Join author Victoria Purman in conversation with Dr Helen Vatsikopoulos as they discuss her historical fiction, The Radio Hour.

A charming, funny, pointed look at the golden years of radio broadcasting in post-war Australia, celebrating the extraordinary unseen women who wrote the radio plays that held a nation captive.

Martha Berry, a fifty-year-old spinster working at a national broadcaster in 1956 Sydney, is thrust into chaos when she becomes a secretary for a new radio serial. Facing challenges from an inexperienced producer, a conservative broadcaster, and rebellious actors, Martha steps in to save the show by secretly ghost-writing scripts. As she gains popularity with the audience, Martha must choose between remaining in the shadows or finally stepping into the spotlight.

Books will be available for purchase and signing on the day.

$5.00 + booking fee

Afternoon tea on arrival.

Bookings required.

Enquiries: 8495 5028 or libraryprograms@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

Victoria Purman is an Australian top ten and USA Today bestselling fiction author. Her most recent book, A Woman's Work, was an Australian bestseller, as were her novels The Nurses' War, The Women's Pages, The Land Girls and The Last of the Bonegilla Girls. Her earlier novel The Three Miss Allens was a USA Today bestseller. She is a regular guest at writers festivals, a mentor and workshop presenter and was a judge in the fiction category for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature and the 2022 ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize for an unpublished manuscript.

Dr Helen Vatsikopoulos is a Walkley Award winning journalist and Professional Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney. In a career spanning 30 years she has worked on programs such as the ABC News, the Midday Report, the 7.30 report, Dateline, Lateline and Foreign Correspondent. Helen is the Artistic Director of Sydney's Greek Australian Writers’ Festival.