Big Ideas

Helen Garner is one of Australia's most significant and renowned writers, known for her precise and observational writing style, disarming honesty and piercing curiosity about her fellow human beings. Here, she reflects on a lifetime of writing, from her groundbreaking 1977 debut Monkey Grip, to her work in the courtroom covering some of Australia's most shocking crimes, to her keen observations of daily life in her collections of letters and diaries.

To celebrate ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books countdown we bring you this celebration of Garner's immense contribution to Australian letters and life across five decades.

"I'm terribly interested in working out what happens between people."

The first event in the Body of Work series presented by Federation Square and the Melbourne Arts Precinct was recorded Thursday 6 August 2026

Speakers:

Helen Garner Author, Monkey Grip, The Children's Bach, Cosmo Cosmolino, Joe Cinque's Consolation, How to End a Story: The Collected Diaries 1978-1998 (winner the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction), This House of Grief, The Season, The Mushroom Tapes (with Sarah Krasnostein and Chloe Hooper) and more

Michael Williams (host)Editor, The Monthly, former artistic director of Sydney Writers Festival, former director of The Wheeler Centre, former host, ABC Radio National

Foraging and eating wild food is nothing new in Australia. First Nations people have done it for over 50,000 years. Even your grandparents often still used to search for eatable weeds, mushrooms and nuts at the edge of their fields and in the woods. This knowledge is lost today. But attitudes to weeds have also changed. We don’t see weeds as a valuable resource anymore, only as a pest to get rid of. Is it time to change that and to rediscover the traditional knowledge of foraging? And what would that mean for how we manage our farmland in the future?

Presented at the Lyrebird Festival

Speakers

Diego Bonetto Edible weeds advocate, forager and author of EAT WEEDS, A field guide to foraging

Gregg Borschmann (host)Writer, radio producer and oral historian for the National Library of Australia

Trailblazing feminist, political activist, journalist, and founder of Ms Magazine Gloria Steinem died this week at age 92 after a big life changing lives. In her memoir My Life on the Road she recounted how taking to the road fundamentally changed her understanding of the world and who she could be.  Médecins Sans Frontières co-founder, French diplomat and novelist Jean-Christophe Rufin worked in war zones as a doctor and walked the Camino de Santiago as a pilgrim. Acclaimed poet and Yankunytjatjara woman Ali Cobby Eckermann found family, connection, and Country on a different kind of pilgrimage. This well-travelled trio joined Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at the Sydney Writers Festival in 2016 to explore their love of life on the road, and the bigger consequences of their transformative encounters along the way.

Speakers

Gloria SteinemAmerican feminist and political activist, journalist, and founder of Ms Magazine

Ali Cobby EckermannProud Yankunytjatjara womanMulti-award-winning poet and author

Jean-Christophe RufinAuthor, former diplomat, doctor, co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders

This event was held in 2016 (not 2015 as mentioned) and first broadcast in 2017 on ABC Radio National. 

Blockbuster Australian children's authors Andy Griffiths (The Treehouse series), Hilary Rogers aka Maddy Mara (Dragon Girls) and bookseller Tamuz Ellazam join Natasha Mitchell to share the iconic kid's books they'll be voting for in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books (vote now!) — and weigh in on current controversies in kid's literature.  Have children's books become too moralistic, too obsessed with teaching kids how to behave, or with imparting Very Important Messages? Is there a tension between education and entertainment in kid's literature? And why does all this matter?

How to vote in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books. Don't forget you can also nominate books you love that aren't on the list of suggestions.

Speakers

Andy GriffithsAustralian Children's LaureatePopular children's author (The Treehouse series, The Bum Trilogy, the JUST! books, You & Me and The Giant Knucklehead, and more)

Hilary RogersAuthor, the Girltopia trilogyCo-author (with Meredith Badger as Maddy Mara) of the Dragon Girls, Max Beast, Itty Bitty Kitty series.Former children's publisher of Go Girl, Zac Power, Billie B Brown series

Tamuz EllazamManager, Readings Kids bookshop in Carlton, MelbourneResearcher into children's literature

Thanks to Chris Gordon and the Readings events team, and the Church of All Nations community venue.

Further reading

Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children (2026), by Mac BarnettA Beloved Children's Book Author Said Most Children's Literature Is "Crud." It Has Not Gone Well.Children's Book Community Responds in Outrage to Mac Barnett CommentsMac Barnett on Make Believe (video)Mac Barnett Responds Amid Continued Backlash

SOME FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN'S BOOK NOMINATIONS

Andy Griffiths

The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay the pudding Coles Funny Picture Book by E.W. Cole Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner  My Place by Nadia Wheatley & Donna Rawlins My Place in Space by Robin and Sally Hirst, illustrated by Roland Harvey Bamboozled by David Legge Unreal by Paul Jennings Magic Beach by Alison Lester Sunshine (and Moonlight) by Jan OrmerodAll Right, Vegemite! and Far Out, Brussel Sprout! by June Factor And more!

Hilary Rogers

The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky and Andy Joyner My Shadow is Pink by Scott Stuart Hating Alison Ashley by Robin KleinPlaying Beatie Bow by Ruth Park And more!

Tamuz EllazamThe Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek by Jenny Wagner Possum Magic by Mem Fox and Jenny Vivas Stay For Dinner by Sandhya Parappukkaran and Michelle PereiraOnce I was a Giant by Zeno Sworder Derek the Dinosaur by Mary Blackwood and Kerry Argent And more!

From the drama of her private world to the diplomacy of her position as queen. From the woman her family knew to the public figure the world saw. With unique access to royal family members, senior staff, and advisers Robert Hardman explores the parallel lives of Elizabeth as daughter, wife, mother and sovereign.

Inside the Life of Elizabeth II was presented by the Royal Society of Arts, UK

Speakers

Robert HardmanBritish author, journalist and documentary filmmakerAuthor of Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story.

Emily AndrewsJournalist and royal commentator

Leading tech critic Cory Doctorow coined the term "enshittification" to describe the slow decay of the digital platforms most of us are now forced to rely upon to operate in the modern world. So why and how did the internet get bad, and is it too late for people, countries and governments to reclaim technology as a force for humanity and the common good?

This episode was recorded on 25 August 2026 at The Wheeler Centre, Australia's first dedicated centre for Books, Writing and Ideas, in partnership with RMIT University for Now or Never festival. Explore more discussions like this one on The Wheeler Centre podcast — available wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow @wheelercentre for updates.

Speakers:

Cory DoctorowJournalist, technology activist and author, Enshittifcation: Why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it, The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI and more, podcaster, Who broke the internet? (CBC), and blogger craphound.com

Lisa GivenDistinguished Professor of Information Sciences, RMIT UniversityDirector of the Centre for Human AI Information Environments

She's the little girl in some of her father's most famous paintings, but life as the eldest child of artists John Brack and Helen Maudsley wasn't always easy. Clara Brack explores her childhood — and her parents' complex lives and relationship — in her new book The Secret Landscapes on not [pleasing your mother, which took her 20 years to write.

This event was recorded at the Willy Lit Fest on 13 June 2026.

Speakers:

Clara BrackAuthor, The Secret Landscapes — on not pleasing your mother

Gabriella CoslovichAward-winning freelance arts journalist (formerly of The Age), author, Whiteley on Trial

Philosopher Roman Krznaric, author of History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity, The Good Ancestor, and founder of the Empathy Museum has been looking backwards to help us all find a way forward. What he discovered in the global history of human solidarity and social movements was a wellspring of brilliant solutions to current challenges — democracy, fossil fuels, hyper-consumerism, water, AI, racism, even rage bait on social media, and more.  Join Roman with Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at the 2026 Byron Writers Festival to challenge the 'tyranny of the now' with an exciting view of history as a source of radical hope.  

Speaker

Dr Roman KrznaricAuthor, History for Tomorrow (2024), The Good Ancestor (2020), What the Rich Don't Tell The Poor (2022), The Wonder Box (2011), Empathy (2014), How to Find Fulfilling Work (2012)Senior Research Fellow, Oxford University’s Centre for Eudaimonia and Human FlourishingResearch Fellow, Long Now FoundationMember, Club of RomeFounder, world’s first Empathy Museum.

Thanks to Jessica Alice, artistic director and CEO of the Byron Writers Festival, and the festival team.

From their earliest days as blues-obsessed kids living in freezing squalor, to the first taste of fame and the day they landed in the US and went stratospheric — and all the grit, glamour and gore in between. There are myriad revisions to the conventional narrative which underscore just how in control of their narrative the band has been up to now. But Bob Spitz got unique access to the group's friends and family. And he's sharing the details and examines a creative force whose power shows no signs of fading, over sixty years on.

Presented at the Free Library of Philadelphia

Speakers

Bob SpitzAmerican journalist and author of Rolling Stones, The Biography

Dan DeLucaPop music critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer

Since 1996, The Cooks Companion has been a bible for Australian kitchens, a reliable friend who can tell you how to boil an egg, bake some bread, roast a chook, whip up a lemon delicious pudding — and much, much more. What is it about this book that's made it such an enduring go-to for household cooks for generations?

This event was recorded live at the Sydney Writers' Festival at Carriageworks on 21 May 2026.

Vote now in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books.

Speakers:

Stephanie AlexanderAuthor of 18 books including The Cooks CompanionFounder of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden FoundationChef

Adam Liaw (host)Author of Two Asian Kitchens, Asian After Work: Simple Food for Every Day, Adam's Big Pot series, and moreHost, The Cook Up with Adam Liaw (SBS)Recipe writer — The Good WeekendWinner, Masterchef (2010)