Melissa Manning’s Frogsong

About this episode

Melissa Manning discusses her new novel Frogsong and the complexities of relationships.

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Melissa Manning’s debut story collection, Smokehouse, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction. Melissa joins us today with her new novel Frogsong. Caro and Danny have always been a pair, from their earliest years by the waterhole. And so it is no surprise they become a couple and plan a life through uni and beyond. But life is rarely that simple and Caro finds herself wondering what happened to the young man she fell in love with. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.

People in this episode

Host: Andrew Pople

Guest: Melissa Manning

Topics covered

• Australian writing
• literary culture
• debut novel
• relationships
• storytelling

Keywords

• Melissa Manning
• Frogsong
• Smokehouse
• Australian authors
• literary award

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Final Draft, 2SER 107.3FM, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award

Books & works: Smokehouse, Frogsong

More episodes of Final Draft - Great Conversations

• Book Club - Brendan Colley’s The Season for Flying Saucers · June 9, 2026 · 4 min
• Antoun Issa’s Rebirth · June 5, 2026 · 46 min
• Book Club - Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore · June 2, 2026 · 4 min
• Sam Elliott’s Haze · May 22, 2026 · 33 min
• Emily Gale’s The Wild Unknown · May 15, 2026 · 34 min
• Brendan Colley’s The Season for Flying Saucers · May 8, 2026 · 49 min