Funny Ethnics opens with Sylvia Nguyen dropping a bombshell on her parents; she’s dropping out of law school to focus on her writing. It’s a blow few parents are equipped to take and Sylvia’s parents are no exception. Sylvia has prepared a speech in English and Vietnamese to reassure them she is not turning her back on her culture, but they are prepared to point out her mistakes bilingually. Sylvia’s dilemma is one faced by many second generation children of migrants. Somehow though, knowing that she is well supported amongst the diaspora populations of Western Sydney is small consolation as Sylvia tries to live with her feet in both worlds.

Until three months ago Sean had never even had a steady boyfriend. Now a drawer full of fancy undies and an ill advised moment with a bottle of mouthwash have him thinking he might never again. Sean’s been out for years and relationships, let alone marriage are not things he sees in his future. But it feels like the whole world is talking about gays getting married while all Sean wants is his six-pack back. When Sean meets William he discovers a new world. One of long term relationships and dogs you call your kid. It’s a million miles from Sean’s life but it’s got him wondering if it’s possible there’s more to life than Grindr and hookups? Sean’s finally looking to the future, but inevitably that means he’ll have to come to terms with the past. 

Limberlost is set across a long summer in Tasmania’s north. While war rages in Europe and the Pacific, life on Limberlost carries on, haunted by the echoes of young men gone to fight. Ned is left at home with his father and sister Maggie, too young to fight, while his brothers enlist in the war. Ned is aware of their bravery and duty but struggles to reconcile himself to their absence and his own dislocation in the family hierarchy. Ned busies himself hunting rabbits. To provide pelts to make slouch hats for the soldiers is his justification, but really Ned dreams of buying a boat and setting free on the open water.

Abbie isn’t a bad mum. Like so many parents she is exhausted, overworked, trying her best when one day someone takes advantage and steals her daughter Sarah from a busy street market. Six years later and Abbie has another life. She can never move on from that tragic day but she is trying. That is until a phone call offers the tantalizing hope; knowledge of Sarah. All Abbie has to do is blow up her life…

Paul Dalgarno is the critically acclaimed author of Poly. In this special bonus episode Paul sits down with 2ser Producer Irene Diakanastasis to discuss his incredible new novel A Country of Eternal Light.

When a body is found on the banks of the Murray River, Detective Zoe Mayer is called up from Melbourne to investigate. Despite the violence of the scene and the victim’s ties to organised crime no one seems to know anything. As more bodies pile up, Zoe realizes she will have to make a breakthrough soon before a gang war erupts within the communities skirting the NSW/Victoria border.

In late 2017 people across Australia are debating, marching and furiously returning their postal ballots in the Marriage Equality Postal Survey. Sean’s is stuck to the fridge and he’s not sure if he’ll get to it. Sean’s been out for years and marriage is not something he sees in his future. Until three months ago he’d never even had a steady boyfriend. But when that chapter of his life comes to an unceremonious end, Sean finds himself thinking differently. Is it possible there’s more to life than Grindr and hookups? Sean’s finally looking to the future, but inevitably that means he’ll have to come to terms with the past.

Five friends, all bound by love and history. One year ago everything changed. Now as they orbit each other’s worlds can they come together and find the strength to carry on?

In the book, Beard argues that women have been systematically excluded from positions of power throughout history, and that this exclusion continues to the present day. Women and Power takes examples from ancient Greece and Rome, as well as more recent events, to show how women's voices have been silenced and their contributions disregarded.

As Brooke arrives in Melbourne and into her first share house she is ready for life. She’s planned for every eventuality and has a list to back up her plan in case the worst still happens. Best of all she’s hours away from her hometown and everyone who knows she’s the sensible, listmaking girl. Even better, she's a whole world away from her old life and THE event that defined her whole life in high school. Yep, Brooke is really going to make something of her new life. That is until she meets her new housemate Jesse and suddenly high school comes rushing back to find her.

Billie is working her way towards becoming a lawyer. Only hitch is it looks like her actions may have blown her latest case, letting abusive douche Dr Samuel Grange go free. Drinking away her sorrows should have helped but instead Billie has woken up in a strange apartment with less than the desirable amount of memory from the night before. Putting that seemingly trivial mystery to the side Billie has to figure out how to pay her rent now that her job’s on the line. Oh, and she also has to figure out how to serve some serious extrajudicial justice onto Samuel Grange before some other woman becomes his next victim. Cue… Billie is going to be The Next Girl

Matt is in a Mental Health Facility. He is there to rest, recover, come back to himself. On the suggestion of his therapist he begins a journal. In it he records his memories of the past; his adolescence with Christina and hoping maybe somehow by looking back he can find a way to move forward.

In a nondescript street in Clarke, Barney Clarke (no relation) is woken by a knock on the door. A veritable platoon of police have arrived to execute a search warrant on his house and backyard. Next door Leonie observes the police’s arrival, thinking to herself that they are six years too late to help her missing friend Ginny Lawson. From these simple but compelling beginnings Holly Throsby weaves a story of the lives, community and institutions we come to rely on, and how they too often fall short in protecting those most vulnerable.

Kate is the author of more than twenty books (along with Jol) You will likely have seen her name on such covers as Bin Chicken and Yours Troolie, Alice Toolie. Today she is joining us, not with an ably firm toft at peek melt but with a terribly dangerous, cake filled novel called The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat.

Eliza Henry-Jones is the author of novels including In the Quiet (2015), Ache (2017), P is for Pearl (2018) and How to Grow a Family Tree (2020). She’s made award lists including the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, Indie Awards, ABIA Awards and CBCA Awards. Eliza’s latest novel is Salt and Skin. Luda has arrived with her children Darcy and Min, to the storm-bruised islands of northern Scotland. The family have fled Australia in a storm of grief and recrimination seeking to find a new home and purpose to their lives.

Chris Flynn is the author of Mammoth, Here Be Leviathans, The Glass Kingdom and A Tiger in Eden. Chris is Editor-in-Residence at Museums Victoria, and his writing can also be found in a range of publications across the world. Chris has a new short story collection out Here Be Leviathans. It continues his incredible ability to capture the uncanny and give voice to anyone, or anything.

This year we're reviving an old tradition; the Final Draft Xmas Gift Guide. Got a hard to buy for person in your life? Hoping a slightly sardonic radio segment has the answers? You're in luck then because this year we are selecting the perfect book to give to your loved ones.

When Josh goes missing in Europe Mila follows him to try and uncover what has happened and what she has lost. There she meets Kyle, and together the two follow in Josh’s footsteps and try to make sense of his final days…

In a nondescript street in Clarke (a city since the seventies) Barney Clarke (no relation) is woken by a knock on the door. A veritable platoon of police have arrived to execute a search warrant on his house and backyard. Next door Leonie observes the police’s arrival, thinking to herself that they are six years too late to help her missing friend Ginny Lawson.

The Whitewash is the unofficial history of the rise and fall of Brood Empire detailing not only the film’s unseemly demise but its origins in the anals of racist representation of Asia and Asians throughout 20th century filmmaking.

Anthony Sharwood is a Walkley Award-winning journalist. He loves the high country as evidenced in his 2020 book From Snow to Ash, and his 2021 book The Brumby Wars. The Brumby Wars chronicles the history of the ongoing battles between supporters of wild horses in the Australian Bush (known as Brumbies) and those who see the destruction they cause to fragile ecosystems and want to see them controlled.

Today I’m joined on the show by Sulari Gentil. In her new novel The Woman in the Library Sulari Gentill is crafting a new novel about bestselling Australian crime author Hannah Tigone, who is crafting a new novel about neophyte Australian crime writer Winifred Kincaid who just might be crafting a novel about yet another crime writer except that she’s gotten herself stuck in a real life mystery!

Abbie isn’t a bad mum. Like so many parents she is exhausted, overworked, trying her best when one day someone takes advantage and steals her daughter Sarah from a busy street market. Six years later and Abbie has another life. She can never move on from that tragic day but she is trying. That is until a phone call offers the tantalizing hope; knowledge of Sarah. All Abbie has to do is blow up her life… Vikki Wakefield is a celebrated author of young adult fiction. After You Were Gone is her first foray into ‘adult’ fiction and fans of her writing will recognise the tense realism and sharply drawn characters that infuse her work.

Paul Daley's new novel Jesustown is a compelling narrative that forces a lens up to colonial and contemporary attitudes towards First Nations Peoples. As Patrick Renmark lands in the remote former mission town of Jesustown, he is a broken man. He accepts he is the author of his own destruction; an affair that blew up into the public eye has caused a cascade of events that have destroyed his entire world. With nowhere else to turn, Patrick begrudgingly accepts the commission to tell the story of his Grandfather Nathaniel Renmark. A commission that sees Patrick returning to Jesustown and facing another shame that drove him away decades before.

Year Six is meant to be a time of change; taking on new challenges a conquering. Hero has always struggled to live up to her name, but this time she has to remind herself it’s not about her. Her friend Aria is being bullied by the biggest doofus in the school and it’s up to Hero and Jaz to help him. Aria can’t talk, at least he doesn’t talk at school and that means there’s a lot Hero doesn’t know about him yet. Aria’s past is a part of the reason. He arrived in Australia having lost so much. There’s nothing Hero can do to change the past but maybe together they can all conquer the future. Join me as we discover Maryam Master’s No Words...