Let author Catherine Therese introduce you to Leslie Bird, a fictional character so caustic she’ll make your eyes water. Yet, as Michaela discovered, the story behind Leslie’s creation is more likely to bring a sympathetic tear to your eye. + The course of Australian art changed in 1971 with the formation of the Papunya Tula art movement. John Kean, was there to witness its birth and tells Cath what forces he believes inspired and informed the movement’s four leading...

The fates of three people from the 1940s, ‘70s and today collide in Chris Hammer’s thrilling new mystery, “The Tilt” - you won’t see it coming! + Prolific 20th century writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley wrote everything from witty and malicious novels about the British literati  to his still famous Utopian dystopia Brave New World, and later in his 50 year career went on to explore the world of psychedelic drugs. Annie Warburton explores the Huxley ouvre to understand why Huxley remains a...

Best-selling Australian authors, Sean Williams, Victoria Perman and Tricia Stringer, talk to Tsundoku’s Sarah Martin and Cath Kenneally about their very different paths to literary success - Tricia dabbled in self-publishing, Victoria succeeded in speed dating a publisher and Sean tried the splatter gun approach with short stories. Victoria identified the single thread common to all three quests,  “ We all immersed ourselves in writing communities. We didn’t sit at home and get a bit...

Best selling Australian author of “rural noir”, Garry Disher hopes to be seen as novelist first and crime writer second. American Academic Saar Shahar discusses what sets literary journalism apart from the pack. Paul Gough shares the books that first made him fall for sci-fi .  Three great minds in this week’s episode, determined to rise above the throng and give us something worth reading. Guests: Garry Disher, author of “Days End”, the fourth book in his fabulous Hirsch series. Saar...

They’ve emerged from the marking void! Alive and insane, the Word Docs discuss activities, opportunities, Nic Cage, scientology, chaotic planning, Nosferatu, spiders, inch ants and hungry catfish... Eventually, they may also get around to discussing their books. You never know.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In September 1883, the South Australian town of Fairly huddles under strange, vivid sunsets. A child has gone missing and the whole town is intent on finding him. More than a mystery, Fiona McFarlane explores the varied townsfolks’ relationship with the complex landscape and unsettling history of the Flinders Ranges.  Tsundoku’s Annie Hastwell loved it from start to finish and joins the critics in their unanimous praise. + Self-declared fan of Barry Humphries, Annie Warburton, reviews the...

Alex is in the Mastermind hot seat! Many years after writing Japanese/Australian rock musical Once Upon a Midnight, Alex is trying to remember what he was on about and why it was interesting. Luckily the Word Docs are on hand to tease all the shades of grey out of the process. Join us as we travel the world from our studio and explore the cultural conundrums that arise when mythology, nationality and generational identity intersect. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Word Docs are slowly catching up with this mysterious invention called BookTok where all the young people are. Together, the intrepid geriatrics will sort through the virtual shelves and explore their favourite tropes with the usual blend of light-hearted humour, emotional pain and existential despair. If you’re a morally grey villain, a soul in search of a mate or a grump with a heart of gold, this episode is all about you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re off the rails again! Amy is trying her best to keep the troops under control, but the troops are idiots. The sage advice of Anne Lamott is pearls before bewildered swine as Sean’s eerie chanting and Alex’s fear of naked cults turns a perfectly reasonable vegetable metaphor into something chilling. In this episode we will wonder... why did Sean give up meditation? Why the hell can’t Alex remember going to France? And what’s up with Amy and purple sharkskin suits?   See...

At first drawn to short stories, Louise Kennedy couldn’t resist expanding this ill-fated love story set at the peak of the Irish Troubles into a full and vividly depicted novel, “Trespasses”. + Is it too much to say that the author of Captain Cook’s “Voyages”  was “cancelled” by his contemporaries and the sexual exploits of Joseph Banks “went viral”? Not according to US literary academic Saar Shahar who has researched the writings around Captain Cook’s voyages. = The next best thing to...

This week it's Amy's turn to sit in the Mastermind hot seat and the topic is Popular Romance Studies. Join us for love, sex, happy endings, trauma porn, happy for nows, and all the feels. Does Amy have the answers? Has Alex done his homework? Will Sean write a romance novel? And who is killing all the butterflies? If you ever wanted to know the not-so-secret intellectual life of a romance author, now's your chance!    See omny.fm/listener for privacy information.

Got any dead books lying around? Manuscripts that didn't work, or didn't sell, or are just dead in the water for reasons you can't quite put your finger on? The Word Docs sure do. Alex is curious to pry into Sean and Amy's literary closets, looking for dusty old relics of the past. There must be something to be learned from books that didn't work? Was it all a waste? Or are dead tomes valuable things? In response to Alex shining a light into their closets, Amy and Sean drag out Alex's...

“I’ve discovered an important truth and it’s all I care about, all I can depend on,the only thing that means anything, the one sure thing that will help me survive.No one can be trusted. I am on my own.” This devastating truth lies at the core ofShannon Burn’s memoir, “Childhood”.+Pandora, Jocasta, Aphrodite and Medea; these are just some of the women ofGreek mythology whose stories have grown and warped over the millenia.Associate Professor Lisa Bennett introduces us to the forensic work of...

What do you do when the end of the world is nigh? Give into despair? Eat chocolate? Read books? Or, maybe now's a good time to join Alex on a pirate ship outta here? This week the Word Docs discuss climate-change fiction and the challenges of writing about our climate changed world. As an unseasonable hail-storm rages outside, Amy, Alex and Sean travel through deep time, searching the literary landscape for ways to think about the future. What is the role of fiction in all this? Can you be...

Unthawed from the ice, the Word Docs have returned to the airwaves to explain where the hell they've been, what the hell they've been doing, and who the hell they might be creating next. As lockdowns ease and the world reawakens, tune in to hear the gang discuss the perils of balancing professional commitments as writers, teachers and researchers. Just when you thought it was safe to open your ears, Sean is back to conjure honourable ghosts, Alex is back to bleed teens dry...and both Amy T....

Hugely popular author of gritty young adult fiction, Vikki Wakefield, has turned her hand to a psychological thriller in ‘After You Were Gone’ …with resounding success. and Associate Professor Dr Kylie Cardell gives a fascinating synopsis of Blake Gopnik's mammoth biography of Andy Warhol…all 900 pages of it!. so Curl up on the couch, go for a walk or even clean out the pantry whilst you listen to Cath and Annie’s talented and most congenial guests. Guests Vikki Wakefield, on ‘This is...

The Word Docs are going back to school. Marian Keyes is the guide this week as the dynamic trio attempt, for once, to do what they’re told. Weighing Marian’s advice against their core criteria of Wank Factor, DNF and Repeatability, the Word Docs try to adopt a writing prompt from the bestselling author. When the exercise produces mixed results, there’s only one way to settle the ensuing debate... The Docs have to seek Jeanette Vickery-Howe’s approval. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

We know you've been waiting for this. The day Sean is finally allowed to talk matter transmitters to his heart's content. Be transported into speculative story worlds, where sex romping may happen on a young man's fictional spaceship, murderers get creative with transmitters, and where Alex and Amy are increasingly scared of ever setting foot into a car again... In this episode Sean leads Amy and Alex through the horrifying, mesmerising, inspiring, mind-bending possibilities of the matter...

How are writers portrayed in fiction? The Word Docs (or, as they’re inexplicably calling themselves, the Warlock, the Wizard and the Witch) are investigating the magic of storytelling as depicted in popular culture. From Fforde to Ginsberg, and Ginsberg to King, there is a tradition of romanticising authors and their work. Amy is into it... Sean really, really isn’t. Join us as we separate the myth from the grind. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re lifting the boot and unpacking our process. This week, Amy leads a discussion on the form and purpose of exegetical writing as Sean snores audibly in the corner (not for the first time) and Alex rails against ever discussing his own work. What is an exegesis? Why is it important? Who is it for? The Word Docs pray the Deans of Research are not listening as they quarry this most sacred pillar of university life.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Writers are cruel creatures. This week, the Word Docs discuss all the occasions when they’ve felt let down, horribly surprised, or otherwise manipulated by authors, playwrights and screenwriters. Alex is upset by animal cruelty, Amy by failed romance, and Sean by lions that aren’t really lions. When the contract between reader and creator is broken, Amy has been known to throw a book across the room...but Sean is even more sadistic...he once threw a book in the fire. Join us! See...

Author, Brigid Delaney, considers whether ancient philosophers can guide us in how to live a good life, and has found the Stoic school may have the answers.  and Our classics experts consider the grim power of Angela Carter’s adult fairytales that celebrate the dark and the macabre.  Guests Brigid Delaney, author of “Reasons Not To Worry – How to be Stoic in Modern Times” (plus two other non fiction books looking at the challenges of modern life) Associate Professors Lisa Bennett and...

They're baaaaaaaack! The Word Docs have spent the last couple of years recording random episodes and failing to release them. But today is the dawn of a new age. Otherwise known as 2023. Alex stops polishing his awards, Amy crawls out of the writing cave, and Sean returns from a galaxy far, far away (as in, Ireland) and the 'quite interesting' episodes have been collected into a 'transitional' season of uncontained writing joy. Time travel through a year and a half of delayed Word Doc-ery,...

Literary raconteur, Geoff Dyer, isn’t getting any younger and it’s got him contemplating The End; not death so much as “last times”, the likes of which can strike at any time in a person’s life. “The Last Days of Roger Federer and other endings” skilfully ducks and weaves through the life and creative work of writers, painters, philosophers, musicians, sports stars and, indeed, Geoff himself and reflects on this very singular life we each receive. and This week’s author of classic...

The highest compliment any reader can pay new crime fiction writer, Joanna Morrison, is “I couldn’t put it down” or “You moved me”. Both epitaphs apply equally to “The Ghost of Gracie Flynn”. It’s a non-linear unravelling of two compelling mysteries; a literary ghost story with a bittersweet twist.  and Louise Adler is a warm and witty conversationalist who shares what drives her in the creation of Australia’s most respected literary festival…and the ones that got away! Guests Joanna...