Podcast
Final Draft - Great Conversations
Hosted by 2SER 107.3FM · EN
Great conversations with authors from Australia and around the world.
27episodes
Episodes
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Book Club - Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore
4d ago00:03:50Tap to summarizeCharlotte McConaghy is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the novels Wild Dark Shore, Once There Were Wolves, and Migrations. Wild Dark Shore is the Literary Fiction Book of the Year at THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS 2026. Shearwater Island has a dark history. Pillaged for its natural resources, the island saw the massacre of hundreds of thousands of whales, seals and penguins to prop up the energy needs of industrialising countries. Since those dark days the island has become a miracle of environmental renewal only to see itself threatened again by rising sea levels that could see it vanish forever. Rowan has risked everything to get to Shearwater Island, and the wildest storm in years may just claim that price. When she is dragged lifeless from the water she wakes to find herself in the middle of the Salt family, the last residents of the island. Dominic and his children are racing against the ocean to rescue the contents of Shearwater’s Seed Vault. It’s a noble mission but Rowan questions why the scientists and researchers would abandon it to a caretaker and his children. Everyone on Shearwater has secrets and trust is in short supply but Rowan must decide quickly whether hers are in direct conflict with Dominic and whatever he is keeping from her. Wild Dark Shore is a novel that confronts us with our humanity in the face of climate destruction. When Rowan arrives on Shearwater she finds a family fully immersed in the ecosystem of the island. Dom keeps the infrastructure running against all odds, much in the same way he desperately tries to keep his kids around him as a single dad. His eldest Raff struggles to understand how to be a man after living the last eight years on the island. Fen is more at home in the water and Orly has known nothing but the wilds of Shearwater his whole life. As Rowan struggles to know who to trust she must reconcile herself to the fact she is at their mercy. Can she discover the secret of Shearwater before it’s all too late. Wild Dark Shore makes much of its Gothic set up and wild setting. We are give a narrowed cast of characters in extremis and watch as they circle each other warily. With suspicion as a guiding principle we are offered the possibility of a dark heart whilst also shown the love and attention they carry for the island and it’s welfare. Even as the human drama plays out we are confronted with the broader ecological catastrophe that plagues not only the central characters but the wider world they are only superficially separated from. The grievances they carry against each other start to pale in comparison to the challenges they must face as the weather continues to change. I found this a satisfying read both for its central mystery but also for its dealing with feelings of hopelessness and climate grief. As we see more frequent and worsening natural disasters we are going to need books like Wild Dark Shore to help us work through how we might possibly understand our place in it all
Transcribe →Melissa Manning’s Frogsong
1w ago00:34:33Tap to summarizeThe 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.
Transcribe →Sam Elliott’s Haze
2w ago00:33:05Tap to summarizeThe 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. Sam Elliott is a writer and podcaster. He’s the host of ‘The Write Way’, and joins us today with his debut novel Haze. The fires ringing the town of Broughlet should be Constable Dahlia Turner’s main concern as she drives from house to house warning residents to evacuate. Instead the town’s people are threatening their own destruction as a local industrialist clashes with a secretive church in the hills. Now Dahlia has found the bodies of her two closest friends in the wreckage of their home, murdered. Their child is missing and the fires are drawing closer. 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.
Transcribe →Emily Gale’s The Wild Unknown
3w ago00:33:41Tap to summarizeThe 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. Emily has worked in the children’s book industry for over 25 years. Her writing includes I Am Out With Lanterns (2018), Elsewhere Girls (2021) and Outlaw Girls (2024). Emily is joining us with her new novel The Wild Unknown Eddie’s not looking forward to the changes that will come in the lead up to high school. When a local boy goes missing it’s the perfect distraction as Eddie and his best friend Kit decide they could succeed where the police haven’t and start their own investigation. Despite finding some clues and a weird fossil down by the river their investigation is going nowhere. Except now Kit’s fallen ill and strange things are happening with Eddie’s body… 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.
Transcribe →Brendan Colley’s The Season for Flying Saucers
4w ago00:48:45Tap to summarizeThe 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. Brendan Colley’s first novel The Signal Line won the Unpublished Manuscript Prize in the 2019 Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Awards, and was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and The Age Book of the Year. Today Brendan joins us with his new novel The Season for Flying Saucers. When the lights appear on the first night of summer Hobart is abuzz. It’s shaping up to be a good season. Noah is skeptical. Life is spiraling more than a little for him; estranged from his family, his wife has left and he’s just been fired from his job. There’s really nothing to leave behind if they do come to get him. But weird has followed Noah ever since that night twelve years ago when they took his father, and this Season for Flying Saucers is shaping up to be a doozy. 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.
Transcribe →Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s Bugger
May 300:50:36Tap to summarizeThe 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. Michael Mohammed Ahmad is the founding director of Sweatshop Literacy Movement, the author of four novels, including The Lebs (2018) and The Other Half of You (2021), both shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. He’s also perhaps the most welcomed guest on Final Draft, where we first welcomed him around twelve years ago and have had many chats since. Today's show has a Content Warning for discussion of sexual abuse Lifeline's 24-hour telephone crisis line is available on 13 11 14 Bugger follows a day in the life of ten-year-old Hamoodi and explores the intersections of his vulnerability; within his school, within his family and within his own developing conception of self. 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.
Transcribe →Tim Ayliffe's Dark Desert Road
Apr 2300:30:30Tap to summarizeThe 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. Tim Ayliffe is a journalist and author. Tim is the author of the standalone novel, Dark Desert Road, and the ‘John Bailey’ series. 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.
Transcribe →Alan Fyfe’s The Cross Thieves
Apr 1600:34:50Tap to summarizeThe 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. Alan Fyfe is a maker of stories and poems who lives on unceded Noongar country. Alan’s joining us today with his new novel The Cross Thieves When his brother punched a wall and stalked off with a pair of scissors, Pell knew nothing good was coming but he followed Gark anyway. Now the brothers are on the run, hungry and carrying the metal cross of a man they’d sworn to kill. And the night is still young… 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.
Transcribe →Book Club - Gary Lonesborough’s Good Young Men
Apr 1200:03:46Tap to summarizeGary Lonesborough is a Yuin writer, whose young adult novels, The Boy from the Mish, We Didn't Think It Through, and I'm Not Really Here have been shortlisted for numerous awards. Gary’s latest novel is Good Young Men. Carraway’s Point is an idyllic coastal destination. Kallum, Jordy, Dylan and Brandon grew up together on Chopin Drive, a ready made friendship group. Fast forward eight years. The boys are staring down the end of high school. Well not all of them. Brandon was shot and killed by police and the upcoming trial has them all on edge because they know the public think this is just another death of an Aboriginal person in custody, but the boys know their friend better than that. While the community braces for the trial, the boys must deal not only with the possibility that Brandon might not receive justice, but what that means for themselves and their lives moving forward. They are no strangers to racism but now it is becoming as ugly and as dangerous as they have ever experienced it. Kallum only just returned to Carrway’s Point. He’s been expelled from his fancy Sydney boarding school and lost his football scholarship. There’s something more though. Kallum isn’t sure if he can trust anyone with the real reason he was expelled. Jordy’s happier since he’s come out but that doesn’t mean his whole life is easy. Since his mum died his dad has seemed lost and so Jordy’s had to act more like a dad to his little brother and sister. Dylan’s just struggling. He was the only witness when Brandon was killed. He’s missing his mate and scared to death of what it might mean if he testifies. It’s barely left him any time to think about life beyond high school, but he’s got dreams just like everyone else. Good Young Men is told across three narrative arcs; one for each of the boys. This allows the story of each character to build, while mingling the competing visions each of the boys has of the other. While we are assured the boys were fast friends in primary school we can see how they have grown apart, trading mateship for belonging as cliques become as important as closeness. The novel works carefully to balance the boys' experiences of high school, home life, and the future. We are given each boy, and their family through multiple lenses and our understanding of the community is deeper for it. For example we see Kallum’s fraught relationship with his family since losing his footy scholarship. His dad’s taking it hard, redoubling his efforts to get Kallum a first grade trial, while his mum wants to welcome her son back home. Kallum’s mum is also police though and so her character within the family looks very different when seen through Dylan whose trauma runs deep. This is a tremendous ensemble cast and it manages well the everyday world of teenage identity against the backdrop of racism and the broader sense that the trial of Brandon’s killer offers no long term solution for the racism the boys face. I’d heard a lot of good things about Gary Lonesborough’s writing and now that I’ve had a read I can confidently say it’s all true.
Transcribe →Emily Lighezzolo’s Life Drawing
Apr 1000:35:03Tap to summarizeThe 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. Emily Lighezzolo is a publishing industry professional. She has won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer at the Queensland Literary Awards and is joining us today with her debut novel, Life Drawing. Charlie’s moved to Brisbane for uni. He barely knows anyone and it’s not helping that one of his new housemates is the model he’s been sketching in his life drawing class. Maisie’s the heart of the house. People like to think they know her. Maybe too many people think they know her too well. But the parts Maisie keeps hidden are so deep most don’t even suspect they’re there. As Maisie and Charlie circle each other’s worlds they will try to understand whether, hypothetically, they might go well together… 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.
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