Best Dilapidations Podcasts (2025)

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Sydney Writers' Festival: Alan Hollinghurst, Catherine Chidgey, Mariana Enriquez, Afra Atiq 55:06

2d ago55:06

55:06

Live from Sydney Writers' Festival, and with an introduction by Emirate poet Afra Atiq, we bring together guests Catherine Chidgey, Mariana Enriquez and Alan Hollinghurst to discuss the most influential works in both fiction and non-fiction. From gripping novels that have captured our imaginations to thought-provoking non-fiction that has reshaped …

1
On stage at Melbourne Writers' Festival with Hannah Kent and Beejay Silcox 54:06

10d ago54:06

54:06

A live recording from Melbourne Writers' Festival as Hannah Kent and Beejay Silcox sit down with Kate Evans and Jonathan Green to discuss the latest fiction releases they’re enjoying, loving and being challenged by. BOOKS- Hannah Kent, Always Home, Always Homesick, Picador- Eimear McBride, The City Changes its Face, Faber- Susan Choi, Flashlight, J…

1
A woman falls through the cracks of time in the first of Solvej Balle's seven-novel-series 54:04

17d ago54:04

54:04

One day lived over and over again with humour, despair and self-improvement is what we’re up against in Danish novelist Solvej Balle’s On The Calculation of Volume, a fictional work in seven volumes, the first volume (the one we’re talking about in this episode), has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Plus, The Emperor of Gladness…

1
A beach holiday told four ways in Luke Horton's Time Together 54:04

24d ago54:04

54:04

Old friends gather together on the coast in Australian writer Luke Horton’s Time Together, Kate and Cassie take a look. Plus, Jo Harkin’s The Pretender, set during the time of the Tudors' ascent it tells the story of a little-known real-life figure; and Laura Elvery’s Nightingale, a re-imagining of the life of Florence Nightingale. BOOKS Luke Horto…

1
James Bradley's Landfall reveals a flooded, baked and dilapidated city 54:06

1M ago54:06

54:06

Cities that are both flooded and on alert for the next storm in James Bradley’s Landfall. The body of a saint, dreamily and weirdly listening to everyone around her in Western Australia, in Josephine Rowe’s Little World. And from Malaysia, Tash Aw's The South, in which a family has left the city to head to a failing orchard, a story of longing, pro…

1
The Bookshelf Easter Special: Irish writer Niall Williams 54:00

1M ago54:00

54:00

Irish writer Niall Williams with Kate Evans at the 2025 Adelaide Writers Week — with a focus on his Faha novels, History of the Rain, This is Happiness and (his latest) Time of the Child. Williams is also a screenwriter, playwright and travel writer — and his first novel, Four Letters of Love, has just been released as a film. He also appeared onst…

1
A love triangle set against the beauty of Montana in Eric Puchner's Dream State 54:07

1M ago54:07

54:07

Families, secrets, mysteries, war...Kate and Cassie read Eric Puchner’s Dream State, an American saga that spans fifty years and is set against the expansive beauty of Montana; mysterious encounters and marital strife between an actor and an art critic in New York in Katie Kitamura’s Audition, and a World War II story set in an apartment block in B…

1
Folk horror, dreams under surveillance, lonely in Guatemala 1:13:09

1M ago1:13:09

1:13:09

Cassie McCullagh is on leave this week, so Kate Evans and guests read Lucy Rose’s The Lamb, Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel, and Rachel Morton’s The Sun was Electric Light (with interview extracts from Lucy Rose on body horror and Cumbrian folk traditions, and from Rachel Morton on her move from poetry to prose). BOOKS Rachel Morton, The Sun was Ele…

1
Andrea Goldsmith's The Buried Life - and a train steaming towards disaster . . . 54:06

2M ago54:06

54:06

Kate and Cassie read three new works of fiction, with the help of two guest reviewers: a novel of ideas, death, love and music, in Australian writer Andrea Goldsmith's The Buried Life; a real train derailment from the 1890s hurtles together rail workers, coffee sellers, anarcho-feminism, art and typewriters in Irish-Canadian writer Emma Donoghue's …

1
Curtis Sittenfeld's Show Don't Tell + Tim Rogers and Zan Rowe on two new debuts 54:36

2M ago54:36

54:36

Kate and Cassie discuss bestselling American writer Curtis Sittenfeld’s sharp and observant collection of short stories Show Don’t Tell; You Am I frontman Tim Rogers reads First Name Second Name, an excellent debut from Queensland novelist Steve MinOn, and the ABC’s own Zan Rowe (of Triple J, Double J and Take 5 fame) shares her thoughts on Scottis…

1
This week’s novels takes us to Zanzibar, Budapest and Renaissance Florence 54:05

2M ago54:05

54:05

This week’s novels takes us to Zanzibar, Budapest and Renaissance Florence with Nobel Prize-winning English-Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Theft; while guest reviewers Tim Ayliffe reads Laurent Binet’s Perspectives; and Siang Lu reads David Szalay’s Flesh. BOOKS Abdulrazak Gurnah, Theft, Bloomsbury Laurent Binet, Perspectives (translated from…

1
On stage at Adelaide Writers' Week with Niall Williams, Charlotte Mendelson and Brian Castro 54:06

2M ago54:06

54:06

This edition of the Bookshelf was recorded on stage at Adelaide Writers' Week on Sunday 2 March – with Irish writer Niall Williams (Time of the Child), English writer Charlotte Mendelson (Wife) and all the way from the Adelaide Hills, Australian writer Brian Castro (Chinese Postman). How and when do they do their best reading, what have books meant…

1
Australian bestseller Diana Reid returns with Signs of Damage 54:06

3M ago54:06

54:06

Four women’s lives intertwined between Africa and the USA in Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count. Plus, secrets and trauma in the South of France in Australian novelist Diana Reid’s new one, Signs of Damage; and into the Swedish wilderness to observe a group of seven unlikely people in indie musician turned novelist Annika Norlin…

1
Irish writer Colum McCann’s Twist dives deep under the ocean and takes on a charismatic mystery 54:03

3M ago54:03

54:03

Irish writer Colum McCann’s Twist dives deep under the ocean and takes on a charismatic mystery; 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang’s We Do Not Part explores massacres on Jeju Island during (and after) the Korean War, stories actively repressed by both the South Korean and American governments; and Australian novelist Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark …

1
Mothers and Sons...is the story as fraught as the title suggests? 53:46

3M ago53:46

53:46

An examination of family dynamics through three novels...Adam Haslett’s Mothers and Sons reflects on unspoken stories and familial divides; The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr, set in 1970s Ireland, tells the story of a family that takes in a child washed ashore, and Robert Lukins’ Somebody Down There Likes Me depicts an uber-rich family who gathe…

1
Alaska, folktales, mothers and daughters 54:06

3M ago54:06

54:06

Alaska, folktales and mothers and daughters in Eowyn Ivey's Black Woods Blue Sky. Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Anne Tyler is back with Three Days in June, another novel about mothers and daughters; and Italian novelist Vincenzo Latronico's Perfection, a critique of social media and contemporary life. BOOKS Eowyn Ivey, Black Woods, Blue Sky, Tinder…

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A story of yearning, belonging, secrets and identity from Native America 57:06

4M ago57:06

57:06

A story of yearning, belonging, secrets and identity from Native America in Morgan Talty’s Fire Exit; rusted robots, prosthetic limbs, AI and noisy families in Nigerian-American writer Nnedi Okorafor’s Death of the Author; and coercive control and walking on eggshells in Irish writer Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting; and a brief foray into the world of ‘…

1
Sweden, France, New Zealand: books from around the world 54:06

4M ago54:06

54:06

Cassie and Kate read Marie-Hélène Lafon’s The Son’s Story, a family story that spans the twentieth-century, full of melancholy beauty and secrets. Crime writer Hayley Scrivenor reads Geoff Parkes’ When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole, a story of small towns, envy and threat in New Zealand; and documentary maker Johan Gabrielsson reads Swedish…

1
A medical crisis brings one man close to love, art, and beauty 54:06

4M ago54:06

54:06

Kate and Cassie are back for 2025! In this episode, a discussion of Panic by Catherine Jinks, about a young woman looking for a fresh start after posting a drunken rant that went horrifically viral. Novelist George Haddad, and Professor Sue Turnbull, who specialises in crime drama and fiction, are also along, to take a look at new novels by Miles F…

1
Summer Reading: Quick, give me a recommendation! 54:06

4M ago54:06

54:06

Reading Percival Everett's James, Dylin Hardcastle's Language of Limbs and James McBride's The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store Cassie and literary interviewer Michaela Kalowski discussed Percival Everett's James in a conversation first broadcast on 15 March 2024 Kate and Jonathan Green reviewed Dylin Hardcastle's Language of Limbs on 19 July 2024 An…

1
Summer Reading from Australia and the World 54:06

5M ago54:06

54:06

Books you might have missed: from England, Turkey and within the Australian Tongan community Cassie and critic Beejay Silcox agree to disagree over David Nicholls' You Are Here – from a conversation first broadcast on 19 April 2024 Kate, Richard Aedy and writer Patrick Carey reviewed Oisín McKenna, Evenings and Weekends on 28 June 2024 Cassie, Beej…

1
Summer Reading: Fiction for a new year 54:06

5M ago54:06

54:06

Time to reassess your TBR pile – To Be Read, that is – ready for 2025. To help, some of the best books and literary discussions from the past year. Kate and Cassie's review of Rita Bullwinkel's Headshot was first broadcast on 16 August 2024 Kate and Richard Aedy's discussion of Catherine McKinnon's To Sing of War was first broadcast on 28 June 2024…

1
Summer Reading: Books to get your teeth into 54:06

5M ago54:06

54:06

Ready for some Big Books? Ambition, money, philosophy, bodies and history – all explored through history. Cassie and Tom Wright's review of Andrew O'Hagan's Caledonian Road was first broadcast on 28 March 2024 Kate and Cassie with Polish publicist Anna O'Grady, on Olga Tokarczuk's The Empusium, was first broadcast on 20 September 2024 English write…

1
Summer Reading: What did you miss? 54:06

5M ago54:06

54:06

Catch up on the best books and discussions about them from the last year. A songwriter, a plaintive guitar, time travel and a motel are all in the mix. Kate and Cassie's review of Willie Vlautin's Horse was originally was originally broadcast on 26 July 2024 Cassie and Jonathan Green's appraisal of Kaliane Bradley's Ministry of Time was originally …

1
Crime fiction and why we keep coming back: The repeat protagonist 54:05

5M ago54:05

54:05

Detectives, tea ladies, journos, psychologists – what's the appeal of the crime series and repeat protagonist? Kate Evans with crime writers Michael Robotham, Tim Ayliffe and Amanda Hampson onstage at the BAD Sydney Crime Festival. GUESTS Michael Robotham, internationally bestselling crime writer, whose books include the Joe O'Loughlin series and t…

1
Best Books of 2024 54:06

6M ago54:06

54:06

The best books of 2024 as selected by Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans, Jason Steger, Lev Grossman and Michaela Kalowski. Keep scrolling for a full (and somewhat idiosyncratic) list. GUESTS Jason Steger, literary journalist. Former literary editor at the Age and SMH; and regular guest on ABC TV's Tuesday Book Club. Lev Grossman, bestselling American no…

1
The much anticipated new novel by Haruki Murakami, and plenty more... 54:06

6M ago54:06

54:06

What do Kate and Cassie make of Will Self’s Elaine, a portrait of a frustrated fifties housewife, based on his mother's own diaries. Plus, The City and its Uncertain Walls, the much anticipated new novel by Haruki Murakami with a dreamy library in a parallel universe at its centre; and Rosalia Aguilar Solace’s The Great Library of Tomorrow, another…

1
Literature in translation with special guests Bora Chung and Anton Hur + Yu Shi 1:00:18

6M ago1:00:18

1:00:18

A focus on literature in translation with special guests Bora Chung and Anton Hur, both of whom are South Korean authors and translators, who translate each others' work, and write outside the system of state-sanctioned literature. Anton translates from Korean into English; Bora translates Russian and Polish works into Korean. In this episode, they…

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The Case for Critics - on stage at Canberra Writers' Festival with Christos Tsiolkas, Beejay Silcox and James Jiang 54:06

6M ago54:06

54:06

Derided, disparaged and cursed to the heavens, book critics are depicted as literature’s grand villains – as frustrated creators and gleeful wreckers. But what do critics really do? And why are they necessary for a healthy literary ecosystem? James Jiang, Beejay Silcox and Christos Tsiolkas join Kate and Cassie as part of a panel discussion at Canb…

1
Niall Williams’ Time of the Child might just be the big ‘feel-good book of the year’ 54:06

7M ago54:06

54:06

Niall Williams’ Time of the Child might just be the big ‘feel-good book of the year’—but there’s more to it than that. This is a beautifully written Irish story, full of ordinary lives described in painfully funny detail. Also, Scottish writer Ali Smith and her too-real-to-be-allegorical Gliff; and in Alan Moore's The Great When, we're presented wi…

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Dark Skies, a quest and nature writing in Inga Simpson’s The Thinning 54:06

7M ago54:06

54:06

The Dressmaker’s backstory, a universe of stars to expand our ideas about nature writing, and fragments and tricks galore: Kate and Cassie read Inga Simpson’s The Thinning, Brian Castro’s Chinese Postman and Rosalie Ham’s Molly with guests Ella Jeffery and Amanda HampsonBOOKSInga Simpson, The Thinning, HachetteBrian Castro, Chinese Postman, Giramon…

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Matricide, the (Virginia) Woolfmother, Norwegian woods: Graeme Macrae Burnet, Michelle de Kretser, Karl Ove Knausgaard 54:04

7M ago54:04

54:04

The latest from double Miles Franklin Award winner, Michelle de Kretser, Theory and Practice, a novel that evokes the 1980s and Virginia Woolf. Scottish writer Graeme Macrae Burnet plays a French literary game in A Case of Matricide; and summer days under the light of a strange star in Norway in Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The Third Realm. BOOKS Graeme M…

1
Melanie Cheng's The Burrow: can a pet rabbit heal a family dealing with tragedy? 54:06

7M ago54:06

54:06

Kate and Cassie read Melanie Cheng’s The Burrow, a pandemic-set novella that details the healing powers of a pet rabbit for a family dealing with tragedy. Plus, Native American writer Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red, a beautifully crafted novel about a love triangle and everyday life in a farming community in North Dakota, and the latest from Yuwaa…

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Twins, pumas and a colonial western in Robbie Arnott’s Dusk 54:05

8M ago54:05

54:05

Twins, pumas and a colonial western in Robbie Arnott’s Dusk; gay lives, racial politics, class, theatre and exquisite writing, in Alan Hollinghurst’s Our Evenings; and writing between the myths, rumours and religious speculation of a mediaeval woman pope in Emily Maguire's Rapture. BOOKS Robbie Arnott, Dusk, Picador Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings,…

1
Tim Winton and the ruined future of his novel Juice 54:08

8M ago54:08

54:08

The Bookshelf is a program for dedicated readers and those who wished they read more.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation

1
What's the verdict on Sally Rooney's new novel Intermezzo? 54:36

8M ago54:36

54:36

Many people have been awaiting the release of Intermezzo, the latest book by Irish writer Sally Rooney, which explores love, grief, growing up, playing chess, understanding and misunderstanding family...Kate and Cassie begin the show with this one, with additional input from millennial author Madeleine Gray. Also, under the sea with Richard Powers …

1
French provocateur Michel Houellebecq + Olga Tokarczuk's health resort horror 54:37

8M ago54:37

54:37

Novels from France, Poland and India – with politics, sanatoriums, automata and horror in the mix too. Kate and Cassie read French writer (and provocateur) Michel Houellebecq’s Annihilation (but can they get to the end of the book? There’s the question); while Polish reader and publicist Anna O’Grady joins them to discuss Nobel Prize winning writer…

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The rich and entitled are back but so are Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton 54:46

8M ago54:46

54:46

Sex parties, corruption and dark dark deeds in not-quite-Nigeria, in Akwaeke Emezi’s Little Rot; aspiration, real estate and misguided philanthropists in New York, in Rumaan Alam’s Entitlement, and ordinary people living extraordinary lives, and all those untold stories, in Elizabeth Strout’s Tell Me Everything. GUESTS Gretchen Shirm, critic and wr…

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Malcolm Knox's The First Friend: a black comedy set in Stalin's Soviet Union 54:06

9M ago54:06

54:06

A peripatetic hotel, a paddle steamer of dreams and a dastardly law firm, in Jock Serong’s Cherrywood; one of the 20th century’s top 10 all-star ‘leading’ murderers, and what it might mean to be close to him, in Malcolm Knox’s The First Friend; and spies, caves, lies and Neanderthals in Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake. BOOKS Malcolm Knox, The First …

1
2024 mid-year review 54:46

9M ago54:46

54:46

An overview of the books of the year so far, what’s coming up for the rest of the year, and the 'to be read' book pile of regret as Kate and Cassie confess all with bookseller Jon Page and literary interviewer and editor of The Monthly Michael Williams. BOOKS MENTIONED BY CASSIEPercival Everett, JamesCeridwen Dovey, Only the AstronautsIain Ryan, Th…

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Vortex: a new novel from Rodney Hall, twice winner of the Miles Franklin Award 54:07

9M ago54:07

54:07

Stories of Northern Soul, pigs trotters in performance art and politics in the subtropical 1950s come to life in three new works of fiction including Vortex, the new novel from 88 year old Rodney Hall, twice winner of the Miles Franklin Award; Woo Woo, by another Australian writer, Ella Baxter; and Rare Singles, the latest from English writer and j…

1
Rita Bullwinkle's Headshot: a luminous debut that steps into the boxing ring 54:06

9M ago54:06

54:06

Kate and Cassie read Rita Bullwinkle's Headshot, a luminous debut that follows eight teenage girl boxers in Reno, Nevada. Crime writer Michael Robotham discusses Chris Whitaker’s All the Colours of the Dark – a story with a one-eyed boy, missing children, and a character who may or may not be an hallucination, and a nod to True Crime and Australia’…

1
Miles Franklin Literary Award 2024 54:35

10M ago54:35

54:35

What does the 2024 Miles Franklin shortlist tell us about our shared imagination? Bernadette Brennan and Geordie Williamson join Kate and Cassie to examine the winner, Alexis Wright's epic novel Praiseworthy, and all the finalists for Australia’s most prestigious literary prize. BOOKS WINNER: Alexis Wright, Praiseworthy (Giramondo) REST OF SHORTLIS…

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Weird fiction writer China Miéville's surprising collab with Keanu Reeves 54:06

10M ago54:06

54:06

Bruce Isaacs on weird fiction novelist China Mievelle's The Book of Elsewhere, a genre-bending epic written in collaboration with Hollywood star Keanu Reeves. Plus, guest critic Ailsa Piper on The Echoes by Miles Franklin winning author Evie Wyld...set between London and rural Australia it's part love story, part ghost story, and Kate and Cassie di…

1
Willy Vlautin's The Horse: drenched in twangy music and heartbreak 54:06

10M ago54:06

54:06

Award-winning U.S. author Willy Vlautin's The Horse is his poignant new novel about the life of a lonely country musician in Nevada and his chance encounter with a half blind horse. Plus, bookseller David Gaunt reviews Ammar Kalia's A Person Is a Prayer, one family's story of migration from Kenya and India to the UK; and Wellington based critic and…

1
Dylin Hardcastle's A Language of Limbs: emotionally true, structurally complex 54:06

10M ago54:06

54:06

Kate Evans and Jonathan Green with guests Pip Williams and Sarah Bailey read Dylin Hardcastle's A Language of Limbs, Lev Grossman's The Bright Sword, Valeria Usala's A Woman in Sardinia and Jean-Baptiste del Amo's The Son of Man. Australian fiction, novels in translation, secrets and violence, cities and regions, queer love and emotional truths, an…

1
Awfully Rich: Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Long Island Compromise and more 54:06

11M ago54:06

54:06

Money, kidnapping, reality TV, politics, corruption, families, love, and betrayal in all three books on this edition of The Bookshelf. Kate Evans and Jonathan Green, with guests Farz Edraki and Johan Gabrielsson, read Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Long Island Compromise, Porochistaa Khakpour's Tehrangeles and Patrick Holland's Oblivion. Awfully rich, ric…

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Fairytales are at play in Julia Phillips' Bear 54:06

11M ago54:06

54:06

The band is back together! Join Cassie and Kate as they head to an island off North America in Julia Phillips’ Bear, plus two Australian novels – Jessie Tu’s The Honeyeater and Finegan Kruckemeyer’s The End and Everything Before It. BOOKS Julia Phillips, Bear, Scribe Jessie Tu, The Honeyeater, Allen & Unwin Finegan Kruckemeyer, The End and Everythi…

1
Catherine McKinnon's To Sing of War takes us to PNG during WW ll 54:06

11M ago54:06

54:06

Kate Evans is joined by guest host Richard Aedy to discuss Catherine McKinnon's To Sing of War, a novel of love, war and friendship. Plus, two debut novels... Big Time by Jordan Prosser, set in a not-too-distant future Australia where pop music is propaganda, and Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna, set during a heatwave in London as tensions an…

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A new fiction title from bestselling author Bruce Pascoe 54:04

11M ago54:04

54:04

Kate Evans returns with guest reviewers to discuss Bruce Pascoe’s Imperial Harvest, an epic of brutality and imperialism; along with Jenny Ackland’s Hurdy Gurdy, a circus saga set in a near-future Australia; and Miranda July’s All Fours, which looks at one woman's quest for a very unique kind of freedom. BOOKS Bruce Pascoe, Imperial Harvest, Melbou…

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Dilapidations Podcasts

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