Featuring
Nicholas Jose
Nicolas Jose is a novelist, essayist and playwright, whose thirteen books include the novels Paper Nautilus, Avenue of Eternal Peace (shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award), The Custodians (shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize) and Original Face; two short story collections; a volume of essays, Chinese Whispers; and the memoir Black Sheep.
Dr Lynda Ng
Dr Lynda Ng is a Lecturer in World Literature (including Australian Literature) at The University of Melbourne. She is the editor of Indigenous Transnationalism: Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria(2018), and is the recipient of an ARC Discovery Grant for a collaborative project on J. M. Coetzee and the Margaret Church Memorial Prize for the best essay published in MFS: Modern Fiction Studies.
Her research frequently considers Australian literature within a transnational paradigm, touching on the intersection between economics and literature as well as the environmental humanities. She is currently completing a project on Chinese diasporic writing.
Readings
An Australian Girl by Catherine Martin, read by Regina Botros
For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke, read by Tug Dumbly
The Tree of Man by Patrick White, read by Humphrey Bower (with thanks to Audible)
The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning, read by Glen Phillips
For Love Alone by Christina Stead, read by Trisha Starrs
Plains of Promise by Alexis Wright, read by Sharni McDermott
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright, read by Isaac Drandich (with thanks to Audible)
Oscar & Lucinda by Peter Carey, read by Steven Crossley (with thanks to Audible)
Farewell My Orange by Iwaki Kei, read by James Jiang
Voss by Patrick White, read by Humphrey Bower (with thanks to Audible)
Further Readings
The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel, edited by David Carter
Indigenous Transnationalism: Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria, edited by Lynda Ng
The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature, edited by Nicholas Jose
Credits
Fully Lit is presented by Anna Funder.
The podcast series is produced, edited and sound designed by Regina Botros.
Sound engineering by Simon Branthwaite.
Executive producers are James Jiang and Sarah Gilbert.
Fully Lit is a co-production between UTS Impact Studios and the Sydney Review of Books, with support from the UTS Writing and Publishing Program.
To cite this episode:
Impact Studios, Botros, R., Gilbert, S., & Jiang, J. (2025, May 15). Fully Lit: a podcast about Australian writing, S2 E1. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15421502
FULLY LIT: A podcast about Australian writing
Brought to you by the Sydney Review of Books, Impact Studios,
and the UTS Writing and Publishing program.
Available to listen now, wherever you get your podcasts
Welcome, or welcome back, to the Sydney Review of Books podcast – now known as Fully Lit.
Fully Lit is a must-listen for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of Australian writing. Across eight episodes, you’ll hear many luminaries of Australian letters, from Anita Heiss to John Kinsella, Nicholas Jose, and Jeanine Leane, discuss topics including the evolution of the Australian novel, the poet’s sense of responsibility, and the critical culture around First Nations writing. The podcast also features readings from old and new classic works by Peter Carey, Alexis Wright, Patrick White, Iwaki Kei, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Natalie Harkin, and more.
This podcast series aims not only to ignite interest in Australian writers and writing; it also aims to illuminate the complexities and oversights in the way that Australian literature is talked about. Through longform discussions, richly sound designed readings, and a wealth of archival material, listeners will come to appreciate Australian literature as they’ve never done before: with a deeper sense of its history, cultural and political contexts, and place in the global publishing landscape.
Join us on this unique journey through the many stories and voices that have helped shape what Australian writing is today.
Fully Lit is brought to you by the Sydney Review of Books, Impact Studios, and the UTS Writing and Publishing program.
Episode 1. The Australian novel and the world
What makes a novel uniquely Australian? How do our stories stack up on the world stage?
Writer, critic and former diplomat Nick Jose joins Oz Lit scholar and literary critic, Lynda Ng, for a deep dive into the Australian novel and its shifting place in global literature.
Through powerful readings from literary giants like Patrick White, Peter Carey, Alexis Wright, and Christina Stead, we ask:
- How has fiction shaped the idea of ‘Australia'?
- How has that idea changed from the nineteenth to the twentieth century?
Episode 2. The Australian novel now
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 host 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.
Episode 3. ‘Cultural Rigour:’ First Nations writing and its critics
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 writer, this episode challenges you to rethink what it means to read responsibly — and to listen deeply.
Episode 4. ‘Cognitive Imperialism:’ losing the colonial baggage
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.
Plus, a powerful intervention from the archive by Alexis Wright.
Episode 5. The Poet and the Bulldozer
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 the possibilities and limitations of a future Australian poet laureate?
Episode 6. The Language of Poetry
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 our sense of history.
Episode 7. Sovereign Stories: First nations publishing
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 sovereign publishing look like for First Nations writers in Australia?
Episode 8. Behind the paper curtain: the business of books
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 process of getting a book from manuscript to reader and highlighting the many hands that shape the reader’s experience.
Special Episode: Fully Lit Live: the 2025 Miles Franklin Award
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 Literary Award is Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, awarded each year to a novel of the highest literary merit that presents Australian life in any of its phases.
This special episode of Fully Lit is presented by Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and Gleebooks, Sydney’s premier literary events program. Go to gleebooks.com.au to discover more great literary events featuring some of Australia’s best and best known authors.
Episode 10. Blackfella Book Club on Firefront
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 the Sydney Review of Books' very first podcast season, to mark this month's NAIDOC week celebrations.
Please note that this episode contains names and references to deceased persons.
Episode 11. Fully Lit live: sound and fury as we talk podcasting in the pub
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.
Sophie Gee of the Secret Life of Books was there to host a conversation with Lynda Ng and Ben Etherington, then Delia Falconer, of the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, introduced our friendly crowd to Eda Gunaydin, the 2025 UTS-Copyright Agency writer in residence.
Then we ate cake!
Episode 12. Fully Lit Live: The Poet in the Public Arena
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 we (shall we?) build the infrastructure to support poetic careers—not just poetic moments?
And, most urgently, how long will it take before someone dubs the be-laureled bard Australia's Poet Lorikeet?
Episode 13. Surveying the scene: poet tasting, poet eating and poetry criticism today
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 also poets? And how can the reviewer not break out into a cold sweat when appraising the work of friends and colleagues?
Episode 14. Critic Rejoice Live : at Parramatta Lit
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 the Parramatta Lit Festival, held within the Sydney Fringe Festival on 6 September 2025 at Western Sydney University – Parramatta City Campus.
Host: James Jiang — Editor, Sydney Review of Books
Panelists: Max Easton, Eda Gunaydin, Lucy Van
Recording Engineer: Sevan Dermelkonian