Booksmart

In this hotly anticipated book club episode, Sunny and Allie review the most talked-about book of the year: 'Yesteryear' by Caro Claire Burke. This debut fiction novel draws on our growing cultural fascination with "tradwife" influencers, the alarming rise of conservative values among young women, and the "angry women" who can't bring themselves to look away from them — no matter how hard they try.'Yesteryear's protagonist (and villain), Natalie, who has been compared to 'Gone Girl's Amy Dunne and 'American Psycho's Patrick Bateman, is as divisive as the book's plot-twist ending, and the girls are not seeing eye to eye. The book's high-concept premise promises great mystery and suspense, but does it deliver?Listen to this episode to be a part of a conversation that has taken the internet by storm. You can purchase 'Yesteryear' by Caro Claire Burke online with QBD Books using the following link:https://www.qbd.com.au/yesteryear/caro-claire-burke/9780008742775/?utm_source=Booksmartpod&utm_medium=MPPodcast&utm_campaign=BSMPBooksmartYesteryear&utm_id=BooksmartYesteryear

In this episode of Booksmart, hosts Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King sit down with seasoned Australian journalist and television presenter Georgie Tunny on the launch day of her debut novel, Over to You.Over to You follows three best friends — Carter, Naya, and Greta — as they navigate the competitive Australian media industry while trying to hold their friendship together.Tunny draws on her more than a decade-long career in media to faithfully depict the complexities of the newsroom. In this episode, the girls also bond over their shared love of Taylor Swift and their unyielding adoration of the way shared interests create immediate, authentic connections between strangers.Get your copy now at QBD Books with this link;https://www.qbd.com.au/over-to-you/georgie-tunny/9781761471803/?utm_source=Booksmartpod&utm_medium=MPPodcast&utm_campaign=BSMPOverToYou&utm_id=BooksmartOverToYou

In their fourth book club episode, Sunny and Allie review 'My Dear You' by Rachel Khong. The book is a collection of ten short stories, written in as many years, exploring race, connection, transformation, and grief.Khong's protagonists compel us to confront some of life's biggest questions, hidden beneath the veil of unusual, paranormal scenarios. Here, Sunny and Allie reconsider their bias against the short story format, discuss which animal they'd choose to be reborn into, whether they'd keep their current appearance in the afterlife if given a choice, and much more.You can purchase 'My Dear You' by Rachel Khong online with QBD Books using the following link: https://www.qbd.com.au/my-dear-you/rachel-khong/9781529155365/?utm_source=Booksmartpod&utm_medium=MPPodcast&utm_campaign=BSMPMyDearYou&utm_id=BooksmartMyDearYou

In this very chaotic Booksmart special, Allie holds Sunny hostage to explain all thirteen books in the ever-expanding 'Off Campus' universe by Canadian author Elle Kennedy ahead of season one of the screen adaptation dropping on Prime Video on May 12.Elle Kennedy is one of the pioneers of the contemporary sports romance novel. Her first hockey romance novel, ‘The Deal’, was released in 2015, years before the success of other beloved series like ‘Heated Rivalry’ and ‘Icebreaker’, which are also known for spending a great deal of time on the ice and in the bedroom.Proceed with caution as this episode contains huge spoilers for novels in the ‘Off Campus’, ‘Briar U’, and ‘Campus Diaries’ series, as well as the standalone novel ‘Love Song’.You can purchase Elle Kennedy’s sports romances online with QBD Books using the following link: https://www.qbd.com.au/search/?q=Elle+Kennedy&utm_source=Booksmartpod&utm_medium=MPPodcast&utm_campaign=BSMPElleKennedy&utm_id=BooksmartElleKennedy

This is not a drill. Gus Everett has been found (DEAD). Sunny and Allie have convened interstate for an emergency Booksmart recording in response to the news that Patrick Schwarzenegger will be the leading man in 20th Century Studios’ adaptation of Beach Read by beloved author Emily Henry. Spoiler: like the rest of the internet, they’re not happy. Listen to find out why.

What happens when a devoted reader and book content creator gets a book deal? Hosts Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King explore this and more with their first guest, new author Lily Crozier, who released her gothic Beauty & The Beast retelling 'Vow of Eternal Night' earlier this month. Join them as they discuss working in publishing, writing redeemable yet convincing villains, and debate who is pop culture's hottest vampire.Get a copy of your own here; https://www.qbd.com.au/vow-of-eternal-night/lily-crozier/9781761354571/?utm_source=Booksmartpod&utm_medium=MissingPerspectives&utm_campaign=BSMPLilyCrozier&utm_id=BookSmartLilyCrozier

Does depicting taboo relationships automatically mean endorsing them? Does having an interesting personal story automatically make you a good storyteller? And further, how does an author follow up a seminal debut? These are the central questions that Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King set out to answer in today's episode of Booksmart, using writer and former child actor Jennette McCurdy's fiction debut, 'Half His Age', and her best-selling memoir, 'I'm Glad My Mom Died', as their case studies.You can buy 'Half His Age' at the following link: https://bit.ly/4u5sL0v

What do book-to-screen adaptations owe their readers? And further, what makes a good adaptation? Should the goal of any adaptation be to appease existing fandoms or attract new ones? These are the central questions that Sunny Adcock and Allie Daisy King set out to answer in today’s episode of Booksmart, using Emily Henry’s 'People We Meet on Vacation', recently released on Netflix, as their case study.

In this week’s episode of Booksmart, host Soaliha Iqbal sits down with award-winning author, artist, and screenwriter Dylin Hardcastle - the creative force behind Below Deck, Breathing Underwater, Running Like China, and the critically acclaimed A Language of Limbs, winner of the 2023 Kathleen Mitchell Award and longlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize (casually). Together, they dive deep into the making of A Language of Limbs - a sweeping, dual-perspective novel set across three decades, following two unnamed protagonists whose lives almost touch, collide, and diverge. Dylin shares how the novel’s distinctive structure emerged, why they played with form (from fragmented vignettes to poetic passages and the absence of quotation marks), and the ways their own queer and trans embodiment shaped the book’s language, texture, and emotional core.Soaliha and Dylin also unpack the novel’s central focus: chosen family; the intimacy of sex as character development; the dance between pleasure and pain; and the intergenerational grief, rage, resilience, and joy of queer communities from the 1970s through the AIDS crisis to now. Dylin reflects on the responsibility of writing towards history with tenderness and accuracy, the surprising generational differences in how readers respond to depictions of violence and trauma, and why joy had to sit alongside devastation.They also explore the fascinating evolution of the book’s cover (including the story behind the now-iconic photograph), how A Language of Limbs was optioned for television before publication (!!!), and how the adaptation expands the book's universe. ALSO - be sure to listen to the whole ep as Dylin offers an early glimpse into their next novel!

In this episode of Booksmart, Randa Abdel-Fattah sits down with Soaliha for a powerful conversation that spans her brand-new novel Discipline, the controversies rocking Australia’s literary scene, and the realities of racism and resistance today across the country and beyond. Together, they unpack Randa’s decision to speak out against the Bendigo Writers Festival - where more than 50 writers and hosts withdrew in solidarity after a restrictive code of conduct was sent just days before the event, that authors said silenced people from speaking out and criticising Israel. Randa and Soaliha also discuss the so-called “March for Australia” rally and what it reveals about race, identity, and public discourse in this country.At the heart of the conversation is Randa’s new book Discipline. Set in Sydney during May 2021, it follows Ashraf, an academic in freefall, and Hannah, a young journalist grappling with racism in the newsroom and the demands of new motherhood. As Israel’s bombardment of Gaza intensifies during Ramadan, both are forced to reckon with their choices, values, and silences. With its sharp focus on academia and the media, Discipline asks what we’re willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of justice.Randa is also an ARC Future Fellow at Macquarie University, a lawyer, and the award-winning author of twelve books for children and young adults, translated into more than thirteen languages. Her writing and research centre Islamophobia, race, Palestine, youth identities and activism, and her work has been recognised by awards including the Stella Prize, the NSW and Victorian Premiers’ Literary Awards, and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award.We hope this Booksmart episode will leave you thinking differently about literature, politics, and the responsibility of those with a platform to speak (and go and grab a copy of the book while you're at it!).

In this week's episode of Booksmart, we’re joined by the wonderful Nicky Gonzalez, the author of one of this year’s most haunting debuts, Mayra - a novel that brims with tension, longing, and the sticky heat of Florida’s swamplands.Set in the sultry, surreal wilds of the Everglades, Nicky’s novel dives deep into the complicated terrain of female friendship. The novel explores the intoxicating bond between Ingrid and Mayra - two childhood best friends reunited for a mysterious weekend away that quickly turns unsettling. As the lines between past and present blur, and the house itself becomes a character, the story becomes a slow-burning psychological reckoning with desire, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves about the people we once were.In the chat with Soaliha, Nicky discusses how growing up in Hialeah shaped her literary voice and approach to writing, how she captures the sensual strangeness of the Florida landscape, and why the nostalgia of girlhood can be both beautiful and dangerous.If you’ve ever been haunted by a friendship that shaped you - or intrigued by the idea of a house that seems to breathe with secrets - you'll get a lot out of this episode.

Not to hype this week's book too much....but Soaliha has confirmed that Candice Chung's new memoir Chinese Parents Don't Say I Love You is one of the best books she has read this year. So, PSA: Go and buy this book, stat. Candice is a writer, editor, and a former restaurant reviewer for The Sun-Herald - and is a founding member of Diversity in Food Media Australia, which supports and promotes underrepresented voices in food media. Her new memoir - already receiving rave reviews - is a story about saying the unsayable with food. ICYMI: here's an excerpt from Soaliha's review over on Missing Perspectives:"When her retired Cantonese parents offer to be her new food buddies, she considers what paths lay in front of her: eating together in that familiar though profoundly pregnant silence so many of us children of immigrants know, or forging ahead and addressing what the silence obscures, even denies.You might have noticed from reading this column that I rarely include memoirs, but I was hooked by Candice Chung’s writing three paragraphs into the first page. Earnest and perceptive, she meditates on topics so many of us know shouldn’t be taboo, and yet we struggle to talk about."So, what are you waiting for? Listen to this interview with Candice, then go buy the book (and let us know what you think!).

Khadija Gbla is an absolute force to be reckoned with - and we've been closely following her work for a long time.If she's not on your radar already - Khadija is a leading human rights activist and writer, amongst many other things. She was born in Sierra Leone, spent her youth in Gambia, and, as a teenager, moved to Australia. She is a leading voice and campaigner on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Australia. In the new anthology Someone Like Me, Khadija reflects on her autism diagnosis, fighting for the rights of her son, and breaking intergenerational trauma. Edited by Clem Bastow and Jo Case, the collection of stories in Someline Like Me features twenty-five Autistic women and gender-diverse writers who share their personal stories and challenge these stereotypes. This is a deeply moving conversation and it was an honour to have Khadija join us for this chat with Soaliha.