The Bookshelf

This week The Bookshelf leans into the wild as Kate Evans and guests are circled by stories of wolves, wild boar and witches, along with the final year of celebrated poet Sylvia Plath and a sensual story of food and obsession from Japan. Kate is joined by regular guests, the novelist, poet and Professor of Australian literature Tony Birch; and critic Beejay Silcox, who arrives fresh from the U.K. ready to talk literary pilgrimages and bookish souvenirs. Plus, a bonus discussion on this year's Stella Prize shortlist.
~ BOOKS
Inga Simpson, Once We Were Wildlife: Stories, Hachette
Sarah Walker, The Water Takes, Summit Books
Asako Yuzuki, Hooked, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton, Fourth Estate
Helen Bain, The Daffodil Days, Bloomsbury
Sally O’Reilly, Hagtale, Scribe
~ 2026 Stella Prize shortlist
Evelyn Araluen, The Rot, UQP
Geraldine Brooks, Memorial Days, Hachette
Miranda Darling, Fireweather, Scribe
Lee Lai, Cannon, Giramondo
Marika Sosnowski, 58 Facets: On violence and the Law, Melbourne University Press  
Tasma Walton, I am Nannertgarrook, Simon & Schuster
NOTE: the winner will be announced on 13 May 
~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED
Ian McEwan, What We Can Know
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Kim Williams, Dead Man Dance
John Higgs, Lynchian: The Spell of David Lynch
Asako Yuzuki, Butter
Mieko Kawakami, Breasts and Eggs
Sayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman; Earthlings
Emi Yagi, Diary of a Void
Colum McCann, works
Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13
Guillaume Lecasble, Lobster 
Lucie Rico, Fowl Eulogies
Robin Robertson, The Long Take
Jenni Fagan, The Delusions
James Alistair Henry, Pagans
Laurie Colwin, Shine On Bright and Dangerous Object
Tracy Chevalier, Burning Bright 
~ CREDITS
Presenter, Kate Evans
Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett
Sound, Roi Huberman and Tegan Nicholls
Arts Editor, Rhiannon Brown

In this episode, Kate and Cassie are joined by celebrated novelist Madeleine Gray and rock icon Tim Rogers for a wide-ranging discussion looking at three works of contemporary fiction: Indian writer Amitav Ghosh’s Ghost Eye, a meditation on reincarnation and climate change; Australian writer and musician Edwina Preston’s Sororicidal, a sharp novel of sisterhood and rivalry; and English stylist Gwendoline Riley’s The Palm House, a disquieting portrait of modern life in London.
BOOKS
Amitav Ghosh, Ghost-Eye (John Murray)
Edwina Preston, Sororicidal (Picador)
Gwendoline Riley, The Palm House (Picador)
REVIEWERS
Madeleine Gray — writer and critic, author of Green Dot and Chosen Family
Tim Rogers — singer‑songwriter, actor and writer; frontman of You Am I and the Hard‑Ons, currently on a solo tour
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED
Britney Spears memoir
Sinéad O'Connor, memoir
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca
Edwina Preston, Not Just a Suburban Boy; Bad Art Mother
Simon Mason, DI Wilkins Mysteries
Clive James, Unreliable Memoirs
Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore
Wayne Marshall, Henry Goes Bush
Larry McMurtry, works
Joe Boyd, And The Roots of Rhythm Remain
CREDITS
Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh
Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett
Sound, Antonia Gauci and Micky Grossman
Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Memory, lost conversations and almost-fathers-and sons in Ben Lerner's Transcription; children divided by the throw of a dice, and that's just the start of it, in Steve Toltz's A Rising of the Lights; no such thing as unskilled labour, in Siân Hughes' No Such Thing as Monday, where a woman works as a drycleaner, trying desperately to rid herself of the stains of her childhood; new crime releases, and an Australian in Hollywood is reconsidered. Kate and Cassie with reviewers Michael Robotham and Geordie Williamson.
BOOKS
Ben Lerner, Transcription, Granta
Steve Toltz, A Rising of the Lights, Penguin
Siân Hughes, No Such Thing as Monday, Penguin
Tana French, The Keeper, Viking Penguin
Candice Fox, Redbelly Crossing, Penguin
Patricia A. O'Brien, Errol Flynn: The true story of Australia's Hollywood Icon, Allen & Unwin
[Keep scrolling for other books and writers mentioned in the discussion]
GUESTS
Michael Robotham is an internationally-acclaimed crime writer whose books include the Joseph O'Loughlan and Evie Cormac series. His latest novel is The White Crow — and his next one, Tell Me Something True, will be his first to be set in Australia
Geordie Wiliamson is a literary critic, writer and publisher at Picador, whose books include a critical study of Alexis Wright in the Black Inc Writers on Writers series; and The Burning Library — on neglected Australian writers
Other books mentioned in the discussion
Karl Ove Knausgård, works
Rachel Cusk, works
W G Sebald, works
Alexander Kluge, works
David Foster Wallace, works
Jonathan Franzen, works
Wallace Stevens, works
Les Murray, works
Saul Bellow, works
Philip Roth, works
P D James, works
Agatha Christie, works
Sam Twyford-Moore, Cast Mates: Australian Actors in Hollywood and at Home
CREDITS
Presenters: Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh
Producers: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett, Tracey Trompf
Sound Engineers: Craig Tilmouth, Roi Huberman
A/ Arts Editor: Sarah Corbett

What does it mean to write using an 'ethical imagination'? Colum McCann onstage with Kate Evans at the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival, on his novels Twist, Apeirogon, TransAtlantic, Let the Great World Spin and many more; and his work with the social justice storytelling movement, Narrative Four.
Presenter/ Producer: Kate Evans
Sound Engineers: Simon Branthwaite, Antonia Gauci
Acting Arts Editor: Sarah L'Estrange

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