we spend time with James Hawes, the author of an iconoclastic biography of Mr Metamorphosis. And find out what happens when Kafka collides with Suess! (Repeat episode).

James Hawes, Excavating Kafka, Quercus - interviewed by Benedict Taylor (first broadcast Nov 2008)

Jonathan Goldstein and David Rakoff, 'The Gregor Samsa/Dr Suess Letters', from the CBC's show, 'Wiretap' (first broadcast Nov 2008)

18 May: Communicating With Kids

Tonight we're looking at ways of speaking with children about difficult truths, and at the surprising and confronting lessons children have to teach the grown ups. The prolific and much-loved writer Christobel Mattingley joins us to talk about her latest book. It's a children's illustrated history of Maralinga, produced in collaboration with the traditional owners of the land. Playwright and author Peta Murray has a story to tell us about learning to see oneself through the eyes of a child. And Bruce Williams reports from the frontiers of parenthood, somewhere deep in Cumbersome.

Christobel Mattingley, Maralinga: the Anangu Story, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Peta Murray, 'Cameraman', from Louise Swinn and Zoe Dattner (eds), The Sleepers Almanac No. 5, Sleepers Publishing - produced with assistance from Michelle Bennetts from RRR

Bruce Williams, 'Split', Love at Cumbersome Corner, part 19

11 May: The Book That Changed Your Life

This week on the show, we're talking about the transformative power of literature and we're wheeling out the big guns: Fyodor Doestoevsky, Phillip K Dick and J R R Tolkein. And we're spending time with some of people they changed, from the good citizens of Marrickville to the 'butcher of the Balkans', Slobodan Milosovic.

Andrew Keefe and Gabriel Mordy on The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein - interviewed by Katherine Keefe

Benjamen Walker, 'Remedial Theory'; click here for more of Benjamen's work

Emma Miszalski and Jay Fracaro on the books on their shelves - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

04 May: Grey and Greyer

This week we’ve got more moral ambiguity than you can poke a question mark at: flawed heroes, beautiful trauma, glimmers in the darkness - you name it, we'll equivocate. We meet Sofie Laguna and talk about her disturbing and strangely uplifting new novel, and we'll try to pin down some shades of grey slipperiness in a graphic novel and a film about neurotic superheroes with mid-life crises. More from Cumbersome too.

Sofie Laguna, One Foot Wrong, Allen and Unwin - interviewed by Paul Kildea
Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins, Watchmen, DC Comics; also the film, Watchmen, directed by Zack Snyder - discussed by Rochelle Fernandez and Benedict Taylor
Bruce Williams, 'Directions', Love at Cumbersome Corner, part 18

Click here for more information about Page Seventeen

27 April: Make-Believe

Humans are 'make-believe animals', British essayist William Hazlitt said. We are never so truly ourselves as when we are acting a part, he thought. This week we’re celebrating the power of make-believe. We’ll meet Glenn Fowler and Christopher Smythe, the real funnymen behind a fictitous old codger who successfully spoofed many of this country’s most reputable newspapers. And writer Chris Womersley is along to tell us a story about the bittersweet power of make-believe.

Glenn Fowler, Christopher Smythe and Gareth Malone, Dear Editor: The Collected Letters of Oscar Brittle, UNSW Press - interviewed by Nija Dalal

Chris Womersley, 'The Possibility of Water', Aviva Tuffield (ed), New Australian Stories, Scribe - produced by Benedict Taylor

20 April: A Small Menagerie

Welcome to the Final Draft menagerie! We've got birds, we've got dogs, and we've got that strange and wonderful species we call human beings. Dr Irene Pepperberg is along to talk about a prolix Parrot called Alex. And with novelist Eva Hornung, we'll revist the classic tale of the human child raised by beasts.

Irene Pepperberg, Alex and Me, Scribe - interviewed by Sara Peel
Eva Hornung, Dog Boy, Text - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

13 April: David Malouf

It's been a decade since his last novel, but he is considered one of the finest writers working in English today. Fiction, 'in his hands', writer and critic Alberto Manguel says 'becomes the art of rendering the world coherent. For this we must be grateful.' We're talking about, and talking with David Malouf. His latest novel is a delicate re-imagining of one of the oldest tales around, and it's a real gem. Also, more from Cumbersome.

David Malouf, Ransom, Random House - interviewed by Benedict Taylor

Bruce Williams, 'More Heat', Love at Cumbersome Corner, part 17

Our theme music:

KCentric, 'Butta Fly's Jazz Handz', 2008, licenced under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike

(The old theme was 'Trouble' by Price and Logan performed by Stanley Turrentine, from his
1963 album,'Never Let Me Go', Blue Note).

Final Draft

Books, writing and publishing 

One of the longest-running books shows on Australian radio, Final Draft is a space on the air where big names of arts and culture sit cheek-by-jowl with those just beginning to make their mark. Produced in the hope of inspiring generous, open-minded reading and discussion, the show features guests, writing, stories and ideas from around Australia and the world. Each week we serve up a mix of interviews with writers, reviews of new, classic and cult titles, readings of original work, short features and documentaries, and news about literary events, prizes and publishing opportunities. Originally broadcast on Final Draft

Final Draft December 5, 2011 14 Dec 2011

Final Fraft November 28, 2011 14 Dec 2011

Final Draft November 21, 2011 14 Dec 2011

Final Draft November 14, 2011 14 Dec 2011

Final Draft November 7, 2011 14 Dec 2011

Final Draft October 31, 2011 14 Dec 2011

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