This episode is the fourth instalment of The Comics Question series. In these podcasts, Bernard Caleo and Nico Callaghan discuss comics, graphic novels, and the place they inhabit within the broader books and publishing world.

For this episode, Bernard and Nico sat down with Michael Fikaris, a central figure in both the comic book and street art movements of the early 2000s in his hometown of Melbourne. Fikaris has exhibited in professional and guerrilla contexts locally and abroad. His artwork is held in numerous private collections along with the National Gallery of Victoria, State Library of Victoria, and National Gallery of Australia.

In today’s episode, from one of Australia’s most wryly funny writers comes an original and utterly hilarious memoir of reaching for the stars while lying in a ditch.

Robert Skinner arrives in Melbourne, searching for a richer life. Things begin badly and then, surprisingly, get slightly worse. Pretty soon he’s sleeping rough and trying to run a literary magazine out of a dog park. His quest for meaning keeps being thwarted, by endless jobs, beagles, house parties, ill-advised love affairs, camel trips and bureaucratic entanglements.

Sometimes a book catches the spirit of the times, and Skinner’s book I’d Rather Not is about work, escape and that something more we all need.

In this episode, a discussion with author Angela O’Keeffe about her new novel, The Sitter.

Paris, 2020. A writer is confined to her hotel room during the early days of the pandemic, struggling to finish a novel about Hortense Cezanne, wife and sometime muse of the famous painter. Dead for more than a century, Hortense has been reawakened by this creative endeavour, and now shadows the writer through the locked-down city. But Hortense, always subject to the gaze of others, is increasingly intrigued by the woman before her. Who is she and what event hides in her past?

Heartbreaking and perfectly formed, The Sitter explores the tension between artist and subject, and between the stories told about us and the stories we choose to tell.

In this episode, hear Om Dhungel and James Button in conversation with Elly Varrenti, to celebrate the publication of Om’s memoir, Bhutan to Blacktown.

This book tells Om Dhungel’s remarkable story — his journey from a remote village to a senior position in the Bhutanese Civil Service, to life as a human rights activist in Nepal and, eventually, to his work as a community leader in Blacktown, western Sydney.

Every step prepared Om for the central role he would play in settling more than 5000 Bhutanese refugees, in one of the most successful refugee initiatives in Australia’s history. Written with Walkley Award-winning journalist James Button, Bhutan to Blacktown is a story of grit and struggle, humour and irrepressible optimism — and how losing nearly everything shaped one man’s character and fate.

In this episode, a recording taken from bestselling journalist Antony Loewenstein discussing his latest book, The Palestine Laboratory.

This book demonstrates in depth how Israel has become a leader in developing spying technology and defence hardware that fuels some of the globe’s most brutal conflicts. Loewenstein was interviewed at our Carlton store by Jeff Sparrow, a writer, journalist and broadcaster.

In this episode, Bruce Wolpe in conversation with Sean Kelly to discuss Wolpe's new book, Trump's Australia.

In the book, leading expert and US and Australian politics insider Wolpe reveals the many ways in which Australia was damaged by Donald Trump's presidency, and ponders what could happen if Trump (or a Trump-like candidate) becomes US president in 2024.

In this episode, a conversation with Andrew Skeoch, author of the recently released book, Deep Listening to Nature.

As one of Australia's best-known nature sound recordists, Skeoch’s work offers us an invitation and an opportunity to open our ears to nature, and to learn from the world around us. Particularly focused on avian life, his book is an inspiring text filled with reflection, wonder and rumination.

In this episode, a conversation with author Tegan Bennet Daylight, centred around her new YA novel, Royals.

A group of teenagers alone in an empty shopping centre, with everything they could possibly want ... and a baby? With no phones, no internet and no way out, Shannon and five other trapped teens are completely disconnected from the outside world ... and their online lives. It’s hard to say whether they’ll be driven to delinquency, or – even worse – forced to make friends irl.

This conversation took place as part of the Readings Teen Advisory Board program.

In today’s episode, booksellers Justin Amalimal Cantrell and Nico Callaghan are joined by Aurelia Guo, a writer and researcher based in London, for a conversation centred on her book, World of Interiors.

Of the book, Guo writes: “In World of Interiors I use collage and appropriation to destabilise the first-person ‘I’. I also write directly about the inescapable condition of being perceived and positioned by other people. Our lives take place in time and space, meaning in history and geography, as well as in relation to one another – not just interpersonally, but intergenerationally, with all the baggage of race, class, gender and nation that this implies. I write about economic cycles of wealth and poverty at the levels of the individual, group and state. The book is about travel and immigration: migrants, tourists and refugees. It is about the work of survival and the cost of survival. It is also a hopeful book – about how strong and indomitable the will can be.”

In this episode, an interview with Ros Ben-Moshe, author of The Laughter Effect, a powerful philosophy that enhances wellbeing and provides you with a road map to tap into the lighter side of life and awaken both your inner and outer smile.

Drawing on research, practice and wisdom from humour and laughter therapy, along with positive psychology and neuroscience, health promotion academic and laughter wellness expert Ros Ben-Moshe offers a new dimension to self-care, elevating mindfulness, gratitude and self-compassion. This book is enriched by case studies from around the globe, and Ros shares how the highly accessible Laughter Effect enhances resilience to stress, enabling you to respond to adversity and bounce forward with humour, levity and grace. Living the Laughter Effect will awaken a positive change in yourself, how you respond to the world and, in turn, how the world responds to you.