
LNL Summer: A no-frills history of the Australian beach shack
17/12/2025 | 22 mins.
Along the coast of Australia are hundreds of humble shacks, often with interesting stories to tell. Basic shelters for no-frills fishing, or homes for people who were forced to the margins. The stigma attached to coastal shacks has been replaced by nostalgia and a passion for these once-derided items of coastal real estate.Guest: Anna Clark, Professor at the Australian Centre for Public History, University of Technology Sydney. Anna wrote an article about beach shacks for The Conversation website. She is researching the history of the beach in Australia for a forthcoming book. Originally broadcast on 27 January, 2025

LNL Summer: The feminist publishing house that launched Australia's best writers
17/12/2025 | 28 mins.
In the early seventies two Melbourne feminists hatched an idea to set up their own publishing house. Diana Gribble was a socialite working in advertising and Hilary McPhee a novice editor. McPhee Gribble Publishing was born. Soon authors like Tim Winton, Dorothy Hewett and Helen Garner were knocking at their door. But in 1989 it all came to an end when they were swallowed up by Penguin.Guest: Hilary McPhee, founder and former Publisher at McPhee Gribble and Chair of the Australia Council from 1993–96.Producer: Catherine ZengererOriginally broadcast on 19 February, 2005

LNL Summer: Geraldine Brooks, Rachel Kushner and Julia Baird at Adelaide Writers Week 2025
16/12/2025 | 54 mins.
Despite the promise that we were “all in it together”, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a flight from sociability. While that escape may have been a relief for some, has it intensified a culture of excessive individualism, narcissism, and disconnection from one another? Julia Baird, Geraldine Brooks and Rachel Kushner join David Marr in front of a live audience at Adelaide Writers' Week.

LNL Summer: Robert Dessaix's life reflections
15/12/2025 | 31 mins.
Writer Robert Dessaix, now based in Hobart, was named Thomas Robert Jones by his adoptive parents. His name change to Dessaix, to reflect his French family heritage, is just one of many shifts Robert has made through his long life, around sexuality, friendships, appreciating art and travel, and facing the end of life. Guest: Robert Dessaix, author of 'Chameleon' (Text)Previous books include: 'A mother's disgrace', 'Corfu' and 'Arabesques'Producers: Ann Arnold/David MarrOriginally broadcast March 6, 2025

LNL Summer: Alan Rusbridger on Trump's threats to journalism
15/12/2025 | 19 mins.
Veteran British journalist and editor Alan Rusbridger discusses Donald Trump’s attacks on the US press, Jeff Bezos’s editorial about-face at the Washington Post, the threats to the media in the West and how the industry should respond. GUEST: Alan Rusbridger, Editor, Prospect MagazinePRODUCER: Catherine ZengererOriginally broadcast March 6, 2025. Editor's note: The barring of Associate Press from the White House Press Room in March was subsequently overturned.



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