Today’s episode marks a collaboration between ABR and The Nature Conservancy’s Nature Writing Prize as ABR becomes Media Partner of the prize. In the episode, we consider the notion that theway we write about nature shapes the way we see it, value it, and act on its behalf.

The eighth biennial Nature Writing Prize is now open, and the winning essay, which attracts prize money of $8,000, will be published in the January/February issue of ABR. This year’s judges are Kim Mahood, Dave Witty, and Georgina Arnott. Applications for the prize can be submitted here: https://natureaustralia.submittable.com/submit/358915/2026-nature-writing-prize

Today&rsquo;s episode marks a collaboration between ABR and The Nature Conservancy&rsquo;s Nature Writing Prize as ABR becomes Media Partner of the prize. In the episode, we consider the notion that the way we write about nature shapes the way we see it, value it, and act on its behalf.
The eighth biennial Nature Writing Prize is now open, and the winning essay, which attracts prize money of $8,000, will be published in the January/February issue of ABR. This year&rsquo;s judges are Kim Mahood, Dave Witty, and Georgina Arnott. Applications for the prize can be submitted here: <a href="https://natureaustralia.submittable.com/submit/358915/2026-nature-writing-prize">https://natureaustralia.submittable.com/submit/358915/2026-nature-writing-prize</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.

Today’s episode marks a collaboration between ABR and The Nature Conservancy’s Nature Writing Prize as ABR becomes Media Partner of the prize. Today’s episode considers the notion that the way we write about nature shapes the way we see it, value it, and act on its behalf.  The eighth biennial Nature Writing Prize is now open, and the winning essay, which attracts prize money of $8,000, will be published in the January/February issue of ABR. This year’s judges are Kim Mahood, Dave Witty, and Georgina Arnott. Applications for the prize can be submitted here: https://natureaustralia.submittable.com/submit/358915/2026-nature-writing-prize

The Nature Conservancy’s Nature Writing Prize

This week on The ABR Podcast, we feature the third-place winner of the 2026 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, ‘Peach’ by Ursula Brunetti. In Brunetti’s riveting coming-of-age story, an exchange student’s stay in the French countryside becomes increasingly tense when she discovers her host’s sister has a life-threatening eating disorder. This year’s judges admired the ‘lucid and exacting prose’ of ‘Peach’, as well as the way it ‘conjures a phenomenal atmosphere of dread’.

Ursula Brunetti is a writer living between the Isle of Wight and Paris. She has won the Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize and the Oxford Review of Books Short Fiction Prize. She holds a Master of Studies in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford and is currently working on her début novel.

‘Peach’ by Ursula Brunetti is published in the August issue of ABR.

This week on The ABR Podcast, we feature the third-place winner of the 2026 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, &lsquo;Peach&rsquo; by Ursula Brunetti. In Brunetti&rsquo;s riveting coming-of-age story, an exchange student&rsquo;s stay in the French countryside becomes increasingly tense when she discovers her host&rsquo;s sister has a life-threatening eating disorder. This year&rsquo;s judges admired the &lsquo;lucid and exacting prose&rsquo; of &lsquo;Peach&rsquo;, as well as the way it &lsquo;conjures a phenomenal atmosphere of dread&rsquo;.
Ursula Brunetti&nbsp;is a writer living between the Isle of Wight and Paris. She has won the Royal Society of Literature&rsquo;s V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize and the&nbsp;Oxford Review of Books&nbsp;Short Fiction Prize. She holds a Master of Studies in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford and is currently working on her d&eacute;but novel.
&lsquo;Peach&rsquo; by Ursula Brunetti is published in the August issue of ABR.

This week on The ABR Podcast, we feature the third-place winner of the 2026 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, ‘Peach’ by Ursula Brunetti. In Brunetti’s riveting coming-of-age story, an exchange student’s stay in the French countryside becomes increasingly tense when she discovers her host’s sister has a life-threatening eating disorder. This year’s judges admired the ‘lucid and exacting prose’ of ‘Peach’, as well as the way it ‘conjures a phenomenal atmosphere of dread’. Ursula Brunetti is a writer living between the Isle of Wight and Paris. She has won the Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize and the Oxford Review of Books Short Fiction Prize. She holds a Master of Studies in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford and is currently working on her début novel. ‘Peach’ by Ursula Brunetti is published in the August issue of ABR.

‘Peach’ by Ursula Brunetti

This week on The ABR Podcast, Virginia Haussegger reviews Women Who Win by Antoinette Lattouf, a book that is not about ‘the anatomy of winning’, but rather about ‘the impact of fighting’. Using her well-known legal case against the ABC as a narrative framework, Lattouf unfolds the stories of over forty ‘unyielding, unbowed’ women who dared to take on ‘powerful institutions’ and ‘systems of exclusion’. The result, Haussegger writes, is a gritty exploration of the ‘drama, doubt, and pain associated with winning’.

Virginia Haussegger is an award-winning television journalist, writer, and commentator, whose media career spans thirty years. She is Deputy Chair of the media think-tank PIJI, the Public Interest Journalism Initiative, and she hosts BroadTalk, a podcast about women, power, and the wayward world.

‘“What I wanted to signal”: Women navigating the media’ by Virginia Haussegger is published in the August issue of ABR.

This week on The ABR Podcast, Virginia Haussegger reviews Women Who Win by Antoinette Lattouf, a book that is not about &lsquo;the anatomy of winning&rsquo;, but rather about &lsquo;the impact of fighting&rsquo;. Using her well-known legal case against the ABC as a narrative framework, Lattouf unfolds the stories of over forty &lsquo;unyielding, unbowed&rsquo; women who dared to take on &lsquo;powerful institutions&rsquo; and &lsquo;systems of exclusion&rsquo;. The result, Haussegger writes, is a gritty exploration of the &lsquo;drama, doubt, and pain associated with winning&rsquo;.
Virginia Haussegger is an award-winning television journalist, writer, and commentator, whose media career spans thirty years. She is Deputy Chair of the media think-tank PIJI, the Public Interest Journalism Initiative, and she hosts&nbsp;BroadTalk, a podcast about women, power, and the wayward world.
&lsquo;&ldquo;What I wanted to signal&rdquo;: Women navigating the media&rsquo; by Virginia Haussegger is published in the August issue of&nbsp;ABR.

This week on The ABR Podcast, Virginia Haussegger reviews Women Who Win by Antoinette Lattouf, a book that is not about ‘the anatomy of winning’, but rather about ‘the impact of fighting’. Using her well-known legal case against the ABC as a narrative framework, Lattouf unfolds the stories of over forty ‘unyielding, unbowed’ women who dared to take on ‘powerful institutions’ and ‘systems of exclusion’. The result, Haussegger writes, is a gritty exploration of the ‘drama, doubt, and pain associated with winning’.  Virginia Haussegger is an award-winning television journalist, writer, and commentator, whose media career spans thirty years. She is Deputy Chair of the media think-tank PIJI, the Public Interest Journalism Initiative, and she hosts BroadTalk, a podcast about women, power, and the wayward world. ‘“What I wanted to signal”: Women navigating the media’ by Virginia Haussegger is published in the August issue of ABR.

‘“What I wanted to signal”: Women navigating the media’ by Virginia Haussegger

This week on The ABR Podcast, we feature ‘Backflip’ by New Zealand author Sam Keenan, which placed second in the 2026 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. Set in a small New Zealand town in the 1980s, ‘Backflip’ tells the story of a young girl’s disappearance and the community’s attempt to smooth over this tragedy. This year’s judges called ‘Backflip’ a ‘remarkable feat of compression: a coming-of-age story told from a teenage girl’s perspective that is also a tender portrait of an era and a town in the grip of a traumatic disturbance’.

Sam Keenan lives in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She won the inaugural Sargeson Prize in 2019 and came second in the Sunday Star-Times short story competition in 2017. Her short stories have been published in Landfall, Sunday Star-Times, and the anthology Middle Distance (2021). Her work often focuses on the social history of Aotearoa.

‘Backflip’ by Sam Keenan is published in the August issue of ABR.

This week on The ABR Podcast, we feature &lsquo;Backflip&rsquo; by New Zealand author Sam Keenan, which placed second in the 2026 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. Set in a small New Zealand town in the 1980s, &lsquo;Backflip&rsquo; tells the story of a young girl&rsquo;s disappearance and the community&rsquo;s attempt to smooth over this tragedy. This year&rsquo;s judges called &lsquo;Backflip&rsquo; a &lsquo;remarkable feat of compression: a coming-of-age story told from a teenage girl&rsquo;s perspective that is also a tender portrait of an era and a town in the grip of a traumatic disturbance&rsquo;.
Sam Keenan&nbsp;lives in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She won the inaugural&nbsp;Sargeson Prize in 2019 and came second in the&nbsp;Sunday Star-Times&nbsp;short story competition in 2017. Her short stories have been published in&nbsp;Landfall,&nbsp;Sunday Star-Times, and the anthology&nbsp;Middle Distance&nbsp;(2021). Her work often focuses on the social history of Aotearoa.
&lsquo;Backflip&rsquo; by Sam Keenan is published in the August issue of&nbsp;ABR.

This week on The ABR Podcast, we feature ‘Backflip’ by New Zealand writer Sam Keenan, which placed second in the 2026 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. Set in a small New Zealand town in the 1980s, ‘Backflip’ tells the story of a young girl’s disappearance and the community’s attempt to smooth over this tragedy. This year’s judges called ‘Backflip’ a ‘remarkable feat of compression: a coming-of-age story told from a teenage girl’s perspective that is also a tender portrait of an era and a town in the grip of a traumatic disturbance’.  Sam Keenan lives in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She won the inaugural Sargeson Prize in 2019 and came second in the Sunday Star-Times short story competition in 2017. Her short stories have been published in Landfall, Sunday Star-Times, and the anthology Middle Distance (2021). Her work often focuses on the social history of Aotearoa.  ‘Backflip’ by Sam Keenan is published in the August issue of ABR.

The Nature Conservancy’s Nature Writing Prize

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