Back in 2013, when I was just a little baby radio producer starting out on Final Draft some incredible books came out. I’d like to say I read them all but that would be a lie. Today’s book for book club has been on my radar since that time and so to inspire you all to dive deep into your to be read pile I’ve got Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites.

Victoria Purman is a bestselling author in Australia and the US. Her historical fiction includes A Woman’s Work, The Nurses’ War, The Women’s Pages, and The Land Girls. Victoria’s new novel is The Radio Hour.

The Gorgon Flower is a wonderful collection of dark and macabre stories. I’ve always thought of short story collections like albums or mixed lolly bags. The best of them have something for everyone but you’re probably still not going to share because you love it all.

Dana Gibson has more than a little on her mind when she accompanies her colleague Lachlan on a welfare check in the town of Killarney. With local tensions simmering, possible drug running through the town and an allegation against a member of the clergy things are starting to look bad. Then torrential rain breaks the banks of the river trapping Dana in Killarney.

The art scene in New York is one of the toughest in the world. After years of struggle Lally is finally making her gallery work; supporting emerging artists and paying the bills. Patrick feels like he is teetering on the verge of something. It feels like everyone in Sydney’s antiquities scene is suitably antique but maybe, with the right connections he can lower the age range. Lally and Patrick both know they have to prove themselves. That success might as well be a synonym of sacrifice, but maybe there’s more than just The Work…

John Richards debut short story collection, The Gorgon Flower is a wonderful blend of dark and macabre stories ranging from the historical, speculative fiction and the joyfully uncanny.

Victoria Purman is a bestselling author in Australia and the US. Her historical fiction includes A Woman’s Work, The Nurses’ War, The Women’s Pages, and The Land Girls. Victoria’s new novel is The Radio Hour.

Paul Morgan was born in London, and now lives in Melbourne. He is the author of The Pelagius Book and Turner’s Paintbox. His new novel is The Winter Palace.

Susannah Begbie grew up in rural New South Wales on a sheep farm and is now a GP who has worked all over Australia. She is the winner of Hachette's Richell Prize for 2022. The Deed is her first novel.

Jagger Eckerman is the office joke. As son of the billionaire boss everyone knows he’s a nepo baby with no real role in the company. But even nepo babies can tantrum and that’s what happens when Jagger realises he’s being used as the fall guy for the company's dodgy dealings. Blowing the whistle was easy but Jagger wasn’t prepared for what comes next. Now he’s stuck in a cave hiding out from a hitman and firmly in the sights of a climate activist who already called that cave home!

Ernest Price is a transgender man working as a secondary English teacher in Naarm/Melbourne. His writing has been published by Queerstories and Overland. The Pyramid of Needs is his first novel.

Yumna Kassab is the author of novels including Australiana and The Lovers. Her writing has been listed for prizes including the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Queensland Literary Awards, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and The Stella Prize.

Miranda Darling is a writer, poet, and co-founder of Vanishing Pictures. She has published both fiction and nonfiction; Thunderhead is her fifth book.

Across a single day we are thrown into the life of Winona Dalloway. From the moment she wakes, stealing a few precious moments before her time is not her own, to the dinner party that looms over her calendar, the reader follows Winona as she tries simply to be herself…

Sharlene Allsop is the debut author of The Great Undoing - Scarlet Friday is a truth teller in a hyper connected world. Even as everyone hurtles towards the future Scarlet delves into the past to understand our place, her place.

Final Draft has been invited by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia to join its Community Radio Network. This means that we've been working hard to develop episodes that will be shared across Australia on the hundreds of community radio stations that contribute to the diverse media landscape of this country.

Linda is ready to hit the big time. The fact that there aren’t a lot of seventy year olds going viral just means it will be even more sensational when she does. She’s a young seventy anyway, barely even sixty really and tik tok takes off ten years. The fame is important and viral clicks can't help but lead to more sales of her Supreme Self Supplements. Yes, Linda is just one livestream away from fame and fortune and nothing can stand in her way.

Twelve Years ago a fire in a remote town rocked the country, killing nine people. The Caravan Murders, as they came to be known, were never solved. The suspect, seventeen year old Sabine Kelly went on the run and has remained hidden.

Ted Bristol is trying to balance the personal and the private. Her latest case, protecting a ballerina from a stalker, is complicated by her burgeoning relationship with the ballerina’s ex. Meanwhile there are complicated couplings everywhere and while Ted definitely wants to grow her PI business she’s hoping to avoid the body count!

In Politica the reader is transported to conflict engulfing a country. Through glimpses of ordinary life and revolutionary struggle we are shown the cost of war on a people and the tenacity, the fierceness of will required to carry on

David Brooks is an award winning essayist, short-fiction writer, novelist and poet. His new collection, The other side of daylight explores our connection to the world, the environment and the non-human animals we share it with.

The Great Undoing offers up a speculative future where our endless drive for connectivity and security threatens to turn society on its head.

SWF Artistic Director Ann Mossop joins Andrew to discuss the Sydney Writers Festival 2024 Program Launch

Featuring a reading of David's poem An Invasion of Clouds