Julia's Book Club - May We Feed the King

In this episode, Julia is joined by Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, a leading Pacific feminist and peacebuilder who has spent more than three decades ensuring women’s voices shape the decisions that affect their lives, from local communities across the Pacific to the United Nations Security Council.Sharon reflects on the family and intergenerational women’s movement that shaped her activism, and how political upheaval in Fiji influenced her understanding of democracy, peace and women’s leadership. She and Julia discuss the vital role women play in peacebuilding and disaster response, why climate change must be understood as a human-rights issue, and how local women’s knowledge can inform decision-making on the world stage. They also look ahead to COP31 and explore the Pacific’s leadership in the global climate movement. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this month’s Book Club episode, Julia Gillard and her co-host Kathy Lette discuss May We Feed the King, the debut fiction novel from British poet Rebecca Perry.The novel won Waterstone’s Debut Fiction Prize and has been shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize.The novel tells the story of a curator, who dresses the rooms of historic buildings using furniture, ornaments and fake food. While working in a medieval palace, the curator becomes transfixed by the reign of a reluctant and mostly forgotten King. As readers are taken back to the time of the King, Perry poses questions about how history is recorded, who it’s determined by and what makes a good leader.Julia and Kathy discuss how Perry’s talents as a poet shine through in the beautiful prose, what they look for in a fiction novel and how some elements of this book did not resonate with them.Show notes: May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry is published in Australia by Allen and Unwin.To find out more about the Booker Prize visit https://thebookerprizes.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sherele Moody is an award-winning journalist, anti-violence campaigner and founder of the RED HEART Movement and Australian Femicide Watch. For more than a decade, Sherele has tirelessly documented every woman and child who has been violently killed in Australia, telling their stories to ensure they are remembered for who they were, not defined by how they died or reduced to a headline or statistic. For Sherele, this work is deeply personal. As a young woman, she discovered that her stepfather had murdered two girls: five-year-old Sandra Dorothy Bacon and nine-year-old Stacey-Ann Tracy. Although she never met them, their stories profoundly shaped her life and work.In this deeply moving conversation, Sherele tells Julia about her childhood, the devastating truth she learned about her stepfather and how it led her into a life of journalism and activism. They discuss the RED HEART Movement, Sherele's work with families, the importance of remembering victims beyond the circumstances of their deaths, and what must change to create a safer future for women and children.Content warning: This episode contains discussion of childhood abuse, sexual violence, domestic and family violence, and the murder of women and children. Please take care while listening.If anything raised in this conversation affects you, or you’re concerned about someone you know, you can contact 1800RESPECT 24 hours a day by calling 1800 737 732, texting 0458 737 732 or visiting https://1800respect.org.au/. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call Triple Zero.Show notesThere are a number of different ways you can learn more about Sherele's work and how you can support it:Learn more about Sherele’s work and the RED HEART Movement here: https://australianfemicidewatch.org/Support this work by donating here: https://australianfemicidewatch.org/support/Shop RED HEART merchandise, with proceeds supporting Sherele’s work: https://australianfemicidewatch.org/shop-2/Find other ways to take action here: https://australianfemicidewatch.org/take-action/Listen to Sherele’s She Matters podcast here: https://australianfemicidewatch.org/podcast/And learn about the campaign for a Femicide Royal Commission and sign the petition here: https://australianfemicidewatch.org/campaigns/femicide-royal-commission/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this extra special crossover episode, Julia is joined by Sophie Gee, co-host of The Secret Life of Books podcast, for a joyful conversation celebrating their shared love of books and reading.Julia and Sophie compare notes on hosting book podcasts, share their lifelong love of literature, and reflect on their experiences chairing two of the world's leading literary prizes for women and non-binary writers – the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Stella Prize.Sophie is a Professor of English at Princeton University, author of The Scandal of the Season, Chair of the 2026 Stella Prize judging panel and of course, hosts The Secret Life of Books, alongside her co-host, Jonty Claypole.Show notesIf you enjoyed this conversation, you can find The Secret Life of Books, hosted by Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole, wherever you get your podcasts.Julia and Sophie reflect on this year's Women's Prize for Fiction and Stella Prize, celebrating outstanding books by women and non-binary writers. You can explore the 2026 Stella Prize shortlist here: https://stella.org.au/the-stella-prize-2026-shortlist/ and find out more about the Women's Prize for Fiction here: https://womensprize.com/.They also discuss this year's winning titles: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction, and Cannon by Lee Lai, the first graphic novel to win the Stella Prize. Find out more about The Correspondent here: https://womensprize.com/library/the-correspondent/ and Cannon here: https://stella.org.au/the-stella-prize-2026-winner/.The episode also explores the future of reading in the age of AI, including trends in reading for pleasure in Australia. You can read more in Creative Australia's latest National Arts Participation Survey here: https://australiareads.org.au/news/naps-2025/. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this month’s episode of Julia’s Book Club, Julia Gillard and Sarah Holland-Batt discuss a truly iconic novel that became a cultural phenomenon, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.First published in 1985, the story follows Offred, a woman who has been assigned as a Handmaid to a household in the Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state that has overthrown the United States government amidst environmental catastrophe, political instability and declining birth rates. Offred’s sole function is to produce children. Julia and Sarah discuss why this book has continuously resonated with readers over the four decades since it was released. They also delve into its wider cultural impact, through the hugely successful television series starring Elizabeth Moss and at present day political protests.Show notes:The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is available online and at all good bookstores.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a special live recording from the 2026 Women Deliver conference in Melbourne, Julia Gillard interviews Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant. Julie began her career working in Washington at the dawn of the digital age, and went on to work for Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe. Over time she became increasingly concerned about what technology companies could do to keep people safe, and what they were actually doing. Now, as Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, she’s working to close that gap by leading world-first efforts to regulate social media, protect children online, and hold some of the world’s most powerful companies to account.Show notes:To learn more about the work of the eSafety Commission visit https://www.esafety.gov.au/To learn more about Women Deliver visit https://womendeliver.org/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this month’s episode of Julia’s Book Club, Julia Gillard and Kathy Lette discuss Yesteryear, the hit debut novel from Caro Claire Burke.Yesteryear follows Natalie - a wife and mother living on a ranch in Idaho and promoting a traditional lifestyle to her many millions of followers on social media. One day Natalie wakes up in a strange version of reality, where her home and family look similar but different.What follows is a fascinating examination of tradition, fame, faith and the performative way so many of us live our lives. Julia and Kathy discuss how the book delves into some of the biggest issues facing our world today, the real life phenomenon of ‘tradwives’ on social media, and how well they each thought the twists and turns of the book played out. Show notes: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke is published by Harper Collins and is available in all good bookstores.To learn more about the tradwives research at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership visit https://www.kcl.ac.uk/giwl/assets/giwl-tradwife-report.pdf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode recorded live at the 2026 Hay Festival in Wales, Julia Gillard sits down with Thangam Debbonaire to discuss their roles as judges for this year’s Women Prize.Julia is chairing the judging panel for the Women's Prize for Fiction, while Thangam is the chair of judges for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.In this entertaining conversation the pair take listeners behind the scenes of judging one of the world’s most prestigious literary prizes. The prizes are awarded annually to a female author of any nationality for the best novel and non-fiction book of the year written in English and published in the UK.Julia and Thangam talk about the rigours of reading dozens of books in a short time frame, heated debates amongst judges and the exceptional books on each shortlist. The winners will be announced in London on June 11.Show notes: To learn more about the Women’s Prize and the books on the long and shortlists visit https://womensprize.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this very special episode of Julia’s Book Club, Julia Gillard and Sarah Holland-Batt discuss the work that inspired the name of this podcast.Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own was originally delivered as two lectures at Girton College, Cambridge almost a hundred years ago.Despite the passage of time many of the themes and ideas Woolf explores in this short but weighty book remain startlingly relevant today. Julia and Sarah discuss what has and hasn't changed for women since the 1920s, the evolution of women's writing and Virginia Woolf herself.Content warning: this book and episode includes themes of mental illness, sexual abuse and suicide. Please take care while listening and if you need help or information please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit https://www.lifeline.org.au/Show notes: A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf is published by Penguin Australia and is available at all good bookstores. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former AFLW player and gender equality advocate Akec Makur Chuot has lived an extraordinary life.Born in South Sudan, she spent her early years in a refugee camp in Kenya before moving to Australia at age 11. She went on to become the first African woman drafted into the inaugural season of the AFLW, the national professional league for women’s Aussie rules football, helping to shape the game from the very beginning.In this episode, Julia Gillard and Akec discuss her journey to Australia, how football became a bridge to belonging, and the responsibility of being a trailblazer in women’s sport.They also explore her advocacy work beyond the field, including raising awareness of child marriage, supporting girls’ education, and using her platform to speak about the experiences of refugee communities.Show notesIn this episode, we discuss Akec’s work with the 1,000 Girls World Vision campaign and her role as a Gender Equality Ambassador for Plan International. You can find out more about this work using the links below:https://www.worldvision.com.au/sponsor-a-child/1000-girlshttps://www.plan.org.au/our-work/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.