A Podcast of One's Own with Julia Gillard

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 notes

If 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.