The Owl and the Pussy Cat by Edward Lear was voted Britain's favourite poem in 2014. British author Jenny Uglow speaks about her new biography of the poet and artist, Mr Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense.
It's snowing outside, and three people are telling each other their life stories in Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende's latest novel In the Midst of Winter.
The Irish famine of the 1840s was almost unbearably awful. It devastated the country and lead to mass migration and oh so many deaths. How then, to write a novel that’s both grim and beautiful?
It’s 25 years since the story of Josie Alibrandi in her last year at high school hit the bookshelves in the cult novel Looking for Alibrandi. We revisit the book with the author Melina Marchetta and some new and old fans.
US author Jesmyn Ward's latest novel Sing, Unburied, Sing, winner of the 2017 US National Book Award for Fiction, explores the legacy of slavery through a contemporary American family in the south.
La Belle Sauvage is the first in a new 'Book of Dust' series from English writer Philip Pullman. It enters the world of His Dark Materials. A review discussion.
American writer Jeffrey Eugenides is back with a new collection of short stories, Fresh Complaint, which takes the reader deep into the mind of the great writer.
American writer Amy Tan's new memoir is a glorious maze of letters, journal entries, and reflections through which she describes her journey as a daughter and as a writer.
A female convict is lost in the Tasmanian landscape. She is found by a gang of bushrangers. To survive, she must go with them. This is the plot of Bridget Crack, the debut novel by Australian writer Rachel Leary.
Remember the novel A Visit from the Goon Squad, that swept all other books before it a few years ago? Jennifer Egan’s back, and her new novel Manhattan Beach travels to entirely different places and times.
In Jessica Townsend's new fantasy series for 8-12 year olds (and anyone), Morrigan Crow lives in a republic fuelled by magic. There is that small problem of being chased by the Hunt of Smoke and Shadows though . . .
Books and Arts explores the many worlds of performance, writing, music and visual arts. Weekdays at 10am with Michael Cathcart and Sarah Kanowski and Saturday at 2pm.
