Episodes

  • Paula Hawkins: Exploring the dark side of the art world in new thriller The Blue Hour
    Nov 20 2024

    When Paula Hawkins dropped her pen name and switched from writing romantic comedies to thrillers, she wrote The Girl on the Train. Now she has a new book called The Blue Hour. It follows a reclusive painter named Vanessa Chapman and reflects on themes of power and legacy. Paula and Mattea Roach talk about the motivations and inspiration behind the women at the centre of her stories.

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    34 mins
  • Anne Fleming: Why her latest novel is a gender-bending tale of witchcraft and forbidden love
    Nov 17 2024

    In Anne Fleming's new novel, Curiosities, an amateur historian becomes fascinated by the lives of two girls from 1600s England. But as she pieces their stories together, the very nature of truth itself comes into question. Curiosities is a finalist for the 2024 Giller Prize. Anne and Mattea Roach discuss the pull of the 17th century and the exploration of gender and identity at the heart of the novel.

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    40 mins
  • Eric Chacour: Exploring the power of familial expectations and forbidden love
    Nov 13 2024

    When Montreal author Eric Chacour wrote his first book, he didn't expect it to become a huge hit in France. Translated from French to English by Pablo Strauss, What I Know About You is a novel set in Cairo and Montreal, exploring sexuality as well as family secrets and pressures. It's nominated for this year's Giller Prize and Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Eric and Mattea Roach discuss the inspiration behind his debut novel.

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    35 mins
  • Rachel Kushner: In Booker Prize finalist Creation Lake, an agent provocateur faces deep questions about how to live
    Nov 10 2024

    In Rachel Kushner’s latest novel, Creation Lake, an undercover agent is tasked with sabotaging a group of young activists in rural France. Rachel joins Mattea Roach to talk about blending a spy premise with meditations on life’s big questions, putting an anti-hero at the centre of her story and why writing this novel was a transcendent experience. Creation Lake is a finalist for the 2024 Booker Prize.

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    34 mins
  • Alan Hollinghurst: Coming of age in Britain and writing through the gay gaze
    Nov 6 2024

    When Alan Hollinghurst's novel The Line of Beauty won the Booker Prize in 2004, it was the first time a book about the gay experience won the award. Now his newest novel, Our Evenings, puts a biracial boy who’s discovering queer culture for the first time at the front and centre. Alan and Mattea Roach discuss how growing up gay in Britain inspires his writing.

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    36 mins
  • Fawn Parker: Blending her own grief with fiction in new novel Hi, It’s Me
    Nov 3 2024

    Fawn Parker's latest book centres on a woman navigating life immediately following the death of her mother. The novel is a finalist for this year’s Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Fawn and Mattea Roach talk about grief, loss and the real-life inspiration behind Hi, It's Me.

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    25 mins
  • Erica McKeen: Using horror and surrealism to explore grief, care and love in new novel Cicada Summer
    Oct 30 2024

    When a trio of characters living in a lakeside cabin in the summer of 2020 begin reading a book of horror stories, the details start to bleed into real life. This is the premise of Erica McKeen's latest novel. Erica talks to Mattea Roach about why she uses horror to explore the mundane and complex aspects of everyday life.

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    26 mins
  • Jeff VanderMeer: How his blockbuster Southern Reach series reflects our own fight against climate change
    Oct 27 2024

    When Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach series was first published 10 years ago, it was a sensation. The mysterious environmental phenomenon known as Area X captivated readers and inspired a movie. Now the saga continues with a highly anticipated fourth installment, Absolution. Jeff talks to Mattea Roach about the inspiration behind the series, dealing with climate threats to his home in Florida and what fiction can teach us about our own environmental crisis.

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    32 mins