From the Lighthouse is a literary podcast published out of the Department of English at Macquarie University. Your hosts Dr Stephanie Russo and Dr Michelle Hamadache love to talk about anything to do with books, from the latest bestsellers and prize-winners, film and television adaptations of books to bookish news. Join us fortnightly as we chat all things literary.

For more information visit the MQ Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language, and Literature webpage.
​The Macquarie Student Writers’ Festival features author interviews and literary podcasts created by students enrolled in the English Major, Creative Writing Major, and the Master of Creative Writing. Read the latest issue of The Quarry, our students’ creative writing magazine.

Created especially for high school students and teachers, the HSC Enrichment Sessions feature Macquarie University academics discussing various HSC texts, authors and topics that fall within their area of expertise. 

LATEST PODCAST EPISODES

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This week Michelle and Jimmy interview Nebula-nominated author, Yaroslav Barsukov, about his new novel, Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory. Join them as they explore the intricacies and intrigues of this critically acclaimed genre-defying novel.
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This week, Stephanie interviews the prolific novelist Harry Turtledove, known as the Master of Alternate History. They discuss alternate history as a genre, how to do historical research when you're writing alternative history, and why alternative histories are so relevant right now.
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Join Michelle as she discusses The Other Side of Daylight, a new and collected poetry collection by prize-winning poet, novelist and essayist David Brooks.
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Michelle chats with Dr Toby Davidson, editor of Francis Webb's Collected Poems, about the comic element in his poetry of the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Webb (1925 - 73) is an enigma, a postwar prodigy respected by some of the loftiest names in Australian poetry - Judith Wright, Gwen Harwood, Les Murray, Robert Adamson - but largely unknown to the general public. 2025 marks 100 years since the poet's birth, and the Francis Webb Centenary will be marked with essays, podcasts and tribute readings to shine a fresh light on this North Sydney genius who astonished his contemporaries with his white-hot talent and fierce questioning of social norms, both of which are immediately evident in his character sketches, Shakespearean clowns and spiky satirical ripostes.