The Book Club

Jacinta Halloran's new novel, Pilgrimage, follows the tale of Celeste, a forty-nine year old paediatrician with an avid belief in science and medicine, but little else. When her deeply devout mother is diagnosed with a motor-neuron disease and decides to travel with her daughters to Nicula, a small town in Romania that has become known for miracle healings, she is forced to confront her own life and beliefs. Originally broadcast on 08/11/2012, Pilgrimage is out now through Scribe.

It's hard to believe that Courtney Collins is a debut novelist. Her first work, The Burial, looks at one of Australia's most renowned female bushrangers, Jessie Hickman. It's lyrical, vicious, beautiful and stark, examining Australia's history, but not trapped by it, and it was our book of the month for November. Originally broadcast on 01/11/2012, The Burial is out now through Allen & Unwin.

Text Publishing are well known for their commitment to putting out a wide array of high quality, interesting, contemporary Australian novels. Now they've turned their gaze back and have a new line as part of the publishing house, Text Classics, which looks at some classics works that may not be available anywhere else. Sky was joined by Michael Heyward, Managing Director of Text Publishing to talk about the imprint, the ideas behind it and some of his favourite resurrected works. Originally broadcast on 25/10/2012, the Text Classics line is out through Text Publishing.

Stuart McMillen, Zac Smith-Cameron and Alexis Sugden, three Brisbane cartoonists with new projects, are turning to crowd-funding to make their creative goals a reality. With projects ranging from non-fiction, to manga, to fiction, they showcase the breadth of the form and the local scene. Originally broadcast on 25/10/2012, their pozible pages can be found at Rat Park, Iron Style and My Sister's Voice respectively.

Josephine Rowe reads 'Brisbane' from her new collection Tarcutta Wake, out now through UQP. Listen to Grace's interview with Josephine here.  

Josephine Rowe is a Melbourne-based author whose second collection, Tarcutta Wake, is a beautiful and haunting collection of very short stories. Josephine chatted to Grace about the art of the short form, writing from personal experience and the draw of the melancholy. Listen to Josephine reading a story from Tarcutta Wake here. Originally broadcast on 25/10/2012. Tarcutta Wake is out through UQP.

James Moloney is a well known children's and young adults' author, with nearly forty titles to his name, including the award winning A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove. His new novel, The Tower Mill, is different in focus. His first adult work, it examines an unusual family, their relationships and their history, against the backdrop of Joh-era Queensland. Originally broadcast on 18/10/2012, The Tower Mill is out through UQP.

Nichole Bernier is an accomplished journalist and has written for the likes of Elle, Self, Health and has been been a 14 year contributing editor to Condé Naste Traveller. She's now written her debut novel, The Unfinished Journals of Elizabeth D, a moving meditation on loss and the ideas of self and secrecy. Nichole joined Sky to talk about the book, the art of journal keeping and the residual impact of 9/11. Originally broadcast on 18/10/2012, The Unfinished Journals of Elizabeth D is out now through Allen & Unwin.

Jeff Sparrow is a well known Australian intellectual and the editor of Overland. We had him on the show recently to talk about the book of essays that he co-edited with Antony Loewenstein, entitled Left Turn, but he’s been exceptionally busy and has a new book out already. It’s called Money Shot and it’s an examination of porn and censorship in Australia, as well as an exploration of Jeff’s own attitudes to both things. It’s absolutely fascinating, travelling from porn stars to politics, chastity to zombie porn. Jeff joined Sky in the studio to talk about the board of classification, the view of sex as commodity, the imposition of the market into sexuality and how to improve the current state of affairs. Originally broadcast on 11/10/2012. Money Shot is out now through Scribe.

Greg Jericho will be a familiar name for those who closely follow politics and the media in Australia. Greg began his own blog, Grogs Gamut, in July 2008; posting on a range of topics from sport, to film, to polling and politics. It was in the realm of politics and particularly statistics that he made a name for himself though. During the 2010 election, Greg made a post criticising the way that the news media covered the campaign trail and it began a flurry of articles and Twitter posts questioning the validity of those hiding behind noms de plume online. Eventually, James Massola decided to circumvent Greg's privacy and publish his details in The Australian, claiming that it was in the public interest. Fortunately, this didn't have the chilling effect that was perhaps intended, and Greg has now become a regular contributor to The Drum and has written a book on the rise of the Internet and citizen engagement with the news and politics entitled The Rise of the Fifth Estate: Social Media and Blogging in Australian Politics. Greg joined Sky on The Book Club to talk about the history of blogging in Australia, the importance of Twitter and the difference between anonymity and pseudonymity. Originally broadcast on 25/09/2012. The Rise of the Fifth Estate is out now through Scribe.

The Midnight Promise, Zane Lovitt's debut novel, is billed not as a detective story, but as a detective's story. It's a minor grammatical change that makes for a major shift in the focus of the tale. Here there's no dramatic revelation, no car chase, forensic science, femme fatale. Instead the reader is offered a character study of a man slowly succumbing to depression, apathy, and alcoholism, worn down by his cases and his inability to maintain his independence from them. Structured as a series of ten cases connected only by the central character, it's a wonderful read. Sky chats to Zane Lovitt about the unique qualities of Australian crime fiction, the importance of a good beginning and moving from short stories to novels. Originally broadcast on 25/09/2012. The Midnight Promise is out now through Text Publishing.

John Freeman is a writer, journalist and editor. His reviews and interviews have appeared in the likes of The Age, The Australian, The Independent, the LA Times and The St Petersburg Times. He was the president of the National Book Critics Circle and since 2009 has been the editor of Granta magazine, which has a stated belief in "the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real". He has just released a collection of his interviews and profiles, titled How to Read a Novelist, which draws on conversations with the likes of John Updike, Margaret Atwood, David Foster Wallace, Toni Morrison, and basically every critically acclaimed novelist ever. John talks to Sky about the importance of writing, the different approaches  to interviews and presenting the collection like a series of conversations at a wonderful cocktail party. Originally broadcast on 20/09/2012. How to Read a Novelist is out now through Text.

John Lanchester has written across a vast variety of topics and genres. From novels to journalism, memoirs to food criticism. His last work Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay is a great breakdown of the recent financial crisis, explaining the more complex elements for the lay-person. It was actually written though as an offshoot off his latest novel Capital, his first in ten years. Capital is both sprawling and tightly focused. It looks at a particular street, Pepys St, and from that street explores London and its inhabitants against the backdrop of the boom and then sharp decline of the GFC. John joins Sky in the Book Club studios to talk about the many meanings of capital, the different aspects of community and the importance of characters. Originally broadcast on 20/09/2012. Capital is out now through Allen & Unwin.

David Vann is an internationally bestselling author. His previous works Legend of a Suicide, Caribou Island, A Mile Down and Last Day on Earth have appeared on numerous book of the year lists and have won fourteen prizes, and been shortlisted and longlisted for even more. His new book, Dirt, is an uncomfortable novel looking at a painfully dysfunctional protagonist and his broken family. Despite that, it's an incredibly compelling read and you'll be drawn in until the very last page. Sky speaks to David Vann about the way the author draws inspiration from his own difficult upbringing, his stream-of-consciousness writing method, the selfishness inherent in the New Age movement, and the impact of domestic violence and brutality. This interview includes David reading an excerpt from the novel. Dirt is out now through Text Publishing. Originally broadcast 13 September 2012.

Richard Holloway is the former Bishop of Edinburgh, a member of the Episcopalian Church. In 2000 he resigned, having lost heart with the church over its condemnation of homosexuality, after long fights over the rights of women and support for other progressive causes. He's continued to fight for these progressive causes after leaving the church: he is, for example, the patron of LGBT Youth Scotland, and he has written extensively for the likes of the Times and the Guardian as well as over twenty books exploring the relationship between ethics, sexuality, human nature, and religion. His latest work is Leaving Alexandria, a memoir looking at his own life and his struggles with faith, belief and doubt. Sky spoke to Richard Holloway about Leaving Alexandria, coming of age in a monastery, the value of storytelling and literature, and humanity's capacity for empathy and tolerance. Leaving Alexandria is out through Text. Originally broadcast 13 September 2012.