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Saturday 9 Dec 2017

Join us for the best of this week's Books and Arts.

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Friday 8 Dec 2017

The Prime Minister's Summer Reading List
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Every year the Grattan Institute creates a list of book recommendations for the Prime Minister to read. What do you think of the list?

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Fairy tales in art exhibition at Ian Potter Museum
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Little Red Riding Hood dates back two thousand years and has transformed over time. These days, it’s no longer the blood bath it once was. A new exhibition at the Ian Potter Museum in Melbourne explores how fairy tales have changed over the centuries, moving with the social and political setting.

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Masterpiece: A Room With a View film
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The Merchant Ivory production of EM Forster's 1908 novel Room With a View is Kevin Kwan's Masterpiece.

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Sarah Holland-Batt reviews A.S. Patric and Jane Harper
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Literary critic and poet Sarah Holland-Batt reviews the anticipated second novels from two award-winning Australian authors.

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Top Shelf: Philip Salom
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Australian poet and writer Philip Salom shares the works that inspire him for Top Shelf.

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Thursday 7 Dec 2017

Artist and poet Edward Lear
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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.

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The 2017 Turner Prize
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Lubaina Himid is the the oldest and the first black woman to win the famous visual arts prize.

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Masterpiece: Taylor Mac
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Jonathan Holloway, Melbourne Festival's artistic director, is obsessed with American cabaret star Taylor Mac

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Luke Slattery's novel Mrs M
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The golden sandstone of Sydney, reimagined in the early days of white settlement.

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Top Shelf: Sally Rippin
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Find out what's on children's author and illustrator Sally Rippin's Top Shelf.

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Wednesday 6 Dec 2017

Veterans' Museum of Art
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Mark Johnston is pushing to establish a Veterans' Art Museum, an art gallery where we see not the official story of war but the stories and the struggles of the men and women who put on the uniform and who have paid a price for their service.

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Isabel Allende's novel In the Midst of Winter
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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.

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RN Best Reads 2017: Natasha Mitchell
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RN Science Friction presenter Natasha Mitchell with her best read for the year: Oliver Sack's posthumous collection of essays The River of Consciousness.

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Nyaparu William Gardiner: Outside Man
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Aboriginal artist Nyaparu William Gardiner's works depict lonely men against a sparse Pilbara landscape.

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Science fiction review: Artemis by Andy Weir
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Does the new novel by Martian author, Andy Weir, live up to the hype? And does he get the female lead right?

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Tuesday 5 Dec 2017

How The Pram Factory shaped Australian theatre
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Celebrating the life and times of one of Australia's most influential theatre groups, the Australian Performing Group, more commonly known as the Pram Factory. What were its aims and how has it influenced generations of theatre performers?

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Monday 4 Dec 2017

Crims, cons, cops and cocaine
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Con artists, scoundrels, cops and crims. The subject of so much fiction, and so many romantic legends. Some of these real characters novelise their own lives. But how should we read them?

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Saturday 2 Dec 2017

Join us for the best of this week's Books and Arts.

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Friday 1 Dec 2017

Fiona Wright Domestic Interior
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Poems about the ordinary beauty and tragedy of the suburbs.

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The songwriters behind Muriel's Wedding the Musical
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Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall had the unenviable job of writing music that could live up to ABBA.

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RN Best Reads 2017: Andrew Ford
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RN's The Music Show presenter Andrew Ford reveals what was his best read for 2017.

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Alice McDermott novel The Ninth Hour
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A novel that reveals laundries as places of intimacy, storytelling and hardwork.

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2017 Prime Minister's Literary Award winners announced
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Winner of the 2017 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Australian History, Elizabeth Tynan, joins us from the Parliament House awards ceremony.

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Thursday 30 Nov 2017

Alexis Wright the new Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature
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Australian author and Miles Franklin winner Alexis Wright has been named the second Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature. Find out her plans for the role.

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RN Best Reads 2017: Patricia Karvelas
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Patricia Karvelas's recommendation for your summer reading list.

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Mordant pulls Venice Biennale funding
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Arts philanthropist Simon Mordant tells us why he has pulled his financial support from Australia's 2019 exhibition at the Venice Biennale.

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Masterpiece: Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal
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Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal is Gareth Sansom's choice of Masterpiece.

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The Vinyl Frontier: Ozploitation soundtracks
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A musical trip through the low-budget Australian cinema of the 70s and 80s.

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Wednesday 29 Nov 2017

Are senior English reading lists too grim?
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The Crucible, Frankenstein, Shakespeare's Macbeth are being read by students across the country in senior English class but should there be more books on the reading list that have a lighter take on life?

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Mulkun Wirrpanda and John Wolseley together for Midawarr/Harvest
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Yolngu artist and clan elder Mulkun Wirrpanda has teamed up with John Wolseley to create a series of artworks depicting the edible plants of north-east Arnhem Land for their joint exhibition Midawarr/Harvest.

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Garry Disher's novel, Her
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It's 1909 in outback Australia, and a travelling salesman buys a small girl.

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Monday to Friday 10am and Saturday 2pm Repeated:
Tuesday to Saturday 2am

Presented by Michael Cathcart and Sarah Kanowski

Coming Up

Thursday 14 December 2017

Latin American book club: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende's debut novel The House of the Spirits was published in 1982. It's set in an unnamed Latin American country and it follows three generations of the Trueba family who live in the presence of spirits. It's our final Latin American book club novel for the year.

Special Features

Heard This And Thought Of You

A collaboration between musicians and writers, to celebrate the evocative power of music.
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Latin American book club

In 2017 the RN book club is heading to Latin America, a region which has produced some of the world’s most exciting writers.
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Get your voice on RN

You can now record your thoughts and share them directly with Books and Arts.

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Crossing Boundaries: New Voices from Indonesia

Crossing Boundaries: New Voices from Indonesia is an anthology of Indonesian short stories across the archipelago written by some of the country's most exciting writers.
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Feature articles

Is the senior school English reading list too dark? This mother thinks so

Senior secondary students read and analyse a variety of books in English class, but one Melbourne mother says they too often show "a very grim world" full of abuse, violence and death. Where is the lightness?

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How two songwriters brought Muriel's Wedding to life on stage

How do you write music that can live up to ABBA? Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall explain their approach to writing songs for the Muriel's Wedding musical.

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How a traumatic brain injury birthed an artist (and a passion for handstands)

Meet Larissa MacFarlane, visual artist, disability advocate and lover of handstands, who only began making art after a car accident left her with a traumatic brain injury at age 29.

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Pitch a story to Books and Arts

Submittable

All you need to know about offering an idea to Books and Arts.

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Books +

And for the best book stories of the week, don’t forget Books Plus.
Sundays at 2pm with Kate Evans.

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Podcasts and Feeds

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Programs by Date

2017