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Jennifer Byrne Presents: Fantasy

Jennifer Byrne looks at fantasy, from The Odyssey to Beowulf, from One Thousand and One Nights to legends of King Arthur.

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The next topic for Jennifer Byrne’s occasional series on books is a look at fantasy, from The Odyssey to Beowulf, from One Thousand and One Nights to legends of King Arthur.

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.

Jennifer Byrne presents a special on fantasy – the realm of magic, marvels, and massive sales figures. Fantasy is the world’s biggest-selling form of fiction. Oldest, too, the roots of fantasy going back to the very start of story — from The Odyssey to Beowulf, from One Thousand and One Nights to legends of King Arthur. All essentially fantasy – though usually kept on different shelves in the bookshop.

So how did fantasy come to be segregated from its literary roots? Why is it that readers of fantasy so love this genre? And why – given the huge themes it takes on – do non-readers still tend to associate it with dragons and goblins. These are some of the questions we’ll be exploring in this special with our four fabulous guests ….

Jennifer Rowe writes crime fiction under her own name but legions of fantasy fans will probably know her by her pen name, Emily Rodda. She’s written the hugely successful Deltora Quest series, and more recently the Rondo Trilogy.

Lev Grossman is a Harvard graduate with a degree in literature, a book critic for Time Magazine. His first novel was the bestselling Codex, and his most recent is the fantasy novel, The Magicians.

Matthew Reilly is one of this country’s bestselling authors. Starting with his breakthrough novel Ice Station he has attracted an army of devoted fans, who are at this moment anxiously awaiting the next instalment of his Jack West Jr. series.

And to round out our panel of fantasy heavy hitters! Fiona McIntosh is another hugely successful fantasy author. She’s written many book cycles including the Trinity series, The Quickening, Percheron and the Valisar Trilogy.

It airs 9:55pm Tuesday July 12th on ABC1.

6 Responses

  3. It’s finally happened the FTBC website has been inundated with requests for more fantasy/scifi mainly from a few individuals and now they have what they wanted. Not really my cup of tea but it’s good that the show listens to the fans even if belatedly

  5. Matthew Reilly? They could have found any number of excellent Australian fantasy writers to round out the guests for this show. Fiona McIntosh is a good start, but Matthew Reilly makes about as much sense as a fur coat at the beach in summer.

  6. I will definitely watch this as a couple of my favourite authors are being featured. I’ve never watched before. I hope it is not too much like an English Lit tutorial.

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