The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon Born in 1964, Aleksandar Hemon grew up in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and became a journalist. In 1992 he travelled to America on a US-sponsored goodwill tour. His home city came under siege while he was in Chicago, where he stayed as a refugee. After a wide variety of low-level, minimum-wage jobs, he started writing in his second language, English, in 1995. His acclaimed collection of stories The Question of Bruno provoked comparisons with Conrad, Nabokov and Kundera when it appeared in 2000 and won several awards. His new book is The Lazarus Project. Aleksandar Hemon won one of the American MacArthur Foundations' famed "genius grants" in 2004 to fund research for the book which is an exploration of immigration and identity.

Travel writing What skills do the best travel writers use to interpret the world around them? And where do travel writers fit now, in a world where blogging means anyone can share stories and give helpful hints? To talk about the role of travel writers and how travel writing has changed over the years, Ramona Koval is joined by travel writer and editor Tom Swick and travel historian Richard White. The Red Tree composer Michael Yezerski A few months ago we spoke to the remarkable artist and storyteller Shaun Tan about his most recent book, a collection of short stories called Tales From Outer Suburbia, and at that time he spoke about the many adaptations of his books to theatre, film—and now to music.

Emerging writers: Kate Mulvany Earlier this year the Emerging Writers' Festival promoted itself by saying it presents the best Australian writers you haven't heard of...yet. One of the writers at the festival was actor and playwright Kate Mulvany. She won the 2004 Philip Parsons Young Playwright's Award and her most recent play is called The Seed. This play began as a novel 10 years ago but became a play, she talks about this process and how it ended up on the stage. Playing cards in Cairo with Hugh Miles Cairo is the biggest city in Africa, a kaleidoscope of races, religions, sects and politics. British journalist and self-styled bar fly Hugh Miles lived and worked there for some years and fell in love with an Egyptian doctor, Roda. Hugh and Roda were eventually married and Hugh's book about their time of courtship, called Playing Cards in Cairo, is a window onto the political, religious and cultural tensions under which women in Egypt live. Writers as Readers - Christos Tsiolkas At the recent Sydney Writers' Festival a number of prominent Australian authors talked about the books and writers who have inspired them. One of those taking part was Christos Tsiolkas, author of Loaded, The Jesus Man and Dead Europe. He has also written several plays, including Who's Afraid of the Working Class? Christos Tsiolkas talks about the influences on his literary education.

Out of the East - spices and the medieval imagination The spice trade was a luxury trade which inspired all sorts of imperial missions that changed the course of world history. In his book Out of the East: spices and the medieval imagination Paul Freedman looks at the demand for spices in medieval times, how they were used, who they were used by and how they drove commerce and exploration.

Spurious and bogus Botany Bay literature Bogus stories about imaginary voyages to the Antipodes were popular in Britain in the 18th century. Ali Alizadeh - The New Angel Imagine dreading having to sit a test at school the next day, then waking up in the morning to find all your prayers have been answered: your school has been destroyed in an air attack. This happened both to Iranian-born Australian author Ali Alizadeh and Bahram, the main character in his novel The New Angel.