Today, writer and pianist Anna Goldsworthy will be reading her piece from the latest issue.

It's called 'The slow fade of music education', and in it she discusses the importance of music and learning, in an arts landscape eroded by nearly a decade of wilful neglect.

Guest: Writer and pianist, Anna Goldsworthy.

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Today, writer Richard Cooke will be reading his story from the latest edition of The Monthly.

It’s called ‘Market of the apes: NFTs and digital art’, and in it, he explores how the art market has been transformed by NFTs, and how artificial intelligence might transform art itself.

Guest: Contributing editor to The Monthly, Richard Cooke.

Background reading: Market of the apes: NFTs and digital art in The Monthly.

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Today, Gina Rushton’s latest story for The Monthly magazine, ‘The first victim’ is voiced by Lucy Moir. 

The piece explores how victims of sexual assault are treated in courts of law - and asks whether the legal system in Australia puts people through unnecessary trauma.

Warning: This episode contains details of sexual assault.

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Today, Mark McKenna, professor of history at the University of Sydney, will be reading his piece from the latest edition of The Monthly.

It's called 'The Stunted Country', and in it, he argues that there can be no possibility of an Australian republic without constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians.

Guest: Mark McKenna, professor of history at the University of Sydney.

Background reading: The stunted country in The Monthly.

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Today, Richard Denniss, chief economist at The Australia Institute, will be reading his cover story from the latest edition of The Monthly.

It's called 'The needle and the damage done', and in it, he argues that the federal government’s handling of the pandemic has been the worst public policy failure in Australian history. 

Guest: Richard Denniss, chief economist at The Australia Institute.

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Today, Helen Garner, one of Australia’s most acclaimed authors, will be reading her piece from the latest issue of The Monthly. 

It features entries from her diaries, covering her experience during this year’s lockdown in Melbourne.

Guest: Helen Garner, acclaimed Australian novelist and nonfiction writer.

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Today, Hugh White, emeritus professor of strategic studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, reads his cover essay from the latest issue of The Monthly.

It’s called ‘War of Error’. It explores the failures of the United States in Afghanistan, and the folly of Australia’s unquestioning support.

Guest: Hugh White, emeritus professor of strategic studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University.

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Today, Scott Ludlam, ICAN ambassador and former Australian Greens Senator, reads his cover essay from the latest issue of The Monthly.

It’s called ‘The Endgame’. It explores the trial of Julian Assange, and the powers fighting to extradite him, while his condition deteriorates in a UK prison.

Guest: Scott Ludlam, ICAN ambassador and former Australian Greens Senator.

Background reading: The end game in The Monthly

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Today, Richard Flanagan, Booker prize winner and author of The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, reads his essay from the latest issue of The Monthly. It’s called ‘To be free’ and it explores why he writes, and, in his words “the need to write against the dogmas of conformity”.

Guest: Writer for The Monthly Richard Flanagan.

Background reading: To be free in The Monthly

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Today, Sarah Krasnostein, the best-selling author of ‘The Trauma Cleaner’, reads her essay from the latest issue of The Monthly. 

It’s called ‘The most hated man’ and it explores the sentencing of Richard Pusey, who was convicted of outraging public decency after he filmed the horrific aftermath of a car crash that killed four police officers.

Guest: Writer for The Saturday Paper Sarah Krasnostein.

Background reading: The most hated man in The Monthly

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