For all the talk about our fractured attention spans and ability to still read books, when a new phenomenon hits the shelves, we crack open the covers.

“If Harry Potter is delivered, what do we see? We see kids who are apparently distractible and distracted with their noses in their books - and they can’t be prised away from reading,” says Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler. 

In this episode, Adler talks all things books and publishing with Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland. A former CEO of Melbourne University Publishing and one-time publisher-at-large at Hachette, Adler was speaking ahead of her first Adelaide Writers’ Week, which runs from March 4 to 9 in the South Australian capital. 

For all the talk about our fractured attention spans and ability to still read books, when a new phenomenon hits the shelves, we crack open the covers.
“If Harry Potter is delivered, what do we see? We see kids who are apparently distractible and distracted with their noses in their books - and they can’t be prised away from reading,” says Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler. 
In this episode, Adler talks all things books and publishing with Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland. A former CEO of Melbourne University Publishing and one-time publisher-at-large at Hachette, Adler was speaking ahead of her first Adelaide Writers’ Week, which runs from March 4 to 9 in the South Australian capital.

Good Weekend Talks features in-depth conversations with the people fascinating Australians right now, from sport to politics to the arts, business and beyond, interviewed weekly by the country's top journalists. Consider it a magazine for your ears.

Good Weekend Talks features in-depth conversations with the people fascinating Australians right now, from sport to politics to the arts, business and beyond, interviewed weekly by the country's top journalists. Consider it a magazine for your ears.

Good Weekend Talks

New episodes from ongoing Metro podcast series. 

New episodes from ongoing Metro podcast series.&nbsp;

New episodes

'Writers need more government support': publisher Louise Adler

Stephanie Alexander is a national icon: an internationally renowned cooking guru, best-selling writer and inspirational founder of a nationwide kitchen-garden scheme for schoolkids. She's also the final arbiter of kitchen disputes in homes all over Australia – resolving disagreements about how to store tomatoes and when to take the sponge out of the oven – as the author of Australia's most famous cookbook, The Cook's Companion. The 2.8-kilogram culinary doorstopper turns 30 this year, and Alexander joins Good Weekend senior writer Amanda Hooton for a chat about restaurants and writing, eating and air-fryers.

Stephanie Alexander is a national icon: an internationally renowned cooking guru, best-selling writer and inspirational founder of a nationwide kitchen-garden scheme for schoolkids. She's also the final arbiter of kitchen disputes in homes all over Australia &ndash; resolving disagreements about how to store tomatoes and when to take the sponge out of the oven &ndash; as the author of Australia's most famous cookbook,&nbsp;The Cook's Companion. The 2.8-kilogram culinary doorstopper turns 30 this year, and Alexander joins Good Weekend senior writer Amanda Hooton for a chat about restaurants and writing, eating and air-fryers.

Stephanie Alexander on writing, eating, air-frying – and The Cook’s Companion turning 30

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/88b564ea-a9a6-4751-910a-a5d800019396/clips/473eb337-6206-4597-9142-b4110053daa7/transcript

Bob Carr has done hard jobs before. He was premier of NSW for 10 years, and later served as foreign minister under Julia Gillard’s government. But when his beloved wife, Helena, died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 2023, he faced the hardest job of his life – learning how to live without her. Carr worked through his deep shock and sadness by obsessively walking the Sydney streets he once presided over as premier, often weeping as he did so. He knows he made his friends uncomfortable by talking too much about Helena’s death at dinner parties. The silence of their shared Maroubra home was unbearable. Carr joins us to discuss his grief memoir, Bring Back Yesterday, about the loss of Helena and scrounging his way forward into what he calls “the left-over life” – a life still full of pleasures like reading, opera and the foam of a wave on your face as you enter the ocean. Today's episode is hosted by Sydney Morning Herald senior writer and columnist Jacqueline Maley.

Bob Carr has done hard jobs before. He was premier of NSW for 10 years, and later served as foreign minister under Julia Gillard&rsquo;s government. But when his beloved wife, Helena, died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 2023, he faced the hardest job of his life &ndash; learning how to live without her. Carr worked through his deep shock and sadness by obsessively walking the Sydney streets he once presided over as premier, often weeping as he did so. He knows he made his friends uncomfortable by talking too much about Helena&rsquo;s death at dinner parties. The silence of their shared Maroubra home was unbearable. Carr joins us to discuss his grief memoir,&nbsp;Bring Back Yesterday, about the loss of Helena and scrounging his way forward into what he calls &ldquo;the left-over life&rdquo; &ndash; a life still full of pleasures like reading, opera and the foam of a wave on your face as you enter the ocean. Today's episode is hosted by Sydney Morning Herald senior writer and columnist Jacqueline Maley.

Bob Carr on grief and 'the left-over life' after his wife's death

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/88b564ea-a9a6-4751-910a-a5d800019396/clips/54ef4651-bdcb-46a5-853b-b40b00a64f1b/transcript

In this episode, we talk to Courtney Barnett, who broke into the musical mainstream a little over a decade ago as an Aussie singer-songwriter with deadpan delivery, with work veering from the witty and rambling to something evoking Margaret Atwood. The Grammy-nominated artist chats to Konrad Marshall from her home in Los Angeles, where she's about to release her fourth album, "Creature of Habit".

In this episode, we talk to Courtney Barnett, who broke into the musical mainstream a little over a decade ago as an Aussie singer-songwriter with deadpan delivery, with work veering from the witty and rambling to something evoking Margaret Atwood. The Grammy-nominated artist chats to Konrad Marshall from her home in Los Angeles, where she's about to release her fourth album, "Creature of Habit".

Courtney Barnett on songwriting, her deadpan delivery – and what she did next

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/88b564ea-a9a6-4751-910a-a5d800019396/clips/d4ab0457-5313-4db2-9571-b4040189ca68/transcript

'Writers need more government support': publisher Louise Adler

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