Melbourne-based writer Kate Grenville is a long-time favourite among readers. She’s the author of the international bestseller The Secret River, and other novels including Sarah Thornhill, Lilian’s Story, Dark Places and The Idea of Perfection.

Grenville has spent almost a decade focussed on non-fiction. One Life offered an intimate account of her mother’s life; The Case Against Fragrance investigated the allure, affect and health risks of synthetic scents.

A Room Made of Leaves marks the author’s return to the novel form. It’s a work of historical fiction posing as a memoir written by Elizabeth Macarthur – wife of John Macarthur, the notorious Second Fleet settler and wool baron of early Sydney. Moving between fact and fiction, Grenville uses Macarthur’s story to unravel common notions of women of the past – and to delve into the attraction of false stories.

In conversation with Larissa Behrendt, Grenville talks about the book, her writing and her career.

Presented in partnership with Macedon Ranges Shire Council.

'We always talk about daddy issues for women … I think that mommy issues for women is so much bigger, specifically when it comes to desire.'

Lisa Taddeo

'With the #MeToo movement right now, we are finally saying what we don't want as a gender,' Lisa Taddeo has said. 'But we are still not talking about what we do want.' 

Taddeo's bestselling book, Three Women, is all about what women want. It's a work of immersive non-fiction, telling the intimate true stories of three American women, and of how their sexual desires have been shaped, distorted, fulfilled and exploited. 

Described on NPR as 'a work of deep observation, long conversations, and a kind of journalistic alchemy', Three Women took Taddeo eight years to write. She travelled across the country to be near her subjects for months at a time, to learn about their lives and their personal histories. 

With its focus on power, judgement, shame and infatuation, the book has become an international bestseller, sparking impassioned discussion and debate. How do we surprise and disturb others – and ourselves – with what we want? How are our desires deeply idiosyncratic and how are they universal?

In this podcast-only conversation – originally slated to be held in May, in partnership with Sydney Writers' Festival – Taddeo discusses these ideas and more with Sophie Black.

Sally Warhaft and Kevin Rudd, live via video-link

What are the origins of COVID-19? How could the pandemic’s spread have been better contained? These are fraught and complex questions – and finding the right forum to ask them is a diplomatic minefield. How will Australia's call for a World Health Assembly investigation affect our relationship with China and other major global players? And how is the world's diplomatic and economic order being reshaped in the midst of the crisis – and of governments' widely varying responses?

Kevin Rudd joins Sally Warhaft for a live-streamed Fifth Estate discussion of these questions and more. As president of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, a former Australian diplomat in China, and, of course, our former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Rudd shares his reflections on diplomacy and governance, his insights into how the pandemic is likely to alter international relations, and his thoughts on how Australia can continue to manage the far-reaching economic and political impacts of COVID-19.