In Parade Rachel Cusk blurs reality and fiction

The Bookshelf

Cassie and Tom Wright read The Parade by Rachel Cusk, her first since 2018’s Kudos, the final part of the acclaimed Outline trilogy. Once again, Cusk questions the very nature of truth.

James Ley joins to discuss Ceridwen Dovey’s new collection of short stories, Only the Astronauts, which takes us off-planet and into the “lives” of the objects that humans have sent into space.

Gretchen Shirm reviews Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti, constructed of sentences culled from 10 years of her journal writing and arranged, yes, alphabetically.

GUESTS

• Gretchen Shirm, critic and writer whose books include the short story collection Having Cried Wolf and the novels Where the Light Falls and The Crying Room

• James Ley, critic and literary judge. Deputy Books and Ideas Editor at The Conversation; former editor, Sydney Review of Books; one of the judges of the Miles Franklin Literary Award

BOOKS

• Rachel Cusk, Parade (Allen and Unwin)

• Ceridwen Dovey, Only the Astronauts (Penguin)

• Sheila Heti, Alphabetical Diaries (Allen and Unwin)

OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED

• John Milton, Paradise Lost
• William S. Burroughs, works
• Vladimir Sorokin, works
• Salmon Rushdie, Knife
• Adele Dumont, The Pulling

CREDITS

• Presenter, Cassie McCullagh + Tom Wright
• Producer, Cassie McCullagh + Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Simon Branthwaite + Beth Spencer
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown