People turning into trees, mythical rivers rising...new novels by Rhett Davis and Gurnaik Johal (plus, Irish fiction with Colm Tóibín)

The Bookshelf

Australian author Rhett Davis re-imagines the everyday in his novels. In his latest, Arborescence, ordinary people begin transforming into trees. Is it a cult? Performance art? Or something else entirely? Also on the show: Guest reviewer Roanna Gonsalves discusses Saraswati, the debut novel by Gurnaik Johal, which winds its narrative around a sacred and possibly mythical river in North India. And, Kate Evans speaks with Irish writer Colm Tóibín, delving into the literary influences that have shaped his work.

BOOKS

Rhett Davis, Arborescence, Hachette

Gurnaik Johal, Saraswati, Serpent’s Tail

Colm Toibin, works

GUESTS

Roanna Gonsalves is a writer, teacher of creative writing at UNSW, and editor of the literary journal, Southerly

Colm Toibin, Irish novelist and essayist – whose books include The Blackwater Lightship, Nora Webster, Brooklyn, The Master, The Magician – and his latest, Long Island. He spoke to Kate Evans at the 2025 Sydney Writers Festival

OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED

• Jane Austen, works
• Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13
• Italo Calvino, The Baron in the Trees
• J.R.R. Tolkein, works
• Malcolm Knox The First Friend
• Raaza Jamshed, What Kept You
• Georgia Rose Phillips, The Bearcat
• Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary
• Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge
• Henry James, works
• Thomas Mann, works
• James Baldwin, works

CREDITS

• Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh
• Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Simon Branthwaite
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown