Michelle de Kretser began reading Shirley Hazzard well before she herself would become a writer, but she felt an early kinship, and two decades later it exploded into a full obsession. This week, Michael speaks with Michelle and Hazzard's biographer Brigitta Olubas about one of Australia's most underrated and underread authors. 
 Reading list: The Evening of the Holiday, Shirley Hazzard, 1966 The Bay of Noon, Shirley Hazzard, 1970 The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard, 1980 Greene on Capri, Shirley Hazzard, 2000 The Great Fire, Shirley Hazzard, 2003 On Shirley Hazzard: Writers on Writers, Michelle de Kretser, 2019 Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life, Brigitta Olubas, 2023 
 Prophet Song, Paul Lynch, 2023 So Close to Home, Mick Cummins, 2023 In Praise of Veg, Alice Zaslavsky, 2020 
 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Or if you want to listen to them as audiobooks, you can head to the Read This reading room on Apple Books. 
 Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Michelle de Kretser & Brigitta Olubas

Why Michelle de Kretser Wants You to Read Shirley Hazzard

Read This is a show about the books we love and the stories behind them, hosted by Michael Williams. Every Thursday, you’ll hear insightful conversations with the smartest, funniest readers and writers we know and in-depth interviews with the best Australian and international authors talking about their lives and their work. You’ll never be left wondering what to read next.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

Books

Leslie Jamison is celebrated for her ability to link the personal to the cultural to the critical in ways that resonate and move and connect with readers. She first did it with The Empathy Exams – an essay, then a best-selling, award-winning collection. Now she is back with a new book, Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, a memoir about rebuilding a life after the end of a marriage. This week, Michael sits down with Leslie to discuss this latest work and what it means to be many things – a teacher, an artist, a lover and a mother.  
 Reading list: The Gin Closet, Leslie Jamison, 2010 The Empathy Exams, Leslie Jamison, 2014 The Recovering, Leslie Jamison, 2018 Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, Leslie Jamison, 2024 
 Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick, 1979 Fragile Creatures, Khin Myint, 2024 
 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.  
 Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Leslie Jamison

Leslie Jamison’s Search History

In 2015, Viet Thanh Nguyen was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, The Sympathizer. Now, nearly a decade later, the book has been adapted into an HBO miniseries of the same name. This week, Michael sits down with Viet for a conversation about his latest book, A Man with Two Faces, which expands beyond the familiar beats of memoir, and features the author’s trademark interest in the broader political and colonial implications of the personal. 
 Reading list: The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2014 The Committed, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2021 A Man of Two Faces, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2023 
 Dune, Frank Herbert, 1965 Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth,1968  
 Quarterly Essay: Highway to Hell, Joëlle Gergis, 2024  
 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.  
 Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Viet Thanh Nguyen

What Is Wrong with Viet Thanh Nguyen?

It was 2014 when Bruce Pascoe went from being a prolific, yet relatively unknown writer, to public enemy #1 in Australia’s culture wars. That was the year that Bruce published his now infamous book, Dark Emu, and its re-examination of accepted historical accounts of pre-invasion Australia. This week, he joins Michael for a discussion about his new novel Imperial Harvest and shares why he still believes we need the messiness of democracy. 
 Reading list: Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe, 2014 Imperial Harvest, Bruce Pascoe, 2024 
 Time’s Monster, Priya Satia, 2020 The Ministry of Time, Kellyanne Bradley, 2024 
 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.  
 Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Bruce Pascoe

All Bruce Pascoe Needs Is a Biro

Writer, artist, and filmmaker Miranda July has a devoted – even rabid – following, through her writing, her work on the screen, and her collaborative art projects. Her debut 2007 collection of short stories No One Belongs Here More Than You was a publishing sensation, and her debut film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, won the Palme D’Or at Cannes Film Festival. This week, she and Michael discuss her new novel, All Fours, which explores desire, intimacy, dance, and an often overlooked part of the ageing process. 
 Reading list: Books No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July, 2007 The First Bad Man, Miranda July, 2019 All Fours, Miranda July, 2024 
 Short Stories ‘Roy Spivey’, Miranda July, 2009 (The New Yorker) ‘The Metal Bowl’, Miranda July, 2017 (The New Yorker) 
 ‘Women Have Been Misled About Menopause’, Susan Dominus, 2023 (The New York Times) What Fresh Hell Is This?, Heather Corinna, 2021 Long Island, Colm Tóibín, 2024 
 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.  
 Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Miranda July

Miranda July Wrote the Book She Couldn’t Find

Across half a dozen novels, Andrew O’Hagan has made a name for himself as an author of delicacy and grace, painting the community he comes from, in Scotland’s west, with tenderness and wry, affectionate humour. His latest, Caledonian Road, follows art historian Campbell Flynn. A man who is at a turning point and is about to come up against his own downfall. This week, Michael sits down with Andrew for a conversation about the Dickensian world he has created in his new novel and why he considers it his most optimistic book yet. 
 Reading list: Our Fathers, Andrew O’Hagan, 1999 Be Near Me, Andrew O’Hagan, 2006 Mayflies, Andrew O’Hagan, 2020 Caledonian Road, Andrew O’Hagan, 2024 
 Lives of Girls and Women, Alice Munro, 1971  Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Alice Munro, 2001 Dear Life, Alice Munro, 2012 
 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.  
 Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Andrew O’Hagan

Why Michelle de Kretser Wants You to Read Shirley Hazzard

Download our free app to listen on your phone