This season of A Podcast of One’s Own, we’re so excited to introduce a brand-new segment – Julia’s Book Club!

Every month, our host Julia Gillard, will sit down with a co-host to deep dive into our book of the month. These episodes will be released into the A Podcast of One’s Own feed, alongside our usual interview episodes each month so if you don’t already subscribe, be sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen so you can be the first to hear when we release new episodes.

We kicked off Julia’s Book Club with Wifedom by Anna Funder in April (catch up with the discussion here) and our book of the month for May is The Fraud by Zadie Smith. We’ll be dropping this episode on Thursday 16 May – get reading now so you can join the conversation later this month!

Commenting on the Book Club launch, Julia says: “Many of you will know I absolutely love to read. I’ve long been a part of one of the smallest book clubs with a friend of mine, but I thought it was time to widen the circle, so I’m really excited to be bringing this new segment to the podcast.”

Meet your co-hosts

We’re delighted to welcome not one, but two fabulous new co-hosts to the A Podcast of One’s Own family for Julia’s Book Club!

Sarah Holland-Batt is an award-winning poet, editor and critic. Her books have received many of Australia’s major literary honours, including the Stella Prize and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, and she is currently Professor of Creative Writing at QUT.

Many of you will remember Sarah from the last season of the podcast, when she joined Julia as a guest after winning the Stella Prize for her incredible book of poetry, The Jaguar. We’re thrilled to be welcoming her back to the podcast as a co-host!

Kathy Lette is a celebrated and outspoken comic writer, and one of the pioneering voices of contemporary feminism.

Kathy has written numerous international bestsellers, first achieving acclaim with the novel Puberty Blues, which was made into a major film and a TV mini-series.. Her twenty novels have been published in nineteen languages around the world, and she is also an ambassador for The National Autistic Society, Their World and Ambitious about Autism.

Join the discussion

Do you have a Book Club, or fancy starting one so you can read along with your friends? Here are some discussion points for you to consider:

1. Would you recommend this book to someone? Why or why not?
2. Who would most enjoy this book?
3. How much did you know about this book, or the author, before you started reading? Was it what you expected? What surprised you most?
4. How thought-provoking did you find the book? Did the book change your opinion about anything, or did you learn something new from it? If so, what?
5. How did the book make you feel? Did it evoke any emotions? Make you laugh, cry, or cringe?
6. How, if at all, did this book relate to your own life? Did it evoke any memories or create any connections for you?
7. Which characters did you like and relate to most? Why?
8. Would you recommend this book? Why or why not?