Irish novelist Paul Murray and American author Bryan Washington have penned two of the best ghost stories, of sorts, in living memory.

Murray’s The Bee Sting is a sprawling tragicomedy of a family haunted by the ghosts of past trauma. Washington’s tender exploration of lust, love and grief, Family Meal, features the spectre of a lost lover and the phantoms of opportunities ignored.

Together they discuss their novels’ shared interest in real and figurative ghosts, in conversation with Toni Jordan.

Supported by the United States Consulate Melbourne. 

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.