Fully Lit

Hear what poet and critic Sarah Holland-Batt has to say about Australia’s as-yet-uncrowned Poet Laureate. She takes a close look at the tradition to explores poetry’s relationship to power in order to highlight the potential pitfalls as well as the possible benefits of such a figure.

Can a poet laureate bring poetry back in Australia, where it’s long been an afterthought for cultural policymakers? How might such a person engage our politics? And can we (shall we?) build the infrastructure to support poetic careers—not just poetic moments?

And, most urgently, how long will it take before someone dubs the be-laureled bard Australia’s Poet Lorikeet?

This special edition of Fully Lit Live was recorded at the Abercrombie Hotel in Sydney, on beautiful Gadigal land.

It was a night of celebration, conversation, and creative sparks, as we launched the podcast with a vibrant discussion on the power of audio as a medium for literary criticism – one where the critique is embodied, voiced and felt, and built in conversation with one another and with you, our listeners, in mind.

On this episode Teela Reid and Merinda Dutton, the co-founders of Blackfulla Bookclub, talk about the online community they’ve built around First Nations storytelling and discuss their experiences of reading Fire Front, an anthology of poetry and essays curated by Alison Whittaker. It’s about seeing, and hearing, and reading the world through powerful First Nations perspectives. Listen up.

We are republishing this episode from the Sydney Review of Books’ very first podcast season, to mark NAIDOC week celebrations.

In an engaging, though-provoking and moving conversation, Winnie Dunn, Julie Janson and Siang Lu – all shortlisted for the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award – discuss their nominated works, the ideas that shaped them, and the questions they raise about Australian life, literature and identity today, with writer and broadcaster Sunil Badami.

The Miles Franklin Literary Award is Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, awarded each year to a novel of the highest literary merit that presents Australian life in any of its phases.

This special episode of Fully Lit is presented by Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and Gleebooks, Sydney’s premier literary events program. Go to gleebooks.com.au to discover more great literary events featuring some of Australia’s best and best known authors.

Writer, editor and producer Charle Malycon (Penguin Random House and Overland literary journal) and co-founder and director of Amplify bookstore, Jing Xuan Teo, join Alice Grundy to dissect the current state of the industry. What goes on behind the scenes? What is the work of publishing today and who is doing it? Our guests share their personal experiences in publishing and bookselling, taking the listener through the complex process of getting a book from manuscript to reader and highlighting the many hands that shape the reader’s experience.

Anita Heiss, Wiradjuri woman, author and editor at large at Bundyi, a First Nations imprint at Simon & Schuster, shares her insights into the Australian publishing industry with Alice Grundy, managing editor at Australia Institute Press. They take a close look at the way First Nations writing has affected and been affected by the prevailing practices in the industry, from author-editor relationships to marketing. What would sovereign publishing look like for First Nations writers in Australia?

Award-winning poets Bella Li and Ellen Van Neerven join fellow poet Lisa Gorton for a discussion on poetry, responsibility and poetry’s place in Australian public life. With readings from each poet’s work, along with other poems from Australia and beyond, our panelists explore the balance between poetry as a private practice and its public impact, attending to the ways in which poetry can unsettle language, shaping and reshaping our sense of history.

How can poetry act upon the world? Hear John Kinsella hold up a bulldozer with a poem, and take a tour through his life as a reader, poet and activist as he and Lisa Gorton delve into the people and poets who influenced him. They discuss the challenges and responsibilities of being a poet, reflecting on the growing threats to our ecosystems and long-postponed colonial reckonings. In this context, what can poetry do, and what are the possibilities and limitations of a future Australian poet laureate?

Who gets to critique First Nations literature — and how should it be taught?

Novelist Melanie Saward and critic Ben Etherington join writer and academic Graham Akhurst to dive into the complex world of reading, teaching, and evaluating First Nations writing.

From the classroom to the review page, they explore the responsibilities that come with critiquing Indigenous stories — and what’s at stake when they’re misread or misunderstood.

Plus, a powerful intervention from the archive by Alexis Wright.

What does it really take to read and review First Nations writing with integrity?

Wiradjuri poet and critic Jeanine Leane joins Graham Akhurst for a powerful conversation that turns the spotlight on the critics themselves. With sharp insight and deep cultural knowledge, Jeanine unpacks the idea of “cultural rigour” — and why it’s essential for anyone engaging with Black writing in Australia.

Whether you’re a reader, reviewer, or writer, this episode challenges you to rethink what it means to read responsibly — and to listen deeply.

What is the Australian novel today? Is it even a novel?

And what remains of the idea of a national literature once we eschew nationalistic clichés of Aussieness?

Writers Mykaela Saunders and Yumna Kassab join Lynda Ng to tackle these questions.

With readings from Australian fiction that reveals a literature deeply engaged with the world and with writing beyond our shores.

What makes a novel uniquely Australian? How do our stories stack up on the world stage?

Writer, critic and former diplomat Nick Jose joins Lynda Ng—Oz Lit scholar and literary critic—for a deep dive into the Australian novel and its shifting place in global literature.

Through powerful readings from literary giants like Patrick White, Peter Carey, Alexis Wright, and Christina Stead, we ask:

How has fiction shaped the idea of ‘Australia’?

How has that idea changed from the nineteenth to the twentieth century?

What is Australian literature today? How does it connect to its roots in our recent and ancient pasts? And where is it headed?

Welcome, or welcome back, to the Sydney Review of Books podcast – now known as Fully Lit: a podcast about Australian writing, presented by Anna Funder.

Over eight episodes, you’ll hear from John Kinsella, Nicholas Jose, Jeanine Leane, Anita Heiss and other luminaries of Australian letters as they dissect the work of Alexis Wright, Peter Carey, Patrick White, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Christina Stead and many more.

Fully Lit is brought to you by the Sydney Review of Books, Impact Studios, and the UTS Writing and Publishing program.