Look in any library or book shop at any time of year and there's bound to be a newly released Alexander McCall Smith novel on the shelf. Most known for his No 1 Ladies' Detectives Agency Series, the 44 Scotland Series, and even books for children, he also writes standalone novels. Hear how he uses the seasons to write up to five books a year, including one of the latest, The Winds from Further West, Polygon.

What is it like to write a book that changes your life? Some of the world’s biggest authors reminisce about their all-time biggest books – the novels that changed their lives.

In the first of this breakthrough series Audrey Niffenegger reflects on her debut novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife.  The 2003 book, about time-travelling librarian Henry and his artist wife Clare, was an instant bestseller. It’s been adapted to the screen twice, as a film in 2009 and a TV series in 2022. 

Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan explains why finishing his latest novel Caledonian Road was like "landing 65 planes on the tarmac" and award-winning author Evie Wyld on her new book The Echoes, and why there are so many sharks in her fiction.

Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan's latest book Caledonian Road (Faber and Faber) is a big in length and Dickensian scope. It's an exploration of life in London — a world of intellectuals and elites, Russian oligarchs and human traffickers, rappers, DJs, wellness assistants and those who seek to shake up the whole rotten system. First broadcast 22 April 2024.

Evie Wyld is one of the few Australian writers to win both the Miles Franklin and the Stella Prizes (the Miles for All the Birds, Singing, and the Stella for The Bass Rock). She is drawn to the paranormal and gothic in her fiction and this atmosphere imbues her new book, The Echoes, which is partly narrated by a ghost. Evie shares her go to writing tip (yes, it has to do with sharks) and the appeal of the TV series Neighbours when she was growing up in England. First broadcast 25 August 2024.

At Adelaide Writers' Week, Booker Prize-winner Anne Enright speaks about the contradictions at the heart of families.

Anne joined Claire Nichols in front of a live audience to talk about her latest book The Wren, The Wren. It's about a straight-laced mum, her-free-spirit daughter and the poet father who left them in the lurch. 

Anne also shared insights about her other books including Actress, The Gathering (Booker Prize winner 2007) and Making Babies. And she offered her theory on why Irish poets don't drink!

First broadcast Monday 11 March 2024.

From Sydney Writers' Festival, American author Celeste Ng shares how her latest novel Our Missing Hearts explores one of her deepest fears.

Celeste Ng is known for her dark realist novels, Everything I Never Told You, and Little Fires Everywhere (which was adapted to the screen in 2020).

Our Missing Hearts is set in a dystopian, near-future America, where anti-Asian sentiment has peaked, books are disappearing from the shelves, and children are being taken away from their families.

It's a chilling world but as Claire Nichols discovers at this Sydney Writers' Festival event, there is also hope in art, poetry, and family.

First Broadcast 3 June 2024

Tim Winton explains his urgency for writing about climate change in his new novel Juice, Kaliane Bradley on her bestseller The Ministry of Time which has attracted Barack Obama's attention and Siang Lu's ambitious and complicated novel Ghost Cities.

Tim Winton shares the anger and frustration that compelled him to write his latest novel Juice. It's set in a future north-Australia where resources are scarce and people are scarred by the sun and spend months living underground to escape the heat. Winton reflects on the sense of urgency he feels around climate change and the role of fiction to address big topics. First broadcast 21 August 2024.

The Ministry of Time by British-Cambodian author Kaliane Bradley is listed on former US president Barack Obama annual summer reading list this year. It's a time travel novel in which a handful of (mostly) fictional historical characters who've been transplanted from their time period to a near future England. It's about love, refugees, bureaucracy and the doomed Franklin Arctic expedition. First broadcast 9 September 2024.

Siang Lu is the author of the silly but serious novel The Whitewash which was a satire, presented as an oral history, about the making of a disastrous movie. Siang's second novel Ghost Cities is equally ambitious, complicated and fun as it weaves between a storyline set in the modern day and another set in ancient China. First broadcast 24 June 2024.

At Adelaide Writers' Week, Melissa Lucashenko explains how understanding that "all history is fiction" allowed her to write her historic novel Edenglassie.

Melissa Lucashenko is known for creating unforgettable, feisty modern women in her fiction. There's Kerry Salter from her Miles Franklin winning novel Too Much Lip and Jo Breen, from her earlier acclaimed novel, Mullumbimby.

But with her new book, Melissa has stepped into a new world. Edenglassie is about Brisbane before it was Brisbane in the mid-19th century when Aboriginal people still outnumbered white settlers, and everything was about to change.

Melissa Lucashenko joined The Book Show's Claire Nichols on stage at the 2024 Adelaide Writers' Week.

First Broadcast 1 April 2024

Irish writer Niall Williams's latest novel Time of the Child celebrates the miracles of everyday life. Also, meet Nick Harkaway the son of David Cornwall AKA John le Carre, who is continuing his father's legacy in fictional espionage with Karla's Choice. 

Irish writer Niall Williams is the the author of the bestselling novels This is Happiness and the History of Rain and his latest is already a bestseller too and returns to his favourite fictional setting, the parish of Faha. Time of the Child is a feel-good book in which an abandoned baby is found in the run up to Christmas 1962.

Nick Harkaway is the son of the famous British author John Le Carré (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold) but he's also an author in his own right. In Karla's Choice he's taken on the task of continuing his father's iconic character, George Smiley who's a spy at the fictional M16-like agency known as the Circus. In this book, Nick's created an origin story for Smiley's great enemy. He shares fond memories of his father and admits to listening to his father's audiobooks at university.

To end the year, Claire Nichols and Sarah L'Estrange also share their favourite reads of the year. 

British writer Will Self reveals the extent of his "mother-worship" in his writing which has culminated in his latest novel, Elaine. The book was inspired by his mother's own diaries. Actor and comedian Steph Tisdell has added "novelist" to her resume with her young adult novel, The Skin I'm In, and Kylie Mirmohamadi's novel Diving, Falling is about a grieving woman of a 'certain age' whose life is about to get messy.

What would you do if you found your mother's diaries under her bed? British writer, Will Self is the author of many novels including Great Apes, How the Dead Live and Umbrella. His new book Elaine is a no-holds barred novel about his mother. It's based on her actual diaries from the 1950s which divulge details about her mental illness and sex life. Will reflects on the ethics of writing about her diaries (he says go for it) and how his mother fundamentally influenced him as a writer. He also tells Claire Nichols that he regrets his mother never had the opportunity to read any of his novels.

Steph Tisdell is an actor (Bump, Total Control) and comedian and now she's also a novelist. The Skin I'm In for young adult readers is about Layla, an Aboriginal girl in her last year of school with a lot to figure out.

Kylie Mirmohamadi is a Melbourne based academic whose recent research has explored Jane Austen and Brontë-sister fandom. Her debut novel Diving, Falling is contemporary fiction about a middle aged woman who must reckon with her past after the death of her larger than life painter husband and learn how to forge a new life in his absence.

Comic book legend, Alan Moore has renounced comics for novels and his new book The Great When uncovers a secret, fictional London. Rosalie Ham returns with a prequel to her bestselling novel The Dressmaker, and why Tigest Girma wrote a black vampire novel.

British author Alan Moore has created iconic comics including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He has since distanced himself from comics, however, and today puts his creative energy into being a magician and novelist. His new novel, The Great When is set in the years after World War Two, and imagines a secret London hidden within the city. Alan shares his wonder about our endless imagination and his memories of post-war England.

Australian author Rosalie Ham returns to some of her characters in The Dressmaker series which began in 2000 and was later made into a film starring Kate Winslet and Judy Davis. It was followed by The Dressmaker's Secret and now the prequel is out, called Molly. The action starts in 1914 Melbourne against the backdrop of the first world war at a time of uncomfortable corsets and protests for women's suffrage. Sarah L'Estrange visits Rosalie Ham in her Melbourne home to find out more about her creative process.

Tigest Girma is an Ethiopian writer based in Melbourne and her debut novel Immortal Dark is about vampires, race and revenge. And in September the novel hit number one on the New York Times young adult hardcover bestseller list which is an amazing achievement for a debut Australian novelist.