This week on the ABR Podcast we feature Natasha Sholl’s essay ‘The Chirp/The Scream’, which was the runner-up in the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize. Natasha Sholl is a writer and lapsed lawyer based in Melbourne. Her work has appeared in many publications including Australian Book Review. Her first book, Found, Wanting, was published by Ultimo Press in 2022. Her essay, ‘Hold Your Nerve’, was runner-up in the 2024 Calibre Essay Prize. Listen to Natasha Sholl with ‘The Chirp/The Scream’, published in the June issue of ABR.

This week on the ABR Podcast we feature Natasha Sholl&rsquo;s essay &lsquo;The Chirp/The Scream&rsquo;, which was the runner-up in the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize. Natasha Sholl is a writer and lapsed lawyer based in Melbourne. Her work has appeared in many publications including Australian Book Review. Her first book, Found, Wanting, was published by Ultimo Press in 2022. Her essay, &lsquo;Hold Your Nerve&rsquo;, was runner-up in the 2024 Calibre Essay Prize. Listen to Natasha Sholl with &lsquo;The Chirp/The Scream&rsquo;, <a href="https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/1016-june-2025-no-476/14199-the-chirp-the-scream-by-natasha-sholl">published in the June issue of ABR</a>.

Welcome to The ABR Podcast, produced by Australian Book Review. Released every Thursday, The ABR Podcast features a range of literary highlights, such as reviews, poetry, fiction, interviews, and commentary. Subscribe on iTunes, Google, or Spotify Podcasts, or whichever app you use to listen to your favourite podcasts.

For more information about ABR, visit our website, www.australianbookreview.com.au

Welcome to The ABR Podcast, produced by Australian Book Review. Released every Thursday, The ABR Podcast features a range of literary highlights, such as reviews, poetry, fiction, interviews, and commentary. Subscribe on iTunes, Google, or Spotify Podcasts, or whichever app you use to listen to your favourite podcasts.
For more information about&nbsp;ABR, visit our website, <a href="http://www.australianbookreview.com.au">www.australianbookreview.com.au</a>

Welcome to The ABR Podcast, produced by Australian Book Review. Released every Thursday, The ABR Podcast features a range of literary highlights, such as reviews, poetry, fiction, interviews, and commentary. Subscribe on iTunes, Google, or Spotify Podcasts, or whichever app you use to listen to your favourite podcasts.

The ABR Podcast

ABR is delighted to introduce its brand-new podcast, The ABR Podcast.

Released fortnightly every Wednesday, The ABR Podcast will feature a range of literary highlights, such as reviews, poetry, fiction, interviews, and commentary. Subscribe on the iTunes, Google, or Spotify Podcasts, or whichever app you use to listen to your favourite podcasts.

ABR&nbsp;is delighted to introduce its brand-new podcast,&nbsp;The ABR Podcast.
Released fortnightly every Wednesday,&nbsp;The ABR Podcast&nbsp;will feature a range of literary highlights, such as reviews, poetry, fiction, interviews, and commentary. Subscribe on the iTunes, Google, or Spotify Podcasts, or whichever app you use to listen to your favourite podcasts.

‘The Chirp/The Scream’ by Natasha Sholl, runner-up in the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize

This week, on The ABR Podcast, Stephen Long reviews Woodside vs the Planet: How a company captured a country by Marian Wilkinson and Extractive Capitalism: How commodities and cronyism drive the global economy by Laleh Khalili. Long describes the notion that Australia can maintain its current gas exports and save the planet as a delusion, one that is increasingly adopted by our political leaders. In fact, Woodside and the LNG industry at large have a business model, Long explains, that is ‘based on climate catastrophe’.

Stephen Long is a journalist who specialises in investigative reporting, analysis, and commentary. He is a winner of the Walkley Award, the Citigroup Award for Economic and Financial Journalism, and the Commonwealth Media Award. Here is Stephen Long with ‘Carbon bomb: Business models based on climate catastrophe’, published in the December issue of ABR.

This week, on The ABR Podcast, Stephen Long reviews Woodside vs the Planet: How a company captured a country by Marian Wilkinson and Extractive Capitalism: How commodities and cronyism drive the global economy by Laleh Khalili. Long describes the notion that Australia can maintain its current gas exports and save the planet as a delusion, one that is increasingly adopted by our political leaders. In fact, Woodside and the LNG industry at large have a business model, Long explains, that is &lsquo;based on climate catastrophe&rsquo;.
Stephen Long is a journalist who specialises in investigative reporting, analysis, and commentary. He is a winner of the Walkley Award, the Citigroup Award for Economic and Financial Journalism, and the Commonwealth Media Award. Here is Stephen Long with &lsquo;Carbon bomb: Business models based on climate catastrophe&rsquo;, published in the December issue of ABR.

'Carbon bomb: Business models based on climate catastrophe' by Stephen Long

This week, on The ABR Podcast, James Curran reviews Turbulence: Australian foreign policy in the Trump era by Clinton Fernandes. Curran describes Turbulence as ‘an attempt to chart the coordinates of President Trump’s approach to the world’ and to explain how Australia, in ‘scrambling to remain relevant to Washington’, has become what Fernandes describes as a “US sentinel state”.

James Curran is Professor of Modern History at Sydney University and foreign affairs columnist for the Australian Financial Review. His books include Australia's China Odyssey: From euphoria to fear (2022) and he recently delivered a prestigious Boyer lecture, titled ‘Trump’s Gift’. Here is James Curran with ‘Skewering AUKUS: A point-by-point account’, published in the December issue of ABR. 

This week, on The ABR Podcast, James Curran reviews Turbulence: Australian foreign policy in the Trump era by Clinton Fernandes. Curran describes Turbulence as &lsquo;an attempt to chart the coordinates of President Trump&rsquo;s approach to the world&rsquo; and to explain how Australia, in &lsquo;scrambling to remain relevant to Washington&rsquo;, has become what Fernandes describes as a &ldquo;US sentinel state&rdquo;.
James Curran is Professor of Modern History at Sydney University and foreign affairs columnist for the Australian Financial Review. His books include Australia's China Odyssey: From euphoria to fear (2022) and he recently delivered a prestigious Boyer lecture, titled &lsquo;Trump&rsquo;s Gift&rsquo;. Here is James Curran with &lsquo;Skewering AUKUS: A point-by-point account&rsquo;, <a href="https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/1026-december-2025-no-482/14688-james-curran-reviews-turbulence-australian-foreign-policy-in-the-trump-era-by-clinton-fernandes">published in the December issue of </a><a href="https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/1026-december-2025-no-482/14688-james-curran-reviews-turbulence-australian-foreign-policy-in-the-trump-era-by-clinton-fernandes">ABR</a>.

This week, on The ABR Podcast, James Curran reviews Turbulence: Australian foreign policy in the Trump era by Clinton Fernandes. Curran describes Turbulence as ‘an attempt to chart the coordinates of President Trump’s approach to the world’ and to explain how Australia, in ‘scrambling to remain relevant to Washington’, has become what Fernandes describes as a “US sentinel state”.  James Curran is Professor of Modern History at Sydney University and foreign affairs columnist for the Australian Financial Review. His books include Australia's China Odyssey: From euphoria to fear (2022) and he recently delivered a prestigious Boyer lecture, titled ‘Trump’s Gift’. Here is James Curran with ‘Skewering AUKUS: A point-by-point account’, published in the December issue of ABR.

‘Skewering AUKUS: A point-by-point account’ by James Curran

This week on The ABR Podcast, we feature a special essay by biographer Nadia Wheatley titled ‘Liars, inventors, embroiderers: Rewriting the life and myth of Charmian Clift’. ‘What does a biographer do’, Wheatley asks, ‘when she discovers she has something wrong?’ In Wheatley’s case, it was not something that just she had wrong, but something that her subject, Charmian Clift, also had very wrong about her mother, Amy Lila Currie. It was, in fact, a great big secret, the knowledge of which recasts the life of both Amy and Charmian, as Wheately explains.

Nadia Wheatley is the author of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift, which won The Age Non-fiction Book of the Year in 2001 and the Australian History Prize at the New South Wales Premier’s History Awards in 2002. She is also the editor of Sneaky Little Revolutions: Selected essays of Charmian Clift (2022) and Clift’s previously unpublished autobiographical novel, The End of the Morning (2024). Here is Nadia Wheatley with ‘Liars, inventors, embroiderers: Rewriting the life and myth of Charmain Clift’, published in the December issue of ABR. 

This week on The ABR Podcast, we feature a special essay by biographer Nadia Wheatley titled &lsquo;Liars, inventors, embroiderers: Rewriting the life and myth of Charmian Clift&rsquo;. &lsquo;What does a biographer do&rsquo;, Wheatley asks, &lsquo;when she discovers she has something wrong?&rsquo; In Wheatley&rsquo;s case, it was not something that just she had wrong, but something that her subject, Charmian Clift, also had very wrong about her mother, Amy Lila Currie. It was, in fact, a great big secret, the knowledge of which recasts the life of both Amy and Charmian, as Wheately explains.
Nadia Wheatley is the author of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift, which won The Age Non-fiction Book of the Year in 2001 and the Australian History Prize at the New South Wales Premier&rsquo;s History Awards in 2002. She is also the editor of Sneaky Little Revolutions: Selected essays of Charmian Clift (2022) and Clift&rsquo;s previously unpublished autobiographical novel, The End of the Morning (2024). Here is Nadia Wheatley with &lsquo;Liars, inventors, embroiderers: Rewriting the life and myth of Charmain Clift&rsquo;, <a href="https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/1026-december-2025-no-482/14714-liars-inventors-embroiderers-rewriting-the-life-and-myth-of-charmian-clift-by-nadia-wheatley">published in the December issue of ABR. </a>

This week on The ABR Podcast, we feature a special essay by biographer Nadia Wheatley titled ‘Liars, inventors, embroiderers: Rewriting the life and myth of Charmian Clift’. ‘What does a biographer do’, Wheatley asks, ‘when she discovers she has something wrong?’ In Wheatley’s case, it was not something that just she had wrong, but something that her subject, Charmian Clift, also had very wrong about her mother, Amy Lila Currie. It was, in fact, a great big secret, the knowledge of which recasts the life of both Amy and Charmian, as Wheately explains.  Nadia Wheatley is the author of The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift, which won The Age Non-fiction Book of the Year in 2001 and the Australian History Prize at the New South Wales Premier’s History Awards in 2002. She is also the editor of Sneaky Little Revolutions: Selected essays of Charmian Clift (2022) and Clift’s previously unpublished autobiographical novel, The End of the Morning (2024). Here is Nadia Wheatley with ‘Liars, inventors, embroiderers: Rewriting the life and myth of Charmain Clift’, published in the December issue of ABR.

‘The Chirp/The Scream’ by Natasha Sholl, runner-up in the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize

In 1 playlist(s)

The ABR Podcast

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips