The Book Show

Tim Winton explains why his beloved Cloudstreet is not a nostalgic novel, while Holly Ringland admits she was "nostalgia sick" for the 1990s while writing The World Beneath Her Feet.
Cloudstreet follows the Lamb and Pickles families, who live under the same roof but move in very different circles. Loosely based on the two sides of Tim Winton's family, the novel's distinctive vernacular grew from the stories he heard as a child. In this interview for Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books, Tim tells Claire Nichols why the book's enduring popularity remains a mystery to him more than 30 years after its publication. Ahead of the release of his memoir, Songs from the Firefront, Tim also shares some of the true stories that feature in this classic including the heartbreaking story of his grandmother.
Will you be voting for Cloudstreet? Vote now in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books.
Holly Ringland's debut The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart was voted into the inaugural Top 100 Books in 2025 and now she's published her third novel The World Beneath Her Feet. It's about the troubled past of a gemstone expert growing up in the 1990s which is significant to Holly as the last time teenagers grew up unrecorded without social media and a camera in their pocket
Listen to Claire's interview with Holly about her second novel The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding. 
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Helen Garner finds it painful to think back to the time when she wrote her autobiographical novel, Monkey Grip, about a young mum and her love affair with a heroin addict.
Monkey Grip was published in 1977 and was famously inspired by her own life in 1970s inner-city Melbourne. It recounts the turmoil of living in share houses and being in love but also revels in the joys of bike riding and swimming at the local Fitzroy pool. In this special conversation with Claire Nichols for ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books vote, Helen reflects on the criticism the book received at the time and why writing a diary (that others want to read) is an exercise in craft.
Will you be voting for Monkey Grip? Vote now in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books.
Jordan Prosser's second novel Blue Giant is an unlikely reading companion for Monkey Grip; it's also about young people living in an inner city Melbourne share house, but this book is about millennial ennui and moving to Mars. Listen to Claire's interview with Jordan about his debut novel Big Time here (it's the third interview).
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Omar Musa, Maxine Beneba Clarke and Nadine Garner share the Australian books that shaped their reading life. Find out what they want to do with problematic classics like My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin.
The event was recorded with The Book Show's Sarah L'Estrange at Melbourne Writers Festival for ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books vote which is now open.
In the Top 100 Australian Books you can choose any ten Australian titles from fiction to non-fiction, kids books to cookbooks, history, biography or memoir. 
Be part of the countdown and cast your vote for your favourite Australian books here. 
Tune in to ABC Radio National for the countdown weekend: Saturday, 17 and Sunday, 18 October.
Guests:
Maxine Beneba Clarke is a poet, a children's book author and illustrator. She's also the author of the memoir The Hate Race and an award winning book of short stories, Foreign Soil. Her latest book is Beautiful Changelings.
Nadine Garner has been on our screens since the 1980s and The Henderson Kids. She's also starred in The Doctor Blake Mysteries, won Best Actress at the 1988 Australian Film Institute Awards and appeared in many TV roles and on the stage.
Omar Musa is a visual artist, poet, spoken word performer, playwright, novelist, short story writer and rapper. He's the author of two novels, Here Come the Dogs and his latest Fierceland won the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Listen to his interview on The Book Show with Claire Nichols here.
Books discussed
Omar Musa's favourites:
The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay
The Monster that Ate Canberra by Michael Salmon
Tiddalick the Frog Who Caused a Flood by Robert Roennfeldt
Strange Objects by Gary Crew
Obernewtyn by Isabelle Carmody
Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden
Kim Scott's True Country
The Boat by Nam Le
The Year of Living Dangerously by Christopher Koch
Shadow boxing by Tony Birch
The Monkey's Mask by Dorothy Porter
Nadine Garner's favourites:
Playing Beatty Bow by Ruth Park
Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung
My Place by Sally Morgan
Dear Sun: The Letters Of Joy Hester And Sunday Reed edited by Janine Burke
Burial Rights by Hannah Kent
Mullaway by Bron Nicolls
Power Without Glory by Frank
The Women of Little Lon: Sex Workers in Nineteenth-century Melbourne by Barbara Minchinton
Maxine Beneba Clarke's favourites:
Tram to Bondi Beach by Libby Hathorn, illustrated by Julie Vivas
Possum Magic by Mem Fox, illustrated by Julie Vivas
Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein
My Place by Sally Morgan
Does My Head Look Big in This by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Swallow the Air by Tara June Winch
Rock Flight by Hasib Hourani
Chinese Fish by Grace Yee
Praise by Andrew McGahan
Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas
Candy by Luke Davies
He Died with a Felafel in his Hand by John Birmingham
Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung
We want to know what you think of Radio National's book podcasts (The Book Show and The Bookshelf). Help us understand what's working, what's not, and how we can make our book programs even more useful, relevant and unmissable. Please take this quick survey.

Liane Moriarty reveals why she finally wrote the Big Little Lies sequel after being very resistant. And Garth Nix combines mystery with science fiction in his latest novel, Massif. 
After the success of the Big Little Lies TV adaptation starring Reece Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, Liane Moriarty brings the story back home to Sydney with the sequel Big Little Truths. Set ten years after the events of the first novel, it's the same group of school mums but the focus has shifted from primary to high school...and there's a severed finger. Liane tells Claire's about the challenges of writing a sequel set in Australia, after the TV sequel was set in America and starred Meryl Streep. 
Science fiction fans will gobble up Garth Nix's latest novel which features giant sentient mountain ranges travelling through space. While the Australian writer is known for his fantasy novels for young adults (The Old Kingdom series), he's just published his first science fiction novel for adults. Massif is about soldiers who travel on these mountain ranges to fight rolling wars between Earth and Mars. Garth tells Claire how his years in the Army Reserve shaped the book and why the characters drink so much tea.
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Indian author Vikas Swarup explains the key to his success with Slumdog Millionaire; he believes his new book has a winning premise too. Plus venture capitalist turned novelist Jessy Wu's Good Intentions.
Former Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's debut novel Q&A was a hit with with readers around the world and was adapted into the blockbuster film Slumdog Millionaire. His fourth novel, The Girl With the Seven Lives, opens with a gun pressed to a woman's head as she recounts a tumultuous life marked by changing identities, slums, scams, and revenge. Describing the book as "Slumdog Millionaire meets Scheherazade," Swarup explains why he is drawn to attention-grabbing story premises. Speaking with Claire Nichols, he also discusses his belief that novels can help us better understand ourselves.
Claire mentioned she's interviewed three former diplomats on The Book Show this year. In addition to Vikas Swarup, the other two are Ian Kemish about Two Islands and Miles Franklin shortlisted author Konrad Muller about My Heart at Evening. 
From venture capitalist to novelist, Jessy Wu explains why writing fiction feels like coming home. Her debut novel Good Intentions introduces us to idealistic student journalists Nadia and Jake. When we meet them a decade later the reality of grown-up life, love and business has made things a lot more complicated. Jessy also demystifies the world of venture capital and how this novel allowed her to reconnect with her true calling of being a writer.