Art mirrors life in the work of these fiction authors + the ethnographic vision of Gary Lee

There's an enduring appetite for novels about artists and their muses. Australian writers Kylie Needham (Girl in a Pink Dress) and Edwina Preston (Bad Art Mother) have written books centred on women artists who are navigating ambition, doubt, and freedom in art scenes where men wield the power and where women are routinely cast as muses rather than as creators. Recorded for RN's Big Weekend of Books 2023. Larrakia artist Gary Lee has led a powerfully creative life including pioneering work in Indigenous queer sexual health during the AIDS epidemic. The new book Heat covers five decades of his photography, illustration, anthropology and curating. It's accompanied by the show Midling that is as much a visual memoir as gallery exhibition. My Thing is…book covers. W.H. Chong is known in the publishing trade for his innovative and artistic fiction covers. He is design director at Text Publishing and a founding member of the Australian Book Designers Association. First broadcast August 2021.