John Hughes was once hailed as a young literary genius, and won a scholarship to Cambridge.

Yet he found himself back in Australia working as a librarian and a teacher before his writing found acclaim.

Hughes was shortlisted for some of the greatest honours in Australian writing. But under the scrutiny of greater acclaim, a strange web of inconsistencies and copying struck one reader: Anna Verney.

Today, writer, reporter and lawyer Anna Verney and contributing editor to The Monthly Richard Cooke, on how they first discovered the borrowings of John Hughes and the revelations that followed.

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Guest: Writer Anna Verney and contributing editor to The Monthly Richard Cooke

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