Past Programs
Journalism - 2007
The resurgence of the essay with Julianne Schultz Read Transcript
19/12/2007
The essay in Australia is undergoing a resurgence - in recent years we've seen the arrival of long-form non-fiction published in The Monthly and The Quarterly Essay both published by Black Inc.
The Australian book review now runs an annual essay prize worth $10000, and essays attract prizes at some Premier's Literary Awards.
And there's Griffith Review soon to celebrate its 5th year in print and a champion of the essay form.
It was Griffith Review that published Frank Moorhouse's influential piece - 'the Writer in a time of Terror, which won a Walkley award, a Victoria Premier's Literary Award and the 2007 PEN Keneally Award.
So what cultural shifts explain the recent flourishing of the essay in Australia?
Julianne Schultz is editor of the Griffith Review.
Taslima Nasreen: Bangladeshi writer in hiding in India Read Transcript
19/12/2007
Writers are often credited with having a licence to write the things that some of us wouldn't dare utter in private, let alone in public. You might agree that that's a good thing -- that some writers have the courage to go where others fear to tread.
But what if their ideas are deemed controversial, or offensive, and there are calls for a book to be changed? Should the writer back down?
The Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has found herself in just that dilemma. Taslima Nasreen is a poet and physician who describes herself a 'radical feminist'.
Her work has sparked controversy across the subcontinent, and she's been the subject of numerous death threats.
She's been in hiding in the Indian capital New Delhi since November when violent protests erupted over her autobiography, known as Split In Two in English.
Muslim groups say the book is derogatory to Islam. And given her status as a guest in India, Nasreen's case has become a national, political issue.
After some pressure, Nasreen has said she will withdraw some of the lines in the offending book. But should she?
To tell us more about Taslima Nasreen, Professor Rukmini Bhaya Nair, the editor of the Indian literary review Biblio joins the Book Show from New Delhi.
Lapham's Quarterly: a new project for former editor of Harpers
08/11/2007
The name of Lewis Lapham is synonymous with the New York magazine Harpers, the monthly journal that he edited for 30 years. Last year, Lapham stepped back from the role of editor, while still retaining the positions of editor emeritus and national correspondent. He still writes his Notebook column for the magazine, for which he won a National Magazine Award in 1995 for exhibiting 'an exhilarating point of view in an age of conformity.'
Most people would find that more than enough to be going on with, but Lapham has also been actively involved with another project, the ambition and range of which is truly epic.
He's about to launch a new magazine called Lapham's Quarterly. It's a journal that seeks to make sense of present day events through the prism of great writers and thinkers from the past.
Lewis Lapham joins the Book Show on the phone from New York.
A tale of two Gertrudes -- with Robert Silvers
18/10/2007
Robert Silvers from the New York Review of Books with a tale of two Gertrudes: Gertrude Stein who, with her partner Alice B. Toklas, is the subject of a new book by Janet Malcolm, and Gertrude Bell, the snobbish Englishwoman who translated Persian poetry, climbed mountains, and was the architect of the modern state of Iraq.
Playing guess who? with the Times Literary Supplement's Peter Stothard
10/10/2007
It seems everybody in London thinks Robert Harris's new book The Ghost is about Tony Blair, but Robert Harris is denying that his one time friend is a character in this novel. Peter Stothard from the Times Literary Supplement gives his opinion.
Robert Silvers, New York Review of Books
16/08/2007
Robert Silvers, regular guest on the Book Show, speaks about the demise of the newspaper, particularly in the light of Rupert Murdoch's recent acquisition of one of the great trophies of US journalism, the Wall Street Journal.
We also hear more about moderate Islamic thinker Tariq Ramadan. He is extremely influential in Europe and recently strongly condemned the terror attempts in England, even though he was formerly prevented by the US government for taking up a professorship at the University of Notre Dame.
Robert Dessaix
01/08/2007
At Byron Bay Writers' Festival Ramona Koval compares notes with writer, broadcaster and translater Robert Dessaix on the topic of books, the literary life and the experience of being on the radio.
Robert's stellar career as a writer really took flight with his autobiography A Mother's Disgrace. This led to his novels Night Letters, Corfu and Twilight of Love: Travels with Turgenev.
But for 10 years, Robert Dessaix was the presenter of the ABC Radio National program Books & Writing. When he left to be a writer full time, Ramona Koval stepped into that role for the following 11 years, until the beginning of 2006 when Books & Writing morphed into this daily program, The Book Show. And so that's why Ramona and Robert got together in Byron Bay, to talk about books on the radio.
Literary knighthoods with Peter Stothard
28/06/2007
A fortnight ago Britain awarded a knighthood (for services to literature) to the author of The Satanic Verses -- one of the world's most lauded and most divisive writers, Salmon Rushdie. The Satanic Verses, 18 years ago, caused such offence to Muslims that a bounty was placed on his head and Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to kill him. Rushdie went into hiding and the British government spent millions protecting him.
To find out more about the decision, the editor of the Times Literary Supplement, Peter Stothard, joins me on The Book Show from our London ABC studio.
Tim Parks: the problem with experts
02/05/2007
Now to our scribe in Italy. Author, essayist, critic and translator Tim Parks has lived outside Milan for about 25 years, which ought to qualify him as an expert observer of Italian culture and politics. But he recently discovered that, when the media say they want an expert, nuance and complexity is the last thing they expect. After all, they have stereotypes to maintain.
Margo Kingston reviews Pauline Hanson's autobiography Read Transcript
30/04/2007
Pauline Hanson is in the media spotlight once again. Not only has she announced that she will contest a Queensland Senate seat in this year's federal election but her autobiography, Untamed and Unashamed, has shot into the top 10 bestsellers list.
Journalist Margo Kingston has been reading Pauline Hanson's autobiography. In 1998 Margo Kingston went on tour with Pauline Hanson on her federal election campaign, and wrote a book about it all called Off the Rails: the Pauline Hanson trip. For The Book Show, Margo Kingston reviews Untamed and Unashamed.
John Pilger Read Transcript
29/04/2007
Today, Ramona speaks to a writer who has been called a lank-haired Australian Messiah, the only man who cuts through the lies of the corporate media to bring The Truth. He's been called a lot of other less positive things by his detractors. And he has many.
Multi-award-winning war correspondent, broadcaster, filmmaker and writer John Pilger has a new book titled Freedom Next Time and, later this year, a new film, The War On Democracy, will be in Australian cinemas.
John Pilger Read Transcript
02/04/2007
This morning, Ramona speaks to a writer who has been called a lank-haired Australian Messiah, the only man who cuts through the lies of the corporate media to bring The Truth. He's been called a lot of other less positive things by his detractors. And he has many.
Multi-award-winning war correspondent, broadcaster, filmmaker and writer John Pilger has a new book titled Freedom Next Time and, later this year, a new film, The War On Democracy, will be in Australian cinemas.
Worldwide reading in memory of Anna Politkovskaya
20/03/2007
Over the past year, the plight of writers and journalists, working under threat of violence and death, has been brought to the fore, with the very conspicuous murders of Russian journalist and writer Anna Politkovskaya and the Armenian/Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink. And just last Friday, we heard of the suspicious death of another Russian journalist Ivan Safronov. While these types of murders are nothing new, they do tell us that the stakes can get very high, if you try to report the truth and threaten people in power. Ivan Safronov had been working on some damning exposes of failures within the Russian military, and of course Anna Politkovskaya had been reporting on the brutality of Russia's protracted military campaign in Chechan.
So to honour the courage of journalists and writers, a worldwide reading of the work of Anna Politkovskaya is being held today - organised by the Berlin-based Peter Weiss Foundation for Art and Politics, in conjunction with International PEN. The Australian readings have been organised by the Melbourne chapter of International PEN are to be held this evening (Tuesday 20th March 2007) at 7.30 at La Mama at the Carlton Courthouse. Everyone in Melbourne is welcome, but for those of you who can't attend, we've got an excerpt from A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya by Anna Politkovskaya. The reader is Jema Stellato Pledger.
