A guide to James Joyce from Irish writer Mary Morrissy, ahead of Bloomsday (16 June); New Zealand writer Becky Manawatu continues to explore howls of pain and compassion in her second novel, Kataraina; and magic realism in the boundaries between life and death, and Eastern Europe, in Helen Marshall's The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death. 

BOOKS

James Joyce, Ulysses (1922)

Mary Morrissy, Penelope Unbound, Banshee Press

Becky Manawatu, Kataraina, Scribe

Helen Marshall, The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death, Titan Books

(Keep scrolling for a list of all other books mentioned on the program)

GUESTS

Mary Morrissy, Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist and teacher of creative writing. Her books include Penelope Unbound — a speculative history of the life of Norah Barnacle, wife of James Joyce. She is currently in Australia and taking part in Bloomsday Events

Claire Mabey, NZ children's author, editor and founder of the Verb Wellington readers and writers festival. Her novel, The Raven's Eye Runaways, has just been named as a finalist in the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

Robert Goodman, reviewer and literary judge specialising in genre fiction (he's been a judge and organiser for the Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction since 2008; regularly reviews for the Newtown Review of Books — and is one of the most active members of the ABC Book Club Facebook Group). His website is pilebythebed.com

OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED

• Alan Hollinghurst, works
• James Joyce, Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake
• Catherine Chidgey, The Book of Guilt
• Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
• Jennifer Trevelyan, A Beautiful Family
• Francesca Wade, Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars
• Ray Nayler, Where the Axe is Buried
• Luke Arnold, Whisper in the Wind
• Emily Tesh, The Incandescent

CREDITS

• Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh
• Producer, Kate Evans and Salome Lines-Morison
• Sound engineers, JOhn Jacobs and Roi Huberman
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown