The Community Library

How did theatre survive a pandemic 100 years ago? In this episode I interview my very own mother about her latest creative project: a podcast episode about the Australian performing arts industry in during the 1918 flu pandemic. In this episode we talk about the similarities between the pandemics, the importance of performing arts, and the ethics of creating works of nonfiction. We hope you enjoy!

Listen to Performing the Past, Episode 1: 1919

Listen to Performing the Past, Episode 2: For The Term Of His Natural Life

(My voice features in both of these episodes – I even sing a song in episode 1!)

As always, a full transcription of the episode is available on my website here

Next week we are discussing our October book club pick: The Trap by Melanie Raabe. You’ve got one week left to read it, I hope you join in the discussion!

Why is Ms. Christie called the Queen of Crime? This week I did a Christie readathon to find out. Join me on a journey from 1932 to 1967, through isolated houses and benign dentist offices. I even overcome a childhood fear! I hope you enjoy listening.

As always, a full transcription of the episode is available on my website here

Our next book club pick is a mystery thriller: The Trap by Melanie Raabe. I’ll be discussing this on the 25th of October, and I hope you read a long with us!

Links

What happened when I tried to read four books in two weeks while travelling across the world during a pandemic? Well, you lucky listeners get to find out. In this episode I read an Aussie classic, a Miles Franklin Award winner, an essay collection, and a YA contemporary. I hope you enjoy!

Our next book club pick is a mystery thriller: The Trap by Melanie Raabe. I’ll be discussing this on the 25th of October, and I hope you read a long with us!

As always, you can find a full transcription of the episode on my website here

Books I read:

Deborah Cheetham's Eumarella, a war requiem for peace

This week we are discussing our book club pick for the month of September: Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina (also published under the title The Things She’s Seen in the US). Did I love it? Did I not? Listen to find out!

As always, a full transcription of the episode is available to read on my website here

Our next book club pick is a mystery thriller: The Trap by Melanie Raabe. I’ll be discussing this on the 25thof October, so you have a whole month to read it before the episode goes up! I hope you read along with us.

How do you prepare? Does your voice get tired? Do you get nervous? How long does it take? All these questions answered AND MORE in this episode about my experience narrating audiobooks. I hope you enjoy this more casual, chatty, episode. Talk to you next week!

As always, a full transcription of the episode is available to read on my website here

The book club pick for this month is Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina. Also published under the title The Things She’s Seen in the USA. I’ll be discussing this next week, on the 27th of September, so make sure to tune in then.

This week on The Community Library, I’m recommending some Australian literature! From a YA mystery to an adult family drama, there’s something for everyone in this list. Hope you enjoy!

TL;DL? I’ve listed all my recommendations on my website here, plus a full transcription of the episode.

Listen to me talk about what it’s like to be in a film adaptation of a book: Working on Film Adaptations of Books

Listen to the audiobook of There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett, narrated by yours truly!

The book club pick for this month is Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina. Also published under the title The Things She’s Seen in the USA. I’ll be discussing this on the 27th of September, I hope you read along with us!

This week on The Community Library, I’m chatting to author and astrophysicist, Lisa Harvey-Smith, about her new book, The Secret Life of Stars! We chat about stars, science, and STEM. Hope you enjoy!

As always, a full transcription of the episode is on my website here.

Follow Lisa! Website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

The Secret Life of Stars will be released on the 30th of September from Thames&Hudson. You can pre-order a signed copy here.

While you wait for The Secret Life of Stars to be released, check out Lisa’s other works! When Galaxies Collide, and Under the Stars: Astrophysics for Bedtime.

You can listen to my audiobook recording of Under the Stars here.

The book club pick for this month is Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina. Also published under the title The Things She’s Seen in the USA. I’ll be discussing this on the 27th of September, I hope you read along with us!

This is the fifth and final episode in a series on fairy tales and Disney Princesses. This week I’m talking about this month’s book club pick: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao. I also discuss my final thoughts on the whole fairy-tale-Disney-Princess project: what I discovered, what I learnt, and what conclusion I came to. I hope you enjoy!

As always, a full transcription of the episode is linked here on my website.

Interested in more Disney Princess / fairy tale content? Listen to the first four episodes in this series: Snow White, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Frozen / The Snow Queen. You can also hear me read the full Little Mermaid fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen for you here.

This is the fourth episode in a series on fairy tales and Disney Princesses. This week I brought in my sister, Kalliope, to talk about our favourite frosty and feisty sister duo: Elsa and Anna from Frozen. We also talk about The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, which was the inspiration behind the iconic Disney movie. We hope you enjoy!

As always, a full transcription of this episode is linked here on my website.

Tune in tomorrow to hear me talk about this month’s book club pick: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao!

Interested in more Disney Princess / fairy tale content? Listen to the first three episodes in this series: Snow White, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. You can also hear me read the full Little Mermaid fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen for you here.

This is the third episode in a series on fairy tales and Disney Princesses. This week, my friend Kali and I are talking all about that fiery red-headed fish, The Little Mermaid! We discuss the tragedy of the original fairy tale, talk about the portrayal of disability, and gush over our icon: Ursula the sea witch.

Content warning: we discuss ableism and the harmful portrayal of disability from 22:05 to 26:25, and from 46:20 to 47:55.

As always, a full transcription of this episode is linked here on my website, as well as a list of sources and links that I used in my research.

This month’s book club pick is Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao! It’s an East Asian fantasy reimagining of Snow White, and I’ll be discussing it on Monday the 31st of August.

Follow Kali on Instagram here: @kalishanthi