jennifer down

Literary fiction is good at the hard stuff – grief, pain and conflict - but what about the books that make you feel good? Authors Joan Silber, Toni Jordan and Andy Weir bring joy to The Book Show for ABC Arts Week, talking about the radical act of writing optimistic fiction. You'll also hear from Richard Ford, Douglas Stuart, Jennifer Down, Anita Heiss, Marlon James and Monica Ali.

Ruth Ozeki, Shehan Karunatilaka and Jennifer Down share the backstory to their award winning books.

Reviewing the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award winner, Jennifer Down's Bodies of Light, and shortlist with theatre writer Tom Wright and literary critic and interviewer Nicole Abadee

Ahead of the announcement of the winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia's most prestigious book prize, join the shortlisted authors Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Michelle De Kretser, Jennifer Down, Alice Pung and Michael Winkler to find out about their writing rituals, the importance of place in their fiction and how their novels speak to Australia now.

Jennifer Down doesn't turn away from uncomfortable truths in her Stella Prize shortlisted novel, Bodies of Light, about the systemic failures of the residential and foster care systems in the 70s and 80s. Also, we revisit our interview with Jonathan Franzen who talks about faith and family, which are two themes in his latest book, Crossroads.

On the significance of English writer D H Lawrence and Alison MacLeod's novel, Tenderness; and reading Australian novels Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down and Hannah Bent's When Things Are Alive they Hum; with guests Patrick Carey and Assoc Prof Fiona Morrison