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Fully Lit

Fully Lit

Written by: Impact Studios and The Sydney Review of Books
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What is Australian literature today? How does it connect to its roots in our recent and ancient pasts? And where is it headed? Welcome to Fully Lit: a podcast about Australian writing, where you'll hear a new conversation between authors, critics and readers each fortnight. Our original eight-part series, presented by Anna Funder, includes readings and conversations with 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.Copyright 2026 Impact Studios and The Sydney Review of Books Art Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 33. Southern Connections: Live at Addi Road Writers Festival

    33. Southern Connections: Live at Addi Road Writers Festival
    Jul 2 2026

    In this episode of Fully Lit, recorded live at the Addison Road Writers’ Festival, we explore the richness and diversity of contemporary Latin American literature.

    Writer Yumna Kassab joins Uruguayan author and translator Rosario Lázaro Igoa in conversation with literary translator Chris Andrews to discuss the writers, genres and ideas shaping Latin American literature today.

    Moving beyond the literary Boom of the 1960s and 70s, they reflect on the work of contemporary writers including Mariana Enríquez, Samanta Schweblin, Guadalupe Nettel and Nona Fernández, and consider the growing visibility of women writers in translation.

    The conversation ranges across horror, short fiction, essays and crónicas, while also exploring the enduring influence of writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Clarice Lispector, Felisberto Hernández and Horacio Quiroga. Along the way, they discuss translation, experimentation, literary form and what makes Latin American literature so exciting for readers and writers alike.

    Voices

    Yumna Kassab is a writer whose fiction explores memory, migration, identity and the complexities of human connection.

    Rosario Lázaro Igoa is a Uruguayan, novelist, essayist, and literary translator.

    Chris Andrews is a translator, scholar and researcher in twentieth and twenty-first century Hispanic and francophone literatures.

    Credits

    This episode of Fully Lit was recorded at the Addi Road Writers’ Festival on Gadigal land in Sydney.

    Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

    Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.

    Recorded & Mixed by Maksim Voloshin-Cleary.

    Further Reading

    The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández

    The Body Where I Was Born by Guadalupe Nettel

    19 Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica

    Empty Words by Mario Levrero

    A Last Supper of Queer Apostles by Pedro Lemebel

    The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges and Margarita Guerrero
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    38 mins
  • 32. Erin Vincent: Fragments, Grief and Memory

    32. Erin Vincent: Fragments, Grief and Memory
    Jun 18 2026
    In this episode of Fully Lit, Erin Vincent, in conversation with writer and academic Sarah Attfield, reflects on returning to a subject she once believed she had left behind in her verse novel, 14 Ways of Looking.Moving between memoir, research and constraint‑based writing, the book is a fragmentary work that reimagines how grief can be written, building a mosaic of memory around the the number fourteen — Vincent's age when she lost both her parents.Drawing on the playful constraints of the Oulipo movement, Vincent constructs the book through fragments, each linked by the repeated appearance of the number 14. The result is a work that is at once formally inventive and deeply personal, where meaning emerges through juxtaposition, white space, and the connections made by the reader.Together, they discuss the creative possibilities of constraint, the challenge of shaping fragments into a cohesive work, and the emotional and structural role of white space on the page. Vincent also reflects on the difference between writing in grief and writing about it — and how distance, precision and form can open up new ways of expressing loss.At the heart of this conversation is a question central to Fully Lit: how do we find new language for difficult experiences — and what happens when form becomes a way of thinking, feeling, and remembering?This episode was recorded live on Gadigal land at Sydney's Gleebooks.VoicesErin Vincent is the author of Fourteen Ways of Looking as well as Grief Girl, which was named a New York Public Library Best Book and an American Library Association Best Book Nominee. Her work has appeared in Meanjin, the Guardian, Electric Literature, and the Offing, among other publications. She holds a Master of Arts in creative writing from the University of Technology Sydney and is currently studying for a PhD in creative writing.Sarah Attfield teaches creative writing at UTS. Her academic work focuses on the representation of working-class life in literature, popular music, film, TV and art. She has published books on working-class cinema and Australian working-class literature and is currently working on a new book about working-class participation in popular music scenes. Sarah is also a poet, and her creative work is informed by her working-class background and continuing connection to her working-class family and friends.CreditsThis episode was recorded on Gadigal land at Sydney's Gleebooks - for more literary events like this one, see the Gleebooks events page.Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.Edited and mixed by Regina Botros.Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang.Find more episodes of Fully Lit wherever you get your podcasts.Further reading'Piecing Together in the Afterlife' - Rosalind Moran reviews Erin Vincent's Fourteen Ways of Looking for the Sydney Review of Books.You can buy Fourteen Ways of Looking at Gleebooks, in the bookshop and online.
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    43 mins
  • 31. Masculinity. Vulnerability. Growing up. Are the boys alright?

    31. Masculinity. Vulnerability. Growing up. Are the boys alright?
    Jun 4 2026

    In this episode of Fully Lit, we head to the Addi Road Writers’ Festival for a wide‑ranging conversation on masculinity, vulnerability, and the inner lives of men.

    Writer Luke Carman is joined by George Haddad, author of Losing Face, and debut novelist Jet Williams to explore what it means to write — and read — men today.

    From graffiti culture and underground urban exploration to questions of embodiment, intimacy and cultural expectation, the discussion moves between lived experience and literary form. Williams reflects on writing for readers who don’t usually pick up books, while Haddad speaks candidly about hospitality, identity and the complexities of masculinity within family and culture.

    Together, they consider why art can still feel “embarrassing” for young men, the pressures of conformity, and the value of writing that resists easy answers. Along the way, they ask what it means to represent masculinity beyond crisis — and whether literature can offer something more honest, more expansive.

    At its core, this is a conversation about connection: how we find language for difficult experiences, and how the most personal stories can resonate far beyond the self.

    Voices

    Luke Carman is a writer and author of An Elegant Young Man and Intimate Antipathies.

    George Haddad is the author of Losing Face and winner of the Kill Your Darlings Creative Nonfiction Essay Prize.

    Jet Williams is the author of Off the Rails, a debut novel exploring youth, subculture and identity.

    Credits

    This episode of Fully Lit was recorded at the Addi Road Writers’ Festival on Gadigal land in Sydney. Special thanks to Mark Mordue at the Addi Road Festival.

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

    Recorded my Maksim Voloshin-Cleary

    Produced and edited by Regina Botros

    Executive Producers: Sarah Gilbert and James Jiang
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    45 mins
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