
Good Reading Podcast
Book talk and author interviews aimed at helping you discover your next favourite read, presented by Good Reading Magazine.
Episodes
361 episodes
Erna Walraven on her memoir about zoo-keeping and feminism, 'Hear Me Roar'
Erna Walraven on her memoir about zoo-keeping and feminism, 'Hear Me Roar'In the early 1980s, when Erna Walraven decided to follow her dreams and become one of the first female zookeepers in Australia, she thought her biggest challenges wou...
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28:41

Jessica Townsend on the fourth book in her Nevermoor series, 'Silverborn The Mystery of Morrigan Crow'
In the magical city of Nevermoor, long-buried secrets are coming to light, and Morrigan Crow's life is about to turn upside down. When Morrigan is invited into Nevermoor's wealthy Silver District, she discovers a world of extravagance and a fam...
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27:08

Raina MacIntyre on science, reason and the threat to 200 years of progress in 'Vaccine Nation'
Vaccination is arguably the greatest public health achievement in history, yet the disappearance of many diseases has also seen an increased focus on the side effects of vaccines and the rise of the anti-vax movement. The COVID-19 pandemic prop...
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31:47

Dianne Wolfer and Erica Wagner on the retelling of an Australian classic in 'The Colt From Old Regret'
You may have heard the story of the man from Snowy River and his fearless ride through the mountains. This is Colt’s story, of nickering mares and a rearing stallion. How did Colt escape the man? What did Colt see, feel and smell as he charged ...
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20:27

Stephen Gapps on Australia's unknown colonial history 'Uprising: War in the colony of New South Wales, 1838–1844'
The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance ended in 1824 with a series of massacres conducted by settlers in the Bathurst region. From the 1830s, colonists began occupying more and more Aboriginal land across western New South Wales and stocking it ...
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25:52

Kate Grenville on her Australian family pilgrimage in 'Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place
‘What does it mean to be on land that was taken from other people? Now that we know how the taking was done, what do we do with that knowledge?’Kate Grenville is no stranger to the past. Her success and fame as a writer exploded...
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32:09

'How to Be Normal' Q&A with author Ange Crawford and Cerdon College Merrylands
Ange Crawford is the winner of the the inaugural Walker Books Manuscript Prize. With themes including coercive control, coming of age, and finding yourself, her debut young adult novel,
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17:54

Judy Friedlander on her new book for kids, 'The Bee Squad: Boosting Biodiversity in Your Neighbourhood'
From the coast of Western Australia to Sydney’s suburbs, young people are discovering nature in their neighbourhoods and setting up nesting boxes for birds, cleaning up waterways, planting to attract bees and koalas, and building insect hotels....
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21:36

Porscia Lam on a life changing journey in 'The Unlocking: An Autism Story'
The Unlocking: An Autism Story unfolds in pandemic-stricken Melbourne, charting one family’s desperate battle against the escalating behavior of their autistic toddler. Amid the lack of in-person services, Harry exhibits severely restricted...
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25:20

Ronni Salt on her debut crime thriller about guns, drugs and small town life in 'Gunnawah'
When nineteen-year-old farm girl Adelaide Hoffman applies for a cadetship at the Gunnawah Gazette, she sees it as her ticket out of a life too small for her. The paper's owner, Valdene Bullark, seeing something of the girl she once was in young...
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18:30

Judy King on a childhood betrayed and reclaimed in 'Agnes'
After a 30-year absence Agnes is returning to Australia, the country of her birth, at the behest of her aging, narcissistic mother. Having undergone a long period of psychotherapy she now entertains a hope that burning questions will be answere...
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21:20

Garth Nix on his new novel for kids, 'We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord'
All Kim wants to do is play Dungeons & Dragons with his friends and ride his bike around the local lake. But he has always lived in the shadow of his younger sister. Eila is a prodigy, and everyone talks about how smart she is, though in Ki...
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17:24
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Isobelle Carmody on a reluctant hero on an epic quest into an alternative dream world in 'Comes the Night'
Will Helloran is sixteen years old and lives with his father in the Canberra dome complex that protects its inhabitants from the corrosive atmosphere outside. At night his dreams are haunted by his beloved uncle Adam, who unexpectedly died in h...
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20:58
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Chris Baker on life, love, memory and taking the plunge in 'Swimming Sydney'
Swimming Sydney is a tale of 52 swims in and around Sydney that take place over a calendar year. From Palm Beach to Cronulla, Mount Druitt to Bondi, Chris Baker swims at iconic beaches, municipal pools, harbour baths, tidal rock pools, bushland...
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29:24

Chris Hammer on small town crime and blood relatives in 'The Valley'
A controversial entrepreneur is murdered in a remote mountain valley, but this is no ordinary case. Ivan and Nell are soon contending with cowboy lawyers, conmen, bullion thieves and grave robbers. But it's when Nell discovers the victim is a c...
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18:37

Melissa Lucashenko on her 2024 Historical Novel Society award-winning novel, 'Edenglassie'
When Mulanyin meets the beautiful Nita in Edenglassie, their saltwater people still outnumber the British. As colonial unrest peaks, Mulanyin dreams of taking his bride home to Yugambeh Country, but his plans for independence collide with white...
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17:17

Beverley McWilliams on her 2024 Historical Novel Society prize-winning novel for children, 'Spies in the Sky'
Royal Blue is a royal racing pigeon from a long line of champions. Every morning he wakes in his comfortable loft at Sandringham House, eats the very best seeds and spends the day training with his best friend to be the fastest and strongest pi...
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18:32

Kathy Mexted on the incredible stories of Australian women who reach for the sky in 'Take Flight'
From balancing on a wingtip to circling with eagles, Take Flight tells the stories of Australian women who have leapt, tumbled and dived, and reached for the stars. Helicopter pilot Alida Soemawinata ascends over Kata Tjuṯa. Paramotor pilot Sac...
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19:14

Emily Rodda on her epic three part fantasy adventure, 'Landovel'
Derry knows no other life than that of a captive on Cram's Rock, shunned by the other young prisoners for being Cram's poison taster. Until the day everything changes, when a traveller arrives, on the run from the sinister El executioners. She ...
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18:55

Tim Winton on a story of catastrophe, survival and the power of humanity in 'Juice'
Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive all night across a stony desert. As dawn breaks, they roll into an abandoned mine site. From the vehicle they survey a forsaken place – middens of twisted iron, rusty wire, piles of sun-baked trash. They’...
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22:42

Justin Fox on the pathway to his first novel, 'Quietly Waiting'
Tanya is a strong, independent young woman living in England. Surrounded by limitless possibilities, her biggest fear is not being able to find her true place in the world. Never usually driven by emotions, her world is turned upside down when ...
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15:15

Dr Norman Swan on his latest book, 'So You Want to Know What's Good For Your Kids?'
We all want our kids to grow into happy, healthy adults and the first ten years count more than any other time in our lives. So what should we be doing to give them the best chance? Most books on childhood stop at age five and start again in ad...
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28:48

Science fiction author Sean Williams, illustrator Connor Chamberlain and John Goodwin on the 40th Anniversary Volume of 'Writers of the Future'
L. Ron Hubbard created the Writers of the Future Writing Contest in 1983 to provide "a means for new and budding writers to have a chance for their creative efforts to be seen and acknowledged." The 559 winners and published finalists of t...
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32:51

Elfie Shiosaki on the galaxy of Noongar stories in her new poetry collection, 'Refugia'
'Refugia' is an unparalleled work of vision and political fury from Noongar and Yawuru poet and scholar Elfie Shiosaki. Inspired by the beeliar (Swan River) and the NASA James Webb Space Telescope’s first year of science, this collection draws ...
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25:50

Shelley Davidow on love in Berlin and the creative urge in 'The Girl With the Violin'
It's 1989 and for a young Jewish-Australian violinist, a scholarship to Berlin is the chance of a lifetime. Germany is on the verge of change as the wall is torn down, and Susanna is swept along by the tumultuous event. Under the careful guidan...
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20:23
