Shows
The Book ShowJohn Boyne, Maggie Stiefvater and Laura Elvery on hope, enemy diplomats and Florence NightingaleJohn Boyne concludes his challenging series The Elements with Air, US writer Maggie Stiefvater takes you to a luxury hotel for enemy diplomats in The Listeners and Laura Elvery imagines Florence Nightingale on her deathbed in Nightingale.John Boyne is the prolific Irish author of over 20 books including The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The History of Loneliness and The Heart's Invisible Furies. His latest writing project is a series of novellas called The Elements with the books Water, Earth, Fire and now, Air. The four books are all connected by the difficult theme of child abuse...2025-07-2054 min
Final Draft - Great ConversationsBook Club - Laura Elvery’s NightingaleToday I’m bringing a book so good I’ve already given my copy to my mum, and she’s loving it. Laura Elvery’s Nightingale.
Laura Elvery is the author of Trick of the Light and Ordinary Matter. As readers of Ordinary Matter will know, Laura has an interest in women who have been ignored, or perhaps misunderstood by history.
Nightingale takes us into the final days of the life of iconic nurse, statistician and social reformer Florence Nightingale. At ninety years old, Nightingale knows how much she has achieved in her life. Yet as she l...2025-07-0303 min
The Readings PodcastLaura Elvery in conversationIn this episode, a recording taken from the launch of acclaimed author Laura Elvery’s novel, Nightingale, inspired by the life of Florence Nightingale; part historical fiction, part ghost story, and utterly original.
Mayfair, 1910. At the age of ninety, Florence Nightingale is frail and no longer of sound mind. After a storied career as a nurse, writer and statistician, she now leads a reclusive existence. One summer evening she is astonished to receive a visitor – a young man named Silas Bradley, who claims to have met her during the Crimean War fifty-five years ago. But how can this be? And how...2025-06-1935 minFinal Draft - Great ConversationsLaura Elvery’s NightingaleThe 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.
Laura Elvery is the author of Trick of the Light and Ordinary Matter, which won the 2021 Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection. Laura’s joining me today with her first novel Nightingale.
At ninety years old, Florence Nightingale knows how much she has achieved in her life. Al...2025-06-1344 min
The BookshelfNew fiction from Gail Jones, S A Cosby and Seán HewittFiction from all over the world, crossing genres, borders and ideas in American crime writer S A Cosby's King of Ashes, a gripping tale of family, smoke, and fire; Irish writer Sean Hewitt’s Open, Heaven, a beautifully woven story about longing, escape and memory; and, first up, The Name of the Sister, the latest from acclaimed Australian literary novelist Gail Jones.BOOKS Gail Jones, The Name of the Sister, Text S A Cosby, King of Ashes, Headline Seán Hewitt, Open, Heaven, Jonathan Cape GUESTS Toby Schmitz...2025-06-0554 min
The BookshelfA beach holiday told four ways in Luke Horton's Time TogetherOld friends gather together on the coast in Australian writer Luke Horton’s Time Together, Kate and Cassie take a look. Plus, Jo Harkin’s The Pretender, set during the time of the Tudors' ascent it tells the story of a little-known real-life figure; and Laura Elvery’s Nightingale, a re-imagining of the life of Florence Nightingale.BOOKS Luke Horton, Time Together, Scribe Jo Harkin, The Pretender, Bloomsbury Circus Laura Elvery, Nightingale, UQP GUESTS Jane Caro, social commentator, activist, and writer. She has written thirteen books, including three set i...2025-05-0154 min
The Whole Truth: Motherhood and the Writing Life with Nadia MahjouriLaura Elvery on Celebrating Women and Writing Through The ChaosTodays episode is with the luminous Laura Elvery! We discuss her new novel Nightingale which is OUT NOW and how she managed to do her final proof reads while juggling children at the hellscape we call BOUNCE! Laura is the multi award winning author of two collections of short stories Ordinary Matter and Trick of the Light. _____WHO IS YOUR HOST??Nadia Mahjouri is the author of Half Truth - her debut novel that was released Feb 11 2025. Available NOW!!! Nadia Mahjouri is a therapist at The Holding Space Counselling. If you would like to reach out for support, you can book an appointment online. Nadia works face to face in nipaluna or online everywhere. Her w...2025-04-3058 min
Are You Still Working?!Mirandi Riwoe and Laura Elvery - AuthorsSend us a textIn this episode of Are You Still Working?! writers Mirandi Riwoe and Laura Elvery chat to Courtney Collins about becoming published authors and what they've learnt along the way.Recorded in front of a live audience at Avid Reader, an independent bookstore in West End, Brisbane, this episode is packed with tips and tricks for emerging writers - from getting noticed by publishers by entering competitions, to establishing your own writers group and setting up your own writers residencies.#mirandiriwoe #lauraelvery #areyoustillworkingSupport the...2024-12-1030 min
Beyond The ZeroEnd of Year Special Part 1Max Lawton
Notable books coming out in 2024
Blue Lard - Sorokin ND February
Red Pyramid - Sorokin ND February
Dispaches From The District Committee ND May
Other books mentioned
Washington Square - Henry James
The Shards - BEE
My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh
HERSCHT07769 - László Krasznahorkai
Molly - Blake Butler
The Children of the Dead - Elfriede Jelinek
Robin Myers
2023-12-231h 30The BookshelfLucy Treloar, Tony Birch, Paul Auster, A K Blakemore: Books to chew onKate and Cassie read Lucy Treloar’s Days of Innocence and Wonder, Paul Auster’s Baumgartner, Tony Birch’s Women and Children and A K Blakemore’s The Glutton with academic Bruce Isaacs and writer Laura Elvery2023-11-1754 min
Books, Books, BooksGriffith Review Series Issue #78 “A Matter of Taste” with Dr Carody CulverNicole talks to the new editor of Griffith Review, Dr Carody Culver about Griffith Review 78, A Matter of Taste, which provides a feast of essays, memoir, reportage and fiction about what we eat and why. They discuss brilliant pieces by food writer Kate Gibbs (grand-daughter of Margaret Fulton) on the joys and future of cookbooks, historian Yves Rees on the milk wars and their origin, writer Laura Elvery on what happens when a food name is no longer appropriate and the backlash a name change can provoke (think Coon cheese) and the passion of Nornie Bero, First N...2022-12-2248 min
The Pop Test – A comedy science quizMarie Curie - A comedy science quizWhat convinced the Nobel judges to give her the first Nobel Prize? What's a little curie? What did she hoard in her youthful life of crime?It's time to laboriously stir our mix of pitchblende to find the uranium of truth.Featuring comedians Vidya Rajan, Alanta Colley and writer Laura Elvery2022-03-0425 min
Science Write NowWomen in science in fiction with Laura ElveryIn this episode, Jess chats with Laura Elvery about her new collection of short stories, 'Ordinary Matter,' which is inspired by the twenty women who have won the Nobel Prize for science. You can purchase 'Ordinary Matter' here: https://bit.ly/3FP983BLaura Elvery is one of Australia’s most beloved short story writers. She has won the Josephine Ulrick Prize for Literature, the Margaret River Short Story Competition, the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize and the Fair Australia Prize for Fiction, and has been published in Meanjin, Overland, The Sa...2021-09-1642 min
Adelaide Writers' WeekAWW21 Lateral Histories - Chris Flynn and Laura ElveryCan works of fiction inform us more effectively than non-fiction? Chris Flynn and Laura Elvery’s audacious works illuminate history and offer critiques of today. Chris’s fantastical novel Mammoth is narrated by the fossilised remains of a 13,000 year old wise-cracking mammoth. Each of the twenty short stories in Laura Elvery’s collection Ordinary Matter is inspired by a Nobel Prize-winning female scientist. With their lateral approach to history, these unlikely starting points have resulted in richly rewarding and wildly imaginative outcomes.Chaired by Danielle Clode2021-03-2359 min
Yarra Libraries PodcastOrdinary Matter: Laura Elvery and the women in science who inspired her latest collection“These are all really fascinating women – every single one of them.”
In this Ewing Trust episode of The Yarra Libraries Podcast, Sam speaks to award-winning Brisbane author Laura Elvery about the inspiration for her latest short story collection, ‘Ordinary Matter’.
Sparked by the 20 times women have won the Nobel Prize for science since 1901, ‘Ordinary Matter’ uses stories that span a century to explore the nuances of motherhood, legacy, ambition and identity.
‘Ordinary Matter’ is out now from QUP
Yarra Libraries Recommends
Ordinary Matter – Laura Elvery (also available as an e-book through Cloud Library)
Trick of the Light – Laura Elvery
New Australian Fiction 201...2020-11-0228 min
Better WordsNobel prize winners and the craft of short stories with Laura ElveryOur guest this week is an award winning writer, she has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies, her work has been published in Overland, Griffith Review, The Big Issue fiction edition and more. She has won the Josephine Ulrick Prize for Literature, the Margaret River Short Story Competition, the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize and the Fair Australia Prize for Fiction. Her first book was a finalist in the Queensland Literary Awards and her second book, Ordinary Matter was published on September 1st. Ordinary Matter is a short story collection inspired by the first 20 times women won...2020-10-201h 01
The First TimePublication week and Laura Elvery on short stories, setting and scienceThis episode marks one week since #TheMotherFault's come into the world. The hosts discuss what Kate's been doing and re-live the launch, which was moving, entertaining and given we're in lockdown, online!
Agony Aunt Charlotte Wood answers a question from 'Dispirited' about the quiet novel...
Then Katherine chats to Brisbane author Laura Elvery about her writing life and her STUNNING short story collection Ordinary Matter.
Check out show notes for this episode on our website www.thefirsttimepodcast.com or get in touch via Twitter or Instagram @thefirsttimepod.
Don't forget you can support us and the m...2020-09-131h 08
Let Your Imagination Run Wild With Our Captivating Free AudiobookRain Heron Audiobook by Robbie ArnottListen to this audiobook in full for free onhttps://hotaudiobook.com/freeID: 430602
Title: Rain Heron
Author: Robbie Arnott
Narrator: Jessica Douglas-Henry, Zoe Carides
Format: Unabridged
Length: 7:18:02
Language: English
Release date: 06-02-20
Publisher: Wavesound Audiobooks
Genres: Fiction & Literature, General
Summary:
Ren lives alone on the remote frontier of a country devastated by a coup. High on the forested slopes, she survives by hunting and tradingand forgetting. But when a young soldier comes to the mountains in search of a local myth, Ren is inexorably drawn into her impossible mission. As their lives entwine, unravel and eruptas myths merge with realityboth...2020-06-027h 18
National Young Writer's FestivalNYWF 2018 Late Night Reading "Why I Write"One of the unique parts of the NYWF are their Late night Readings where diverse, young writers get to share their words, their perspectives in what er format they like, on a range of fun and interesting topics. In this episode writers Pavan Dutta, Meleika Gesa, Roj Amedi, Laura Elvery and Cher Tan provide their answer to the question "Why I Write" through comedy, plays, poems, reflections and deeply emotional narratives. #NYWF19 #Newcastle #Writing #Diversity #Fiction #Poetry #Comedy #Podcasts #Non-Fiction SHOW NOTES: National Young Writer's Festivalwww.youngwritersfestival.orgFacebook / Twitter @NYWF2019-09-2156 min
Just A SpoonfulAnna Spargo-Ryan"My first response was really, 'This is some kind of psychotic break, I'm having a delusion right now that my dream publisher wants to offer me a book deal.' I felt like that for quite a few weeks, actually."
But it was not a delusion. Anna Spargo-Ryan's debut novel The Paper House was released today by Picador Australia, and it has already gone into reprint. Back in March this year, Anna sat down for a chat with me over Skype (as neither of us leaves the house much), and talked to me about chocolate, realising your goals, and living...2016-05-311h 40