In this edition of Griffith Review, which is produced in partnership with the Australian Antarctic Division, Ashley and Nicole discuss all things Antarctic –Australia’s role there, the fascinating million-year ice core project, the terrifying impact of climate change on the fragile Antarctic eco-systems and the melting of the ice sheets. SHOW NOTES:  Nicole Abadee Website: https://www.nicoleabadee.com.au Facebook: @booksbooksbookspodcast OR @nicole.abadee Twitter: @NicoleAbadee Instagram: @booksbooksbookspodcast OR @nicoleabadee Griffith Review Issue # 75 "Learning Curves ..read more

Feminist, activist and writer Wendy McCarthy reveals in her new memoir, “Don’t Be Too Polite, Girls” how to be a strong feminist, a good mother and a good wife  - all at the same time. Here she discusses how choosing the right life partner, her beloved Gordon McCarthy, enabled her to live a stimulating, purposeful life, with a brilliant career spanning the public, private, corporate and not-for-profit sectors. Her advice to women offered key roles? “Say yes and work it out later,” – just as a man would do. Gold. SHOW NOTES:  Nicole Abadee Website: https://www.nicoleabadee.com.au ..read more

“I am first and foremost a First Nations woman. I am that before I am a lawyer”. In this wide-ranging conversation with Teela Reid, Sydney Law School’s first First Nations Lawyer in Residence, she discusses her remarkable career as lawyer, activist and storyteller – the life-changing decision to move from teaching to law,  her determination to make life better for the next generation of First Nations kids, her involvement in the Regional  Dialogues which led to the Uluru Statement From the Heart and her tireless advocacy for the First Nations Voice to Parliament, which she sees as th ..read more

When popular broadcaster Indira Naidoo lost her youngest sister to suicide she was plunged into a darkness like no other. Heartbroken and wracked with grief and guilt, her immediate response upon hearing the news was to flee to Sydney’s Botanic Gardens and seek solace between a towering Moreton Bay tree that she came to think of as her own. “The Space Between the Stars” is her achingly beautiful account of how that tree and a rediscovery of many other aspects  of nature – from birds to weeds to stars to  puddles - enabled her draw on her reserves of resilience, to heal and to find jo ..read more

In her sixteenth novel, Violeta,  Isabel Allende has created an unforgettable heroine much like herself – fiercely independent, funny, passionate, devoted to her children and a powerful advocate for women’s rights and feminism. Like her other books, Violeta is a brilliant blend of the personal with the political – Violeta’s almost-one hundred years of life are book-ended by two pandemics – the Spanish Flu and Covid – and her life is shaped by the tumultuous events of the twentieth century – especially World War Two and the huge political upheaval in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. I ..read more

In her latest book, “Self, Others and the State – Relations of Criminal Responsibility”, Professor Loughnan reassesses the rise to prominence of criminal responsibility within the Australian criminal law in the twentieth century and reconsiders its significance within the criminal law. In this episode Nicole and Professor Loughnan discuss the central thesis of her book – that criminal responsibility is significant because of the unique role it plays in organising key sets of relations – between individuals, other and the state – as relations of responsibility. To illustrate her argument ..read more

What might a reckoning between Black and white Australia look like? Many of the brilliant contributors to Griffith Review 76, “Acts of Reckoning”, such as Professor Megan Davis, leading scholar Teela Reid and Senator Patrick Dodson, argue that it starts with all of us embracing the generous invitation from Indigenous people in the Uluru Statement From the Heart to walk together towards a better future, one that begins with a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament, then moves towards Treaty and Truth-telling. Others write powerfully about the need for fundamental changes to the criminal ..read more

Nicole Abadee talks to Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Jennifer Egan, about her exciting new book "The Candy House."  SHOW NOTES:  Nicole Abadee Website: https://www.nicoleabadee.com.au Facebook: @booksbooksbookspodcast OR @nicole.abadee Twitter: @NicoleAbadee Instagram: @booksbooksbookspodcast OR @nicoleabadee Jennifer Egan Website: https://jenniferegan.com Simon & Schuster "The Candy House": https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Candy-House/Jennifer-Egan/9781476716763 Facebook: @Jennifereganwriter Instagram: @jennifereganwriter   See omnystudio.com/lis ..read more

Emily and Nicole discuss how non-binding instruments or ‘soft law’ have been received in international humanitarian law by looking at specific examples, such as the ICRC Study into Customary International Humanitarian Law. Have they been adopted in state practice? Are they referred to by international and national courts and tribunals? They consider potential benefits, such as their potential to contribute in a positive way to the development and clarification of the law, but also the possible pitfalls – lack of accountability and transparency and bias.  And what legal status, if any, do ..read more

Nicole speaks to Kate Grenville about forming the "Writers for Climate Action" group, where she brings writers passionate about acting against climate change, together in a single space to fight the biggest challenge of our time and threat to our future.  "we've joined forces to act as a group because we believe that climate change is a threat to the future of our world. Individually we write about that world in our books. Now we want to use our collective voice to push back against the threat to it."  If you are a writer who would like to join Writers for Climate Action go to https ..read more