Jessica Townsend on the fourth book in her Nevermoor series, 'Silverborn The Mystery of Morrigan Crow'
In the magical city of Nevermoor, long-buried secrets are coming to light, and Morrigan Crow's life is about to turn upside down. When Morrigan is invited into Nevermoor's wealthy Silver District, she discovers a world of extravagance and a family mystery she's eager to unravel. She could never imagine where it will lead: a white wedding, a golden dragon and a red pool of blood.Embroiled in suspicion and danger, Morrigan leaps headfirst into a murder investigation, while also grappling with her ever-growing Wundersmith powers. And although her friends are there to help, she fears that could change if they learn she's keeping a terrible secret of her own. As shadowy forces awaken in Nevermoor, can Morrigan find a killer and solve the mystery in her own past before the clock strikes midnight?In this episode Gregory Dobbs gets a first-hand tour of the world of Nevermoor, direct from it's creator, Jessica Townsend. Jessica also talks about the developing powers of the exceptional Wundersmith that is Morrigan Crow in this spellbinding tale of magic, mystery and murder.
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27:08
Raina MacIntyre on science, reason and the threat to 200 years of progress in 'Vaccine Nation'
Vaccination is arguably the greatest public health achievement in history, yet the disappearance of many diseases has also seen an increased focus on the side effects of vaccines and the rise of the anti-vax movement. The COVID-19 pandemic propelled anti-vaccination sentiment into the mainstream – including from some leaders in the medical profession – in an explosion of pseudoscience and disinformation that’s made it increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction.In Vaccine Nation, internationally acclaimed epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre examines the history of vaccines and how they work, vaccine safety, public policy, cutting-edge new technologies, and the miraculous new developments in vaccines to fight cancer and other chronic diseases. At a critical time when vaccination rates are falling globally, MacIntyre argues that science must reclaim the stage or we will lose centuries of gains that vaccines have brought to the world.In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Raina MacIntyre about how vaccines work and why they are essential for public health, about the new mRNA technology and how it may change our treatment for a whole range of conditions, and the threat of misinformation, pseudoscience and the ant-vaccine movement on the progress of medical science.
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31:47
Dianne Wolfer and Erica Wagner on the retelling of an Australian classic in 'The Colt From Old Regret'
You may have heard the story of the man from Snowy River and his fearless ride through the mountains. This is Colt’s story, of nickering mares and a rearing stallion. How did Colt escape the man? What did Colt see, feel and smell as he charged through the bush?Beloved children’s author Dianne Wolfer responds to The Man from Snowy River, creating an essential companion to the original poem. It is illustrated with exquisite collages by Erica Wagner, which convey the depth of emotion with great tenderness. They encapsulate the mood of Wolfer’s text, transporting the reader into the Snowy Mountains.End-matter includes the full text of Paterson’s poem, along with additional information on Paterson himself, brumbies and the Snowy Mountains, and bush poetry. All gathered together, this is a new Australian classic in the making.In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to author Dianne Wolfer and illustrator Erica Wagner about their inspiration for recasting this iconic piece of Australian bush poetry, their deep connection to the Snowy Mountains, and the man behind the legend of 'The Man From Snow River'.
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20:27
Stephen Gapps on Australia's unknown colonial history 'Uprising: War in the colony of New South Wales, 1838–1844'
The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance ended in 1824 with a series of massacres conducted by settlers in the Bathurst region. From the 1830s, colonists began occupying more and more Aboriginal land across western New South Wales and stocking it with sheep and cattle. By 1838, a dramatic fightback began across the entire frontier of the colony. What has been called the Second Wiradyuri War of Resistance, from 1839 to 1841, was, in fact, part of a vast arc of conflict from present-day northern Victoria through to southeast Queensland. At the time, it was seen by many contemporaries as a concerted and coordinated ‘uprising’.In Uprising, Stephen Gapps reveals the incredible story of this extensive frontier resistance warfare for the first time – a series of wars that were conducted along a huge area of the Murray-Darling river system, across many First Nations’ lands, in a concerted defence of River Country.In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Stephen Gapps about why we are yet to fully recognise that the colonisation of Australia was achieved through frontier wars, how wool was one of the prime economic drivers for the invasion, the extensive networks of communication that existed for First Nations across the colony of New South Wales and why memorials to this war should form part of our national remembrance.
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25:52
Kate Grenville on her Australian family pilgrimage in 'Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place
‘What does it mean to be on land that was taken from other people? Now that we know how the taking was done, what do we do with that knowledge?’Kate Grenville is no stranger to the past. Her success and fame as a writer exploded when she published The Secret River in 2005, a bestseller based on the story of her convict ancestor, an early settler on the Hawkesbury River.More than two decades on, and following the defeat of the Voice referendum, Grenville is still grappling with what it means to descend from people who were, as she puts it, “on the sharp edge of the moving blade that was colonisation”.So she decides to go on a kind of pilgrimage, back through the places her family stories happened, and put the stories and the First People back into the same frame, on the same country, to try to think about those questions. This gripping book is the result of that journeyIn this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Grenville about where her journey into her family history took her and what she found there, about the words and language we've adopted to describe the history of colonisation of Australia, and where the defeat of the referendum on a Voice to Parliament might lead us as a nation.
New Zealand