Minisode 62A - Poet Miriel Lenore’s final poetry collection ‘Driving to Mulberrygong’

Adelaide poet Miriel Lenore didn't take to poetry until  two thirds of her way through an adventurous life. She was over her many years a botanist, researcher, traveller, student, teacher, activist, feminist, mother and  grandmother. Miriel spent twenty years in Fiji, forty years in the Australian …

Episode 62 - Antonia Pont’s ‘Plain Life’ + Tsundoku team’s recommended reads

In the midst of the anxiety-ridden chaos of late-stage capitalism, is it really possible to lead a plain life? Philosopher, essayist and yogi Antonia Pont’s book is far more a philosophical analysis of our modern existence than it is self-help, but she offers advice on being true to oneself and ign…

Episode 61 - Photographing the Southern Flinders Ranges + “Do We Deserve This?”

Meet Dr Annette Marner who has spent eight years documenting her ‘patch’, South Australia’s geologically extraordinary Southern Flinders ranges. With patience and respect for wildlife, and some very fancy camera gear, Annette captures in her book very up close and personal moments with the animals …

Episode 60 -Michael Brissenden’s rural thriller Dust & getting to know spy writer Mick Herron

Former journalist, Michael Brissenden, brings insider knowledge and a sharp world view to the crime and thriller genre. “Dust” goes into that now familiar territory, the dark underbelly of rural Australia, to create a gripping story that begins with a dry lake giving up its secrets. And who knew t…

Episode 59: “The Woman in the Watchtower” by Susan Wyndham

Cath and Annie take a deep dive into the brilliant, celebrated and mysterious life of Elizabeth Harrower, author of the 1960s Australian classic “The Watch Tower”. Cath first reviews Harrower’s most celebrated work and then Annie speaks to Harrower’s biographer, Susan Wyndham, about the enigmatic …

Episode 58: “A Great Act of Love” by Heather Rose + new publisher Aniko Press

Drawing on her own family history for inspiration, Heather Rose delivers a compelling and heart rending saga of a father and daughter torn apart by a terrible crime. In “A Great Act of Love” Caroline Douglas carries her dark secret to the penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land to begin life anew - but c…

Episode 57: “The Seeker and the Sage” by Brigid Delaney + “The Pacific Tale” by Mandy Treagus

In “The Seeker and the Sage” a traumatised journalist is given a dream assignment - track down the mayor of a mysterious town whose citizens are the happiest people on Earth. She wants to learn how to live a good life but the town’s mayor wants to protect his dominion from the modern world. In what…

Episode 56: “The Slip” by Miriam Webster + a chat with new publishing duo “Pink Shorts”

Miriam Webster makes her literary debut with a sharp, funny and often dark collection of short stories about love, loss and very modern dilemmas. With an eye for what isn’t said and that which is said by accident, the collection is named for the Freudian slip. + New publishers on the block, Margo…

Episode 55: “The Oasis” by Anne Buist & Graeme Simsion + “The Body Next Door” by Zane Lovitt

Since shooting to fame with “The Rosie Project”, Graeme Simsion has formed a successful writing partnership with his psychiatrist wife, Anne Buist. Here they share with Annie why the mental health system provides such fertile ground for their creativity, the change they hope to see in that world…an…

Episode 54: “Chinese Postman” by Brian Castro + “Reunion” by Bronwyn Rivers

Brian Castro's “The Chinese Postman” is a meditation on old age with a central character whose life mirrors his own. The story strays into fiction when the protagonist, Abe Quin, begins a correspondence with a woman seeking refuge from the war in Ukraine. This acclaimed work of autofiction is short…