Fully Lit

Has therapy come to define modern life?

In this special episode of Fully Lit, Sydney Review of Books Editor James Jiang is joined by writer and scholar Christian Gelder and award-winning essayist Eda Gunaydin to probe the depths of contemporary therapeutic culture. Together, they consider how different therapeutic practices shape our ideas and language around identity, responsibility, and personal transformation, while also reflecting on the promises and limitations of therapy itself.

The conversation offers perspectives from both the psychoanalytic and cognitive behavioural traditions, while touching on the best-selling book The Body Keeps the Score, the links between therapy and literature, and what our fascination with therapy tells us about our politics.

At its psychic core, this episode asks how contemporary culture has come to understand itself through a therapeutic lens.

Voices

James Jiang is Editor of the Sydney Review of Books.

Christian Gelder is an ARC DECRA Fellow in English and Theatre Studies at the University of Melbourne whose research focuses on psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioural therapy and the history of therapeutic culture.

Eda Gunaydin is an award-winning essayist, a lecturer in politics at the University of Wollongong, and the author of Root and Branch: Essays on Inheritance. She is the current Parramatta Laureate in Literature.

Credits

Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Recorded and Edited by Regina Botros.

Recorded at 2SER FM studios.

Further Reading

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

Against Understanding by Bruce Fink

What Is Madness? by Darian Leader

"Self Unhelped" by Christian Gelder (Sydney Review of Books)

"Where Have All the Addicts Gone?" by Christian Gelder and Rob Boncardo (Sydney Review of Books)

Root and Branch: Essays on Inheritance by Eda Gunaydin

For more conversations about literature, ideas and contemporary culture, explore the Fully Lit back catalogue.

What does home feel like when you've spent your life searching for it? And how do stories help us make sense of identity, belonging and displacement?

In this special episode of Fully Lit, recorded live at the Addi Road Writers’ Festival, members of Dorr-e Dari present an evening of storytelling, poetry and conversation exploring Afghan Australian experiences.

The event opens with a powerful personal story from Zeynab Noori about travelling to Afghanistan for the first time and confronting the realities of life under Taliban rule. Writer, director and producer Kobra Sayyadi shares original reflections on travel, courage, beauty and self-discovery, while the performance celebrates the richness and diversity of Afghan culture beyond the narratives that so often dominate public discussion.

In conversation with writer and broadcaster Sheila Ngoc Pham, the group reflects on questions of home, migration, memory, identity and artistic practice. Together, they discuss what it means to belong across multiple countries and cultures, the challenges of representation, and the role of art in creating space for community voices.

This is a conversation about storytelling and the many ways people carry home within them.

Voices

Kobra Sayyadi is a Hazara-Afghan theatre-maker, writer, and interdisciplinary artist blending theatre, poetry, film, and audio. Her work explores feeling, belonging, and the spaces in between.

Zeynab Noori is an Afghan Hazara actor, born and raised in Iran, whose cross-cultural upbringing informs her artistic voice and perspective.

Jawad runs a plastering business, providing his services on construction sites all over Sydney. He was a member of ensemble PYT Fairfield for three years and made his debut as a performer at Griffin Theatre in the premiere production of PYT’s Tribunal.

Mahdi Mohammadi trained as a theatre director at Kabul University, where he co-founded Papyrus Theatre. Under his leadership, the company was awarded First Prize at the Afghan National Theatre Festival and toured internationally to India and Sweden.

Sheila Ngoc Pham is a writer, editor, producer, curator and researcher. Sheila previously co-directed the Addi Road Writers' Festival (2021-2023), and her other curation work includes an exhibition of Đông Hồ paintings (2019) for the State Library of NSW, and most recently, MÌNH (2023) for Fairfield City Museum and Gallery. She is the 2025 Imago Fellow at the State Library of NSW.

Credits

This episode of Fully Lit was recorded at the Addi Road Writers’ Festival on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Recorded and mixed by Daniel Wiggins.

What do we owe to the people we love? And how do we carry each other’s stories through time?

In this episode of Fully Lit, Chinese-Australian writer Isabelle Li joins acclaimed novelist Gail Jones to discuss The Northern Tomb, a sweeping and deeply humane novel about family, memory, obligation and belonging.

Set in northern China and spanning decades of personal and political history, the novel follows an ageing former government official, his family, and Sister Fu, the quiet carer whose compassion and attention bring their stories into focus.

Together, Li and Jones explore kinship, care, ageing, grief, friendship and the responsibilities we hold towards one another. They discuss the power of storytelling, the role of memory in shaping identity, and the ways literature can deepen our understanding of lives beyond our own experience.

At the centre of it all is a simple but profound question: how do we learn to care for one another?

This episode of Fully Lit was recorded at Gleebooks on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Voices

Isabelle Li is a Chinese Australian writer and translator whose works include the short story collection A Chinese Affair and the novel The Northern Tomb.

Gail Jones is one of Australia’s most acclaimed novelists, the author of eleven novels, whose work has been translated widely and recognised with numerous major literary awards.

Credits

This episode was recorded on Gadigal land at Sydney's Gleebooks - for more literary events like this one, see the Gleebooks events page.

Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Recorded by Gleebooks.

Mixed by Regina Botros.

Further Reading

The Northern Tomb by Isabelle Li (Puncher & Wattman, 2026)

A Chinese Affair by Isabelle Li (Margaret River Press, 2016)

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

The Selected Stories of Lu Xun

Gail Jones' latest novel is The Name of the Sister (Text, 2025)

For more conversations about fiction, storytelling and contemporary Australian writing, explore the Fully Lit back catalogue.

What makes a literary reputation endure, and why do some writers disappear from view despite once standing at the centre of a nation's culture?

In this episode biographer Susan Lever joins poet and critic Peter Kirkpatrick to discuss her major new biography, A.D. Hope, tracing the life of a writer whose career spanned almost the entire twentieth century.

From rural Tasmania and Sydney University to Oxford, Canberra and the centre of Australian literary life, the conversation examines Hope's poetry, criticism and public intellectual role, as well as the literary debates that shaped his reputation. Along the way, Lever explores Hope's relationships with figures including James McAuley, Patrick White and Manning Clark, his attitudes to modernism, censorship and religion, and the tensions between his public persona and private life.

The discussion also considers Hope's place in Australian literary history today.

This conversation coincides with the publication of a review of Susan Lever’s A.D. Hope in the Sydney Review of Books, offering another perspective on Hope’s life, work and legacy.

This episode of Fully Lit was recorded at Gleebooks on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Voices

Susan Lever is one of Australia’s leading literary critics and biographers, whose books include studies of Australian fiction and the acclaimed biography A.D. Hope.

Peter Kirkpatrick is a poet, literary historian and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, whose work explores Australian poetry, popular culture and literary history.

Credits

This episode was recorded on Gadigal land at Sydney's Gleebooks - for more literary events like this one, see the Gleebooks events page.

Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Recorded by Gleebooks.

Mixed by Regina Botros.

Further Reading

A.D. Hope by Susan Lever

Damian Maher reviews Susan Lever’s biography of A.D. Hope, published in the Sydney Review of Books

The Wandering Islands by A.D. Hope

Collected Poems 1930–1970 by A.D. Hope

The Cave and the Spring: Essays on Poetry by A.D. Hope

The Best Australian Poems of A.D. Hope, edited by David Brooks

The Wild Reciter: Poetry and Popular Culture in Australia, 1890–2020 by Peter Kirkpatrick

What remains after loss? How do we carry the people, places and versions of ourselves that are gone? And can art help us make sense of what endures?

In this episode of Fully Lit, writer and broadcaster Sarah Runcie is joined by poet Vaughn Upward Garcia, musician Helen Franzmann, and writer and artist Judith Nangala Crispin for a wide-ranging conversation about grief, creativity and survival.

Garcia reflects on recovery, reinvention and the journey behind his debut collection Poems from the Afterlife. Franzmann discusses the making of Jay Marie, Comfort Me, an album shaped by the death of her sister and the search for comfort in grief. And Crispin explores death, Country, memory and belonging through her remarkable verse novel Dingo’s Noctuary.

Together, they consider what remains after loss, how art helps us navigate absence, and why love and grief are often inseparable. Along the way, they discuss sobriety, family, music, landscape, First Nations knowledge, and the stories we carry from one life into the next.

At its heart, this is a conversation about transformation, and the ways creativity can help us make meaning from what endures.

This episode was recorded live at the Addi Road Writers’ Festival.

Voices

Sarah Runcie is a writer, broadcaster and arts journalist whose work spans literature, music, theatre and cultural commentary.

Judith Nangala Crispin is an award-winning poet, visual artist and conservationist, and the author of the verse novel Dingo’s Noctuary.

Helen Franzmann is a singer-songwriter, musician and member of Mess Esque, whose work blends intimate lyricism with dreamlike, atmospheric soundscapes.

Vaughn Upward Garcia is a Queanbeyan-based poet and performer whose debut collection, Poems from the Afterlife, explores class, recovery, mortality and belonging.

Credits

This episode of Fully Lit was recorded at the Addi Road Writers’ Festival on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Recorded and mixed by Daniel Wiggins

Further Reading

Poems from the Afterlife by Vaughn Upward Garcia

Dingo’s Noctuary by Judith Nangala Crispin

Jay Marie, Comfort Me by Mess Esque

For more conversations on poetry, storytelling and contemporary Australian literature, explore the Fully Lit back catalogue.

In conversation with Amy Sambrooke, Angela O’Keeffe discusses a book that asks an unusual and beguiling question: what if a book could think, feel and observe the world around it?

Partly narrated by a sentient novel, Phantom Days follows a book as it moves between readers, witnessing intimate lives and uncovering secrets that its human characters cannot see. Along the way, the novel explores motherhood, memory, longing, truth and the strange relationship between writers, readers and the stories that connect them.

O’Keeffe reflects on the novel’s origins, the challenge of writing from a book’s perspective, and the experience of returning to the manuscript after a cancer diagnosis and treatment. The conversation also touches on Virginia Woolf, Dostoevsky, Mark Rothko, faith, creativity and the mystery of where stories come from.

Phantom Days is a novel about what survives after we let things go, and the lives books continue to live long after they leave their authors behind.

This episode of Fully Lit was recorded at Gleebooks on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Voices

Angela O’Keeffe is the author of Night Blue, The Sitter and Phantom Days, novels that blend art, imagination and storytelling in strikingly original ways.

Amy Sambrooke is CEO of Varuna, the National Writers’ House, and a passionate advocate for Australian writers and literature

Credits

This episode was recorded on Gadigal land at Sydney's Gleebooks - for more literary events like this one, see the Gleebooks events page.

Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Further Reading

Phantom Days by Angela O’Keeffe

The Sitter by Angela O’Keeffe

Night Blue by Angela O’Keeffe

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Selected writings of Virginia Woolf

Works by Mark Rothko referenced throughout the discussion.

In this episode of Fully Lit, we bring you a live recording from the Sydney Writers’ Festival in Parramatta.

Hosted by James Jiang, editor of the Sydney Review of Books, the panel brings together Maxine Beneba Clarke, Yumna Kassab and Eda Gunaydin for a wide-ranging conversation on what makes a writer.

From early reading habits and first attempts at writing, to questions of craft, the discussion moves across the genres of fiction, memoir and poetry — exploring how writers navigate the realities of sustaining a writing life on and off the page. Fittingly, given its setting, the conversation also centres Western Sydney as both place and influence. Thoughtful, candid and often funny, this is a rich discussion about storytelling and the impulses behind writing itself.

Voices

Maxine Beneba Clark is an award-winning writer, poet and artist whose work explores race, identity, family and belonging.

Yumna Kassab is a writer whose fiction explores memory, migration, identity and the complexities of human connection.

Eda Gunaydin is a writer, critic and researcher whose sharp, insightful work examining class, culture, migration and identity in contemporary Australia.

James Jiang is a writer, editor and critic, and the editor of the Sydney Review of Books

Credits

This episode of Fully Lit was made on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Fully Lit podcast is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Recorded by the City of Parramatta

In this episode of Fully Lit, we bring you a live recording from Melbourne with two poets in conversation, Lisa Gorton and Bella Li.

Gorton reflects on nearly two decades of writing, moving between history, visual art and poetry. The discussion centres on the new sequence Caesars, where the Mona Lisa opens out into questions of looking, perception and meaning and how images continue to speak across time.

It's a rich conversation about poetry, visual art, and the creative tension between history and invention.

Voices

Lisa Gorton is a poet, novelist and essayist whose work has won major Australian literary awards, including the Prime Minister’s Prize for Fiction and the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Poetry. Her recent poetry collection is Mirror Landscape (2024).

Bella Li is the author of Argosy, Lost Lake and Theory of Colours. A winner of the Victorian and NSW Premier’s literary awards for poetry, her work has appeared in HEAT, The Saturday Paper and Australian Poetry Journal.

Credits

This episode of Fully Lit was made on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Fully Lit podcast is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Recorded by Michelle Ransom-Hughes

Further reading

Mirror Landscape by Lisa Gorton (2024)

Hotel Hyperion by Lisa Gorton

Mirabilia by Lisa Gorton

The Life of John Donne by Izaak Walton (discussed through Gorton's doctoral work on Donne)

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari

Works by Emily Dickinson (discussed in relation to Gorton's use of the dash)

Works by Salvador Dalí and the Surrealists (referenced in discussion of the Mona Lisa)

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

This NAIDOC Week, Fully Lit revisits some of the standout conversations in our back catalogue with First Nations writers, critics and publishers.

As a podcast about Australian literature, we believe First Nations storytelling sits at the heart of what is most vital, challenging and exciting about writing on this continent. Stories have been told here for tens of thousands of years, and First Nations writers continue to reshape how we read, write and think about literature.

This special NAIDOC Week message is a reminder of just a few of the First Nations writers, critics and publishing leaders featured across the Fully Lit catalogue. We encourage you to revisit the original episodes to hear these ideas explored in depth, from cultural rigour and criticism, to genre and representation, and sovereignty in publishing.

Together, these conversations challenge accepted narratives, expand our understanding of Australian literature, and remind us of the power of stories to shape the national conversation.

Voices

Graham Akhurst is a Kokomini writer and the author of Borderland (UWAP).

Melanie Saward is a Bigambul and Wakka Wakka woman, author, academic, and publishing all-rounder

Anita Heiss is an internationally published, award-winning author of 25 books across genres.

Credits

This episode of Fully Lit was made on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Produced by Regina Botros.

Further Listening

Episode 3: Cultural Rigour – First Nations Writing and Its Critics

A conversation with Jeanine Leane and Graham Akhurst on First Nations literary criticism, reading practices and cultural authority.

Episode 4: Cognitive Imperialism – Losing the Colonial Baggage

Melanie Saward discusses genre fiction, representation and the freedom to tell stories beyond colonial expectations.

Episode 7: Sovereign Stories – First Nations Publishing

Anita Heiss explores sovereignty in publishing and the need for First Nations-led editing, publishing and storytelling.

For more conversations with First Nations writers, critics and thinkers, explore the Fully Lit back catalogue.

In this episode of Fully Lit, recorded live at the Addison Road Writers’ Festival, we explore the richness and diversity of contemporary Latin American literature.

Writer Yumna Kassab joins Uruguayan author and translator Rosario Lázaro Igoa in conversation with literary translator Chris Andrews to discuss the writers, genres and ideas shaping Latin American literature today.

Moving beyond the literary Boom of the 1960s and 70s, they reflect on the work of contemporary writers including Mariana Enríquez, Samanta Schweblin, Guadalupe Nettel and Nona Fernández, and consider the growing visibility of women writers in translation.

The conversation ranges across horror, short fiction, essays and crónicas, while also exploring the enduring influence of writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Clarice Lispector, Felisberto Hernández and Horacio Quiroga. Along the way, they discuss translation, experimentation, literary form and what makes Latin American literature so exciting for readers and writers alike.

Voices

Yumna Kassab is a writer whose fiction explores memory, migration, identity and the complexities of human connection.

Rosario Lázaro Igoa is a Uruguayan, novelist, essayist, and literary translator.

Chris Andrews is a translator, scholar and researcher in twentieth and twenty-first century Hispanic and francophone literatures.

Credits

This episode of Fully Lit was recorded at the Addi Road Writers’ Festival on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

Recorded & Mixed by Maksim Voloshin-Cleary.

Further Reading

The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández

The Body Where I Was Born by Guadalupe Nettel

19 Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica

Empty Words by Mario Levrero

A Last Supper of Queer Apostles by Pedro Lemebel

The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges and Margarita Guerrero