Sydney Writers' Festival 2026 - Day One

Thursday 21 May 2026 was my first full day at SWF2026. 

Back to Back Barries

Before getting into the main event, I stopped by the live recording of The Guardian's Back to Back Barries podcast. I love journalist Barrie Cassidy (Sundays aren't the same since he left Insiders!) and it was delightful to see him again, with his co-host Tony Barry.

They started the discussion with the media and public response to the Federal budget, with confusing polling data which shows an overall disapproval of the budget, yet overwhelming approval for individual initiatives. The Barries talked about how it is easier to break a promise of something you say you will do than something you say you won't do. 

The conversation shifted to the rise of One Nation and how the party is cannibalising votes. People are misreading the One Nation voter according to the Barries. They are tapping into dissatisfaction with the main parties but are not single issue voters as previously. There was also a consensus that Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will likely not make the next election and that Tony Abbott, if appointed leader of the administrative branch, would take the spotlight.

It was an interesting conversation and a reminder that I need to listen to their podcast more often.

Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry

The Future of Democracy: Fighting Authoritarianism with AC Grayling 

I love AC Grayling. The last time I saw him in person was the 2016 Festival of Dangerous Ideas, but I have followed his work with great interest. I was keen to attend this session as he has just written the book For the People: Fighting Authoritarianism and Saving Democracy (2025).

Grayling's session was moderated by one of my favourite writers, journalist Nick Bryant. His book The Forever War (2024) offered great insight into American political history and the fragility of its democracy.

Grayling began with a twenty minute talk about the rise of democracy in the 20th century, how things began to shift, and how today authoritarian states outnumber democracies. He says that for democracy to thrive there needs to be civil liberties, engaged voters and an independent judiciary. These pillars can get in the way of a leader's agenda. While democracies are noisy and messy, he argues that tyrannies are silent. Factionalism and party politics has invaded democratic governments around the world. But there is a remedy. Grayling went on to talk about Plato and Aristotle and the need for good, independent institutions - courts, public service, and universities. 

After his speech, Grayling sat down with Nick Bryant and constitutional lawyer Rosalind Dixon for an excellent chat. They spoke about the influence of corporations on politics and while capitalism has lifted a billion people out of poverty, corporate greed has led to the predatory behaviour of bad actors encouraging bad policy. There was discussion about how authoritarianism seems contagious but the antidote isn't. The panel also discussed the different systems of voting which enhance democracy and the flawed systems which inhibit this. 

After the session I went to the book signing and had a great conversation with Nick Bryant while he signed a copy of The Forever War.

Nick Bryant, Rosalind Dixon and A C Grayling

Secrets of The Lodge

With a gap before my next session, I wandered down to Bay 24 to see the free session called 'Secrets of the Lodge'. The panel featured journalists Amy Remeikis, Niki Savva, Troy Bramston, Sean Kelly and Margot Saville all of whom have spent time in the Canberra press gallery. The shared delicious tidbits of various Prime Ministers. For example, Bob Hawke regularly held poker games with politicians and journalists. Apparently he was also often nude. This was a fun, light-hearted session.

Troy Bramston, Amy Remeikis, Sean Kelly, Niki Savva, Margot Saville

Heather Rose: A Great Act of Love

Next up, I was off to hear Tasmanian author Heather Rose speak about her latest novel, A Great Act of Love (2025). I read this in the lead up to the Festival and was keen to hear more about the inspiration behind the story.  The session began with Rose reading the first few pages of the novel. She then spoke about how her sister was exploring their family's ancestry and investigating scraps of family lore, like a link to French nobility, and the death of someone who fell over Niagara Falls. Digging into these tales, she based the characters Jacques-Louis and Caroline on  her ancestors. 

I have great admiration for Heather Rose as a writer. Her novel The Museum of Modern Love (2016) is wonderful and I love the way she genre hops. Session facilitator Melanie Kembrey asked about her writing process and she described the volumes of research she does for all her work. For A Great Act of Love she spent a lot of time researching champagne making, reading Adam Smith and Issacson's biography of Benjamin Franklin, and re-reading Bronte to get the language of the time. 

Heather Rose and Melanie Kembrey

Tayari Jones: Kin

I am a huge fan of Tayari Jones. Her Women's Prize-winning novel An American Marriage (2018) was my  favourite read in 2019. Jones' most recent novel Kin (2026) is such a beautiful tale of friendship and family, so I was keen to hear her speak about this excellent book. Having never seen or heard her being interviewed before, I was delighted to hear her interviewed by Shankari Chandran.

Jones spoke about the friendship at the core of this novel and believes it to be a tale of loving those closest to you. She spoke about the challenges she had writing and the gap she took after her previous novel. She explained how she felt like the world was on fire and that it is a luxury to tell a story. In writing Kin, she had not planned the novel out as she did in her previous works and had anticipated the tale of Niecy and Annie to be preamble to a more modern story. But she became so invested in these girls and had to share their story. 

After the session I was able to meet Tayari and have her sign copies of her earlier works - Leaving Atlanta and Silver Sparrow - and talk with her about her travels in Australia. She is a delightful woman and I really enjoyed this session.

Shankari Chandran and Tayari Jones

Bringing The Past To Life

This panel brought together Yann Martel (Son of Nobody), Robbie Arnott (Dusk), Tasma Walton (I Am Nannertgarrook) in conversation with Kate Evans (ABC Radio National). I have not yet read the books these authors were discussing so was keen to learn more.

Tasma Walton's I Am Nannertgarrook is an attempt to correct a record on her family's story. For a long time it had been presented that her ancestor Nannertgarrook was wooed by a merchant seaman and ran off with him. But accessing historical records and digging a little deeper showed that this was no romantic love story - he was actually a brutal sealer who kidnapped her and took her away from her family. Walton wrote this novel in first person, often using the language of her people. She spoke of how colonists came to 'civilise' the land but did so with brutality and inhumanity. 

Canadian author Yann Martel's Son of Nobody came to him as he recently read Homer. He had read many retellings but not the source material. The retellings sparked his imagination and he recalls a childhood full of ancient myths. Son of Nobody is horizontally divided with the top half featuring tales of the Trojan Horse and the bottom half the footnotes of a scholar. Martel said that in researching his book he went to Mycenae, Argos and other places to get a sense of the landscape and where these tales originated.

Robbie Arnott described is novel Dusk as a Western set in the 1870s. Twins Iris and Floyd are children of bushrangers who go to a remote part of Tasmania to hunt a puma named Dusk for the bounty. Arnott says that he starts with place when writing, followed by characters and then plot. He likes to capture the feel of a place rather than an exact photo replica. 

The trio spoke about myths, fables and dreamtime stories and also about animals that appear in their books. Martel's best known work, The Life of Pi, features a tiger (among other animals) and he spoke about how animals are great vessels for storytelling as we can project symbols on to the animals. Arnott agreed and thought books should not be limited to a human point of view. 

After this interesting session I was able to meet all three authors and get books signed. I purchased a copy of Tasma Walton's book as it sounds like a fascinating tale.  

Kate Evans, Robbie Arnott, Yann Martel, Tasma Walton

David Szalay: Flesh

Canadian-Hungarian author David Szalay won the Booker Prize last year for his novel Flesh (2025). I read this in the lead up to the festival and was absolutely engrossed in this tale of a man of few words. Having not heard Szalay speak before, I was intrigued to see if he was as restrained as his character Ishtvan. Session facilitator, award winning author Michelle de Krester, joked at the outset about how she was worried that all questions would be answered with 'okay'.

Szalay is nothing like Ishtvan. Rather he is warm, humorous and erudite. De Krester and he spoke about how he made a deliberate choice to not tell the reader how to read the book. He just presents situations in a detached or neutral way. Szalay spoke about how people in novels are unreliably articulate, so he wanted to envisage characters not as groups of minds but as groups of bodies. 

They spoke about structure, sparseness, the time jumps and the physicality of life. They also discussed some of Szalay's other work like All That Man Is. This was a great session and I am glad I read the book prior to attending. After the session I met Szalay and he signed my copy of Flesh for me.

Michelle de Krester and David Szalay

And that was my first full day at the 2026 Sydney Writers' Festival.

Book Signings

Tayari Jones

Books signed by authors today:

• Robbie Arnott - Limberlost
• Nick Bryant - The Forever War
• Tayari Jones - Leaving Atlanta and Silver Sparrow
• Yann Martell - Life of Pi (for my collection of signed Booker Prize winners)
• David Szalay - Flesh (for my Booker collection)
• Tasma Walton - I Am Nannertgarrock 

My SWF2026 Experience

Read more about my time at SWF2026 here:

• Early Sessions - Lorena Allam, Robbie Arnott, Avani Dias, Lyse Doucet, Anton Enus, Nikita Gill, Lily King, Kate McClymont, Michael Pedersen, and Patrick Radden Keefe.
• Day One - Robbie Arnott, Nick Bryant, Barrie Cassidy, Rosalind Dixon, AC Grayling, Tayari Jones, Yann Martel, Amy Remeikis, Niki Savva, David Szalay, Tasma Walton
• Day Two - Michael Mohammed Ahmed, Matt Alt, Jacinda Ardern, Rebecca Armitage, Susan Choi, Bora Chung, Roddy Doyle, Mariana Enriquez, Kate Evans, Mick Herron, Florence Knapp, Yann Martel, Charlotte McConaghy, Suzie Miller, David Szalay, and Charlotte Wood.
• Day Three - Randa Abdel-Fattah, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Roddy Doyle, Kate Evans, Jan Fran, Lev Grossman, RF Kuang, Antoinette Lattouf, Dervla McTiernan, Garth Nix, Hayley Scrivenor.
• Day Four - Michael Bennett, Tony Birch, Troy Bramston, Shankar Chandran, SA Crosby, Chris Hammer, Mick Herron, Fran Kelly, Sisonke Msimang, Ben Quilty, Amy Remeikis, Hayley Scrivenor, Amy Thunig-McGregor, Jack Toohey, Michael Williams.

Sydney Writers' Festival 2026 - Early Sessions

Having missed the past two Sydney Writers' Festivals (2024 and 2025) as they clashed with my overseas travel, I was desperate to get back to this world of books and writers that I love so much. 

The 2026 program was released in March and I quickly purchased tickets to sessions spanning six days during which I will be seeing a wide range of authors including: Randa Abedel-Fattah; Jacinda Ardern; Robbie Arnott; Tony Birch; Nick Bryant; Shannon Chandran; Susan Choi; Roddy Doyle; Mariana Enriquez; AC Grayling; Lev Grossman; Chris Hammer; Mick Herron; Tayari Jones; Lily King; RF Kuang; Antoinette Lattouf; Yann Martel; Kate McClymont; Charlotte McConaghy; Dervla McTiernan; Suzie Miller; Amy Remeikis; Heather Rose; Niki Savva; David Szalay; Tasma Walton and Charlotte Wood. What fun!

I have taken some time off work, packed some snacks, and have switched into book-nerd mode. Over the coming days I will publish a series of posts about my time at the festival, starting here with the early sessions I attended on 19 and 20 May 2026.

The Story That Changed My Life

I am kicking off SWF2026 with a session with acclaimed journalists - Kate McClymont (SMH/The Age), Anton Enus (SBS World News), Avani Dias (ABC Four Corners), Lyse Doucet (BBC), Lorena Allam (The Guardian) and Patrick Radden Keefe (The New Yorker) - speaking about the stories that transformed their careers.

Kate McClymont

Kate McClymont's story that changed her life was about street poles in Sydney. It was back in 1999 and there was a contract to design and manufacture street poles for the City of Sydney Council. Two engineers told McClymont that they has been approached by sons of Member of NSW Parliament Eddie Obeid and told that they would ensure they got the Olympic contract if the Obeid's got the pole contract. It sounded dodgy so McClymont started investigating this. She soon uncovered widespread corruption and spent the next decade or so writing stories about the disgraced Obeid, despite the defamation suits, intimidation and threats. Her career as a journalist flourished, all thanks to a seemingly innocuous story about street poles. 

Avani Dias

Avani Dias was stationed in India as ABC's Bureau Chief from 2021-2024. There she filed stories on the Modi government, which outwardly claimed to be democratic, but was actually clamping down on free speech and silencing journalists. After reporting on the alleged assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh (which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed was a state sanctioned assassination), Dias faced intimidation by the Modi government. She had her passport flagged and was told her press credentials and visa would not be renewed. Dias spoke passionately about the importance of a free press and the attempts to silence the media both overtly through bullying and arrest and more subtly through intimidation. 

Lyse Doucet

Canadian journalist Lyse Doucet was a dynamic presence, choosing to walk about the stage rather than speak from the podium. She spoke about 'the angels of journalism' who helped guide her career, from a young reporter in Africa to eventually being stationed in Afghanistan for the BBC. She was animated, humorous and distinctly Canadian! I enjoyed her insights to the challenges of working as a foreign correspondent, especially in countries which are not friendly to journalists or women. Her most recent book - The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan - has been shortlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction. 

Anton Enus

Anton Enus grew up in South Africa during apartheid. His early years as a journalist were spent covering the uprisings and massacres. He described reporting from massacres and how they became so commonplace that some of his fellow journalists became numbed to the brutality. He spoke of an elderly woman who had lost her loved ones and how here was a woman who was already dispossessed and downtrodden and then destroyed by violence. Enus described the excellent producers he had which stressed the importance of their work and the need for truth in story telling. He also recommended some excellent books on this time in Africa. 

Lorena Allam

Lorena Allam described her work at the Guardian on The Killing Times - a project mapping and uncovering Colonial Frontier War massacres. Working with University of Newcastle researchers, Allam helped uncover the stories of massacres by colonists and the Native Police, and documented stories of their descendants. This is an important work of truth-telling and reconciliation. Allam is descended from the Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay people, and has recently been appointed as a Professor in Truth-Telling Research at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney. 

Patrick Radden Keefe

I was super excited to hear from Patrick Radden Keefe as I have just finished his brilliant book London Falling (2026).  Radden Keefe wanted to be a journalist since he was a teenager, and after many rejection letters from The New Yorker, he was eventually given a job. He was asked to wrote a long-form piece on the Amy Bishop case, where Bishop had been denied tenure at the University of Alabama and so pulled out a gun and shot six of her colleagues, killing three. Radden Keefe was not so interested in the mass shooting, which are unfortunately commonplace in America, but he soon learned there was more to this case and that Bishop had shot and killed someone before. His story was published on 3 February 2013 in as 'A Loaded Gun'. He explained that this story taught him a lot about the craft of journalism and about human nature, and the lessons he learned have carried him throughout his career. 

Overall, a brilliant panel to start my SWF2026!

Patrick Radden Keefe, Anton Enus, Lorena Allam,
Lyse Douset, Kate McClymont, Avani Dias

Show Me The Truth Gala

The theme for SWF2026 is 'Show Me The Truth'. This gala featured incredible storytellers - Robbie Arnott (Dusk, Limberlost), Nikita Gill (Hekate), Lily King (Heart the Lover), Scottish poet Michael Pederson (Muckle Flugga) - along with Kirli Saunders of Cooee music. Each spoke about how writers distil the truth in a world of misinformation. 

Yvonne Weldon AM

What a wonderful opening event! It began with a stirring Welcome to Country by Yvonne Weldon AM, the first Aboriginal Council member in the City of Sydney. Weldon spoke of reconciliation and the role each of us play in bringing people together. She also spoke of the controversy around Welcome to Country and the misunderstanding some in the community have about its purpose. 

Tania Brown and Kirli Saunders as Cooee

The session then started with a performance by Cooee, where Kirli Saunders' poetry has been put to music. Accompanied by Tania Bowra on guitar, Saunders sang two songs about displacement and femicide. They were really moving. Saunders then spoke about truth in a fascinating way - beginning by listing all the depressing topics in our news feeds - war, genocide, rising costs, homelessness, domestic violence, poorly behaved leaders - and how putting the phone down and getting outside is the tonic. She spoke of connecting with country and with ourselves. She then delivered a wonderful poem/story in both her language and the 'colonial tongue' which was so moving. I had not known of her beforehand, but definitely want to check out her collections of poetry.

Michael Pedersen

Scottish author Michael Pedersen then spoke his truth about friendship. He was delightfully witty, and with his thick Scottish accent I am sure only a handful of us understood him fully. He spoke of the sudden loss of his friend Scott and how this has made him double down on friendship. He spoke of the differences between male and female friendships, and how lonely life can be without friends. It was a timely reminder of the need to keep in touch with loved ones and not take friends for granted.

Robbie Arnott

Next up was Tasmanian author Robbie Arnott. He spoke the truth about colonial Tasmanian history, the devastation faced by First Nations people and the damage done by British soldiers. He contrasted the story children have been taught in schools with the facts about the frontier wars.  In among this history lesson, he shared some other truths - like about his sister's ex-boyfriend 'Terrible Nathan', taking a European woman on a date to a cinema in Hobart, and how to correctly pronounce Launceston. I loved his quip about how he promised to share truths, but did not promise they would all be interesting!  

Lily King

American author Lily King spoke about how she lives in a land where truth is hard to find. She spoke of the devastating impact of the current administration and how people live in constant fear. The corruption, divisiveness and open hostility is unbearable. King spoke about the impact of this on her writing and how she believes that authors need to be the truth tellers. Along the way she spoke about her recent best-seller - the brilliant Heart the Lover - and how she had previously attempted to write a political thriller. King's truth was heartfelt and a reminder of how we must preserve our democracy and protect it against divisive political forces. 

Nikita Gill

Finally, Irish-Indian poet and playwright Nikita Gill took the stage and spoke her truth. What resonated for me from Gill's session was a conversation she had with her grandfather before he died, where he asked her what her legacy would be. She attempted to answer and he stopped her, saying she should 'let things percolate' before rushing to answer. Wise advice.  I am interested in checking out her verse novel Hekate. 

I didn't know what to expect from this session, but I am so glad I went. It was joyous, uplifting evening full of interesting ideas. I cannot wait to spend the next few days immersed in this world of thought-provoking, creative minds.

Kirli Saunders, Tania Brown, Nikita Gill, Lily King,
Michael Pedersen, Robbie Arnott, Anne Mossop (SWF Artistic Director)

My SWF2026 Experience

Read more about my time at SWF2026 here:

• Early Sessions - Lorena Allam, Robbie Arnott, Avani Dias, Lyse Doucet, Anton Enus, Nikita Gill, Lily King, Kate McClymont, Michael Pedersen, and Patrick Radden Keefe.
• Day One - Robbie Arnott, Nick Bryant, Barrie Cassidy, Rosalind Dixon, AC Grayling, Tayari Jones, Yann Martel, Amy Remeikis, Niki Savva, David Szalay, Tasma Walton
• Day Two - Michael Mohammed Ahmed, Matt Alt, Jacinda Ardern, Rebecca Armitage, Susan Choi, Bora Chung, Roddy Doyle, Mariana Enriquez, Kate Evans, Mick Herron, Yann Martel, Charlotte McConaghy, Suzie Miller, David Szalay, and Charlotte Wood.
• Day Three - Randa Abdel-Fattah, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Roddy Doyle, Kate Evans, Jan Fran, Lev Grossman, RF Kuang, Antoinette Lattouf, Dervla McTiernan, Garth Nix, Hayley Scrivenor.
• Day Four - Michael Bennett, Tony Birch, Troy Bramston, Shankar Chandran, SA Crosby, Chris Hammer, Mick Herron, Fran Kelly, Sisonke Msimang, Ben Quilty, Amy Remeikis, Hayley Scrivenor, Amy Thunig-McGregor, Jack Toohey, Michael Williams.

Off the Tracks

Photo by Studio Levy

On 22 October 1895 the Granville-Paris Express train crashed through the station wall at the Gare Montparnasse, plummeting on to the street below. The train was running late so the driver was speeding, and the air brake failed. Miraculously all 131 passengers on board survived, but a woman on the street was killed when the building collapsed on her. An inquest after the crash found the driver and a guard at fault, issuing fines and suspended jail sentences. The crash was captured in famous photographs which showed the wreckage moments after the incident.  This photograph inspired award winning author Emma Donoghue's historic novel The Paris Express (2025).

The story begins in Granville as the crew readies the Engine 721 for departure and the passengers prepare to board. We are introduced to the various people about to take this fateful journey. The passengers are split into first, second and third class carriages giving insight into the social divisions. Among the passengers is Mado, an angry young revolutionary who wants to make her mark by committing an act to further her cause. There is an elderly Russian woman, an American painter, a secretary who wants to make films, an Irish playwright, a pregnant woman and many others. We also meet the guards and the drivers who toil to ensure the train runs on time. As the journey progresses we learn more about each of these characters through their interactions with one another.

At first I found this story quite slow and difficult to engage with. There were too many characters  - about a dozen storylines - which were initially hard to keep track of. At one point I contemplated getting off this train. However, as the journey gained momentum I found myself drawn in and connecting with the story. While I knew the train would crash, it was a nail biting finish. 

Donoghue's writing is beautifully evocative. She has structured the novel to resemble the train timetable and his filled the story with information from the period, showing her comprehensive research skills. In the afterword she provides information about the real passengers she has fictionalised and the other historic figures she has imagined on the journey. This made me appreciate Donoghue's work even more. While I cannot say I loved this book, I certainly admired the effort and found the second half of it quite gripping.

Carols Shields Prize Winner 2026

On 2 June 2026 the winner of the 2026 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction was announced. From the five shortlisted novels vying for this prize, the winner is Julia Elliott for Hellions 

Hellions is a collection of short stories which feature a nun working on a mystic manuscript, a child with a pet alligator, a girl with unexpected power, a group of children with supernatural talents and much more. 

The jury' citation is as follows:

"This eerie, eclectic, genre-leaping collection takes no half-measures; every sentence of Hellions crackles or crawls. Here, human folly moves against a backdrop of horror and magic. There’s folklore in these stories, and Southern gothic horror, and surrealism, and fantasy, and, at their center, a thread of uneasy, bodily realism. The work evokes writers like Angela Carter, Dorothy Allison, Gloria Naylor, and Kelly Link. But for all its wildness, there is tremendous control; Elliott is a gifted and thrilling write"

Julia Elliot is an American author who teaches at the University of South Carolina. She is the author of another collection of short stories The Wilds (2014), and the novel The New and Improved Romie Futch (2015).

I thought that either Sonja Walger (Lion) or Megha Majumdar (A Guardian and a Thief) might win this prize, and had hoped that Lee Lai would win for Cannon, after having won the 2026 Stella Prize.

The winner receives $150,000 USD while the four shortlisted finalists receive $12,500 each. 

Revisiting Homer's Odyssey

Back in the 1990s I became slightly obsessed with ancient Greek literature and purchased beautifully bound copies of The Odyssey and The Iliad translated by Robert Fagles. I read these epic poems with their tales of triumph and tragedy in war. Both works have been foundational to my interest in art and drama, and have enhanced my reading of modern literature. 

More recently I have been interested in feminist retellings of these ancient tales, with authors centring women's voices that were sidelined in the original. From Madeline Miller's Circe (2018) and Song of Achilles (2011), to Pat Baker's Women of Troy trilogy (2018-2024), alongside works by Jennifer Saint, Natalie Haynes, Costanza Casati Margaret Atwood and countless others, these works have reignited my interest in the stories. 

With Christopher Nolan's epic film of The Odyssey due for release in July 2026, I thought it might be worth reacquainting myself with the original. For this re-read, I chose the 2017 version translated by Emily Wilson, to read alongside the audiobook performed by Claire Danes.

The story is well known. Odysseus, King of Ithaca, has been gone for over a decade off to fight in the Trojan War. Back home, his wife Penelope is hounded by suitors and her son Telemachus is frustrated by not knowing what has become of his beloved father. The Goddess Athena encourages Telemachus to leave Ithaca in search of information about his father. He travels to meet with Nestor and then Menelaus, who share information about Odysseus voyage home. 

As Odysseus and his crew sailed home from Troy, he faced many perils. His craft was destroyed in a storm sent by Poseidon, he battled a cyclops, he became enthralled by Circe, his sailors were lured by the Sirens, he then had to battle the monster Scylla, before being captured by the nymph Calypso. When he eventually makes it back home, he performs a series of tests to prove his identity and has to vanquish the suitors who have come to take his place. 

As I read the Wilson translation I occasionally got out my Fagles translation to compare the two versions. While I enjoyed the Fagles when I initially read it, my sense is that the Wilson translation is more accessible for modern readers. 

This is such a great story and I am so pleased to have re-read it. I still have a stack of retellings to enjoy and re-reading Homer will make them more meaningful. I am also keen to re-read The Iliad to refresh my memory. 

The Quiet Life

One of the novels I was most looking forward to this year was Tana French's The Keeper (2026), the final instalment in her Cal Hooper trilogy. Like The Searcher (2020) and The Hunter (2024), The Keeper is a slow-burning crime thriller. 

Retired Chicago police detective Cal Hooper is living a quiet life in Ardnakelty, Ireland. His spends his time fixing up his ramshackle home, sitting by the fire with his fiancé Lena Dunne, and woodworking with teenage Trey Reddy. Trey is growing up and finding her way in the world, while Cal and Lena are navigating shifts in their relationship. Other than occasional gatherings at the local pub with his neighbours, or trips to the local shops, Cal keeps to himself. When a local girl, Rachel Holohan, goes missing and is found dead, the community is divided. Did she take her own life, was it an accident, or was she killed? Everyone in the townland has a view on this, and many think it has something to do with the Moynihans, a powerful family that has been buying up land in the area to build a factory. Rumours abound, and while Cal wants to stay out of it, he cannot as the gossip now includes Lena and him.

French has captured the fictional community so vividly, with its multi-generational, layered history, that it is easy to see how rumours are traded as currency. Placing an outsider like Cal into this town helps to explain the intricacies of this community, and how they double-down to protect their own. 

 

I loved this trilogy. I often read fast-paced, page turning crime thrillers, but appreciated Tana French's skill as a writer that she was able to make a gripping thriller by slowing down the pace.  I strongly recommend reading the series in order. While I am sad this trilogy is over, I am wholly satisfied and delighted to know French's Dublin Murder Squad series is waiting for me!

Orwell Prize Finalists 2026

The Orwell Foundation, named for writer George Orwell, presents prizes each year to celebrate political writing. There are various categories, but the ones I am most interested in are the prizes for political writing and political fiction.  Previous winners have included:

• Patrick Radden Keefe - Say Nothing (2019 Political Writing Book Prize)
• Peter Apps - Show Me The Bodies - How We Let Grenfell Happen (2023 Political Writing Book Prize)
• Hisham Matar - My Friends (2024 Political Fiction Book Prize)
• Claire Keegan - Small Things Like These (2022 Political Fiction Book Prize)
• Colson Whitehead - The Nickel Boys (2020 Political Fiction Book Prize)

This year's finalists are:

2026 Political Writing Book Prize Finalists

• Karen Bartlett - The Escape From Kabul
• Omer Bartov - Israel: What Went Wrong?
• Sam Dalrymple - Shattered Lands
• Nilo Tabrizy & Fatemeh Jamalpour - For the Sun After Long Nights
• Andrey Kurkov - Three Years on Fire
• Yi-Ling Liu - The Wall Dancers
• Nicolas Niarchos - The Elements of Power
• Antonia Senior - Stalin's Apostles

2026 Political Fiction Book Prize Finalists

• Tahmima Anam - Uprising
• Susan Choi - Flashlight
• I.O. Echeruo - The Comfort of Distant Stars
• Ben Lerner - Transcription
• Daniyal Mueenuddin - This is Where the Serpent Lives
• Liadan Ní Chuinn - Every One Still Here
• Douglas Stuart - John of John
• Stephanie Sy-Quia - A Private Man

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 25 June 2026 - George Orwell's birthday.

Poirot's Quest

The May selection for the Read Christie 2026 Challenge, 'Best Short Story Collection', is another Agatha Christie book I had never heard of - The Labours of Hercules (1947), the collection of tales featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. 

Poirot is on the verge of retirement. He meets Dr Burton, who jibes Hercule about his name and how he is nothing like his namesake, the Greek hero Hercules. Poirot claims he is unaware of this legend. After Burton departs, Poirot asks his secretary, Miss Lemon, to do some research into Hercules and he learns about the hero's Twelve Labours in which he was tasked to perform terrific feats such as slaying or capturing beasts, obtaining rare items or stealing. Poirot decides his final cases before retirement will align with these Labours.

His first case is the Nemean Lion, which Hercules had to slay despite the creature's impenetrable golden fur. In Poriot's adventure the lion is a yappy Pekinese dog named Shan-Tung that was kidnapped from a local park. Poirot soon discovers other dogs have been ransomed in a similar way and works to determine who is stealing the dogs and why. There is a twist in the tale as Poirot realises something larger is afoot. 

The stories continue with Poirot investigating: gossip undermining a local doctor (the Lyrnean Hydra); the disappearance of a maid (the Arcadian Deer); a gangster in the Swiss Alps (the Erymanthian Boar); a political scandal (the Augean Stables); blackmail (the Stymphalean Birds); a broken engagement (the Cretan Bull); drug addiction (the Horses of Diomedes); an art theft (the Girls of Hyppolita); a cult (the Flock of Geryon); an antique heist (the Apples of the Hesperides); and a drug ring (the Capture of the Cerebus).  

These are light-hearted tales which truncate the usual Christie style into short stories of the detective at work. While the stories are uneven in quality, the overall effect is very clever. Fans of Poirot will appreciate his familiar mannerisms and humour, and the unusual places he finds himself (like the London Tube). It is also great to see other characters - Chief Inspector Japp, Countess Rossakoff - make an appearance. For the most part, I really enjoyed this collection of stories. It is a good option for someone looking for a quick read. 

My reviews of other Christie novels are available on this blog: 

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)

Murder on the Links (1923)

Murder on the Orient Express (1934)

The Body in the Library (1942)

Mrs McGinty's Dead (1952) 

A Caribbean Mystery (1964) 

Dublin Literary Award Winner 2026

The Dublin Literary Award winner has been announced. From the 69 titles nominated in November 2025, to the longlist of 20 titles released in February 2026, a the shortlist of six books announced in April, the judges have now determined a winner. 

The winner of the 100,000 Euro prize is Ali Smith for Gliff.

Ali Smith is a multi-award winning Scottish author, best known for her Seasonal Quartet and Women's Prize winning How to Be Both. Her dystopian novel Gliff is a dystopian novel set in a world of high surveillance and environmental degradation. Two siblings flee an authoritarian state, escaping on a stolen horse named Gliff. 

In announcing the winner, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Ray McAdam said:

“Gliff is a remarkable and deeply powerful work from author Ali Smith. Through the eyes of two young protagonists navigating an increasingly authoritarian society, we are reminded that courage is not always loud, but it is always consequential. Their resilience, their humanity, and their refusal to surrender hope speak to something timeless within us all. At a moment when democracy across the world can too often feel fragile, this novel is a powerful reminder that freedom, dignity and democratic values should never be taken for granted.”

Congratulations Ali Smith!

Australian Book Industry Award Winners 2026

The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) were announced on Thursday 21 May 2026. These awards recognise books published in the preceding year. 

The Winners are:

• ABIA Book of the Year - Once I was a Giant by Zeno Sworder 
  
• 
  Audiobook of the Year - Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth; narrated by Hannah Fredericksen and Jenny Seedsman
• Biography Book of the Year - Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
• The John Marsden Book of the Year for Older Children (ages 13+) - Wandering Wild by Lynette Noni
• Book of the Year for Younger Children (ages 7–12) - Caution! This Book Contains Deadly Reptiles by Corey Tutt, illustrated by Ben Williams
• Children's Picture Book of the Year (ages 0–6) - Once I was a Giant by Zeno Sworder 
• General Fiction Book of the Year - Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth 
• General Non-Fiction Book of the Year - The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein 
• 
  Illustrated Book of the Year - The Art of Kaylene Whiskey: Do you believe in love? by Kaylene Whiskey and Natalie King 
• International Book of the Year - Heart the Lover by Lily King
• Literary Fiction Book of the Year - Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy 
• Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year - The Rot by Evelyn Araluen 
• Small Publishers' Children's Book of the Year - Sundays Under the Lemon Tree by Julia Busuttil Nishimura, illustrated by Myo Yim 
• Social Impact Book of the Year - A Piece of Red Cloth by Leonie Norrington, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga and Djawundil Maymuru 
• The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year - Melaleuca by Angie Faye Martin

This is a great list of titles. I look forward to reading Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks and Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth, which I may access as an audiobook given it has won for this award.

International Booker Prize Winner 2026

The International Booker Prize 2026 winner has been announced with the prestigious award going to Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi (translated by Lin King). 

In announcing the winner, Natasha Brown, Chair of the judges said: 

‘Can love overcome a power imbalance? Taiwan Travelogue, winner of the International Booker Prize 2026 teases out the nuances of this question against a backdrop of 1930s Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule.

‘Taiwan Travelogue follows Aoyama, a well-meaning author from Japan, and her Taiwanese interpreter, Chizuru, on a government-sponsored tour of Taiwan. From their first meeting, sparks fly between the two women. The power dynamics inherent to their burgeoning relationship, however, prove difficult to navigate. Chizuru is a cipher: enchanting, yet unknowable. She resists all of Aoyama’s efforts to pierce her carefully-constructed mask of professionalism.

‘This book doesn’t shy away from the complexities (both real and fictional) of its journey into the English language. Instead, it uses the hallmarks of a more traditional text – introductions, footnotes, afterwords – to wrap an intriguing metafictional layer around its core love story. Lin King’s deft translation perfectly conveys the nuances of the novel’s narrative voices.

‘Taiwan Travelogue pulls off an incredible double feat: it succeeds as both a romance and an incisive postcolonial novel. As judges, we’ve enjoyed rich discussions about the many layers of this book. It’s a captivating, slyly sophisticated novel.’

The prize awards £25,000 to the author and £25,000 to the translator, in recognition of the essential work of translators in bringing fiction to a wider audience. Congratulations to Yang Shuang-zi and Lin King!

Miles Franklin Award Longlist 2026

The Miles Franklin Award Longlist was announced this week. Arguably Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, the winner receives $60,000.

The Longlist of ten novels is as follows:

• Randa Abdel-Fattah - Discipline
• Dominic Amerena - I Want Everything 
• Lyn Dickens - Salt Upon the Water
• Toni Jordan - Tenderfoot
• Steve MinOn - First Name Second Name
• Konrad Muller - My Heart at Evening
• Omar Musa - Fierceland
• Josephine Rowe - Little World
• Madeleine Watts - Elegy, Southwest
• Sean Wilson - You Must Remember This

The judges said of this Longlist:

 “Destabilised histories, faltering memories and chequered geographies meet in the pages of the 2026 Miles Franklin longlist. From Far North Queensland to Tasmania and all the way to remote Western Australia, these novels remind us of the vastness of this continent, the many times and places that Australian stories inhabit, and the global networks in which ‘Australian life’ is invariably embedded. This year’s longlist is haunted by ancestral inheritances, the human capacity for self-deception, and the ways we make space for grief. These novels hold up mirrors to little worlds and large ones too.”

I am excited to see Randa Abdel-Fattah on this list for her novel Discipline. The Palestinian-Australian writer has been the subject of much controversy, with political interference leading to her being cancelled from various events, and many of her words taken out of context.  I have not read her book (and don't know that I will) but I believe it has been wrong to silence her. I am glad the Miles Franklin Award has not succumbed to pressure. I am looking forward to hearing her speak this week at the Sydney Writers' Festival and making my own assessment.

The shortlist will be named in June, with the winner announced in August 2026

And another thing.... I also have to say that the Miles Franklin Award has a crap website. The Award is sponsored by Perpetual, but surely it could have its own site and not be buried among pages about wealth management. 

The Guardian's 100 Best Novels

You know I love a list! In May 2026 The Guardian published a list of the 100 Best Novels of all time. They asked 172 authors, critics and academics about their top 10 novels published in English, and to rank the choices by preference. To this they applied a weighting scale to come up with the 100 best. 

Here is the Guardian's 100 Best Novels. I have marked in Bold books I have read (45 titles), and included a link for any reviews on my blog.

• 
• 100 My Antonia by Willa Cather
• 99 The Go-Between by LP Hartley
• 98 The Road by Cormac McCarthy 
  
• 97 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• 96 Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
• 95 The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
• 94 The Known World by Edward P Jones
• 93 Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
• 92 Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert
• 91 Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
• 90 Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf 
• 89 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin
• 88 Ragtime by EL Doctorow
• 
  87 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
• 86 The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
• 85 The Vegetarian by Han Kang
• 84 The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
• 83 A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
• 82 The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
• 81 Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
• 80 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• 79 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
• 78 A House for Mr Biswas by VS Naipaul
• 77 The Rainbow by DH Lawrence
• 76 Dracula by Bram Stoker
• 75 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• 74 Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
• 73 Austerlitz by WG Sebald
• 
  72 Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
• 71 Kindred by Octavia E Butler
• 70 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
• 69 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky 
• 68 Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• 67 The Man Without Qualities by Rubert Musil
• 66 The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
• 65 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• 64 The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
• 63 White Teeth by Zadie Smith
• 62 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• 61 The Rings of Saturn by WG Sebald
• 60 Howards End by EM Forster
• 59 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• 58 Disgrace by JM Coetzee
• 57 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
• 56 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• 55 The Waves by Virginia Woolf
• 54 Orlando by Virginia Woolf
• 53 The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
• 
  52 The Golden Bowl by Henry James
• 51 My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferret
• 50 Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
• 49 A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
• 48 The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
• 47 Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
• 46 The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
• 45 The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
• 44 Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
• 43 Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
• 42 The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
• 41 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  
• 40 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
• 39 Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• 38 The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
• 37 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• 36 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• 35 Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• 34 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• 33 David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• 32 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• 31 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
• 
  30 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• 29 Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
• 28 The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• 27 The Trial by Franz Kafka
• 26 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
• 25 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• 24 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
• 23 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
• 22 Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• 21 The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
• 20 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• 
  19 The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
• 18 Persuasion by Jane Austen
• 17 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
• 16 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
• 15 Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
• 14 Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 
• 13 Emma by Jane Austen 
• 12 Bleak House by Charles Dickens
  
• 11 The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
• 10 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
• 9 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  
• 8 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• 7 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• 6 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• 5 In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
• 4 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
• 3 Ulysses by James Joyce
• 2 Beloved by Toni Morrison
• 1 Middlemarch by George Eliot

Thrilled that Middlemarch made the number one slot. I love that novel and am overdue for a re-read. I would have added Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth to this list - it is brilliant but often overlooked in favour of The Age of Innocence. Many of these books which I have not read yet are on my Fifty/Five list, which I have barely made a dent in, so better get reading! 

Among the 172 contributors were some of my favourite writers - Ian Rankin, Anne Enright, Colm Toibin, Bernardine Evaristo, Ian McEwan, Jennifer Egan, Maggie O'Farrell, Roxane Gay, Sarah Waters and many more. It was fun to see which books they chose as well.