[Read] Watch, Listen, Read 2025: The Wheeler Centre team mid-year round-up

I'm watching our recent conversation Jess Hill: On Stopping Family Violence with Tarang Chawla and Jess Hill. Heavy in subject matter, but necessary watching. 

And for a longer-form escapism (sort of), the film The Conclave was a late-summer personal highlight, but I never expected it to set me up to be so well-informed for the future. For a film about a relatively niche political operation steeped in detailed and seemingly laboursome tradition, the movie is suspenseful, expertly paced and had me on the edge of my seat. And Lord (pun intended) was the release of this film fortunately timed. 

^{- Caraline Douglas, Head of Marketing and Engagement}

I’ve recently finished the third and sadly the final season of one of my favourite series of all time, Somebody Somewhere. A gorgeous, understated comedy about family, friendship and life in a small town in Kansas. The casting is just perfection and Bridget Everett is a legend. Already missing this show.

^{- Lauren Taylor, Senior Manager, Programs and Podcasts}

I’m listening to the Guardian’s political podcast Back to Back Barries for some in-depth analysis of this history-making election. This podcast, hosted by veteran political broadcaster Barrie Cassidy and former Liberal Party strategist Tony Barry, has been my go-to throughout the entire campaign. Having each worked inside a major political party, both hosts offer unique insights, historical context and importantly, they don’t always agree. You can listen back to their live podcast recording presented by The Wheeler Centre on Thursday, May 15 at the Edge, Fed Square, here.

^{- Erin Vincent, Wheeler Centre CEO}

Two sides of the coin with this one. On the more serious side, I’ve been listening to anything and everything I can about the Australian federal election and its aftermath - analysis, commentary, musings about what’s next for our nation and the parties representing its people. 

On the far less serious and much nerdier side, I’ve been deep-diving into breakdowns of Thunderbolts*, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe - a fun antihero adventure that delivers as much pathos as it does humour.

^{- Gene Smith, Head of Programming}

As a tragic Kara Swisher fangirl, I’ve been listening to our Wheeler Centre podcast episode of Kara Swisher: Burn Book. She weaves in so many witty one-liners and well-researched responses from her experiences in Silicon Valley that I had to go back and give it another listen after seeing the event live. I can also highly recommend the Guardian’s podcast Full Story, specifically their recent episode The Dark Digital Lives of Teenage Boys, a conversation with Nour Haydar and Tarang Chawla. They cover a sensitive topic with incredible care and foreground the discussion through a respectful framing of their personal experiences while also presenting unique insights. It was a great complement to our in-conversation with Jess Hill and Chawla earlier this year. 

^{- Caraline Douglas, Head of Marketing and Engagement}

As The Wheeler Centre’s podcast producer, I’m very lucky that my job allows me to listen back to so many amazing conversations that have taken place on our stages. Most recently I’ve enjoyed catching up on talks from legendary tech journalist and podcaster Kara Swisher who opens up about a life of reporting on Silicon Valley in her new memoir Burn Book; trailblazing journalist and Gamilaroi woman Brooke Boney on her new essay collection All of It, and a moving conversation with dynamic duo Jamila Rizvi and Rosie Waterland on their new co-authored book Broken Brains, reflecting on their journeys with illness.

^{- Lauren Taylor, Senior Manager, Programs and Podcasts}

In 2025, I unexpectedly fell headfirst into gothic horror fiction, a genre I’d mostly sidestepped until now (who else gets spooked reading before bed?) but somehow, it’s the only thing that’s reignited my reading habit. I devoured Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk (translated by Heather Cleary), one of the standout voices in feminist gothic fiction coming out of Latin America. This sapphic vampire novel starts off feeling akin to Anne Rice, then completely blurs the genre in the second half and it totally consumed me. Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth stood out in my reading too - a darkly funny take on horror, it felt like Stepford Wives meets haunted house, with bubblegum-esque prose that somehow makes the dread stick even harder. All of this led me back to the R.F. Kuang: Yellowface podcast at The Wheeler Centre. The genre is clearly having a moment and I’m completely in. 

^{- Tamarah Scott, Senior Content Producer.} 

I’m reading Killing for Country by David Marr (shortlisted for the 2024 Victorian Premier Literary Awards, Non-Fiction).  This book is heavy. I started reading this in 2024 and found myself needing to take a break from it due to its brutal realities, and have only now picked it back up again. This is quite possibly the most detailed account of British settlement, the development of the Native Police, the keys players involved, and their motivations for “dealing with the natives” (Spoiler: it was money). Marr’s account reveals the relentless violence, infuriating corruption and lack of accountability that plagued this period.

^{- Dan Scaffidi, Marketing and Communications Coordinator}

After a few years overseas, one of the things I was most excited about on returning home was diving back into Australian fiction. Rachel Morton’s The Sun Was Electric Light - winner of the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript... and since published! - caught my eye for one key reason: Helen Garner loved it. She described the experience of reading it as making her heart and nerves feel 'rinsed clean'. I am halfway through and halfway rinsed clean myself. You can watch Rachel in conversation with Allee Richards here.

In July, we’re presenting a conversation with Jana Wendt - an icon of Australian media, who kept many of us company on our television screens for more than three decades before almost completely disappearing from public life. What has she been up to? It happens that she’s turned her hand to fiction and written a collection of short stories titled The Far Side of the Moon. I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy yet, but I can’t wait to see how someone with such a command of journalism transfers that sharp-eyed expertise into vignette storytelling.

^{- Gene Smith, Head of Programming}

I'm reading Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico. Latronico’s detailed descriptions (expertly translated by Sophie Hughes) of interiors and general malaise capture a moment of millennial ennui and disillusionment so well. I am embarrassed to say that I found myself peering above the pages and clocking many of the items he describes in my immediate domestic surrounds. Nothing like a well-written paragraph to give you a tiny gut punch of self-awareness!

^{- Caraline Douglas, Head of Marketing and Engagement}