Fully Lit

Recorded at the UTS Writers’ Festival on Friday, 7 November 2025, this episode of Fully Lit Live brings you Rebel Daughters, where you’ll hear acclaimed poet Anne Casey share readings from her latest collection, followed by a Q&A with award-winning poet and critic Sarah Holland-Batt, newly appointed Professor and Head of Creative Writing at UTS. Together, they explore themes of resilience, heritage, feminism, and the rebellious...

In December 2023, the Sydney Review of Books  and Western Sydney University's Writing and Society Research Centre were delighted to announce renowned fiction writer, Yumna Kassab, as the inaugural Parramatta Laureate in Literature, a program delivered in partnership with the City of Parramatta.

The program, now in its second iteration, recognises the unique and vital work of writers as contributors to narratives of place – thr...

In this episode, we’re bringing you a story from our friends at History Lab.

Historical novelist Sienna Brown brings to life the story of Nellie Small, a trailblazing performer whose life challenged the boundaries of race, gender, and identity in early 20th-century Australia. You'll hear actor Zahra Newman as Nellie, and an interview with playwright Alana Valentina, for whom Nellie has been a rich source of writerly inspiration.

Hea...

In this special live episode of Fully Lit, we head to Parramatta for The Poets Speak, an evening of powerful readings and conversation presented by Giramondo Publishing.

Recorded as part of Parramatta’s Lit Festival and the Sydney Fringe Festival, the event features acclaimed poets Eunice Andrada (Kontra), Kate Fagan (Song in the Grass), Hasib Hourani (rock flight), Šime Knežević (In Your Dreams), and Suneeta Peres da Costa (The Pro...

Explore the poetic, philosophical, and genre-defying world of Gail Jones’s latest novel, The Name of the Sister, in this episode of Fully Lit Live. 

In conversation with fellow author Debra Adelaide, Jones reflects on the difference between a crime novel and a novel with a crime in it, and asks how a novel might bear witness to suffering, honouring rather than exploiting it.

Jones's work - always deeply visual, filled...

In this spirited discussion, three critics—Max Easton, Eda Gunaydin, and Lucy Van—join Sydney Review of Books editor, James Jiang, to explore the evolving role of the critic. Together, they delve into how they each came to criticism, the influences that shaped their voices, the ethics and implications of writing negative reviews, and whether we are truly living in a post-literate culture.

This episode was recorded live as part of th...

Poetry month has been and gone, but we have plenty more to say about poetry and poetry criticism!

So we're bringing you a 2024 episode of 'Poetry Says,' wherein host Alice Allan reflects on Ben Etherington's 2015 essay 'The Poet Tasters' - a forensic and statistical critique of Australian poetry that brought Alice's career as a poetry reviewer to an abrupt stop.

What kind of critical culture do you get when most critics are als...

Hear what poet and critic Sarah Holland-Batt has to say about Australia's as-yet-uncrowned Poet Laureate. She takes a close look at the tradition and explores poetry's relationship to power, highlighting the potential pitfalls and possible benefits of such a figure.

Can a poet laureate bring poetry back in Australia, where it's long been an afterthought for cultural policymakers? How might such a person engage our politics? And can...

This special edition of Fully Lit Live was recorded at the Abercrombie Hotel in Sydney, on beautiful Gadigal land.

It was a night of celebration, conversation, and creative sparks, as we launched the podcast with a vibrant discussion on the power of audio as a medium for literary criticism - one where the critique is embodied, voiced and felt, and built in conversation with one another and with you, our listeners, in mind.

Sop...

On this episode Teela Reid and Merinda Dutton, the co-founders of Blackfulla Bookclub, talk about the online community they’ve built around First Nations storytelling and discuss their experiences of reading Fire Front, an anthology of poetry and essays curated by Alison Whittaker. It’s about seeing, and hearing, and reading the world through powerful First Nations perspectives. Listen up. 

We are republishing this episode from...

In an engaging, though-provoking and moving conversation, Winnie Dunn, Julie Janson and Siang Lu - all shortlisted for the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award - discuss their nominated works, the ideas that shaped them, and the questions they raise about Australian life, literature and identity today, with writer and broadcaster Sunil Badami.  

The Miles Franklin Liter...

Anita Heiss, Wiradjuri woman, author and editor at large at Bundyi, a First Nations imprint at Simon & Schuster, shares her insights into the Australian publishing industry with Alice Grundy, managing editor at Australia Institute Press. They take a close look at the way First Nations writing has affected and been affected by the prevailing practices in the industry, from author-editor relationships to marketing. What would sov...

Writer, editor and producer Charle Malycon (Penguin Random House and Overland literary journal) and co-founder and director of Amplify bookstore, Jing Xuan Teo, join Alice Grundy to dissect the current state of the industry. What goes on behind the scenes? What is the work of publishing today and who is doing it? Our guests share their personal experiences in publishing and bookselling, taking the listener through the complex proce...

How can poetry act upon the world? Hear John Kinsella hold up a bulldozer with a poem, and take a tour through his life as a reader, poet and activist as he and Lisa Gorton delve into the people and poets who influenced him. They discuss the challenges and responsibilities of being a poet, reflecting on the growing threats to our ecosystems and long-postponed colonial reckonings. In this context, what can poetry do, and what are th...

Award-winning poets Bella Li and Ellen Van Neerven join fellow poet Lisa Gorton for a discussion on poetry, responsibility and poetry’s place in Australian public life. With readings from each poet's work, along with other poems from Australia and beyond, our panelists explore the balance between poetry as a private practice and its public impact, attending to the ways in which poetry can unsettle language, shaping and reshaping ou...

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The Secret Life of Books is made by Sophie Gee, an academic and a writer, and Jonty Claypole, broadcaster and producer.

Sophie and Jonty tell the story behind the story of the literary classics that everyone wants to read, feels they should read or has already read and loved.

They reveal the secret histories, hidden players and big ideas behind the great books...

Who gets to critique First Nations literature — and how should it be taught?

Novelist Melanie Saward and critic Ben Etherington join writer and academic Graham Akhurst to dive into the complex world of reading, teaching, and evaluating First Nations writing.

From the classroom to the review page, they explore the responsibilities that come with critiquing Indigenous stories — and what’s at stake when they’re misread or misunderstood.

...

What does it really take to read and review First Nations writing with integrity?

Wiradjuri poet and critic Jeanine Leane joins Graham Akhurst for a powerful conversation that turns the spotlight on the critics themselves. With sharp insight and deep cultural knowledge, Jeanine unpacks the idea of “cultural rigour” — and why it’s essential for anyone engaging with Black writing in Australia.

Whether you're a reader, reviewer, or writ...

What is the Australian novel today? Is it even a novel?  

And what remains of the idea of a national literature once we eschew nationalistic clichés of Aussieness?  

Writers Mykaela Saunders and Yumna Kassab join Lynda Ng to tackle these questions. 

With readings from Australian fiction that reveals a literature deeply engaged with the world and with writing beyond our shores.

Dr Mykaela Saunders

Dr Myk...