Compulsive Reader talks

Ashley Kalagian Blunt joins us again to read from and talk about her book Cold Truth. We talk about such things as the Winnipeg climate which is such a feature in the book, along with other aspects of the city and fun facts, the relationships between characters, about becoming the cyber crime/tech noir queen, the optioning of her previous book Dark Web , the new book out very soon, Like, Follow, Die!, narrated by Claudia Karvan, and lots more including some of her upcoming events.

Paris Rosemont reads from and talks about her new poetry book Barefoot Poetess . We cover such topics as how and why she began writing, the notion of poetic 'play', the balance between confession and performance, the joy of theatre and its relationship to poetry, her work-in-progress, and lots more.

Terri-ann White, founder of Upswell Publishing, reads from and talks about her own book Finding Theodore and Brina. We talk about how the book came about, how her relationship with the book and its characters have changed over time, notions of memoir, memory, writing place, on what can and can't be known, the power of stories, reclamation, The Swan River, time, and lots more.

In this episode, Phillis Levin, the author of six poetry collections, offers an in-depth look at her newest book, An Anthology of Rain, published by Barrow Street Press. A “poet’s poet,” Levin discusses her career, including her previous works such as Mr. Memory & Other Poems (Penguin) and her accolades, which include the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award, a Fulbright Scholar Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Phillis shares her creative process, her inspirations drawn from her childhood, and her experiences traveling around the world, including her time spent in Slovenia and Japan. She also reflects on the significance of poetry in different cultures and offers insights on the importance of “cleaning the palate” in her writing routine. The episode concludes with Phillis’s reading of the title poem, “An Anthology of Rain,” providing a glimpse into her intricate and profound poetic voice.

About Phillis Levin

Phillis Levin is the author of An Anthology of Rain (Barrow Street Press, 2025), her sixth collection, available in paperback and e-book. 

Phillis Levin is a singular poet known for her lyricism. Her fifth collection, Mr. Memory & Other Poems (Penguin), was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and received a starred review from Library Journal, which also named the book one of its Top Picks of the Year in Poetry. Phillis is also the editor of The Penguin Book of the Sonnet and the recipient of several prizes, including the Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Award for Temples and Fields (University of Georgia Press). A Guggenheim Fellow, Phillis has also received a Fulbright Scholar Award and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dr Karen Pearlman, director of the new film Breaking Plates, talks about the making of her latest film, the inventive ways she engages with Cinemas First Nasty women archive, her use of dance, song, visual collage, slapstick, splicing, intertextually , feminist theory, humour, her excellent actors, on working with her talented family team, and lots more.

Damen O'Brien reads from and talks about his latest poetry book Walking the Boundary. We talk about such things as the way the book came together as a collection, the joy (and horror) of wriggling creatures, inheritance, apocalypse, humour, and lots more.

PS Cottier and NG Hartland, authors of The Thirty-one Legs of Vladimir Putin, read from and talk about their new book, which won the Finlay Lloyd 20/40 publishing prize for fiction. We talk about some of the key themes in the book like identity, semblance, what's real and what isn't, the book's prescience in dealing with power dynamics and image, their writing process, characters, works-in-progress, and lots more.

John Kinsella reads from and talks about his new short story collection Beam of Light. We talk about the use of furniture in this book, the connective themes, its malevolent undercurrent, the importance and beauty of a sentient landscape, his characters and their struggles against the colonial mindset, what poetry and fiction can do and why he might choose one form or another, and lots more.

This was a special zoom session of poetry to mark the 10th anniversary of Girls on Key featuring Sophia Wilson, Mikaela Nyman, Kiri Piahana-Wong, Patricia Sykes, Nancy Holland-Shroder, and open mic readings from Anna Forsyth (GoK founder), Lou Steer, and Magdalena Ball (host)

Sarah Temporal is a prize-winning poet, producer, and educator who runs the well-respected regional arts initiative Poets Out Loud. She joins us to read from and talk about her debut book Tight Bindings.

Patti Miller joins us to read from and talk about her book Writing True Stories which has just been extensively updated and extended. She talks about what has changed in the 30+ years since she started teaching Life Writing, the impact of technology, her best tip, her own work in progress, and lots more.

Omar Musa joins us to perform from and talk about his new album The Fullness. We talk about collaboration and his amazing collaborators, pushing into liminal spaces of multiple identities, leaning into grief and joy ("our lives given shape by shadows"), ego deflation, how some of the songs on The Fullness were created, the percussiveness of rap and its conjunction with poetry, the alchemical process of art, the dissolving of borders between artforms and nationalities, the resonance of the mother tongue, poetry as a language of feeling, the value of working on multiple projects at once, and lots more. 

Kent MacCarter joins us to read from and talk about his new poetry book Fat Chance. We talk about Kent's process, about having written the "feel bad book of the year”, his journalistic process, the nature of Gossypiboma (retained medical objects), memoir, reverse ekphrasis, and lots more.

Robbie Coburn reads from and talks about his new book Ghost Poetry. Topics covered include the many ghosts that haunt the pages of the book, dreams and nightmares, the relationship between horses and people, subject and object, the subconscious, confessional poetry and the creative act/the artifice, horses, gothic country as a genre, and lots more.

The author of Kin: Family in the 21st Century reads from and talks about her new book, about the many permeations of family both nuclear and otherwise, about the book's origins, some of her key themes and challenges including such things as donor privacy versus the rights of a child to know their origins, helping people start families vs the commodification of reproduction, future tech and the risk of Eugenics, and lots more.

Valerie Werder reads from and talks about her award-winning debut novel Thieves. In this wide-ranging interview we talk about such things as representation, semantics, spirituality, thievery and its many iterations, cognitive dissonance, the changing subjectivity and tenses, the art and cosmetic industries, connection and lots more.

Beatriz Copello, author of No Salami Fairy Bread drops by to read from and talk about her newest poetry book. We talk about such things as the linguistic quality of the book, its structure, overall themes including migration, memoir, feminism, coming-of-age, the use of humour, why she chose verse, her new fantasy work-in-progress, and lots more.

Esther Ottaway talks about and reads from her new book She Doesn't Seem Autistic. Through a number of poems, Esther talks about many of the key themes, rhythms, structures and concepts in the book, including masking, humour, her use of animals, on reclaiming clinical labels, the relationship between art and advocacy, and lots more.

Soil scientist Alisa Bryce reads from and talks about her book Grounded. In this conversation we cover such things as how the book came about, Alisa's deep love of soil and both how important it is to all aspects of our lives, but also how fun and interesting it is, the importance of broad-reaching science communication and its relationship to academia, soil and the microbiome, why we have only mapped 2% of the underground world, on the comfort of how “the human story in the soil ends about 5-19 metres down”, the many chapters that might make it into her next book, her inspiration, and lots more.

Alan Fyfe joins us to read from and talk about his latest novel T, which shortlisted for the T.A.G Hungerford Prize (Australia) and the Chaffinch Press Aware Prize (Ireland), and was recently was shortlisted in The WA Premier's Prize for an Emerging Writer.  Alan also reads from and discusses his debut collection, G-d, Sleep, and Chaos, forthcoming from Gazebo Books in 2024.

Ashley Kalagian Blunt joins us to read from and talk about her new thriller Dark Mode. We talk about such things as her research, the Dark Web, her protagonist Reagan Carson, her fabulous plant store setting Voodoo Lily and dark flowers, what she's reading now, her work-in-progress (hint it's another thriller), and lots more. 

In this wide-reading and humorous interview, Irish poet, academic and journalist Oisín Breen reads from and talks about his new poetry book Lilies on the Deathbed of Étaín & Other Poems with Simon Whitby Brown. 

Meera Atkinson reads from her book Traumata and talks about her work, the ongoing relevance of Traumata, the difficulty and the necessity of the hybrid form,  on language, blood, the patriarchy, beauty and its commodification, the power of engagement with the past - personally and collectively, literature, poetry and much more.

One of the two editors of Voices of Freedom: Contemporary Writing From Ukraine reads from and talks about her new anthology.  Kateryna Kazimirova talks about the project and how it came together, how she chose the 27 authors, the importance of art in wartime, the many styles of the work, on translation and collaboration, her project Craft Magazine, and lots more. 

Poet, performer, emeritus professor, and new media artist Hazel Smith reads from and talks about her new book Ecliptical. We talk about metapoetry, multimedia, humour, eclipses, emphasis, John Ashbery and Frank O'Hara, and lots more.   

Sara Kidd joins me to talk about her new cookbook The Vegan Cake Bible. We cover such things as how Sara became the vegan cake queen, why she's drawn to cake, the extensive process she went through to create a cookbook including doing all of her own photography, how she chose which cakes to include, her favourite cake (hint - see links below), her 'holy grail' cake she wants to veganise, on collaboration, her feelings about the future of veganism and the planet, on coming to terms with sugar, her vintage style, on living sustainably, and lots more. 

Lorna Munro or Yilinhi is a Wiradjuri and Gamilaroi woman, multidisciplinary artist, poet, performer, radio and podcast host. She joins me today in the lead-up to the Sydney Writers' Festival to read some of her poems and talk about her work, her collaborations with Ancestress and Eric Avery as Poetribe, the power of spoken word, speaking language, decolonialisation in art, Yala Gari, the poet-in-residence program she created with Red Room for students, pushing boundaries, her new Red Room collaboration Fair Trade with January Rogers, and lots more. 

Kristina Darling interviews Nick Courtright about his new book The Proofs, the Figures: Walt Whitman and the Meaning of Poems.

In “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman wryly remarks about one’s being “proud to get at the meaning of poems,” a comment highlighting the long-fraught problem of poetic interpretation and the pride-worthy intellectual labor required to elucidate the meaning of a text. Using Whitman’s own “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” an eight-line poem published in 1865, as its case study, The Proofs, the Figures: Walt Whitman and the Meaning of Poems  investigates the chief methods available to readers when they embark on literary meaning-making, while also highlighting the challenges innate to such a task. With examples ranging from the critical and scholarly to the popular-cultural and survey-based, investigating interpretive prospects for “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” confirms that “to get at the meaning of poems” is a project of infinite opportunity both rewarded by and afflicted with the impossibility of absolute comprehension. By employing an array of formal, historical, mediational, and psychological techniques, Dr. Courtright confronts the lasting question of “what counts” or is relevant as evidence for an interpretation, while casting a wide net for the resources and methodologies that can be brought to bear not just on this single text or author, but on all texts and for all authors. Dr. Courtright’s book has already earned strong praise for its engaging prose and thought-provoking analysis.  Dr. Matt Cohen, Co-Director of the Walt Whitman Archive and author of The New Walt Whitman Studies (Cambridge UP), says, "The Proofs, the Figures has all of Nick Courtright's usual hallmarks: humor, trenchant readings, sustained skepticism, and a tactical leveraging of critical voices both old and new."   Similarly, Dr. Chad Bennett, author of Word of Mouth: Gossip and American Poetry  (Johns Hopkins UP) and Your New Feeling is the Artifact of a Bygone Era  (Sarabande), praises Courtright as a critic and thinker: "I appreciate, as always, Nick Courtright's lively and accessible writing, engagement with audience, and the ambition of this project. I'm impressed by how much ground he covers."

Jessica Au’s first novel, Cargo, was published by Picador in 2011 and was highly commended in the Kathleen Mitchell Award for a writer under 30. She is the former deputy editor of Meanjin, and is currently an associate editor at Aeon. Her new book Cold Enough for Snow won the inaugural Novel Prize and was published by Giramondo, New Directions and Fitzcarraldo Editions in February 2022, and translated into fifteen languages. She joined us today to read from and talk about Cold Enough for Snow. During the interview we talked about such things as the way she conveys interiority, about the mother-daughter relationship in her book and the philosophic tension between the way they see the world combined with the tenderness that exists between them, on elegy, perception, ekphrasis, memory, migration and many other key themes that this beautiful book encompasses.  

Charles Freyberg reads from and talks about his latest book of poetry The Crumbling Mansion and chats with me about performance and the power of memorisation, bringing characters to life, Kings Cross and its importance in his work, on nostalgia and ecological loss, on breaking binaries, his new work-in-progress and much more. 

You can find some excerpts from Charles' latest show in the links below:

KA Rees is a writer of poetry and short fiction. She has been published by Margaret River Press, Cordite, Australian Poetry, Overland, Review of Australian Fiction, Spineless Wonders and Yalobusha Review, among others. She received a Varuna fellowship for her manuscript of short stories, she was shortlisted for the 2016 Judith Wright Poetry Award, was the recipient of the 2017 Barry Hannah Prize in Fiction and runner-up in the 2018 Peter Cowan Short Story Award, and the national winner of the 2019 joanne burns Microlit Award. Her debut poetry collection, Come the Bones was published late last year as a Flying Island Pocket Book, and is the subject of today’s conversation.  KA reads a number of poems in the collection and talks about how the book came together as a collection, the relationship between the individual poems and the book, her current Sydney Observatory residency and much more.  

Lillian Avedian is an Armenian American journalist and poet from Los Angeles. In this episode she reads from and talks about her debut book of poetry, Journey to Tatev.  We talk about many of the key themes in the book - the many journeys: physical, metaphorical, about the uneasy alliance between grandmother, mother, daughter, on coming out, the rejection of shame and the acceptance of the richness of desire, on the sensual evocativeness of food (especially Nazouk), on writing a duel language book and the power of the mother-tongue, and lots more. 

Adam Aitken reads from and talks about his memoir One Hundred Letters Home.  We talk about the book's multi-genres structure, the limits of memory, artefacts and perception, "fluid subject positions" and the shifting nature of identity, his poetry book Archipelago and the ongoing appeal of France, his new book due out later in the year, and lots more. 

Australian academic, writer, and poet, Michael J. Leach reads from and talks about his latest poetry book Chronicity.  We talk about such things as the relationship between the visual/concrete poems on the page and their sonic qualities in live readings, the sensual, visceral nature of the work, how he chooses and works with constraints, his use of humour and the way he plays scientific precision against emotion, the way poetry enables him, as a scientist, to work better with the complexities of the real world, and lots more. 

Paul Rabinowitz talks to Tinfoil Crowns author Erin Jones about his novella The Clay Urn. They talk about the inspiration for his story, on working with a real situation--the Arab/Isreali conflict--in a fictional context, his evocative setting, his own experiences in the Isreali army, the complexity of war and the impact of that on young people, on seeing both sides of any conflict, key themes and takeaways from The Clay Urn, and much more. 

The author of Black Rabbit and co-owner of Sappho Books reads from and talks about his latest novel and its quirky characters, about the impact of 2020, about themes and his writing style, the inherent beauty of writing for oneself, the value of small publishers, his work-in-progress, the book he's reading and loving (Janet Frame's An Autobiography), and lots more.