Bonus episode! We thought we'd give you some extra content to consume in January, for those still on holidays or for those long car rides.

We’re sharing our author talk with SA Storytellers Nicole Yates, Robert Horne and Satish Gupta. This is an interesting conversation covering a diverse range of topics across poetry, politics and South Australian history.

Learn something new and discover local SA voices.

For this month's Literary Anything episode, we're excited to share Alli Parker in conversation with Lyn Dickens at the Marion Cultural Centre Theatre!

Together they discuss Alli's latest book 'Until the Red Leaves Fall', how young historical fiction writers are changing the narrative and how fiction in general is important for building connections and encouraging empathy.

We hope you love this talk as much as we do!

Our favourite episode of the year is out now (a bit late because Salma had jury duty!) Listen to find out the top ten borrowed fiction and non-fiction books for 2025 (for the first time ever there's no James Patterson). Also, Paula and Salma offer some good book recs for summer reading and the books we're looking forward to next year!!

We also farewell Paula from the podcast for now (she'll have FOMO and will be back) and welcome Jasmine who will be joining Salma in 2026!

Books they mention:

House Of My Mother – Shari Franke

Cat Person - Kristen Roupenian

We Solve Murders – Richard Osman

Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman

Beautiful Ugly – Alice Feeney

The Mushroom Tapes - Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein

The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire – Chloe Hooper

The Trauma Cleaner - Sarah Krasnostein

This House of Grief – Helen Garner

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver

Mongrel – Hanako Footman

I Want Everything - Dominic Amerena

Wellness - Nathan Hill

The Nix - Nathan Hill

The Let Them Theory – Mel Robbins

Here One Moment – Liane Moriarty

The Memoir Part 1 - Cher

The Whole Truth - Jackie O

A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing – Jessie Tu

Daisy Darker – Alice Feeney

Nemesis – Patricia Wolf

Salt Upon The Water – Lyn Dickens

Until the Red Leaves Fall – Alli Parker

At the Foot of the Cherry Tree – Alli Parker

Average at Best – Astrid Jorgensen

Bird Box - Josh Malerman

The Testaments - Margaret Atwood

For this month's podcast episode, we’re excited to share with you Walkley winning columnist, author, novelist and social commentator Jane Caro in conversation with the wonderful Ali Clarke, discussing Jane's latest novel 'Lyre Bird'. Jane talks about where her ideas come from, the writing process, how she responds to trolls online and the power of fiction. This is an amazing conversation and well worth a listen.

For this month's podcast, Paula and Salma read 'Cat Person' by Kristen Roupenian, because sometimes you just need a quick, impactful short story to get you out of a reading slump! 'Cat Person' gained significant attention when it was published in The New Yorker in 2017, for exploring the complexities of modern dating. If you haven't read it yet, head over to The New Yorker now and read it before listening to the pod.

Cat Person in The New Yorker >> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/11/cat-person

Books they mention:

The Metamorphosis - Kafka

The House of my Mother – Shari Franke

I Want Everything - Dominic Amerena

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Yellowface – R F Kuang

Lyrebird – Jane Caro

The Mother – Jane Caro

What Happened to Nina? - Dervla McTiernan

The Scholar - Dervla McTiernan

The Murder Rule - Dervla McTiernan

The Housemaid's Secret – Freida McFadden

The Housemaid - Freida McFadden

Onyx Storm – Rebecca Yarros

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Beautiful Ugly – Alice Feeney

Great Big Beautiful Life – Emily Henry

Here One Moment – Liane Moriarty

We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver

For this month's #LiteraryAnything episode, we're sharing Hannah Kent in conversation with Pip Williams talking about Hannah's much anticipated autobiography 'Always Home, Always Homesick'.

Written in rich detail and humorous and poignant anecdotes (some Hannah shares in this author talk), 'Always Home, Always Homesick' is both a memoir of her experiences of living in Iceland, and a wider consideration of the centrality of literature to the nation's culture and identity.

Have you read it? You'll definitely want to after listening to Hannah talk about it!

Listen wherever you get your pods.

New #LiteraryAnything podcast out now. This month, Jasmine joins Salma on the pod (for the first time in a while 🤣) to discuss Shari Franke's memoir 'The House of my Mother'.

Other things they discuss:

🐛 Jasmine shares what book character she'd like to swap lives with for a day

🐉 Salma finally reads THE romantasy book

📚 There's lots to look forward to in the land of new book releases

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. 🎧

TW: This episode contains discussions of child abuse, physical abuse, and sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised. If these topics may be distressing for you, please take care when listening or consider skipping this episode.

Books they mention:

Deep Cuts - Holly Brickley

The Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

Daisy Jones and the Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid

Sunrise on the Reaping - Suzanne Collins

Rebel Rising – Rebel Wilson

From Here to the Great Unknown - Lisa Marie Presley

Would You Rather – Maggie Alderson

Atmosphere – Taylor Jenkins Reid

Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid

Summer Island – Kristen Hannah

The Women – Kristen Hannah

The Stranger Beside Me - Ann Rule

Fourth Wing – Rebecca Yarros

Great Big Beautiful Life – Emily Henry

Iron Flame - Rebecca Yarros

Onyx Storm - Rebecca Yarros

Mad Mabel – Sally Hepworth

At the Foot of the Cherry Tree - Alli Parker

Until the Red Leaves Fall - Alli Parker

Impossible Fortune – Richard Osman

Always Home, Always Homesick – Hannah Kent

We're thrilled to share with you Jamila Rizvi and Rosie Waterland's conversation with Libby Trainor Parker, discussing their co-written memoir 'Broken Brains'. Their new book is a personal memoir about physical brain health and mental brain health, and how they coexist in two very different spaces.

Jamila and Rosie were incredibly open in this author talk, it's definitely worth a listen if you weren't able to join us on the night (or even if you did).

Paula and Salma read Emily Henry's latest book 'Great Big Beautiful Life' for the pod and they're both feeling like they've read this story before.

Are you an Emily Henry fan? How do you think her latest book compares to her other novels?

Listen to the podcast to find out Paula and Salma's thoughts, plus what else they've been reading lately and new releases you should keep an eye out for.

Books they mentioned:

The Love That Split the World

Beach Read

People We Meet On Vacation

Book Lovers

Happy Place

Funny Story

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau - Graeme Macrae Burnet

The Younger Woman – Mandy Byatt

It Ends With Us – Colleen Hoover

The Season – Helen Garner

The Friday Afternoon Club – Griffin Dunne

Broken Brains – Jamila Rizvi and Rosie Waterland

Atmosphere - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Never Flinch – Stephen King

None of This Is True – Lisa Jewell

Don't Let Him In – Lisa Jewell

How To Lose Your Mother - Molly Jong Fast

Fear of Flying – Erica Jong

Australia's Agricultural Identity – Joshua Gilbert

For this month's #LiteraryAnything episode we're sharing our author talk with Paul Flavel in conversation with Georgina McGuinness, where together they discussed Paul's book 'John Martin's: The Story of South Australia's Beloved Department Store'.

The passing of the years has not dulled SA's loved for 'Johnnies', with thousands of people working there and even more loyally shopping there. It was amazing to see so many people join us for this author talk who still had very fond memories of the store.