Backstory

In her third and latest novel ‘The Newcomer’, Laura Elizabeth Woollett intertwines fiction and reality. Deriving elements from a real murder in 2002, she brings us into a fictional Fairfolk island filled with unanswered questions. Out now through Scribe.

With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/backstory

Award-winning author Larissa Behrendt takes a deep dive into her new novel, After Story. It follows a mother and daughter as they grapple with grief and loss, while reflecting on their cultural history through a literary tour. The book is out now through UQP. 

With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/backstory

Award-winning author of ‘The Trauma Cleaner’, Sarah Krasnostein, weaves us through her new book ‘The Believer’. From a death doula to a ghost hunter, to a woman facing death and another woman released from prison, we follow six peoples’ stories and their encounters with love, death and faith.

With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/backstory

Journalist Rick Morton combines memoir with journalism in ‘My Year of Living Vulnerably: A Rediscovery of Love’. Whilst reflecting on childhood trauma and its resounding impact into adulthood, the book also explores loneliness and masculinity. The book is out via Fourth Estate. 

With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/podcasts/backstory

Author and editor Rebecca Starford walks us through the The Imitator, her new historical novel which weaves through pre, mid and post-war periods, through the lens of a MI5 wartime spy. Out now through Allen & Unwin. With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/backstory

Now That I See You has won the 2021 Australian / Vogel Literary Award. Listen as the woman behind the words, Emma Batchelor, unravels this part-truth, part-fiction book; exploring the way her lens on life shifted enormously in the wake of her partners’ transition and their relationship demise. 

With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/backstory

Award winning author and journalist Susan Johnson goes into her epistolary novel ‘From Where I Fell’, which follows two women who find solace in one another after an accidental email unites them; and writer and critic Oliver Reeson discusses their Sydney Review of Books essay ‘Not Who But How’, which dissects Craig Sylvie’s book ‘Honeybee’ and it’s controversial impact. 

With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/backstory

Australian writer, director and actor, Madeleine Ryan, chats about her debut novel ‘A Room Called Earth’. Taking the reader on a journey through the mind of a woman in the space of one evening, it questions and critiques our social world and unveils some hidden truths about it. Out now through Scribe.

With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/backstory

Writer and music and cultural critic Anwen Crawford talks about her new book ‘No Document’. The book-length essay weaves together narratives that explore grief, art and activism with themes of war, immigration and stolen land. Out now through Giramondo.

With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/backstory

Claire Thomas delves into her latest novel The Performance, following three women whose lives undergo revelations as they watch a play; and author and performance artist Fiona McGregor discusses her collection of essays, Buried Not Dead and the artistic lives that informed it.

With presenter Mel Cranenburgh.

Website: https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/backstory.