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Book Reading
The Book Show
By Design
The Deep End
Exhibit A
First Person
Lingua Franca
MovieTime
The Night Air
PoeticA
Short Story
Project
The Space
The Book Show
By Design
The Deep End
Exhibit A
First Person
Lingua Franca
MovieTime
The Night Air
PoeticA
Short Story
Project
The Space
 | Programs in 2004 Summaries are available for all stories, and some are transcribed. Click on a story title to see the full details. To see a list of only the stories which have been transcribed, please visit our transcript index. Audio-on-demand is available for the last four programs. ( Help with listening ) Stories by Year [ 2006 & 2005 | 2004 |2003 |2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 ] Stories by Subject [ 2006 & 2005 | 2004 | 2003 ] Program Summaries and Transcripts December 2004 Summer Season - Paul Wilson Translating Modern Czech Writers Sunday 26 December 2004 This week in Books & Writing's Summer Season, the man who made modern Czech writing accessible to an English-speaking audience. Paul Wilson speaks to Ramona Koval at the recent Blue Metropolis Literary Festival about the importance of translating the works of Vaclav Havel, Bohumil Hrabal, Ivan Klima and Josef Skvorecky. [ more ] Li Cunxin Sunday 19 December 2004 Can stories change your life? On Books & Writing this week, we witness a destiny shaped and a life propelled forward by simple tales heard in childhood. Li Cunxin, author of Mao's Last Dancer, describes the improbability of being plucked out of a world of peasant poverty in northern China and being set on the path to becoming China's greatest ballet dancer. He was finally launched on the world stage with the Houston Ballet and eventually became principal dancer with the Australian Ballet. [ more ] Jackie Kay Sunday 12 December 2004 On Books & Writing this week, we hear Scottish poet, novelist and short-story writer Jackie Kay as she reads a hysterical tale about the demise of a long-time lesbian relationship, a tragedy that she can only attribute to the literary hand of Martin Amis. And if this isn't entertaining enough, for an encore she delivers a poem in the voice of a donkey. [ more ] John Pilger Sunday 5 December 2004 This week on Books & Writing ... what constitutes good investigative journalism? Ramona Koval talks to a man who triggers floods of vitriol every time he opens his mouth or puts pen to paper, and yet who commands respect around the world for his dogged forthrightness. John Pilger has just edited a collection of some of the most influential and courageous acts of journalism from the past century, titled Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism And Its Triumphs ... from Martha Gellhorne's eyewitness report of the liberation of Dachau concentration camp and Wilfrid Burchett's reporting of the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima, through to civilian accounts of the reality on the ground in Iraq as the recent war unfolded. This is journalism that works to the dictum News is something someone somewhere doesn't want published - all the rest is advertising. [ more ] November 2004 The Fate of Fiction Sunday 28 November 2004 Are people reading more non-fiction these days and if so why? Recently writers, editors and publishers both in Australia and around the world have expressed increasing concern about the future of quality literary fiction, as non-fiction books – biography, politics, memoir, travel, gardening and so on – dominate sales and media attention. So how can independent publishers make sure that the most talented and important Australian voices in both fiction and non-fiction are nurtured, published and read? [ more ] Jon Ronson and The Men Who Stare At Goats Sunday 14 November 2004 Two years ago, English author and journalist Jon Ronson published Them: Adventures With Extremists, a tour of some of the most 'out-there' political, religious and para-military groups on the world's fringes. It was full of conspiracies and bizarre people, it proved the 'truth is stranger than fiction' maxim and it was impossible to imagine stories getting any more odd. [ more ] Edinburgh 2004 - Alexander McCall Smith + Dame Muriel Spark + Robyn Rowland Sunday 7 November 2004 This week on Books & Writing, a hysterical tale from the pen of Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith, who (wisely or unwisely) accepted the invitation to write a serialised novel for The Scotsman newspaper. [ more ] October 2004 Edinburgh 2004 - James Kelman Sunday 31 October 2004 Ramona Koval talks to the angry man of Scottish Literature, James Kelman. This Glaswegian Booker prize-winner has been a major, influential and controversial figure in the Scottish literary renaissance. And he’s particularly known for his original and uncompromising use of the Scottish vernacular, as well as his outspoken political opinions on things such as workers rights and Kurdish Nationalism. James Kelman’s new novel You Have To Be Careful In The Land Of The Free, paints a picture of a Scot living in the US, but marked by his accent and his ‘otherness’, he finds the US a difficult place for an immigrant to truly settle and belong. [ more ] Gerard Windsor Sunday 24 October 2004 This week Ramona Koval enters the priesthood with Australian Author Gerard Windsor as her guide. The latest novel from writer and literary critic Windsor is titled I Have Kissed Your Lips and it tells the tale of a young priest negotiating the taboos of the church and the trials of the world outside when he decides to leave the confines of his Catholic calling. [ more ] Steven Carroll Sunday 17 October 2004 On Books & Writing this week, as we slip into another endless summer of crisp whites and baggy greens, we hear about cricket as focus of boyish dreams in the suburbs, and as a language for life in Australia. The Gift Of Speed is the latest novel from the pen of author Steven Carroll. [ more ] Lord William Deedes - The Original Scoop Sunday 10 October 2004 This week, Books & Writing returns to a favourite character, the archetype of the foreign correspondent, WF Deedes - now Lord Deedes - whose real-life exploits inspired Evelyn Waugh to pen Scoop, a riotous tale of journalistic chaos in faraway places. [ more ] Edinburgh 2004 - AL Kennedy Sunday 3 October 2004 This week on Books & Writing, the inimitable and irrepressible AL Kennedy, whose darkly funny new novel Paradise charts the wilful descent of an alcoholic woman into oblivion. Reading from her book and talking to Ramona Koval, Alison Kennedy paints a blurry picture of a woman who wants to feel nothing and who has a particular love for the bottle. [ more ] September 2004 Edinburgh 2004 - Charles Allen & The Prize Of Tibet Sunday 26 September 2004 On Books & Writing this week, we hear why Tibet was the goal of all self-respecting 19th century explorers and why it remains such a contested prize. At the Edinburgh International Book Festival, eminent writer and specialist on all things pertaining to the British Raj in India and Tibet, Charles Allen spoke to Ramona Koval about the Younghusband expedition to Lhasa. The expedition was sent to ward off a non-existent threat from the Russians and was the west's first successful venture into the high and holy plateau of Tibet. [ more ] Edinburgh 2004 - The Writer's Life - Helen Dunmore + Jim Crace Sunday 19 September 2004 Have you ever wondered what the writer's life is really like? On Books & Writing this week, we hear a wonderful conversation about the trials and tribulations, the motivations and the obstacles that face writers. At the recent Edinburgh International Book Festival, Ramona Koval spoke to two authors, Helen Dunmore and Jim Crace about what happens when they are confronted with a blank computer screen, or when faced with the job of reading poetry to a pub full of drunk and indifferent punters. [ more ] Literary Copyright & The Estate Of James Joyce Sunday 12 September 2004 This week Books & Writing teams up with Radio National's Law Report to examine the strange and often fraught world of literary copyright. While the Law Report will investigate the legal landscape, Books & Writing looks at one of the most controversial contests over access to a writer's material ... that of the Irish author James Joyce. [ more ] Edinburgh 2004 - Justin Cartwright Sunday 5 September 2004 On Books & Writing this week, the second offering from the recent Edinburgh International Book Festival ... South African-born, London-based novelist, journalist and television producer Justin Cartwright. Winner of the 1998 Whitbread Novel Prize and a frequently shortlisted for both the Whitbread and the Booker prizes, Cartwright talks to Ramona Koval about his latest book, The Promise of Happiness, the tale of a family trying to cope with the jailing of a daughter for art fraud and, in the process, having to confront some of life's big dilemmas. [ more ] August 2004 Edinburgh 2004 - Howard Jacobson Sunday 29 August 2004 Books & Writing this week begins broadcasting from the world's largest gathering of writers and publishers, the Edinburgh International Book Festival. And to begin this year's events, Ramona Koval is in conversation with the English writer Howard Jacobson, whose extremely funny and poignant novels leave us in no doubt that life is simply one long series of embarrassments and humiliations. [ more ] Thea Astley + Steven Galloway Sunday 22 August 2004 This week, Books and Writing pays homage to one of our most beloved authors, Thea Astley, who sadly passed away this week. Donna McLachlan brings us a recording of Thea's last public engagement, a reading she gave at the recent Byron Bay Writers' Festival, so full of life and humour, and a fitting way to celebrate a marvellous life. [ more ] Blaise Pascal Sunday 15 August 2004 On Books & Writing this week, we celebrate the life and work of one of France's greatest writers and philosophers, Blaise Pascal ... an extraordinary 17th century mind whose journey traversed the secular and the religious; the scientific and the metaphysical. [ more ] George Sand Sunday 8 August 2004 This week Books & Writing celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Aurore Dupin, better known to us as the French author George Sand. In a colourful life that included a relationship with composer Frédéric Chopin, this novelist, feminist and socialist finally abandoned provincialism, marriage and a conventional life by moving to Paris ... and having a pretty good time. Mireille Vignol speaks to writer Martine Reid, author of several books on George Sand, and then visits Sand's family house at Nohant. [ more ] Paula Fox Sunday 1 August 2004 On Books & Writing this week, a wonderful conversation with a completely gorgeous woman, Paula Fox ... born in Brooklyn in the 1920s into a world of hardship and neglect, she developed a love of storytelling, eventually finding a literary voice. She published adult and children's novels, but fell into obscurity, only to be discovered recently by Jonathon Franzen. Franzen arranged for her books to be re-published and has ranked Paula Fox above the likes of Roth, Bellow and Updike. Others have compared her with Kafka, Chekhov and Flaubert. [ more ] July 2004 Mortification: Writers' Stories of Their Public Shame Sunday 25 July 2004 As we well know, the writer's life is all beer and skittles, answerable to no-one, making vast fortunes from every stroke of the pen ... and those fabulous public engagements, reading to masses of adoring fans. Well in an astonishing revelation, Robin Robertson, poet, author and editor, suggests that none of this is true ... not even the skittles!! [ more ] Malcolm Knox Sunday 18 July 2004 On Books & Writing this week ... Australian writer and journalist Malcolm Knox, whose latest novel A Private Man continues his exploration of class, and then takes a very timely plunge into the depths of the male mind, dealing with entrenched behaviour and attitudes toward women. [ more ] Dementia In Fiction Sunday 11 July 2004 This week, Books & Writing sets out to discover the increasing fascination that fiction writers are showing for the topic of dementia. Zulfikar Abbany probes the minds of authors Will Self and Miles Hitchcock, to see if fiction can function as a gateway to understanding the decline of the senses. [ more ] Eva Sallis Sunday 4 July 2004 This week on Books & Writing, Ramona Koval in conversation with Australian author Eva Sallis about her latest novel Fire Fire. The story traces the disturbing trajectory of a family in the 1960s, responding to the prevailing mood of fear at that time by closing in on itself. The tale has strong resonances in Eva Sallis’s own life ... a world of home-schooling, prodigious talent and claustrophobic expectation. [ more ] June 2004 Carmel Bird Sunday 27 June 2004 On Books & Writing this week, an intersection between past and present ... fact and fairytale. Australian author Carmel Bird talks to Ramona Koval about her latest novel, the final in her trilogy of innocence and evil and charismatic leaders, which started with the White Garden and Red Shoes and is now completed with Cape Grimm. It's a tale that emanates from Van Diemen’s Land and resonates beyond place and through time. [ more ] Louis de Bernieres Sunday 20 June 2004 On Books & Writing this week, a conversation with the creator of immensely popular Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres. His upcoming novel Birds Without Wings is another tale of a small town, this time in south-west Turkey, dealing with the impact of the First World War. It’s a depiction of pluralistic and tolerant communities fractured on the whim of powerful and manipulative people, far, far away. [ more ] Alexei Sayle Sunday 13 June 2004 This week on Books & Writing, English writer and comedian Alexei Sayle wrestles with Ramona Koval for control of one of the most entertaining sessions of this year's Sydney Writers' Festival. [ more ] David Homel Sunday 6 June 2004 On Books & Writing this week, we return to the Balkan war zones of the 1990s and view the disfiguring implications of conflict through Serbian eyes. Montreal-based writer David Homel speaks to Ramona Koval about his latest novel The Speaking Cure, a tale of truth, deception and psychosis - as revealed in the confessions of soldiers returning from the front - and the delusions of Serbian citizens trying to cling to normality. [ more ] May 2004 Colm Tóibín Sunday 30 May 2004 This week on Books & Writing, Irish writer Colm Tóibín expresses his love for the work of Henry James, the subject of his latest novel titled 'The Master'. Tóibín explains to Ramona Koval his audacious decision to write himself into the character of Henry James. [ more ] Thor Kunkel Sunday 23 May 2004 Is fiction an effective place to challenge cultural blind-spots? Should novelists take responsibility when their works of fiction cause disturbances in the 'real world'? These questions loom large this week on Books & Writing as journalist Zulfikar Abbany examines the controversy surrounding the new novel from German author Thor Kunkel called Endstufe or Final Stage. [ more ] Amanda Lohrey Sunday 16 May 2004 On Books & Writing this week, Australian novelist and essayist Amanda Lohrey explains to Ramona Koval the thinking behind her latest work The Philosopher's Doll. This book blends weighty philosophical traditions with a certain domestic ordinariness ... somehow managing to take the reader on a journey from sex, dogs and food, through to Descartes and precision flying. [ more ] Chava Rosenfarb + Alberto Manguel Sunday 9 May 2004 On Books & Writing this week, you'll hear from Chava Rosenfarb, a writer of stories of survivors of concentration camps who have to work out ways to live, and also from Alberto Manguel who, as a 16-year-old boy, read to the great blind Argentinean writer, Jorge Luis Borges. [ more ] Paul Wilson - Translating Modern Czech Writers Sunday 2 May 2004 This week on Books & Writing, the man who made modern Czech writing accessible to an English-speaking audience. Paul Wilson speaks to Ramona Koval at the recent Blue Metropolis Literary Festival about the importance of translating the works of Vaclav Havel, Bohumil Hrabal, Ivan Klima and Josef Skvorecky. [ more ] April 2004 Douglas Glover Sunday 25 April 2004 On Books & Writing this week, you'll be introduced to Douglas Glover, a wonderful Canadian short-story writer and multi-awarded novelist. He writes about dazed and confused human beings, he gives breath to historical figures in the great Canadian landscape and he can even make you cry with his tale of the last two dinosaurs on Earth. [ more ] 2004 Colin Simpson Lecture Hilary McPhee - 'Writers in the Global Australian Village' Sunday 18 April 2004 On Books & Writing this week, a challenge to writers to wake up to a dramatically changing cultural landscape and to start creating some effective survival strategies for a global world. In the 2004 Colin Simpson Lecture, Hilary McPhee says our cultural mindset and policies are 30 years out of date and need some serious attention. [ more ] Andrew Lindsay Sunday 11 April 2004 This week Books & Writing heads to the town of Salvation to meet Ernie The Slapping Man, who bestows a sense of wellbeing on all who pay to slap his jaw. Ernie is a man who is blessed, or cursed, with a magnificent set of mandibles, and Ramona Koval speaks to Ernie's creator, Andrew Lindsay, about his book 'The Slapping Man', about his fascination with the freakish and the grotesque and about the apparent universal need for scapegoats. [ more ] Etgar Keret Sunday 4 April 2004 On Books & Writing this week, the marvellously quirky Israeli writer Etgar Keret speaks to Ramona Koval about his short, sharp observations of the absurd. [ more ] March 2004 Robert Dessaix Sunday 28 March 2004 This week's Books & Writing is a real treat for long-time fans of the program. At the recent Adelaide Writers' Week, writer, translator and broadcaster Robert Dessaix gave a wonderful address on the topic of why he writes. [ more ] Isabel Allende Sunday 21 March 2004 On this week’s Books & Writing, a conversation with the Peruvian-born, Chilean-raised and now San Francisco-based writer Isabel Allende. During her recent visit to Australia, Isabel spoke to Ramona Koval about her writing for young adults, about the themes and characters that speak through her work, and about the special role of grandmothers. [ more ] Alex Miller Sunday 14 March 2004 Are writers born with The Gift of writing? On this week's Books & Writing, author Alex Miller might well convince you otherwise. A one-time stockman and twice a winner of the Miles Franklin Award, most recently with his book Journey To The Stone Country, Alex Miller has very down-to-earth views about the act of writing. [ more ] Li Cunxin Sunday 7 March 2004 Can stories change your life? On Books & Writing this week, we witness a destiny shaped and a life propelled forward by simple tales heard in childhood. Li Cunxin, author of 'Mao's Last Dancer, describes the improbability of being plucked out of a world of peasant poverty in northern China and being set on the path to becoming China's greatest ballet dancer. He was finally launched on the world stage with the Houston Ballet and eventually became principal dancer with the Australian Ballet. [ more ] February 2004 Janice Galloway & Clara Schumann Sunday 29 February 2004 This week, Books & Writing enters the mind of musical genius and the 19th century world of Clara Schumann, as depicted in the most recent novel from Scottish writer Janice Galloway. [ more ] Sonya Hartnett Sunday 22 February 2004 There are few things that disturb our collective psyche more than the vulnerability of children. And there are few periods in life when the world looks quite as frightening as it does in childhood. So Books & Writing this week plays with some of our suburban fears and insecurities, when Ramona Koval speaks to award-winning author Sonya Hartnett about her book Of A Boy. [ more ] Cruel To Be Kind Sunday 15 February 2004 This week, Books & Writing explores the literary love/hate relationship that writers and reviewers endure. For a writer, being panned by a critic can be the last straw, as you nervously bring your inky pride and joy into public view after umpteen years of sweat and sacrifice. But for reviewers, having to sift through mountains of published works attempting to find something worthy of praise can also be a soul-destroying task. [ more ] The Writing of 'Japanese Story' Sunday 8 February 2004 As the creators of the Australian film 'Japanese Story' ride the comet tail of critical and popular acclaim, Books & Writing this week sets out to discover precisely what goes into the making of a successful film script. Alison Tilson is the screenwriter for 'Japanese Story' and, together with helpful cues from Ramona Koval, she attempts to workshop the art of writing for the 'big screen'. [ more ] Lord William Deedes - The Original Scoop Sunday 1 February 2004 This week, as Books & Writing slips into its new timeslot of 1.05 on Sunday afternoon, we meet the archetype of the foreign correspondent, WF Deedes - now Lord Deedes - whose real-life exploits inspired Evelyn Waugh to pen 'Scoop', a riotous tale of journalistic chaos in faraway places. [ more ] January 2004 Susan Sontag Sunday 25 January 2004 In the final program of the Books & Writing Summer Season ... Susan Sontag is in conversation with Ramona Koval. [ more ] Mario Vargas Llosa Sunday 18 January 2004 This week in Books & Writing's Summer Season, Ramona Koval is joined by the wonderful Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa to talk about his most recent book The Feast of the Goat. The book describes the last days of a dictator, Rafael Trujillo, whose grip on power in the Dominican Republic came to a bloody end in 1961, plunging the country into chaos and violence. [ more ] John Ralston Saul Sunday 11 January 2004 This week in Books & Writing's Summer Season ... John Ralston Saul in conversation with Ramona Koval. [ more ] Writer's Block Sunday 4 January 2004 What happens when a writer can't write? What happens to a writer's identity and sense of self when the words simply stop flowing? On Books & Writing's Summer Season this week, a panel of well-versed speakers tackles the sensitive topic of 'writer's block'. Writer Helen Garner, editor Judith Lukin-Amundsen and psychoanalyst Andrew Lewis join Ramona Koval in a look at the myths and realities, the hype and the horror, of what can be a debilitating state for the creative mind. [ more ] Stories by Year [ 2006 & 2005 | 2004 |2003 |2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 ] | |
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