The Book Show

Indian author Vikas Swarup explains the key to his success with Slumdog Millionaire and why he thinks his new book has a winning premise. Plus venture capitalist turned novelist Jessy Wu's Good Intentions.
Former Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's debut novel Q&A was a hit with with readers around the world and was adapted into the blockbuster film Slumdog Millionaire. His fourth novel, The Girl With the Seven Lives, opens with a gun pressed to a woman's head as she recounts a tumultuous life marked by changing identities, slums, scams, and revenge. Describing the book as "Slumdog Millionaire meets Scheherazade," Swarup explains why he is drawn to attention-grabbing story premises. Speaking with Claire Nichols, he also discusses his belief that novels can help us better understand ourselves.
Claire mentioned she's interviewed three former diplomats on The Book Show this year. In addition to Vikas Swarup, the other two are Ian Kemish about Two Islands and Miles Franklin shortlisted author Konrad Muller about My Heart at Evening. 
From venture capitalist to novelist, Jessy Wu explains why writing fiction feels like coming home. Her debut novel Good Intentions introduces us to idealistic student journalists Nadia and Jake. When we meet them a decade later the reality of grown-up life, love and business has made things a lot more complicated. Jessy also demystifies the world of venture capital and how this novel allowed her to reconnect with her true calling of being a writer.

Bestselling author Meg Mason knows what it's like to be the object of readers' obsessions, but in Sophie, Standing There, she imagines what it's like to be the book-loving fan. Plus, Bobuq Sayed's journey from Afghanistan to the US via Perth; their novel No God But Us is about two gay men in Istanbul and their dreams of a better life.
Meg Mason's third novel Sophie, Standing There is an exploration of a lonely book lover who develops an obsession with a superstar author. Meg tells Claire Nichols about her own experience of fandom (from both sides) and explains her connection to Janet Frame's Owls Do Cry and the solace it provided in her own times of loneliness.
You can listen to Meg Mason's interview on The Book Show about her previous bestselling novel Sorrow and Bliss here.
Australian raised and US based Bobuq Sayed reflects on their life as an Afghan migrant and how travel helped them embrace their cultural background. Their debut novel No God But Us is about two queer Afghan men who find themselves isolated and looking for connection in Istanbul at a time when the number of refugees seeking asylum in Europe from countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan has intensified.
Both authors share the solace of reading in difficult times.

Discover why the forests sing in Omar Musa's Miles Franklin Literary Award winning novel, Fierceland.
Poet, visual artist, hip-hop musician and author Omar Musa finds magic in Italian beads, vengeful ghosts and the sound of the Borneo forest in his award winning novel, Fierceland. The Miles Franklin judges described Fierceland as "a psychologically layered and storied reckoning with the world we have inherited."
In this bonus episode Claire Nichols congratulates Omar and revisits her earlier conversation with him about the writing of Fierceland. Omar explains the family connection to this story of palm oil, deforestation and language. 
Omar's latest book is The Vape Lord of Queanbeyan.
He will also be a guest at the London Literature Festival curated by the pop star Dua Lipa.

Why American author Dave Eggers' new novel Contrapposto has taken over 20 years to write, and debut novelist Maria Takolander takes us to a future world ravaged by climate change in which she says "there's no time for romance, but always time for love."
Firstly, Dave Eggers is the celebrated author of the memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and his many novels, including The Circle and You Shall Know Our Velocity! There are also children's books and he's the founder of the publishing house and literary journal McSweeney's. But did you know that he's also an artist? His novel Contrapposto is about two friends in the American Midwest with big artistic dreams and what it takes to realise their ambitions. The book includes a number of nude illustrations and Eggers tells Claire Nichols why he wants to maintain the mystery about who created them.
Then, Australian poet Maria Takolander explains how Elon Musk's plans for the Moon and Mars fuelled her debut novel The End of Romance. It's a haunting dystopian novel set in a future world, where a mother and son struggle to survive in an abandoned house amid societal collapse.

From hopping zombies to singing forests and a lot of queer characters, we break down the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist and pick our favourites from strong contenders including Randa Abdel-Fattah, Omar Musa and more. 
The Miles Franklin is Australia's most prestigious literary award. It carries a cash prize of $60,000 and the winning author goes in to the history books alongside previous winners including Thea Astley, Tim Winton, Peter Carey, Melissa Lukashenko and the 2025 winner, Siang Lu (listen to our interview with the author). 
Claire Nichols and producer Sarah L'Estrange have read through all of the 2026 shortlist and are excited by what's on offer: there's a book that brought down a writers' festival, a Tasmanian colonial detective story, one with walking zombies, one where the forests of Borneo sing, a mysterious child saint in the Kimberley and one where dementia is the inspiration for the story structure.
We discuss what we do and don't like about each book and at the end, pick our favourite. Who do you think will win?
These are the six books on the shortlist:
Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah (University of Queensland Press)
First Name Second Name by Steve MinOn (University of Queensland Press)
My Heart At Evening by Konrad Muller (Evercreech Editions)
Fierceland by Omar Musa (Penguin Random House Australia)
Little World by Josephine Rowe (Black Inc)
You Must Remember This by Sean Wilson (Affirm Press)
The 2026 Miles Franklin winner is announced in Sydney on 5th August.