Sri Lankan-born Canadian essayist, poet, and Booker Prize-winning novelist Michael Ondaatje has just released a stunning collection of poems. Ondaatje is now 80 years old and it’s almost half a century since he published his first novel; even longer since he first published poetry. This week, Michael joins Read This for a conversation about A Year of Last Things and why writing remains such a joyful act of discovery.
Reading list:Coming Through Slaughter, Michael Ondaatje, 1976In the Skin of a Lion, Michael Ondaatje, 1986The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems, Michael Ondaatje, 1989The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje, 1992Handwriting, Michael Ondaatje, 1998Anil's Ghost, Michael Ondaatje, 2000Divisadero, Michael Ondaatje, 2007The Cat's Table, Michael Ondaatje, 2011Warlight, Michael Ondaatje, 2018A Year of Last Things, Michael Ondaatje, 2024
The Collected Poems of W. S. Merwin, 2013
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Paul Murray’s last two novels, Skippy Dies and The Mark and the Void, were both modern masterpieces of institutional failure. In his 2023 Booker Prize shortlisted novel, The Bee Sting, the failing institution Paul turns his comedic eye to is the family. This week, Michael and Paul sit down for a discussion about fraudulence, empathy, and the beautiful opera of life.
Reading list:An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Paul Murray, 2003Skippy Dies, Paul Murray, 2010The Mark and the Void, Paul Murray, 2015The Bee Sting, Paul Murray, 2023
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein, 2023
You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 
Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Paul Murray

For many years, Irish writer Paul Lynch was a household name…in France. And while his work was popular in translation, and received numerous French literary awards, it was still considered niche. This all changed in 2023, following the release of Prophet Song, which was critically lauded and eventually won the holy grail of English language literary awards: the Booker Prize. This week we return to the Melbourne Writers’ Festival to hear a conversation between Michael and Paul about how Paul became a writer, and why he doesn’t think Prophet Song is a political novel.
Reading list:Red Sky in Morning, Paul Lynch, 2013The Black Snow, Paul Lynch, 2014Grace, Paul Lynch, 2017Beyond the Sea, Paul Lynch, 2020Prophet Song, Paul Lynch, 2023
The Prisoner of Zenda, Anthony Hope, 1894King Solomon's Mines, H. Rider Haggard, 1885The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy, 1886
The Heart in Winter, Kevin Barry, 2024
You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 
Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Paul Lynch.

Leslie Jamison is celebrated for her ability to link the personal to the cultural to the critical in ways that resonate and move and connect with readers. She first did it with The Empathy Exams – an essay, then a best-selling, award-winning collection. Now she is back with a new book, Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, a memoir about rebuilding a life after the end of a marriage. This week, Michael sits down with Leslie to discuss this latest work and what it means to be many things – a teacher, an artist, a lover and a mother. 
Reading list:The Gin Closet, Leslie Jamison, 2010The Empathy Exams, Leslie Jamison, 2014The Recovering, Leslie Jamison, 2018Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, Leslie Jamison, 2024
Sleepless Nights, Elizabeth Hardwick, 1979Fragile Creatures, Khin Myint, 2024
You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 
Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Leslie Jamison

In 2015, Viet Thanh Nguyen was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, The Sympathizer. Now, nearly a decade later, the book has been adapted into an HBO miniseries of the same name. This week, Michael sits down with Viet for a conversation about his latest book, A Man with Two Faces, which expands beyond the familiar beats of memoir, and features the author’s trademark interest in the broader political and colonial implications of the personal.
Reading list:The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2014The Committed, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2021A Man of Two Faces, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2023
Dune, Frank Herbert, 1965Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth,1968 
Quarterly Essay: Highway to Hell, Joëlle Gergis, 2024 
You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 
Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Viet Thanh Nguyen

It was 2014 when Bruce Pascoe went from being a prolific, yet relatively unknown writer, to public enemy #1 in Australia’s culture wars. That was the year that Bruce published his now infamous book, Dark Emu, and its re-examination of accepted historical accounts of pre-invasion Australia. This week, he joins Michael for a discussion about his new novel Imperial Harvest and shares why he still believes we need the messiness of democracy.
Reading list:Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe, 2014Imperial Harvest, Bruce Pascoe, 2024
Time’s Monster, Priya Satia, 2020The Ministry of Time, Kellyanne Bradley, 2024
You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 
Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Bruce Pascoe

Writer, artist, and filmmaker Miranda July has a devoted – even rabid – following, through her writing, her work on the screen, and her collaborative art projects. Her debut 2007 collection of short stories No One Belongs Here More Than You was a publishing sensation, and her debut film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, won the Palme D’Or at Cannes Film Festival. This week, she and Michael discuss her new novel, All Fours, which explores desire, intimacy, dance, and an often overlooked part of the ageing process.
Reading list:BooksNo One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July, 2007The First Bad Man, Miranda July, 2019All Fours, Miranda July, 2024
Short Stories‘Roy Spivey’, Miranda July, 2009 (The New Yorker)‘The Metal Bowl’, Miranda July, 2017 (The New Yorker)
‘Women Have Been Misled About Menopause’, Susan Dominus, 2023 (The New York Times)What Fresh Hell Is This?, Heather Corinna, 2021Long Island, Colm Tóibín, 2024
You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 
Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Miranda July

Across half a dozen novels, Andrew O’Hagan has made a name for himself as an author of delicacy and grace, painting the community he comes from, in Scotland’s west, with tenderness and wry, affectionate humour. His latest, Caledonian Road, follows art historian Campbell Flynn. A man who is at a turning point and is about to come up against his own downfall. This week, Michael sits down with Andrew for a conversation about the Dickensian world he has created in his new novel and why he considers it his most optimistic book yet.
Reading list:Our Fathers, Andrew O’Hagan, 1999Be Near Me, Andrew O’Hagan, 2006Mayflies, Andrew O’Hagan, 2020Caledonian Road, Andrew O’Hagan, 2024
Lives of Girls and Women, Alice Munro, 1971 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Alice Munro, 2001Dear Life, Alice Munro, 2012
You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 
Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Andrew O’Hagan

Winnie Dunn is used to being behind the scenes. As the general manager of Sweatshop Literacy Movement in Western Sydney, she has been instrumental in helping other writers find their voice. But now, the spotlight is on her. This week, Michael sits down with Winnie for a conversation about her debut novel, Dirt Poor Islanders. She reflects on the demonising narratives she had to fight and the piece of writing advice that she’d given to others that resonated for her.
Reading list:Dirt Poor Islanders, Winnie Dunn, 2024I Am Lupe, Sela Ahosivi-Atiola, Yani Agustina, 2023Only the Astronauts, Ceridwen Dovey, 2024
You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 
Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Winnie Dunn

Sloane Crosley is known for her funny and acerbic personal essays, including her New York Times’ best-selling collection I Was Told There’d Be Cake. But in her new memoir she digs much deeper to examine the loss of her best friend. This week, Michael sits down with Sloane to discuss Grief Is For People, and Sloane reveals the challenges of writing an intimate portrait of a singular friendship.
Reading list:I Was Told There’d Be Cake, Sloane Crosley, 2008How Did You Get This Number, Sloane Crosley, 2010Look Alive Out There, Sloane Crosley, 2018Cult Classic, Sloane Crosley, 2022Grief Is For People, Sloane Crosley, 2023
Truth and Beauty, Ann Patchett, 2004The Writing Life, Annie Dillard, 1989Stoner, John Williams, 1965
You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. 
Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and TwitterGuest: Sloane Crosley