Take Home Reading is a new short-form audio series for readers and writers – shining a spotlight on Australian writers with recently released books. In each instalment, you’ll be introduced to a writer, learn a little about what they’ve been reading lately, and hear a short reading from their latest work.

In this episode we’re talking to Laura Jean McKay about her novel The Animals in That Country, a bold, exhilarating and original novel that asks what would happen, for better or worse, if we finally understood what animals were saying.

‘And of course, the animals don't say the things that humans wish that they were saying. They're not saying "I ruff you!" or anything like that. They're quite brutal, their relationship with humans is really fraught, because that's the way that human relationships are with animals. As they get to know each other they are trying to navigate this new space together.’

The Animals in That Country is out now through Scribe Publications.

Download a PDF transcript of this episode here.

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