The Book Show

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.

In Sophie, Standing There bestselling author Meg Mason channels the good and bad of writers' festivals and author fandom. Plus, Bobuq Sayed's journey from Afghanistan to the US via Perth; their novel No God But Us is about two gay men in Istanbul and their dreams of a better life.
Meg Mason's third novel Sophie, Standing There is an exploration of a lonely book lover who develops an obsession with a superstar author. Meg tells Claire Nichols about her own experience of fandom (from both sides) and explains her connection to Janet Frame's Owls Do Cry and the solace it provided in her own times of loneliness.
You can listen to Meg Mason's interview on The Book Show about her previous bestselling novel Sorrow and Bliss here.
Australian raised and US based Bobuq Sayed reflects on their life as an Afghan migrant and how travel helped them embrace their cultural background. Their debut novel No God But Us is about two queer Afghan men who find themselves isolated and looking for connection in Istanbul at a time when the number of refugees seeking asylum in Europe from countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan has intensified.
Both authors share the solace of reading in difficult times.

Discover why the forests sing in Fierceland, Omar Musa's Miles Franklin Literary Award winning novel.
Poet, visual artist, hip-hop musician and author Omar Musa finds magic in Italian beads, vengeful ghosts and the sound of the Borneo forest in his award winning novel, Fierceland. The Miles Franklin judges described Fierceland as "a psychologically layered and storied reckoning with the world we have inherited."
In this bonus episode Claire Nichols congratulates Omar and revisits her earlier conversation with him about the writing of Fierceland. Omar explains the family connection to this story of palm oil, deforestation and language. 
Omar's latest book is The Vape Lord of Queanbeyan.
He will also be a guest at the London Literature Festival curated by the pop star Dua Lipa.

Why American author Dave Eggers' new novel Contrapposto has taken over 20 years to write. Plus Australian writer Maria Takolander explains the link between Elon Musk, her son and her novel The End of Romance. 
Firstly, Dave Eggers is the celebrated author of the memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and his many novels, including The Circle and You Shall Know Our Velocity! There are also children's books and he's the founder of the publishing house and literary journal McSweeney's. But did you know that he's also an artist? His novel Contrapposto is about two friends in the American Midwest with big artistic dreams and what it takes to realise their ambitions. The book includes a number of nude illustrations and Eggers tells Claire Nichols why he wants to maintain the mystery about who created them.
Then, Australian poet Maria Takolander explains how Elon Musk's plans for the Moon and Mars fuelled her debut novel The End of Romance. It's a haunting dystopian novel set in a future world, where a mother and son struggle to survive in an abandoned house amid societal collapse.