Final Draft - Great Conversations

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.

These are the stories that make us who we are.

Brendan Colley’s first novel The Signal Line won the Unpublished Manuscript Prize in the 2019 Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Awards, and was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and The Age Book of the Year. Today Brendan joins us with his new novel The Season for Flying Saucers.

When the lights appear on the first night of summer Hobart is abuzz. It’s shaping up to be a good season.

Noah is skeptical. Life is spiraling more than a little for him; estranged from his family, his wife has left and he’s just been fired from his job. There’s really nothing to leave behind if they do come to get him.

But weird has followed Noah ever since that night twelve years ago when they took his father, and this Season for Flying Saucers is shaping up to be a doozy.

Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople

Want more great conversations with Australian authors?

Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.

These are the stories that make us who we are.

Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement, the author of four novels, including The Lebs (2018) and The Other Half of You (2021), both shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. He’s also perhaps the most welcomed guest on Final Draft, where we first welcomed him around twelve years ago and have had many chats since.

Today's show has a Content Warning for discussion of sexual abuse

Lifeline's 24-hour telephone crisis line is available on 13 11 14

Bugger follows a day in the life of ten-year-old Hamoodi and explores the intersections of his vulnerability; within his school, within his family and within his own developing conception of self.

Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople

Want more great conversations with Australian authors?

Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.

These are the stories that make us who we are.

Tim Ayliffe is a journalist and author. Tim is the author of the standalone novel, Dark Desert Road, and the ‘John Bailey’ series.

Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople

Want more great conversations with Australian authors?

Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.

These are the stories that make us who we are.

Alan Fyfe is a maker of stories and poems who lives on unceded Noongar country.

Alan’s joining us today with his new novel The Cross Thieves

When his brother punched a wall and stalked off with a pair of scissors, Pell knew nothing good was coming but he followed Gark anyway.

Now the brothers are on the run, hungry and carrying the metal cross of a man they’d sworn to kill. 

And the night is still young…

Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople

Want more great conversations with Australian authors?

Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin writer, whose young adult novels, The Boy from the Mish, We Didn't Think It Through, and I'm Not Really Here have been shortlisted for numerous awards.

Gary’s latest novel is Good Young Men.

Carraway’s Point is an idyllic coastal destination. Kallum, Jordy, Dylan and Brandon grew up together on Chopin Drive, a ready made friendship group.

Fast forward eight years. The boys are staring down the end of high school. Well not all of them. Brandon was shot and killed by police and the upcoming trial has them all on edge because they know the public think this is just another death of an Aboriginal person in custody, but the boys know their friend better than that. 

While the community braces for the trial, the boys must deal not only with the possibility that Brandon might not receive justice, but what that means for themselves and their lives moving forward. They are no strangers to racism but now it is becoming as ugly and as dangerous as they have ever experienced it.

Kallum only just returned to Carrway’s Point. He’s been expelled from his fancy Sydney boarding school and lost his football scholarship. There’s something more though. Kallum isn’t sure if he can trust anyone with the real reason he was expelled.

Jordy’s happier since he’s come out but that doesn’t mean his whole life is easy. Since his mum died his dad has seemed lost and so Jordy’s had to act more like a dad to his little brother and sister.

Dylan’s just struggling. He was the only witness when Brandon was killed. He’s missing his mate and scared to death of what it might mean if he testifies. It’s barely left him any time to think about life beyond high school, but he’s got dreams just like everyone else.

Good Young Men is told across three narrative arcs; one for each of the boys. This allows the story of each character to build, while mingling the competing visions each of the boys has of the other. While we are assured the boys were fast friends in primary school we can see how they have grown apart, trading mateship for belonging as cliques become as important as closeness.

The novel works carefully to balance the boys' experiences of high school, home life, and the future. We are given each boy, and their family through multiple lenses and our understanding of the community is deeper for it. For example we see Kallum’s fraught relationship with his family since losing his footy scholarship. His dad’s taking it hard, redoubling his efforts to get Kallum a first grade trial, while his mum wants to welcome her son back home. Kallum’s mum is also police though and so her character within the family looks very different when seen through Dylan whose trauma runs deep.

This is a tremendous ensemble cast and it manages well the everyday world of teenage identity against the backdrop of racism and the broader sense that the trial of Brandon’s killer offers no long term solution for the racism the boys face.

I’d heard a lot of good things about Gary Lonesborough’s writing and now that I’ve had a read I can confidently say it’s all true.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.

These are the stories that make us who we are.

Emily Lighezzolo is a publishing industry professional. She has won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer at the Queensland Literary Awards and is joining us today with her debut novel, Life Drawing.

Charlie’s moved to Brisbane for uni. He barely knows anyone and it’s not helping that one of his new housemates is the model he’s been sketching in his life drawing class.

Maisie’s the heart of the house. People like to think they know her. Maybe too many people think they know her too well. But the parts Maisie keeps hidden are so deep most don’t even suspect they’re there.

As Maisie and Charlie circle each other’s worlds they will try to understand whether, hypothetically, they might go well together…

Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople

Want more great conversations with Australian authors?

Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

Dr Liz Allan is an Australian writer and teacher living in the United Kingdom. Her debut novel is IN BLOOM.

Content note for references of sexual assault…

In coastal Australian towns around the country tourists come and go every summer, often oblivious to the locals and their lives outside their two week picture perfect holidays.

The Bastards disagree with this halcyon view of their home town. Vincent is a place to escape and winning the Battle of the Bands is the way to do it. They were on track to do it too, until their lead singer Lily quit the band and accuses their music teacher of sexual assault.

The Bastards know it can’t be true though. They’ve got a list of suspects a mile long. Their main job is to narrow down which of the likely culprits really did it.

As summer holidays end and the Battle of the Bands approaches The Bastards will sacrifice everything; school, family, friendships to find the truth. They know this is their big shot and nothing can stop them taking it.

You think you know the story of The Bastards. I did.

Moreover you hope you know the story of The Bastards because if you’re wrong the alternative is almost too horrible to contemplate.

Liz Allen’s In Bloom takes the familiar coming of age, artist shooting for the big time then darkens the edges.

The Bastards are so named because each of the girls comes from a single mother family. The girls openly disdain their mothers and the men that come and go in the role of ‘father’ in their life. As a group they have committed to escape and music seems like the best way.

Set in the early nineties, In Bloom makes full use of the rise of grunge and its associated cultural nihilism. The Bastards recognise their dearth of talent. Lily is the only one who can sing. They see this as a strength and frequently invoke their idols' approach to music and appeal to a kind of artistic purity in their commitment and drive.  

That this is a thin hope is revealed before the novel’s opening. Lily’s departure from the band leaves The Bastards scrambling. They fear their dreams may be over and it’s telling that the girls turn against Lily rather than seek to understand what she is going through.

In Bloom is cleverly and disconcertingly crafted around the chorused voices of The Bastards. Each chapter chimes with their shared voice creating a surreal sense of hive mind. The girls are so in sync they need only their band name and their vision. Thought and action blur as the group’s attempts to escape become increasingly desperate but also subsumed within the collective, with no one person seemingly taking any of the actions.

In Bloom will hook you before you realise that the story might just be spiraling. While you think you are investigating a mystery, the journey towards the truth creeps achingly slowly towards you. The Bastards never doubt their friend has been hurt and their seeming indifference to her plight is telling. 

I won’t say any more, other than to note the overall devastation In Bloom wreaks even as it draws you into its darkness. This is an incredibly effective look into a terrible subject and well worth your time in the reading. 

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The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.

These are the stories that make us who we are.

Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin writer, whose young adult novels, The Boy from the Mish, We Didn't Think It Through, and I'm Not Really Here have been shortlisted for numerous awards.

Gary’s joining us today with his new novel Good Young Men.

Four Aboriginal boys growing up together on the same street in a coastal village. It’s a ready made friendship group.

Fast forward eight years and the boys are staring down the end of high school.

Kallum’s been expelled from his fancy Sydney boarding school and lost his football scholarship.

Jordy’s happier since he’s come out but that doesn’t mean his whole life is easy.

Dylan’s struggling. He was the only witness when Brandon was shot and killed by police. He’s missing his mate and scared to death of what it might mean if he testifies.

⁠Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople⁠

Want more great conversations with Australian authors?

⁠Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week⁠.

Maria van Neerven reads from her acclaimed debut collection Two Tongues.

Maria van Neerven is a Mununjali poet from the Yugambeh nation living in Meanjin. Maria was the winner of the David Unaipon Award in 2023 and was a Next Chapter Fellow in 2024. Two Tongues is her first poetry collection.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.

These are the stories that make us who we are.

Penny Tangey is a librarian, mother and former stand-up comedian living in East Melbourne.

What Rhymes with Murder? is Penny’s first novel for adults.

Libraries are quiet respectful places full of avid readers, dedicated students, and occasional shushes. 

They certainly aren’t the place for crying babies, and absolutely not an appropriate place for a murder. 

And yet here Frida finds herself, trying to deal with both.

Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople

Want more great conversations with Australian authors?

Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.