Airdate: Jennifer Byrne presents Cult Reads

The next instalment of Jennifer Byrne presents will look at Cult books… .and that’s books with a cult following, not books about Cults.

Guests include Bob Sessions, Markus Zusak, Dave Grainey, and Marieke Hardy.

Jennifer Byrne presents is a series of individual treats for lovers of books and writing. A panel of leading authors and expert celebrity guests join Jennifer for investigations into some of the most popular reading genres, they reveal the conventions, controversies, and titles that have helped shaped the literary landscape.

On Tuesday, March 15 at 10.05pm on ABC1, Jennifer and her guests discuss cult fiction. Which they concede from the get-go is almost impossible to define except to say that these are books which gripped their imagination and never let it go. Books which at some stage rewired their head, changing either the way they lived – or the way they thought about living. Think Luke Reinhart’s The Dice Man. Think Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance, Catch-22 or The Outsider.

Books become cult for a raft of reasons, but the books Jennifer and guests will talking about have at least two common threads: one, that however you define it, you know a cult book when you see one. And two, they have their own unique voice – even it’s a slightly mad or bad one. So this special has been built this round them – it’s the book clubbers chance to discuss some of the most interesting books ever written, united by nothing but their ability to incite passion in the reader.

Our four guests to discuss the phenomenon of CULT are:

Bob Sessions has been a book publisher in Australia for over 40 years. Among the first authors he published in the 1960s were Thomas Keneally, Ruth Park, George Turner and Peter Mathers. In short, this guy has had a bird’s eye view on book culture for a hell of a long time!

Markus Zusak is an author, eclectic reader – he’s here tonight because of the offbeat and beguiling article he wrote about his all-time favourite boxing books for The Guardian – how could we resist?

Dave Grainey is a singer, writer, and raconteur – our subterranean man in the field, who has devoted an unhealthy amount of time scouring the thrift shops of the world for obscure pay dirt.

Marieke Hardy is a writer, blogger, regular panellist on … oh hang on you know her already… please welcome them all.

It airs Tuesday, March 15 at 10.05pm on ABC1.