How do we maintain friendships as we age? How do these friendships impact who we are – or who we become? And … exactly how should we grow old? Charlotte Wood asks these questions of aging and friendship in her highly-anticipated new novel, The Weekend – about three women in their 70s who gather to clean out the house of their friend Sylvie after her death. 

The lives and stories of women are at the core of Wood’s writing. The author of six novels and one book of non-fiction, Wood won the 2016 Stella Prize for her extraordinary novel The Natural Way of Things. She has been longlisted and shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, and was recently awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to literature.

At Montalto with host Elizabeth McCarthy, Wood discusses mortality, female friendship and the dilemmas that face women as they age.

How do we become estranged from ourselves – and from the people and places that have moulded us? What’s the way back? And how can we begin again?

These questions are at the heart of the new book from award-winning writer Andrea Goldsmith. Invented Lives is about a young Russian-Jewish woman who arrives in Australia in the mid-1980s as a refugee. It’s an affectionate portrait of 1980s Melbourne, and a sophisticated and engrossing novel of ideas – about exile, about multicultural Australia, and about the social, political and technological tides that impact our personal lives.

Invented Lives is Goldsmith’s eighth novel. Best known for her 2015 Melbourne Prize-winning novel, The Memory Trap, and for the Miles Franklin-shortlisted 2003 novel, The Prosperous Thief, Goldsmith is also an accomplished essayist and superb short-story writer.

At Montalto with Michael Williams, Goldsmith discusses her latest novel and her body of work.

Tony Birch is among Australia’s finest living writers. A poet, activist and academic, as well as an acclaimed novelist and short-story writer, Birch’s writing is concerned with Australians, especially Indigenous Australians, living life on the fringes. He writes, too, about the dark shadow cast by the state in the everyday lives of marginalised people.

In 2017, he became the first Aboriginal writer to win the Patrick White Award, in recognition of his invaluable body of work, including the novels Blood and Ghost River and the short-story collections, Common People and The Promise. His new book, The White Girl, is about the Stolen Generations, set in 1960s rural Australia. It’s the story of Odette, and her fair-skinned granddaughter, who she must protect from authorities at all costs.

At Montalto, he joins Michael Williams for a conversation about writing, research and the politics of prejudice – then and now.

One Hundred Years of Dirt – Rick Morton’s unflinching memoir – tells of growing up on a cattle station in Queensland: of witnessing a horrific accident befall his brother; his father’s alcoholism; his mother’s strength. It’s a story of poverty, drug addiction, cruelty, anger and tragedy; of love and endurance. The Age praised its ‘exquisite detail’; Christos Tsiolkas has described it as ‘honest and harsh and beautiful and loving’. 

At the heart of the book is the question of social mobility – and it’s a question asked in a time of unfavourable odds. Wealth inequality in Australia is growing. The highest 20% of income earners make five times as much of those in the lowest 20%. In this lowest 20%, we’re most likely to see people who are unemployed, single parents, those aged over 65, migrants from non-English speaking countries, and those living in rural and regional Australia. 

For many years, Morton was the social affairs writer for the Australian. One Hundred Years of Dirt blends Morton’s own story with reportage and social commentary on how these issues and stories play out every day across Australia. It is both a story of one man and one family, and a story of this country. 

In this discussion with Elizabeth McCarthy at Montalto, Morton shares the process of living and writing his story. Tune in for a discussion about hope and celebrating survival; the lessons we can learn about Australia, and the work we could do to challenge and change inequality.

Presented in partnership with Montalto.

Content note: This podcast episode contains some strong language, and mentions violence and child sexual abuse.

As the decade turns, The Show of the Year marks 2019 in style – with host Casey Bennetto and a glittering line-up of writers, comedians and musicians. Paul Kelly, Nath Valvo, Alice Bishop, Sista Zai Zanda, Margot Morales Tanjutco, Laura Jean, Alice Gorman, Evelyn Araluen, The Merindas, Brodie Lancaster, Louise Milligan and Bill Shorten share their thoughts on subjects as various as the decommissioning of the Opportunity Rover on Mars, the Tigers' premiership run, the death of Toni Morrison, The Masked Singer and the closure of Uluru to tourists.

Select an image to view in detail

Select an image to view in detail

What a year. Protests shook Hong Kong, the Amazon caught fire and children led a worldwide climate strike. Boris Johnson picked up the prime ministerial ball as it came loose from the back of the scrum, Scott Morrison baseball-capped his way back into government, and Trump impeachment talk turned to (some) action. 

We said goodbye to towering figures in literature and politics, including Toni Morrison, Bob Hawke, Les Murray, Clive James and Mary Oliver. And we farewelled meowing figures of the internet. (R.I.P. Grumpy Cat.)

There were the mandatory Big Cultural Moments, too: someone (no spoilers) finally won the Game of Thrones, Fleabag stormed the Emmys, and a Sydney real estate video went viral. Beyoncé came home, Fyre Festival blew up (again) and Lil Nas X shot to stardom via TikTok. Ah yes, how could we forget: TikTok.

Goodbye 2019 … we hardly knew ye!