ABC RN's annual on-air literary festival, the Big Weekend of Books, returns in 2024 with an exciting line-up of local and international writers in conversation with some of Australia's best-loved ABC presenters.
On Saturday, June 15, David Nicholls — whose bestselling 2009 novel One Day was recently adapted into an acclaimed 14-part Netflix series — joins ABC RN Drive's Andy Park to discuss his latest novel, You Are Here.
Richard Osman has enjoyed stratospheric success with his Thursday Murder Club series. It has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide and is currently being adapted into a TV series starring Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Ben Kingsley and Pierce Brosnan. Osman — who signed a four-book deal with Penguin in 2023 — joins Life Matters presenter Hilary Harper to reveal the details of his next book, which will be the first instalment of a much-anticipated new crime series.
Scottish author Andrew O'Hagan is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels, including his Booker Prize-shortlisted debut Our Fathers (1999) and Mayflies (2020). O'Hagan tells ABC Melbourne's Raf Epstein how he rubbed shoulders with royals, oligarchs and drug dealers while researching his latest novel, Caledonian Road.
UK writer Samantha Shannon has found an enthusiastic audience on #BookTok for her fantasy novels, including 2013's The Bone Season (the first in what will be a seven-part series) and The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019) and its prequel, A Day of Fallen Night (2023). Shannon talks to The Book Show's Claire Nichols about her new work.
Three award-winning Australian authors — Charlotte Wood, Jock Serong and Tony Birch — discuss what makes Australian stories in a special panel led by Sarah L'Estrange at the Sorrento Writers Festival.
In 2017, US author Lisa Ko published her debut novel, The Leavers, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2024, she returns with her sophom*ore offering, Memory Piece, which follows Chinese-American artist Giselle Chin from 1996 to a dystopian future in the 2040s. Ko joins The Art Show's Rosa Ellen to explore the relationship between art and protest.
Dervla McTiernan gave up her law career and moved from Ireland to Australia before publishing her first novel, The Ruin, in 2018. She has since earned a reputation as one of Australia's leading crime writers. McTiernan joins fellow West Australian Claire Nichols, host of The Book Show, to talk about how a real-life case — the murder of 21-year-old American Gabby Petito by her fiancé in 2021 — helped inspire her latest novel, What Happened to Nina?.
On Sunday, June 16, Irish author Paul Murray discusses climate anxiety and his Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Bee Sting with Raf Epstein, while much-loved Australian novelist Tim Winton will share exclusive details of his new forthcoming book with Claire Nichols.
Rachel Cusk has emerged as one of British literature's most distinctive voices since she published her debut novel in 1993. Works such as the Outline trilogy, Second Place and her memoirs, A Life's Work and Aftermath, have earned Cusk a cult following and further cemented her literary reputation. She joins Conversations' Sarah Kanowski to discuss her new novel, Parade.
Kim Scott, a two-time winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, and Tony Birch, who won the Indigenous Writers' Prize at the 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Awards for The White Girl, are two of Australian literature's most prominent Indigenous voices. In 2024, Birch published On Kim Scott, an essay exploring the Noongar writer's literary legacy, and the pair join Awaye!'s Rudi Bremer to reflect on each other's work.
Bestselling crime writer Candice Fox has won a swag of awards for her 16 novels, which include collaborations with James Patterson and Bill Clinton. In 2022, Troppo, an adaptation of her 2017 novel Crimson Lake, premiered on ABC TV. Fox, whose latest novel, Devil's Kitchen, follows a group of corrupt New York firefighters, regales the audience at a special event at the Petersham Bowling Club in Sydney with her unusual ways of getting the research she needs.
At 83, Stephanie Alexander has left a lasting mark on Australian food culture. In her long career, she has run a successful Melbourne restaurant, published 18 cookbooks, including the influential The Cook's Companion, and launched the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. The cook, restaurateur and food writer joins Jonathan Green and Alice Zavlasky to talk all things food and writing in a special event in Melbourne.
For more details about the 2024 Big Weekend of Books line-up, visit the full schedule.
And join us for a two-day celebration of books and ideas on-air and online using the hashtag #BigWeekendOfBooks.
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