Catherine McKinnon’s tense but tender tale, “To Sing of War”, immerses the reader in the lives of three characters strung across the globe during the dying days of World War II …as the days tick towards the detonation of the first nuclear weapon on Hiroshima.

+

Poet Ken Bolton makes a good case for why British writer Beryl Bainbridge should not be forgotten.

+

ABC Broadcaster and poet Mike Ladd shares what’s in his tsundoku.

Guests

Catherine McKinnon, author of “To Sing of War” and the Miles Franklin Award shortlisted “Storyland”

Ken Bolton, Australian poet whose most recent collection is titled “Salute”

Our Random Reader is ABC broadcaster and poet Mike Ladd

Other books that get a mention

Catherine McKinnon mentions “The Regeneration Trilogy” by Pat Barker, “Cloud Cukooland” by Anthony Doerr.

Ken Bolton mentions Beryl Bainbridge’s books, “An Awfully Big Adventure”, “Injury Time”, “Master Georgie”, “The Birthday Boys”, “Watson’s Apology”, “According to Queeney” and “A Quiet Life”.

Mike Ladd mentions “The story of Wy-lah, the cockatoo” by Leslie Rees, “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller, “Selected Poems’ by Elizabeth Bishop, “The Years” by Annie Ernaux, “The Pole and Other Stories” by John Coetzee and “Salt Creek” by Lucy Treloar.

INSTAGRAM

@cathmckinnonauthor

@harpercollinsaustralia