Jeanette Winterson and Kate Grenville on the gift of writing

Jeanette Winterson asks how AI will give new meaning to ghost stories and Kate Grenville reflects on a lifetime of writing and how accepting failure has been key to her success.

Jeanette Winterson is best known for her novels Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, The Stone Gods and Frankissstein. Her long fascination with mortality, religion and technology have come together in a new book of short stories, Night Side of the River (Jonathan Cape), which considers what technology might mean for the future of ghost stories. First broadcast 2 October 2023

Celebrated Australian author Kate Grenville (Secret River, A Room Made of Leaves) won the prestigious Orange Prize for her novel The Idea of Perfection in 2001, that prize is now called the Women's Prize for Fiction and Kate is again shortlisted for the award with her latest novel, Restless Dolly Maunder (Text), her fictional biography of her grandmother. Producer, Sarah L'Estrange visited Kate in her Melbourne worker's cottage to discuss her writing career. First broadcast 21 August 2023