Welcome to Gleetalks
A collection of some of our most interesting and popular conversations from Sydney’s finest literary events program, hosted by David Gaunt.
We’ve hosted some of the world’s best and best known authors and thinkers over the years, sharing their stories, asking hard questions and addressing big issues. And now, we’d like to share some of them with you.
Gleetalks brings you exclusively curated great ideas, fascinating conversations and fantastic stories.
Episodes
Ronni Salt in conversation with Sunil Badami
The 1970s. The era of flares, treads, Gough… and the founding of Gleebooks – but that’s another story.
It was also the age of the advent of feminism, rampant police and political corruption, and the rise of drug-fuelled organised crime in Australia, where Nugan Hand, Mr Asia and Robert Trimbole became household names.
In this episode of Gleetalks, investigative journalist Ronni Salt talks to Gleebooks Events Manager Sunil Badami about the intrigues and politics in her new crime thriller, Gunnawah, featuring a colourful cast of characters and gripping escapades in Trimbole’s old Riverina stomping ground.
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Chris Baker in conversation with Michaela Kalowski
From Palm Beach to Cronulla, Mount Druitt to Bondi, Sydney is a city made for swimming.
Over a calendar year, lifelong swimmer, educator and writer Chris Baker swam at iconic beaches, municipal pools, harbour baths, tidal rock pools, bushland lakes and a backyard pool,
In this episode of Gleetalks, he talks to curator and broadcaster Michaela Kalowksi about his book Swimming Sydney: A Tale of 52 Swims, a valentine to the beautiful obsession of swimming in the world’s most beautiful city, and how storytelling is the best way to navigate life’s emotional currents.
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Geoff Raby in conversation with Geraldine Doogue
In the Nineteenth Century, the Russian and British played what was dubbed the Great Game for strategic influence in Central Asia.
Today, the players have changed. Combine Putin’s Ukraine folly and American isolationism and, China now has the chance to project its power globally, as the US did from the early Twentieth Century. What are the implications and consequences, especially for Australia?
In this episode of Gleetalks, Australia’s former ambassador to China Geoff Raby AO talks to broadcaster Geraldine Doogue about his new book Great Game On: The Contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy, which explores these geopolitical forces and strategic questions.
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Michelle de Kretser in conversation with Elizabeth McMahon
It’s 1986, and ‘beautiful, radical ideas’ are in the air. A young woman arrives in Melbourne. In bohemian St Kilda she meets artists, activists, students—and Kit.
In her seventh novel, Theory and Practice, award-winning writer Michelle de Kretser bends fiction, essay and memoir into exhilarating new shapes making and unmaking fiction as we read and expanding our notion of what a novel can contain.
In this episode of Gleetalks, she chats to Professor Elizabeth McMahon of the University of NSW about this mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame, of theory and practice, where art and life intersect.
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Lauren Samuelsson in conversation with Michelle Arrow
Since 1933, the Australian Women’s Weekly has been Australia’s highest-selling women’s magazine. And from birthday cakes to barbecues, the Weekly taught generations of Australians what to eat and how to cook it at home.
Drawing on recipes, food editorials and readers’ memories, Lauren Samuelsson’s A Matter of Taste: The Australian Women’s Weekly & Its Influence on Australian Food Culture is a celebration of the Weekly’s essential role in the development of Australian food culture.
On this deliciously nostalgic episode of Gleetalks, Lauren talks to historian Professor Michelle Arrow about how the Weekly encouraged us to be adventurous, to experiment in the kitchen, and to try new ingredients and flavours, stimulating an eclectic, Australian way of eating which is still reflected on our tables today.
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Michael Visontay in conversation with Caroline Baum
One hundred years ago, a New York bookseller Gabriel Wells, committed a crime against history. He broke up the world’s greatest book, the Gutenberg Bible, and sold it off in individual pages, which he marketed as Noble Fragments.
Half a century later, Sydney journalist Michael Visontay stumbled upon a mysterious legal document that linked Wells to his own family and changed its destiny.
In this episode of Gleetalks, Visontay talks to critic and author Caroline Baum about his hunt for those fragments, what he discovered in the arcane world of antique book collectors, and his family’s debt to an act of literary vandalism in his book Noble Fragments: The Maverick Who Broke Up the World’s Greatest Book.
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George Megalogenis Quarterly Essay #97: Minority Rule
George Megalogenis in conversation with David Marr
Australian politics is shifting. The two-party system was broken at the last federal election, and another minority government is a real possibility at this one. Politics-as-usual is not enough for many voters.
In this timely episode of Gleetalks George Megalogenis traces the how and why of a political realignment in his Quarterly Essay: Minority Rule: The New Shape of Australian Politics with broadcaster and author David Marr.
This is about the teals, the Greens and the Coalition. In a contest between new and old, progressive and conservative, which vision of Australia will win out? But it’s also about Labor in power – is careful centrism the right strategy for the times, or is something else required? With the election only weeks away, this is essential listening to understand the new political landscape.
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Emma Shortis Vantage Point: After America: Australia and the new world order
Emma Shortis in conversation with Richard Cooke
Australian political leaders have bent the knee for decades, placing the ANZUS treaty at the centre of the nation’s security. AUKUS has become the latest symbol of strategic solidarity. For Australia’s governments, of whatever political persuasion, America continues to define the global rules-based order.
Now that the American people have elected Donald Trump as the forty-seventh president, how will his presidency affect Australia’s foreign policy, trade, climate action and approach to human rights? More importantly, will Australia be able to act in its own interests, or will it simply defer to Trump’s idea of America?
In this episode of Gleetalks, Director of the Australia Institute’s Security and International Affairs program, Dr Emma Shortis discusses this crazy brave new world order with journalist Richard Cooke and her new essay, After America, part of the Australia Institute’s new ideas series, Vantage Point.
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2025 Miles Franklin Shortlist Showcase
Presented by Copyright Agency and Gleebooks in partnership with Fully Lit, a podcast series dedicated to Australian literature.
Winnie Dunn, Julie Janson and Siang Lu in conversation with Sunil Badami
In an engaging, though-provoking and moving conversation, three authors shortlisted for the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Winnie Dunn (Dirt Poor Islanders, Hachette), Julie Janson (Compassion, Magabala Books) and Siang Lu (Ghost Cities, UQP), 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.
Fully Lit is brought to you by the Sydney Review of Books, Impact Studios and UTS Writing and Publishing program. Subscribe to Fully Lit for this and many more stimulating conversations about Australian writing wherever you get your podcasts.
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Migrants, Television and Australian Stories: A New History
From Con the Fruiterer to East West 101 — the changing face of Australian TV. Australia is a multicultural country, but up until recently, when you turned on the telly, you wouldn’t know it. So what role has TV played in Australia’s diverse communities, on screen, behind the scenes and in the living rooms across this country, over the past 70 years?
|ABC Radio National – Big Ideas – recorded at Gleebooks 11th July |
S02E01
Justin Narayan Everything is Indian
Justin Narayan in conversation with Nicholas Jordan
We all love the complex flavours of Indian food, but why aren’t garam masala or tamarind as common in our pantry as soy sauce and tomato paste?
It’s a question asked – and answered – by 2021 Masterchef winner Justin Narayan in his delectable cookbook Everything is Indian, published by Murdoch Books, drawing on his Fijian-Indian heritage and inspired by his multicultural upbringing.
Think: roast potatoes taken to the next level with masala flavours, MasterChef-certified chicken curry tacos, the best pizza you could ever make at home and an insane cardamom-hit caramel slice.
There are no rules, as long as it tastes great!
In this episode of Gleetalks, Justin takes us on a flavourful journey as he chats to food critic Nicholas Jordan.
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S02E02
Nick Kaldas Behind the Badge
Nick Kaldas in conversation with Gary Jubelin
Nick Kaldas is a cop’s cop. From investigating war criminals to taking down global drug operations, Kaldas has seen the worst humanity can offer. But he’s also seen which human qualities can lead to greatness.
An immigrant boy from Egypt who rose from beat cop to become one of the most senior police officers in Australia, he became one of Australia’s first Arab undercover cops, headed up both the Homicide and Gang Squad units, reformed the Counter Terrorism team and became Deputy Police Commissioner.
From war-torn Lebanon to the killing fields of Syria, protecting Palestinian refugees to chairing the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, Kaldas has learned a thing or two about resilience, courage and fortitude.
In this episode of Gleetalks, Kaldas talks to former detective, author and podcaster Gary Jubelin about the most challenging cases that have shaped him and reveals what it takes to stand up for what’s right in the face of insurmountable opposition in his memoir Behind the Badge, published by HarperCollins Australia.
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S02E03 Zeny Edwards Painting with Stone: The Story of the Melocco Brothers
Zeny Edwards in conversation with Christopher Allen
Despite the swathe of destruction and demolition in recent decades, Sydney has some architectural gems: the State Library of NSW, the State Theatre, Hyde Park’s Anzac Memorial and more.
And adorning these iconic buildings is the exquisite work of three Italian brothers whose ornate and beautiful mosaic, terrazzo, and marble work constitutes up to 90% of Sydney’s early 20th Century marble and terrazzo work.
Yet despite their monumental contributions – including the decade they spent working on the floor of St Mary’s Cathedral crypt – the legacy of the Melocco Brothers—Peter, Antonio, and Galliano—has remained largely unacknowledged.
Until now.
In this monumental episode of Gleetalks, award-winning author, architectural historian, cultural heritage consultant and human rights advocate Zeny Edwards reveals the artistry behind the inspirational story of these incredible artists, as she talks to Dr Christopher Allen, National Art Critic for The Weekend Australian about her book Painting with Stone: The Story of the Melocco Brothers, published by Longueville Media.
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S02E04 John Lyons A Bunker in Kyiv
John Lyons in conversation with Hugh Riminton and Vasyl Myroshnychenko
By daytime, Ukraine is a sophisticated European country going about its business, and Kyiv seems
like an enchanting city. But by night, the sirens roar, and the war begins. Ukraine is using the
amount of ammunition that all of Europe produces in one day, and yet on the surface, much of the
country appears to be going about its business as usual.
Acclaimed former ABC Global Affairs Editor – and now ABC News Americas Editor – John Lyons
doesn’t write about geopolitics or military strategy in his evocative book A Bunker in Kyiv,
published by Harper Collins Australia. Instead, he focuses on the everyday resilient civilians
who are taking part in it.
In this gripping episode of Gleetalks, Lyons talks to Network Ten political correspondent Hugh
Riminton and Ukrainian ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko about the huge army of
civilians — from old punk rockers to university professors and Coca Cola brand managers — who
are working behind the scenes to outwit the Russian army.
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S02E05 Briony Neilson talks to Emeritus Professor David Garrioch
France at the turn of the twentieth century was deeply preoccupied with the conduct of its young people, especially juvenile offenders, who were viewed at a time of great economic distress and social turmoil as harbingers of national decline and agents of disorder.
Sound familiar?
Legislators and social reformers debated whether children who committed offences should be held criminally responsible or if their age should exempt them from liability.
Nonetheless, others saw young people, including juvenile offenders, as victims of neglect and essential vehicles for national regeneration.
In this episode of Gleetalks, historian Briony Neilson talks to Emeritus Professor David Garrioch about how greater age consciousness in the criminal justice system emerged in modern France, leading to the creation of a distinct branch of justice for juveniles in her book Dangers of Youth: Age, Criminality, and Juvenile Justice in Third Republic France, published by McGill-Queens University Press.
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Kumi Taguchi – The Good Daughter – In conversation with Leigh Sales
Growing up, journalist and presenter Kumi Taguchi thought her father was just difficult: reserved to the point of silence, obsessively frugal, and – after her parents’ divorce – almost entirely absent.
Still, when her father died, she was far away and Kumi’s feelings about him – and her own heritage – remained tangled.
But just because a parent has gone doesn’t mean they’re absent. Over time Kumi came to understand more about what made her father as he was, including his harrowing experiences as a child in wartime Japan and, above all, the culture she both loved and felt burdened by.
In this moving and candid episode of Gleetalks, Kumi talks to journalist Leigh Sales about her exploration of her divided self and her journey to understand her father – and herself – in her book The Good Daughter, published by Simon and Schuster Australia.
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Niki Savva in conversation with David Marr
When the Coalition government was overthrown in 2022 after nine years in office, it was tempting to portray the loss as merely a personal repudiation of Scott Morrison.
Then, when opposition leader Peter Dutton torpedoed the Voice referendum in 2023, his popularity rocketed as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s nose dived.
That was when, according to former political staffer and now commentator Niki Savva, the Coalition thought it had the election in the bag.
But Niki had noticed the ground shifting – the emergence of the teal independents and the long-term threat they represented to the Liberals and the overlooked reality that, according to her, the 2022 federal election result was no ordinary defeat but delivered last rites to Menzies’ broad-church party.
In this Killing Season special episode of Gleetalks, Savva talks to broadcaster and author David Marr about what went on behind the scenes, accompanied by her trademark access to important players and eyewitnesses, of an election that transformed Australian politics in her new book Earthquake: The Election That Shook Australia, published by Scribe Publications.
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Gaving Fang & Tracey Kirkland – Age of Doubt
But there is a way back. A way to rediscover trust in our leaders and institutions. A way to tackle the doubt.
Gavin Fang – ABC Editorial Director – and Tracey Kirkland – the ABC’s Continuous News Editor – talk to author and broadcaster Richard Glover about how, if we are to address the big issues facing our world, then we must have trust, because without it we have no sense of shared reality in their book Age of Doubt: Building Trust in a World of Disinformation, published by Monash University Publications.
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- Chris Andrews
- Judith Beveridge
- Peter Boyle
- Pam Brown
- Joanne Burns
- Laurie Duggan
- Jane Gibian
- Debbie Lim
- Greg McLaren and
- Miroslav Sandev
reading some of their poetry, and one of their favourite Australian poems. Settle in and enjoy this special stocking filler!
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NATHAN DUNNE IN CONVERSATION WITH REBECCA HUNTLEY
This was the beginning of his experience with depersonalisation, a little-understood and on-the-rise mystery mental illness that causes a person to dissociate from their body and thoughts.
In this intriguing episode of Gleetalks, Dunne talks to author and researcher Dr Rebecca Huntley about his sometimes fraught but always inspiring journey back to himself in his book When Nothing Feels Real: A journey into the mystery illness of depersonalisation.
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